-Laelyn-

The first two hours of school went by pretty quickly, the only notable part being that Joshua had paired up with me in first hour and we were done with our project before Link and Chanson, not that it was a competition. Josh and I always paired up when I wasn't claimed by Link, and we'd become pretty good friends because of it. He was just as competitive as I was, and we worked better with each other than anyone else. The funny thing was, we hadn't become friends until last year when we'd known each other our entire lives. My mom knew his parents, and they would meet up frequently. I guess they tried to force us into friendship, but it worked itself out.

He was supposed to come over today after school to help me study, since I was really bad at geometry and science. Well... not really bad. I got straight B's in those classes. I guess when you grew up with Link, B's weren't as impressive as they should be. Either way, Joshua got good enough grades to rival Link's, putting them both at the top of the class. And even though I loved Link, I really did, I didn't want him tutoring me. So I chose Josh to help me.

I walked into third hour with Link and prepared for the worst. English with Mrs. Turner was the worst. We both agreed it was the most boring class on our shared schedule. Sitting through a class with Mrs. Turner was about as interesting as watching grass grow. She was a short, irritable, monotone woman who hated change. She gave us back-to-back essays and only had us read classic books. Not great classics. Just the most boring and long ones like War and Peace or Moby Dick. Link and I sat by Isaac and Treyden, best friends and class clowns. Isaac talked constantly and laughed at everything Treyden said, and Treyden usually just told countless bad puns.

"Alright, what's the pun of the day?" I asked as I sat down beside him.

"You aren't prepared for how great this one is," He said, eyes shining. I laughed.

"Just tell me."

"What is a thesaurus' favorite dessert?"

"I don't know, what?" I asked. I didn't have to, he would tell me anyway.

"A synonym bun." He laughed hysterically and slapped Isaac's elbow, causing him to laugh as well. Link facepalmed.

"Oh my God that was great." I giggled. Puns were my kind of humor.

"You guys are ridiculous." Link commented, turning to the front of the classroom just as Mrs. Turner walked in the door.

"You all know what your assignment is. Get writing and stop talking." She said unenthusiastically, sitting down at her desk and opening her book. We were writing an essay based on the areas of culture influenced by the novel we finished reading last week. I stole a glance at Link, raising my eyebrows. Mrs. Turner was extremely irritated today, apparently. He chuckled quietly and whispered, "Werewolf week," under his breath. It took all I had not to burst out laughing.

It didn't take long to realize that my essay was going to be terrible. I didn't even finish reading the book- it put me to sleep. I had no idea what areas of culture were affected or how, and I had honestly given up on trying to come up with fictional influences. I ripped the page I'd been working on out of my notebook and began writing a note on the next page, to Link.

You have any idea what's going on?

I crumpled up the paper and threw it in his direction. It landed on his desk and he gave me a confused look before opening it up as quietly as he could. He shrugged his shoulders. School was usually pretty easy for him, so I wouldn't be surprised if he understood this assignment. I gave him a pleading look. Finally getting the point, he raised his hand.

"Mr. Campbell?" Mrs. Turner called.

"I was just wondering if you had any examples of areas of culture, that... Uh... might have been affected?" He asked. I mentally thanked him for asking my question for me. It was always hard for me to speak up in the middle of class thanks to my anxiety, but Link could sense that, and usually came to my rescue.

"You should know them already." Mrs. Turner replied shortly, going back to her book. Link shook his head in disbelief. That wasn't the answer we wanted.

"Yes, but could we have an example of how we're supposed to phrase it, or what sort of effects we are looking for?" He specified. I wish Mrs. Turner would just let us know something for once.

"I will not take your questions when you obviously don't pay attention in class unless you're getting free answers!" She answered, raising her voice for the first time since we'd had her as a teacher. "You may want to take care to write notes sometime, Mr. Campbell. No teacher will ever like you if you act like you know everything. You can't expect things to be so easy." Link sat there, mouth open, staring at her like she had shot him in the chest. This was bad. No teacher had ever insulted Link before, he was a genius.

I tried to catch his eye. He had low self esteem anyways, I was not going to allow a teacher to lower it even more. I opened my mouth to say something, but thought better of it when I realized how quiet the class was. Link looked over at me again and I shook my head to tell him she was wrong, that she didn't know what she was talking about, but he just looked down at his paper and began writing again.

Looking down at my own paper, I went over any possible scenario that could come from this. What if he stopped caring about school? What if he cut himself off from everybody again? What if...? I finally got myself to stop. This is Link we're talking about. He can get through this, he deals with it all the time. Stop over-thinking things, Laelyn. I shook my head and continued working.

***

Not a moment too soon, the bell rang and I practically sprang up from my chair, grabbing my binder and pulling Link out of the room by the sleeve of his shirt.

"Woah, Lyn, what's up?" He asked as we turned into the hallway.

"I can't believe she said that to you." I replied.

"It's whatever." He said. "It's Mrs. Turner, remember. What she says means nothing to me." See? You were worrying for nothing.

"Oh, okay..." I was embarrassed by my level of concern. "Just making sure you were alright."

"I mean, yeah, it was a shock and I wanted to punch her," He explained, chuckling, "But I'll be fine. Don't worry about me so much."

"Alright. Off to gym then?"

He nodded, and I followed him through the hallway and into the gym. It was a large room with white walls and light brown wood floors, faded court lines on the panels. Link rubbed my shoulder reassuringly before leaving for the boy's locker room. I was glad that my brother always knew what to do to calm my nerves. I headed to the other end of the gym and into the girl's locker room. Grabbing a blue shirt and black basketball shorts from my gym locker, I changed quickly and returned to the gym, taking a seat on the bleachers. I watched everyone walk in and form into their little groups. Soon my group formed; Alyrica, Link, Chanson, and Alyrica's friend Corinne. Chanson and Link were deep in conversation, and I allowed myself to stare a bit. Chanson's dark brown hair was flawless and he kept running his hand through it without realizing. His bright blue eyes lit up when he talked about something he was passionate about, like now. And, if possible, he was even more fit than Link. He was one of those people that you just knew they had abs, whether you'd seen them or not- which I had, at Link's birthday party at the lake last year. The muscles in his arms and legs were clearly defined, but not too much like those creepy body builders. In my eyes, he was perfect.

Chanson looked my way and I quickly flicked my eyes towards the ground. Why was I so bad at this? Alyrica could just glance at a guy and have him falling for her, while I had to look away for fear of them avoiding me. I plastered a smile on my face again and looked up at Alyrica.

"How's today going for you so far?" I asked.

"Good, actually! My presentation for communications went great." She smiled. I nodded.

"Great!" I said, keeping the smile on my face. Then I went quiet again. A few minutes later Joshua walked up to me, throwing his arm over my shoulder like always.

"What's up Lyn?" He asked.

"Not much, just stuck in a jail pretending to be a school." I said sarcastically. He laughed.

"Same." He brightened up and looked at me. "But at least we're hanging at your house today, right?"

"Right." I assured him. "How are things going at home?" He didn't exactly have a charmed home life.

"They're... Alright." He looked down. "I'm not gonna pretend they're perfect, but Mom is treating me a little better now that Dad's gone."

"That's good." His mom was terrible to him, and I knew he wasn't exaggerating when he said things weren't good, but it was all I could say.

"Anyway, enough about me, we have to warm up." He reminded me. Looking around, I saw pairs of students already at the starting line for laps- apparently we had missed Mr. Sark's announcement. We always paired up, so we naturally jogged over to the line and waited for Sark to blow the whistle.

Once he blew the whistle, we were off. Or, rather, everyone else was off. Joshua and I lazily jogged, not worrying whether we won or not. The winners became captains, and that would mean being on separate teams.

Predictably, Link and Chanson won, and we all returned to the bleachers after stretching. Link and Chanson quickly picked teams, and I was with Alyrica and Joshua among others on Link's team. Of course, this week was volleyball. I totally sucked at it, just like every other sport, really. Josh and I were always in the back, messing up the rotation. There was no way I was playing front row, I was too short to spike. Josh was a bit taller than me, but not by much. His short blonde hair barely reached above my head.

Playing back row was a struggle for me too. I just ultimately should not be playing volleyball unless I'm serving. Either way, because Link was on our team, we won the game and headed back to the locker rooms before lunch.

***

"Dude, when did you rearrange your room?"

Josh and I were sitting on my bed in my room, homework laid all over the quilt. I forgot that he hadn't been over for about a month.

"About a week ago, catch up," I joked.

"It's not like I ask you every day whether or not your room is exactly the same as the day before." He protested.

"Sounds like a lot of homework going on," I heard someone say while they opened the door. I didn't have to look up to know who it was.

"We're working on it, Link. Go away." I said, picking up a pen and a notebook.

"You know, I could tutor you if you just asked. I live with you already."

"That's why I didn't ask you." I replied. He clutched his chest in fake pain.

"Ouch."

"Just telling the truth. I've lived with you for all sixteen years of my life and I love you, but I don't need that much time with you."

"Well then," He said, obviously still pretending to be hurt. "If you need anything I'll be in my room. All alone. Staring at a wall and wondering why my sister hates me." I punched him in the arm. "Alright, alright. I'll be downstairs."

"Make us some food if you get the chance," I requested, knowing he wouldn't.

"Yeah sure." He answered, shutting the door behind him as he left.

"Right, where were we?" I turned my attention back to Joshua, who was silently laughing, eyes crinkling up and smile wider than ever. "What?"

"You guys," He said, chuckling, "Still have the weirdest relationship ever."

"No we don't." I said defensively, smiling through the lie.

"Whatever you say, Lyn." He finally stopped laughing enough for us to start working. "What do you need help with the most?"

"I'm not sure. Geometry doesn't make any sense at all, but science is plain foreign to me right now." I admitted.

"What did you get on that unit test in geometry? The one we took last week?"

"I think I got a B?"

"You think?"

"Yeah, it was difficult. I pretty much understand what we're doing now, but last week totally screwed me over."

"You call a B screwed over?" He laughed. "Alright. Let's get to work on science then."

***

"Laelyn, honey! Food's ready when you two are done!" My mom called up the stairs. Without a second thought, I swept my papers to the side and got up for food.

"Woah, woah, woah. We're not done." Joshua said frantically.

"We are if you don't want my brain to explode." I said seriously.

"Right, lead on." He replied, following me out the door and downstairs. By the time we got to the kitchen, Mom had left again. No doubt back to the hospital- she almost never left. On the table were three boxes of pizza, two pop bottles, and a few bags of chips. Next to those, a few paper plates and red solo cups. Typical; not like I expected a home cooked meal. Josh loved pizza anyway, and I personally had no hesitation opening the boxes and putting three pieces on my plate.

Link came into the room quietly from the hall, putting his arm around my shoulders and scaring the hell out of me.

"Link! Don't do that!" I yelled, almost dropping my plate.

"I wish I could say I was sorry, but..." He smirked. "I'm really not." I opened my mouth to reply, then Joshua chuckled behind us and I stopped, giggling myself.

"Alright, I assume Mom's left already?" Link asked, grabbing a box of pizza. No joke- an entire box.

"Correct," Josh answered. He was as much a part of this family as I was, and it was almost funny how naturally he spoke of our mom as his.

"Darn. I was going to ask her about college applications." He said.

"Already?" Josh asked, stealing a piece of pizza from Link's designated box. "Can you even apply as a junior?"

"That's what I planned on asking. Whatever, I'll just look it up or something." He stuffed half a pizza slice in his mouth and sat at the head of the table. We stopped talking and ate about five pieces per person, except Link- he had decided to take a whole box, and he was intent on eating it all. Suddenly, I felt a pang of jealousy. Link's metabolism was so high. He ate whatever he wanted and didn't suffer one pound. Not that mine was much worse, but that was half the reason he had such a great figure. The other half was muscle.

Josh cut off my train of thought by throwing a bag of chips at me. It bounced off my shoulder and onto my plate, and I laughed.

"Thanks," I said sarcastically. "So how confident are you guys about the test tomorrow?"

"Eh. A?" Josh guessed.

"An A plus, for sure." Link nodded. Of course.

"Right," I said, "That was a stupid question." For them. I'm getting a B, at best. We ate the rest of dinner in silence. All I could think about was sleeping- I was dead tired. Glancing at the clock, I realized it was only 7:00pm, but I didn't care. "I'm going to sleep now." I decided.

"Now?" Josh repeated. "It's not even dark out!"

"I blame you for overworking my brain," I joked, getting up to hug him. "Thanks though. See you tomorrow." He hugged me back.

"Night." He sat back down, probably to have some more pizza. I stifled a laugh and walked back up the stairs to my room.

Author's Note!

Alright guys, how are you feeling about the characters so far? Who's your favorite, and who do you want to see more of? I already have alot of the book written already, I'm just editing right now, but I'm open to suggestions on how to make the story better! Plus I just really want to know which characters you like the most. :) Thanks for reading, don't forget to comment and favorite!

Savy Pearson