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A shrill beeping awoke Jason. He was still half asleep as he hit the snooze button.

*BEEP BEEP*

‘Oh my GOD!' Jason yelled and got out of bed, grabbing the clock and yanking the cable out of the wall. He turned to look at the time on his mounted wall clock. It was 5:56. As he realized that he was late for his morning routine, he ran throughout the house to get ready. He ran to the bathroom, bushed his teeth, then ran back to his bedroom and pulled on some jogging sweats and a windbreaker. Just as he was racing from his room down the hallway, He heard someone knock on his door.

"WHO THE HELL IS KNONKING ON THE DOOR AT SIX IN THE MORNING!!!!!" he yelled, as he flung open the door. A tall man in a black suite was standing there, with a clipboard in hand.

"hello, I am agent Crawford. I am here for Jason McKatheway. Is he home?" The agent stepped inside and shut the door behind him. " I have very important matters to discuss with him."

" I'm really sorry, agent, but Jason is away on a school related camping trip. I'll let him know that you came by. Now, if you will excuse me, I have some jogging to do. I'm already late as it is." With that, Jason opened the door, and shoved the man outside while he ran past the confused man. He noticed a small black Volvo in his driveway, and he suspected it to be the man's car.

He ran own the street, and into the nearby woods for his morning jog. He turned around when he heard someone following him. It was the agent, trying to catch up with him, and his breath. "Jason...........I know.........that you..........are him......" He struggles to sputter out while gasping for air. "your..........shirt says it on the back.........." And it was true, he was on the track team and the windbreakers of his team had the athlete's name on the back of each one.

Groaning, Jason turned to ask the man what he wanted to say, only to find him on the ground, writhing in pain. Jason ran to the man, only to see a set of three huge gashes on the agent's cheek. He picked up the man and, with difficulty, put him in the Volvo and shut the door. He turned and started his jog again, trying to put out of his mind what he had just saw. He tripped as he saw a shadow move in the semi-darkness in front of him, and he could have swore he heard a confused cry of ‘help!‘.

"Must all be in my head." He said aloud and continued to run through the woods until he came up to the 4 mile marker, and turned around to go home. He ran and ran and finally came around a corner to see that the Volvo was gone, with skid marks where it used to be parked. "Strange morning, for the first day of school..." He muttered as he ran home to take a shower.

* - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - *

"please sit down, class. We have a new student today, and his name is Argon." Mrs. Cater, Jason's fist period teacher said. She was standing next to the strangest looking person he had ever seen. The guy was wearing really baggy pants, a few shirts, a sweater, a big trench coat, a hat, gloves, glasses, and a scarf. All effectively covering him up. "Jason, I need to talk to you two. Come here" She said, motioning for him to go to her.

He got up from his seat, and walked over to the new kid and his teacher. She was going over the kid's schedual, and introduced Jason formally. "Jason, Argon here has every class that you do. I would like you to show him around to his classes and help him out during the school year. He is a transfer student, and doesn't have any friends yet. I was hoping you could try to become his first." She handed a copy of his schedule to him, and shooed them out the door.

The two walked in a confused silence. They rounded a corner, when Argon said something quietly. "what did you say?" Jason asked, looking over to Argon.

"I just asked if there were any bathrooms nearby..." He said in a scared and quiet voice.

"HA! Of course there are! Say, why are you so nervous?' Jason teased. He looked over to see Argon walking with a hop in his step. "OK, seems like you really have to go. Um.....through that door right there." He pointed to a guys bathroom, and The kid ran into it. Jason was having a pretty weird day today. No one at his school had every class with another person, it was unheard of. But maybe this was just because he was a sophomore at this school, so he knew his way around, but he didn't have too much of an ego yet. Jason then realized why he had been chosen over all the other students. He was voted the most accepting person last year at home coming. He had over 200 hours of community service, was the president in the GSA (gay and straight alliance) Club, was VP in the Leos club, and had gotten suspended a few times for taking a blow for some gay, or foreign kids at school. It was mandated that if you got into a fight, you HAD to get suspended for a week.

While he was pondering this, he didn't notice that Argon had come out of the bathroom. He tapped Jason on the shoulder, startling him. "OH, your out. OK. Lets keep going." Jason said. He didn't hear the kid come out of the bathroom, and when he tapped on his shoulder, he could of swore he felt something ...... different, about how the kid tapped. He dismissed it. "OK, that's our next class, 756. It's chemistry."

".......ok....." Jason looked over to see the kid looking over at the room, then back to the floor.

"Hey. What's the matter?" Jason asked Argon. All of his experience told him something was wrong with him. He seemed so sad and confused.

"Huh? Oh. I just don't know what to do. And I don't think I can tell you..." The poor kid. He whispered it, as if scared of something. Jason reached over and gave the kid a hug. Argon gave a startled and muffled ‘meep‘, and then Jason let go. "what was that for?" Argon asked, confusedly.

"It was a hug. Everybody needs hugs, and I thought you could use one." Jason answered, and continued with the tour. "Over there, Is our class after science class. It's Physical Education, or P.E. for short." While Jason was talking, the bell rang, releasing a mob of students and faculty. They were in the hallway at the time. Argon nearly got trampled on, and when Jason turned to the kid, and realized that the kid was crying silently. "Hey. What's wrong?"

"too many people here..." Argon said in a shaky voice. "I don't like getting stared at that much"

"well, if you didn't wear that silly garb all the time, you would get less stares. Ha ha. Hey, follow me. I know a place where you can collect your wits. But your going to have to follow me through the crowd, if your up to it."

Argon looked at Jason, then nodded his head, and started to follow him up stream, through the crowds, and out of the building. They were now in the sports area. "hey, by the way, that's where our P.E. class is. We have Mr. Popper, the must unrelenting and merciless teacher, who will make you do 100 push-ups if you talk back to him or don't follow directions. And, I'm sorry to say this, but...you have to dress out for P.E., running shoes, shorts, tee-shirt, and if its cold out, a sweatshirt."

"But I can't--"

Jason Started to run. Argon had to stop talking so that he could keep up. For his size, Jason had an amazing stride. Argon couldn't help but notice how Jason ran, much different than the others he had seen running run. He sort of hopped a little bit when he brought his foot up behind him, giving him a little extra distance in his bounds. His glasses started to slip down, and Argon pushed them back up to their proper position.

Jason, was running at a moderate pace and thought of slowing down for Argon, but he heard Argon following him. He ran to the sports field. There, was his favorite place to let out his emotions. He ran across the grass, until he came to the tree line. "where did it go...." Jason mumbled. He was looking for his tree. He ran to the left side of the field. It wasn't over there. So, he ran to the right side. He finally found it, behind a shed. "well, this shed is quite new....Come on Argon, follow me."

Jason then proceeded to climb the tree with ease. He jumped up, and caught a branch seven feet of the ground, then hauled himself up onto it. He stood on it, and looked upwards, grabbing another branch. He did this until he was about 60 or so feet above the ground. He saw his ‘seat'. It was just the main trunk branching into two different branches near the top of the tree. Jason looked down, and saw Argon right behind him. Jason grabbed his hand and helped him up the rest of the way, and let him have the seat. "you can sit there. I'll just sit on this branch here." Jason told Argon., and sat down. There was a slight breeze, and it gently pulled at Jason's brown hair. He looked off into the distance, and started to doze off. Argon was leaning back in the crook of the tree, when he noticed Jason starting to fall back, asleep. He grabbed his hand, and put him in the crook, and sat on the branch. He too looked out to the distance.

It was the most beautiful sight he had seen in this place. There were rolling hills with green grass and trees, and the noise of traffic was almost all gone. The sky was a nice blue, with a few wispy clouds in random spots. Jason woke up with a start, and realized that Argon had moved him to his seat. He looked over, and saw Argon sitting on the other branch, looking away to the distant hills and sky. He looked down and saw that Argon was holding his dark glasses in his hand. "Hey, I see that you took off your glasses." He said, sitting up more. Startled, Argon slipped and fell off the branch. Jason was faster than gravity, though, and took hold of the boy's hand. Argon looked up at Jason with fearful eyes, and Jason noticed something about his eyes. They weren't normal colors. But he pretended not to notice as he pulled Argon up.

"maybe we should get down. The bell is about to ring anyways. Just follow me around today, and you'll be fine."

"But what about your friends?" Argon said, while quickly putting on his glasses. "Won't they not want me around?"

Jason reached over and patted his new friend on the back. "I, believe it or not, don't have a group of friends that I hang out with. I'm basically a loner, devoted to my clubs and school work." He looked down to the ground, and then to Argon, who looked like he didn't want to climb down. "You scared of getting down?"

".......yes..... I'm scared of heights a little bit. But I like it up here. It's beautiful. But getting down is going to be hard...." Argon responded with some amount of worry in the last sentence.

"OK, then follow me." Jason tapped on the kid's shoulder, and started to jump from one branch, to another, and into another tree. He looked back and saw Argon doing it with ease, like he was a born tree climber. Jason turned back around and hopped through three more trees, until he reached the flag pole. "You might want to take off your gloves for this. You'll slip down way too fast with them on."

"I'm OK. I can do it" Argon said. Jason just shrugged, and grabbed the pole. He jumped and slid down the pole, a little bit at a time. He was at the bottom, when he heard a yell from above. He looked up to see his friend sliding down uncontrollably.

"Crap.." Jason said, and opened up his arms. Argon fell down and down, until he lost his grip on the pole all together. He was falling now. As he was falling, his scarf was torn off, and all he could do was hold onto his hat and glasses. Jason braced himself, and looked up. Argon was there. Jason caught him, and they both fell to a heap on the ground. A moment of awkward silence, then Jason started to laugh uncontrollably and fell back laughing. Argon gathered his scarf and wrapped it back up around his neck. "hey, Argon, why do you wear two scarves? Its California, for goodness sakes. Hey, why DO you dress like that? Are you a leper or something?" Jason said with a smile.

"no...I just don't think I'll feel comfortable around people without it..."

"Oh, well. You have every bit of yourself covered up. Hope you don't get dehydrated and have to go to the hospital."

At the mention of the word hospital, Argon flinched slightly, but shook it off. "No, I carry a water bottle around with me all of the time." With that, he got off of Jason, and started walking back to the school. Jason got up and walked after him. "Hey Jason?"

"yeah?"

"What is a leper?"

Jason just busted out laughing. "I'll tell you later. Now, it is break for a few minutes. Ill show you the rec. center." Jason walked with Argon down the field, and into a hallway. Jason ignored the stairs at Argon, and pulled the kid along. "Hey, I never got to ask you. How old are you?"

"Huh? Oh...um...around 14 or so."

"Okay. Just curious." Jason led the kid down the hallway, and out into the courtyard. It was a fairly big one, with a few trees here and there, and one big one on the very center. Tables here and there, and a bunch circled around the tree, which was now infested with groups of people conversing and mingling. To the right of the courtyard, there was the gym, and behind that, the languages building, dubbed motel 6, due to how it was built. Ten classroom on top of ten more, with two sets of stairs. And to the left of the courtyard, there was the leadership rooms, the art area, and the luncheon and rec. room.

They crossed the courtyard, and headed to the rec. room, getting many stares along the way. Jason didn't mind them, but Argon looked like he did. They made it without anyone getting mauled, and they entered. Noise and chaos greeted them. There were kids everywhere. Some were in the arcade section, others at the food kiosk. But most were either at the computers, or the ping-pong tables. Jason turned to Argon. "Hey, where do you want to go first?" He leaned back, way back, to the point where he was a foot off of the floor, yet still on his feet. A ping-pong ball flew over his face, and he sprung up, laughing. "Boy, did I hear that shot a mile away! Nice try Michael!" He yelled at the boy who had aimed for him. "He's always trying to hit me, and I always dodge it. Pisses him off, entertains me."

"oh. Hey, lets go to the food area, I'm hungry." Argon suggests. His stomach growls, as if for emphasis, and they start off towards the food line. It isn't that long, but still a little bit of a wait.

"Hey, Argon? How are you going to eat with that suit on?" Jason says, turning to the boy. "You're going to have to take off the scarf at least in order to eat. I hope you realize that."

Argon freezes, the realization hitting him. "uhhhh.....Do we have to eat in here?" He asks pleadingly. "I don't like crowds."

"sure, But before we leave, lets go play some arcade games first."

"Okay." And with that, they leave the food line, and go into the arcade room. There are some pinball machines, some shooting games, foosball, and an air hockey table. They played some foosball, the some shooting games. Jason beat Argon at both, and they decided to go get some food. They exited the room, and a ping-pong ball hit Argon square between the eyes. Jason laughed and pulled the stunned Argon out into the open courtyard. "Why did he do that Jason?"

"because he could, and he missed his target, who was me. Don't worry about it, it was only a joke, and a bad one at that." They walked around a little bit, then went back inside, after calming argon down. The two walked and got back into the food kiosk line, shorter than it was before, but that just meant less food. They conversed about classes, materials needed, and school in general, until it was their turn. There was burritos, pizza, chicken, and on hot-dog left.

"so, argon, what do you want to eat? It's on me."

"Oh, thanks. Um...can I have the chicken please?"

"Yeah, sure sweetie! You know, you're the first person to say please to me this year. I'll give you an extra piece, yes?" The old lunch lady winked and handed him his food. "that'll be two dollars, fifty cents please." Jason hands her the money, and then walks with Argon back outside.

"Hey, where is your food Jason? I thought you were hungry."

"Nope. I don't eat lunch that often, except on Fridays. That's when they have all Mexican food. I love their enchiladas and rice here."

"oh, Okay. Hey, can we eat in the tree?"

"No, they have that fenced off during lunch. I'm not sure why though..." Too focused on the conversation, Jason walks straight into a pole. People start laughing, and he just lays there, on the ground. He has his eyes closed, and to Argon, looks unconscious. But everybody moves a little ways away from Jason, and Argon thought it was a wise thing to do as well. There is a BOOM, and a cloud of smoke, and Jason taps Argon on the shoulder, making him jump and scream, enticing many laughs from the audience, as well as an applause. "Why thank you, thank you! Lets get out of here." he whispers the last part to argon, and stands there, until a crowd passes, then he drags Argon to the center of the group, and walk the way they are walking, appearing to everybody else, that they disappeared again. They stuck with the group for sometime, until they reached a secluded section of the campus, and sat down to eat. Argon just sat there and then picked up a chicken strip, and barley lifted the bottom of his scarf and put it into his mouth. He did this for a while until he ran out of chicken.

"All done, weirdo?"

"yes."

And with that, they got up, threw the trash away, and went to their next class when the bell rang again to end lunch. The day passed without any more interesting and fun stuff. Argon got a suit cut for not dressing out in his P.E. clothes, and then the school day ended. Jason walked the three and a half mile from school, yet he wasn't sure where Argon lived, so he came up to him, hugged him, and said farewell.

"Where are you going?"

"home. Where else? I'll see you tomorrow, don't worry."

Jason turned and started a light jog on his way home. He ran up to the street light, pressed the walk button, and waited. It turned green, and he ran across. He was running for a while, maybe a mile or so, when he saw his trail into the forest, and off of the main road. He turned right, and ran down the trail. Then, he heard someone behind him. He took out an empty eyeliner mirrored container. Surreptitiously, he held it up to his shoulder, and caught a glimpse of a heavily clad figure chasing him: Argon. ‘Heh, lets see how badly he wants to follow me' Jason thinks, showing the cruel side of himself. He jumped and caught a branch, swinging up onto it like a cat. He hopped from one branch to another, and then came to a bridge. It was under him, and a wagon was coming up. He got down from the branch, and just hung there, letting go at the last moment, and landing in the cart. He paid the driver $10, and then he was taking a ride through the park, relaxing, and wondering if he had lost his new friend. He checks the mirror again, and sees Argon slowly catching up to the cart. Jason laughs aloud. The driver asks what is so funny, and Jason says his friend and him are playing tag, and his friend is it and catching up to the cart. The old man still had some fun in his weary old bones, because he started to make the horse trot a little faster.

"Is this fast enough for ya?" He laughs back at Jason.

"Yes, plenty. Thank you. You can let me off at the next street. Its where I live." The cart slows to a stop, and Jason jumps out, running to the gate, saying thanks as he does. He vaults over the five-foot tall fence, and lands badly, due to his backpack weighing him down. He twists his ankle, and yells out, more in frustration than pain. He wants to get home before Argon knows where he lives, for his own privacy and for Argon too. He could get too attached to Jason, and not make any other friends. Now what friend would let that happen to a friend?

Jason hobbles the rest of the way to the street, then runs on his ankle, he pain having subsided a little bit. He is nearly at his house, when he hears a yell from behind him. He turns, and sees Argon, hanging from his trench coat on the fence a little bit. He just laughs and goes inside his house, confident the kid will get out of that mess soon.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A few days go by, just normal. Hanging out with Argon at school, then walking home. The first weekend comes around, and Jason gets an idea. He runs into the kitchen after school on Friday, and taps his mom on the shoulder. She was doing a crossword puzzle in the newspaper.

"Can my friend, Argon, spend the night tonight mom?"

"you mean the weird one who dresses in the same thing every day?"

"yes"

"Sure, I don't care. But remember, I'll be at work from ten tonight until eleven in the morning. Friday is my late shift down at the factory you know. He can come by whenever."

"How about now?"

"Is he here?"

"No, but I know where he is..." Jason runs out the door, and goes back to the park. Argon had stopped following him home the whole way after the run in with the fence, but instead, he stopped and climbed a tree halfway there. Unbeknownst to him, Jason had spied on him, and knew exactly where he was. He soon found the tree, and shook it violently, only managing a small rustle of leaves, but that was enough for Argon to look down.

"Hey! Come down from there! I have some good news!" Argon slid down the tree at that info, and jumped next to Jason.

"What is it?"

"Have you ever spent the night at someone's house before?"

"No. why?"

"You want to?"

"sure. How do I?"

"Um...just follow me, unless you need to go to your house." Argon shook his head, and followed Jason home. The walked up the front steps, and inside. His mother was gone, At the store, the she had errands to run, and wouldn't be back until after her shift. Well, that's what the note she left said. It also said that there was some frozen pizza in the freezer. Jason could make a better pizza than that crap, but he didn't feel like cooking that much.

They spent the first few hours watching T.V. and playing video games, both of which Argon enjoyed very much. Then, Jason randomly tackled Argon and ran from the room, yelling "Tag! Your it!" Argon had heard of tag before, and got that if your it, you have to get the not-it person. Then the roles swapped. He bounded after Jason, and caught him going down the stairs. He leapt and landed on Jason at the last stair, bowling them both over. The was a brief tussle, when Jason yelled out in pain. Blood was running down his arm, and getting his favorite shirt, (which was white) stained red.

Jason looked at Argon, with confusion in his eyes, and Argon wore a look of fear, shame, and sorrow on his hidden face. For all anyone could tell, he was just standing there. Jason got up, and reached for Argons scarf and glasses with his unhurt arm, and his hat with his bleeding one, and yanked them away.

Argon knew this day would come, when he couldn't hide it anymore, and didn't move as Jason reached for his mask, but rather just stood there, tears welling up behind his eyes.

Jason dropped the materials immediately after that, and fell back, shocked by what he saw.