Lizzie had ended up back at the house unsuccessful in her mission to get pizza, so instead, she made three boxes of pizza rolls for everyone to share while they binged The Hunger Games, and they substitued Joel's failed attempt to make popcorn with microwaveable packets of popcorn.

Grian and Joel fell asleep on the couch after the first movie, and Lizzie left to take Fwhip back home not long after. Jimmy turned the TV off when she left and pulled a blanket over Grian and Joel, hesitating for a moment before going to retire to his bedroom. He found it adorable when Grian snuggled into Joel's side, his head resting on the brunette's chest and his hand loosely knotted in the fabric of Joel's sweater.

Jimmy stalked slowly up the stairs and managed to find his way through the dark hallway to his bedroom. He plugged in his phone before getting out of his clothes and into his pajamas, then tucked himself underneath his blankets.

He'd almost fallen asleep until his phone went off. Sleepily, he reached over for it, squinting at the brightness when he turned it on. He smiled a bit when he saw it was a text from Scott, but that smile was gone as soon as he opened it.

"Huh?" Sitting upright, he blinked and rubbed his eyes a bit to make sure he read it correctly.

hey, jimmy. hanging out with you today was fun but i dont think we should see each other outside of school anymore. youre a bad influence, and i have a reputation to keep. im sorry.

Jimmy's eyes stung as he quickly typed a reply. What did I do wrong? I'll change, I promise. Please, tell what I did wro-

Your message is pending until Scott adds you as a friend

Jimmy froze. He unadded me. Looking through the few messages they'd shared previously, Jimmy wanted to cry. What did he do that Scott would go from sending him smiley faces and hearts to telling Jimmy that he was a bad influence? All Jimmy ever wanted to do was be friends with him.

The blonde turned off his phone and threw it toward the foot of his bed with a frustrated grunt, pulling his knees to his chest and burying his face in his arms. His forearms felt wet now, and he didn't realize until then that he'd already been crying.

"You want me to be nice?" Fwhip's words from earlier echoed in Jimmy's head. "That asshole made you cry yesterday! He said we weren't worth a second thought. Why the hell would you ask me to be nice to him?"

"Because it's mean to be rude, that's why," Jimmy had responded.

"You're only saying that because you like him."

"Shut up," Jimmy begged meakly in a hoarse voice, but his mind wasn't hesitant to flood him with more reasons to want to cry.

"They're not worth the second thought," Scott's voice now echoed.

"Shut up," Jimmy whispered again, covering his ears as if it would help. "Please."

"Jimmy?" The boy's head snapped up and turned to look toward the doorway, where Lizzie stood. He couldn't see her face, the light being behind her, but her voice was gentle. "Are you okay?"

Jimmy shook his head, letting his legs slide down and stretch. "No," he mumbled as he wiped at his wet cheeks with his sleeve.

Lizzie murmured a small aww before coming into the room and turning on Jimmy's lamp as she snuggled into bed with him. "Wanna talk about it?" she asked, wrapping an arm around Jimmy and pulled him into her side.

The younger hummed, closing his eyes, and relaxed a bit as she rubbed up and down his arm. "'S stupid," he said groggily. He opened his eyes stare at the phone laying on the other end of the bed, and suddenly he felt like breaking down again. He let out a pathetic chuckle. "It really shouldn't matter as much as it does." Wincing when his voice cracked, he cleared his throat.

"Well," Lizzie began. She shifted a bit to make herself more comfortable. "I think that if you're cuddling up to me instead of pushing me away and calling me sappy, then..." She gave Jimmy a gentle squeeze. "That might say a little something."

Jimmy huffed. "I'm just tired, okay?" he attempted to excuse.

Lizzie smiled. "Jokes aside, I don't think whatever you're upset about is stupid," she scolded, gently but sternly. "What's going on?"

"Scott," Jimmy huffed. He tried to sound and act frustrated, but the fight left his body immediately when he recalled the time they'd spent together earlier. "He... he doesn't want to spend time with me anymore. He called me a bad influence, and I don't even know what I did wro-" He cut himself off with a painful sob. "What did I do wrong?" His voice was small and much higher in pitch than he would've liked, and Lizzie responded with another light squeeze.

"Some people are just jerks," she said quietly. "And-"

"Scott isn't a jerk, though," Jimmy protested angrily, pushing away from Lizzie. "If you guys would only take the time to realize who really is a jerk, then you'd know that Scott is fun and he's kind and only ever wants to make everybody else around him happy before himself." Lizzie didn't reply this time. "Maybe you should look in a mirror before you call Scott a jerk."

Lizzie nodded. "I'm sorry, Jimmy," she said calmly. "I've never been around Scott one-on-one before, and you have. You know better than I do about how Scott acts. But from my experiences, Scott has only ever been rude to you, to Grian, to me and Joel, and to everyone else." She rested her hands on Jimmy's shoulders and leaned forward. "I'm only going off of what I know, and I'm sorry that offends you."

Jimmy huffed, crossing his arms. "Well, I'm telling you so you do know. Scott is not a fucking jerk!"

The pinkette flinched when Jimmy shouted, but called out his profanity instead. "Watch your mouth, Jimmy Solidarity," she said firmly. "Being upset does not mean you can use that type of language with me."

"Shut up, you're not my mom."

"Don't you dare bring her into this-"

"Why?" Jimmy questioned, subconsciously attempting to egg Lizzie on. "What are you going to do?"

Lizzie stayed quiet for a moment before sighing. "Jimmy, I'm not here to fight with you," she said in surrender. "I'm sorry for calling Scott a jerk, and I'm sorry for angering you." Jimmy simply stared at her, and she decided to continue to fill the uncomfortable silence. "I'm sorry Scott said those things to you. You're not a bad influence on anyone." She chuckled lightly to herself. "If anyone's a bad influence, it's Joel for using profane language around you boys."

Jimmy couldn't help but smile at that, recalling when Joel used to cuss out everything in sight when he was upset.

"Look at me." Jimmy obeyed, and Lizzie craddled his face gently in her hands. "No matter what Scott says or does, don't let it get you down, okay? You're amazing, and you should always know that despite what anyone else says. Okay?"

Jimmy nodded, letting his sister pull him into an awkward embrace. He fell asleep not long after, and they woke up in a tangled mess of limbs.

Sunday went by quick - maybe even a little too quick - and soon, it was Monday again.

Jimmy had practically forgotten about Scott's text with all of the craziness of Grian and Joel having access to sugar on Sunday. He had forgotten. Until he and Scott ran into each other in the hallway. And by "ran into," I mean that quite literally.

They'd both ended up on the floor, their belongings scattered around the nearly empty hall floor.

Jimmy groaned, rubbing the spot on his forhead where they bumped heads. "What the-"

"Sorry," Scott murmured quickly as he frantically gathered his things into a pile. "So sorry, I was rushing, I didn't see-" He gasped as someone stepped on his hand when he reached for what looked like a pencil that managed to slip out of his pouch.

"Get off the floor, you look like an idiot," a slightly deeper voice said, and Jimmy looked up to see, not Zach, but another large guy that looked like a senior with dirty blonde hair. Jimmy could recognize him from a picture of the basketball team from a couple years prior. He also looked like the guy who auditioned for the Prince. "Zach's waiting out in the truck, you know."

Scott nodded and scrambled to his feet. "Sorry, Joey," he mumbled. "I know-"

"Wait, you're skipping class?" Jimmy asked, his mouth wide open in shock.

Scott froze for a second. "Uh, yeah," he answered half hesitantly. "I'm going to breakfast with Zach and his frie-" He muttered a little oof when Joey walked past him, slamming into Scott's shoulder. The cyanette stared up at Joey for a moment as the latter walked away.

Jimmy sighed as he stood. He gave Scott a hesitant look before asking, "Is that one of Zach's bitchy friends?" He almost startled himself when he swore, not having expected that to come out of his mouth.

"That's my cousin," Scott answered, sounding more awkward than not.

"Come on, dumbass," Joey called to Scott once he realized Scott hadn't been following him, "or I'm telling Zach to leave you behind."

Scott shook his head, looking nervous again. "I- I'm coming," he called back. He turned to say something to Jimmy, pausing to look back at Joey for a moment. "Uh, bye," was all he gave before scurrying off with Joey.

"What... in the world just happened?" Jimmy thought aloud as he watched Joey elbow Scott in the side. Scott jumped away to the side at the gesture, leading Jimmy to assume that it hurt. Why is everyone so mean to him?

"There you are," someone called from behind Jimmy, and he turned to see Grian. "I've been looking all over for you." Grian sighed and walked over to Jimmy. "Class started five minutes ago, dimwit!"

Jimmy blinked, confused for a second. "R-right-" He bent down to pick his things. "Sorry."

Grian sighed. "Miss Endo is going to have your head, you know," he said. "This is the seventh time you've been late to first period this semester."

"I know," Jimmy breathed, clinging tighter to his books.

"Tenth time's a detention."

Jimmy gasped. "What?! Dad'll have my head if I get a detention!"

Grian covered his mouth with his hand when he snickered. "Then don't be late," he said simply. "Easy as that."

"For you," Jimmy muttered, scoffing.

"Wonderful for you to join us this morning," Miss Endo said sarcastically as Jimmy walked in through the door after Grian. "Thank you, Grian, for finding him."

Grian nodded and gave a thumbs up before taking his seat in the back of the classroom.

"And what were you doing this time?" Miss Endo asked Jimmy, who froze in front of his seat.

"Uh, I tripped and dropped my things," the blonde fibbed, slowly lowering himself into the seat. "I swear, I was just down the hall-"

The teacher held her hand up. "Enough excuses. I have a class to teach." She cleared her throat and turned her attention back to the class. "Back to the lesson, can anyone tell me what a prepositional phrase is?"

The class went on and Jimmy absorbed none of it as he thought back to last night.

"You're a bad influence."

"I have a reputation to keep."

Jimmy inhaled sharply and more audibly than he would've liked as he came to a sudden realization.

Scott doesn't want to hang out with me, not because of his reputation... but because of mine.

Being one of the the socially labeled "losers," it was obvious that the more popular of one's peers wouldn't want to be seen around them. It shouldn't have surprised Jimmy that that was why Scott didn't want to hang out with him, but it did. And it hurt. Maybe Fwhip was right after all. Maybe it was better to avoid being around Scott outside of school, to let bygones be bygones and not take that extra step to just be nice. Maybe he should just let himself be the social reject that he's been labeled, and let Scott be the angel that he's conisdered. He'd get over it. Right?

"Jimmy," Miss Endo's voice half-whispered through the quiet of work time, dragging Jimmy back to reality a little too quickly.

Subconsciously, the boy sniffled, not having realized that he'd been tearing up. "Uh-" He wiped at his eye with the sleeve of his hoodie. "Yeah?"

Miss Endo nodded toward the doorway. "Step outside for a minute?" She glared in the direction of the back of the class when some of the boys started snickering.

Jimmy nodded and stood up, making his way to the door with Miss Endo following after. She closed the door gently behind her and leaned against it.

"What's going on?" she asked, her voice hushed. "Is there something sensitive in the article, or-"

Jimmy shook his head aggressively. "No, no, I'm fine," he lied. "I just... think too much." He shrugged at the sympathetic look he earned by saying that.

"Do you need to go to counseling?"

"No, I'm alright," Jimmy answered.

"You sure?"

Jimmy nodded.

Sighing, Miss Endo pushed herself off the door, her hand never leaving the doorknob. "Alrighty, then," she said. "Don't be afraid to let me know if you ever need to step outside for a minute, though, sweetheart. I'm a strict teacher, but I'm not a monster." She flashed a smile before opening the door and letting him through first.

Fortunately for Jimmy, class was over sooner rather than later, and he was free of everyone's pesky questions, like, "What'd you get in trouble for?" and "Are you getting suspended?"

He was almost happy he got to leave for algebra until he remembered who was in his class. Scott.

This is going to be harder than I thought.