"Tempus Fugit..." I repeated after him. "Um... This isn't supposed to be offensive or anything, but... what are you doing here, Iden?"

He let go of me and scooted over beside me, swinging his legs over the ledge. "Kaira was the first person I met when I came here. She and her friend, Paten, were at the airport because Paten's father was moving away somewhere. I hang out here when I don't know what to do."

"Ahhh... Okay." Wait. What the hell am I doing? I have a question to ask him! "Iden, where were you before? You said you came three days ago, right? I should've known!" I waited (not so) patiently for his reply. How did he get past my henchmen? It was really weird, I swear, and a little suspicious. But then the thought of my henchmen, Lila and Drake, made me feel a little down.

He ran his hand through his hair. "Oh... um... I lied. Heh... I actually came before you entered the school yourself. I just... I was too shy to say anything to you." Lightly chuckling, he played with his thumbs. "You even attacked me once, but I guess you didn't realize it was me."

My eyes opened up wide when I found out what he meant. On my first day here, I attacked my classmate because he tried to trip me... But it's different when it's Iden. When I first met him, he tried to stop me from walking off by grabbing my hand, but he accidentally ran too far and kicked my ankle. Ever since then, he'd unexpectedly nudge my ankle. And I attacked him for it... I guess. Whoops. I gave him what might've been the weirdest expression; it was a mix of an apologetic face, a face that wants to laugh, a worried face, and a face that tried too hard to not look psychotic but failed.

He gave out a laugh. "Yeah... I know I should have said something," he muttered. "But I didn't. Kind of stupid, huh...?" Scratching the side of his mouth with his finger, he swung his head down as if he were disappointed with himself. I know what it means when he swings down his head, though; it means that he's blushing. He does that in order to hide his face. "Let's watch the stars together," he said, changing the subject.

"M'kay," I agreed in an instant. But I was still thinking about his answer. I knew for sure that Lila didn't know about him, but maybe the others did. The more I thought about it, the more I began to feel bad because I didn't even notice him until he talked to me. It was then that I decided to speak with Drake and Lila. If I pretend like they both don't exist, we'll all end up feeling horrible.

As if on cue, I glanced at my silenced phone, immediately receiving a call. From Drake. Right when I saw the caller I.D., I fumbled with my hands, nearly letting go of my phone where it would've fallen off the balcony and down to the forest's floor. Iden raised his eyebrow at me, questioningly.

"I have to answer this," I said, pointing at it. He motioned his head as if saying, 'Go on ahead'.

I shuffled away towards the center tree and answered the call. Once I did, I heard Drake's slightly annoyed tone. "Where in the world are you?! I've been searching everywhere! You didn't come to the soccer practice or wait to walk home or talk to me at all today. Do you have any idea how many times I tried to get ahold of you throughout the entire afternoon? I even sent you so many texts! Even Lila–"

I felt oddly relieved. Maybe it was dumb, but I was glad that he was worried. My phone was on silent the entire time because I was too nervous to handle this kind of situation, but now that he's talking to me, I ended up really happy.

"Sorry," I said, cutting him off from his rambling. "I didn't know what to do, so I had decided to ignore it all... Sorry."

He sighed, calming down. "Don't apologize. It's my fault for being silent... But I swear nothing happened between me and Lila. I was just whispering a secret when you walked in."

Yeah, but her face was red, I thought. Then I almost slapped myself for thinking that. She just woke up from fainting. What did I expect? So, I had the hope that what he said was true, but I wasn't entirely sure. I didn't care much about it at the time. All I had in my head was: What was the secret? As expected, once I learned something new, I got another question in my head. And it's those kind of questions that nag around in your head all day, but when it's the right time to ask it, you forget all about it. With that in mind, I decided to just give it a shot.

"What was the secret...? Hm?"

Drake laughed. It was those kinds of laughs that people use when you pick out the wrong Jenga block and the entire tower starts to topple over. "As if. A secret's a secret. She told me one of hers and I told her one of mine. The end. Oh, and you should talk to Lila. She's been crying on Elliot's shoulder every ten minutes." So, that's where he went. I thought he'd be the type that would follow me around all the time, but I guess he was nice enough to become Lila's pillow.

We were about to hang up, but I stopped him. "Come with everyone else and meet me in the forest behind our school! Just waltz straight in; no turns. Bye!" I hung up and made my way back to Iden who had a squirrel on his lap.

After an odd conversation about squirrels, the others came and we led them up the ladder. It was a surprise to Iden because I forgot to tell him that I took the liberty of inviting them, but he just got up and greeted them. Lila attacked me with the most awkward hug ever because she acted like a koala, literally clinging onto me with her legs and slightly using her nails to claw on. As she did that, tears of joy streamed down her face as she dried them on my sleeve and mumbled out incoherent sentences. Drake raised his eyebrow at me and motioned his eyes at Lila as if saying "I told you she was like this." He then looked around with a face of confusion. Beside him was a just-as-confused Kaira.

"Who are all these humans?" she asked. "What are they doing in my domain?" I was about to say something, but she held up her hand to stop me. "Actually, I don't really care. Just stay off of my throne." All of a sudden, Elliot got really excited at the word 'throne' and started hopping around everywhere. But then Kaira slapped him the same way she slapped me before, making him stop. I thought it was pretty harsh, but it seemed to work better than anything civil that I tried.

"So," Tyler huffed out as he sat on the polished wood, "why have you summoned us?"

"To watch the stars," Iden replied, answering for me. I gave a nod of approval and we all ended up laying down, waiting as the sun set and the sky darkened. Soon enough, Paten and Kaira joined us. We all spoke of random topics like the homework we forgot to finish and how good yesterday's tacos tasted.

Kaira was lost, and she only started talking when food was mentioned. Though, I couldn't shake off the fact that I told Kaira how I had a crush on Drake. She kept staring at him, then staring back at me. I wasn't even so sure whether or not she could keep a secret, but the two of us stayed quiet. Thankfully, he didn't notice her when she literally leaned next to him and raised her eyebrows several times, winking at me too.

Cass packed a whole bunch of different sandwiches that Kaira happily helped herself to. Paten was quiet for the majority of the time, but I didn't bother her about it because it looked like she was in deep thought. Everyone seemed to be in deep thought lately... Including myself, I think. Gosh darn it. Odette, you hypocrite.

Finally, the sky shifted into a deep blue– almost black. All of us gathered around the edge of the treehouse's wooden boards, looking up at the sky which was only lit by starlight. It felt as if we were detached from the rest of the world; alone under the massive darkness that spread out overhead. All the stars gathered near each other while only several of them steered away from the rest.

"Which one are you?" Elliot– who sat comfortably behind me– asked. "Which star do you think suits you the best?"

Kaira eagerly answered first. "I'm that one! All the way over there!" She exclaimed pointing at an extremely bright one far off in the distance. "'Cause I shine the brightest even though I'm left alone."

Cass lifted her hand, gesturing to a really small one. "I'm that one... because I want to be that one."

Tyler started off with just one, but it soon turned into two... then three.. then four... then the entire galaxy. Paten chose one really, really far away; I almost couldn't see it. Drake went with a green-ish tinted star because he said it was his favorite color. Iden went with a blue-ish one for the same reason. Lila picked out a pink star because it made her feel "special". We tried to let her know that it wasn't pink, but she insisted that it was what she saw, and it's good enough for her.

My turn. I gazed out into the open sky, darting my eyes around. "I don't really know," I said, "but if I were to choose my favorite, it would be that one." I pointed towards one that nearly met with the horizon. It was kind of dim to say the least, but for some reason, I liked it.

Elliot was the last to go. "I want that tiny one in between all of yours. It looks really cool, and it's right by everyone!"

We nodded in approval. It was a nice answer. He explained how he's in the center, so he won't favor anyone. Then, he finished up by saying that he enjoys spending time with all of us, and that we could come to him if we need anything or anyone to talk to.

Kaira ruined the moment, though. "Yeah, Elliot... That's a great star," she said, "but next time, try to choose an actual star... and not a helicopter." Everyone laughed once they realized that Elliot's star was moving. Elliot blushed wildly, and hid his face away.

Cass held up her indigo spray can and slowly looked at Kaira. "Can we spray our initials on this treehouse?" I was confused at first because we only spray-paint our initials if we eat together, but then I figured that we did eat together; the sandwiches that she brought over herself.

Kaira shrugged. "If you let me spray-paint my treehouse, too, then yeah."

Cass, prepared as usual, fished out two cans from her bag. "I've got yellow and orange. Which one?"

Kaira pounced on the orange one. "Mac and cheese! Yes!" After regaining her composure she walked us down from the treehouse. "There are eight trees. If you want, we could all spray on separate ones."

Cass tossed the yellow spray can over to Iden who caught it awkwardly. Paten still rested belly-down on the balcony and spoke to us from above like a god or something.

"Let's do this!" Lila shouted, gripping onto her pink spray can. "Who cares if it's not Thursday?! Whoo!"

Everyone let out some sort of battle cry and began spray their initials. Paten giggled as she watched us act like freaks. Once we were done, we all gathered away to admire our work.

I read it out loud, stating the painted initial and our actual name. "L for Lila. O for Odette. C for Cass. K for Kaira. T for Tyler. I for Iden. D for Drake. E for Elliot." I read it over in my head a few times. "L.O.C.K.T.I.D.E.... Locktide. That sounds cool."

"It sounds like a band name..." Lila thought out loud. "Guys! We should start a band!"

"Guys! We should learn how to play instruments first!" Tyler said after Lila.

"Oh yeah, huh?" she muttered. "Only Kaira can play an instrument."

They got into a huge argument on who should play what instrument. I seriously don't think it's going to happen, but who knows. My friends are dreamers. But I do wonder if Lila will end up as the lead singer; for some reason, she kept asking for the part.

Paten made her way back to us, looking like a shy little lamb. "Hey... I have to tell you all something..."

Elliot popped out of nowhere like a gopher escaping its hole. "What is it?! Is it about lunch and how you had a tray stacked with food at the end of the period? But then I crashed into you? Oh... Wait. Yeah, sorry about that."

"So, that is what happened!" Kaira nearly shouted. "You always bring me food, so I was wondering what happened..."

Elliot jumped up with realization. "Ohh... Okay, I get it now! So, you were going to save the food for Kaira! Ohh!! Mystery solved! Yes!"

I shook my head and almost face-palmed myself. I don't think that Paten would talk to us all together for something as simple as that; it's not much of a confession or anything. Elliot should get his priorities straight somehow because I'm pretty darn sure that– judging by the tone of her voice– it was something of greater importance.

Paten's eyebrow twitched a bit. "Yeah, but that's not what I wanted to talk about..." She inhaled and exhaled heavily. "I'm moving soon."

"What?!" Kaira clenched her fists close to her. "When?! Why?! To where?!"

Paten thought about the answers for a bit before answering. "Tomorrow."

"Wha–?"

"To Canada."

"Eh?"

"Because my dad wants me to live with him."

Kaira sighed deeply. "But where else will I get my food? You were like those people who feed the homeless!" I wasn't entirely so certain about their relationship, but I didn't bother interfering.

"So, it was nice meeting you all." She glared at Elliot. "...Except for you. I'll never forgive you." She smiled, showing that she was just kidding. "Bye! I hope our paths will cross once more! But for now, I have to get home and pack up my things."

She left the woods, heading to her home, and after a while, so did we.

[]Author's Note[]

GAWD!! THIS CHAPTER IS FINALLY FINISHED!!! Hooray for me! Ugh! I don't know why I decided to write it all in one day, but eh!

WELP! Tell me what you think, my homies! I don't know whether or not I should spend extra time trying to write this A/N... but anything for you guys!

;D You must feel SO special right now. Hooray for you too!

I don't know how many people are STILL reading this story, but thanks for taking the time to do so! It means so much to me!

Now, hit that lovely star-button-thingy that is supposedly made for voting, comment a few words of wisdom, and follow if that hasn't been done yet! Continue to read/wait for my updates (I guess) please!

See you lovelies later! Iris is O.U.T.!

        -!Ri$