I woke up and blinked until my vision cleared. Remembering that Kaz had fallen asleep in our room last night, I slowly turned my head.

He was still there, fast asleep and a safe distance from me. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, running a hand through my hair.

"Kaz," I mumbled, shaking him roughly. "Wake up and get out."

Kaz slowly opened his eyes. He looked at me before closing his eyes and rolling over, tugging the covers up to his neck.

"Hey!" I glared and shook his again. "Wake up you lousy bed thief!"

I looked over to Leo for help, but he just shrugged at me. Mikayla was lying next to him on her phone, though they both looked barely awake themselves.

"Kaz!" I punched the back of his head and he winced. "Get out of my bed!"

He rolled over lazily. "O'Malley, I will push you out of this bed."

"It's MY bed!" I reminded. "Get out."

Kaz propped up on his elbows and yawned. He ran a hand through his messy hair, making it even worse.

"You better not have gotten hair gel all over my pillow," I said, narrowing my eyes at him.

"I might've." He pat my pillow and shrugged.

"Oh, just get out," I said, shooing him away.

Kaz sat up and crawled over me to jump off of my bed. He waited until Mikayla was up and the two of them left the room together.

Leo and I got up, heading to the bathroom. I showered and brushed my teeth, heading back to the room to get dressed in my uniform.

When I was ready for the day, I sat at my desk and waited for Leo. He buttoned up his white shirt and pulled on his maroon vest, shirt messily untucked and spilling out from under the vest.

"Let's go find the others," he said.

We left the room and met up with Kaz, Pete, and Mikayla. Kaz was unscrewing one of Pete's pill bottles. He shook out a pill and handed it to Pete as we stepped outside.

"So what are your plans of destruction for today?" Leo asked Kaz.

Kaz shrugged. "I'll figure that out as the day goes on."

"Kaz!" Beckett ran up to us, a bruise on his throat from where his brother had punched him. "Emmett tried to get me in trouble for hurting him yesterday, but I told my parents what really happened. They're pissed at him. I think they're going to make him a Maroon."

"That's a shame. I'd rather not deal with him," Kaz said.

Beckett shrugged. "He's only 15. He won't be in your classes."

"Still a pain. Rogan holds the title of anger issues posterchild for the Maroons," Kaz said. "I think Pete might take the title without his pills, though."

He easily ducked out of the way of Pete's fist. Leo and Mikayla snickered as they watched the two.

"Rowdy behavior, boys."

Leo and Beckett froze so fast that Mikayla and I almost ran into them. Kaz and Pete slowed down and turned. I copied them, facing the man who had just spoken.

He was older, probably late 40s, and dressed in a neat suit. There was such an air of power around him that I didn't even have to look at Leo's nervous face to know that this was Headmaster Constance.

"Headmaster," Kaz said, his voice surprisingly calm. "Did you need something? I thought we finished our business already."

"I just wanted to check on you three," he said, eyes roaming over Kaz, Leo, and Pete. "Mr. Sudlow told me you're still causing quite a stir of trouble. Perhaps we should have another talk, Casimir."

"Hey," Pete said, and I realized with a jolt of horror that his medication hadn't kicked in yet. "Why don't you take your false politeness and forcibly insert it into your asshole?"

Headmaster Constance didn't even react to that. He just stared Pete down with a look that sent chills down my spine despite the smile on his face.

Pete glared, clenching his fists. "You think I'm afraid of you? Man, I'd love to punch you in your fucking face."

"Easy, Pete," Kaz said, holding his hand out to warn Pete away. "Why don't you just shut that big mouth of yours until your medication kills your spirit."

Constance's eyes slid over to Beckett. "Beckett. I had an unfortunate phone call from your father last night. It seems they're considering sending your brother to a Maroon class. Such a shame that both of you let your anger get the better of you. Perhaps I should bring you in individually to work with you."

"And what's the gain for you? Beckett's never been a disruptive student," Kaz said. "He's just an asshole on the side. Keep your focus on the real trouble makers, Constance."

"Good behavior all around is what this school strives for," Constance said. He looked at me and smiled, deceptively polite. "I don't believe I recognize you."

"I'm, uh, I'm Killian," I said.

He held his hand out and I shook it, nearly wincing at the strong, confident grip he had. "Nice to meet you, Killian. Hopefully you're not getting caught up with this group."

"He follows us around because he's Leo's roommate," Kaz said, tone indicating that he was neutral towards me rather than kissing me.

"Well, hopefully he can help to keep you in line, Leo," Constance said. "Really, it'd be a shame if you kept going down the path you are. I'm sure your family would love to have you back home."

Leo's face was pale, but he tried to play off whatever silent jab Constance had taken. "Yea, well, they have another kid. I'm sure my parents aren't too lonely."

"We're going to be late to class, Constance. Goodbye," Kaz said.

"I'd hate to make a student late. I'm sure I'll be seeing you again, Casimir. All of you have a pleasant day." Headmaster Constance continued on down towards a building without a glance back at any of us.

"If you see him, walk the other way," Kaz warned me. "He was in a good mood today. He works best when he gets kids alone. Hard to do mental torture when someone has friends there to help them out."

"Great. Fantastic. So glad I'm caught up with you people," I said, though I knew Kaz had been trying to protect me and Beckett.

We made our way to class and took our seats. Classes were surprisingly calm until we reached Mr. Sudlow's.

Of course the guy was still nurturing a grudge towards Kaz for yesterday. He kept shooting Kaz glares as he started his lesson.

"So, Mr. Warrick here wanted to bring up bad things people do," Mr. Sudlow said, bringing up an image onto the projector.

It was the article I had found in the library yesterday, the one about Kaz's arrest. I looked over at Kaz, but he seemed amused.

"Go ahead, Casimir, confess to what you did," Mr. Sudlow said.

"I stole something I probably shouldn't have, and I got caught. Surely you know how to read a newspaper article," Kaz said, gesturing to it.

"And what did you steal, you greedy little thief?" Mr. Sudlow said, voice getting nastier with each word.

"I stole a statue the founder of our school made," Kaz said. "It had money in it from our school fundraiser. I broke into the protective casing and took the statue and money. Got caught, got sent here. You're treating it like I should be embarrassed. Really, I'm pretty impressed by myself that I managed to steal it in the first place."

"And how did your parents feel? Seeing the shame of their lives in handcuffs?" Mr. Sudlow said, grinning a little.

Kaz's lips twitched, a barely noticeable movement. "I'm sure they were pretty bummed."

"What are you getting at?" I asked before Mr. Sudlow could speak again. He was taking cheap shots to hurt Kaz, and it was actually working. Kaz's family was his weak point, and Constance had probably figured that out and told Kaz's teachers. "Who cares if he stole something? We've all done bad things. Aren't you supposed to be a teacher? Get teaching. Kaz has a big enough ego without you stroking it."

Mr. Sudlow shot me a terrifying look and I made a mental note to sew my mouth shut for the rest of my short life. I realized just how short it was when he snatched a ruler off his desk and started making his way towards me.

"I knew it would only be a matter of time before you became trouble," he snarled, raising the ruler as he got closer.

"What's the point of hitting him?" Kaz's voice was easy-going, but the words left him rather quickly. "I thought this was about me. Killian is right Sudlow; keep stroking my ego."

Mr. Sudlow didn't hesitate to spin around and hit Kaz in the side of the face with the ruler. "I am so sick of you, Warrick."

"And here I thought we were starting a friendship," Kaz said, rubbing his face.

Mr. Sudlow went back to the front of the room and pulled up the police log with Kaz's name. "And at 15, Warrick?"

"Now, in my defense on that one, it was a little harmless fun," Kaz said, back to being amused by the situation. "We were just having a little fun, and I ended up taking someone's wallet."

"Hey, speaking of wallets, you never gave me mine back!" Pete said.

"Oh, right, I guess I do still have that. Remind me when we get back to our room," Kaz said.

Mr. Sudlow glared at them, getting pissed off as his plan of humiliating Kaz failed horribly. Kaz was someone who didn't seem bothered by much, and I doubted using his past against him would do much damage. It was only when his family got mentioned that he seemed truly bothered.

Mr. Sudlow shut down his computer and spent the rest of the lesson going on and on about laws and the legal system, targeting specific kids like Mikayla, Pete, Kaz, and two girls I didn't know as he talked about jail time.

"Break the laws, get arrested," Mr. Sudlow said as my eyes had a staring contest with the clock. The period was so close to being over. "Your brother would know about that, right Mikayla?"

Oh shit. OH SHIT BOY HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GIRL'S MUSCLES DO NOT FUCK WITH HER.

Mikayla shot him the dirtiest look I had ever seen someone give. "You're standing up here lecturing about laws as you beat kids, you hypocritical fucker. If abusive shits like you would just get arrested, the rest of us could live in peace. Take all the stabs you want; I would've gladly helped my brother if I could've. He's not the bad person here."

Mr. Sudlow scribbled on a detention slip before slamming it on Mikayla's desk. She held her middle finger up to him before taking it.

The period finally ended and we all hurried out of there. We gathered outside as kids moved around us to get to the dining hall.

"Kaz, are you okay?" I asked, feeling bad that I'd gotten him hurt.

"Hm? Yea," he said. "Take a walk with me, O'Malley."

"Yea, you guys better get away before Mika blows," Leo said, slinging an arm around her shoulders. "We're going to go for a run before class to blow off some steam."

"I'm going to go stuff my face full of food alone," Pete said.

"Go find Beckett and eat with him," Kaz said before walking away. I hurried after him.

When I was sure no one was close enough to hear us, I glanced at Kaz. "Why did you steal the statue? You don't strike me as someone who's after money."

"I wasn't. I was doing it to spite Aaron," Kaz said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Him and his brother were planning to use me to steal it. That's why we broke up."

"Because you stole it?" I said in confusion.

"No. Because our whole relationship was just Aaron's way of leading me up to bigger and bigger theft jobs so I'd eventually take that statue. Our school raised a lot of money and put it all in the statue. It was in a super protective case. Aaron figured he could break into it, but he didn't know how to take the statue without leaving a trace. Him and his brother, Bruce, knew I could do it." He smiled a little. "So I did it. But not for them. And I got caught and sent here. It was for the best, really."

"So this guy you had a crush on used you," I said, realization dawning on me. "That's what Constance got in your head over. He convinced you that you were doing that to us."

Kaz nodded. "Bingo, O'Malley."

"Your whole relationship with this Aaron guy..."

"He wanted things. I was good at stealing things. He did all the prep work and I stole whatever he was after," Kaz said. "That's how I got arrested the first time. Taking the fall for Aaron. He stole a guy's wallet, but he wasn't very good at theft. The guy noticed and came after us. I told him I took it. Turns out the guy was a cop."

"Jesus, Kaz," I said in surprise. "You live an exciting life, apparently. Either that or you date really stupid guys."

"It was exciting. All of it was. Aaron was all about living with a racing heart. But, see, I don't particularly care to be used. He got his fun and I got mine and then I called it quits on him when he had his biggest job for me as the final 'fuck you' to him," Kaz said.

He was trying to play it off as easy-going, but I could hear the smallest hint of sorrow in his voice. And suddenly, I really hated this Aaron guy.

"Well, if he was using you, good riddance to the guy. He'll get caught again and he'll pay for his own mistakes," I said.

Kaz turned to hide his smile. "I guess you're right. Aaron can be rather careless from time to time. It won't be long before he gets himself into trouble. Careful, though, O'Malley. People are going to think you actually care about me if you keep talking like that."

I blushed and Kaz laughed. I glared at him. "Shut it. I can see the tips of your ears turning red."

The tips of his ears got even redder and Kaz rolled his eyes, trying to play it off. He stopped walking and looked up, squinting at the sky.

"It's a nice day out," he said.

"Thanks, Al Roker."

Kaz looked at me and I felt my breath catch a little because no one had ever looked at me like that before. Like there was a beautiful day surrounding them but all they could see in the world was me.

My mouth was trying to form words that would be incredibly awkward and ruin the moment, but my brain wouldn't cooperate. Kaz smiled at me, a genuine smile that made him look nice even with his stupid haircut.

How? How could anyone have him and use him? Kaz was a lot of bad things, but he was also a lot of good things. He cared about people; he risked himself to keep them safe. He loved his friends and family with a silent intensity that I respected. How could Aaron only see the side of Kaz that Kaz couldn't control? How could he use Kaz's stealing impulse and not give a damn about Kaz's personality?

Me @ Me: YOU HAVE A CRUSH SOS

"Oh, god fucking dammit, I didn't ask for this!" I said in frustration.

"Ask for what?" Kaz asked.

"This!" I said and grabbed him, yanking him close and kissing him.

Kaz kissed me back, putting his arms around me, loose enough that I could pull away if I wanted to but tight enough to let me know he didn't want me to.

I twisted my fingers into the fabric of his vest as I kissed him, wishing I could meet Aaron and punch him the damn face for making Kaz sad. Kaz acted like he was over whatever had happened, but the frequency in which he brought up Aaron gave him away. It was still on his mind, it was still taunting him, it was still getting to him after all this time.

I made a silent promise to myself to never hurt Kaz the way Aaron had. I also made a silent promise to kick Aaron in the crotch if I ever met him.

Kaz and I pulled away from each other, just slightly. He pressed his forehead against mine and kissed me again, kissed me in a way that clung to this moment as if it was limited. Kaz was someone who cherished these little moments. Leave it to me to fall for a thief that doubled as a sappy guy.

I tried not to think about it as we kissed, but I couldn't help it. Constance and the teachers used Kaz's family against him because the people he loved were his weak spot.

Kaz drew me closer to his body as our kisses deepened. If the Blues or the teachers or even Constance found out about us, who knew how far they would go to use it against Kaz. I might be his source of happiness right now, but I could be the blade that finally cut him deep enough to make him bleed.

I mentally sighed and enjoyed our kissing while it lasted. Knowing Conversion Academy, things would go wrong by the end of the day. Good job heart; you picked the worst possible guy to get to attached to.

-----------------------------

A.N.- Alright guys, I've been sitting on this idea for a while, but I suppose now is a good time to ask you! When Conversion Academy is done, would you guys like a prequel about Kaz (which may or may not focus on his relationship with Aaron and how he ended up at the Academy)?