Friday

                                                                         Tristian

Around three in the morning, I heard a knock on my window. I ignored it at first, thinking it was my imagination. However the knocking didn't seem to stop, in fact, was getting louder and louder. Who the hell is at my window this early? And what do they want? I got out of bed and pulled back the curtain to see who was standing there. I was stunned to find the twins outside my window. How the hell? I quickly unlatched my window, opening it wide for the two to climb through. Seriously, how? Ben handed me a duffel bag, then climbed in. I am so confused. I set his bag by the window and watched as he helped Wilder with his bag, then helped him climb in as well. Wilder didn't look right to me, he looked injured or something, he was holding his stomach and moved slowly to my bed to sit down. Ben sat down next to his brother, who winced when Ben had put his arm around his shoulder.

"Okay. Hi. Uh, wait, can you both just, fill me in on what's going on? I am so lost right now, where the hell have you two been? Mikah has been worried sick, well we all have been but you know how he gets." The words came flooding out of my mouth, I almost jumbled my words together.

"Our Mom's boyfriend is an asshole, so we ran away from home. Your house is closest to ours so we walked over here and decided you wouldn't mind if we crashed." Ben explained.

"Right. Okay, uh.." I was about to say something but stopped mid-way. I'm too shocked to say anything right now.

"Look, if you don't want us, we can leave," Ben said sounding annoyed. His expression though looked a little hurt. He didn't hesitate to stand up, grab both bags off the floor, and face the window. Oh shit, I need to stop him.

"No, you guys can stay here, it isn't a problem." I quickly yanked the bags out of his hand, tossed them aside, then stepped in front of the window.

"It's just...a lot to take in at fucking three in the morning." I turned around, closed the window, and locked it. Jesus, who knows where they would have gone if I didn't stop them. Hell, they could have ended up on the streets.

"So, uh, why is he an asshole?" I asked, remaining in front of the window.

"Just take my word for it. He's a creep." Ben replied with a disgusted look on his face. Wilder seemed out of it, he was staring off into space with a blank expression. I walked up in his line of view and snapped my fingers in front of his face, he blinked a few times before he realized I was standing in front of him.

"Hey, you gonna be alright? You doing okay?" I asked gently, I didn't want to freak him out. Wilder just nodded in response, which I guess is better than nothing. After I hid both duffel bags in my closest. I set up some type of 'bed' on the floor with spare blankets and pillows.

"Look. I care about you two a lot and this whole situation has me worried. You both know I'm not the type to pry, but if Wilder needs medical attention, please let me know. My mom used to be a nurse. We don't have to explain anything to her, I'm pretty good at coming up with lies for this type of stuff," I said.

Ben and Wilder seemed to freeze in place with my words. I didn't know what to do. Did I go too far? The twins have always been very reserved. Conner, Mikah, and I have gotten used to it and know not to push them. Although Mikah still "mothers" the two. It seemed like they were quiet forever, then Wilder opened his mouth.

"Thank you Tristian, really. But, I'll be okay." Wilder did this small smile, even though he was wincing.

I'm a bit shocked he actually spoke to me. Like a whole sentence. Hell, for a long time I thought he was mute until I caught him whispering to Ben.

"Is your home that bad?" I asked gently.

They both nodded their heads.

"Why didn't you two ever come to any of us?"

"We just...didn't know if we truly could," Ben said.

I left it at that. I hope now they know they can trust us. They seemed to crash right away. I'm not even sure how I managed to fall asleep but I did.

I heard my mom in the kitchen making my breakfast, I sat up in bed glancing at the twins on the floor. They were both sitting up staring at me, why are they so creepy sometimes?

"Alright, just follow my lead and don't say anything," I said, climbing out of bed. I threw on some clothes and lead them into the kitchen. I need to act as nonchalant as possible.

"Good morning dear-" Mom had frozen when she saw the twins standing behind me.

"Uh, who are those two?" She didn't appear to be mad or anything, just confused. I could play it off as if they were ghosts or something, I know that wouldn't work though.

"We forgot about some project we had to do for school, they came late last night and I guess we ended up crashing." I sat at the table, the twins each took a seat, trying to avoid eye contact with my mom.

"Oh. So their parents know they're here?" Mom said testing me. If I was five I would have broken down crying because I lied to her, not anymore though. I managed to face her unconvinced stare.

"Yeah, mind dropping them off at school though?" I asked. Mom stared me down for a minute before finally giving in, she sighed and started to make them a plate of food as well.

"I guess, though I wish you told me." Mom said. I agreed to tell her next time I have friends over. That went very smoothly, I almost lost my cover though. Almost. When we got the main gate, I turned around to face the twins who had been walking behind me.

"You two did bring your school IDs, right? Cause I don't think I could get you in school." I said a bit anxiously. Ben rolled his eyes and pulled out his ID showing it to me,

"We aren't idiots, Tristian." Ben swiped his ID in the slot, followed by Wilder. Well okay then, a simple yes could have been said, Mr. Attitude. We found Conner in the back of the school making yet another grass crown, seriously this boy. When he saw the twins standing beside me, a grin took over his face.

"What?" I asked.

"It's just a bit funny to me, Mikah has been trying to contact you two since Wednesday and when both finally show up, he just so happens to be at the other campus." His grin never left his face.

"So, care to fill me in?" Conner finished one grass crown and placed it on Ben's head, then began to make another. Seriously, why is he making these?

"Well, uh." I looked at Ben prompting him to say something. He sighed when he caught my eye,

"Wilder and I ran away." Ben bluntly explained. Conner didn't seem phased by his remark at all, in fact, he continued to weave his silly grass crown,

"Well. That's that I guess. So I'm assuming you two are staying with Tristian for the time being." Conner said.

"Wait. Yeah, they are but why the fuck are you taking this so well?" I said. Conner stopped for a second and looked at me.

"Not everyone has perfect families, dude." Conner went back to making the crown. Did I say something wrong? Conner seemed a bit rash. The bell rang catching me a bit off guard, I didn't think we had such little time to get to class. We began to walk to class, not before Conner had placed the finished grass crown on Wilder. I wonder how he's doing anyway, he didn't seem so great last night.

Homeroom was a bit restless this morning, it seemed like everyone already knew who we would meet. I took my seat, once Mr. Wood walked in, everyone seemed to turn their attention onto the teacher, for once. We waited for him to introduce our new classmates, he cleared his throat as three students walked in our class.

"I would like to introduce our new classmates, Piper, Maverick, and Andie." Mr. Wood exclaimed. Teachers never say what species our classmates are when we switch out. Part of this whole, 'ice-breaker' thing, other students will get to ask them and I guess make friends or something. But like I said, it already seemed as if my classmates already know who they are. Piper was incredibly beautiful, her skin was very pale almost a sickly pale, Maverick's skin was like that too. Comparing their skin color alone to Andie's, it seemed Andie appeared to look...healthier. Piper had short black hair and small facial features, her eyes were green, I think. They looked dark though. Maverick had auburn hair and this odd smile plastered on his face, I think his eyes are supposed to be hazel but again they just seem dark. No, not dark, vacant or hallow, actually the more I stare in their eyes, the more I notice how dead their eyes appear to be. I don't know why I feel drawn into them but at the same time, I want to get far away from those two.

The smaller of the three was the most interesting to me. Andie had this vibrant sky blue hair, his ears are pointy and his eyes are like this lilac color. His eyes are so pretty though, of course, I'm sure from whatever his species is, it's probably a common color. Andie also seems irritated, in fact, he just crossed his arms. What is with the attitude today? First Ben then Conner, now this guy. Maverick and Piper had sat in the back next to Wilder, who seemed to occupied with a bunch of worksheets. I'm sure Mr. Wood handed the missing work to the twins at some point, I was just too entranced with our new students. Andie ended up taking Mikah's seat, right behind Conner.

Everyone couldn't stop starring at them and whispering to one another, it was clear they were talking about the three. Again who the fuck are they if they're so popular how come I've never seen them before? I watched Ben turn around to ask Conner some questions about his make-up work, I'm assuming it's a math question. Conner had this pen in his hand he began to frantically click, over and over and over. I wonder what he will do once he discovers he has to go to the main office just to get his DS back. Andie reached over and tapped Conner's shoulder, I could be wrong but I'm positive the clicking got worse when Conner got his shoulder tapped. Conner turned around to face our new student.

"Uh, do you mind? That's getting annoying." Andie said in a confident tone. Girls around us had lowered their voices and seemed to be trying to listen to the conversation with Andie and Conner. Jesus, I feel as if we're getting more stares than normal.

"Don't mind Conner, he's just having withdraws," I said. Andie turned his attention to me with a confused expression.

"Withdraws from what?" He asked.

"His DS, teacher caught him with it earlier this week, he gets it back today though," I replied.

"Yeah, too bad he'll have to wait at the end of the day to retrieve it from the office." Ben pitched in with a little smirk on his face. Conner's eyes momentarily widened, poor guy. My focus was on Andie though, what the hell is he, a fairy?

"Are you like a fairy or something?" I asked Andie, who looked disgusted. What did I say?

"I am not a fairy. Are you shitting me right now? I'm an elf!" Andie stated while tugging on his ears, oh right, I forgot elves were a thing too.

"Sorry," I said, Andie rolled his eyes at my attempted apology.

"You would have known the difference between a pixie, fairy, and elf if you ever went to the other campus," Conner said, he began clicking the pen again. Andie glanced from Conner to me, with his eyes finally staying on me in the end.

"You've never been to my campus?" He asked.

"Not exactly," I replied.

"Oh! You must be that Tristian boy!"

"Um, wait you know who I am?"

"Duh, the girls at my campus are almost always talking about a guy with and I quote, pretty eyes," Andie stated. Both Conner and Ben had glanced at one another and smiled, please stop.

"Why the unamused tone? You don't find his eyes gorgeous?" Conner teased. He's lucky he isn't close to me, otherwise, I would have yanked that stupid pen out of his hand.

"Are they suppose to impress me or something?" Andie said casually. I felt my cheeks get a bit heated. Andie was looking directly in my eyes, or rather trying to, I kept avoiding making eye contact.

"You are Tristian, right?" He asked.

"Y-yeah." I cleared my throat, "I am Tristian." I finally made eye contact with him. His expression before had softened, he seemed to be less annoyed at us.

"Well, it's nice to put a face to the famous name." Andie did the thing Mikah always does, he scratched the back of his head.

"Nice to meet you." He said, finally cracking a smile at us, at me.