"Go away." Kyzion said without looking up from his book, currently sitting at his desk with a red highlighter in his hand.

"Get out. Move, don't touch that." He shoved Elisa back before she could reach into Ted's mini aquarium, a frown on his face.

"Not you mad. That turtle ugly anyways." She bucked at him, and his frown etched into a more confused one since he didn't understand the point of her bucking.

"Ah." He fake jumped, and she smacked her lips, leaving out of his room.

"Elisa, close the door!" He called out, and once it remained opened, he huffed, turning back towards his book.

The formally printed words on the page were too small for him to entirely focus on, so a magnifying glass occupied his left hand to make them bigger.

He'd just began reading this book two hours ago, and hadn't left his chair since he opened it. He liked to read books in one sitting.

Reading was one of his favorite hobbies, and it proved to be helpful as well. The more books he read, the further his vocabulary expanded-which was how he was able to speak so comprehensively now, compared to when he was a child.

He liked being educated on random topics, but his favorite kind of books were those about animals. They're what interested him the most-especially butterflies.

He'd previously read in Animal Medicine, by Erika Buenaflor, that butterflies symbolized transformation, hope, and delicate beauty. He hoped to one day be able to transform into something better-the same way caterpillars became butterflies.

Kyzion could hear loud music playing from downstairs, so he got up to shut his room door in order to continue reading without being bothered.

He began to pull at the band around his wrist, becoming irritated with how loud the music was blasting through the house.

After grabbing his noise cancellation headphones, he waited to see if it helped, but obviously it didn't because he headed out of his room and down the stairs.

He continued further to get to the basement, or what Elisa considered her 'girl den', pulling harder at the band as the music grew louder.

It wasn't too many people in the basement. From what he could see, it was Jay, Elisa, Elisa's girlfriend, Nalani, Nalani's boyfriend, and some other boy he didn't recognize-who was most likely there for Jay because the two were all over one another.

"Elisa?" He called, his facial expressions rapidly changing as he tried to form a sentence, but couldn't because he was distracted by the music.

"W-would you turn it down please?" He asked her, and when she blatantly ignored him, Nalani hit her shoulder.

"Turn it down." She told her, and Elisa smacked her lips, grabbing her phone from the counter to lower the volume.

"Are you okay Kazi?" She adverted her attention to him, and he locked on her gaze, seeing her sitting in the lap of her boyfriend, Sinclair.

His tattooed hand rested on her thigh that was exposed in the spandex shorts that she wore, and his eyes were on his phone.

That couldn't have been Kyzion. If a girl as pretty as Nalani was in his lap, he wouldn't be able to take his eyes off of her. She was too beautiful.

She scanned over his frown, seeing how uncomfortable he was in this setting, so she stood to her feet, walking to approach him.

"Come on." She gestured him to follow, and he covered his ears although he was wearing headphones, following behind her to leave the basement.

"I'm sorry. You don't have to come with me, I'm fine." He kept his hands over his ears, and she waved him off, letting him go first up the stairs.

"You don't have to apologize for everything. You didn't even do nothing." She chuckled, standing at the top once she'd made it up.

"Oh..okay then. Would you like to see my turtle?" He asked, and she smiled while tilting her head to the side.

"That sounds fun but I have to go back downstairs. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay." She shifted her weight to one side, and she watched his small frown return.

"Are you sure? It doesn't bite or anything." He rubbed his arm that was covered in tattoos, his favorite pain outlet so that he didn't harm himself.

"Just for a few minutes, yeah?" She agreed, and he nodded, a smile replacing the frown he wore.

"Okay, but don't touch anything. Well, you can but ask first. I don't like people touching my things." He gestured her inside of his room, and she chuckled while nodding as well.

"I can see why. It's all so-organized." She said after finding the word that she was looking for, seeing how neat and in-place his room was.

"Yeah, I know. Elisa's room is filthy. I hate it." He randomly spoke while opening up the aquarium tank, and she laughed because it was true.

"This is Ted. Ted Edison Gaulden." He turned around, showing her his pet that wasn't bigger than the size of his palm.

"Aww, he's so cute!"

"It's a girl." He frowned at her, and she coughed to hide her laugh, amused at how he made it seem like it was so obvious that his turtle named Ted was a female.

"I'm sorry. She's, so cute. How long have you had her?" Nalani asked, keeping her hands to herself because she wasn't too fond of animals-especially slimy reptiles.

"For two years. I had another one before her, but he died after Elisa broke his tank with her basketball. Ted's a bog turtle, which means she can live for up to 40 years." He informed, sitting down in his chair, rolling it to be in front of her as she sat on his bed.

"Do you miss your old turtle?" She continued the conversation, amazed at how easily he was able to change subjects.

"Yes. Here, she doesn't bite, I promise. And I just took her a bath this morning." He held Ted up, and while making a yikes faces, she gently petted the head of the turtle.

"You afraid of turtles?" He curiously asked, and she lightly shrugged in response.

"I've never seen one before. This is my first time. I'm not too fond of pets in general though." She chuckled, and he nodded to show that he understood.

"I love pets. Ama is allergic to animal hair, so I had to get a turtle for a pet instead of a dog or a cat. Do you have one?"

"Yeah. Pinky-he's a little chihuahua. He bad as hell and he bites." She grimaced, and he cracked a smile, making her do the same thing.

"You sound weird when you curse." He told her, putting his turtle back in the tank, and then he walked into his connected bathroom to wash his hands.

"Really? That's probably because I don't cuss around you so it sounds weird to hear it for the first time."

"No. I always hear you curse. You, Elisa, and Jay. Y'all are loud. Well, not you most times, which is why I asked how did you get along with them because y'all are completely different from one another. Why don't you do it around me?" He asked after catching himself beginning to rant.

"I don't know. Amanda told us years ago that you didn't cuss, so I've always tried not to do it around you in case it makes you uncomfortable or something." She told him, watching as he sat on the side of her.

"Oh. Thank you, but I don't mind. That's you going to hell, not me." He shrugged, and she busted out laughing, caught off guard.

"What?" He frowned at her, confused because he didn't remember saying a joke.

"Cursing isn't the only sin, you know that right? Any sin can send you to 'hell' without repenting-if there even is one." She chuckled, leaning back on his bed to rest her head in the palm of her hand.

"You don't believe in hell?" He asked, putting himself in the same position that she was in, both of them laying on their sides.

"I don't believe that anything that exists can possibly be worse than life on earth. It's so sad here." She shrugged, covering her mouth as she yawned.

"You be sad, sometimes?" He mumbled, scanning over her expression.

"Sometimes. Everyone gets sad once in a while, it's normal. Do you get sad?" She returned the question.

"Yeah. How can I not when I'm not like everyone else?" He asked, humor in his tone but she knew that he was more serious than not.

"What's everyone else like?"

"I don't know..normal? Everyone else can tell when someone's joking, or when they're upset. They can walk normal, they don't hit their leg for no reason. They don't pull at their hair, or scream when it's too much going on. They don't wear noise cancellation earphones because sound doesn't make their brain hurt." He responded, shrugging here and there.

Anybody who went through what he did would be sad, but since he was autistic it was hard for him to feel things like others did. He didn't know what genuine sadness was-or emotions in general. He always just felt-there. Bleh.

"Can I hug you?" She asked, knowing that he didn't like to be touched. He frowned for a few seconds, before slowly nodding.

She reached over to wrap her arms around his neck, and he laid his head on her shoulder while leisurely hugging her back.

"I think you're more normal than anyone else I've ever met. People are weird, don't try to be like them. You're perfect the way that you are. I wish I knew how to make you feel better. If you ever want to talk, you have my number, okay?" She rubbed his back, and he nodded, closing his eyes.

"You smell good. Come here." He pulled her closer, and her shoulders tensed a bit at how close they were, before relaxing.

"I like you." He mumbled, rubbing small circles at the nape of her back with his thumb, his first time actually touching her.

"I know. I like you too." She softened her tone, allowing the hug with him to linger for a while longer.

"Will you break up with Sinclair soon?" He asked, and she laughed at how serious he was, slowly releasing him from the hug.

"Stop laughing at me. I'm being serious." He chuckled, resting his head back in his palm.

"I know, that's why it's funny. You're adorable. It's crazy that you asked that though, because I was planning on doing it soon enough." She chuckled as well, sitting up in the bed to rest her weight on her legs.

"Really? That's good then. Wait, why? Haven't you been with him for a long time?" He asked, remembering seeing them together way back when they were all in high school.

"Yeah, and he's cheated basically the whole time." She shrugged, and he rose his eyebrows in surprise.

"Wow. I've never met anyone who's committed something like adultery-you know, just without the whole marriage part." He explained, and she smiled, nodding to show she understood.

"Well, why are you still with him then?" He curiously asked, a bit confused on why she'd stayed with him for so long.

"I don't know. I guess I'm holding on to the hope that he's still the same person he was when I met him, and fell in love, you know? I know that's dumb..but I miss the old him." She played with her French tipped nails, and he put his hand over hers because the clicking noise made his head hurt.

"Sorry." She chuckled, and he nodded, pulling his hand back.

"Why though? You can't change him if he's done it this long. You're probably hindering better things in the present by holding on to things from the past. If he's not there anymore, then maybe you should let go."

"Because you're the only one hurting in this situation. While you're reminiscing on what could've been, he's out there having his fun while you're sad because you can't let go. You're hurting yourself more than he's hurting you." Kyzion shrugged, his fingers tapping at a steady pace on the bed.

"And I think you're very pretty, by the way. Whoever's messing up with you must be blind. And you're nice too. So, he's missing out. Why are you crying?" He frowned, sitting up after realizing that he'd maybe said the wrong thing.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry. Please don't cry." He mumbled, pulling at the band on his wrist as his tongue slowly began to click between his teeth.

"No, it's okay. You didn't do anything wrong." She put her hand over his wrist to stop him, and his frown softened.

"Why are you crying then?" He asked again-he'd never seen her cry before. He didn't like this view.

"Because you told me what I needed to hear instead of what I wanted. Honesty is good. And you're right. Maybe it is time for me to let go." She dryly chuckled with a small sniff, wiping her face.

"Yes. And then when you do, I can take you to the library for a real date instead of a non-date. Do you like the library? If not, why?" He sort of squinted his eyes a bit, before his expression went back to normal.

"I don't think I've been to the library since I was a kid." She snickered, and his jaw dropped, making her laugh.

"What do you do then? The library is like, I don't know, the best place ever. It's quiet and there's books. And computers too, but I don't use them because they're old-school. There's a small pond behind it, and a park for kids." He explained the environment to her, gesturing with his hands.

"Sounds boring." She made a yikes face, and he smiled, shrugging his shoulders.

"Well, if you like loud places, then how about, bowling? I'll just have to bring my headphones. I don't like loud places." He twisted his loc around his finger to keep from pulling at it.

"Maybe we can find somewhere that's quiet, but fun. What about the illusions museum? It's quiet there. I drove past it with my mom before, but we couldn't stop because we were busy that day. I haven't had a chance to go yet."

"Ok. So, can I call it a date then?" He asked, and she laughed, making his smile grow.

"Yes. It's a date. Now hug me." She reached over to wrap her arms around him in another hug, laughing as he tried pushing her away.

"That's one too many. I'm about to die. Move." He smiled, before giving in and hugging her back.

"Nene!" Jay yelled from downstairs, and Kyzion frowned as she pulled away from him.

"Will you come back over tomorrow?" He asked, and she smiled with her lips closed while tilting her head to the side.

"Not tomorrow. I have errands to run with my nana, but I'll come on Friday and spend the night, yeah?" She stood from his bed, and he nodded, flattening his cover that she previously laid on.

"Ok. I've never had anyone spend the n-wait, you mean with me, right? Not with Elisa?" He frowned to be sure, and she laughed, nodding.

"Yes. I'll spend the night with you if that's okay. Ask Amanda." She told him, and he nodded again.

"Okay. I'm not asking. I'm almost 23." He said, and she laughed once more, holding her hands up in surrender.

"Bye bye Nalani." He waved, watching her open the door to leave his room. She chuckled at the use of her first name, because he was probably the only person that used it so often.

"Bye Kazi." She waved back, closing the door behind her, which made him smile. He hated when people left his door open.

Nalani walked downstairs, pulling her spandex shorts down from between her thick thighs since they'd rose up from laying in the bed.

When she made it downstairs, she saw Jay, Elisa, and both of their significant others, as well as Sinclair who was waiting for her near the front door.

"What you was doin'?" He asked, draping his arm over her shoulders once she approached him.

"Talkin' to Kazi. You ready to go?" She looked up at him, and he nodded, looking down at his phone, before locking it to put it in his pocket.

After talking with Kyzion, she couldn't wait to lay everything out on the table with Sinclair and officially end things with him.

She deserved better, and he was far from it.

My head hurting bad asl