A/N: This chapter's a little longer than usual, hopefully that'll tide you over. I'm not sure if the next chapter will be up on schedule as it's not yet finished because I've had exams all week and I'm going to be without internet access to get it to my beta. So I'll apologize in advance if that turns out to be the case.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, your reviews make me happy

As Daphne and I make our way to our lockers I'm relieved to find that we share almost all of our classes this year. No matter how awful of a decision coming back here turns out to be, at least I'll have her with me most of the time. Walking into my first class gives me a pretty good idea of how this day is going to go, as soon as we enter the room everything goes deathly silent. I glance around carefully before taking my seat in front of Daphne. She leans forward to whisper in my ear.

"Do you see Hobbs' followers in the back corner? They look lost without their ringleader. God, they're like puppies." She says with a smirk.

I glance over at the group and one of them catches my gaze, his glare sending chills of fear down my spine. He looks like he would give anything to be able to finish what Hobbs started. All of a sudden he turns away with a jolt and I look behind me to see Daphne giving the group a death glare of her own.

"Fucking pricks, they know better than to try anything now, they'd be out of here faster than they could blink." She seethes.

"Calm down Daph, they're just pissed they lost their quarterback. They're not stupid enough to try anything." She grimaces before replying.

"We hope. Anyway, Brian would kick their asses if they did." I snort and she hits my shoulder. "It's true; he's in some kind of protective mode. It's kinda hot."

"Whatever you say Daphne, and Brian's always hot."

"Well obviously, but I'm still right. He looked ready to kill anyone who so much as looked at you the wrong way." Suddenly, Mrs. Robinson glares at us.

"Ms. Chanders, if you're done with your gossip session can we start class now?" Daphne blushes and sits back in her seat. "Alright then, I'd like to welcome all back to St. James Academy, most of you here are graduating at the end of the year so this is your last chance to bring your grades up to the level they need to be for college."

To my dismay she turns to me next and plasters a sympathetic smile on her face. She was at the prom so of course she'll have to address the bashing.

"Justin, you're looking much better than the last time I saw you. How are you feeling?"

I put on the sweetest smile I can muster.

"Like I got my head beaten in by a homophobic jerk with baseball bat." There are a few people who laugh nervously but the majority of the class is silent.

Mrs. Robinson just stares at me with wide eyes.

"Well-I-uh, it's nice to see you're back to yourself." As she goes to continue class, Daphne starts giggling behind me, so I turn around.

"What?" I ask.

"Nothing, it's just you sounded exactly like Brian then." I smirk.

"Guess he's rubbing off on me."

"I guess so." Mrs. Robinson glares at us.

"Everyone, please pay attention!" Daphne and I roll our eyes and share a smirk before pulling out our notebooks.

Fortunately, by the end of first period word must have traveled to the teachers about my response to sweet little Mrs. Robinson, because none of my other teachers mention the bashing at all. By the time lunch rolls around I'm ready to go back to the loft and sleep for a couple hours. My head and hand are killing me and I'm craving a cigarette and a nap. When I get to my locker Daph's waiting for me with her friends. I smile in greeting before putting my books away.

"We're taking my car and going out to lunch, you wanna come?" Daph asks, gesturing to Summer, Katie and Rachel.

"Yeah, sure. I just need a smoke and to stop by the loft."

"Okay, why?"

"I forget my pain pills."

"Alright, let's go." We all go out to where Daphne's car is parked. Before she even unlocks the car doors, I've got a cigarette lit. I offer the pack around the group but they all look almost offended at the notion they might smoke. When I turn to Daph she just shakes her head.

"I'll just share yours."

I laugh and take a draw.

"Fine, but you're going to have to start buying your own. You're getting expensive." Daph just sticks her tongue out at me before grabbing the cigarette from my mouth. I smirk at her.

"Bitch."

She just smiles at me and blows smoke in my face. We finish the cigarette between us while the other girls make faces of disgust at the smoke swirling around. When we're all in the car, Summer speaks up.

"So where are we going to eat?" Katie and Rachel both name a fast food restaurant, but Daph turns to me.

"You said we need to stop in at your place for your meds right?" she asks, when I nod in answer she continues, "Okay, well why don't we just eat at the Diner? Its close, the food's half-decent, and I haven't seen Debbie in a while." Katie leans forward in her seat.

"The Diner? Where's that?" I roll my eyes. Daphne's friends can be sweet but they tend to be a little on the dim side.

"The Liberty Diner, it's down on Liberty Avenue." I reply.

"So, it's like, a gay diner?" Daph tries to step in to give a less bitchy answer, but I cut her off.

"Yep, full of fags and dykes. Why, do you have a problem with that?" Katie at least has the decency to try to look embarrassed.

"No, not at all. Sorry." Rachel smirks at Katie's discomfort.

"Is that the diner where you work?" she asks.

"Yeah, I've been working there since last year." I answer. Finally Daphne reaches the loft and pulls up along the curb.

"Are you just going to run in and grab the pills or can we come in and look around?" I smile.

"Any chance you can get to snoop you'll take, won't you?"

"Yep, now is that a yes?"

"Fine, Brian's at work, so it shouldn't be a problem." Daphne's out of the car before I've even finished my sentence.

"Awesome, come on girls, I wanna show you how amazing this place is." I roll my eyes, get out of the car and open the main door. Summer enters in front of me and looks around in distaste.

"It doesn't look all the amazing from out here." She scoffs.

It takes the lift longer than usual than usual to reach the top floor, but when I slide the heavy loft door open is well worth the wait.

"Oh my god, this place is gorgeous!" Daphne looks way too smug for someone who doesn't even live here.

"See, I told you it's awesome."

Suddenly, the bedroom panels slide open to reveal Brian standing there wearing only a pair of tight black jeans. He looks like he can't decide whether to be pissed or amused.

"Justin, why are there a bunch of teenage girls in the middle of my loft?" he asks.

"I forgot my pills and for some reason Daph feels the need to show your place off to anyone who'll agree." He walks over to the fridge and pulls out a bottle of water.

"Well in her defense, the loft is quite amazing. Your pills are there on the counter."

I grab the bottle and shake out two pills before grabbing his water and downing them.

"What are you doing here anyway? I thought you had work today?"

"I did, but we secured that big account I've been working on this morning, so Ryder gave me the rest of the day off."

"Seriously? That's awesome; you've been working on that forever."

I push off the counter and lean up to kiss him in congratulations. He wraps his arms around my waist and meets my mouth halfway, parting my lips with his tongue. I respond eagerly, treading my fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck and nipping at his lower lip. After a few minutes of causal making-out, Daph clears her throat.

"Not that I'm not enjoying the show, but the rest of us would actually like to eat before our lunch break is over. So if you don't mind..." Me and Brian separate and he smirks.

"Well if you wanted a show Daph, you could've just asked." He says before grabbing my ass and pulling me completely against him. Daphne starts giggling.

"Brian!" She exclaims.

"Alright, we should go. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to late to classes on our first day back to school." I say while untangling myself from Brian's grasp. "We're going to the diner, you wanna come?" I'm expecting him to turn me down, but to my complete surprise he grabs a shirt off the stool beside him and pulls it on.

"Sure, not like we have any food here anyway. You wanna ride with me?"

"Uh, sure." I reply before glancing over at Daph, "We'll meet you there. You remember the way, right?"

"Yeah, see you there." she answers. As her and the other girls file out, I turn to Brian.

"You ready?"

"Yeah, but you know, I feel I should be insulted about how shocked you are that I might want to actually spend time with you once in a while. I am fucking you on a pretty regular basis, which usually means I can at least tolerate sharing a meal with you." He says with a boyish smirk.

"It's just strange, I know how much you hate teenagers, yet you just agreed to spend an hour with five of them. And are you suggesting you might actually like being in my presence?"

"Well I've got to eat, and with the group of you around, Deb might actually leave me the hell alone for once." I recognize the remark as a deflection straight from the Kinney Operating Manual, so I just let the subject drop and follow him to the jeep.

When we pull up to the curb outside the diner I see the girls have already arrived and are waiting for us on the bench in front of the building. Brian and I both step out of the car and join them.

"You know, you could've gone inside. No one in there bites." I say with a smile.

"I know, but Debbie freaks me out a little and I didn't want to scare the girls too badly. Now that you're here you'll be the main focus." Daph replies.

I just roll my eyes and push open the door of the diner. As always it is a jumble of bright colors and noise, from the pride flags, to the talking patrons nothing about the restaurant is quiet. I can't help but smirk at the girls' reactions, for anyone who's new to the diner it can be more than a little overwhelming, this place is defiantly one of a kind. Brian makes his way to his usual booth in the back and we follow behind him dutifully. I'm almost convinced that Deb must not be working this shift today when I suddenly catch a glimpse of bright red hair and hear the familiar shriek.

"SUNSHINE!"

The girls in front of me jump in shock as Deb pushes past them to wrap me in a tight hug. When she finally pulls away it's only to slap me lightly on the back of the head.

"Where the fuck have you been? Just because I give you time off from work doesn't mean you get time off from everyone in the diner. I expect you to show up at dinner on Sunday, no excuses, and bring that asshole with you." I just smile and nod my head; I know it's no use to argue with Deb. Even Brian only tries it every now and then.

"Sorry Deb, I'll be there on Sunday. And I'll see what I can do about Brian." She smiles and walks with me over to the booth where I slide into the seat next to Summer, and across from Brian.

"Good boy. Now what can I get you guys?" Deb takes all of our orders but sticks around for a second.

"So, you gonna introduce your friends, Sunshine? I swear Brian's rubbing off on ya, you used to be such a little WASP."

Brian smirks.

"Well I am rubbing him off, does that count?" Deb reaches over and smacks Brian across the back of the head.

"No, you asshole. I don't understand how Justin puts up with you."

Brian just rolls his eyes. I turn to the girls and gesture to them in turn.

"You already know Daph; these are her friends, Summer, Rachel, and Katie." Debbie smiles.

"Now, was that so difficult? It's nice to meet you girls, I'll go put a rush on your orders so you all can get back to class on time." she says before heading off towards the kitchen.

The rest of lunch passes in a blur of friendly chatting and catching me up on the latest school gossip. I frankly couldn't care less about the lives of the assholes attending Saint James but Daph and her friends enjoy it so I let them talk. It's nice to have an afternoon without worrying about Hobbs or the bashing. To my extreme surprise Brian doesn't seem to be all that bored during lunch, he sends me a few eye rolls and strange looks, but that's to be expected, I can't even deal with these girls for any extended periods of time. He even kept the snarky remarks about the pathetic breeders' love lives to a minimum.

We had about fifteen minutes to get back to class when Deb brings us our individual checks. Before I can grab mine Brian has it and is in the process of putting the money on the table. I scowl.

"I am capable of buying my own lunch." I say.

He just rolls his eyes and ignores me. I frown again, but decide to leave it alone. Once we've all paid for our meals we make our way out to Daphne and Brian's cars. Immediately Summer, Rachel and Katie all slide into the backseat of Daph's Honda while Daph, Brian, and I hesitate outside.

"Are you going come back with us, or?" Daph asks me while glancing over at Brian. While we're looking over Brian smirks and motions me over.

"I'll drive you to school, you twat." He says.

I smile at Daph and make my way to the jeep. Brian doesn't say anything, just gets into the vehicle and I do the same. When we get on route to Saint James I turn to Brian and remove my seatbelt.

"So it was really great of you to come out and eat with us, and you were surprisingly well behaved." I say with a smirk.

He goes to respond with what would undoubtedly be a snarky comment, but I silence him with a hand over his crotch.

"I think I should probably repay you for the torture of all the breeder gossip you had to endure." As I slide his zipper down Brian smiles at me.

"I think you definitely should. I need to spend time with your little friends more often if this is the result." He says.

I don't respond, I just glance at the window at the horrified teen in the car next to us before bending down into Brian's lap.

Review, pretty pretty please :D