"Dare," Drake replied without a moment of hesitation.

"Okay..." Elliot mumbled. "Knock on the door of that house over there. Once someone answers it, say 'Watch me' and climb up a lamp post." He seemed proud of himself for thinking that up, but Drake is the kind of guy who's not afraid to do any dare.

As expected, Drake started waltzing up to a house almost before Elliot even finished talking. I felt kind of bad for the people who lived there; they became victims of our boredom and childish game of truth or dare. Alas, Drake knocked on the door, said what he was told to say, and did what he was told to do. The people were good sports– thankfully– and they laughed along while he pulled himself up the pole. I clapped and thought to myself, 'What am I doing with my life?' By this point in time, I figured that I would know what I wanted to do with myself, but that didn't seem to be the case.

We all continued walking to our homes, stopping everytime one of us had to do a dare. I continuously selected 'truth' because I wanted to get to my house more quickly... and guys are horrible at creating truth-questions which makes it all the more hilarious to watch them think up a storm. Before they were able to decide on anything to ask me, we were already at our neighborhood.

It was only then that I realized the fact that Elliot was walking with us. Which meant... that he lived around here. I found myself jerking away and pointing at Elliot as if he were an alien (However, now that I think about it, it may just be possible). "What are you doing here?!" I nearly shouted.

He smirked and ran across the street. Gesturing towards a house, he proudly claimed, "This is my abode! Ta-da!" I couldn't believe it. There goes my life without Elliot in it; just... down the drain.

But then I thought, There's still hope! "Prove it," I said, walking towards him, truly wishing that he wouldn't be able to.

He gave me a weird look as if he were telling me "You didn't say 'Simon says'" and pulled out a set of keys looped through a lanyard. Oh no... Then, he went up to the door... and unlocked it. At the sound of it successfully unlocking, I felt like I was kidnapped, thrown into a cellar, and the culprit was coming in through the door, about to reveal himself. Plot twist: It was Tyler.

Mentally slapping myself for being stupid and getting side-tracked, I pouted and stomped back across the street to Drake. He turned on his heel and followed me down the sidewalk while Elliot yelled "Goodbye" and waved his arms around. I live at the end of the court, and Drake's house is left of mine. No wonder we became friends.

Since I already ate and did my homework, I decided that sleep was the best choice for me at the moment. Even though I say that, I always end up watching random YouTube videos until I pass out. Is that healthy? Hm... Sure, it is! So, that's exactly what I did.

My alarm clock woke me up the next morning. I did my usual routine which normally included swaying side to side instead of normal walking. There's also the occasional "zombie-grunt" and the glare you give to someone who tells you to use proper sentences. The only time you know for sure whether or not you're part of the cast for The Walking Dead, is when you eat like Steve from Minecraft, breaking food into crumbs rather than chewing it inside your mouth. Here I go again; mentally slapping myself for being stupid and getting side-tracked.

Somehow, I managed to change clothes and go outside. But then I had to go back inside for a bit because I forgot to put on my shoes. Back in the outside world, I met with Drake and– surprise– Elliot. Drake's eyes met mine, then he raised his eyebrow and looked at Elliot. I nodded silently, looking down.

"Your unspoken conversation is ringing loud and clear in my ears, you know," Elliot said, blocking our line of telepathic communication. He ran infront of us and turned around, swinging his arms at his sides. "C'mon! If you're not going to tell me your thoughts, you should at least walk me to school. I'm new here, and I can't get anywhere without a guide. The only thing I know is how my house looks like. I didn't even know you guys lived near me! I just followed along..." he said, rambling on and on so much that I forgot to listen.

The options were clear: a) Walk Elliot to school, b) Tell Elliot my thoughts, c) Both, d) Run away, doing none of the above because it's every man for themselves in this world.

Just when I was about to put Option D into action, Drake grabbed onto my arm, slapped a 'Level One' on my forearm, and stared into my eyes. Scratch that; soul. Drake stared into my soul, immobilized me, and made me walk with them. Thus, we ended up showing Elliot the way to school. However, the trip was uncomfortably silent and awkward even though there was no reason for it to be. The silence was easily broken with one word: "Anarchy".

Neither Drake nor Elliot said that one word. The only other person in our group at that time was me, but I definitely didn't say it. Which meant that it wasn't someone in our three-person group. We all looked around, trying to track the voice. Finally, our gaze shifted to the front of our school.

Our campus-security was surrounding one person. They even tried dragging the person away from the school. Once we got closer, we got a better view of all the commotion.

"Let go of me! You can't tell me what to do! I'm providing entertainment, fools!" shouted a girl with long, brown hair. People cheered for her as she struggled to get away, but security held her by the arms. I could see that, in one hand, she held some sort of instrument. Like a mini-guitar or something. On the ground was the case, and it had a bunch of dollars and change inside of it. After one of the security men accidentally pulled on her hair by a slip of the hand, she nearly dropped her instrument. Diving and rolling forward, she managed to catch it. That short moment of action caused me to clap for her.

Glaring at campus-security, she zipped up the case with all the money inside and swung the instrument over her shoulder, striding away angrily from the crowd. She stopped for a moment and glanced at someone, but then she continued her journey to some unknown place. The person she noticed before leaving was incredibly familiar-looking. It took me a while to recognize her face, but I ended up finding out whether I liked it or not.

"Ah! It's her!" Elliot shouted. "It's that girl!" He pointed to the person, and she responded by eyeballing him angrily, sharply turning her head away, and strutting off into the school. After hearing Elliot's words, I realized that the girl was the one he crashed into at lunch the other day.

I felt sort of dizzy; my eyes had been darting around this entire time. Lila popped out of nowhere with Cass beside her, and held onto one of my shoulders. "Hey, Ode. Are you alright?" I glared at her for using that nickname while Elliot laughed and clapped happily. "You look lightheaded..." It took me awhile to realize that I was standing in a crowd. Oh no... I thought to myself, flicking my eyes wide open, trying to keep them open.

Tyler and Iden showed up, but I was already about to faint. Lila, Cass, Drake, Iden, and Tyler started panicking because they know that I don't fare well around crowds. Elliot was oblivious to all of this, but with one glance of me, it's obvious that something was wrong. Iden picked me up, but by then, I was blanking-out.

***

I woke up in the nurse's office. Ugh... As expected... Everytime this sort of thing happened to me, I found myself laying on the rock-hard bed. Of course, I didn't enjoy being here. It smelled of peroxide and salonpas and weird, random creams and ointments. Everyone was probably in class at that time. Everyone except Lila.

No, she wasn't sitting beside my bed with worried eyes. It was quite the opposite. She lay on the other bed right next to mine, just barely conscious. Whenever Lila sees me pass out, she ends up doing the same because she somehow feels a lot of pressure. What a great friend, right?

I wrote her a note on a tissue that said "Get well, Pringles." Cass is the one who gave Lila the nickname "Pringles", but we haven't said it in a while. How she got that name is another story. So, I'll tell it at another time. Once I found my backpack on the floor, I slung it over my shoulder and left the room.

Closing the door quietly, I looked up and nearly gasped. "Oh, god. You almost scared the shit out of me!" I exclaimed, holding my chest as if I just had a heart attack.

"S-sorry!" replied the girl. She's the same girl that Elliot ran into, and got lunch all over her. Her hair was near to being white and her eyes were a dark brown. Judging by her style choice and composure, she's one of those cute, shy girly-girls. "I-I'm just delivering papers," she said, holding up a stack of white sheets of printer paper.

"Ah... Okay," I said, trying to slow down my heart rate. Unknowingly, I started walking with her. "Oh! My name's Odette, by the way." I was proud of myself because that was one of the first times I introduced myself without failing.

She giggled. "I know who you are! I see you very often. I'm Paten," she replied quickly. "N-nice to meet you!" Smiling, she began to walk with a spring in her step. I bet she's happy that someone's talking to her after what happened during lunch the previous day.

Then, I remembered what Elliot asked me during soccer practice: "Why was her tray full when the lunch period was ending?" This girl looked so small and frail... I couldn't imagine her eating so much in the very few seconds she had left. He was right for once; it was very mysterious. I decided to be the great female detective I am, and I asked her.

By the time I was finished with my question, she remained silent. A few seconds passed and her facial expression morphed from "happy and sweet" to "eternally doomed". Just by looking at her, you can tell that she was freaking out. I mean, her forehead was even sweating. At that time, it was Autumn... so sweat wasn't something you'd see often. Unless, of course, she was melting from the inside-out, but I still had a feeling that it was sweat.

Finally, she was able to speak a few sentences... If you'd consider it as speaking. "I-it-it-it's nothing!!! N-n-no r-reason!!!! T-there were... um... leftovers! Yeah! S-so, I just decided to take it and save it for... l-later...?" she said, making her last few words sound as if she were asking a question.

My first thoughts were: Okay. This girl is definitely hiding something. But I didn't want to ask her about it because it might not be a comfortable subject for her. Instead, I stared at her and tried to make her feel guilty about not telling me. For your information, it did not work in the slightest bit.

Paten went off to do her own thing. Thanks to my fainting, I missed first period which was Language Arts. Now, I had to go to my elective class; yearbook. I started wondering why I faint in crowds except for the times when Lila, Drake, and I got surrounded when we're setting up for our mini-market everytime there's a new student. Maybe my body instantly dismissed the crowd and kept in mind the importance of money, so it told itself to stay conscious...? I guess that counts.

I found my group of friends and Elliot while I was walking to my class. Although, I was sure to thank Iden for carrying me to the nurse's office. He seemed to be the calmest out of everyone at that time; he was calmer than me, and I was unconscious. When I passed by them, everyone seemed to be acting normal: Tyler was hopping around like an energetic little bunny, Cassy was... being Cassy, Elliot was making random remarks that included my so-called nickname, Iden was smiling at the conversations that he quietly listened in on, and Lila was still in the infirmary. Of course, that was when I realized the fact that Drake was nowhere to be seen.

They all noticed me darting my eyes around, looking for him. "He disappeared," Cass said, with her usual monotonous tone. "He was in class with us earlier, but afterwards, he was gone." Once she finished speaking, she just turned around and continued walking.

Great, I thought to myself, Now, I have to find him. I gained this habit of apologizing to Drake everytime I passed out. He said that it worries him and that I should be more careful... or something like that. Sure, I could have just apologized after class, but I don't like waiting. The last time I took a while to say sorry, I ended up forgetting, and he scolded me for being so "out of it". Most people would see it as annoying, but he's one of my best friends and I know he's just worried.

Even though the bell rang, I was still running through the halls, avoiding the yard duties that carefully stalked each area. After not finding him, I figured that he went back to class. But there was something inside of me that said he wasn't. Yes, that may be a little odd, but I guess I just have an internal tracking device for Drake.

It took me quite a long time to realize the fact that he is a great friend, and he does worry about me a lot. So, I came to the conclusion that he was in the infirmary. Lila was probably still sleeping like a baby, so I don't know why he stayed in the nurse's office for this long... but I decided to check anyways. Running down several corridors, I finally got back to the horrible-smelling room.

When you know that you missed class, you get some kind of adrenaline rush, so I was trying to get this over with as quickly as possible. With that in mind, I swung the door open really quickly, making air whiffle past. At that moment, the first thing I saw... for some reason, it broke my heart.

I had no idea why it did, but... it just... did. My heart felt like it detached from my body, yet it was beating two thousand times faster than its normal pace. At the same time, my head was spinning, trying to comprehend everything. Maybe it was a misunderstanding. Maybe I got it all wrong. But there was still that slight chance that it wasn't. "Foolish" was the only word to describe how I felt then.

Drake was sitting still on a chair beside Lila's bed. His eyes darted to the side when I opened the door, meeting with mine. He was leaning forward, barely touching Lila's red face with his. I know for sure that he said something to me, but my ears had shut down, and I just turned... and left.

I had met with many conclusions in my life, but at that time, I was sure of two:

1. Drake likes Lila.

2. I had the slightest crush on him.

[]Author's Note[]

Hello!!!! Thanks for reading!!! You are a great person. Well, I can't say much right now because I'm at school.

Tell me all your thoughts, OKAY??!!!!

WELP. Please vote, comment, and follow!!! Thanks! Keep reading! Bye!

This is Iris! Signing off ;D

        -!Ri$