The four of us were a dangerous group to mess with. Tyler was gaining muscle and changed his hair to stay out of his face. His piercing eyes seemed at follow all of his old bullies. Dave still wore his big hoodies and kept a permanent glare on his face at school. Although when we would get out of school, he was all goody smiles and dreamy eyes for Tyler and the rest of us. Most kids still painted me as a scummy little thief, so I ran with it for the rest of middle school. Justin seethed sarcasm like venom every time he spoke to people he deemed as

“underlings”.

 By high school we added a fifth friend to our group named Quin. She was introduced to us through Dave and Tyler. She’s a spunky cute little alt girl. At first, we didn’t know all the details of her coming to our school, but Dave and Tyler vouched for her so we were fast friends. 

 Quin and I shared a lot of the same chaos energy as one another so she meshed right in with us. We are officially banned from going on adventures together between 10pm and 4am after the reptile incident. 

Senior year for some radical reason we moved up our food chain. People started treating us better. I think it was due to Tyler’s sports status more than anything else. Tyler and I became leaders of the theater club. Tyler was the captain of the basketball team. Dave ran the photography club. Quin spearheaded a lot of the dance/décor committees for events at school like spirit week. Justin and I spent a lot of time getting volunteer programs started to help with our college applications. 

Although we all resided in our own spheres of life, we connected better than ever. We had interesting ideas to bounce off each other. We could combine a lot of our groups and help the school as a whole any time we needed. People began to call us the big five. While we had a lot of people being nice to us now, we kept our friend group closed. 

We had been burned one too many times by outsiders and wouldn’t let that happen again. 

Tyler got a full ride sports scholarship to Norvers university so the rest of us were determined to get in as well. Seeing as Dave and Justin had affluent families they were admitted easily and would have very little, if any, student loans. This left Quin and I. Quin used her connections through the party planning committee to get in with a partial scholarship near the end of our senior year. I didn’t have any fancy talents or scholarships to use so I just hoped my volunteer work, good grades and theater involvement would be enough to get in. 

I was the last one to get my acceptance letter. That night we went over to Tyler’s to celebrate. We even snuck out around midnight to go for a “drive”. We stayed out till almost 5 in the morning getting into all sorts of trouble when we finally crashed back at his parent’s place. 

The next day his mom made a huge breakfast dinner for the five of us and gave us each a going away present. 

Quin got handmade earrings of the Norvers mascot, Berry the Bat. 

Tyler got a quilt made with all his old sports jerseys and sweaters he no longer wore.

 Dave got a new camera bag with hand stitched quotes all over it from his favorite movies, along with a picture of the five of us inside. 

Justin got a writing guide and suede shoes that had indents of kitty paws on the toe and heel. If he walked outside, you could follow a trail of kittens now. 

Saving the best for last I got a small notebook filled with letters from all my friends, the drama and volunteer club as well as family members. I had never read such meaning full and passionate words said about me. 

Before we knew it, we had gathered in an awkward group hug and were bawling our eyes out squeezing each other. 

There is no way I could lose this amazing found family. They meant the world to me.

They keep me safe and happy even on my worst days. 

I still read that book at least once a week. I’ve added pictures and my own replies to some

letters in it. 

This sophomore year at Norvers felt like it was going to be just as good as our senior year had ended.