“The last time that I had these thoughts I just kept going on about it.”

---

“Hey.” I shut my locker and jumped with a start. I looked to where the open door had been to see Vic leaning against the locker next to mine.

“Uh, hey?” I said carefully.

“My house. After school. Three-thirty.” Without another word or giving me a chance to respond he left. I looked around the hall but no one had been paying attention to our little interaction. I tugged on my hair a screeched through clenched teeth.

“You okay there, Kell?” I sighed and turned around. Lynn was approaching me with Jenna and Savannah next to her.

“Just great,” I said sarcastically. Lynn picked up on my mood in an instant.

“What’s up, princess? Did Prince Charming make life confusing again? Could you not fit your foot in the slipper?”

“What?”

She shook her head. “Forget it. What’s wrong?”

“Yeah, like I’m gonna tell you.”

“So she was right?” Jenna laughed at Savannah’s comment. I didn’t answer. I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of knowing that she’d guessed that Lynn was right. Unfortunately, you can’t hide things from girls.

“C’mon Kells, what did Vic do this time?” Jenna asked. I sighed and motioned for them to follow me. It was lunch time, and I was just putting my books away when Vic approached me, for whatever reason. I didn’t have any classes with him today so maybe that was why we came up to me, but why did he invite me over?

“Hello, Earth to Kellin. You in there, bud?” I blinked a couple times and noticed Savannah’s fingers in front of my face. I hadn’t realized that I walked into the lunch line, or that the girls had been trying to get my attention.

“Sorry,” I said. The four of us went to our usual table and sat down. Tyler, Trent, Ashley, and Tori were already there.

“Hello beautiful people,” Trent greeted us. The girls brushed it off while I sat there a little uncomfortable. It wasn’t that Trent made me uncomfortable; it was just that his comments caught me off guard. I hadn’t come out to anyone yet but I sure as hell knew who I was attracted to. Trent was certainly a cute guy, not really my type but he was attractive.

“How have you guys’ day been?” I asked to regain composure.

“Had a test in physics. So much more math than I was expecting,” Tori explained. Savannah patted her head.

“It’s okay,” she said, “you’ll get ‘em next time.”

“I never said I failed,” Tori shot back defensively. Savannah laughed.

“Anyway, Kellin was just about to tell us about what just happened with him and Vic in the hall.”

I shot Lynn a look and shook my head. It seemed like all I ever did was talk about Vic, not that any of them minded. I had to remember that I hung out with a bunch of girls and homosexual guys who loved to gossip about the school’s badass. Every little bit of information I gave them was cherished.

“I think I’m gonna pass on spreading rumors today. Maybe next time.” I didn’t say another word and ate my lunch instead. Jenna and Trent looked disappointed but I saw Lynn give them a look to drop it. Instead we proceeded to talking about how our weekend had been, aside from the group hangout on Saturday.

“What about you, Kell? How’s your day been?”

I mulled over Ashley’s question. In all actuality my day had been pretty boring; it was Monday after all. I went to class, went to more classes, then lunch. The most exciting part of the day was when Vic came up to me, although I guess that couldn’t count as exciting. Interesting to say the least, but not exciting.

“Kellin?” I blinked. I hadn’t noticed that Ashley was trying to get my attention.

“Oh, sorry. Um, my day was good. Ready to get it over with,” I responded quickly.

“I hear that,” Tyler said. “Actually, I’m ready to get this week over with.”

“It’s literally Monday,” Savannah pointed out.

“And?” She shook her head with a smile as she got up to throw away her trash.

“I’ll see you guys in a bit. I need to go be one with nature.”

“Is that her way of saying she needs to use the bathroom?” I asked. The girls laughed since they were the ones in earshot.

“No silly,” Tori answered, “she’s literally gonna go be with nature.” That confused me more.

Tori and Lynn explained that Savannah was a self-proclaimed hippie who loved spending all her free time around animals and the outdoors. Since she was trapped within the walls of the high school though, she found time and ways to get outside and be one with the trees or something like that.

Sav was back in ten minutes and then we were all off to class.

“So, are you gonna tell us what he did or no?” Sav asked as we neared the classroom.

“What who did?”

“Don’t play dumb, Quinn.” I rolled my eyes.

“No, I’m not.”

“But why not?”

“Because,” I said sternly. I let the conversation drop there as I walked ahead of her and Lynn into the classroom.

I slowly realized that I was becoming the center of attention in my little friend group, but for the wrong reasons. They seemed to only want to hang out with me to get dirt on Vic. I wanted friends but I didn’t want to be used for entertainment. That was what my friendship with these people was turning out to be.

“Kell?” I looked up from my notebook to see Lynn standing over me. “Sorry about Sav; she can get a little pushy.”

I nodded. I had noticed.

“It’s alright,” I said although it was a lie. We didn’t need to get into an argument right before class.

“No, it’s not and I’ll tell her. It’s just that we’re all used to it since we’ve known each other for years. I’ll tell her to back off with you until you get more comfortable with her.”

I wanted to tell her not to do that, but the simple fact that she was defending me took all the doubt about my friendship with her from my mind. Yes, Savannah was pushy, but Lynn was friends with her. Good-natured Lynn Gunn, who after my first day of class was my automatic friend, who thought of herself as my best friend, was friends with her and so many other great people. Maybe I was overreacting in the moment.

“Thanks Gunn, you’re good people.”

“Oh, I’m not,” she said, “but I can fake it can’t I?” She finished her sentence with a wink before taking her seat next to me. I couldn’t help but smile.

Savannah joined us and soon class started. Of course it dragged on but things were chill between the three of us. Once the hour was up the three of us walked out of school together.

“You don’t have anything to do tonight, do you?” Lynn asked me. I shook my head.

“Not that I know of.” Mom was going to be working but she told be she’d be off by ten since she wasn’t planning on taking on an extra shift. Rick would be home by dinner but things were kind of weird between us since the weekend. At least they were on my end. He didn’t actually seem to notice.

“Cool, let’s go to the mall. Have you been?”

“To a mall? Yeah, I think so.”

“Hey, I don’t appreciate being out-sassed,” Savannah said in a playful hurt tone.

“Sorry princess,” I apologized. She stuck her tongue out at me.

“Okay, but we should totally go!” Sav said excitedly. “The mall’s huge and there’s this fountain and pond with the cutest turtles and ducks that you can play with and there are some fish and-”

“Calm down, girly,” Lynn interrupted. She turned to me. “As you can see, the mall has a lot of fun things. So what do you say, you wanna hang?”

Before I could open my mouth to respond I felt an arm sling around my shoulders and the body heat of another person against me.

“Sorry ladies, but little Kellin here isn’t going to be going anywhere. We have other plans.”

The girls’ eyes nearly popped out of their heads as they looked between me and the guy whose arm was around me.

“Don’t fucking stare,” he said forcefully, “get gone!” Without a single word Lynn and Savannah went off into the parking lot. I stared in shock at the spot they were once in before turning to the person next to me.

“Who are you?”

I had never seen this person before in my life. Actually, that was a lie. I had seen him once, with Tony. He was sitting with him at the pizza parlor that night when Tony tried to talk me into accepting Vic. This person was tall with tattoos covering his arms, like Tony. He was thin like Tony too, but had stronger features. While Tony had a baby face, this person looked like he could kill you with a single stare.

“Now, now Kellin, that’s no way to talk to me,” he said. I gulped inwardly as he stared me down. “C’mon buddy, let’s go for a ride.”

With a tighter grip on my shoulder he led me to the parking lot. I had no idea where we were going. Was he kidnapping me? No, right? He wouldn’t do that. No one who goes to the same school as you would kidnap you, right? I didn’t know what to think.

“Which car is yours?” he asked. Without thinking I pointed down the row of cars that were still parked to my blue sedan. “Cool,” he said. He took his arm away from me and walked to my car. I stood there confused.

“Um, what’s happening?” I asked when I was finally able to form words.

“Just unlock the car.” I hesitated but did it when I saw the stern look he was giving me. I knew it was a dumb idea but it was better than getting beaten to a pulp.

The stranger, who still hadn’t told me his name, got in the passenger’s side and shut the door while I stood there wondering what the hell had just happened. Some guy I’d never been formally introduced to just got in my car without my consent. I could get him arrested for this, right? I was contemplating this as the familiar sound of my horn rang out. I sighed and rolled my eyes before making my way to my car.

“Glad you could join me,” he said when I sat in my seat and shut the door.

“Who are you and what do you want?”

He chuckled. “I guess I should explain that, huh?” I didn’t answer. “Okay, okay. The name’s Mike. Mike Fuentes. Also known as MikeyWhiskeyHands or Vic’s little brother, whichever you prefer.”

I looked at him questionably. MikeyWhiskeyHands? Vic’s brother? That still didn’t explain why he was in my car.

“You gonna say something?” he asked. I pursed my lips, thinking of a response that wouldn’t be too out of line. This guy was related to Vic so rubbing him the wrong way would be bad news for me.

“I know that look,” Mike said. “I’m nothing like Vic, let me clear that up now. Yes my brother is a jerk sometimes but he’s a good kid. No I don’t use fear tactics like he does. No I’m not gonna beat you up. Yes you’re perfectly safe with me, and yes, I’d like for us to be friends after this.”

“After what?” I asked.

“See, my brother likes to act on impulse a lot. He doesn’t think things out until after the thing happens. So when he asked you to come over today he forgot to give you an address or directions, basically any useful information. That’s why I’m here. I was kinda voluntold to accompany you to our home. Plus he kinda left without me so I wouldn’t have a choice in the matter. Can you believe that? He texted me twenty minutes before class ended to tell me to find you and bring you home. What a jerk.”

I sat there and tried to take in whatever it was that he had just said. He had a chill vibe but boy he could talk once you got him started.

“Anyway,” he said when he noticed that I wasn’t going to respond, “I think we should get going. I need to get home anyway and do chores and you and Vic have something to do. I don’t know, he doesn’t tell me anything. Or maybe he did and I wasn’t paying attention. That’s probably it.”

“So he didn’t tell you why he invited me?” That was something that still hadn’t been cleared since Mike introduced himself to me.

“Nope. Again, he doesn’t tell me shit sometimes. You’d think we’d be closer than that but no, he likes his secrets.”

“Right, so where?” I asked as I turned the key in the ignition and started the car.

It was a ten minute drive to Mike’s house. He would interrupt his direction-giving with random spurts of whatever thought popped in his head. It wasn’t frequent but I could tell that there was a lot going on up there. Soon I was parking the car on the curb in front of his house.

“Hey,” he said as we walked up to the house, “I’ve gotta let you in on something.”

“What’s up?”

“Well, before you go up there, I think you should know that Vic’s very-”

“Vic’s very what?” I looked at the now open door to see Vic standing there with his arms crossed across his chest.

“Pushy,” Mike said while still looking at me. “Vic’s very pushy.”

“Whatever,” Vic said. Mike shrugged at me, sort of an ‘I told you so’ shrug, before going inside.

“Alright,” Vic said. I looked in his direction as he walked back into the house. I stayed in my place on the porch, not knowing if I should follow him. “Well?” he asked when he turned around and saw me standing there. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and followed him inside.

“Let’s get this over with.”

Notes