"I almost thought you decided to ditch without me." Adrian hissed at him as he took his seat next to him.

Caleb rolled his eyes and pulled out his notebook. Mr. Mason was droning on about history and Caleb honestly didn't care to listen. He knew that he'd regret it later but it was impossible to focus on American history when his own history was taking up his mind. He had been holding himself together only because he didn't have to see Dyson except from a distance, but today he had not only run into him, he had talked to him twice. Caleb sucked in a breath and bit his bottom lip. It didn't help.

"Caleb, what do you think I'm going to say?" Dyson shook his head, letting his hood fall away from his face showing off the marks on his throat, his black eye, and a busted lip in the light of the street lamp.

"The truth!" Caleb was so angry he wanted to break something but instead, he just clenched his fists a couple of times. It didn't help at all. He turned and kicked the fence which broke from the pressure. The cracking sound helped him feel a little better. Next, he threw out his fist and punched it, hard. He didn't care that splinters stuck into his fingers.

"Calm down." Dyson grabbed his arm. "You're going to hurt yourself. Shit, you already have."

"Let go of me," Caleb growled at him. He was going to be sick. He turned and vomited on the grass next to the broken bits of wood.

"Caleb, please, just talk to me. Let me help you." Dyson rubbed his friend's back but Caleb jumped away. When Caleb looked into Dyson's eyes he knew that he was hurt, but Caleb couldn't apologize. If he did then Dyson would want to talk, and Caleb couldn't. If he talked about it, it would be real. He'd rather stay alone than face the truth. He knew what he had to do.

"Don't. Touch. Me. Ever. Again." Caleb said with so much venom in his voice that even Caleb was afraid of what he'd do.

"Fine. Forget it. Just go." Dyson laughed but it was anything but a happy laugh. It was more like the laugh of a man condemned to the electric chair.

"How could you let this happen?" Caleb asked him, not even able to look at him. He had planned to walk away but his feet were frozen.

"You think I wanted this to happen? My life's been fucked up too. You get to just walk away and pretend that I never existed. You'll move on while I continue to hate myself for what happened. I'm the one who's going to live with this single mistake for the rest of my life." Dyson didn't even hide the fact that there were tears streaming down his face or that his voice cracked multiple times.

"I'm the one with the scars," Caleb took a step towards him but they both knew he wouldn't get any closer. "I have to go."

"Promise me that you'll tell someone, anyone." Dyson choked out as the tears stained his grey shirt. "Please?"

"I can't do that." Caleb covered his face, trying to stop the tears.

"Are we ever going to get past this?" Dyson sounded so broken that it shattered Caleb's heart to not go back to him, but he couldn't do it. It was over. Caleb left his heart there on the wet grass as he continued to walk back to his house.

"Caleb?" Dyson cried out. "Caleb? Please come back."

"Caleb, are you okay?" Adrian touched his arm pulling him out of the memory. Caleb looked down and saw the wet spots on his notebook. Great way to act chill; crying in class. He quickly used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe the tears away and flipped Adrian off.

"Seriously, Caleb," Adrian whispered.

"Back off," Caleb whispered back.

"Sure, whatever." Adrian watched his best friend cross his arms and drop his head down to rest on them. He knew something was wrong, had been for much too long, but Caleb was not an easy person to approach. Caleb was always surrounded by an unwavering wall of steel. They had been friends since they were five yet Adrian could barely write one page about him probably. Adrian doubted that Caleb even considered him to be a close friend. He had only ever been close to Dyson, and for no reason that had ended. At first, Adrian was glad because he had missed his best friend, but then he realized that the Caleb he knew was gone.

"Mr. Ryker, care to join us?" Mr. Mason called out.

"No." Caleb blurted then his head popped up as the class laughed. "I mean. I'm listening."

"Then what did I just say?" Mr. Mason asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You said, and I quote, Mr. Ryker, care to join us?" Caleb said, knowing already that detention was coming his way and not giving a damn. He could use some alone time right then. The class laughed again and Caleb swore he could see steam shooting out of Mr. Mason's ears.

"We're going to have a chat, Mr. Ryker. After class."

Adrian raised his hand. "Mr. Mason, Caleb was technically right."

"Would you like detention too?"

"No, sir." Adrian smiled.

"Then shut your mouth unless you have something to add that will enlighten the class." Mr. Mason paused for a moment then smirked. "As I suspected, you have nothing."

"He's such a dick," Adrian whispered.

Caleb nodded but stayed quiet. Mr. Mason, who happened to also be Adrian's dad, was one of Caleb's favorite teachers. Caleb used to get a kick out of how they acted so differently at school, but today it was just annoying.

"As I was saying; we're doing a modern history assignment. You will do it in pairs and it will be due on the 25th after the mid-winter break." Mr. Mason's words were met with a cheer from the class and people shouting out each other's names.

"I have already assigned partnerships." He added and the class groaned as one.

"Adrian and Bethany." He said and Adrian winked at Bethany who flipped him off. Mr. Mason continued down the list. "Rachel and Isaac."

"That should be interesting," Adrian commented looking between the grades' official overtalkative nerd and the girl who he had never even heard speak.

"Yeah," Caleb smiled. With Adrian, it really was like nothing had changed and Caleb loved that. He and Adrian kept things light and never talked about how Caleb had withdrawn. He sometimes wondered if Adrian had even noticed a change.

"And finally Caleb and Dyson."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Caleb demanded, waving his arm out in front of him.

"Caleb, language!" Mr. Mason slapped his hand down on his desk.

"I mean he's not even here," Caleb said with an eye roll.

The bell rang and students all stayed in their seats waiting to see what happened next.

"You are dismissed!" Mr. Mason shouted angrily. "Get out before I give you all detention."

Caleb jumped up along with the other students. "Caleb, sit your ass down."

"Good luck." Adrian chuckled. "I'll let Mrs. Gomez know you'll be late."

"Thanks." Caleb groaned. What the hell was going on with him today? It had been three months, why was it now just getting to him. He knew the answer, Dyson. Dyson was to blame for it all.

Mr. Mason waited until all of the other students walked outside and closed the door. He called Ms. Gomez and told her to not expect Caleb in her class. Caleb put his notebook away and played with the frayed edge of his shirtsleeve as he waited for Mr. Mason to speak. But to his surprise, Mr. Mason just hung up the phone and sat down at his desk. He turned to his computer and started to type.

Caleb felt even more afraid of what was going to happen the longer they sat there with only Mr. Mason's typing breaking the silence. Caleb cleared his throat. Was it possible that Mr. Mason forgot that he was sitting there? Caleb didn't know what to do. Should he get up and try to leave? Should he just sit there? Or should he go up to him?

Finally, he raised his hand.

"Ah, Mr. Ryker," Mr. Mason looked at him over his computer, his glasses reflecting the light off the screen. "Looks like you've remembered how to act in my class. Did you want to say something?"

"Why am I here?" Caleb asked him. Sure, he knew why but it was all he could think to say.

"Ah, why indeed?" Mr. Mason closed his laptop and walked over to Caleb. He sat on the edge of the desk in front of his student and looked down at him with crossed arms. Caleb had always been a model student then all of a sudden he started coming in late, making mistakes on his work, and even talking back. Never as bad as today, but it had been leading to it; he had hoped that it was a phase, but he couldn't wait any longer for Caleb to figure himself out. He had probably already waited too long.

"Look, I'm sorry about earlier," Caleb spoke with his hands and Mr. Mason saw the small scars on his knuckles. He remembered seeing bandages on his wrists right when all of the attitude changes had started. He wondered if it was a catalyst or a condition from the problem.

"And I want to believe you, Caleb, but you've been spiraling out of control these past couple months." Mr. Mason wanted to heal the hurt in his student's eyes but he knew it wasn't his job. He had tried to ask his son about Caleb, but Adrian just shrugged it off.

"I said I'm sorry." Caleb looked back down at his hands and picked at his nails trying to push down the lump in his throat. "Can I go now?"

"I don't need to know what's going on, but you need to talk to someone."

"Nothing's going on."

"Caleb I may seem like just a dusty old teacher but I'm not an idiot. I can see that something's happened. Now, you can either keep acting out and throw your life away for some cheap thrills like making an ass out of your history teacher," Mr. Mason paused and Caleb looked up at him with tears welling in his eyes, "or you can suck it up, ask for help, and move the fuck past this."

Caleb didn't say anything. It felt like he'd been struck by a train.

"I'm going to let today's outburst slide, but if you so much as doodle in my class again I will have you suspended so fast that you'll get whiplash, understood?" Mr. Mason smiled.

"I don't doodle." Caleb cracked a tiny smile.

"That's a great start. Your next step is to find Dyson and work on your assignment."

"I can't do that. I'll just take an F." Caleb shook his head as he stood up and slung his backpack over his shoulder.

"Caleb, you're making it really hard for me to help you." Mr. Mason stood up and walked to his door. "I thought you two were friends. Adrian told me that you're closer to Dyson than anyone else."

"You teach history. You know alliances and friendships never last." Caleb opened the door and left.

"Mr. Ryker, they're often stitched back together," Mr. Mason called after him, feeling his pain. He knew what it was like to lose a friend. But he had seen the way the two looked at each other. It was not over even if they didn't know it yet. That morning in the hall as he watched them interact, he had changed the partnerships so they were together.

"And yet, the wars are the only things we talk about." Caleb stepped outside. He didn't care if he got in trouble; he couldn't be in school anymore. He made sure to stay out of view of the cameras and snuck through a hole in the fence. He jogged to the one place that he could always go to feel safe.

"What are you doing here?" Caleb asked Dyson as he collapsed, breathing hard. He had been running faster than he usually did and the high left much too soon. How had he not noticed that Dyson was there?

"It's Thursday. This is my place on Thursdays." Caleb said, even though it wasn't something they had ever actually discussed.

"Yeah, but it's during school hours." Dyson dropped down next to him and Caleb visibly shrunk away from him. "I'm shocked to see the perfect Caleb Ryker skipping," Dyson said hoping that Caleb would talk to him, he could say anything and Dyson would be happy. He missed their conversations so much. Since they ran into each other in the hallway it was all he could think about. It was the first time they had spoken in almost three months.

"Do you ever wonder what life would be like if you could fly?" Caleb asked him because he honestly didn't want to go. He had dreamed of this moment for months; a moment where they got over that night.

Dyson smiled. "You'd probably be just as clumsy."

Caleb laughed, but it was short and not real. "Probably."

"I've missed you," Dyson said and instantly regretted it.

"Me too." Caleb got up and left before Dyson could say anything else.

Dyson laid back and cursed up to the sky. Why did he have to say that? He should have just stayed quiet. He looked up at the tree, above him, where a pair of mismatched shoes hung. He smiled remembering the day they had thrown them up there.

"How can we claim this spot?" Caleb asked as he flopped down under the tree in the small park next to the little pond.

"We could carve our initials into the tree?" Dyson offered and shrugged.

"No, that's too chick flicky." Caleb folded his arm and leaned back resting his head on them.

"What about if we put something of ours here?"

Caleb cocked an eyebrow at him. "This may feel like a small town but it's not that small. Someone will take it.

"True," Dyson rubbed his chin then sprung to his feet. "I've got it! Give me your shoe."

"My shoe? Why?" Caleb eyed him suspiciously.

"Don't stall with pointless questions and give me your shoe, damn it." Dyson chuckled.

"Fine." Caleb sat up and untied his sneaker. "Here." He handed it to Dyson who was already holding up his own.

Dyson tied them together loving the look of the black and gold laces twined together. "Pretty boy," He kicked Caleb's leg and loved seeing the slight red tinge of his cheeks at the nickname. "I need your arm."

"Why?"

"Didn't I just say something about pointless questions?" Dyson teased and held out his hand. Caleb took it and jumped to his feet. "Now throw them as high as you can."

"Really?" Caleb asked him and looked up at the tree.

"Yes."

Caleb chucked them and they wrapped around a tree limb high up in the tree.

"Now, it's ours and we'll always know it." Dyson smiled at him.

"That's great and all but did you happen to bring an extra pair of shoes for us to wear to get home?" Caleb asked and Dyson's eyes widened.

"Shit." Dyson groaned. Caleb burst out laughing. He grabbed Dyson's shoulder to keep from falling over as he laughed harder.

"Give me your shoe," Caleb said once he had stopped laughing.

"Why?"

"What was that you said about asking pointless questions?" Caleb smirked.

"Hey, don't be snarky with me, mister. You're the one who threw our shoes in the tree." Dyson retorted as he pulled off his shoe and handed it to Caleb.

Caleb quickly put it on and leaned over. "Get on."

"Seriously?" Dyson asked him with a look of surprise.

"Unless you'd rather walk home barefoot." Caleb shrugged and stood up straight.

"No, wait." Dyson leaped forward and wrapped his arms and legs around Caleb, clinging like a newborn monkey to his mother. "Talley Ho, to home we go!" Dyson shouted with his arm shooting out in front of them.