Only Ravi ended up going to school. N shook them all down for spare change and went to buy Hongbin a dumpling to cheer him up. The two of them and Ken disappeared into the park near the home, leaving Leo alone. He spent te day roaming the streets with his earbuds firmly in his ears, listening to whatever played on his mp3, though only paying any real attention to the angry, beaty songs. He didn't stop to eat, sit down, or give anyone a chance to talk to him. His steps were fast and angry and he dared anyone to even make eye contact with him. He was perfectly willing to ignore the world if only the world would consent to do the same to him.

All I ever wanted was to be invisible, to stay out of everything that makes life complicated. He snorted to himself, earning a confused look from a passing cyclist. Ha, as if my life isn't complicated. Dammit Hyuk, you moron, do you have any idea what you've done?

Exhausted, Leo collasped onto a bench and slouched down, looking like the typical scruffy teenager always breaking rules. Passerby made sure to hurry past him and walk further than necessary when passing his bench. See world? This is how people see me. Wrinkled uniform, dirty shoes, headphones, stony expression. A classic rebel. And you expect me to make something of myself? If there were such a thing as laughter in my world, that's what I would do. N and Ken's stupid jokes don't count.

However, as much as he tried to convince himself that he was better off alone, that he hated being around other people, he knew he was nothing and nowhere without the other boys he'd grown up wtih. They were the only people in the world who had heard him speak past the age of six and that had been several years ago. And not even they had ever heard him laugh, or even seen him smile or show any sort of emotion, including tears. Hyuk had been the only one to bring the ghost of a smile to Leo’s otherwise blank face. Being three years younger didn’t prevent the two from being close. Indeed, the two of them were—had been—the closest pair in their little group of six.

Ken was scared of him; he always had been. All Leo had to do was look at him and he'd flinch, itching to run in the opposite direction. But for some reason, maybe he liked him underneath the fear, though it was probably more like stupidity, Ken stuck around him. Hongbin wasn't scared, but Leo didn't think he particularly liked him, he just tolerated him because Leo got him out of his bullying scrapes, the only one who could as the bullies were scared of him as well. Ravi was only interested in his books, and the only time he spoke to any of them mostly was when they were being too loud and keeping him from studying. N was constantly trying to get him to come out of his shell, always bringing him forward to participate in whatever antics he could come up with with Ken. He'd rather be a silent spectator; part of the action, but at the same time removed from it. It was what he preferred.

If the world was uninterested in him, he was uninterested in the world. No amount of pleading or forced participation would make him do anything for the very thing that had done nothing for him. He firmly believed in a give and take relationship.

So tell me world, what did I, or Hyuk for that matter, do, huh? Do you enjoy messing with me? I took nothing from you, so why did you take Hyuk from me? He's the only thing that makes life worth living for me, even if he was high most of the time. At least he wasn't kiling anyone or anything like that. What'd he do to deserve his addition anyway? If I EVER meet up with the bastard that started im on that he will be very sorry his dad didn't use a .

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Sorry for the short chapters! I've got some excitement planned just around the corner, so bear with me =)