Disclaimer: It is illegal for some to read these types of stories. If that's you don't do it if you'll get caught. This is my second story on Nifty. I hope you like it. Please, please, please send comments -- good bad or whatever -- to getitright10@yahoo.com. So you won't be bulk mailed, put "Loner" "Story" etc. in the subject line. Enjoy!

He always sat in the back of the class or alone in the corner of the cafeteria. Everyone knew he was there, but ignored him. He was the outcast of the school. He had gotten a reputation of being dangerous. All that floated around was the rumors.

"Well, what's his name?"

"I don't know. People usually call him 'The Crusher'."

"Yeah, didn't you hear? He got kicked out of his last school."

"I heard he beat up a teacher."

"No, he went ape-shit on some kid. Made him deaf."

"I don't care what he did. Just leave him alone."

"Right, he may go crazy again."

"He went crazy?"

"Completely. My friend has a cousin who went to his old school said..."

At first they got to him, but after a year of them, he hardened. There were random guys who would pick him out. They'd step up to him, trying to fight him; yet, all it took was one look. At that, they'd walk away and later lie to their friends, saying he punked out.

All he wanted was the day to end, so that he could go home and be away from all the chaos of high school. He never wanted to move. Sure, there had been a fight, but he hadn't been hurt. In fact, the guy who started it lost. He was the one who got hurt; yet, the whole town blamed it on him. He was the bully. He was the one who was out of control. He was the hoodlum who made the town's soon-to-be idol almost blind in one eye. Not only that, he injured two cops in the process. Two of his old town's "finest". Both beaten to a pulp just like the town's idol. As one woman had screamed at him, "You're mad! Maaad!" But he hadn't started the whole incident. It was the idol who wanted to start shit, but he stopped thinking about the past because someone was talking to him.

Someone was actually talking to him.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" came a voice. He looked up and saw . . . beautiful. The guy sat. He was surferish. Really surferish. The voice and body language. The guy was tan, tall, had really dark hair that came almost to his shoulder, pouty lips. And his eyes. They popped; they were just so blue. Not that really light blue either. A deep dark blue that shined continuously. He could get lost in those eyes. His nostrils flared slightly. The guy even smelled good.

"Somethin' wrong with my face, man?" the guy laughed and started eating. After taking a huge bite out of his sub, the guy commented, "You don't-" he swallowed "-say much, do ya?"

He shook his head, shaking himself out of the stupor this surferish guy seemed to put him in. "People here don't talk to me."

"Well," the surferish guy smiled, "I'm not from here, so I don't know the rules." He surveyed the cafeteria. "This place is pretty packed for this lunch period. So it was either sit at one of those tables filled with kids who seem to know each other, or sit at the table with the hot, brooding guy."

Did he just call me hot?, he thought to himself and felt a blush start to run up his face. "Hunter," he told the surferish guy.

Those blue eyes locked with his, "Hmm?"

"My name's Hunter," he repeated, falling into those blue eyes.

"Jas," he held out a hand. Hunter expected a hand shake but received a weird hand slapping thing. He eyed Jas peculiarly. Jas smiled, "You'll get used to it."

"He'll get used to what?" came another voice. Both boys looked up. Hunter glowered upon seeing her. Her name was Nokomis, and she was half Chippewa. The only Native American person he had ever seen with his own eyes. Nokomis had decided that he was such the tragic figure, and that it was her mission to befriend him. Oddly enough, she did just that, but he could never bring himself to admit it. That she had somehow broken through all his walls always bugged him, and because of that they shared a very one-sided love-hate friendship.

Jas smiled at Nokomis. So he does have a friend was his first thought. Nokomis, like most people was struck with his beauty, ten times more accentuated with his smile. She blushed as he answered her question, "Our handshake. He'll get used to it."

"Our?" Hunter asked, incredulously while at the same time and manner Nokomis asked, "Yours?"

"Yeah," Jas laughed, "I am your newest friend, man." Hunter blanched at that realizing that he wasn't going to argue with Jas. That realization ran a chill down his spine.

Nokomis sat down next to Hunter, pushing him over, and held out a hand, "Nokomis." Jas gave her the same hand slapping hand shake, somehow not surprised that Nokomis could do it with no problem. "It's nice to meet you...?"

"Jas," he filled in, "And you must be one of Hunter's friends."

"His only friend," Nokomis rolled her eyes and gave Hunter a sidelong glance. She added, "When he lets me."

Surprisingly, Hunter smirked and jabbed Nokomis in her side. Playfully he told her, "Shut up." Both he and she were stunned at this affectionate display. Hunter couldn't explain why he did it, and Nokomis was jubilant on the inside. She'd been waiting for an action like that for more than a year. She laughed, eyeing Jas. "I don't know what you've done to him, but thanks," she told Jas and returned the jab. Jas saw the smile creeping upon Hunter's face.

Hunter noticed it too, and once he looked into Jas's eyes, he immediately hardened again. He slightly shook his head. This guy had a big effect on him, and after being already fiercely attracted to him, he wasn't about to get stupid and let down his defenses. Last time he did that it ended with his world ending around him.

Jas swallowed deeply once seeing Hunter smile. He wondered what had made Hunter so angry and . . . . sad. Hunter's smile lit up his face, and Jas thought that without his whole demeanor, in the looks department Hunter would win everyone over. Don't fall for him this fast, Jas warned himself. "Jas?" he heard his name being asked. He shook himself out of his thoughts. "Huh?"

Nokomis smiled, "Where are you from?"

"New Zealand originally," he answered, "Then we moved to California and then back to New Zealand, and now here."

"Sounded like you had an accent," Hunter said softly and went back to holing up inside himself. Jas stared at him. He had never met anyone like this before - someone who could easily open up and then completely shut themselves off all in one moment.

"Yeah, well, when we moved here to the States, kids used to make fun of my accent. So I learned how to do an American accent, thought I've been told I sound like an American surfer," Jas explained.

"Hmm..." Nokomis began, "Your accent isn't thick, but it's there. It's nice. A very welcome change to suburban Arizona. Why did your family move so much?"

"My dad's job," was all Jas was willing to answer. The three continued in small talk that went on mostly between Jas and Nokomis. Jas noticed this and continually tried to bring him into the conversation. All he received was a few short-lived replies, but something about Hunter had Jas completely hooked in. He knew his first reason for sitting with Hunter was exactly what he'd said earlier. He had seen a hot guy who just seemed to be so . . . alone. He was quite surprised when Nokomis - who went on about some horrible teacher he had yet to encounter but would in 7th period - had sat down. It seemed Hunter wasn't as alone as he thought. Upon seeing Nokomis, his hope dissipated, thinking she was Hunter's girlfriend; however, that she wasn't became quite apparent quite quickly.

By then he was totally lost on what Nokomis was saying, realizing that she seemed to have a knack for filling up silence. He looked at Hunter thinking, You're the blame for this. Hunter looked up at that moment and again their eyes connected. Almost as if he heard Jas's thoughts, he smiled, making Jas smile in return. Hunter hated himself as he felt a blush rise high into his cheeks.

"You okay?" Nokomis asked him with an eyebrow raised. "You're blushing about something."

Hunter reached over to Nokomis one moment before wrapping his hands around her neck - "Hunter?!" Jas called.

Hunter blinked his daydream away and looked at his hand. After unclenching it, he watched the blood roll down the side of his palm and drip onto the table. Nokomis brought out a tissue, quickly wiping up the small amount of blood on Hunter's hand and the few drops on the table. She took out another tissue and firmly pressed it into his hand. Only his middle and ring fingers had cut him, but the cuts were oddly deep. "You take your meds today? You know how your mom gets on you about that," Nokomis chided.

Hunter sighed. This was another reason why Nokomis bugged him. Within less than a year, she had gotten deep into his life. She decided to befriend him the first day of that his family moved into their neighborhood the year before; so she soon got caught up in everything Hunter, including the things that he hid from everyone else. Hunter's mom would forever be grateful to the girl who saved her son. At that moment Hunter was far from that appreciation. "Not yet. I have them here," he told Nokomis lightly. He took out the little baggie with the three pills in it. He tossed them far back in his throat and swallowed.

Jas didn't know what to make of the situation. One minute he and Hunter shared a... moment and Nokomis teased Hunter. Then, Hunter got this empty look in his eyes and blood dripped from his hand. Both Jas and Nokomis called him a few times before Hunter snapped back.

"Don't look at me that way," Hunter hissed, a harrowing ice coming over his voice.

Jas felt attacked. He didn't think that he gave Hunter any sort of look, and the tone of Hunter's voice shook him. "I'm sorry?" he apologized weakly. "I didn't mean to." He hoped that would make it slightly better, but judging by Hunter's stare, it wasn't. Luckily, he was saved a further awkward moment when someone else walked up.

"Dal, man, what's up?" Nate "Krazy" Hopkins leaned down and gave Jas a fake punch to his shoulder. Krazy then looked at Hunter and Nokomis. He gave Jas an incredulous half-grin, "Why are you sitting with The Crusher and Indie?"

Jas was glad that this tall - even taller than himself - guy broke the tension of his, Hunter, and Nokomis's situation, but upon hearing the name Dal, he instantly became annoyed. "I'm not Dal," he rolled his eyes at Nate.

Nate eyed him weirdly and shook his head in disbelief, "Dal, what are you talking about? We've had most of our periods together today. I said I'd be a little late for lunch, but you could hang out at our table with Sean and Dan-"

"Who's Dal?" Hunter found himself asking Jas. Just a moment before, he was ready to jump down Jas's throat after seeing the usual something's-off-about-that-kid stare. After Jas's apology - which he accepted implicitly and instantly - he was fine with Jas. Now, Krazy Hopkins thought Jas's name was Dal, and anything to do with Jas . . . well, he admitted to himself that he wanted to know.

"My bro-" Jas started to answer but was interrupted by yet another appearance.

"Kraze, what are you doing over here? I thought you said we were eating at Sean and David's table?" Hunter, Nokomis, and Krazy all did a double take. Their eyes flowed from Jas to the newcomer who evidently was Dal.

"Shit man, I didn't know you were a twin!" Krazy said excitedly. He gave Dal another look. The brothers were completely identical in his eyes. "I've never known identical twins before."

"Twins?" Nokomis asked. Dal looked down at her and thought, Damn. He held out a hand to her, "Dal." They shared in the same hand slapping that she and Jas had earlier.

"Yeah, and she's Indy," Krazy laughed, clapping Dal's shoulder. Nokomis quickly hit Krazy in the crotch and smirked.

"Just because I'm half Chippewa does not mean you shits can call me 'Indy'," she glowered at the doubled over Krazy whose hands covered his crotch.

Dal and Jas both shook their heads and added in unison, "That is not cool!"

"Dal, why don't you and 'Kraze' just naff off, okay?" Jas suggested.

Dal nodded. He began helping Krazy up, "Yeah, nice meeting ya Nokomis and . . ." he came to a pause, realizing that he had just seen the quiet blond-haired guy who stared unnervingly at Krazy. "Sorry, I never got you're name," he said to Hunter.

"Hunter," Jas filled in.

"Well see you later," Dal went back to his table while Krazy limped after him, too embarrassed to look back.

"Good going, Nokomis," Hunter said softly and jabbed Nokomis in her side lightly.

"Thanks," she smiled and looked at her watch, "Ten minutes before lunch's over. I think I'm gonna get a head start on Bransbury's class. You and Jas have McManmon together next. Why don't you take him?" With that she left the two at the table.

"You wanna get a head start, too?" Jas asked Hunter. When Hunter didn't answer, Jas went on, "Well, it may be easier for me, you know. Without a lot of people in the halls, right?"

"Whatever," Hunter responded emptily, but brightened when he looked Jas in the eye and saw him smiling. He started to get his trash on his tray and stand up.

"Lead me, 'Crusher'," Jas joked doing the same.

Hunter stopped what he was doing, "Don't call me that."

"Sorry," Jas apologized, hearing a faint reminder of the ice starting to flow into Hunter's voice.

"'S fine," Hunter threw his trash away in a nearby trashcan, picked up, his book bag and started out the cafeteria. Jas followed closely behind, making sure to memorize the image of Hunter's ass and calves as he walked a head of him to their seventh period class.

Do you like? Shall I continue? If you do and/or think so, please hit me up at getitright10@yahoo.com. Thanks.