Okay, this was a bad idea. I'm starting to feel dizzy and lunch is after this class. I'm supposed to be taking a test but I can barely focus on the words.

I raise my hand and tell my teacher the situation, he smiles at me and says its fine, to just come retake it when I feel better. He lets me leave early and I swear to god that Mr. Nott is my new favorite teacher.

Now that I've been released early, I head outside of Jamie and Stacia's class and wait for them. I see Javi walking over so I smile and wave. "Yo Javi! What're doing out of class?"

"Mrs. Frank, vommed so we got let out early." I try to remember who Mrs. Frank is but Javi clearly sees my confusion.

"She's the PE teacher that got knocked up?"

"Oh."

We both lean against the wall, waiting for Stacia and Jamie. I look over at Javi and realize he's been staring at me. He doesn't look away when I catch him though, he seems to be searching my face for something. "What?"

"Are you alright man?"

"Uh yeah?"

"You look pretty pale and you've been rubbing your temples a lot."

Oh. I hadn't expected that. I always forget how observant Javi is.

"So uhm...", He clears his throat, visibly uncomfortable, "Is it to do with the Soulmate thing?"

"Kind of..."

We stand there awkwardly for a few minutes, staring at the clock before he speaks again. "AJ?"

"Yeah?"

"You wanna ditch and get some Frosties?"

I beam up at him, "Fuck yeah!"

He smiles tentatively, "It cool if Stacia and Jamie come?"

I love Stacia to death but she just....is a lot especially when she's with Jamie. She's really over-affectionate and I don't think I could really handle that right now.

"As long as they aren't loud."

He chuckles softly and pulls out his phone before delving into the void that is social media. I roll my eyes, he's probably in some girl's DMs per usual.

I'm grateful to have such an observant, thoughtful friend like Javi, though he's really casual with relationships. Me and Stacia have both brought it up but he just shrugs and says, "I'm just having fun, and it's not like I'm stringing them along, I make sure they know that this is for fun and I'm not looking for anything serious right now." So yeah while he may be a great friend, we're a bit worried about his dating habits. Not that there's anything wrong with having fun, it's just that well it's a nearly everyday occurrence of him cycling through girls.

"So you still talking with Sophie?"

"Hm? No, that ended last Friday, I thought I told you?"

See what I mean? Ridiculous.

I roll my eyes and watch students begin to trickle out from classes right before the bell rings. I watch two guys from my year who recently found out their Soulmates, walk to lunch, holding hands and I smile. Really courageous of them to be open about it.

I hear Javi scoff at I turn to look at him inquisitively, "What?"

"Nothing....It's just weird."

I narrow my eyes, "What's weird?"

Stacia and Jamie walk up to us, saying their hellos and Javi is obviously glad to not have to answer my questions. Though that now I'm paying more attention to him, I notice he stands further away from Jamie than I'd noticed before.

"So, me and AJ were talking...About ditching and going to Wendy's?"

I see Stacia grin and she looks over to Jamie, hopefully. Jamie's always been a stickler for the rules, but they seem surprisingly worn out today, "Yeah sure."

Stacia pumps her fist and says a little too loudly, "Hell yeah!!! Let's get on the fucking road!!!"

Jamie and I both look at each other sharing a self-conscious grimace while Javi just starts for the parking lot.

We all rush after him, talking about how long it's been since we've been to Wendy's and how we need to hang out more during the summer.

We finally reach the parking lot, piling in to Javi's beat up truck, Stacia insisting we use her car instead, since he's the one who invited us out. In the end though, Javi wins saying that he'd rather not deal with her pale pink convertible ruining his image. Stacia does however call shotgun so me and Jamie squish together in the back, though I don't mind, Jamie's a very neat person so they don't smell really overwhelming unlike Stacia's perfume which I can almost taste everytime I'm near her. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure I can taste it now.

Javi hands me the AUX since he minds my music taste the least. Jamie's music is a little too sad and EDM for him and Stacia's music is just too weird, it's all political and pop-rock crazy junk. Javi doesn't mind listening to mine simply because it's quiet but not sad, though he prefers things like Missio and Grandson. He likes fast and angry, I suppose he has a lot of things locked up in that head of his. I'm starting to realize I don't know much about him, whether that's because he doesn't want me to or I haven't asked about enough is neither here nor there but I think we should definitely hang out more.

I pull up TENDER on YouTube and click on Oracle. It's been stuck in my head for a few days now, but Crawl is soooo much better. I think Javi likes the kind of melodic and jazzy sound of this song, he's tapping his fingers along to the words. I can tell he's not listening to the words though because while the melody isn't sad like Jamie's music usually is, the lyrics are pretty somber.

I look over to Jamie and see them and Stacia holding hands over the front passenger seat, their eyes closed and bobbing their heads. I feel a sweet smile form on my lips. I love these crazy bunch of kids and all their quirks and flaws.

Javi looks over at me when we stop at the light and smirks, "What bunch of lovebirds over there huh?" I laugh and then laugh harder when Slow Love comes on. Stacia leans over and pinches my cheek, "You have no rights here, child."

"WE'RE THE SAME AGE!"

She smiles deviously, "For now."

Jamie pats my arm comfortingly, "She does it to me too, man."

We pull into the Wendy's parking lot, hopping out, and walking up to the building. We pull open the doors and cool air conditioning blasts me in the face, which feels really nice after being pressed up against Jamie for the past 10 minutes or so. They're really clean and not overwhelming but jeez are they warm.

I walk over to our usual booth while Javi walks up to the register ordering our Frosties. Jamie heads for the bathroom while Stacia comes and sits next to me, resting her legs in my lap,and I begin to run my fingers through her hair. See Stacia can get rowdy sometimes but when she's subdued and content, I tend to enjoy being around her a lot more.

Javi walks over to us, two chocolate and two vanilla Frosties in hand. He looks at me and Stacia, amusement showing in his eyes. "Hey sleepy kids, I got your biweekly sugar rush."

I chuckle and sit up, grabbing my vanilla from him. "Thanks."

Jamie walks up to the booth and I move to the opposite side of the booth pushing Stacia's legs out of my lap. They smile at me gratefully while Javi sets a chocolate in front of them and another chocolate in front of Stacia, taking a sip from his own vanilla before placing it on the table. Javi walks off to get the chips, which are absolutely essential for Frosties.

I clear my throat, "So Jamie, how're your classes coming along?"

They smile sheepishly, sucking on the straw of the Frosty for a moment, "Top marks...again."

Stacia beams at them, proud. My heart squeezes a bit, feeling a bit insecure, before I reply lacklusterly, "Good job."

"What about you AJ?"

"I'm passing...if you could call it that, I've just been busy with work and stuff."

Stacia smiles at me, "You're so nice for helping your mom out like that."

"Yeah definitely AJ. You're very hardworking, I just think you pressure yourself too much."

It's my turn to suck through the straw, sheepish. "Thanks."

As usual Jamie is right, they're so wise that I sometimes forget they're only two months older than me. How they ended up being a Soulmate to someone as hairbrained as Stacia I'm not sure, but they definitely balance her out.

Javi returns, cartons of chips in his hands, "I had them make fresh ones."

Stacia cheers and both me and Jamie roll our eyes. Javi sets the chips down on the table, sitting next to me, across from Stacia and Jamie. He reaches out and grabs a few chips, dipping them in the Frosty and munching happily while Jamie makes a face. He arches a brow at them, "What?"

They look at him repulsed, "You all insist on doing it, but that's just disgusting."

Stacia, Javi, and I all share a look, Javi leans forward on the table and smirks, "You do this every time, Jamie. I'm wondering if maybe you just say it to be consistent and you aren't actually disgusted."

Jamie blushes and looks away, "Whatever."

Stacia rubs their arm and nuzzles their neck, sipping lightly on her chocolate Frosty.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We continue to talk for a few hours before I need to go home, I don't have work today since my job told me to stay home and rest while I'm waiting for my birthday. And I would've listened if I knew how bad I would've felt trying to focus. My migraine has been there all day, though distinctly less harsh when I'm just hanging out with my friends.

Javi drops Stacia and Jamie at school, so they can pick up Stacia's car. I hitch a ride with Javi since he lives only a couple of blocks up from me.

"AJ, I still don't know why you ride the bus when I could just give you a ride."

"You wake up too damn early, I'm not getting up that early for school."

He laughs and looks at my from the corners of his eyes, "Whatever you say, mate."

He stops in front of my house, "Alright, you coming to school tomorrow?"

I smile nervously, "Honestly? Probably not."

He nods. "Okay."

I open the door and turn back, "Tell your mom and dad hi for me."

He laughs, "Yeah I won't be doing that. You know how my dad feels about 'white folks'. Make sure to let your mom know I'm coming over to dinner the next time she plans on making that fantastic lasagna she made on Crimbo."

I chuckle, "Will do."

I close the door behind me and walk up to my door, pulling out my keys from my pocket, unlocking it and stepping inside. I drop my bag on the floor next to front door before walking into my bedroom, and flopping down onto my bed.

I look up at the ceiling as a thought from earlier hits me again. When me and Javi saw those two guys...

I pull out my phone and message Javi:

AJ: So what was weird about those guys we saw at school? 

Javi: Nothing, it's just, society thinks that two male Soulmates together is wrong and yet people like me, who have no Soulmate are forced to be Caretakers when they bash on gay guys but do nothing about it. It's just weird that the thought of no soulmate is worse than what they think about gay people.

AJ: You're starting to sound like your dad :-P

Javi: Well, maybe my dad's right about some things. A broken clock is right twice a day you know.

AJ: I don't think you should dwell on that, I'm pretty sure that the reason they force Soulless people to be Caretakers is so they feel needed and not alone.

Javi: I doubt that, It's probably just giving us the dirty work.

AJ: That's a really negative way to think about it you know. My therapist says that it's not healthy to think in such black and white.

Javi: Look mate, you're great and all but I don't care much what your therapist says.

Well, I've caught him in a bad mood. I set my phone down and lay back again, hugging my pillow to my chest. My eyes flutter, I can't remember the last time I felt this exhausted.

Talking to people is tiring and so is trying to focus, hopefully talking to my Soulmate won't make me feel like that too. The visions are already bad enough.

My consciousness is drifting now. I close my eyes and breathe in deep before falling asleep.