As you might expect, the rest of the school day went by about as slowly as a snail crawling its way through molasses. I couldn't stop thinking about the person that had just seen Tanya and me together, and how that person now held the power to ruin my entire life.

You may think I'm exaggerating, but just wait until you find out who it is. You know that quote, "with great power comes great responsibility"? Well, this person had great power, but they were irresponsible and mischievous as hell.

I went through so many scenarios of what could happen in my head, it was like an entire book could be made out of all of them. If I could make one, I'd call it 1000 Ways to Die, or something along the lines of that. But, I doubt your mother would agree with such a sadistic way to use my time.

Anyways, like I was saying, it really wasn't a matter of if I was doomed, it was a matter of when. A few hours later, three loud knocks jolted me out of my seat. My eyes darted towards the clock on the lower-right hand side of my computer screen. 4PM.

I wasn't ready to deal with her.

So my attention turned towards the computer screen again, my eyes grasped by the warm colours glowing from an on-screen computer game. Before my fingers even touched the left mouse button, three louder knocks filled my ears, again. The metal knob on my speaker felt cold, as my fingers wrapped around it to increase the volume of the computer game in front of me.

Then, a large creaking sound broke through the sound of my computer, turning my attention towards the door. That's when I saw your Aunt Rachel staring back at me, with a tiny sparkle embedded into her narrow brown eyes.

"Hey Rachel, how's it going?" I asked.

"That's a phrase I've heard in, well, never," Rachel mused, while she stepped inside and shut the door behind her. "But enough of the small talk. I have something you'd really not want your mom to see, and well, you have money."

This was inaccurate of course, and Rachel knew it. At the time, I had about five cents and a pack of gum to my name. Actually, it was half a pack of gum. Mike and a few others borrowed the other half earlier that day in English class. That reminds me, it's been about ten years and I'm still waiting for my gum!

Anyways, after telling Rachel I was straight out of money, she responded with a laugh. Its tone mirrored the motor of a dusty tractor that was spurring and spinning out of control. "Well, maybe you should have thought about that before kissing a girl, huh?"

The hairs on my back rose up as they pressed against the cold leather on my seat. But, in an attempt to not to let my opponent know my true emotions, I tried to make my reply sound as monotone as I could. "Fine. What do you want?"

Rachel began to press her fingers together, almost like an evil scientist would. Her grin was taunting me, almost as if she knew she was going to win the battle from the start. "Hmm... well, I've been meaning to get a new microscope, so you're gonna help me fund that venture. Let's start the bidding at $25?"

You know, usually, when there's a war between an evil scientist and the protagonist, the hero wins. And while you'll see how I do end up losing the battle, that war was far from over.

Maybe I should have accepted the original $25 deal with no questions asked, but it wouldn't have felt right without a few insults thrown in. "Wow, you're such a nerd."

Rachel's smile grew wider. My insult was ineffective. "Look at that! The price jumped up to $35!"

My mind began playing back the highlights of the prank that I pulled on her the previous week, which elicited a chuckle out of me. "By the way, does your hair still smell like mayonnaise and fish from the time I replaced your shampoo bottle?"

"Oh, look at that, it's now $40!"

The torso of my chair was pushed backwards as my back leaned against it, forcing a creaking sound from the chair's metallic springs. I was beginning to think that there was a possibility she was bluffing. "Sure, you saw me and Tanya, but it's not like you even have any proof besides your word."

Her tractor laugh came out of nowhere again, the sound making my ears feel like they were disintegrating. "Oh, but I do."

She pulled out her phone, and while the picture that was presented in front of me looked blurry and pixelated, both faces in the picture were clear enough to get the point across to the viewer. "I took this picture of you two. Utterly repulsing, but if it gets me another $50 then, I'll keep it for the good cause."

I really struggled to keep a straight face here, as I began to realize the cards were stacked against me. "So, as long as I pay you that, you won't tell my mom about this whole thing, and you'll, uh, delete the picture?"

Rachel's left shoulder leaned against the wooden surface of my dresser. "Correct, but I'll only complete the picture after I get the full payment, plus any interest charges you rack up. For every day that you don't pay me, there's a 5 percent interest charge."

Well, at that point, I felt backed into a corner. My only option now was to pay her, and the alternative of having my mother know about my relationship with Tanya was not an option I was willing to pursue at the time. However, I definitely didn't want to accept at the price she was asking now, so my attention turned towards negotiating the price down to the original. "I thought the price was $25."

She was definitely just making up prices as she went along. "Oh, that's long gone, buddy. Price is, um, $50 now."

Yeah, there was no way in hell I would pay 50 dollars. "$30."

"$55."

"Fine, $40," I said. Figuring that was the middle ground between what both of us now wanted, it was only natural that she would accept the deal, right? Nope.

"$60."

I caved. Pain shot out of my fist, spreading its way to my pinky finger only seconds after I slammed it down on the table in front of me. "Fine, whatever! $60 it is."

"Nice doing business with you, Malik. I expect my money to be paid whenever you can, no rush, remember that interest charge."

"Go die in a lake of fire!" I exclaimed while cupping my left hand over the bottom of my right fist. Okay, my actual response was not nearly as coherent or family-friendly, but it wouldn't have set a good example for you if I wrote down a bunch of insults laced with profanity.

Once more, the sound of a dusty tractor spread throughout the room, tainting the once Rachel-free atmosphere. "Well, go pay me $60 dollars. Oh wait, you actually have to do that!"

She shut the door. While I do end up finding a clever way not to pay her a ton of money later on, my mind was focused then on how much I disliked my stepsister. It looked like I was just swearing at an empty door after she left the room.

To take my mind off of what had just happened, I averted my gaze towards the computer screen, the warm colours from a video game glowing through the glass. The green play button in the center of the screen demanded my attention, as my cursor hovered through bright silver letters affixed onto the virtual button's surface.

After clicking the button, my mind became lost once again in the world of a video game. It wasn't until my phone went off that my attention focused towards the fact that I had to get ready to hang out with Tanya's friends.

But my phone went off while my character was in a boss battle, so I did the one rational thing a gamer would do in that situation - snooze the notification. Unfortunately, it went off ten minutes later. And again, ten minutes after that. After the fourth time of the alarm going off, I figured it was time for me to start getting ready.

Getting ready that evening basically consisted of putting on a different t-shirt than the one that was on me before, and putting on some deodorant. Oh, and a jacket as well. While guys usually have it a ton easier than girls when it comes to getting ready for some kind of social function, my general lack of effort into getting ready that night was also evident. It was a struggle for me to even accept the fact that I would be going to this get-together.

As I stepped outside, my face was hit by the gust of wind blowing in my direction. The sound of a car honking in the distance could be heard.

I don't even remember what excuse popped out of my mouth the day before when I had to tell my mom why I would be outside. But, it was probably something along the lines of studying at Mike's house. I used that excuse a lot while during my relationship with Tanya because my mother made it very clear to me that she liked Mike the best out of all of my friends back then.

Even though Casey's house was only a few minutes away from mine, I still had to walk over to Tanya's. According to her, we had to go together there as a couple, but since all of these people were unfamiliar to me, it was a demand of hers that I was happy to comply with.

"That shirt looks so faded," she said as her hand grasped the middle of my unzipped jacket, revealing more of the dim letters affixed onto my shirt. Her small laugh afterwards made me assume she was joking around.

"Well, I mean, does it really matter?"

Tanya's head shifted up as if she was looking at the semi-dark sky, but the lack of stars in the area made me wonder what she was really looking at. "I don't know, on our date, you're able to dress nice, but now, it's like you're not even-" she paused, changing the direction of her sentence. "Nah, but you know what, it doesn't matter. My friends will actually like you, I promise."

"I hope so," I replied, also looking up at the sky of nothingness. The sad thing is, there was a part of me that hoped that they didn't really like me, just so that my friends wouldn't look as bad for disliking her. But, those thoughts were also battled with wanting to make her happy, which I knew could be done if I got along with her friends.

We arrived at the place around twenty minutes later. A short girl with red hair appeared seconds after Tanya's finger touched the doorbell.

"Tanya! You made it!" The girl with red hair began to hug Tanya. "And you must be Malik, right?" she asked as she broke away from Tanya and looked up at me.

"Yeah, it's nice to meet you." I started to extend my hand out, but she had already turned away by the time my arm was fully extended.

"Yeah," the girl with red hair said as she began walking further into the house. "So anyways, Tanya, I invited a few more people, but you're cool with that, right?"

"I don't mind, Casey," Tanya said.

There were tons of strange pictures along the hallway that we were walking in. I genuinely couldn't tell if they were supposed to be pictures of art, as a lot of them seemed to just be random lines drawn on a piece of paper. Each of the pictures were wrapped around in a black photo frame, which admittedly went well with the beige colours of the walls.

As we neared what I'm guessing was the living room, I began to hear the sounds of people chattering mixed in with a song that was entirely new to my ears. There were two small groups of three or four people each, and Tanya led me towards the group near the left corner of the room.

After some awkward introductions, Cortland began to initiate a conversation with me, his head swaying back and forth. His spiky, gelled hair almost made him look like a manga character. "This band is, awesome, right?"

"Uh...I don't know what band it is," I said.

Tanya's friends would have been livid if they discovered that I still don't remember the band they praised on that night. Since I don't remember, I'll just call them the Blah Band.

"Oh, come on, it's clearly the Blah Band," another guy said as he pointed towards his shirt, which had a picture of what I could only assume was the band that they were talking about. "How do you not know the Blah Band?"

Cortland shook his head, his brown eyes looking directly at me as he did so. As soon as he decided to speak, he turned his head in the direction of his friend with a Blah Band shirt. "See, this is the problem with our generation. They just don't appreciate good music."

"Yeah, I just wish I could go back to the 70s, that's when music was good," the guy replied.

By the time you're actually reading this book, people will probably be saying that about the very music that this person just criticized.

Even though we had just arrived a few minutes ago, I was already getting sick of just about everybody there. So, I decided to go to the washroom, primarily to see if there was a window. If I needed to devise an exit plan, that window would become my best friend.

After getting directions from Tanya about the location of the washroom, I began to walk towards it. On my way there, I overheard a conversation Casey was having with a guy. Both of their backs were turned against mine, as they were looking at one of the "art" pieces hanging on the walls.

"This is beautiful, it's one of my favourite ones," she said.

"Yeah, what do you think it, uh, means?"

"Well, I think it must have represented the isolation the artist must have felt when painting this. The white space represents, his, err, lack of empathy for the stuff going on around him due to his isolation, and the colour of the piece represents his soul, grown cold and stilted."

With the way they described the photo, you would think they were talking about some artistic masterpiece. But, I kid you not, they were talking about a photo of a black dot.

A freaking dot.

Anyways, the bathroom that I entered didn't have a window. My eyes peered into the mirror beside me, and a face devoid of any happiness stared back at me. I tried to smile, and while I could feel how fake the smile was, my hope was that nobody else would.

When I left the washroom and began walking towards the kitchen, my eyes shifted over to a familiar face. It was the girl that sits next to Tanya in English class, Michelle.

"I never thought I'd see you here," I said as we began to talk.

"Yeah, I totally expected to see you here, though. Sucks, doesn't it?" Michelle responded.

"You have no idea," I replied.

Michelle pointed towards the mountain of food on the table in front of us. "Tanya said there'd be free food, which is the only reason why I'm here."

"Are you friends with these people?"

Michelle laughed as her hand reached for the last apple in the fruit bowl. "Nah, I mean I'm sorta friends with Tanya. But these people, I don't know, they're too-uh, what's the word?"

"Hipster?"

"Yeah, I was thinking they're also kinda pretentious too. I dunno why Tanya hangs out with them. I can tolerate her, but not these posers." Her lisp distorted the last word of her sentence.

My expression darkened a bit as her hand reached for the jacket from the chair beside her. The only friend of Tanya's I could actually stand was about to leave. "You leaving?"

Her silver braces shone as she smiled back at me. "Yeah, I'm outta here. Good luck, you're gonna need it."

I thanked her and then she left. After that, I walked back towards the group where Tanya was at. They were talking about social networks, I believe. Back in the mid-2000s, there was a social networking site called MySpace. It was very popular, but Facebook eventually surpassed it around 2007.

"Nah, I think I'm going back to MySpace, Facebook's too popular now," Peter said, his voice becoming louder as I joined the circle the group of people were in.

"Yeah, the masses use Facebook now, it's all a bunch of unintelligent casuals," Cortland said.

Casey took a long sip from her drink. "Exactly, the site's being taken over by the mainstream. Like, people that listen to garbage music."

"There's also the unintelligent that are hopping on the bandwagon," Cortland began. His brown eyes stared into my Super Mario Bros shirt. "Like, the uncultured people that think video games are a form of art."

Yeah, the last statement angered me a fair bit. But, Tanya tugged at my shoulder, and as I looked into her eyes, she sent a message without even having to say a single word.

I decided to endure being in that house for a bit longer, despite wanting to rip my eyes and ears out. If you think these people sound like pretentious now, you have no idea how I felt actually being there and listening to this garbage for what felt like an eternity.

I didn't bring up the topic of leaving until we were all sitting down and watching what had to be the most mindless, boring silent movie in the history of cinema. Okay, I might be exaggerating just a tad there, but I think you get the point.

But, as soon as Tanya and I began to whisper, some guy in the front yelled at us for disrupting the movie. Even though the movie was entirely silent! While that was only a minor annoyance, everything had built up to the point where I had just about had it.

So, I left the room.

The cool, crisp night air hit my face once again as I opened the front door. A small hand grasped my arm, right before my foot about to land on the wooden porch in front of me. "Wait, let me at least put on my shoes," she said.

When we went outside and began to move along the sidewalk, Tanya's speech was riddled with an undertone of anger. "What the hell were you thinking? You just made me look like an idiot!"

The fact that she was angry made me perplexed since I was way too stubborn to see any fault in my actions during that night.

"What do you mean?" I asked, genuinely wondering what reason she would have to be angry.

Tanya stopped in front of a community mailbox, crossing her arms as she replied to my statement. "I mean, just storming off like that! Who does that?"

"I've just had enough. I couldn't be in a house with those people for another second."

"What the hell? You can't just hang out with them for one day?" Tanya asked, as her thick eyebrows narrowed, and her foot tapped on the grey pavement beneath it.

I simply couldn't understand, at the time, how that discussion had turned into one where I had to defend my actions. "Why the hell are you mad at me? You didn't back me up as I was being insulted by every single one of them! What kind of person does that?"

"You didn't back me up when your friends were insulting me," Tanya replied.

The sound of crickets chirping and the occasional car passing by were the only sounds that could be heard with the few seconds of silence that followed Tanya's statement.

Some of my anger dissipated, as I realized how she must have felt when hanging out with my own friends. "I'm sorry. I don't know, I just wanted them to like you, interfering would have made it worse."

Her foot stopped tapping the floor, and her arms moved back to the sides of her body. "And I wanted you to like my friends. I know they can be a bit over the top sometimes, but they're the first people to actually be nice to me and accept me for who I am."

"Well, uh, neither of us like each other's friends, so can we just agree to never force the other into hanging out with them again?"

"Sounds good to me," Tanya said. The taste of strawberries lingered on my lips after we kissed once more. For a few seconds, I held her tight as the warmth of her waist felt comforting against the wind blowing against us.

"Great, now, can we please go home, my lady?" I knew she really liked it when I said stuff that sounded all ancient.

Tanya's smile was like a bright light amidst the night sky, serving as a replacement for the absence of stars that would have illuminated the bustling metropolis. While we aren't exactly on the best of terms today, part of me feels sad that a lot of people didn't really recognize Tanya's more positive attributes, like her smile.

"Sure, let's go," she replied, her brown jacket blowing with the wind as we continued to move along the sidewalk.