“Well, look over there,” Sonnet said as we sat at the lunch table the next day.

                I followed her gaze over to the table across the cafeteria from us. And there, my gaze fell upon the pathetic sight of Judeikas Tibbits.

                If there was ever a cliché rich bitch, it was Judeikas Tibbits. Jude grew up as the only son of filthy rich parents. He was genius, cunning, and selfish as all hell. Jude was cruel and held no pity for anyone.

                I had been his target for years. Ever since I was young, Jude had made a hobby of torturing me. He and his two best friends, Nate and Landon, loved to attack me.

                Yea, he was kind of a dick.

                But I found a sick satisfaction in seeing him now. Ever since he had been revealed to Gideon as a cruel bastard, Gideon had despised him.

                Right now, he was sitting with his friends at their table. He looked like the pure image of misery. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. There was a depressed look in his eyes, and his lips were set into a frown that seemed almost permanent.

                “That’s a sight I could get used to,” I said, grinning.

                Benji glanced at me, the look in his eyes sympathetic. My lips twitched, but I forced the grin to stay on my face. I hated sympathy.

                “Better wipe the grin off your face. Gideon is coming back. You know it’ll upset him to see Jude,” Sonnet said.

                I pouted. “I’m aloud to grin if I want to.”

                Gideon appeared at the table and sat down in his usual seat. He scooted closer to Benji and put his arm around his waist.

                Seeing them happy together made me happy for Benji, but a little jealous as well. I didn’t mean to be jealous, but I had been crushing on Benji. At first I thought it was because he had saved me and been nice to me. But then I had realized that I truly had feelings for him.

                “Are we hanging out at Sonnet’s afterschool?” Benji asked, glancing at Sonnet.

                “Yea, I guess,” Sonnet said with a shrug. “We can watch An American Werewolf In London. My dad just bought it the other day.”

                “Didn’t they make a shitty sequel to that?” I asked.

                “We don’t talk about that Ethan,” Sonnet said.

                “It’s like page 511 of City Of Lost Souls, huh?” I said.

                “Get out of my sight right now. I disown you!” Sonnet said angrily.

                I snickered. “Fangirl.”

                “And proud of it,” she said with a nod.

                “How’s Will?” Benji asked, changing the subject before she killed me.

                “He’s fine. He had a morning class today, and I heard him taking a shower to get ready before I left,” Sonnet said. “Then again, and surprisingly enough, it’s not his morning class he skips. He always skips his afternoon classes.”

                “Because that’s normal,” I said.

                “Poor Will. I hope he’s okay,” Benji said with a frown.

                “He’ll be fine,” Sonnet assured.

                The bell rang and the three of us got up and went off to class. When the end of the day came, we all piled into Benji’s car and he drove us to Sonnet’s house.

                “Do you guys ever listen to anything besides Alesana?” I asked, moodily glancing out of the window. I liked Alesana, but they weren’t my favorite.

                “Nope,” Benji said.

                “Not a chance,” Gideon said, reaching over and turning the volume up.

                I shot him a glare. “Benji, you’re dating the devil.”

                “Greyson loves Alesana. So he doesn’t mind,” Gideon said cheerfully, Benji nodding in agreement next to him.

                I shook my head and went back to looking out of the window. It always confused me when Gideon called him Greyson. But Sonnet had told me that he’d done that for nearly eleven years, and it was something you got used to after a while.

                We pulled into Sonnet’s driveway and got out of the car, heading inside. We followed Sonnet up to her living room and dropped onto the couches.

                “I’m hungry. Get me food,” I commanded.

                “You’re always hungry,” Sonnet said and made her way into the kitchen.

                “She’s right; you’re always hungry. How the hell do you stay so skinny?” Benji asked.

                “The passion of my love burns off calories,” I said.

                “You’re such a pervert,” he said with a sigh.

                “You’re the one with the sexually active boyfriend,” I pointed out.

                Gideon blushed. “Please don’t remind me that I did those things with Judeikas,” he groaned.

                “I really hope you didn’t yell out ‘JUDEIKAS’ in the middle of sex, because that name is enough to ruin any mood,” I said.

                “We are not talking about this!” Benji said, clapping his hands over Gideon’s ears.

                Sonnet walked back out with food in her hands, surveyed the scene, and made an expression that said she seriously regretted her choice of friends.

                “Here,” she said, setting down a large bowl of pizza rolls.

                I eagerly snatched a pizza roll out of the bowl and ate it hungrily. After shooting me a suspicious look, Benji slowly pulled his hands away from Gideon’s ears and they also started to eat.

                The front door opened as Sonnet sat down. A minute later, Will appeared at the top of the stairs, looking over at us. He had a messenger bag hanging off of his shoulder haphazardly.

                He looked a little better than yesterday, but not by much. There dark bruises forming under his eyes. His hair was still a tangled mess. His jeans were faded and ripped at the bottom. He wore a T-shirt that was a little too big for him.

                “Hey Will,” Benji greeted.

                “Hey Benji,” Will said.

                He walked over and grabbed a handful of pizza rolls. Sonnet swatted his hand away impatiently.

                “Don’t you have class right now?” she asked, checking the time.

                “Yea,” he said, tossing a pizza roll into his mouth.

                “Mom and dad are going to kill you,” Sonnet pointed out.

                “That would be a shame if I actually gave a shit,” he said.

                “Well, rest in pieces fatass. I know I won’t miss you. Now go get your own food,” she said, shoving him away from the bowl of pizza rolls.

                “Bitch,” he said with a pout.

                He turned and made his way downstairs, disappearing out of sight. Benji frowned after him, looking worried.

                “He’s not acting like himself,” he said.

                “He’ll be fine Benji,” Sonnet said. “He’s just going through some Will-phase right now. That’s all it is.”

                But I could see the faint concern lurking in her expression. Even Sonnet was worried about her brother’s behavior.

                When we had finished eating the pizza rolls, Sonnet made a few bags of popcorn and led us back to her bedroom. She dug around her desk before sighing in annoyance.

                “Dammit. Benji, can you go get the DVD from Will? I forgot he was watching the movie last night,” she said.

                “I’ll go get it. Benji’s too busy playing tonsil hockey with his boy toy,” I said, standing up.

                Benji pulled away from Gideon’s face just long enough to stick his tongue out at me. Aw, I was touched. I was actually important enough for him to stop dry fucking his boyfriend just to stick his tongue out. How sweet.

                I left Sonnet’s bedroom and went down to Will’s. I knocked on the door and was met with silence. I knocked again.

                “Are you going to go away if I pretend I’m not here?” he called.

                “No,” I said, pushing the door open. “I’m a very persistent person.”

                “I need to remember to lock my door from now on. You keep drifting in,” he said.

                He was laying on his bed, his PS3 controller back in his hands. He had that same large box of Nerds next to him.

                “Why aren’t you at class?” I asked.

                “Why are you in my room?” he asked.

                “Because I was gifted with a very important mission.”

                “The movie is on my dresser. Grab it and get out, Ethan.”

                “So, why aren’t you at class?” I asked, leaning against his wall and crossing my arms.

                “Because I don’t feel like going,” he said without looking at me.

                “Minish Cap?” I guessed.

                “Golden Sun,” he corrected. His fingers were, once again, rapidly slamming against the buttons on the controller. 

                I watched him for a minute. When he noticed that I was still in his room, he paused the game and looked up at me.

                “We’re not going to have a conversation Ethan. So you might as well grab the DVD and get out of here,” he said.

                “You didn’t brush your hair. Again,” I said.

                “That’s what this is about?” he asked in disbelief. “You’re bothering me because I didn’t brush my hair?”

                “You said you didn’t brush it yesterday because you weren’t going out in public. You went to class today, and you still didn’t brush it,” I said.

                He reached up and twirled a dark lock around his finger. “Maybe I just didn’t feel like it. Why does it matter?”

                “You would look so attractive if you actually tried, Will,” I said.

                “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to how straightforward you are. Get out of my room,” he said, pointing at the open door.

                “Oh, I’ll leave your room. As soon as you tell me why you skipped class again,” I said with a shrug.

                Will groaned and flopped back against his pillows, covering his face with his hands. He slowly dragged his hands away from his face and glared at me.

                “Because I didn’t feel like going,” he growled. “Are we done with the interrogation, Ethan?”

                “No. Sonnet said you went to your morning class,” I said. “Why skip your afternoon classes, but not your morning class?”

                “I went to my first two classes, got bored, and left. Big deal,” he said, rolling his eyes.

                He swung his legs over the side of the bed and got up. He snatched the movie off of his dresser and came over, shoving it against my chest and trying to push me out of his bedroom.

                “Goodbye Ethan,” he said, trying to shove me out of the room.

                I ducked under his hands and darted back into his bedroom. “If you wanted to put your hands on my chest, you could’ve just said so.”

                “Ethan,” he groaned, banging his head against the doorframe. “Get out.”

                “I thought we were having a pleasant conversation,” I said.

                “I don’t like you,” he said in annoyance.

                “I seem to get that a lot,” I said with a sigh.

                “I wonder why,” he grumbled, moving away from the door and sitting down on his bed again, picking up his controller. “Alright, whatever. If you refuse to leave, you might as well take a seat.”

                I dropped down into a chair close to Will’s bed. I know why he wouldn’t talk to me, but I just wished that he would. I wanted to help him.

                “You really suck at video games,” I said, watching him.

                “Oh, shut up,” he said mildly.

                I got up and sat down next to him on his bed, snatching the controller out of his hands. “You have to go up here and fight the thieves,” I said.

                “I was going there!” he protested.

                “No you weren’t,” I said. “Don’t try to lie to me, William. You suck at video games.”

                “Oh, like you don’t suck at anything,” he said with a pout.

                “I’m gay. I suck in general,” I pointed out. “If you’d like, I can give you a demonstration.”

                “That won’t be necessary,” he said.

                “Well, if you change your mind, the offer will always stand for you,” I said.

                “Ethan!”

                I jumped and we both glanced over at Sonnet. She was glaring, standing in the doorway with her arms crossed.

                “I sent you down here to get a DVD, not to play video games and hit on my brother,” she said, coming into the room.

                “Get out of my room bitch,” Will said, scowling.

                “I’m here to pick up this idiot, fatass,” she said, grabbing my arm and pulling me off the bed.

                Will picked up the controller and began to play, his eyes sliding back to the screen. I picked up An American Werewolf In London, watching Will.

                “Well? Are you going to get out of my room?” he asked without looking at either of us.

                “Yea, yea, yea. We’re going. Come on Ethan,” Sonnet said, trying to pull me out of Will’s room.

                “Wait,” I said, pulling my arm out of her grip. I faced Will. “What do you want to do when you get out of college?”

                “Work in the movie industry,” he said. There was no hesitation in his voice. He was positive that he wanted to do that when he got out of college.

                “Why?” I asked.

                “Movies impact people. I like that,” he said. He never took his eyes off of the computer screen as he spoke, but something flashed in his eyes, and I knew my next course of action.

                “Let’s go,” I said to Sonnet, leaving Will’s room.

                Sonnet followed after me, shutting Will’s bedroom door. “What was that about?”

                “That was me trying to get with your brother,” I said.

                “If you turn him gay, I swear I’ll kill you,” she grumbled.

                But my thoughts were a million miles away. I knew how to give myself a clue as to what was wrong with Will.