Sunday mornings meant church. Most of the time, Simon zoned out during the sermon and today was no exception. The worst part about church was that most everybody from school went there because it is the only good church close to the town. At least Billy didn't go to church.

Simon sat near the back with his mom. Piggy sat with his aunt and uncle next to him. The twins had to sit at separate sides of the church or else they would cause trouble. Jack sat up front with his parents to pretend like he was important. Ralph also sat up front next to Jack's family.

The sermon finally ended with the choir singing crappy church hymns with screechy voices.

Now, it was time for Sunday school. Simon walked with Piggy to the room. Since they were the first there, they got the comfy chairs.

A few other people came in including Jack and Ralph. A blond girl sat next to Simon. She was normally quiet and Simon believed her name was Hannah. Jack sat in the seat next to Hannah and Ralph took the seat farthest away from Simon, even though he had to force someone to move. The twins never showed up. Apparently they were forced to go home after squishing slugs in the pew bibles.

The youth group leader came in. She was a nice lady who always made exaggerated faces. Her name was Ms. Dinah

"What a wonderful Sunday morning!" She smiled at everybody in the class. "We will start the class by talking about our weeks. Who wants to go first?"

Everybody stayed silent. Then Ralph raised his hand.

"Well, my aunt and uncle had a son this week." Ralph began, but Jack burst out laughing, which caused him to pause.

"That's very nice. If you're so giggly Jack, then maybe you should tell us what happened to you this past week." Ms. Dinah smiled at Jack.

"Fine." Jack sighed after his laughing fit. "I tripped a guy at school, and he didn't even react. Then my dumb teacher tried to make me apologize, but the other guy should have apologized because he messed my day up."

"That is not nice at all. You should apologize to that boy and ask for forgiveness. Now, continue around the circle. Hannah, it is your turn."

"My hamster died." Hannah whispered.

"That is horrible. I am sorry for your loss." Ms. Dinah frowned. "How did it die?"

"It got ground up in my paper shredder." Hannah sniffled.

Jack chuckled next to her and Ms. Dinah was speechless.

"Moving on. Simon?"

Simon flushed when everybody looked at him. "Uh... some idiotic ginger caused me to fail a dissection in biology."

"I'm not idiotic!" Jack stood up and Ms. Dinah shooed him back to his seat.

After the rest of the people went, Simon looked over to Jack to see if he was still annoyed at Simon's comment. It seemed he was pouting. As the teacher continued on with the lesson, Simon found himself looking at Jack. He stared at Jack's face for a moment before Piggy nudged him and smirked.

Ms. Dinah finally ended the lesson and her long-winded speech about Moses.

"At 1:00 today we will be having a church lunch in the basement. I hope you will all join!" Ms. Dinah smiled and the students sped out of the classroom.

"Thank the lord. That took twenty minutes too long." Piggy groaned as he stood up.

Simon stood up along with him. "It's already 12:50. We need to get to the lunch."

"Do you think there's mac n' cheese?" Piggy asked as they walked out of the classroom.

"There's always mac n' cheese," Simon responded.

Piggy leaned closer to Simon to whisper to him. "I think the twins were onto something. Jack is walking behind you now."

"We're going to the same destination. Why wouldn't he be behind us?"

"He's walking a little close though. Like super close."

Simon glanced back to see Jack was only a foot away from him.

"Don't look." Piggy muttered.

"He's probably just trying to get to his destination faster."

"Yeah, sure."

Piggy and Simon entered the church basement. Many people were already there and food was set out. Piggy left Simon to get in line, leaving Simon stuck near the wall with a small child. The little girl took his hand and Simon couldn't take his hand back. He needed the emotional support too.

There were so many people around the cramped basement. Piggy came back over with his plate full of mac n' cheese.

"Why are you with Jack's little sister?" Piggy asked around the mouthful of food.

Simon looked down at the small child. She had fiery hair and almost as many freckles as Jack. Simon pulled his hand away after realizing, so she clung to his leg.

"I didn't know," Simon responded.

"Whatever. I'm going to find my aunt."

Piggy left Simon alone again.

"I'm hungry!" The little girl whined and hit Simon's knee.

"OW!" Simon nudged her off him. "Just go find your parents. They'll get you food."

"Jack is supposed to get me food."

"Then go get Jack."

"That's too much work! You should go get me food."

"No."

"Please?" She looked up at him with a big smile. It was slightly lopsided since she was missing a few teeth on the top row.

"I don't even know who you are or what you like, so I can't get you any food."

"Get me food, or I will tell my brother, and he will beat you up!"

"Uh... no."

The little girl bit his ankle and glared at him. Simon swatted her off.

"Fine. I'll get you your damn food."

"Yay!" She took Simon's hand as they walked to the food line.

Simon kept silent but she was blabbering on.

"Do you like teddy bears? How old are you? Do you have a girlfriend? You know, I think my brother-"

"Oh my god, just shut up already." Simon pleaded.

"No. What is your name?"

"Simon."

"How old are you?"

"17."

"That's super old. You're almost as old as Jack. Do you know Jack?"

"We've met."

"He might be a little mean to other people. There is this one guy he really hates and tells me about how horrible he is. He also has a big crush on somebody. He won't say it directly, but I can tell."

Simon looked at her for a moment. She was quite observant for a small child. "How old are you?"

"I'm 7. I'll be 8 really soon."

Simon would have responded, but the line moved forward, and he was able to finally get some food for the girl. After she started eating, Simon realized he might have made a mistake. What if he gave her something she was allergic to? What if her parents found out and got mad at him? What if Jack-

His thoughts were cut short when he felt someone kick the back of his knee. Simon stumbled a bit, then looked behind him to see Jack.

"What are you doing with my little sister?" Jack questioned Simon.

"Uh..." Simon stuttered.

"He got me food!" Jack's little sister smiled around a mouthful of mashed potatoes.

Jack ignored her and looked at Simon. "Why are you here with Olivia?"

"Who's Olivia?" Simon asked.

"Her." Jack pointed to the small red-head.

"I'm being honest when I say I don't know how I ended up in this situation. She did bite me after I said I wouldn't get her food."

Jack rolled his eyes and went to talk to Olivia, but someone else just had to show up.

Ralph.

"I'm surprised they even let you into the church considering what you are," Ralph said.

"Don't say stuff like that in front of the child." Simon was referencing Olivia, but he doubted the girl cared about two teenage boys arguing.

"Alright. Let's talk outside." Ralph grabbed Simon by the collar even though there were plenty of people around and dragged him outside. It was still midwinter, so the chilly air bit at Simon's face.

"What do you even have against me?" Simon asked after Ralph let him go.

"You embarrassed me."

"So? Nobody will remember."

"Nobody includes all of my former friends who left because they think I'm hanging out with a loser."

"Then they're not true friends. I thought you still hung out with Roger."

"Roger isn't really a friend. Besides that, you made everybody think that I like men. No girls like me now."

"You never had girlfriends before," Simon pointed out.

"That's not the point!" Ralph yelled. "I'm going to beat you for what you did."

"I didn't really do anything. Roger told everybody."

"Shut up!"

Ralph stared at Simon for a moment before punching him in the nose. Simon fell to the ground and held his nose as blood spurted out.

Ralph didn't let him recover because he grabbed Simon by the hair and punched him again and again.

Simon tried to kick and fight, but he was no match for Ralph.

That was until Jack came. Simon vaguely heard a door opening and being dropped to the ground. His head hurt too much to register what was happening.

"C'mon, idiot, I won't carry you to the bathroom." Jack groaned as he pulled Simon along the sidewalk.

Simon stood up and walked dazedly to the bathroom with Jack. Jack shut the door behind them and Simon looked at himself in the mirror. He giggled a little at the amount of blood on his face and the drops pouring down his chin.

"Are you mental?" Jack asked as he pulled napkins from the dispenser.

"It's just funny." Simon giggled some more. "And it hurts really fucking badly."

Jack started wiping the napkins across Simon's face.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Simon pushed Jack away.

"I'm trying to help, dumbass. Stop moving."

"I was just slammed into the sidewalk. At least be gentle with the cleaning."

"You're an idiot for going out with Ralph." Jack wet the napkins and wiped Simon's face a little more gently. It was still rough, since it was still Jack.

"I didn't think he'd beat me up in the middle of the afternoon."

"Stop talking. I can't clean you up if you're moving so much."

"I can clean myself. Why are you doing it?"

"You don't help yourself when your step-dad beats you."

"Billy makes me stay in my room after he beats me."

Jack scoffed as he kept wiping down Simon's face. Jack threw the napkins away and got clean ones, then began wiping the dripping blood on Simon's neck. After a few minutes, Jack was done.

Simon turned to the mirror to see his face. A small bruise was already forming under his left eye and a patch of skin on his cheek under the eye was scratched slightly. The inside of his mouth was bleeding because he bit his tongue when he fell on the sidewalk. His butt was also sore from the way he fell onto it.

"Thanks or whatever." Simon said, looking at Jack.

"Just make sure you don't get beat again." Jack was aggressively scrubbing his hands at the sink. "You should also eat something. You're even skinnier than the last time I saw you."

"You saw me two days ago. There isn't much of a difference."

"It doesn't matter since you're still too skinny. See you tomorrow."

Jack dried off his hands and left the bathroom.

"Rude!" Simon yelled after him.

Simon wasn't sure if Jack had heard. He was strangely nice today in his own Jackish way.

No way, Simon thought, Jack might be growing on me.