"After lunch, we have to stop at the shop to get clothes, get a class schedule, and get you registered for a sponsor," Ryder says as he leads me out of the cabin and to where the lunchroom is supposed to be.

"Sponsor?" I grumbled while keeping my head on a swivel. 

The guards surrounding the camp still gave me an eerie feeling while Ryder walked right past them like they weren't even there. It made me wonder how long he had been here.

Any kid in a situation like mine was going to try to avoid cops at all cost and would shy away every time they saw one but Ryder actually smiled to a few of them like they were old friends. 

This kid was strange. 

"Yea, kind of like how people can sponsor orphans and stuff. They pay a monthly total to help the camp take care of us. I'm pretty close with my sponsor family. They send me nice letters with money in them every now and then." I simply huff in response as we step into the lunchroom.

 The food looked better than I picture prison food to look like but not by much. The mashed potatoes looked crusty and you could shank someone with the bread because of how stale it was. 

"Yea, it's not that good but you get use to it." Ryder says as he shows me to our cabin's usual table.

Callum and Liam are already eating when we get to the table. Callum's eyes widen a bit when he notices I'm wearing his shirt but he doesn't comment. Liam notices to and seems like he is about to say something about Callum gave him a look I didn't understand making him brush it off. 

 "He didn't have any clothes yet so I told him he could use yours," Ryder explains as he starts eating. 

"Why did he even need clothes? He was wearing some before."

 "I took a shower." I explained before playing with the food on my plate. 

"Why?" Liam asked, almost like he was annoyed.

 "You took a shower the second you stepped in the cabin," Ryder snapped at him. "Don't get annoyed at him for wanting the same thing you did." Liam frowned at his boyfriend but said nothing as he shoved more food in his mouth. 

I stayed quiet as I ate while Ryder glared at Liam, Callum tried to calm both of them down, while Liam tried to ignore his boyfriend's glare as much as he could. 

I've been here for less than a day and I already have the cabin at each other's necks. 

 I tune out as much of the noise around me as I could as I focus keeping down the food I was eating. I honestly have had worse when I had to throw something together with what we had at the apartment but I kind of hoped it would taste a lot better than something a 17 year old with no life lessons could make.

"Jax?" A familiar voice asked as something tapped me gently on the shoulder. I jump to my feet quickly and turning to see who touched me, ready to pound them into the ground before threating their life if they tried it again but my anger melted away when I see a familiar pair of green eyes. 

A small Boyd stood there in an over sized hoodie with a smile on his face. He had a bruise on his face where I had to hit him but he didn't seem to mind it.

 "They didn't tell me they were sending you here too. I'm glad you made the deal; I couldn't go back to my mom," he said, his smile never dropping from his face.

I can't help but letting a small smile slip as I see how happy he is about being here. Now all I needed was to make sure that Kyle and Kellan are going to be just as happy about the arrangements. 

"I wish I was as happy as you were about this," I grumble under my breath. If I could have jut made the deal for Boyd I would have done it in a heartbeat. Kyle, Kellan, and I would have made it just fine on our own without this shit. 

"Boyd!" A voice I hadn't heard before calls out. It was a loud gruff sound that would make most people back away slightly but I just look at the boy, a hard glare set on my face. No one should be yelling at Boyd. 

The boy who yelled had a scowl on his face as he looked at Boyd. He looked up at for a second before looking back at Boyd and doing a double take for me.

The boy had a scar under his eye that went from the corner of his eyelid down and toward the middle of the eye before stopping. His blonde hair was almost buzzed off entirely and his eyes were a dull grey color.

 "I told you not to run off like that," he growled down at Boyd after he was done sizing me up. Boyd seemed to almost shrink away from the boy and lean into me slightly.

 "Maybe you should watch your tone." I say in a low voice that I'm not sure Boyd heard me. 

 "Maybe you should mind your own damn business before you get yourself hurt." 

 "Maybe you should shut up before this gets a lot bloodier than it needs to be." My tone was low and deep as I seethed out my sentence. 

A small hand tugged on the shirt I was wearing. I look down expecting to see Boyd but see Ryder instead.

"Just let it go. He's not worth getting trouble on your first day."

 I thought about letting it go for a second and just telling Boyd to come find me if this fucker ever did anything to him but the prick spoke up before I had the chance to accept the thought. 

 "Yeah sit down with your boyfriend faggot and forget this ever happened." Someone gasps at the comment while my eyes only widened as the boy goes to turn around and leave. 

He grabs Boyd harshly by the bicep and goes to drag him away when my hand reaches out to grab the boy's shirt collar without me telling it to.

My other hand falls to the wrist holding Boyd while the one on his shirt quickly wraps around his neck. My hand starts squeezing his wrist while my arm tightens around his neck. 

 "Let him go." I growl in his ear as I squeeze harder. He gasps in pain before letting go of Boyd who shrinks behind my leg as he watches. 

 I turn him around to look at me before bunching up his shirt and holding him close to me. 

"If you even think of doing that to him again, I will blind you. He could so much as tell me you raised your voice at him and I will fuck you up. Do you understand?" He nod quickly, his eyes widened in fear as he tried to back away from me. 

 I was about to let him go when I remembered what he called me, making a new anger bubble inside me. 

Before I could really process what I was doing my fist was colliding with the boy's cheek. He gasped in pain and stumbled a bit but I held him steady.

 "That was for calling me a faggot," I say before letting him go. He takes several steps back, still looking at me. "Now get your ass out of here before I decide you deserve more than a punch." 

 The boy practically ran away the second my last word escaped my mouth making me want to smile, but I don't.

 Boyd went to follow the boy but my hand shot out to grab him gently by the shoulder and pull him back. He looked confused for a moment but said nothing.

 "You stay here." I growl out as I make him sit in the chair beside me. 

It wasn't until Boyd's shaky voice broke he air that I noticed the whole room was silent and watching me, waiting for me to make my next move. 

"I think you scared everyone." He whispered as he looked around shyly. I look around too; everyone looks at me with wide eyes and fear like they had never seen a fight before. 

"What are you fucking looking at?" I yell loud enough for everyone to hear me. Their heads immediately snap away from us and chatter slowly begins to fill the room again. "They'll get over it." I huff out to Boyd as I sit back down in my chair. 

"You didn't have to do that." Boyd clarifies as he stares down at the table awkwardly. 

"He didn't have to be a dick either but he still was." I point out as I pass my plate to the smaller kid, no longer hungry and not wanting to waste. He mumbled out a quick thanks before he started eating.

Soon enough Boyd gets everyone at our table into a conversation while I just kind of listen. My ears were mostly trying to make sure the heavy uniformed boots of a guard weren't coming my way, but they never came. 

"He doesn't talk much does he?"

"No, we didn't really talk much but I've noticed he mostly just watches and listens to everything rather than act on them." I knew they were talking about me as I continued to half listen while I look around.

"He didn't seem like that type a guy when he was threatening that dude." Liam huffs out making me want to roll my eyes. It's in his best interest to get off my case while he can; I'm not in the mood for this shit anymore.

"If you're going to talk bad about someone at least have the courtesy to do it behind their back." I finally speak up as I stood and looked down to Ryder. "Take me to the shop," I state a bit rudely before looking down at Boyd, "if he tries to start shit again, tell me."

 Ryder stands up beside me and begins leading me silently.

I can't help but let my mind drift back to everyone's faces when they saw me threatening that kid. 

Their eyes were wide in fear like I was some monster for even considering doing something like that. They watched in silence as if any sound would trigger me into a killing spree like some rabid animal.  

What did I honestly expect though?

 All of these people had been here for so long it had probably been drilled into their heads that violence of any kind was a terrible thing. I wouldn't be surprised if this camp was actually brain washing all of them in order to 'fix' them or take the criminal out of all of us. 

It wouldn't work for me though. 

I was a fighter. That's all I've ever been, it's all I'll ever be, and it's all I need to be. 

A sick, cold hearted, fighting piece of machine; that's all Jax Young is, and that's all he'll ever be. 

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