It was a typical morning in the Cul-da-Sac; birds were singing and the wind was blowing a light breeze to chase away the heat the sun admitted-perfect; blissful silence and everything just seemed to be aligned with the universe. There was nothing that could disturb the peacefulness that surrounded the sixteen year old as he curled tighter into his sheets, the alarm on the side of his bed not due to go off for another thirty minutes…

"I said he's fucking staying with me this weekend!"

"Fuck you John! The court says you get him every other goddam weekend and it's my turn so get the fuck out of my house! And besides it's fucking Friday you worthless shit he has school today!"

And the perfect morning was broken.

Asher Marion’s eyes snapped open, the dream in his mind fading abruptly from the loud screaming from down below, never to be remembered. Rolling over in his bed, he pulled the pillow over his face to drown out the screeching of his divorced parents yelling match. It was too early for their shit. Although, he welcomed the interruption of his dream, he wasn’t fond of being woken up by two people who, for some miraculous reason, decided to adopt before getting a divorce.

Groaning softly as the voices grew beyond human vocal cords; he threw his ear barrier off and stumbled out of bed. He went about his daily hygiene routine including showering for exactly thirty minutes, brushing his teeth for two then rising with Listerine, washing his face for five, putting on deodorant and putting lotion on his body all while counting down backwards from one thousand. After he was finished, he returned to his room to put on his clothes for the day.

Digging through the racks of clothing hanging, the teen finally pulled out a red tank top, a blue and white hoodie that was three sizes too big for his small frame and denim pants. He dressed silently, not bothering to comb his unruly hair knowing it would never stay the way he wanted it but did throw on a beanie hat to keep it from flying everywhere. After slipping on his socks and boots, and checking to make sure nothing was out of place in his room, he grabbed his messenger bag and headed downstairs.

"It's not like you care for the boy anyways Veronica! You only want him because of the fucking government check you're getting from him because he's a fucking genius!"

"How dare you! I don't know WHY I fucking married you, you fucking twofaced shit eater!"

Asher stopped in the entranceway to the living room and narrowed his violet eyes at the figures in the room. If anyone was to walk past them on the street, they would know almost immediately they weren’t related in the slightest. Veronica was a tall woman, as tall as John with only a few centimeters off. She had long, flowing light brown hair that was pulled into a bun to show off the long golden chain around her neck. Still dressed in her nightgown, his foster mother stared the older man down despite being shorter, her dark brown eyes blazing with anger.

Across from her, closest to the couch, his foster father was every bit intimidating. His blonde hair was cropped military short with a few strands falling into his face. He had a muscular build from his days in the military, which explained his stance as he glared down at his divorced wife. John was at least dressed in a pair of jeans and a white shirt unlike the last time he had showed up unexpectedly…he was missing his pants and a shoe.

Asher let out a soft sigh of irritation and stepped fully into the living room where his “parents” were trying to have the shittest dick measuring contest six in the morning.

"You two have the uncanny ability to lessen the IQ of the entire state with how many vulgar words that escape your mouth in one sitting.” he drawled lazily as he half glared at his so-called parents who turned sharply when he spoke up. “If you want to look like you have some form of intelligence in that thing you called a cranium then I suggest using bigger words other than "fuck", "shit", and "damn". I would try looking in the binder on my worktable upstairs labeled "Big Words for the Mentally Challenged Parents". You should also make use of the index to find what you're looking for.”

He turned to walk out the front door before he paused and gave them a backward glance, "And just so you two are aware, it's John’s turn to take me so I expect you here when I return from school."

With that Asher slammed the front door leaving the two older adults in shock.

John recovered first, smirking in triumph and snickered to Veronica, "Ha, told you so."

"Fuck you asshole and go get that binder."

                                        XXXXXXXXXXXX

"ASSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEERRRRRRR!"

Asher cringed slightly and slammed his locker closed before he turned his head sharply to the right. He glared at the short, red haired female that dared to squeal his name in such a shrill, unflattering manner and who was now skipping towards him...he swore to God he even saw the back scenery turn pink with hearts and flowers flowing around her as she approached.

"What the fuck do you want Marie?" Asher bit out in a cold tone, his left eye twitching slightly.

The girl, Marie, pouted in a mocking way before leaping forward to drape her arms around his shoulder. "Awwww, what's wrong baby?" she cooed, batting her eyelashes at him. "Didn't get laid last night? Oh I feel so bad for you baby; let me make it up to you sugar pie!"

Her hand started lower to the button of his jeans and he felt a shiver of revulsion run through him.

Asher cringed and threw her arm away before they could reach their destination. "Are you high again?" he asked, not even a little amused by his female friends poor attempt at being suave or seductive before strolling down the near empty hallway to his AP Biology class.

Marie skipped after him, smiling smugly at the fact she managed to make Asher uncomfortable-which wasn't an easy feat considering his high tolerance for her and her antics. "You know I don’t smoke but you probably smell Andrew’s weed on me. Anyways, I assume you're going to be spending the weekend with your dad... hmmm by that look I assume ma and pa duked it out this morning...because normally you're not this prissy unless it involved them or you found out you got an A- on some assignment. Let me guess good ol' dad broke into your house again?"

"Yeah, somehow John got a hold of my new address and wanted to surprise me this morning right before I had to get to school...obviously that blew up in his face..." Asher replied in a bored tone. "Now don't you have class to get to?"

"It's Friday," the girl huffed softly. "You know I don't go to class on Fridays; especially the first four periods. Besides, nothing interesting ever happens in my class. All my teachers are old and they keep repeating the same thing repeatedly. Tone deaf music teacher plays the same, stupid song since I started his stupid class. The math teacher can't solve an algebraic problem to save his life. Freaking German teacher is German and can't pronounce the words for jack shit. And if I have to hear how the Earth was "flat" instead of round in some godforsaken period I don't care about one more fucking time, I'm going to go postal and blow up the school!"

Asher laughed and opened the door to his classroom. Marie followed after, waving a hello to the teacher, who just gave her a look of boredom, before taking the empty seat beside her friend. It was like a routine every Friday since her senior year; Marie would ditch the first four periods of her class just to sit with Asher in his AP classes (which were Biology, Chemistry, English and Advanced French). The teachers never minded her presence as long as she stayed silent and didn’t disrupt the class. There was also the fact most of her classes were either remedial or she had done something to someone and was told to go sit in the hall for the rest of the period like a child.

To make her life easier, she ditched all together to avoid the write up and principal trip…

"Marie Vondervelt, what the hell are you doing here again?" a stiff voice growled from behind the pair.

Marie and Asher stiffened at the nasally tone and they turned their heads to the right to glare at the idiot who dared question her presence. When they saw who it was that horvered beside Asher’s desk, the pair smirked.

"Hello Samuel," they both said uncaringly.

Samuel Wyatt, a tall athletic boy with dirty blonde hair and brown eyes scowled at the pair. "Seriously, why the fuck are you in AP Biology? Shouldn't you be playing your lame cello in music class or something you hippie? Bad enough we have know it all, we don’t need a pothead.”

"Just because you're on the football team doesn't mean you should act like an ass," Marie retorted. "And obviously the teacher doesn't mind me being here so shut the fuck up and sit down you athletic, steroid taking monkey ball licker."

The other male growled but strode off to the back of the class away from them.

Twenty seconds later the bell rang indicating the start of class. The teacher, Mr. Wallace, stood from his desk and closed the door.

"Okay class today I have a real treat for you all this morning," Mr. Wallace began as he started writing on the white board of today's subject matter. "Because the lab is currently being remodeled to be bigger to accommodate the growing number of students who want to get labs out of the way before their senior year, I managed to get permission to hold lessons outside today in the forest near the school..."

A couple of students groaned while others silently cheered; it was rare occasions they got to actually go outside and interact with things that they were learning about in class.

"And because it's a nice day outside we're going to be collecting samples from the stream to test for micro bacterial organisms once the lab is finished which should be tomorrow," the teacher continued. "Now everyone needs to be on their best behavior and no, you don't need to bring anything besides your notebook and pencil; as we walk to the stream I want you all to record any living organisms you find such as bugs, plants, and any other animal and correctly identify it's scientific name, properties, etc. cetera. Of course, it wouldn't be fair to make you write everything so I'll expect at least six. If you get them right I'll add an extra ten points to the midterm...Now everyone..."

As the teacher droned on about safety and how they were supposed to stay in a group, Asher managed to retrieve his notebook and pencil from his messenger bag while Marie looked a bit put off.

"Booooo," she hissed under her breath. "I won't be able to go outside with you...I'm not part of the class..."

"Don't worry about it," Asher whispered back. "You know Mr. Wallace doesn't care that you're here; he's known you for like five years."

Marie made a sound of agreement and soon the biology teacher was ushering the students out the door and towards the woods where they would collect their specimen for tomorrow.