Sure Lance was satisfied and Josh was relieved but Brad didn’t share those good emotions. He was pissed, Lance had humiliated him and no one got away with that. He would get to Josh another way, through another person.

Justin made his way to the bathroom. He stepped inside, whistling he went to do his business, totally unaware of the fact that the door opened. Justin turned around, whistling but stopped dead in his tracks, growing silent abruptly. Brad and three lackeys stood in front of him. One of them blocked the door and the other two were standing directly behind Brad, backing him up.

“Hey Justin” Brad smirked.

“Hi” Justin responded slowly, shifting a bit obviously uncomfortable.

“You know Justin…” Brad told him calmly as he slowly walked up to his victim.

“I’ve been watching you,”

Justin scraped his throat nervously, his eyes darting from Brad to his lackeys.

“Saw you made a new friend” Brad continued stepping in front of Justin. Justin took a step back but Brad kept advancing on him till Justin’s back hit the back of the last stall.

“Who?” Justin asked bravely.

“That new kid; Lance”

Justin nodded.

“I noticed someone else too,” Brad said acting nonchalant.

“Josh”

Justin shook his head, no. “He’s…” he started but he could not finish his sentence Brad grabbed his shirt and shoved him up against the back of the last stall.

“You hanging out with the thief, fagboy?” Brad asked, bringing his face close to Justin’s who once again tried to shake his head no.

“You know I don’t like that. A thief and a fag together… just bothers me” Justin hadn’t had trouble from Brad in a while but he’d obviously attracted attention to himself by hanging out with Lance. Although he was not afraid of Brad under normal circumstances, he was now up against the wall, four against one, the figures were not very promising.

“I just don’t like you hanging out with him”

“What do you care?” Justin asked bravely, he was actually a bit angry.

“I just don’t want you to get hurt Justin” Brad said sweetly but they both knew he didn’t mean it.

“I won’t” Brad laughed, his lackeys soon joining him but Justin stayed quiet, eyeing his attackers.

“You sure?” Brad sniggered.

Justin nodded carefully.

“That’s funny you see because a fag, such as yourself” he paused deliberately, squeezing his shoulder.

“And a thief just makes me a bit aggressive. You know like you want to hit somebody” Brad said the last two words quickly and in less than no time his fist came up and punched Justin in the gut. He doubled over, his arm hugged his waist as he struggled for air.

“A thief and a fag is just not something I want to see in my school, separately is bad enough, together makes me angry and violent. And you don’t want to see me getting violent, do you Justin?” Brad asked, bending down, getting in his face, he pulled him up harshly and pushed him back against the wall.

Justin shook his head no, the best way he could.

Brad patted Justin’s cheek, “That’s what I thought” Brad told him smugly before stepping back, releasing his grip on Justin.

He slid to the floor, his body not functioning properly. Brad smirked satisfied before he indicated they were leaving. And they did, laughing as they went out the door. Justin dropped his head in his hands, taking calming deep breaths to ease away the pain in his stomach.

When he looked up and slightly recovered there was only one thing on his mind; fuck it, Lance.

“I need to talk to you” Justin told Lance firmly, leaving no room for argument. Lance followed Justin, smiling a little to Josh who was sitting with him. He sat nervously as he watched Justin and Lance walk away. He was sitting alone now because Justin’s friends had not come back since he’d joined their table. Josh knew it was his fault and although Lance assured him that it wasn’t Josh knew better and so did Justin.

“You have to leave him alone” Justin started immediately when they were out of earshot.

“This again” Lance replied boredly, preparing to walk away but Justin caught his arm.

“You have no idea what you’re doing” Justin hissed.

“Then explain it to me” Lance challenged.

Justin sighed, “Fuck Lance. Leave him alone, fucking leave him alone” Justin told him before storming off.

Lance watched him go, not understanding what was going on. He looked back at Josh, he was staring at him, the uncertainty clearly written in his eyes. Lance walked back towards him.

“He got a bad grade” Lance explained vaguely.

Josh eyed him, he knew Lance was lying, he knew it was about him. It was always about him. He ducked his head as he was overcome with shame. He’d been sitting with Lance for a while now, inside that was but Justin, who also sat with them, always ignored him. Josh knew Justin didn’t like him, he knew Justin thought he disserved every treatment he got and that made him defensive towards Justin as well. He needed to protect himself at least somewhat.

He was a very easy target, very easy, Brad and Mr. Zaggery proved that almost every single day but from Justin; he could protect himself. By treating him the same way, ignoring him and lashing out when it was necessary. It was the only protection he had. Brad left him alone when he was with Lance but whenever he caught him alone he would accidentally trip him or give him that extra shove that would cause him to smack against the lockers.

It were those little things that made him realize that although Lance was nice to him that didn’t mean the rest of the school accepted him as well and it sure as hell didn’t mean he could let his defenses down.

He maybe needed them now more than ever.