"Yo." She punched me, the thump of it a jolt. "Dude. Focus!"

"Hey!" I complained. "What the hell?

"You were spacing out." Lucy grinned, and hiked her school bag up. "Don't make me lay the smack down on your bitch ass yet again. Pay attention."

I rubbed my shoulder, glaring at her, and she shot back a 'what are you gonna do?' look of no-fucks-given. "Jesus, Lu. Why are you taking it out on me?"

"Torsten, you look like shit today. You didn't even respond to old lady Sterling when she said good morning, but nothing will excuse ignoring me."

We were on our way to school, halfway down the street I lived on. It was about a twenty minute walk from my house, and twenty-five from hers. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and I was exhausted, my sleep completely messed up by the extremely crazy dream I'd experienced just an hour or so earlier. I was in the company of one Lucy Atkinson, my closest and best friend.

As far as friends went, there were a couple of other boys in my year that I sometimes hung out with at school, but they weren't as close as Lucy was. She was unique in more than a few ways, and was never going to be part of the crowd. Our introduction was in kindergarten, and in typical fashion even so young, she took no shit from anyone. Another kid had stolen one of my toys and when he and his friends refused to return it, she took matters into her own hands. Violence ensued and of course a teacher was called, but the end result was three crying boys, a victorious Lucy, a returned toy and a disappointed parental phone call.

It was the beginning of a long friendship.

She was fierce, stubborn, opinionated and perfectly capable of beating up boys -- and girls -- two to three times her size. Though she was just 5'6 high, wiry and something of a tomboy, Lucy was well practiced at kickboxing, knew basic self-defence and played soccer with me for fun. Fiercely protective of family and friends, she was as frightening to our school's population of bullies as an avenging demon, and even though I was quite fine on my own, having those idiots give us a wide berth did make life easier. Appearance-wise, she was what guys considered to be 'cute'; an impish innocent look, hair cut short in a pixie style, and a preference for jeans and t-shirts instead of 'all that girly crap the others love'. She did have a hidden feminine side, though it was well concealed and only showed up in ways that most people didn't see.

Except for me, of course.

"So, as I was saying, there's a new guidance counsellor after Mr. Cohen resigned last month. It's a shame, I liked him. He let us do anything we wanted when he subbed health class." She shrugged wistfully. "Whatever. There's new students too, I heard. Weird to start on a Friday though, right?"

"Mmm," I mumbled, still not really concentrating.

"Oh, hey, speaking of Friday, you wanna go see something tonight? Your mom isn't home 'til late, right?"

I shook my head, trying to properly wake myself out of zombie status. "Uh, yeah, she'll be back at like ... 9pm. What did you wanna watch?"

"Well, there's this new sci-fi movie just come out, based on this book series I've read. I saw the trailer for it, and damn, does it look sweet." Her enthusiasm was irritating, and she knew it, but she kept on anyhow. "The boy they cast as the lead role is perfect, I don't think they could have chosen better."

"Uh, really?" I rubbed my face, trying to decide whether I was going to regret asking. "Is he a good actor or something?"

"I dunno," Lucy grinned, shrugging, "but he is adorable. Like, total pretty-boy with the hair and the eyes, and let us not forget the most important thing: his butt. Oh my god. It's amazing. It looks so round and bouncy. I wanna play the drums with it." She mimed in front of her with both hands in the air, a gratuitous squeezing motion. "Mmmm. Squish, squish."

"Really, Lucy? Really?" I blinked, not sure what I had just heard. "Are you trying to traumatise me?" Before she could answer, I continued. "Wait, isn't that the online series by the guy with the alias, the one you mentioned to me a couple times? Don't remember the name but wasn't it basically a B-grade sci-fi slash fic?" I wrinkled my nose in aversion. "You've got such perverted interests."

"It's called Secret Moonlight, it's not B-grade slash, and I'm not perverted," she huffed. "It's quality fiction, and besides, jocks fantasise about lesbians fucking all the time and everyone's all 'haha boys will be boys!' like it's no big deal. So, what's wrong with my enjoyment of the same, genders flipped?" She punched my arm again, much less roughly than the first time, the message clearly outlined. "The correct term for a girl of my refined tastes is a fujoshi, my young padawan. You need to be educated on these matters."

"Whatever," I shrugged back at her. "Sounds like another badly-written piece of space-porn. The internet is full of that stuff. You're still a weirdo for being obsessed with guys screwing each other, and for liking sci-fi that much. Fantasy is more my thing; I'll take Lord of the Rings over Star Wars any day of the week."

"Please?" She stepped ahead, turning around to walk backwards right in front of me, a salesman trying to pawn off a used car. "Please come with! Who else is going to see it if you don't? Jessica? Danielle? Louis? Can you fucking imagine?" She pulled a disgusted face at the thought. "I don't have any other open-minded intelligent options. You might even like it. Come on!"

"I dunno, Lu," I sighed, frowning, Lucy managing to keep pace in front, even in reverse. "Can't promise it's something I'd like. I'm really tired, and not in the mood for this, but ... since I'm such a nice guy, if we go to the bookstore first, I'll think about it."

Her eyes lit up. "Is that a maybe?"

"It's an 'I'll think about it'," I grumbled, "so don't get your hopes up."

Deft and quick, she turned back, resuming the normal path forward along the pavement next to me. "It's totally a maybe. It's going to be a yes. You just have to accept it, Torsten."

"We'll see."