Jerome's POV

I'm not sure why I hit Mitch. He had just gotten so annoying lately. He hung round with everyone else instead of me. And when he ended up crawling back to me, he'd just annoy me. I guess I had just snapped.

No one came after me when I marched off. I stomped to the opposite end of the field, sighing, and slid down onto the grass. No one ever came after me. Mitch was my main friend, and that was it. Once he was out of the picture, I had no one. Well, I had Sky of course, and the rest of the gang, but they weren't my proper-proper friends, y'know? Like Mitch. 

Before Liam came along, we always hung out together, did pranks on people, ate together, talked until we got detentions together. But now it was Liam he hung round with. He was like a sad little puppy begging for Mitch's attention. They hung out together, whilst I was always one step behind. They pranked people and never told me about it, and it was usually me they are pranking. We still ate together, but in silence. And we barely spoke, not whilst Liam was around. 

"Jerome" a voice interrupts my thoughts, and I turn my head slightly, acknowledging the presence behind me. It was Ryan, with Sky next to him. They both sat down next to me, sprawling out across the grass with a sigh. "You OK?" Sky asks, plucking strands of grass out of the ground. "Not really" I mutter. "What's up, bud? You've seemed sad lately" Ryan asks, copying Sky. "I'm fine" I grunt, continuing to stare at the ground. "You sure? Why'd you hit Mitch?" Sky asks. "He was annoying me" I reply gruffly. 

"Is it because he doesn't hang round with you much anymore?" Ryan says. I look up at him. So they had noticed it too. "A bit" I admit. "Just talk to him about it" Sky suggests. "You sound like an agony aunt on one of those magazine things" I snicker, and he grins. "Yeah, but you don't have to punch him, I mean jeez, I know he can get annoying sometimes, but that was a bit extreme!" he laughs. "I guess" I smile. "C'mon, let's go back. The bells about to ring." Ryan says, getting up, throwing the grass strands back onto the ground. Sky throws his at me, and we get into a massive chase all the way back to the classrooms.

When we reach the last lesson of the day, PE, I grab my PE kit and begin to unpack my clothes. Mitch waltzes in, Liam next to him. "Mitch?" I say, frowning a little when my voice shakes. "Don't talk to me" he snaps. "Just hear him out Mitch" Ryan says almost fiercely and I nod my appreciation at him. "Mitch, I'm sorry for hitting you. It's just I felt left out 'cause you never hang round with me anymore" I admit, sounding a bit babyish. He frowns a little. "I always hang out with you" he protests, ditching his bag, next to mine thankfully. "Yeah I know but you don't...talk to me or anything" I say. 

"Uh. Ok. I guess I'll talk to you more then. Sorry, I guess" he smiles sheepishly. "Sorry for hitting you" I apologise, before we go in for a bro hug. There are wolf whistles all around the boys changing room. "Oh shut up" Mitch grunts, grinning at me and I grin back. 

That wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

Liam's POV

Jerome and Mitch had apologised, thankfully. Today's PE lesson was football, which I was OK at. I get dressed quickly and we head out onto the football pitch.

The girls were outside too, most in skimpy shorts and thin shirts. I spot Tia, wearing her usual jogging bottoms and thick jumper. I grin at her and she smiles back-she hated PE outside. She jogs over to me, ignoring the looks as she leaves the girls side to come to the boys side. "Hey Liam, looks like Mitch and Jerome are OK again" she says, brushing her hair back as the wind struggles to whip it around. 

"Yep. They had a bro hug" I laugh and she raises her eyebrows. "How's your leg?" I ask, leaning down to tug her trousers up which must have looked a bit...awkward. There was a massive red and purple bruise right on her shin. I drop the material down on it before anyone can notice. "It's a bit achy but it's OK now" she smiles, before the whistle from the female PE teacher cuts through the air, and she makes her excuses and runs back to the girls. She was a fast runner, but she didn't like anything else but that really, unless it was inside. And it involved sitting down. And doing nothing.

Halfway up to the football pitch, I watch as the teacher says they were going to race. As soon as she blows the whistle, they all set off.

Tia pulls ahead quickly, rallying the fastest runners, but her stamina can only stretch so far. When she crosses the finish line in second place, she's panting and lies on the ground coughing. 

We get stuck into the football match quickly after some warm ups. I didn't know the rules of football at all, so I just stood randomly on the field. The game began quickly. Ridge was hardly doing anything out of everyone, just stood in the field, watching the world go by. But when the ball whizzed near him, he took it up into his feet and blasted it all the way down the field with one kick. 

Before losing concentration again and going into a daze. 

I tried to tackle Mitch but failed. He was really good at it, leaping around everyone, slamming the ball quickly out of everyone's reach until he finally scored a goal.

After what seemed like hours, the football game was coming to an end. I glanced over at the girls, playing tennis. Tia seemed to be bored and kept hitting the ball as hard as she could, laughing as she made everyone chase after it, but when it came to her turn to hit the ball back she stumbled and missed most of them, but seemed to enjoy the game anyway.

It was time to go back inside. I jogged up to Tia, who instantly declared a race. We took off down the field, not caring that everyone was watching us. I too was a fast runner, and we were neck and neck. When we finally got to the bottom, we had both drawn and we panted hard, hi fiving, before waiting for everyone to catch up. 

By the time they had, we had had to wait 5 minutes. We jogged inside, Tia opening the door first and declaring herself the winner. I protested, obviously, since she had had a head start. We bickered and argued all the way down the corridor, cuffing each other round the head and jumping on each other. Boarding school had definitely been a good decision and I wasn't regretting it. 

Rythian's POV

Duncan had been acting strange lately. He seemed to be becoming incredibly obsessed with Zoey. Like a teenager becoming obsessed with a celebrity. But Zoey wasn't exactly a celebrity was she?

"Would you stop going on about Zoey!" Lewis practically yells across the room. Tired after PE, all of us were stretched out on our beds, resting after a long game of football. "Whatever" Duncan sniffs, waving his hand to disregard the comment. "Hannah says Ridge kicked Tia today" Lewis says suddenly, shooting a look at the relaxed Ridgedog sprawled out on his bed. "Oh yeah, I saw that bruise on her leg, what the hell did you hit her with Ridge, iron?" Simon asks. Ridge only grunts in response. "Go apologise" Lewis demands. 

There's no response from him. "For Notch's sake, Ridge, she didn't even do anything" I snap. "She's Zoey's friend too, go apologise to her!" Duncan chips in. Sips and Sjin don't look up from their laptop, snickering as they grief someone on Minecraft. "Don't want to. Maybe later" he says gruffly. Lewis suddenly stands up, grabbing his leg and drags him off the bed. Ridge yelps, a strange noise to come out of his mouth, and glares at him as he hits the floor.

"Now" Lewis orders. Ridge groans and gets up sluggishly. He drags himself out the door, slamming it loudly as he leaves.

Ridgedog's POV

Brilliant. I had to apologise in front of the girls. Hurray for Ridgedog. They were just a huge bunch of giggling idiots, the lot of them. Apart from Tia, she was just a smug smart ass who deserved to be kicked. 

Knocking on the girl's door, Minty answers. She looks startled to see me. "Oh. Hey Ridge" she greets, looking a bit confused. "Is Tia in here?" I grunt. Her eyes automatically narrow. "No, she's in her own room. I hope you're going to go apologise, she's been complaining about the pain all through dinner." she says with a glare before shutting the door.

Girls, I think, rolling my eyes and heading down the corridor to Tia's room. Knocking loudly, there's a shout of "come in" and I open the door. Heading inside, she has her head bent over her desk, writing down on a piece of paper, probably homework. She glances at me as I come in, and blinks in surprise. "Oh. Hey Ridge" she greets me, watching me cautiously. I almost want to laugh at her. Did she think I came in here to kick her again?

"I've been forced here against my will to come here and apologise" I sigh, nodding my head at her leg. "So sorry" I add. She smiles lightly. "It's fine." she says, before turning back to her work. I shuffle awkwardly in the door for a moment before I dismiss myself.

Stalking back to my own room, it was getting late. Pausing outside my door I hear whispering. "Why do you even let Ridge hang round with you?" Simon says. "I don't know, he just kind of sticks to me. It's getting annoying, actually." Lewis sighs.

A prickle of betrayal stings for a moment, but I had been expecting this. I listen closer, leaning my ear against the door lightly. "Do you even like him?" Duncan asks. "Not really. He's really annoying" Lewis huffs. That's all I needed to hear. I sigh loudly behind the door, making sure they hear me before I march away.

Where to go now? There was no way on earth I was going back there. No one else would take me though, all the bedrooms were full...

I found myself heading to Tia's room, opening the door without knocking. She's unfolding her covers back, ready to go into bed. She glances up. "Oh. Hi again" she smiles. "Listen, can I stay here tonight? In the spare bed, obviously." I ask, wondering why I had to point out the obvious. "Uh. Um. Sure, I guess." she stutters. I find myself giving her a small smile, before I head towards the spare bed. I had already dressed into my night gear, thank Notch. 

"Can I ask why?" she muses, pulling back her own covers. "Lewis and them lot were...saying stuff about me. I was outside the door." I say simply. "Oh" is all she says. There's a long pause as I shuffle around, getting comfortable. "Want to talk about it?" she asks, from under the covers. Typical-girls always wanted to 'talk about things'. "No" I say simply. "Ok. Night then." she murmurs. "Night." I grunt back, letting my eyelids droop shut. I hear her arm moving as she moves to flick her lamp off.

Darkness envelops the room, and for a moment I wonder what the hell I'm doing in a girl's room. Tia and I weren't even friends. Were we? I didn't even know anymore. I didn't know who my friend's were anymore. I counted Lewis as somewhat of a best friend, but he'd betrayed me. It wouldn't of been the first time, anyway.

All this thinking was making me sleepy. I'd sort everything out tommorow, I think, before I drift off to sleep.

Note: Another short chapter-sorry! D: