A cool morning breeze tickled my face. I squinted my eyes shut to block out the bright sunlight that was now shining through the open window. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sheets blew gently around the window pane. Mike and I had hung them up from our childhood beds to use as makeshift curtains.

I couldn't tell how early it was, we hadn't hung a clock up yet. My tired eyes glanced at the space heater that was still whirring away in the corner. Mom and Dad would be pissed that we kept it running all night.

Pulling the blanket back up over my chest, I rolled over so the sun wasn't hitting my face. I buried my head into the pillow and closed my eyes again, falling back into a deep, comfortable sleep.

That was until...

Sounds of someone vomiting woke me right back up.

I lifted my heavy head and rubbed my eyes until my vision came into focus.

Kellin's back was facing me, his head was buried in the trash can I left for him and his hands were gripping the edges. Knuckles white.

His dark locks were falling into his face. If he kept this up he'd get his own puke in his hair.

No amount of pink hair dye could make THAT look cute.

Sighing, I crawled over to him and gathered his hair at the nape of his neck. Kellin froze at my touch.

"What're you -"

"Just shut up and let me hold your hair. You're going to ruin my perfect dye job."

"Hopefully one more wash and it'll all be gone." Kellin mumbled and turned back to glare at me.

I smirked, but took his response as my queue that it was okay to continue holding his hair back. I grimaced as the sounds of Kellin vomiting resumed.

"You know, when I extended my hospitality and let you sleep here, I didn't expect to wake up to you throwing up two feet from my face."

Kellin breathed out heavily and slowly, his head still in the trash can so his words came out muffled and echoed.

"I didn't ask you to hold my hair, Fuentes."

"Fair enough." I let go of Kellin's hair and held my hands up in defense.

The second I did, Kellin turned to face me and gave me the middle finger. He opened his mouth to respond but instead he snapped his lips shut, his eyes suddenly widening. Kellin's complexion quickly turned grey as he spun back around and started throwing up.

I sighed and pulled his hair back once again. My hand subconsciously hovered over his back before I started rubbing it gently.

"See? You need me, Quinn." I teased. But Kellin could not reply at the moment, letting me smile to myself as I continued to rub his back.

"Aw you two are already acting like a couple." Jaime appeared at my side. He must've just woken up. I felt my cheeks blush at his words but quickly replaced it by shooting a glare at him. I didn't need him to make things already more awkward between me and Kellin.

Kellin had finished puking and sat up, shoving the trash can as far away from him as he weakly could. He fell back onto his butt and rolled his eyes in Jaime's direction.

"Kellin Quinn as I live and breathe. I don't think you've been in the same room as us outside of school in what? Six years?"

"Well Jaime, that's because you've been too busy stalking every single girl within a 5 mile radius of town." Kellin snapped back with a smile on his face.

I snorted at Kellin's comeback.

"What the hell dude, you're supposed to be on my side?!" Jaime exclaimed with his signature over the top hand gestures.

I shrugged, sitting back on the mattress as I ran my hands through my dirty hair. I really needed to shower.

"Hey it's not my fault that was pretty funny. And true."

"Harsh. Sue me for trying to find love." Jaime plopped down in a worn out reclining chair dramatically.

"Speaking of love, what happened between you and Rose?" Tony rolled over on the mattress he was sharing with Jack.

Jaime's grin gave it all away before he could even open his mouth.

"Gentleman...and Kellin...your boy has a DATE!"

"I heard that." Kellin mumbled harshly.

"You were meant to." Jaime replied almost immediately, in a sing songy tone.

I chuckled at the two of them and went over to pull Jaime into a big hug. Tony reached up from his lying position to give him a high-five. We all whooped and hollered in excitement for Jaime who had now started dancing around the treehouse.

All of the commotion caused Jack to finally wake up, his black and blonde hair stuck out in different directions.

"Hey! Kellin IS here! I didn't just dream it! How's it going man?" Jack smiled in Kellin's direction. Jaime shot Jack a look of disapproval. It was funny to watch the dynamic between my new friends when it came to Kellin being here.

"Yeah, he was puking his guts out in the middle of the woods at 3 AM. It wasn't hot at all." I added, shooting Kellin a smirk.

Kellin's eyes met mine as a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips. Silence filled the room for a few moments as I felt Jaime, Tony, and Jack's eyes all on me.

Kellin cleared his throat and tore his eyes off mine. I looked away from him simultaneously and looked down at my jeans, pulling at the strands in the huge knee rip. I ran my fingers through my hair and stared anywhere but at Kellin.

He peeled himself off the floor and quickly walked over to the opening of the treehouse, "Well I'm fucking hungover. I'm going to go sleep this off. I've got practice later."

"Cool story, bro!" Jaime exclaimed sarcastically.

Kellin paused, sitting on the edge of the doorway as one hand gripped the rope ladder. He turned around and flipped Jaime off with a smirk. For a millisecond his gaze landed on me.

"Wait, what day is it?" He asked.

"It's Monday. You and I have that huge test in Sander's class..." Tony added.

"Shit. Sander's is a total hippie. He goes even harder on the athletes. There's no way he'll let me retake it." Kellin rambled.

"Awww it must be so hard for you to not get special treatment in every class. Having parties thrown in your honor, girls at your feet every second of the day, your life is so hard." Jaime snapped.

"Dude, lighten up a little." I heard myself saying.

Tony's eyes flicked over to me before he came to my aid, "Yeah man, Kellin's cool."

I silently nodded as a thank you. Why I cared how Jaime was treating Kellin was beyond me. Nothing substantial was said last night between us. I didn't think we were actually friends. I had no idea if Kellin even wanted to be my friend. I knew we had a mutual understanding after our retaliation prank but I didn't think that automatically meant we would be speaking on a regular basis.

"Yeah Jaime, jealousy doesn't look good on anyone. See ya later boys." Kellin smirked and disappeared from view.

One second was all it took for Jaime, Tony, and Jack's eyes to light up, grins starting to appear on their faces, as they all opened their mouth to speak.

I held my hand up, "I don't want to hear it so don't fucking start."

"Vic and Kellin sitting in a tree, literally, K I S S I N G!" Jack giggled and jumped on top of me, shaking me in excitement.

Even Tony looked excited for me as he too crawled over to sit next to me on the mattress, "Tell us everything!"

Jaime scoffed, "I don't like that guy. He's a tool."

I groaned and rubbed my hand over my face, "Nothing even happened. I was sitting on the ledge, I heard him vomiting so I invited him up here and gave him water."

"Then...." Jack stared at me, urging me to continue.

"Then we talked briefly about nothing important. I gave him back his photo of us that douchebag Jonny Craig ripped. Oh then he threw up again and I helped him to the bed and he fell asleep."

"He's straight anyways. I've been there. Crushing on straight guys only leads to disappointment." I added. I knew my friends were just trying to be supportive and tease me a bit about my obvious, tiny, crush on Kellin. But it was pointless. The closest we will ever be is friends.

"I'm not going to comment on that statement and will instead ask Jaime, why he was being a grump to Kellin?" Tony shot me a smile that only confused me and turned his attention to Jaime.

"Um...am I the only one remembering how he dropped us as friends in middle school? How he's a dumb bully jock? How he fed us laxatives? Am I going crazy over here?" Jaime started pacing back and forth shaking his head.

"That was so long ago though Hime. Plus, if Vic says he's cool now then he's cool with me." Jack added. I shouldn't have been surprised that Jack would be the type to want to let bygones be bygones.

"I mean, I barely know him. But it seems like he'll keep his end of the bargain and not let his friends pick on the underclassmen anymore. He seems fine to me." I shrugged, trying to keep the attention off me and my crush. I mean, ex crush.

"Then it's settled. We'll be nice to Kellin, alright? Jaime?" Tony's eyes shot from Jaime to me, then back to Jaime. It seemed as if they were having their own conversation. Probably from years of friendship that predeceased my addition to the group.

Jaime sighed and crossed his arms, "Fine. But I'm keeping my eye on him. I don't want him hurting Vic."

"Oh my fucking god I do not like Kellin."

Jaime, Tony, and Jack all nodded simultaneously at me.

"Okay okay we believe you." Jack's smile still seemed too big for my liking.

Tony walked over and patted me on the back, "We won't tease you anymore about him."

"Good. Now, I don't know about you but I smell awful. I'm going to shower before school." I walked over to the door of the treehouse and started climbing down the rope ladder. Silently hoping this day would go by without any surprises.

\\\\\\

I shoved my Chemistry book in my locker and retrieved my tattered copy of Pride and Prejudice for Lit class. It was our lunch break now and so far there had been no sign of Kellin yet. We only had one morning class together, World History, and he never showed.

Tony must've noticed my constant glancing at the door as the class ticked on because halfway through he leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Sander's class is after lunch so maybe he slept in this morning and will be here later."

I didn't want to admit that I had kept my eyes out for him today but I did. Our interaction last night and this morning led me confused about my feelings for him. There were moments, when he'd look at me and smile, that I thought maybe he was interested in me. But that was probably my own hopes creating delusions in my brain. I saw what I wanted to see, not what was actually there.

I really needed to take my own advice. I had only been at this school for three weeks and barely knew anyone. I made a silent promise to myself to broaden my horizons and keep my eyes out for anyone new that I was attracted to.

Spinning around, I leaned with my back pressed against my locker and opened my book. While I waited for the guys to join me, I figured I could try to catch up on the required reading for today's class that I didn't do over the weekend.

I only got through one paragraph when Tony appeared beside me, greeting me with a pat on the shoulder, "What's up man?"

I wasn't able to answer because suddenly someone crashed into me, causing me to fall over. However, I never did hit the ground because this stranger spun around with amazing speed and grabbed both of my hands, pulling me back up to my feet.

"Ah shit dude, I am totally so sorry. I wasn't paying attention at all." A calm yet giddy voice rambled.

I regained my composure and looked up at the source of my near death experience. I was met with an extremely tall boy with long dirty blonde hair that curled at his neck and peeked out from under his backwards hat. He was wearing a mesh sports jersey and tan shorts. He had athletic socks pulled up to his knees and one of his Vans Skate Hi's had the shoelaces untied.

He had little freckles that spread out across his cheeks. His blue eyes sparkled as he smiled goofily at me, moving a lacrosse stick back and forth in his hands.

I didn't even realize how much time had passed because I was staring. It wasn't until I felt Tony's shoulder knock into mine that I snapped out of my gaze.

"Oh uh, don't worry about it bro. It happens. It's all good." I quickly answered, running a hand through my hair awkwardly.

The boy in front of me smiled again and bounced on the balls of his feet. The first thing that came to mind was a hyper puppy dog. That is exactly what he reminded me of.

"I'm Parker. Parker Cannon. You're Vic Fuentes, right?" The boy in front of me asked, cocking his head to the side like a dog when they're trying to understand what you're saying.

"Yeah hi, it's nice to meet you." I replied more quickly and calmly this time, offering my hand for Parker to shake. He gladly took, intertwining our fingers awkwardly as he shook my hand enthusiastically.

I couldn't help but smile at this demeanor.

The other guy that had been with Parker, reached out to high-five me. Like Parker, he was bubbly and bouncy, his eyes wide and his face constantly plastered with a goofy grin.

"Your prank on the football team is the talk of the whole school! It was priceless seeing the look on Golden Boy's face when he realized his hair was pink. I'm Dan by the way." He smiled at me as his wild, curly long brown hair fell around his friendly face.

I returned the smile and tugged on Tony's sleeve, pulling him into the conversation, "You guys know Tony right? He was the brains behind the entire operation."

"Of course man. Tony always has my back in any of the hard classes we have together. How's it going?" Parker smiled.

"Oh you know, same old same old. Showing Vic the ropes of Salem High." Tony answered in his usual reserved tone.

"Well you'll have no problem fitting in now. You're a freaking rock star after that statement you made. It has been a treat seeing the entire team looking like a bunch of easter eggs this morning. Kellin hasn't shown his face yet, probably too much of a wimp." Dan rambled.

"Hey now let's not pick too much on Kellin. Dude is alright, he let me copy off his math midterm once...in exchange for weed." Parker explained, shoving his friend playfully.

I glanced over to Tony who had been silent during this entire interaction. He was looking between Parker and I with an amused smile on his face.

"Don't mind my friend here, he's just upset that the Football team gets all of the school's money." Parker continued.

"It's alright, Kellin had it coming anyways. We're even now. But what do you mean by they get all the school's money?" I questioned.

Parker sighed, "The football team draws in a big crowd. Even though our Lacrosse team has won the state championship the last five years in a row. The school board couldn't care less about us."

Dan started kicking a hacky sack back and forth on his heels as he simultaneously balanced his lacrosse stick in his hands, "We haven't gotten new uniforms in 15 years! We have big time beef with the football team."

"That doesn't seem fair at all. Hmmm...let me get back to you on that. Maybe there's something the dynamic quad can do to help." I added with a laugh.

Tony snorted, "Dynamic quad?"

"Yeah. You, me, Jaime, and Jack. We already took care of one problem at this school. Who's to say we can't help the Lacrosse team?" I explained.

I looked up at Parker who was grinning at me with wide eyes. In fact, all of his mannerisms seemed overexaggerated and I found myself thinking it was cute. He was cute.

"Cute and smart." He bit his lip as he smiled.

My cheeks warmed slightly at his words. Could it be possible that there's another guy that's also into guys at this school?

"I think it might just be your lucky day." I found myself flirting back.

Parker chuckled. Coming out of anyone else's mouth it would've sounded like they were nervous. But for Parker, his laugh was infectious. It was almost like his laugh was an extension of himself.

Suddenly the bell rang and the halls started flooding with students. My attention turned to Tony as I reached down to sling my backpack over my shoulder.

"Dude, come on we're going to miss the best pizza. You know the first few slices are the freshest." Dan urged, twirling the lacrosse stick nervously in his hands.

"I have to go." Parker smiled at me one last time before turning on the balls of his feet and running down the halls after his friend.

"Well well well...I knew it was only a matter of time before Parker Cannon made himself known to you." Tony spoke.

"What?" I asked in a daze, my eyes following Parker's scraggly blonde head of hair as he disappeared in the crowd of students.

"Rumors that Parker is pansexual started last year. He apparently was found by his friends at Lacrosse camp in a bunk with three guys. But he's only ever dated girl's here. I think you're the first openly non straight guy at Salem High. Hence, why he already knows your name." Tony explained.

"Hmmm this school just keeps getting more and more interesting."

"So? Are you into him?"

"He's hot as fuck. I've never been into guys like him before, mostly because the chances that they're into me are slim. So yeah, I'm definitely keeping my options open."

"You've gotten more attention in three weeks at this school than Jack, Jaime, and I have gotten the last 17 years combined." Tony laughed, shaking his head in disbelief.

"It's the charm, Tone. I've got this irresistible charm. Oh and its the nose ring. Dude's can't resist the nose ring." I patted him on the back encouragingly as we entered the cafeteria.

We made our way to our usual table and found Jack and Jaime already waiting for us. I plopped down in an empty chair and pulled out a bag of chips from my backpack when someone sat down next to me, knocking their shoulder into mine.

When I looked up I saw the last person I was expecting.

Kellin.

He had a black hoodie pulled up over his head and was wearing dark sunglasses. The ends of his pink hair were still bright as the poked out from underneath the hood, clinging to his cheeks.

"Kellin! Hi man!" Jack exclaimed.

"Ummm why is he sitting with us?" Jaime snapped to which Tony shot him a warning look.

Kellin bounced his knees, "Vic and I are friends now. Which means we're all friends now. Which means I'm going to sit here whenever I'd like. Is that cool with you?"

"Yeah whatever. It's cool. But first things first, why're you wearing sunglasses inside? You look like a tool."

"I stayed home and slept through my morning classes. But I'm still hungover and look like shit." He mumbled.

I reached forward and quickly snatched the sunglasses off his face, "I'll be the judge of that."

"What the fuck man!" Kellin tried reaching for the glasses I twirled around my fingers.

"Yikes." Jack giggled.

Kellin's eyes were bloodshot, dark circles dragged them down giving him a lifeless expression. His complexion was pale and his lips were dried out and cracked.

"Yeah you're right, you look like shit." I teased.

Kellin's face turned into a pout as he snatched the Ray-Bans from my hands. He pushed his hood down and placed them on the top of his head, folding his arms in frustration.

"Justin! Over here!" Kellin called out, waving his arm around at his approaching friend.

"God I have to put up with another one?" I caught Jaime mumble under his breath.

I leaned over and nudged my angry, spikey haired friend, "Don't worry man, Kellin won't be hanging around us all the time. We'll have a sleepover at my house Friday yeah? You can tell us all about your date." I offered kindly. That was all it took for Jaime's grumpy face to return to his usual smiling self.

Justin pulled out a chair next to Kellin and sat down, "I have to hand it to you guys, who would've thought this hair would be a major babe magnet? I've been fighting off girls all day."

"Justin, do you have to be so incessantly loud?" Kellin barked, burying his pink head of hair into his arms that were crossed on the table.

"What's up your butt today, Quinn?"

"Funny you should ask..." Jack started but I quickly kicked his leg from under the table, earning a yelp, but ultimately silence, from him.

"I'm hungover Captain Obvious. And I think that, and the combination of smoking weed for the first time made it worse." Kellin's voice came out sounding muffled.

"You smoked for the first time...without me?!"

Kellin lifted his head up from the table and shrugged, "Vic shared his blunt with me."

Justin stared at him dumbfounded, "Yeah but you never smoke. You're always paranoid Coach is going to catch you and kick you off the team."

Kellin ran his fingers through his hair and groaned, "Fuck! I forgot, there's a college scout coming to the game Friday. Coach is going to drug test me."

"Well, better hope it was just a small blunt and that it's all out of your system by then. Start drinking lots of water." Justin patted Kellin on the back.

"Don't worry Princess, you'll be alright. You only had one hit." I cooed, reaching my hand out to tease him, booping him on the nose to which he swatted my hand away. That earned a laugh out of Justin.

"Alright can we please change the subject. What do you guys want to do after school?" Jaime interjected.

Kellin's eyes lingered on me before he spoke, "You can come to our practice."

"Pass. Why would we want to do that?"

"Because the cheerleader's practice on the same field." Kellin replied and I watched Jaime's eyes light up as he put two and two together.

Cheerleaders mean Rose would be there.

I felt a tugging on my sleeve and turned to see Jack looking up at me with wide eyes, "Alex will be there too!" He harshly whispered in my ear.

Lastly I met eyes with Tony who simply shrugged.

"Alright, sure. We'll be there." I answered Kellin whose mouth turned up into a small smile before quickly looking back at Justin.

"By the way Quinn, how much did you drink last night?" Justin asked through a mouthful of cafeteria pizza.

"Too fucking much."

"Why? Too depressed you didn't score any chicks?" Justin asked. I watched Tony roll his eyes from across the table.

Kellin's eyes glanced down at the table, then back up to Justin, pausing before answering, "The exact opposite. I was taking shots with a couple girls from the cheerleading team and things got pretty heated."

Did he really just say that? Before I could open my mouth to fire off a petty remark, Parker appeared at my side. He had brought his chair over with him and straddled it, leaning his arms on the back.

I turned my attention to him and smiled, "You just couldn't stay away could you?"

"You see right through me." Parker grinned, leaning forward in his chair.

"What's up Cannon?" Kellin interrupted sharply.

Parker's smile didn't fall for a second, "Talking to Vic."

"I see that. I also see you still haven't learned how to piece together a complete sentence. All those stick checks to the head finally get to you?" Kellin asked with a smug look on his face.

Parker glanced from me to Kellin, "Ignore him." I mumbled.

"Kellin man, you're so tense for no reason. It really seems like you have a lot of pent up anger. Meditation is like, great for relieving stress." Parker offered.

"That is like, so totally cool of you to like, suggest to me." Kellin replied, mocking Parker's tone.

I shot Kellin a confused look before turning completely around so I was facing Parker.

"Anyways Vic, I came over here to ask if you wanted to come to my lacrosse practice today. I thought after we could go down to the beach. My teammates and I go there to smoke."

"I'd love to. I can bring a bong if you guys want."

"Great! And no it's okay, all you need to bring is that adorable face." Parker smiled.

"I can do that." I gave him a small wave as he headed back over to his table.

"Since when did you and Cannon know each other?" Kellin immediately asked, the second Parker was out of ear shot.

"Since he came up to me at my locker today and started flirting with me." I sighed dreamily. Yet I found myself still wanting to see Kellin's reaction. Silently hoping he'd look disappointed.

"Yeah well he's as dumb as a bag of marshmallows." Kellin snapped, his eyes narrowing.

"I find him endearing."

Kellin kept his gaze anywhere but mine, "So I guess this means you're not coming to my practice today?"

"Sorry man but hang out with my friends in the cold...versus...hang out with a hot guy and smoke? No contest in the world."

The bell rang before Kellin could answer. But judging by how quickly he left the room, I don't think he would've if he had the chance.

Author's Note

Well, I'm back. It only took a month and a half. I finally found motivation to write this chapter after going back and forth with where I wanted to take it. Also this is semi edited but i wanted to get this chapter out tonight so my apologies for any typos.

New character alert! To my knowledge, I don't think Parker Cannon or Dan Lambton have made their way into ANY fic EVER. I know it was a bold choice but I am here for it! And i hope y'all enjoyed it too. I needed someone to come in and shake things up between Kells and Vic.

Please let me know what you think! I hope you're enjoying this story so far! I know I keep saying I'm going to update twinkle lights but I PROMISE i will eventually.

Thanks for sticking around. Stay safe everyone :)

Cassidy