MATEO HAD JUMPED OUT of bed Friday, but when he had put his hand on the windowsill, ready to climb over, the memories of their fight came back. So he pulled his hand back, as if burned, and walked to his bathroom. The shower he took was so cold he had to bite his lip, but it did him good.

Gabriela had been right. He was broken and self-destructing, it was all too obvious from his bruised knuckles and blue skin. She had told him and he had done exactly that, so there was no way he was going to pull her down with him. Not her, never her.

Before he left he quickly sent her mother a text asking if the car was available today, because he couldn't bring her. She replied immediately with a worried message, asking him if he was sick and if so, that she was bringing soup over. It brought a smile to his lips.

The ride to school he went way too fast, but it was the only way to get all those damned thoughts out of his head. It didn't take him long to get there and when he set foot in the halls, Chase practically tackled him.

"Hey man," he grinned," excited for the weekend?"

"Uh-huh," Mateo said, his voice sounding a bit off.

He swallowed and shook his head, flashing a smile more like him then. "You have any plans?"

"Not yet," Chase said as he threw his arm around Mateo's shoulders," but we can make some."

Jay rounded the corner then and Chase froze. Their fight at the party had made the dynamic between them more awkward than ever, but still Mateo didn't hesitate in calling out to his friend.

"Hey," Mateo smiled," get a lot of sleep?"

"What do you think?" Jay yawned, before stiffly nodding at Chase.

Chase watched him hesitantly, like a tiger assessing the danger. He was close to drawing a conclusion when Mateo pulled both of them closer, his arms around their shoulders.

"Come on now," he said," it's behind us, alright? We're all friends here."

"Who would listen to that?" Jay scowled.

"Okay, you're right," Chase said, his troubled eyes clearing up.

Jay looked at him with wide eyes, perplexed, but Chase had already moved on to a new subject. "By the way, do any of you have answers ready for carreer counseling today?"

"Oh shit," Mateo sighed, his hand rubbing his temple," I forgot about that. Do you think Clarkson will mind?"

Their principal was the one who insisted on having a chat with all the seniors about their future carreer choices. He had a personal file for each of them and evaluated the options based on their characters. It was a time-consuming process, which started Monday with the first class and ended Friday, but Mateo had never heard him complain about it.

"With you?" Chase said," certainly not. The man loves you to death." He peeked at Jay then. "What about you, edgy boy? Do you know what you want to do?"

"Go to an Ivy League," Jay said, no emotion in his voice," and study economics and politics."

Chase whistled. "Two studies at the same time? And an Ivy League? Wouldn't expect less from the son of an ambassador."

Jay just shrugged.

The atmosphere in class was busy and a bit stressed as people talked about possible carreer choices. There weren't many teachers who could have made them take this so seriously, but they all either adored or feared the principal, so no one wanted to show up empty-handed. Mateo was glad he wasn't the only one who had forgotten, but his distractions flew away as soon as he saw Gabriela.

She was sitting in the back, talking to Penelope and Sahar, her smile as dazzling as always. He averted his eyes, unable to look at her for too long.

"Jay, just in time," the teacher noted from his desk," you're up first. The principal is waiting."

Mateo did the first thing he could think of then; he grabbed Jay's arm and stared at him.

"Take me along," he pleaded.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Jay frowned.

"I can't go in the classroom right now."

"Why not?"

Mateo ran a hand through his hair, messing whatever had remained of his hairdo up even more. When Jay saw he wouldn't get an answer, he sighed.

"Okay," he said, before holding up a finger," just this once, Martinez."

He turned towards the teacher then. "Sir, can Mateo show me the way?"

"Why can't you just go yourself?" the teacher frowned.

"Sir, I'm new," Jay said.

"You've been here for three weeks already."

Jay looked at Mateo and before he could even say anything, his friend had already pushed him forward.

"Mateo will explain," he said.

"Sir," Mateo said," you know I am a guiding light for all these students and particularly for Jay. Not only are we attached at the hip, but he's my brother from another mother -"

"Please stop," the teacher said, his hand raised towards him," you can go. Don't subject me to another one of your speeches, Martinez."

Mateo flashed him a mischievous grin, before saluting him and walking with Jay towards the principal's office. He may have been acting like a coward, but there was no way he was going to trouble Gabriela with all those mixed emotions of his.

And then there was that pride of his, that damned pride, telling him he had nothing to apologize for. He cleared his head, not willing to keep thinking about it, and took a position beside Jay, who was knocking on the principal's door.

"You're really coming with?" Jay frowned," I thought you were only saying that to skip class."

"I'm a man of my word, Jay-Jay," he said.

"Please don't ever call me that again."

"Come in, Jay."

The principal smiled when Jay entered and though Mateo was a bit worried, Clarkson beamed at him as soon as he noticed him.

"Mateo," he said," what are you doing here, son?"

"I didn't want to let Jay go alone," Mateo said.

And perhaps Clarkson wouldn't notice he didn't have any idea yet about his future carreer if he was with Jay.

"Kind of you," the principal laughed, before gesturing at the chairs in front of him," take a seat, the both of you."

Mateo sprawled himself out on the chair, his arm slung behind it and his legs wide, already looking forward to just letting Jay do the talking. As if he could hear what he was thinking, Clarkson immediately looked at him.

"I'm excited to hear your carreer choices as well, Mateo," he said.

"As you should be," Mateo said with a lazy smirk, not letting the starting panic show at all.

"Okay, Jay," Clarkson said, folding his hands on the table," tell me, have you thought about what you want to do yet?"

As Jay told the principal the same thing he had told Mateo earlier, his thoughts wandered off. What was he going to do with his future? He never really had thought about it. Somewhere he supposed he would just stay in this small town forever, working with his hands and hopefully living in a nice house, with Gabriela by his side.

"Economics and politics?" Clarkson said," you want to do both?"

Jay nodded.

"Why?"

It seemed like he hadn't expected that, Jay blinking in surprise as he stared at Clarkson. "What do you mean why?"

"I mean," he said," why do you want to do that?"

"To follow in my father's footsteps," Jay said, a bit stiffly," it was what he did after all."

"Are you your father?" Clarkson said.

It wasn't an attack nor did he sound like he was judging him; it was merely a question, curious, a bit concerned. Clarkson always had had that voice, the one which made it sound like he cared for them all, so much. With a glance at the name on his wrist Mateo wondered if that had set him on his carreer path, as head of a school full of delinquents.

"No," Jay said, before adding defensively," but can't I make the same choices?"

"I'm not saying you can't, son," Clarkson said calmly," I'm just saying you are so much more than that man."

Jay frowned. "Do you not like my father or something?"

"Well, to be honest," he said," no."