Ryan regrettably trudged towards the detention room, once again. He felt a knot in his stomach as he grew closer to the room. He had managed to get ahold of his mother, through Patrick's mom, and give her the story that he was doing more after school tutoring.

Lying to her was the worst part of this, but Ryan couldn't bring himself to speak the truth to her. He had such a good streak for so long, he couldn't simply let that die for her. He didn't want to be a disappointment to her...

He walked silently into the classroom once he made it. He made his way to the back of the room, where he sat last time, looking down at the ground. There were less students today, with only girl with dirty blond hair and a boy with slicked back black hair, so far.

Ryan didn't pay much attention to them, however, he just wanted it to be over with. He slid into his chosen desk and crossed his arms to rest his head on. He planned to spend the entire detention like this.

He had planned on it, anyway.

"Aye, Ross, right?" A familiar voice asked.

Ryan immediately connected the voice to the Urie boy. It had an underlying laugh to it that made Ryan picture the smile on his face.

"You okay there?" Ryan felt a tap to his shoulder with Urie's next words.

Ryan sighed as he raised his head from his arms. He nodded, not wanting to look Urie in the eye. He knew his black eye had to be sticking out on his relatively pale face.

"Woah, dude!" Urie laughed before a curious expression crossed over his face with the tilt of his head, "Where'd you get the shiner?"

"The what?"

Urie rolled his eyes, "The black eye. Didn't see it on you last time, Mr. Goodie Two Shoes."

"I didn't provoke a fight last time..." Ryan mumbled, resting his head on his proped up hand.

"Hold up." Urie laughed again, "That scrape at lunch, was that you?" He had a smile, as well as, an impressed look on his face. "Heard Thomson griping about it in the bathroom."

"Does fight news spread that fast?" Ryan asked. Somehow, that news made him feel even worse. He was doing a swell job of knocking down his built up, quiet, reputation in a matter of weeks.

"You never been in a fight before?" Urie asked with the raise of an eyebrow, "You've gotta know that news of that spreads like hotcakes! Especially when you take on a faculty favorite."

Ryan groaned, letting his head fall back where it had previously been resting. "Put me out of my misery..."

Urie laughed lightly. "Give it about three minutes." He responded as the teacher in front of the room began his same introduction as last time. "We'll make the great escape."

Ryan turned his head to look at Brendon, "I don't want more trouble."

Urie rolled his eyes. "I never get in trouble for ditching." There was a pause where the dark haired boy leaned closer, "I only get in trouble for getting caught." He whispered in a way that made Ryan want to shudder.

"Don't set anything on fire!" The teacher instructed as he left the room.

Urie grinned, tapping the desk in front of him with anticipation. "Any time." He said, lowly.

Ryan felt his brows furrow. How could he be so excited by ditching? It couldn't be that thrilling.

"Sure you don't want to come, Ross?" The darker haired boy offered, peaking out the window as he spoke.

"I..." Ryan didn't know what he wanted. Last time the teacher had stayed out of the room for the entire punishment; it had been pretty boring after that. At least last time he had received a fair punishment, this time he was the only one being penalized for the misbehavior at lunch. Why should he stay?

"Tick tock, Ross." Urie spoke absently as he looked between the window and the doorway, "Our window is opening as quick as it's closing."

Ryan felt confliction tear at his better judgment. Should he stay, or should he go? It was such a simple question with so many ramifications with each decision. He could stay and possibly loose the respect, if he had any to begin with, of this Urie guy that he seemed to keep running into. He could leave and risk a larger punishment and his mother growing more disappointed in him when he found out...

"Now or never." Urie suddenly spoke, sliding out of his chair. He rushed to the window as Ryan sat, frozen, in his chair. Urie pushed the nearest window open before climbing onto the still. He turned to Ryan with eager brown eyes, holding a hidden mischief just barely at bay. "You in or out, hot shot?"

Ryan's cheeks involuntarily heated with the nickname. Maybe this guy actually wanted him around... Even though they didn't know each other?

Without a word, Ryan rose from his seat. The grin on Urie's face grew exponentially. He let himself drop out of the window as Ryan rushed over after him. Ryan looked out the window with wide eyes. It wasn't necessarily a far drop, but it was definitely a bit of a drop.

"C'mon, Ross." Brendon whispered, loudly. "Spence is distracting campus security to give us the chance to go."

Ryan nodded, swinging his legs over the window ledge. Before he dropped, he glanced back at the detention room. The few other students scattered across the desks didn't seem to care at all about what they were doing. Ryan turned back to the outside escape.

You can't come back from this.

Ryan bit his lip at the thought that ran across his mind. Could he even come back from the fight earlier?

He slid himself further off the ledge. It was now or never; maybe he didn't want to come back from this. Always working to keep his reputation for his mother, but was that keeping him happy?

It feels so good to be bad.

The words that Urie had shared upon their first meeting gave Ryan the final push he needed. Ryan shut his eyes without another thought, dropping from the window.