Hey dudes! I'm back early due to some family complications.  Sadly I won't be able to post as often as I used to because of my summer plans and other things. I hope you guys understand! Have a great day!

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I snorted, impatiently tapping my foot against the cracked asphalt, staring at the school doors from my little hill searching for Bugs and Crissy in the crowd. I spotted Matt and his friends in the center of the moving mass of people I tended to avoid most of the time. I rolled my eyes muttering something about snobs and stuck ups. 

"Hey, Alis!" Crissy waved me over from the bike rack. 

"Bout' time," I grumbled at her. 

"Whoa, what's made you extra moody today?" Bugs asked, walking over me and Crissy. 

"You would be too is you got paired with Mr. mc popular over there," I jabbed a thumb in his direction. 

Crissy and Bugs both inhaled sharply and gave me looks of sympathy. 

"Yeah, I know," I glared at them with a sigh. Of course, it was just my luck to get paired with the most popular kid in school, not to mention the head of the police department's son (which i pretended not to know), which I had more than a few run-ins with. I shuddered, remembering the time I almost ended up in juvie,......... again.

Bugs patted my shoulder.

"That's gotta be tough, man," He said. "Me and Crissy were gonna have a horror movie marathon, wanna join?" 

"Why not," I said, trying to smile, but I knew it just looked like a grimace. Happyness, in general, was never my forte among other positive emotions that I never seemed to get.

"It's only, what, two weeks isn't it? -and it's 50 percent of our grade not to mention the group participation part of it." Crissy recalled, tapping her finger against her temple. 

I groaned. 

Bugs and Crissy exchanged looks. 

"Than bad, is it?" Bugs asked cautiously. 

"He acts like everyone should like him and know him because he's him!" I shouted and received several annoyed glares from the kids around us. I led Crissy and Bugs out of the rusty school gates, heading in the direction of Crissy's apartment complex. We usually had our movie nights there because my mom was home on weekdays and Bug's parents didn't like me much at all. Which was understandable because I didn't like me much either. 

"That's just how the snobs are," Crissy shrugged, dismissing my agony. 

"I can barely stop myself from ripping his head off for fricks sake!" I threw my hands up in defeat.  Bugs rolled his amber eyes at me.

We reached Crissy's apartment quickly because it wasn't that far away from the school. Bugs waved at the front desk man, Dave. We piled into the elevator, and a sudden stab of claustrophobia stabbed through my veins. I never liked small spaces, note my closet of a bedroom, so most of the time I slept on the couch. The elevator dinged, the automatic doors sliding open, revealing the dull lobby of the third floor. 

We all walked in silence to Crissy's apartment. 

Crissy unlocked the door and her mom smiled at us from the couch. Crissy's dog, Charlie, barked at me.

"Alis, Bugs! It's nice to finally see you again." She pulled us in for hugs. She smelled like cigarette smoke and incense burner. She pulled back to study my face. " Gosh, Alis! What does Angie feed you? You're so thin!" 

Nothing, chimed my mind, though I shoved it down. 

"Things have been hard, mom just lost her job," I said with a forced smile. Mom didn't lose her job, she just didn't care enough to feed me or Josh. 

"Poor thing, let me know if you need anything at all, okay?" She said with a squeeze of my wrist. She, of course, new how Angie was and hated her best friend for it. She was the one who convinced my mom to keep me instead of dumping me in the nearest dumpster where most accidents in this town ended up. 

"Of course," My smile became a bit more sincere this time. 

Bugs and I followed Crissy to her room, and I threw my stuff on the floor, collapsing on her bed with a sudden feeling of exhaustion. Bugs claimed the beanbag chair in the corner and Crissy settled on the floor criss-cross apple sauce. She flicked on our favorite horror movie: Attack of the Mantis! The special effects were terrible and the animation was horrendous but we still loved it. 

I laid on my stomach, resting my head on my hands. Pleasant memories stirred in my mind, making me smile a bit. 

About two hours in we started to fall asleep.

A buzz startled me out of my haze, nearly making me fall off the bed. I realized it was my phone and I dug it out of my pocket. The illuminated screen blinded me for a moment before I could see clearly again. 

The text was from an unknown number: 

Where should we meet up? 

I recognized it as Matt. 

Me: How about the park behind my house?

Matt: Where is that?

I rolled my eyes, remembering that he lived in the nicer part of town. 

I sent him a link from G*ogle maps with directions to my house. 

Matt: Thanks, see you there. 

Me: You're welcome. 

I smiled at the screen for no reason in particular.