It was the last one.

I stared down each and everyone of my competitions. They were eyeing me, too. One small move and we all knew we were going for it. Just one tiny movement to break the ice.

Neither of us moved.

It was the waiting game.

But then a hand came out of nowhere and grabbed the only piece in the box.

"Nooooo!"

Our war cries attracted the attention of the rest of the people in the parking lot. But our focus was solely on the thief who was currently munching on our precious last piece of pizza. Insensitive prick.

"Dude!" snapped Kurt.

"How could you?" sobbed Alfie, with a hand on his chest.

Frisco shook his head sadly. "You should've just left it alone."

"Didn't see any one of you reaching for it," shrugged Parker, the fullback on the team. I might've already mentioned him before.

He was about my size, with his chocolate skin darker than Kurt's. Well, maybe just a little. See, Kurt was a mulatto so he was more of a mocha mixed with a whole bunch of milk kinda guy, with gray eyes and all. Or was it green? Maybe even blue.

Hell, sometimes I swear it changes color.

Anyway, Parker Smith was more on the side of a rich chocolate, with an almost shaved head. Guess he didn't have the guts to go all the way bald. Wuss.

There was a rumor that he was Will Smith's hidden son, you know. Some people were convinced because Parker got that Mike Lowrey swagger. Well, I couldn't deny that.

"I asked for pizza," Kurt told him. "Not your onion."

I pressed my lips together, leaned over him, and said, "I think you mean 'opinion.'"

"Same thing," he snorted.

I chuckled.

My eyes wandered to Connie, who I noticed didn't say anything. I caught her locked in a staring contest with Parker, the corner of her lips turned up. It was kinda icky and intense. I didn't know how to feel about the possibility of them hooking up.

Oh, wait. Yes, I do. I mean, sure. Parker's cool and all. But he ain't part of the crew for a reason. There was something about him I couldn't quite trust.

I switched my focus to Frisco. He was animatedly chatting with Alfie, oblivious to the eye fucking going on not a couple of feet away. Poor guy.

When a familiar face passed by, I saw an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone because I was awesome like that.

"Hey, Trent."

The lanky kid stiffened and immediately halted in his tracks. Cautiously, he glanced at me. Huh, looked like he still hadn't moved on from the beer incident. Gotta change that.

I waved him over, and he obeyed. As he neared, I turned to Parker.

"Yo, Parker."

He turned to me. "What's up?"

"From now on, I want you to train with this kid," I told him, nodding to Trent.

All heads whipped to the sophomore's direction. Trent's eyes widened with surprise, obviously not expecting me to say that.

"What are you doing?" asked Alfie, from the corner of his mouth.

"Acknowledging his potential," I answered, as if it wasn't a biggie. And it wasn't. With the proper guidance, that kid could play first string. In a louder voice, I added, "How 'bout it, Parker? Show him the ropes and all that shit."

Simply put, Trent's in.

Smiling, Parker shrugged. "Sure."

Trent's face broke into a shit-eating grin.

"Wow! You guys mean that?" he breathed out.

"Hell yeah, man," I assured him. "In fact, you can go start now."

Parker did a double take. "Now?"

"Yup," I nodded. "Go introduce him to the guys."

"Awesome," muttered Trent.

"Alright," sighed Parker, scratching the back of his head. "Come on."

I watched them go over to the other side of the parking lot. The kid looked like he was about to shit his pants. He knew as well as the others that he was in. Now it was his turn to prove himself. I got a feeling he wouldn't put this chance to waste.

I glanced at Connie. She was shaking her head at me, in a mixture of amusement and disbelief. That made me smirk. Heh. She saw right through me.

Well, she couldn't expect me to just sit by and watch them eye fucking each other in front of me. It was fucking gross. Okay, maybe I was also a little protective but I couldn't help it. Imagine if Alfie saw that. He'd call them out right then and there.

She should be thankful. My way was more discreet.

"You said noon."

Alfie turned around and raised an eyebrow at the girl who spoke.

"Your point is?" he asked sarcastically.

"Why aren't we leaving yet?" demanded Gina, Kurt's on-and-off fuck buddy - which was pretty much the closest he would ever get to a relationship.

I sent Kurt a bored look, causing him to raise his hands up innocently.

"Hey, I baked the happy brownies that y'all are gonna eat tonight."

Right, which gave him a get out of jail free card.

"Look," sighed Alfie, pretty close to losing his shit, "you can go ahead to Cali's Point if you want. We ain't stopping you."

"You know we can't just do that," grumbled Gina, as she crossed her arms.

Cali's Point was a small coastal town two hours away from Mount Valley. People from out here like to settle down there because it wasn't too crowded and touristy. It was private, which was why outsiders weren't welcomed much unless you were with a local - or at least someone who owned a property there. In this case, it was the latter.

Alfie and his mom owned a house right by the beach. They used to come there when he was a kid. Some sorta escape from his dad, I guess.

"Not my problem," shrugged my best friend.

Gina opened his mouth to speak, but I stopped her.

"Stop fucking complaining, or I'll make Kurt drag your ass home," I warned, in a low voice. I stared her down. "Your choice."

That shut her up.

"What are they doing here?" hissed Connie, glaring at a distance.

I followed where she was looking and saw Scout's white car. With the windows pulled down, it wasn't that hard to see that Snow was with him.

What the hell?

"I invited them."

I turned to my best friend, studying him and trying to figure out his motive. He had his infamous wicked grin on his face, while Connie stared at him in disbelief. Kurt's mouth hung open and Frisco kept his eyes on the twins.

"Why?" demanded Connie, seething mad.

"Why not?" snorted Alfie.

With a hand on her hip, she took a step closer to Alfie and poked him on the chest. "I thought the point of this is to get away from all the high school drama bullshit? So why is the center of all the said bullshit here with us?"

She had a point.

My eyes wandered to the Crimson twins on the other side of the parking lot. Several people greeted them when they got out of the car. There were still popular, after all.

Good thing they didn't bring the rest of their posse so the guys on the team didn't pay them any attention. Unless of course, I tell them to.

But the fact that Scout came on his own spoke volumes to me. Sure, the shithead was still a fucking eyesore. No changing that. I gotta hand it to him, though. He was one brave son of a bitch for coming here without backup. Had to respect him for that.

"It's fine," I decided, my eyes on Scout. "Let's call it a truce for now."

Connie's jaw dropped, making me raise an eyebrow at her.

"Wouldn't it look a tad bit suspicious if we didn't invite them when we just happened to have injured their teammate slash friend not even a few days ago, especially when we're claiming that we have no beef with them?"

"Exactly," exclaimed Alfie, pointing to me. "It's like you're reading my mind, man."

"Tell me something I don't know," I smirked.

Connie crossed her arms and looked away with a scowl.

"Well, they're here," said Gina, waving to the Crimson twins. "Can we go now?"

The fuck?

"We weren't waiting for them," I shrugged.

"Then, who the heck are we waiting for?"

"Kurt," I begged, with a bored voice. "Get her out of my face."

He sighed, rubbing his face in masked patience.

"Let's get your ass inside the truck before you start pissing off people."

With that, Kurt dragged her away. I bet he was regretting bringing her now. He never liked drama, especially girls who tended to cause a scene. Gina used to be a somewhat cool chick in my eyes. But today, she was an annoying bitch.

Just then, a blue Mustang rolled in.

"Finally." I made my way toward them as they stopped in the middle of the lot. "What took you guys so long?"

"Sorry!" Halo opened the door and got out of the car. "I'm so beyond-the-galaxy sorry! We dropped by the convenience store and bought some marshmallows for the bonfire later."

"You did?" gasped Alfie, suddenly beside me. His eyes were wide and his mouth was stretched in a broad grin. He jumped forward and hugged Halo. "You're my savior!"

My girl looked at me and laughed. I absentmindedly smiled.

Alfie let go of her and turned to me with a serious face.

"She's a keeper, man. I'm telling you."

"Like I said," I replied, winking at Halo, "tell me something I don't know."

She blushed and looked away.

"Hey, Oz!" greeted Milo and Brooklyn from the car.

I nodded to them in turn.

"Just Oz?" asked Alfie, pouting sadly. "I'm hurt."

Brooklyn winced. "Sorry."

"Come here and I'll comfort you," offered Milo, opening his arms.

"As much as I really really want to, we're running late," he sighed, mocking sincerity. "We better hit the road and get this party starteeed!" he yodeled the last word, turning away and heading to my Rover. "Those who were complaining earlier don't get to have s'mores, ya hear?!"

People roared and cheered, causing a little ruckus in the parking lot of the Diner.

"I'm riding with Halo," Connie told me, as she passed by.

I grabbed her arm to stop her, and turned her to face me.

"Hey, we cool?" I asked, with a frown.

I get where she's coming from.

She and Snow used to be really close. In a world where she was always surrounded by men, Snow was like her long lost soul sister - even though they practically had nothing in common. She finally felt like a girl for once because let's face it, the guys and I never really made an effort to make her feel like one.

Yeah, we're dicks. I don't deny it.

So when all that shit went down last year, she felt just as betrayed as I did. And now, whenever she saw Snow, she looked like she swallowed a dozen bitter pills.

"Yeah," sighed Connie, looking tired all of a sudden. "I hate to admit it, but you guys are right. I'll just pretend they're not here." She gave me a knowing look. "As should you."

I stared at her.

"I know."

She rolled her eyes. "Because you know everything," I heard her mutter, turning away from me. She headed to Halo's car where Brooklyn and Milo met her with welcoming arms.

She'll get over it.

"Is she okay?" asked Halo, when Connie was out of earshot.

"Yeah," I nodded, shrugging. "She's just in a bad mood."

"We'll cheer her up," she assured me, with a smile.

I cracked a smile. "I don't doubt it. You gonna make her sing along?"

"Oho, trust me," she said seriously. "Before the ride is over, Connie's gonna be singing like Miley Cyrus - without the leotard costume."

I burst out laughing.

BEEEEEEP!

"Yo, Ozzie! Let's go!"

I took a deep breath, and reached out to touch Halo's hair. It was silky.

"Stay behind me," I instructed her. "Kurt will tail you."

She nodded. "Okay."

I gazed into her purple eyes for second, before hearing another honk.

"Later, dork," I said, pecking her lips.

I caught her cheeks flush red before I ran to my car with a grin on my face. I heard people getting into their cars around me, but all I could think of was seeing my girl later.

My eyes vaguely scanned the crowd, and they landed on a flaming red hair.

Our eyes met. Green against blue. Her jaw clenched and she looked away before I could read her, running a shaking hand through her hair. She said something to her brother, and they got inside the car.

I shook my head and willed myself to focus.

Roughly two hours later, I parked the Rover right in front of Alfie's big house. It had a beige exterior with faded brown roof. The parking space was only big enough for three cars, but the others could park on the road.

One of the best places here was the open veranda out back. It overlooked the ocean, and the view was just fucking incredible during sunrise.

Alfie shot out of my car and waited 'til the rest of the guys arrived. Frisco followed him, while I turned off the engine before getting out.

People were already forming a crowd around us, all in their swimsuits.

"Okay, listen up!" yelled Alfie, getting everybody's attention. "Defensive line up will help Kurt with the kegs, so go ahead and follow him." He paused to point at Kurt who stood by his truckload of kegs. "Meanwhile, offense peeps will help me set up the stereo out back and special teams will help Frisco carry the stock of woods for the bonfire. Got that?"

There were shouts of agreement from all around, the entire football team stepping up and forming groups as Alfie said.

"Others can just go straight to the beach and have fun," added my best friend.

Some people whooped, before running towards the sea. Other than the team and the cheerleaders, there was only a number of people outside our usual crowd.

I looked around, until I saw Halo's car parked in the driveway.

"What can I do to help?" asked a random girl, when she neared us.

Alfie smiled crookedly. "Strip to your bikini and look pretty."

The chick blushed. She kinda reminded me of a tomato.

I shook my head as I tried to muffle my laughter. I walked to the Mustang, just as Halo climbed out of it. Did I mention that she wore a cute little summer dress, one with the flowers and all that artsy shit?

"Hey, dork," I greeted, as I slowly leaned her against the car with a hand on her waist - leaving no gap between our bodies.

"Hey, grinch," she smiled, biting her lip.

"Or you can help us set up the food and snacks," added Connie, loud enough for Mrs. Tomato Head to hear.

"Oh, I'm not a good cook."

Mrs. Tomato Head's dead meat.

Halo and I turned our heads to witness the live show. Because seriously, who in their right minds would want to miss out on Connie's cranky ass finding its next prey?

"Don't worry, hun," smiled Connie sweetly, waving a hand dismissively as she walked up to the chick. "You can still help out," she said, before shoving the pack of trash bags to Mrs. Tomato Head, "by making sure everyone knows where to put their trash in."

Aaand she quickly left the premises.

Kidding. She just hurried out back with her friends.

Connie turned to the other girls. "Those who have their brains out of their boobs and know how to grill a damn awesome barbecue, come with us." With that, she headed back to the car to get her things.

"She doesn't bite," sang Milo, waving a hand around. "I promise!"

Alfie glanced at me with a confused look, and asked, "Is it hell week?"

I thought about it, then shook my head.

He whistled and headed inside the house.

"Can I help out?"

It was Snow.

She was looking at Connie, who was getting something from the trunk. Connie visibly tensed. After a moment, she composed herself and finished what she was doing. Ignoring Snow, she left and went ahead to the beach.

Brooklyn shrugged cluelessly at us and followed Connie, while carrying a huge paper bag that I was guessing was full of marshmallows. I could use a s'more right about now.

Snow sighed, her shoulders slumping.

"Uh, sure?" said Milo, scratching his head.

"Of course," piped up Halo.

I shot her a look. What was she doing?

"Thanks," smiled Snow, reaching out a hand. "I'm Snow."

Halo accepted it. "Halo."

"My girlfriend," I added.

Halo nudged me in the ribs.

"What?" I asked innocently.

She only smiled sheepishly at Snow.

"Nice to finally meet you," said Snow, glancing at me. "It takes a great girl to make Oz Lacy fall in love."

I studied her. Was that supposed to make me feel better?

Halo bit her lip and looked at me. I frowned, tilting my head.

"I think it takes a heck of a lucky girl to make the great Oz fall in love," she said softly, staring into my eyes.

With a gentle smile, I reached up a hand and caressed her cheek, while the other held her hand. Then, I pinched her nose.

"Stop flattering me," I chuckled. "I'm the dude. I'm supposed to be doing that."

"Stob binjing by dose," she protested, pulling her head away and swatting me.

I laughed and let go, my eyes on her red nose.

"Hey, Rudolph," I teased, with a grin. "I didn't know it was Christmas already."

"You've been a very naughty kid," she grumbled. She frowned and waggled her finger at me, adding, "No present for you!"

Another round of laughter came out of me.

"I better go help Connie with the barbecue," mentioned Snow, turning to leave.

Her face was covered with all that red hair before I could take a good look on her face and read her expression. But I noticed she sounded sad again.

"She won't welcome you with open arms," I stated, causing her to stop.

"I know," she replied quietly. "I screwed it up with her."

You screwed it up with all of us.

I frowned. "What difference does it make, anyway? You still have friends to comfort you even if she's not there." I paused, my jaw clenching. "But when you disappeared in her life, she didn't have any girlfriends to cry with her. You were all she had. She needed you."

And I'm the dipshit who trusted you with her.

"She was a reminder," she whispered. Then, she turned around and faced me, her eyes filled with unshed tears. "I couldn't face her because she reminded me of what I lost. She reminded me of you."

I nodded. "Right, so I guess it's my fault."

"No," she cried, breathing heavily. "It's mine."

I felt a tug deep in my stomach, seeing her cry like this. But I ignored it.

I had to.

Snow wiped her tears away, her eyes going to the girl beside me.

"I'm sorry, Halo."

Halo blinked, and waved a hand. "No, it's -"

"Milo! Get your unicorn butt over here!"

"Shut up! I'm watching reality tv!"

I turned my head sideways and saw Milo from the across the Mustang, watching us. I recalled the times I saw Connie beaming with happiness recently. Something real, and bright.

"She brought our Oz back."

They made our Connie trust again.

With an indifferent face, I looked back at Snow.

"You don't deserve to be her friend."

Halo's grip on my hand tightened. She didn't like what I said. Maybe it was mean. But it was true. No need sugarcoating it.

Snow raised her chin up. Suddenly, the tough redheaded girl I knew was back. She had a determined expression as her eyes hardened.

"Maybe so," she agreed. "That's why I'll do everything to earn back her trust," she said firmly. She turned around, but stopped. "And yours."

Without another word, she left.

"Ooh, the plot thickens," sang Milo.

_____________

You know if you listen carefully, you can hear some people screaming, "Nooo!"

I'll update on Monday. Yay! :D