After breakfast I didn't really have any urges to go home just yet. So Jay and I killed some time just wandering the streets, window shopping and going in and out of the smaller shops with sale signs. My pockets weren't jingling with money, but the crumpled ten pound note clenched in my fist would probably cover any trinkets Jay or I saw. I didn't really plan on buying anything but it felt good to have it there just in case.

As we walked, I kept up a stream of sarcastic humour during the journey, while Jay, little by little, started talked. 'Course I always had to probe him with questions and expectant stares before he even thought about opening his mouth, but it was a start.

"Guess you can count this as me showing you around the neighbourhood," I joked, stuffing my chapped hands into my pockets, the rough fabric grazing my knuckles. Predictably, Jay responded with a smile and a nod. I didn't bother clutching at straws for a conversation. We continued walking in silence.

"Hey look! It's Ash!"

Startled I glanced up from the concrete paving. Standing before me was a group of boys from my year group who were, to put it nicely, downright pricks. Typically athletes, these muscled specimens didn't quite reach average human intelligence, and equated a punch in the shoulder to a greeting. I wasn't especially noticed in school; in fact I spent most of my time in the library. But this variety of witless wonder was unnaturally amused by harassing the more intelligent life forms.

What I'm trying to say is: they walked all over me. And I let them.

"Hey buddy!" greeted Lewis, the 'ring-leader' of the group, slinking an arm over my shoulder. I looked at him suspiciously. "Who's your friend? He looks like a bit of an athlete..."

His voice trailed off, leaving more than a hint of suggestion in the air. Ah. That made sense. Of course he wasn't here to talk to me. He wanted the news on the new meat in town.

"That's Jay," I mumbled, jerking my thumb in his direction. I didn't bother elaborating. Jay smiled hesitantly and gave them a limp wave. The boys huddled together in the typical footballer fashion, one often sticking their neck out to scrutinise Jay one last time, and conversed in hushed whispers. I folded my arms and raised an eyebrow, trying to keep my cool despite Jay's obvious discomfort.

"So, you new here?" asked Lewis, once again taking charge. Jay nodded. Lewis eyed him up suspiciously.

"You're kind of a silent guy, you know that?"

"So what?" I snapped, suddenly feeling the urge to defend Jay against these imbeciles. "You're kind of a jerk, but I didn't point that out."

The crowd of footballers stared at me, open mouthed. Suddenly, protecting Jay didn't seem all that attractive. Lewis smirked, and ran a hand through his hair, somehow making even an innocent movement like that seem arrogant. He walked over to Jay; standing way too close for comfort I might add, and leered at him.

"Hey why don't you hang out with us at school?" he offered, not even bothering to ask if Jay was going to school here. "Means you don't have to tail about with... you know..." he 'subtly' jerked his head in my direction. "...The wet rag."

A fiery anger rose up in my chest. He was obviously referring to me. I knew I was a skinny little squirt, and I knew athletics wasn't my calling, but that didn't give him the right to go and mess my reputation for Jay.

"Um, no thanks," replied Jay coolly. "I don't hang out with malicious people. Thanks for the offer."

And with that extraordinary statement, he grabbed me by the wrist and brushed by them. To my surprise, the gaggle of boys on front of us parted easily. I stumbled after him, still slightly dazed, but smiled brightly at my gobsmacked peers nonetheless.

"See you in school!" Lewis called after us. I didn't trust his suspiciously pleasant tone.

Jay brushed off his farewell, and continued pulling me down the streets until we were round the corner and I was blushing from ear to ear.

"Dude, you've marked yourself out for social suicide, you know that?" I said seriously. Jay shrugged.

"Oh. Um... Yeah. So I have." He grinned at me sheepishly.

And I had to grin back.

We spent the next few hours back at my house watching TV and messing around. Jay seemed reluctant to open up, so I held up most of the conversations myself until my mum and dad came back from Mass brandishing a frighteningly long uniform list for Jay. She'd practically hauled us both out the door by the collar, claiming that she needed Jay to try everything on, and needed me to judge if it was 'cool enough for a teenager'. Because obviously she didn't trust Jay to know what's 'hip' in our town.

"Hold this one," commanded my mum, forcing another pair of trousers on me. Our school was pretty relaxed when it came to uniform, as long as we were dressed smartly and had on the school tie they didn't really mind, especially once you reached fifth and sixth year. Jay and I were still fourth years, but the staff were generally pretty lenient on us too.

"Mum, I told you. No one gives a crap if you wear jeans, long as they're black," I complained, dumping the tailored trousers on a nearby rack. Jay snickered softly from beside me while my mum smacked me upside the head.

"Language!" she scolded. "Now what d'you think of this shirt?"

I studied said shirt with my lips pursed, holding it up against Jay. It was one of the more formal articles in the store, with a tight fitted collar and cuffed up sleeves.

"I think," I said slowly, "that he'd be as well standing on top of a roof yelling 'Swirly Me!'."

Jay bit back a laugh while my mum glowered at me and pulled back the fancy shirt.

"Fine then, what do you think is 'cool for school'?" she asked, folding her arms.

"Uh, mum, I hate to be off-topic here, but please please please for the sake of the human race; don't ever try to be cool again."

She didn't crack a smile. Jay on the other hand, stood behind her chewing his fist, guffawing uncontrollably. It made me feel appreciated, just a little.

"Oh, be quiet Ash," she shushed, frowning at another garish shirt.

"Hey mum, I've got an idea," I piped up, tearing the shirt from her grasp. "You could just give me and Jay the money and we'll sort out his uniform. So you can go home and relax, you know, put your feet up, have a nice cuppa..."

Mum bit her shocking red lips, looking considerably tempted by the idea. Personally I was surprised that she didn't catch on to my little plan. I'm a scheming git at the best of times.

"Ok..." she eventually agreed. She still looked pretty torn about her decision as she handed over a thin wad of cash, twiddling with her thumbs anxiously. "But keep all the receipts! I don't want you coming back with something ridiculous, you hear me?"

"Loud and clear ma'am!" I mock saluted, and tucked the money safely in my back pocket. She rolled her eyes.

"Watch your mouth Ash," she warned, shooting me one last threatening look. "Have fun Jay!"

I snickered as she stretched up to pat Jay on the head, oblivious to his embarrassment. It was times like these that made me glad my parents didn't pay me too much attention – otherwise I'd be in for the embarrassment of a lifetime... every time we stepped out the door.

"Nicely done," remarked Jay. Once he'd made sure my mother was away down the food aisles and safely out of earshot of course. Grinning, I turned to face him and shot him a sneaky wink.

"Thank you. I've had practice."

Jay snorted. "You can tell."

It was the first time he'd even attempted a slightly sarcastic comment. And it kind of made my day.

As we trailed through the shops the conversation just naturally held itself up. Jay's shy mumbling replies slowly got longer and longer until he was almost forming complete sentences, while my sarcastic annotations provided the comic relief, if I do say so myself. We walked, and we talked, and I gradually began to understand Jay a little bit better.

"So, have you got black jeans?" I asked, squinting at the unnaturally long uniform checklist. Jay pursed his lips in thought, and after a few moments deliberation, he nodded.

"Yeah, I think so. Are you sure I won't get caught out by SMT?"

I shook my head. "Nah, they're pretty lenient. Shoe-wise anything goes, and for clothes as long as you're roughly within the guidelines they'll lay off."

Jay grinned. "So I don't need to force myself into those things?"

My eyes followed his pointed finger to a rack of horrifying dress pants, black, shiny and frighteningly tight. My face paled.

"Dude if you showed up in those affronts to nature I'd personally throw you off a cliff!"

Jay laughed. "Charming."

"I know."

Despite all my talk, we did pick up a few plain white shirts that didn't look too formal. They were lightly tailored at the seams, but loose sleeves and a 'missing' top button made them just about bearable for a teenage boy. I figured if Jay turned up only slightly raggedy looking he wouldn't get it in the neck from the teachers or the pupils.

At least, that was the theory anyway.

A light shower started while we were trudging home from the shopping centre, resulting in Jay and I both getting completely drenched. Instead of protecting the bags from the water and shoving them up my jacket, I used them to bash Jay in the stomach.

"Oh you are so for it!" he threatened, an unfamiliar playful edge to his eye. I stared back at him, daring him to do something. I didn't really expect the shy, awkward Jay to retaliate...

But of course, he accepted the challenge.

"Oh shit..."

I bombed it up the street fast as I could, the bag swinging freely around my wrist. We were still a good few blocks away from my house and the rain was coming down much heavier now. Thick heavy droplets battered against my skin, miniature tsunamis tailing behind me every time my shoes hit the pavement.

But I was a slow runner, and Jay being Mr Athletic Gold-Medal-Winner himself caught up with me in a matter of seconds. A pair of arms wrapped themselves around my waist and suddenly my world was tipped upside down, my straggly hair trailing in the puddles.

"Ok, ok! I give in!" I yelled, giggling uncontrollably. Normally I would have been embarrassed my usually cool status had been compromised but with Jay... it felt ok to be myself.

I was turning into a sap.

"Say 'Jay is the coolest'," he commanded, shaking me up and down. I scowled.

"Don't push it pal."

And then my back hit the pavement with a dull thud. Icy water soaked through my jacket, and I blinked a few times, trying to focus on the suddenly upright world around me. Jay stood before me with a triumphant grin.

"Die bitch!" I shrieked, pushing myself off the ground and launching myself at him. I chased him up the avenue, cursing and screaming multiple times, until we burst through the front door, giggling hysterically.

"Boys? Is that you home?"

"No," I responded, shaking some water out of my hair and still grinning like an idiot. "We're high-profile serial killers who sneak in through the front door..."

Jay's eyes bulged as he tried to conceal his laughter. My mum bustled into the hallway looking self-righteous and glared at me disapprovingly.

"I told you to look after Jay," she frowned, her gaze accusing. "And why are you so wet?"

I shrugged. "Took the fish a walk."

Mum just brushed past me and went straight to Jay. She fussed over his hair, and his clothes, and his poor chapped hands. Personally I didn't see anything wrong with him. Sure he was a little wet but he wasn't made of sugar or anything.

Mum didn't seem to see my logic.

"Oh come sit down by the fire Jay and I'll stick a nice pot of tea on, eh?"

My ears pricked up at the mention of tea.

"I've got no problems with that!"

Jay smiled timidly, back into his usual shy and pathetically grateful attitude. I flopped onto the couch while he sat down gently next to me, his thigh brushing lightly against mine. I don't know why I noticed that...

Mum came rushing back in carrying two steaming mugs of tea, offering the frothiest cup to Jay of course. As soon as she turned her back Jay swapped the cups.

"Why'd you do that?"

He sipped his own cup, looking confused. "Huh?"

"Why'd you swap the cups? I mean, you had the best tea!"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Oh, that. Um, well you obviously wanted that cup right? So there you go. You can have it."

I stared at the mug in my shaky hands, the boiling liquid sloshing slightly over the porcelain rim. Nobody had ever done me a simple favour like that. Simply because I had estranged parents and no friends.

"Oh. Uh, thanks."

The tea was drank in silence after that.

We didn't sleep top and tail that night either.