*(Is this all we see?)*

~*Chapter 36*~

Midnight hurried to the school entrance when Fawn dropped him off. He didn't want to see Nick. He didn't want to look at his stupid, beautiful face.

No matter how much he wanted to look at him or talk to him, all of it was useless. The feelings. The appreciation for a friend. None of it mattered. He wouldn't talk to him. And he didn't want to try.

He didn't need him. He was just stupid anyway. 'Stupid me for thinking someone wanted to be friends with me.' Thinking of it made him angry, at himself more than anyone else. More than Nick anyway.

He pressed on the strap of his satchel. Nick was at the far side of the school with a cigarette in his mouth. He was laughing with the usual guys, other than Jack and Zane. Noah wasn't there either. Everyone in their violent group besides him. 'That's weird.' But Levi was there, Midnight could feel a lump roll down his throat. 

He didn't meet his brown eyes. Even if he knew Nick was looking at him. It was a feeling. He could be wrong but the feeling of a stare was on him. He walked passed everyone without looking up to Mr. Kelve's room. He was at his desk when he hung in the doorway.

Midnight knocked. "My mom told me you called and needed to see me."

"Yes Midnight." He walked into the classroom, standing at his teachers desk. "I wanted to report to you on your grades." 'Oh how excited I am for this.'

"You are doing much better. I am very impressed with your results so far. You've improved for the semester." 'Oh yeah they renamed them into semesters.' "And since we have a month until it's over I would like you to stay for the rest of semester to improve even better. After it has ended, you no longer have to stay after."

Midnight nodded. It was better than he thought. He thought his teacher would have said he was failing still and would have to take the sophomore class all over again. He never had to do this in guardian school. 'Then again I was threatened with expulsion there.' "That's great Mr. Kelve. Thank you. I will um..come back for a study guide later."

"Of course." Mr. Kelve went back to typing on his computer. "Have a nice day Midnight."

"You too."

~~~~~

Midnight ran outside to have lunch. He just picked up what was free there. A ham sandwich and the usual water. He also brought out his binder with his new study guide in it.

It was cold. The January wind was freezing the tip of his nose and blowing his dark brown straightened hair through the air. He quickly opened his binder after placing his satchel on the ground. He planted himself on the still uncovered stump that was in front of his tree. 

Well, he liked to call it his tree. Once it got warmer during the spring he could actually sit against it and draw like he wanted to. That was before he was failing. And before them. Before Nick. 'Fuck. Stop thinking about him. He's not going to come running back.' 

He pinched his fingers on the wrapping and pulled it away from the bread, stuffing the food in his mouth. Midnight didn't eat in the morning, or not very often anyway, but he was hungry. And a bit hyped after the news that after the first semesters end he could finally go home straight after school.

That would be nice. 

He looked over all the words. The hard ones he looked over the most. 

'Crunch.'

"What the hell?" Midnight didn't want to look up. 'Crunch.' Again. He felt his skin prickle. 

"Wow look who came out." Noah. He almost choked on his own breath. His hands fell in his lap. "What, Noah?" 

"Heyy." Noah held his hands up in defense. He also stepped back. "I'm just looking for Nick. You know where he is?" 

"No." Midnight didn't want to sound angry. But he did. "Why would I?"

"Because you two are like super close." Noah stated, sitting next to Midnight on the patch of clear, dead grass. "Anyway I came in late so I thought he would be with you."

"Well he doesn't want to be near me anymore. He hates me Noah."

"What?"

"He hates me. And I am surprised you didn't even know." 

"Well I knew about the car crash obviously. But I wasn't there. I had to go early. Nick, Levi, Kevin, Jack and Zane all went. I heard about it...Jack and Zane got the worst of it." Noah shook his head. "They're still in the hospital with a lot of broken bones and injuries like that." Noah took a deep breath, fluffing a hand through his fading blonde hair. "But if I knew why Nick hated you I would say...Nick cares a lot more than he's letting on." 

"What do you mean?"

"I just mean that he probably doesn't actually hate you. It's probably just a little mood of his. He's always like that to me." He chuckled lightly. "Nick always has a complex." 

"Of course he does." Midnight rolled his eyes. Looking back to his paper as the silence consumed them. He assumed Noah didn't know what to say; but he didn't either. He finished his sandwhich and put the wrapper on the floor next to him. Noah picked it up. "You know, I think Nick likes you."

"Shut up." Midnight hit his arm with his elbow.

"Come on. You know how much he cares about you I wouldn't doubt if he was gay." 

"He has a girlfriend." Midnight argued. He put his paper in his binder and put his binder in his bag. He looked at him. "Brittney remember?"

"I don't even consider her his girlfriend. He pays more attention to you than her. He picked you up and let you wear his clothes overnight to sleep at his house in time of need. He never lets her do that."

"He's probably done that to Brittney too, you just don't know about it." 

"I doubt it." Noah smiled up at him. "They've been in a bad place for months. Ever since they started dating. Give him time to breath. I think he just needs to cool off after the accident." 

'But it's my fault for the accident. I didn't stop him. It's my fault.' Midnights head was screaming. It was his fault. But he couldn't help but think Noah was right.

He might be.

_________

Thanks for reading! 

~Liz <3