Two months later

“So this is it” the teenage boy muttered to himself as he took in the school’s building, he scrunched up his nose as he stared at it. He knew he convinced his parents to let him go to a public school; he was sick of private schools all those fancy rich boys wanting to outdo each other either by money, fame or clothes and he was sick of it but as he stood in front of the school he suddenly wasn’t so sure anymore that this was indeed the right decision. He started towards the entrance anyway and headed towards the guidance counselor, who he knew would be waiting for him.

After a brief meeting including the rules, his class schedule and the expected results he was left standing in the hallway 30 minutes later. Looking around he had no idea where to go, he checked his schedule and saw he had to be in room 206 with no earthly idea where that was or how to get there. Him looking around without a clue must have caught at least one person’s attention as he walked over to him.

“Hey you lost?” the boy asked with a friendly smile, the new kid chuckled in response,

“I believe if you’re lost you know where you’re supposed to go in the first place”

The boy laughed with him, “What classroom do you have to go to?”

“Uh, room 206” he answered without looking at his schedule.

“Ooh you got biology too?” the boy asked.

“Yeah” the new one responded, more at ease with the friendliness of this boy. Maybe public school wasn’t as bad as he thought when he arrived just 30 minutes earlier.

“I’m Justin by the way, come on I’ll show you around” the boy offered while he led the way.

“K, thanks” the new one nodded, “I’m Lance”

“Nice to meet you Lance” the boy said friendly, giving him a smile.

Justin gave him a tour of the building, stopping here and there to talk to some people and he was even nice enough to introduce Lance to the people they came across. When they turned the corner, heading for their classroom, someone caught his eye on the far end of the hall.

His breath got caught in his throat seeing a face that’d played through his head for the past two months; ever since he’d let him go and he’d fled out of sight. He thought he’d never see him again, he’d given up hope, he didn’t even know why he wanted to see him again, he guessed it had something to do with the fact that he wanted to know why the boy had broken into their house but in fact it was much more.

That look in his eyes had haunted him ever since.

“Hey who’s that?” he inquired as he pointed towards the young man at the end of the hallway.

“Who?” Justin asked, following Lance’s line of vision.

“Ooh, that’s Josh Chasez, you don’t wanna get involved with him, he steals everything that isn’t nailed down” Justin informed him.

“Really?”

“Yes, he’s stolen a lot of wallets and stuff since he got here, I’d be careful around him” Lance let the information sink in, he wasn’t too surprised, nobody would go from nothing to breaking into a major house right?

“Come on we’re gonna be late” Justin got him out of his thoughts as he gently nudged him in the side.

“Ooh right yeah” Lance said a little distracted, casting one glance in Josh’s direction before he followed Justin to their classroom.

Lance smiled shyly as he walked behind Justin into the classroom. He found a seat next to Justin, who’d nicely offered him the chair next to him, and glanced around as they waited for their teacher.

Two minutes to 9 a thin, dark haired boy sullenly walked in. Lance’s eyes were immediately drawn to him and he recognized the thief he’d caught; Josh. Lance followed him with his eyes as he sauntered passed him and took a seat in the far left corner, away from everyone. He kept his head ducked the whole way; never meeting his eyes, his right hand held onto his backpack the other was shoved into his pocket. Lance watched as Josh slid down in his seat, his head still ducked.

The sound of the door closing brought Lance’s attention to the front of the class where a man in his fifties set his briefcase on the desk. Josh looked up briefly, he’d felt someone staring at him and he quickly looked up, scanning the room. He noticed a new kid in the row next to him, a few seats in front of him and eyed him for a second however when he felt something bouncing off his head he quickly ducked his head again.

The teacher noticed his new student almost right away and asked Lance to introduce himself which he did. He stood up, said hi and introduced himself as Lance. Everyone twisted in their seat to check him out, everyone except for Josh. He didn’t even look up and he certainly didn’t meet Lance’s eyes. He kept his head ducked and continued to stare down at his notebook that was laying closed in front of him. Lance sat back down, a frown upon his face; why didn’t Josh look up? He eyed him for a little while before the teacher spoke and he focused his attention on him; shortly. During the entire class he kept sneaking glances at the lonely boy. Eyeing him, looking him over as if that would provide him with the answers he was looking for. There was only one way to get an answer to his questions; ask him.

“Hey” Lance said shyly when he finally built up enough courage to go over to the young man he’d recognized the moment he walked into the building. Standing by his locker Josh quickly looked over his shoulder to see who was talking to him before he turned his attention back on the stuffed locker.

“What do you want?” he asked detached.

“I just wanted to um… to to” he stammered not really knowing what to say, he didn’t even know why the hell he was doing. Except that he did, he did know, he’d been curious, when Lance saw the look in his eyes two months ago, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. He was so intrigued by this young man and wondered what he was doing breaking into people’s houses at such a young age. When he saw the boy he just had to ask, he had to know. Josh slammed his locker shut, tucking his books under his arm.

“What?” he asked exasperated.

“I… I just…” Lance stuttered again, getting frustrated that he couldn’t get a simple word out of his mouth, what was wrong with him?

“Look kid, if you don’t have anything else to say I gotta go to class” Josh said irritated, who was this kid and why the hell was he talking to him? He wondered as he watched the boy.

Come on say something! Lance’s mind screamed.

Anything!

But nothing came out, not a word and Josh turned on his heels and walked away. Lance stared after him; that went well.

“I’m Lance” he blurted, he had to start somewhere and stuttering wasn’t going to get him anywhere so he learned earlier. Josh turned in surprise.

“You again” he groaned when he saw the same boy who’d been bothering him before.

What was his problem?

“Why did you do it?” Lance blurted, not thinking about what he was going to say seemed to help since he already got two complete sentences out of his mouth.

“Why did I do what?” Josh asked still irritated.

“Why did you break into my parent’s house?” Lance asked staring at Josh, wanting to see his reaction. Josh stared down at the boy and recognition slowly crept into his eyes as they widened. He cursed inwardly, he’d been thinking he saw this boy before but it was crystal clear now and he was screwed. Josh didn’t say anything to deny it but he didn’t confirm it either.

“What do you want?” Josh asked trying to not sound so desperate, already giving into the request he knew was about to come in his mind. He couldn’t get caught, if his step dad found out he was dead. He’d been caught before and it wasn’t pretty when they got home. He promised himself he’d never do something like that again to irritate his stepfather the way he had that day and when Lance decided to tell on him he was screwed, really screwed.

“I didn’t mention you were there” Lance informed him, taken Josh by surprise. He’d expected a demand or a question, why he did it, not this, what the hell was that supposed to mean?

Did Lance expect him to be grateful and throw himself at his feet?

“What? You want a medal now or something?” Josh asked annoyed but still careful he wouldn’t anger the boy. He couldn’t believe his bad luck; what were the chances this boy would come to this school? He’d forgotten about that night as quickly as possible, forced himself to forget but he had a feeling Lance wouldn’t let him forget, now that he was here.

“No” Lance said simply still staring at him, “But I could have you arrested” he added seeing the confusing look in the other boy’s eyes although he could see Josh was trying hard to get the look out of his eyes.

“Well why didn’t you then” Josh asked angrily, this boy was fishing but he wasn’t going to bite. Stupid Josh cursed himself, Great! Encourage him Chasez! He hoped he hadn’t done that and he let out a sigh of relief when he caught the boy shrugging.

“What do you want from me?” Josh asked, wanting to get straight the point.

“Nothing” Lance denied innocently. Josh was searching his face, was it a scam to look innocent or not?

“Look just tell me what you want and I’ll…”

“You’ll what?” Lance asked still innocently and Josh was really starting to wonder if maybe, just maybe this boy didn’t intend to make demands.

“If you’re thinking about blackmailing me I’d…..” Josh threatened, taking a different course but Lance cut him off.

“Why would I do that?” he asked innocently. Now the innocence was starting to tick him off.

“People aren’t always out to get you,”

“Right! And you come and tell me you saw me break into your family’s house because….” Josh said irritated but remembering to keep his voice low, letting his sentence trail off to make his point.

“Because...” he said confident, looking in Josh’s eyes, “Because I just want to help”

“Why would you want to help a criminal?” Josh countered disbelievingly.

“Because of the look in your eyes”

“Don’t get all sentimental on me, I’m not good at that stuff”

“I’m not but it’s true” Lance shrugged. Josh rubbed a hand over his face, tired all of a sudden of a conversation that was obviously going nowhere.

“Look, say what you want or leave me alone”

“I want to help you”

“Well you can’t so, bye” Josh said dismissing the boy, leaving him alone in the hall while he hurried to catch his next class.

“Mr. Chasez, can I talk to you in my office?” the principal, Mr. Henman, had sought him out in the middle of the hallway again. Josh had been through this more times than he could count and he was beyond the point of feeling embarrassed.

Every time something went missing everyone pointed to Josh as it was public knowledge, at least in school, that he stole everything that wasn’t nailed down. That was his reputation, at least I’m living up to it he thought bitterly.

His step dad had started with ordering Josh to steal from school at least the people in school. Of course at the beginning Josh refused but as usual he soon had no other choice than to give into his stepfather’s demands.

Where else would he live?

As pathetic as it sounded, he had no where else to go. His mother had died a little over two years ago. Maria, his mother, had been married to Henry for only two years when she died.

At first they’d been happy together; the three of them, although Josh had never really liked Henry they could get along. Josh had never known Henry had always been a thief; Maria had been a good influence on him and he’d quitted; took a real job but Henry fell into old habits only 6 months after they got married. Josh had heard them arguing for nights on end. He noticed how Henry started drinking more and more and it escaladed over the months. They fought more frequently till it was almost every night. And then a few months after their first year anniversary Henry hit her. Josh noticed; he saw the bruises on her arms sometimes although she tried to hide it and he definitely heard the sounds, the yelling over the littlest things.

One night after Henry and her fought she got in her car and drove off. She never came back, she hadn’t been paying attention and she didn’t notice the car coming from the left side. She left Josh behind with Henry….

Both Josh and Henry had been in shock when they heard she’d died. For a whole month the world passed them by till Henry smacked him around for the first time; telling him life went on not much later, after Henry taught him his thief’s skills and a few months later Josh stole for the first time, in school.

In school he was pretty soon labeled as the thief. Since Henry had him switching schools when he started stealing the principal and everybody else hadn’t known the shy, quiet and friendly Josh and therefore assumed he’d always been like this. Friends he no longer had partly because of switching schools but mostly because of the death of his mother. They did not know what to do or say and Josh was also pretty sure Henry had scared them away.

Henry was really all he had left.

“Now” Mr. Henman added when it didn’t go fast enough for his liking.

“Yes sir” Josh responded as he followed the man to his office, he made it a point to not meet anyone’s eyes but someone else did see him; Lance.

“Have a seat young man” the principal offered but the tone in his voice made him cringe.

“Now I’ve talked to you a lot of times about this and I can’t believe you still keep doing it” he started his lecture without saying exactly what it was about, although Josh had a pretty good idea he wanted it to be clear.

“What is that?”

“Ooh come on Josh, don’t play dumb with me. You know what I’m talking about” Josh still waited for an answer.

“Stealing” the man finally answered to get it clear since that was obviously what the young boy in front of him wanted. Josh sighed a little frustrated waiting for what was coming next.

“You got some nerve boy, stealing my wallet!” he accused, certain he’d found the culprit.

Josh was first to admit that he’d stolen a lot over the past years but he hadn’t done this. He would not push his luck like this and do that when he already had a crappy reputation, knowing he would be the first they’d blame. In fact he hadn’t stolen from school in a few months, Henry mainly took him to the mall now to steal.

“What have you got to say for yourself son?” he asked in his fatherly voice, something Josh only knew from his principal.

“I didn’t do it sir. I didn’t steal your wallet” he said looking at the man in front of him.

The principal sighed, “Now I can’t prove it…”

“Of course there is no way that someone else might have done it” Josh muttered, cutting him off earning him a glare from his principal which made him shut up at once.

“Look son, I’ll be straight with you; you already got away with a lot and this was the last time. The next time you steal something from my school and I suggest you think twice about it and then not do it at all… but if you do, you’ll be expelled. Have I made myself clear?”

“Perfectly sir” Josh said staring up at him, he’d moved towards him during his speech and was now hovering over him.

A knock on the door interrupted their stare down and the principal glanced up to see a new kid poking his head around the doorway.

“Come back later, I’m busy” he dismissed the boy without giving him a chance to tell him what he was doing here.

“But it involves Josh, sir” the boy said and Josh whipped his head around to look at the boy.

Lance.

What the hell was he doing here?

And what was he going to do?

Ooh no! Josh thought frantically, he won’t tell on me would he? He said a quick prayer but he knew it didn’t have a right to be answered, he knew he should have been nicer to the boy after all he could hold this over his head and now he would pay the price. However the slight smile in the boy’s eyes made his eyebrows furrow in confusion.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I’ve got an idea” Lance started, stepping into the office himself. Mr. Henman looked at him skeptically, waiting for an answer to his silent question.

“Lance Bass, sir” Lance answered, catching the hidden question from the expression on his face.

“What is he here for?” Lance asked.

“Mr. Bass, this doesn’t concern you now if you don’t mind waiting in…”

“He accused me of stealing his wallet” Josh spoke up all of a sudden. Lance was surprised at Josh’s answer but he knew it was for his benefit.

“When would he have done that, sir?” Lance asked turning his attention back to the principal.

The man crossed his arms over his chest, “First break, I left it in my drawer when I went to the staffroom” he answered.

“Well then it couldn’t have been him, we sat together” Lance answered, making sure he didn’t say it too quickly, he didn’t want to make it look like he was planning on saying this for every time. Mr. Henman nodded but obviously didn’t believe him, anyway he didn’t have any prove to begin with and now he had an alibi as well, a fake one probably but nevertheless.

“I think you owe him an apology” Lance said, trying to hide the smile in his eyes. Mr. Henman wanted to kick them both out of his office, the nerve! He thought but still found Josh’s eyes.

“Josh I’m sorry, I jumped to conclusions” he said although it didn’t sound too sincere, Josh didn’t care. This was humiliating for the man and he liked it that this man finally knew what he put him through every time he accused him of stealing.

“Thank you sir,” Josh said with a smile.

“Am I excused?” he asked.

“Yes, both of you” the principal said, Josh picked up his backpack and slung it over his shoulder.

“But remember my warning Josh” he called after him as he headed for the door, Lance already outside. Josh turned.

“Yes sir” he said before closing the door behind him. He broke down laughing and Lance soon joined him, they looked at one another and then Lance could literally see Josh’s face darkening. He saw his walls coming back up, they’d been broken down temporarily as Josh laughed with him but unfortunately that didn’t last long.

“Don’t expect anything from me, Bass” Josh said before he walked off.

For a brief moment Lance had seen the real Josh. A friendly, amusing boy and in no longer than 5 seconds he was gone, he put up his defenses again and didn’t allow Lance in. Lance could only hope that he would let him in someday, he just knew it wouldn’t be today although he made improvement.

The first step was made.