He awoke Friday morning to a blaring alarm. Groaning, he turned over and shut it off. Rinse and repeat. He only hoped that this day wasn’t like the last. Vivien and Joshua were both asleep, being seven in the morning he didn’t blame them. His meds smiled at him from the counter, he walked to the dresser and swallowed them down. After his meds he got dressed, a purple white striped shirt, and jeans. He was running a bit late so instead of his normal morning routine he just grabbed his bag and ran out the door, starting coffee for Vivien before he left,

Surprisingly enough, there was a small chill to the autumn breeze as he ran to the bus stop. The bus arrived just as he did and he got on, taking deep breaths as he sat down in his normal seat. 

“Watch it Punk” A voice said from beside him

“Ack!” 

Adam jumped sideways as he looked at the kid next to him. The hooded kid laughed. No. No Way this kid lived near him. This was not possible. 

“scared ya, didn’t I?”

“No. you didn’t” 

Adam moved to the next seat and looked out the window, trying to ignore the hooded figure looming over him. This was definitely going to be a year. Living next to some annoying kid who never left him alone. “How did you get my number?” Adam asked, cocking his head over to the kid messing with their hoodie strings. “Oh, I got it from Brittany. Your sister, right?” they asked back, smiling from ear to ear. Adam groaned. Of course Brittany would give out his number. She was always encouraging him to make friends. He thought it too much of a chore though, and never did. Adam looked back out the window and sighed, resting his head on his hand. 

When they got to school, the hooded kid jumped up happily to follow behind Adam, who was already visibly annoyed. 

“Can you Not leave me Alone?”

 Adam asked, head in his hand as he leaned against his locker.

“Nope!” 

The kid replied, laughing that same laugh that would haunt Adam throughout the entire school year. Adam just turned around and grabbed his bags, shoving his locker closed and walking off to class, trying to outwalk the golden retriever like kid. In history, Mr.Wessman had handed out a presidents’ sheet and told everyone to memorize it by the end of the week, as there would be a test. Adam already knew every president, on the other hand, his newfound annoyance had no clue who they were. Or how to study. The sun had still not come up yet, and there were small fireflies if he looked just right out the window. 

“Can you Please help me?”

“What do you need now?” 

Adam looked back and the kid was adjusting their strings, trying to match them in length.

“You look like you aren’t even trying.” 

Adam turned back around as Mr.Wessman cleared his throat, going back to his sketch of a patch of fireflies around a mushroom house. He looked up right in time to see Mr.Wessman right in front of his face, flipping over his paper. “Name the president of 1986, Mr.Palinskie.” Adam laughed for a second and crossed his arms “Ronald Reagan, Mr.Wessman. I know my history.” Mr.Wessman went red in the face and just walked off as Adam smirked. The bell rang about five minutes later, and Adam walked up to the turn in bin, placed three papers with every president up to then written down, and walked out. 

The halls were decorated with banners advertising homecoming. Adam never understood why people went to social events. They made no sense to him, all it was, was people hanging around others that they already knew. In math, the hooded kid wore headphones, bouncing their head back and forth. Mrs.Wallas came over to them and ripped out their earbuds. 

“You know that music is not allowed, either leave these with me, or go to detention.”They laughed behind their blond hair. “Now why would I do that? All i'm doing is helping you, really”

“Leave them Alone, Mrs.Wallas.” Adam perked up from the math page, twirling his pencil. “Either you're idiotic, or you’ve never heard of ‘grounding techniques’. They aren’t hurting you, so I don’t see the problem.”

Mrs.Wallace just huffed and turned away, throwing the earbuds back onto the desk and sitting down as she graded papers. Adam had the fear that everyone, was now staring at Him. Somehow, it didn’t bother him that much. A quick tap on the shoulder alerted him and he spun around, Adam sighed when it was just hooded kid. 

“Yes? You about gave me a heart attack so it better be worth it.” Adam said, crossing his arms

“Thank you, for standing up for me”

“What? Yeah whatever, who wouldn’t?”

“Everyone else in this school.” they said, pulling on the strings of their hoodie.

The willows swayed back and forth, the sun beating down onto the window. Adam was once again struck by the sight outside, longing to be anywhere but inside of a dingy classroom. Mathematics bored him beyond anything else. Thunder suddenly struck. Rain started outside, he watched the willows now whip from side to side as the glass fogged from the downpour. 

About an hour later, parents were called and students were dismissed. The principal had said there was no way school could continue with the storm supposed to get as bad as it was. 

“Heyyy Adam? Do you think you could give me a ride home since you live so close to me?” the kid in the hood asked. 

“Why would I do that? I can barely stand you at school, why would I take you home?” Adam replied. 

“Well, Maybe just, maybe you have a bit a compassion for someone who otherwise would get sweeped away in thu rain?”

“Highly unlikely..But whatever. As long as you don’t make a mess.” 

“Yes! Thanks, I appreciate it Adam.” 

Adam disregarded the fact the kid used his actual name and went on walking. He grabbed the keys off of the rack near the offices building and exited, the kid on his heels like an excited puppy. Once they were outside it was indeed, raining “Cats and Dogs” as the parable goes. Adam pulled over his cover up and the hooded kid just rolled up their sleeves and ran head first into the rain, laughing and jumping around in the puddles.  Vivien’s sister and her husband had brought the truck to the school earlier that day. They knew what the weather looked like, and that Adam wouldn’t have been smart enough to take a look before he left for school. The blue protective tarp was already covering the Blue Chevy, making it an easy target to see in the Senior parking lot. 

They started their way toward their car, suddenly Adam yanked on the back hood of the kids jacket. A splash of water spewed up in front of them.

“Watch Out! You could’ve been run over!” Adam was furious. Yet he didn’t really know why. He blamed it on the fact he would have been blamed for the damages..

“What? So I woulda been in the hospital. Big deal.” They shrugged and kept walking towards the truck. It was as if they Didn’t care. 

Once in the truck, Safe, Adam made sure the kid buckled up, not wanting to cause an accident of his own due to his anxiety brought on by this, this child. Adam put the truck into reverse and looked behind him, slowly backing out and getting onto the road, the kid beside him crossing their arms and playing with their hoodie strings. 

“So, you know my name. I don't know yours. Seems a bit odd” Adam said, turning his signal to the left and turning onto Oke Avenue.

You can call me…Lux. Sound good?”  They asked, playing with Adams’ dice hanging from the mirror. Adam nodded and continued on the road. 

It was a long drive, a few words spoken between the two of them, but not anything after that. At one point Lux turned on the music to country, and all Adam did was sigh. ‘Of course they like this music.’ he thought to himself as he made a sharp turn onto a gravel road, throwing Lux into the truck's door. Adam covered his hand with laughter as he regained himself, Lux just glared and rubbed their arm. The rain poured on around them, mixing together with the sound of the radio. 

 Eventually, they made it to the outskirts of Plainridge. Lux looked out the window and pointed towards a run down building. 

“There, there it is!” They said Adam pulled the truck into the driveway and put it into park.

“You’re..kidding, this couldn’t be a House, let alone any Legal living space.” 

“Yeah it can..I bought it myself.”

“Really? No wonder it’s so run down. Fine, you call this a house, I call it wreckage. Tomato Tomata.” He unlocked the doors and passed Lux their bag from the backseat. As soon as Lux got out of the truck, Adam looked behind him and put it into reverse, pulling out of the driveway and continuing towards his own house. 

Adam checked the time, 5:34..His father was already home. He wasn’t one hundred percent sure, but when he pulled up into his garage-that was already open- his thoughts were confirmed. The truck came to a dull roar as Adam put it into park, for the last time that day. He was not going anywhere for the rest of the Weekend. Slamming the door closed, he walked up the dingy stairs, and put his key into the locked door. Why his father locked the door, he had no clue. 

As soon as the door cracked, smoke poured out the cracks. Adam coughed as he walked in, waving the smoke out of his face as he threw his bag over to the corner of the dining room. His meds were on the counter, and his father was passed out, littered bottles around him. Adam swallowed his meds down with a chug of water, placing the bottle of pills back on the counter. The thud was loud enough to wake his father. 

“What're you doin home this early…?” Joshua asked, the smell of burnt alcohol traceable from the kitchen.

“The storm? Oh whatever you dont care anyway drunk. Go back to bed” Adam said, waving away more smoke “It’s all you’re good at Anyway..” he mumbled, grabbing his bag and heading to his room. His father said nothing, did nothing, and about forty minutes later, Adam heard a loud slam of the front door. ‘Thank God he’s gone’ thought Adam as he went through his phone. Message from unknown Number

“Don’t tell me that kid texted me.” he groaned, opening up his texts, sure enough. 

“Hey! It's lux, I see you haven’t changed your number yet!” ‘I Really should’ Adam thought. 

Lux, laying in their bed, the rain leaking into their house, saw three dots flash across their screen, and smiled. 

“Yeah, but I should, why would I Want to text you?” Adam replied

“Beats me, why don’t you stare in a mirror and ask yourself?” Lux sent a laughing emoji with their text. Adam could practically feel as his face heated. 

“What do you Want?” 

. . .

“I'm mainly bored. Wanna hang out?” Lux replied, looking up at their ceiling, watching the small fan, broken in about three ways, twirl around their room. 

“I would rather stare at myself in the mirror and demand myself to change my number” 

            “Suit yourself.” 

Adam put his phone on the bedside table and got out of bed. He was tired of laying down. He felt lazy. When he walked out his room, Vivien was over the stove, a pot of..something, being stirred around while she played christian pop music. Adam sighed and covered his ears. The rain had pretty much died out, which he expected, seeing as it was almost seven by now. 

“I'm grabbing the keys! I’ll be back before twelve.” Adam said, competing in volume with her

“What? Oh, that's fine. Leave me to your father. Thanks for telling me” Vivien mumbled as she hung the ladle on the wall. The dried towel under Viviens’ supplies was old, it Needed to be in the washer, not on the counter next to a gas flame. 

He took the keys from the wall, and locked the door behind him.  The sun was shining brightly despite the fact it had rained an hour later. Adam took out his phone and texted Lux. 

“Meet me in the park. I would offer to go to your house, but I would clean the whole place and I would be stuck after three in the morning.”

. . . 

Lux replied with a thumbs up and set their phone down. They grabbed a purple hoodie and their best pair of shoes. Lux had no car, nor license at that. Walking was their solution. It couldn’t hurt right? The road was clear, besides the stray car here and there. Lux had never seen as many cars as when they walked into town. It was disappointing how someone could leave a vehicle ranging from a thousand, to sixty thousand dollars on the side of the road. 

The park was almost desolate by the time they reached it. Adam was sitting on a park bench watching his phone. Lux went over and hit him on the head.

‘Ow! What was that for!?”

“Fun” they laughed and sat down, taking the hood off their head for, what seemed to be the first time. Luxs’ eyes were a deep gray and Adam caught himself starring. He had never seen eyes like that on someone. 

“Why don’t you take your hood off more often?”

“I have no reason to, why expand a comfort zone? It's called that for a reason.” they shrugged, Adam nodded, leaning back against the bench.

“I guess you're right,” he said, looking up at the sunset. Beautiful specks of red among the purple hues. Adam grabbed his sketchbook and markers that were in his carrier case. He got to work sketching out lines and waves he saw in the sky. Lux looked over his shoulder and laughed a bit

“It looks so dull” They said, knowing well drawings didn’t start out like the finishing project. 

‘And? Who cares how it starts. Only how it ends.” Adam replied. It wasn’t any of Luxs’ business how his drawings turned out. 

“Can I see your sketchbook?’

“Absolutely-”  Lux smiled and reached out their hand

“Not. There is no way you get to see these.” Lux dropped their smile and huffed. Adam laughed. No way was this kid going to look at his drawings. They were the one thing that was his, and he treasured them. Rain started to drizzle around them. Adam groaned and grabbed his book, shoving it back into the carrier case and getting up, walking over to an awning in the middle of the park. Lux chased after him. 

“Do you not like the rain?” Lux asked, moving their hair out of their face.

“Of course not. Why would I like something that gets me wet? It’s cold and just..Ugh no, I could never like the rain” Adam sped up and finally made it to the awning. Lux sighed and caught up reluctantly. They Loved the rain, to them it was beautiful and contained over a million mysteries. But not everyone thinks the same. Lightning cracked and hit the awning above them. Adam cowardly covered his ears. Lux looked over at him, a flash of worry running over them. 

“Hey, you good? We can leave if you want. You don’t even have to give me a ride, I’ll walk back home” Lux said hesitantly, going over to Adam and placing a hand on his back

“Don’t Touch me,” Adam said, panic in his voice. ‘He’s having a panic attack’ Lux thought to themselves. 

“Come on, I'll drive you home, I bet I can manage.” Lux gave Adam their hoodie to keep dry. Adam slowly nodded and started running back to his truck. His heart was racing as he slammed his passenger door shut. Usually, it would be against question that anyone but him drive his truck, but this was an exception. If he tried to drive now he would cause a wreck. 

Lux soon caught up and got in the truck, holding the handle to get over the ledge of the truck that was..much larger than them to say the least. Lux reached behind them and took off the bag they had totted along. Another crack of thunder had Adam hunched in his seat. Lux pulled out a stuffed red panda and handed it to Adam.

“Here, this can help. It’s lavender scented, it can calm you” They placed the small animal in Adams lap, who quickly grabbed it and held it tight. Lux felt horrible, all they wanted to do was hang out, and in doing so, they caused the possible one friend they could have had, to have a panic attack. Well, they didn’t cause it, but they were still at fault. Lux pulled the seatbelt on and put the large truck in reverse, making sure no one was behind them and backed out. ‘It’s just driving..I can do this” They reminded themselves, taking a deep breath and getting on the main road.

Thirty minutes into the drive, and the thunder had not calmed. Lux was near their house, and they passed it, instead turning the truck to the left and continuing on the gravel road that acted like mud with the rain. Adam took quick breaths and held tightly to the lavender scented panda, tears streaming down his face as he tried to compose himself. When they made it home, it was eleven thirty and Vivien was outside, standing in the pouring rain with her arms crossed. Adam quickly took a breath and threw the animal to the back of his truck before he could be seen by his mother. 

Lux parked the car effortlessly, cutting off the engine and parking the car. 

“Hey Adam, you’re home, can you get-”

“Yes. I don’t need your help. Thank you for driving me home. Sorry you had to see that. Bring my truck back tomorrow. Go home” Adam said through a broken voice. Very quickly though, he retracted his statement as he heard gunshots behind him, he guessed somewhere out in the forest. Lux went white in the face and shook their head

“No way I’m goin home now. Not with a shooter out.” Lux said, gripping the steering wheel

“Then congrats you get to deal with my family. Come on”