This was quite possibly the worst day of my whole damn life.

                Grades had been released today, and the school posted them to promote students to work harder. And, oh god, my grades were actually good.

                Really good. So good, I was higher up than Drew Pawlikowski in the rankings.

                "I'm dead, I'm dead," I mumbled to myself as I moved through the hallways. It was the end of the day and I was infinitely relieved we didn't have a Social Action meeting today. Tyson texted us to let us know it was cancelled since the twins were busy helping their dad and Connor had to take his dog to the groomer's.

                That meant, at least, that Drew couldn't corner me before or after the meeting. It did mean I had to make it out of the school and down to my car without him killing me, though. I'd been relying on my Invisible Boy status all day to avoid him and so far so good.

                I guess it made sense that my grades were so good. They'd slipped a lot after Dylan's death. But now that I lived here and spent so much time alone at Uncle Brian's house, doing homework was a way to keep myself occupied. So I worked on it, putting a lot of effort into it to kill time, boredom, and loneliness. Of course my grades would go up.

                I rounded the corner and nearly ran right into Drew. My eyes widened and I tried to back up, but he grabbed my blazer.

                "You told me I had nothing to worry about," he said, throwing me against the lockers. "I figured I'd run into you if I waited by the exit."

                I put my hands up in surrender. "People get good grades. That doesn't justify murdering them or beating them."

                "You were mocking me the whole time, weren't you?" Drew demanded. "You played down how smart you were so that you could come out on top and mock the rest of us."

                "What? No!" I said. "I'm not smart. If I was, I wouldn't be in this current situation because I would've thought to take a different exit. See? Stupid!"

                "He's very stupid, I can confirm."

                Drew shot a dirty look at Tyson. Tyson leaned against the lockers and gestured at Drew to release me.

                "Go on and drop him. I have some business with him," Tyson said. He glanced at me. "Leave it to you to be such a pain. I needed to talk to you and instead I end up saving you."

                "You think you're such hot shit," Drew snapped. "You're nothing, you fucking cyclops."

                "Oh no," Tyson said in surprise, putting his hand over his fake eye. "Some people are blind in one eye. I'm so offended over your clever, original insult."

                "You shouldn't make fun of people for things they can't help," I said to Drew, glaring at him. "It's not his fault he's half-blind."

                "Okay, now that's a very debatable statement," Tyson said. "Anyways, I don't have time for elementary insults. So drop Nolan and get out of my sight. It's not a hard task, considering I'm a cyclops."

                "You think you and your friends are so fucking great," Drew said.

                "We are," Tyson said in confusion. "I'm a very great person. Right, Nolan?"

                "You're a very egotistical person," I said. "I'm not sure that's the same thing."

                "Look, we get it. Someone has higher grades than you and your academic aggression is telling you to beat the shit out of him. But his grades will still be higher, you won't feel any better, and your parents still won't be proud of you. So quit wasting my time," Tyson said.

                "I've heard the rumors about you," Drew said, giving Tyson a darkly smug look. "You're not one to talk."

                "Rumors, rumors, rumors." Tyson shook his head. "I'm sure whatever you heard was very fascinating and very false. And guess what? You're still wasting my time."

                The change was so subtle I nearly missed it. But Tyson had pulled his shoulders back just the slightest at Drew's words, his expression shifting just the slightest towards that impatient anger he sometimes let slip during Social Action meetings.

                "Come and make me drop him," Drew challenged.

                Tyson raised an eyebrow. "Fighting isn't my style." He slapped on his dazzling smile, his whole face transforming with the act. "But playing dirty is my style. One quick picture and a phone call to my good friend officer Corr..."

                Drew released me and stepped back, looking furious. "You're pathetic."

                "You were going to hit someone because he had better grades than you," Tyson pointed out.

                "He's got a point," I said, and scurried over to Tyson before Drew could grab me again. "What's done is done. I can't change my grades. You'll just have to work harder."

                "Piss off," Drew said, stepping towards us.

                Tyson moved in front of me, staring down Drew with disinterest. "You can start a fight, that's fine. Just remember that I'm best friends with Corr's kid, and I have a spotless reputation around this school. At least with the authority figures. Take your chances, throw some punches, and see who comes out grinning."

                Drew gave us both a dirty look before storming away, disappearing around the corner. Tyson blew out a sigh and shook his head.

                "An absolute pain," he said, turning to face me.

                I was curious about the rumors, but it was clearly something that upset Tyson. So I bit back those questions and just smiled.

                "Thanks for helping me," I said.

                "Learn to stand up for yourself." He started walking and I hurried to follow him. "I'm not going to save your sorry ass every time."

                "I have a cute ass," I said. "Especially in these slacks."

                "I should've let him hit you," Tyson said.

                "You're not disagreeing with me, though," I said.

                "Moving on, I did have things to talk to you about. Come to my house," he said, pushing open the exit and starting for the parking lot.

                "My cute ass and I will be there," I said.

                "Better learn to fend for yourself, because I am not wasting my time saving you next time he gets his hands on you," he said, unlocking his car and getting in.

                I laughed a little and got in my car, glad that had ended well. Drew was so damn aggressive about his academics. Sometimes this school drove me crazy.

                I followed Tyson to his house and we parked our cars, getting out. Tyson led me inside, our shoes going in the closet before we walked out.

                "Hi Ty," Mr. Strazio greeted. "Hi Nolan."

                "We're going to study. Leave us alone until dinner," Tyson said.

                Mr. Strazio furrowed his brow and came over to Tyson, checking his pockets. Tyson jumped back in surprise and scowled as his dad checked his school bag.

                "What the hell are you doing, dad?" Tyson said in irritation.

                "I'm looking for your manners," he said, digging through Tyson's schoolbag more.

                "Oh my god, I hate this whole stupid family. Please leave us alone until dinner so we can study," Tyson said, yanking his bag away from his dad.

                "Oh, there are the manners!" Mr. Strazio said in relief. "I was beginning to think you'd lost them."

                "You're so funny," Tyson said dryly.

                "That was kind of funny," I said.

                "No one asked you," Tyson said, grabbing my arm and pulling me out of the room. "Tell mom Nolan's staying for dinner."

                We went into Tyson's room and he locked the door. I took a seat on his bed, watching him curiously as he sat at his desk and turned to face me.

                "Farren and Nyssa checked the lockers today," Tyson said, digging in his bag and pulling out an envelope. "We always get a lot of requests after grades are released, because that's when the bullies get even more aggressive. But today, we've already gotten three requests for one person. Alex Camillo, a guy who apparently got very aggressive after seeing his grades drop this time around. He's apparently starting to get very physical towards his victims."

                Tyson opened the envelope and held up three $20 bills, each with a note attached. He put them back in the envelope and stuck it in his bag.

                "I guess I should be lucky my dad didn't find that while pulling his little joke. I keep it stuffed in a textbook, but usually it's not my business to handle the notes and cash," Tyson said. "Anyways, the point here is that if we get any more requests for this guy, he might be a priority. We'll need to do some investigative work right away. Connor said he'll look into it when he gets home."

                "What does that have to do with me? You know I'll help with the job," I said.

                "Remember how I had Connor look into you when you first joined the club? He checked out the files the school had on you, and he did some basic research on Alex and found that you guys are currently living in the same neighborhood," Tyson said. "I need you to take a walk around, stealthily scope out what you can about the house, and report it back to me."

                "I can do that," I said with a nod.

                "If the cops got called and the neighborhood had commotion, would your Uncle wake up?" he asked.

                I hesitated. "I don't actually know. I doubt he'd come to check my room."

                My Uncle was a good person, but he wasn't exactly a protective parent type. He only took me in because I was his sister's son, and she'd begged him. He was good to me, but we weren't close and I'm sure he'd be relieved when I graduated and left his house.

                "Lock your door just to be safe," Tyson said. "We don't need you ruining this for us."

                "I won't. I'm not going to get caught," I said. "I'll lock my door whenever we got after this Alex guy."

                "Good," he said. "Then that's settled. Take your walk as soon as you can. I'll bring the pills to knock any animals out just to be safe, and we'll sneak in through the back. Less likely to trigger automatic lights or get caught on security cameras that way. Now, let's do our homework. I have a ton."

                We pulled out our work and fell into silence. I was still curious about what rumors Drew had been referring to, but I was slowly learning my way around Tyson's moods and didn't want to set him off into a bad one.

                It was a while before his parents called us down for dinner. We got up and left his room, heading down to the dining room and sitting at the table.

                "I keep seeing all these people talking about Linda Andel's article," Mr. Strazio said, scrolling on his phone. "Did you see it, Ty? Their house got broken into. Her daughter Tiffany was harassed by whoever is behind these break-ins."

                "I saw the article," Tyson said, stacking food onto his plate. "They released the names of other targets, right?"

                "Yea, all of them were Braxton students," Mr. Strazio said. "The police are pretty sure whoever is behind this is either a student or employee at Braxton. It's scary to think about."

                "I'm tempted to give you a bat to keep in your room," Mrs. Strazio said, sitting down next to her husband. "According to Mrs. Andel's article, the person behind it left a list of students and why they were targeted. Seems they were all bullying other Braxton students."

                "Braxton does have a bullying problem," Tyson said.

                "Has anyone given either of you trouble?" Mrs. Strazio asked, looking genuinely concerned even though I wasn't her son.

                "Nah, why would anyone bully me? I'm smart, good looking, a charming young man. There's nothing to pick on me over," Tyson said, dazzling smile in place.

                "I worry about you after all those kids picked on you about your eye," Mrs. Strazio said.

                "Well, I'm not wearing an eyepatch anymore. I doubt most of them even remember it's a fake," Tyson said. "Can you blame them for making fun of me? God, I looked like a pirate."

                "You wore an eyepatch?" I said.

                "My glass eye didn't magically appear right after the accident," Tyson said. "Those things take time. I had an eyepatch for a while. I looked like I was going to show up at the end of a superhero movie and recruit them to the Avengers."

                "You can totally tell me I'm being nosy and rude and I'll shut right up. But did you...shoot out your own eye?" I said. He'd only told me it was a BB gun accident. I doubted it had anything to do with Mallory, but if Mallory had kids, maybe they'd been involved?

                Tyson seemed to see the double meaning in my eyes. "It's not what you're thinking. Some friends and I were just shooting in one of their backyards, you know, stupid things like cans and chipmunks. I had shot a can off the table we were using, so I went to pick it up and put it back. We were just kids, so we weren't very smart or safety oriented. One of the boys started shooting at a chipmunk when I started to stand up, and he shot me in the eye instead."

                "Alright, alright, it's dinner time," Mrs. Strazio said, but I could see how upset she still was over the accident. "You did not look like a pirate back then. You better tell me if anyone at school gives you trouble, Tyson."

                "I'll just hire the Zigor twins as my personal bodyguards. Well, maybe not Talon. He's not reliable. Nyssa would hit a bitch, though," Tyson said.

                "Tyson Lee, watch your language!" Mrs. Strazio said, shooting him a look. "I apologize for my filthy mouthed son, Nolan."

                I laughed a little. "It's fine, Mrs. Strazio. I've adjusted to him by now."

                We started eating and talking to his parents about our days. I let Tyson do most of the talking, but Mr. and Mrs. Strazio tried to pull me into the conversation if I hadn't said anything for too long.

                We were nearly done eating when Tyson pulled out his phone and checked a message. "I'm going to the twins' house after I eat."

                "Alright. Don't stay out too late, though. You need to sleep or your body is going to shut down," Mrs. Strazio said, getting up and starting to gather the plates.

                "You're coming, too," Tyson said to me.

                "Lucky me," I said. "Will Talon have his clothes on?"

                "Probably not. He is very prone to taking them off at random times," Tyson said, texting on his phone for a moment before putting it back in his pocket. "Let's go."

                We got up and I helped Tyson and his parents clear the table. I went upstairs to grab my stuff before following Tyson outside.

                "Just ride with me," he said, unlocking his car and getting in. "Then I don't have to worry about making sure you can follow me the whole time."

                I got in his car and he hooked his phone up, tossing it to me as he backed out of the driveway. I scrolled through his songs, settling on one and turning the volume up a bit.

                "There's something inside you, it's hard to explain. They're talking about you boy, but you're still the same." The music drifted out and Tyson pushed my hand away so he could turn it down a bit.

                "Why are we going to the twins'?" I asked.

                "Social Action business," he said. "They have some news for me about Alex. We never have physical messages about what we do. No texts, emails, nothing. Everything is always in person. Only Connor ever does anything that could incriminate him, but he knows how to cover his tracks."

                I let the topic drop and stared out of the window as we drove, thinking about that night he drove us around until we both felt better. I was learning when to let silence settle between us. It wasn't an awkward silence anymore, it was just both of us lost in our own thoughts, comforted by the presence of another person. Alone together with our thoughts working their way through us.

                It was a few minutes before Tyson pulled into a driveway. We got out of the car and up to the front door, Tyson ringing the doorbell.

                A man in a paint-stained sweater and old jeans answered. "Tyson! I haven't seen you in a while."

                "I've been busy, Mr. Zigor. This is Nolan. He's the new member of the Social Action Club," Tyson said, both of us stepping into the house.

                "My kids are...upstairs? Probably," Mr. Zigor said. "I think they went to shower when we got home from that job I needed them on."

                "Thanks," Tyson said, leading me into the house and towards the stairs.

                "Strazio! Not even a hello?"

                We looked over at the twins' grandma. She put her hands on her hips and fixed Tyson with a look.

                "I saw Vinny in the store the other day and he almost ignored me too. Claimed he didn't see me. You certainly earned the Strazio name, you rude kid," she said.

                "You just don't like me because I won't date your granddaughter," Tyson said.

                She waved her hand dismissively. "My Nyssa is far too good for you. Go on and see those kids, get out of my sight." She had a slight smile on her face despite her words, a playfulness to her that told me she was fond of Tyson even if she liked to pick on him.

                "Won't date her granddaughter?" I asked as we went up the stairs.

                "I'm a handsome young man from a good family, and I run a club dedicated to volunteer work," Tyson said. "What's not to love?"

                "The twin, probably," I said.

                Tyson knocked on a door. "Let me in so your grandma thinks we're doing scandalous things together."

                Nyssa pulled the door open. "She only wanted us to date when she first met you. Now she actually knows you, Ty."

                "Where's your shadow?" Tyson asked, letting himself into Nyssa's room.

                "He was showering," Nyssa said. "He'll probably come barging in. He hasn't seen me in almost a half hour."

                "He's very clingy to Nyssa," Tyson informed me. "When I first met them, he hated me."

                "Talon is bad at socializing," Nyssa said, sitting on her bed and pulling her wet hair into a ponytail. "Our parents fault, really. They didn't try to separate us when we were growing up. Talon got way too clingy. Thank god you eased that a bit, Ty."

                "Just doing the Lord's work," Tyson said.

                The door flung open and Talon came in, wearing just shorts and a towel around his neck. He paused and glanced between me and Tyson.

                "A scandal?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

                "Tell me what you found," Tyson said, neither confirming nor denying Talon's question.

                "Our dad worked on Alex's house two years ago. He digitizes detailed blueprints so he can play around with the work he needs to do. If Connor can hack our dad's system, we'll know the full layout of the house. I don't know if there will be any information about security systems, but at least we'll know where the bedrooms are," Nyssa said.

                "And, we can help Connor hack," Talon said. "We know the programs our dad uses."

                "This is good," Tyson said. "I have a feeling more complaints for Alex will come in by tomorrow."

                "Are you going to make another big display of it like you did with Tiffany's hit?" Talon asked.

                Tyson shrugged. "We'll see what I come up with." He gestured to me. "What we come up with. I'm not doing all the damn work."

                "I already told you I'd help!" I said.

                "I'm sure you will," Talon said, laughing when Nyssa elbowed him.

                "Go put a shirt on," Tyson said, yanking the towel off Talon's shoulders and hitting him with it. "If that's all, I'm going back home. I have more homework to do."

                "Not all," Nyssa said. "Do you have the envelope? We'll hide it so you don't get caught with it."

                Tyson pulled the envelope out of his pocket and tossed it to Nyssa. "Now are we done?"

                "Now we're done." Nyssa chucked a pillow at her brother. "Go put a shirt on before you stay in my room, Tal."

                "You're so rude, Nys," Talon said.

                "Your grandma is downstairs," Tyson said.

                "Fuck, shit, I'm going to put a shirt on before she sees me," Talon said in alarm, hurrying out of the room.

                "See you," Tyson said, leaving the room.

                "Nolan!" Nyssa said before I could leave. I faced her curiously. "Watch him, please. With Mallory involved, I'm worried."

                "I will," I promised. "You can trust me."

                "I don't really have a choice anymore," she said.

                I left her room, hurrying to catch up to Tyson. We left the twins' house and got back in his car, both of us silent as the music played around us.

                We reached his house and got out of the car. I caught his arm before he could head for his house.

                "What? I'm a busy man," he said.

                "I know." I tugged him closer, meeting his eyes.

                He gave the slightest nod before I kissed him. He kissed me back, his hand brushing against my hair before resting against my back.

                "So we understand each other now," I said, pulling away from his lips.

                "Very clearly." He kissed me again and turned away towards the house. "I do have a lot of homework to get done. I can't be making out in my driveway all night."

                "Goodnight, Tyson," I said.

                "Goodnight, Nolan," he said.

                It was my name. It was a kiss. It was subtly mismatched eyes and an arrogant grin. It was silent trust and understanding. It was me and Tyson.

                I got in my car, driving away from his house. He was busy now. There'd be time for more later. His nod had confirmed that.

                I was starting to figure out what happiness was.