I'm surprised to realise that I still remember the way to Achilles' house, even though I haven't been there in years. When we were kids, we were best friends. Achilles was my only friend, and while he had lots of other friends, I always came first. We did everything together, and maybe that's why he left me. I was too clingy, too dependent, and after a few years with me, he realised how boring I am.

It won't be long until Briseis realises the same thing. We have similar interests, but so do other students at our school. Briseis is pretty, and intelligent, and witty. I bet she has loads of friends back in Greece that she doesn't mention because she doesn't want to make me feel bad. We only became friends because my parents offered to take her in, and after weeks of me avoiding her, one night she came to comfort me after a nightmare, which was an awkward experience neither of us like to talk about. We ended up realising that she liked my music and we had the same sense of humour when we actually managed to translate what we were saying, so we ended up sticking together.

When I reach Achilles' house, I knock on the door nervously. It opens to reveal a tall, regal looking woman with obsidian black hair and cold eyes. In her arms is a chubby baby with red hair and what looks like pen all over his face. Pyrrhus. I've heard about him. He was the talk of the school for quite a while. "Did you hear? Achilles got Deidamea pregnant!" "I hear Achilles is going to take care of the baby! What's his name? Pyrrhus. What a weird name!" Achilles's family, like mine, has a thing for Greek names. I think that's part of the reason why we were friends as kids. We stuck out from other kids, but we fitted together perfectly.

Thetis looks me up and down and frowns.

"Patroclus?" I try not to cringe at her tone of voice, but it's difficult.

"Hello, Mrs Pelides. I'm here to tutor Achilles."

"That's not my name." She growls. "I'm divorced now, though that's none of your business. Achilles is in his room. I'm assuming you know where that is?" She asks, like she expects me to say I don't.

"Yes." I walk past her and head to the steps leading to the basement. The house seems exactly as it did when we were kids, except there are baby toys strewn across the floor instead of books and toy soldiers.

I knock on the door, and a moment later it opens. Achilles, who has a very noticeable black eye, tells me to come in and close the door behind me. His room has changed a lot. The large room used to be filled with toys and books, but now it's split into two sides. The side nearest to the stairs seems quite homely: it has a small bookshelf opposite the staircase which appears to hold school textbooks and a few non-fiction books, with a CD rack and some magazines on top. Under the staircase is his bed, and there's a TV on the wall, positioned so he can only see it if he's half-sitting, half-laid down, which I can't imagine is very comfortable. That's pretty much it. On the other side of the room is a treadmill, weights, a punching bag and other exercise equipment I don't know the name of. The room smells of sweat, deodorant and something which has always just been Achilles.

"Sit on my bed." Achilles instructs. I do as he says as he grabs a textbook and starts to look through his CDs.

"You're gonna play music?" I ask.

"Yeah, it helps me concentrate. Is that okay?" There's a sharp edge to his voice.

"Yeah, it's fine." I reply, trying not to sound like I'm intimidated. There's awkward silence for a while before Achilles says

"Do you like My Chemical Romance?"

"Uh, yeah." I nod, surprised that he likes the same music as me.

"What album?"

"Any." I reply. There's silence again, only filled by the noise of Achilles putting a CD into his CD player. Most people our age would just play it from their phones. I use CDs because I like being able to look at them when they're being displayed, and because I already had most of my music on CDs before my dad bought me a phone. I don't know what Achilles' motive is. As he sits beside me, The End begins to play. He tries to sit far away from me, but we end up closer than I would like as I walk him through biology, my strongest subject.

Almost an hour later, Achilles is working on some questions I've written down for him, and I'm leaning over him, looking at what he's writing. He can probably feel my breath on the back of his neck, but he doesn't mention it, so I don't feel as awkward as I should. The room is entirely silent except for our breaths, then Gerard Way's voice suddenly fills the room.

"Well they encourage your complete cooperation..." I yelp as Achilles jumps, hitting the back of his head on my face.

"Shit, that scared me!" He laughs, then notices me wincing and rubbing my nose. "Oh, are you okay?" He asks.

"Yeah, I'm just surprised." I reply. Achilles moves my hand from my face and inspects my face carefully, leaning way too close for comfort. I shuffle nervously and he quickly leans back, looking away.

"I, um... I think I'm finished.' He hands me the sheet he was writing on and gets up to change the CD. I quickly mark what he's written.

"Nine out of twenty." I tell him. "Not bad." Achilles scoffs.

"It's pretty bad. At this rate, I'll never get back on the team."

"Hey, it's only your first session. You'll get better!" I try to cheer him up. He doesn't reply.

He switches the CD to Danger Days and strides over to the other side of the room.

"Come here.' He instructs. I do as he says and he hands me a pair of red boxing gloves. After a small struggle, I get them onto my hands. They're too big. "This first lesson will just be about stance and self defence, okay?" He asks. I nod. Achilles shows me how to stand then walks around me, adjusting me constantly. After a while, I get the hang of how to stand, and he seems satisfied. He lifts my arms to protect my face, then puts on his own gloves.

"Mirror how I hold myself." He says. I try to imitate him. "No, you need to protect your face!" He sighs.

"I am!" I reply. Achilles suddenly lashes out, nearly punching me.

"See, you're not!" He says. I lift my arms higher and he sighs, drops his hands and moves closer to reposition them, muttering.

"Sorry, okay?" I say irritably. "This is my first lesson, you know? You could try to understand that I'm not going to be brilliant at this at first. That's why I asked you to teach me."

"Yeah, okay." Achilles huffs. He stands opposite me again and tries not to scowl. "Right, let's start again..."