“Get him!” they cried as I raced forward, my heart slamming. I looked over and, desperate, sprinted towards the monkey bars.

                I climbed up the short ladder and grabbed desperately at the metal bars. I pulled myself up and crawled over to the center of the monkey bars, watching anxiously as the others reached the ladder.

                Emilio, the biggest one, tried to pull himself up, but slipped a little.

                Frustrated, he dropped back to the ground and glared at me. “You have to come down sometime! Recess is almost over!” he said furiously.

                Knowing he was right, I looked around for any sign of the teacher. She must still be inside the school. I looked back down and my eyes widened.

                Emilio’s best friend, Tyler, was climbing up the ladder. He grabbed the bar and managed to pull himself up. He grinned and crawled towards me.

                I looked around desperately. “Maxx!” I screamed, wishing I knew where my best friend had disappeared to. Maxx never left me alone at recess. He knew what happened when he did.

                Tyler grabbed me and, at the cheers of the other kids, shoved me forwards off of the monkey bars. I let out a scream as I plummeted down towards the rocks on the ground.

                My eyes snapped open, my heart slamming wildly. I reached up and gently touched my face, relaxing when it wasn’t bloodied from rocks. I looked around and realized I had fallen asleep in my living room.

                “Chandler, did you have another nightmare?” my little sister, Ariel, asked curiously.

                “Yea,” I grumbled, running a hand through my hair and trying to push the memory of that day out of my mind. I had been about 6 or 7 years old. Maxx had been inside, using the bathroom, when it had happened.

                “Hey kids,” my dad greeted, coming into the room.

                “Daddy, Chandler had another nightmare. He was moaning,” Ariel said, running over to my dad and hugging him.

                “Big mouth,” I whined.

                “You have the biggest mouth,” she shot back, sticking her tongue out at me.

                I had to hold back my laugh. Oh little sister, yes I did have the biggest mouth. Or, used to. I was trying to “behave” nowadays. I was done with the screwing around.

                “Chandler, are you okay? I thought you said you didn’t have those nightmares anymore,” dad said with a frown.

                Of course he didn’t actually know what I dreamed about. I had never told my parents that I got bullied. I had always lied and said I fell or tripped.

                Until, of course, some assholes had broken my arm. Yea, then my parents found out.

                “Dad, I’m fine,” I said flatly, getting up. “Really.”

                I made my way to the kitchen and poured myself some water. I mentally sighed as I heard my dad entering the kitchen.

                “Chand, are you sure you’re okay? You used to scream in your sleep, and your mom and I don’t want to see that happen again,” he said in concern. “Do you want to talk about it? Do you want to talk about anything?”

                “No dad, I don’t. I’m perfectly fine,” I said, rolling my eyes.

                He sighed. “Well, okay Chandler. But it’s getting late. You should probably get ready for bed. You have school tomorrow,” he said, giving me a one armed hug.

                “Okay. Goodnight dad,” I said.

                “Night Chandler. I love you,” he said with a small smile.

                I left the kitchen and went up to my bedroom. I stripped down to my boxers and fell back against my bed.

                School…woo fucking hoo. I hated school. Especially now that my best friend, Maxx, was so infatuated with his boyfriend Mark. Mark was okay, and he had actually saved my ass, but I still couldn’t help but get jealous.

                Maxx had always been mine. My best friend. Always spending time with me. Now he was always with Mark. Always. They were rarely separated and I hated it.

                I groaned slightly before squeezing my eyes shut. As I began to drift off to sleep, I prayed that I wouldn’t have anymore stupid nightmares.

                                                                                                ***

                “Chandler, are you even listening to me?” Maxx asked impatiently.

                “Nope,” I said and slumped against my locker, yawning.

                Maxx grabbed my shoulders and shook me. “Wake up!” he snapped, pouting. “I was talking to you!”

                I smacked his hands off of me and glared at him. “And I was yawning!”

                “Don’t yawn while I’m talking!”

                “Don’t talk while I’m yawning!”

                We crossed our arms stubbornly and glared at each other.

                “Uh…guys?”

                “We’re busy,” Maxx growled, not looking at Mark as he continued glaring at me. Mark sighed and shook his head.

                “We’re done here. I can’t work with this!” I cried, throwing my hands in the air dramatically and shaking my head violently.

                “What are you guys even fighting about?” Mark’s best friend, Shaw, asked curiously.

                “We were fighting about Chandler being a dick.”

                “We were fighting about Maxx being an asshole.”

                We spoke at the same time and glared at each other again.

                “You guys are the worst best friends ever,” Mark said with a sigh, wrapping his arms around Maxx. Maxx turned and greeted him with a kiss, smiling.

                “Nah. We just have a different way of communicating,” he said before pulling me into a headlock. I struggled against him and he released me, smirking. “Right Chand?”

                “Right,” I grumbled, rubbing my neck.

                Maxx took Mark’s hand and winked. “Got to go. Catch you later,” he said before dragging Mark away. I stared after him and shook my head.

                “Ditched again!” Shaw whined.

                “I’m getting used to it,” I grumbled, putting in my combination and exchanging several notebooks before shutting my locker again. “Care to join me to the water fountain?”

                Shaw grinned and nodded. We began to walk towards the water fountain together in comfortable silence. I found myself glancing at Shaw out of the corner of my eye.

                He was so attractive. And he had such a great personality. He was die-hard loyal, and funny as all hell. But I promised myself I was done with whoring around. I was done with all of that.

                I bumped into someone and jumped back in surprise. “Sorry,” I said and looked up. My eyes widened a little.

                Joey McCormick and his best friend, Glendon Carter, smirked at me. “Hey faggot,” Joey growled pleasantly. He had a scar on his head from where Maxx had bashed him with a rock.

                “Hey,” I said, glaring and trying to remain calm. My nightmare flashed back to me and I balled my hands into fists before Joey or Glen noticed them shaking. My hands always shook really badly when I was scared.

                “Oh hey look at the time! It’s fuck-this-shit-o’clock,” Shaw said, grabbing my hand and dragging me away, shooting a glare at Joey and Glen as he did so.

                “Chandler, are you okay? Your hands are shaking really bad,” Shaw said with a frown once he’d stopped.

                I looked down and realized that Shaw was still holding my hand. I cleared my throat and Shaw blushed and released it.

                I nodded at him. “I’m fine,” I growled, glancing over my shoulder to make sure they hadn’t followed us.

                “Uh…so, do you want to hangout afterschool?” he asked.

                I shrugged and nodded. “Sure,” I said. “With Mark and Maxx or…?”

                Shaw blushed again but grinned and waggled his eyebrows. “Well, I was thinking just me and you,” he said with a wink.

                Okay. Okay, so that wasn’t too out of character for Shaw. He was always flirty and perverted. But the blushing was a little odd. Maybe it was just hot in here.

                I smirked and winked right back. I brought my face close to his, my lips hovering just in front of his. “Sounds like a plan,” I whispered. I straightened up and winked at him again before strolling off towards my first period class, not even caring that I had just been acting like my old self. Shaw was worth it. 

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A.N.- This is my Chandler/Shaw spin off from Snake Eyes :) It's going to be a few chapters long :p