Just to clear things out, the vent was large enough for them to be sitting without touching the ceiling.

The group was taking a rest, and John asked Alex, "Hey, are we going to be okay?"

Alexander looked up, looking tenderly at John. "Yes. We'll find a way out."

"What is the way out?"

Alex smiled sadly at John. "I have no clue. But we will make it, John. I'll protect you. I swear I won't let anything bad happen to you."

The freckled boy snuggled into Alex's shoulder, resting his head on it. "You would do that for me?"

"Sure," was Alex's answer. He looked away to another direction zoning out into his thoughts. When he stopped, he noticed that Thomas was looking in his direction. As soon as Alex fixed his eyes on Thomas, Thomas looked away. Weird, Alex thought.

While he thought no one had noticed this, Lafayette did. He slowly and discretely made his way towards Thomas and pushed him away from the group. "Do you have a problem with Alex?" he asked.

"Uh, duh? I hate him?"

"If you really hate him," Laf lowered his voice, "Why were you starting at him?"

Thomas started stuttering. "You know I am envious of him. And that he is the only person I am competing with?"

"Well, with that look, it almost looked like you have a crush on him."

"I don't!"

"Yes you do!"

"What? No!"

"Uh, yeah you do!"

"I said no!" Thomas slapped Lafayette. Hard. 

Lafayette looked at Thomas with horror. "What did you just do?"

Thomas tried to explain."Laf, I'm sorry, but-"

"Don't call me Laf, you monster!" he started backing away from Thomas.

"Lafayette, I didn't mean to-"

"Stop, don't touch me!"

"Lafayette," Thomas warned, eyes that were now filled with fear. Eyes that were no longer looking at his cousin. They were looking behind him.

"What? You never even liked me anyway!"

"Lafayette!"

"All this time you hated me for absolutely no reason."

"LAFAYETTE!"

"What is it that you have against me?" He never stopped backing up, though Thomas had stopped scooting closer. "You nev-" the next thing he did was scream. He had fallen through a large hole in the vent that led to the school gym.

"Lafayette!"