"Hey man. Where'd you get off to?" Manny asked Jeremy after he'd gotten back. "I covered for you, said you went to bathroom during the passing period and were hiding out in there until lock down ended."

     "Thanks. That's pretty much what happened though." Jeremy smiled, Manny eyed him suspiciously.

     "Really? What happened with that Maddox kid?" Manny asked.

     "I asked him to give me his homework in the bathroom so a teacher wouldn't see us and then we got locked in their during the whole thing with Dr. Meteor." 

     "You stayed in the bathroom with that queer for the whole of the lock down. Man, I don't envy you." Manny chuckled at his own offensive joke. "I'll see you at practice today, right?"

     "Yeah." Jeremy agreed. He was annoyed with Manny at the moment, but practice always came first.

....

     Henry sat in band with his flute in hand. The band absolutely sucked, but practice got them out of class for a period everyday. Henry's eyes flitted up across the room to a face that had quickly become very familiar. Jeremy had always been a member of the band. Henry sat with the wind instruments while Jeremy say over by the percussion instruments; drumsticks in hand. Jeremy was a Godawful drummer, perhaps the worst in the school, but he'd volunteered to play the drums, so no one tried to stop him. Jeremy waved with a quick smile towards the wind instruments section, and Henry looked around to see that the girls surrounding him weren't paying attention. He sighed and waved back, knowing Jeremy must have caught him staring. Being around Jeremy or anyone for that matter was pretty dangerous for Henry to do, but he found himself called to Jeremy, and he didn't want to ruin that. Henry put the drumsticks up his nose, and clapped like a walrus. Henry laughed hard at the joke, but the music teacher didn't have the same sense of humor. 

     "Hey." Jeremy caught up to Henry after the class, "How's your leg?" 

    "It's alright." Henry admitted. He was still limping slightly, and he was sure there would be a nasty bruise the next day. "How's yours."

    "Good. I just went to the nurse and she gave me a band aid." Jeremy smiled, rubbing his leg instinctively. "Do you have any plans for tonight?"

    "No.. Do you?" Henry asked.

     "Nah.. want to do something? We could hang out.." Jeremy suggested.

    "Um.. at your place?" 

    "No!" Jeremy said, a little too forcefully, "I mean no... My house is a total mess, you don't want to deal with that. What about your place?"

    "Sure. I guess so." Henry arched an eyebrow.

    "Cool I'll drive you." Jeremy grinned.

....

     "This is your place?" Jeremy asked as they pulled up to an old apartment building. They had ventured deep into Beckham West, and Jeremy being from Beckham East was feeling a little uncomfortable. Beckham West was by far the 'bad' area of the city.

    "Yeah." Henry got out of the car, but Jeremy stayed inside, visibly nervous, "I'm.. uh.. emancipated, so I live alone."

     "Really?" Jeremy sat firmly in the safety of the car, "That seems cool."

    "Come on, big guy, nobody here bites." Henry came around and opened the other boy's door, "Except big mike."

    "UGH!"

   "I'm just kidding..." Jeremy paused making a silly face, "Big Mike only bites if you anger him, so we'll be fine." Jeremy and Henry finally got inside the building and passed a bored looking desk worker up a stair well to Henry's room.

    "Sorry the elevator's broken, and I'm on the top floor." Henry apologized as they began the long climb to the top of the stairs. When they reached there they walked into Henry's small apartment. The room was scantily furnished, and most of the furnishings appeared to be pre-used and dusty.

     "I've got to change, make yourself at home." Henry stated, then rushed back into the bedroom. Jeremy, there on a mission began looking around the rooms for clues. He went through the cabinets, checked under the couch, investigated the coat closet, and searched the whole room. Jeremy wasn't really sure what he was looking for, but he had a feeling it had to do with Henry. The apartment was completely ordinary, and he could find nothing. 

     "What are you doing?" Henry asked, walking out of the bedroom in a comfier t-shirt. He had caught Jeremy snooping.

    "Nothing. Let's hang."