"So first I get hit with a firework, and now you're makin' me go to lunch with him?" Silas said, looking annoyed.

                Ray had loosely bandaged the wound on Silas's arm. Now the two stood back in the kitchen, me awkwardly wondering if Silas would really refuse to eat lunch with me. I'd already texted Akira that Jack was in trouble and I'd explain it all when I saw him later.

                "Do you want lunch, or do you want to starve?" Ray said, raising an eyebrow. "I'm not making you lunch."

                "I can make my own food," Silas said.

                Ray held up his wallet. "Or, you can let me pay for food. Go get Panera. You like that place, right?"

                "Not when I'm going with him," Silas said, nodding at me.

                "I know a good place out near Panera," I said. "It's got really good food, and the owner is super friendly. It's a bit more expensive, but it's fresh food."

                "There, see, try new things," Ray said, pushing money into Silas's hand. "You're the only kid I know who refuses food money, I swear."

                "Better not annoy me," Silas said to me.

                "Absolutely not making a promise on that one," I said, getting up. "I can drive us."

                "Only if I get to pick the music," Silas said.

                "Fine, fine. But if you pick anything that kills my driving vibe, you're banned from DJ duties," I said.

                "Just text me if you're going somewhere after. And don't you dare lay a finger on the Waymire family. The last thing I need is the cops getting called on you," Ray said. "Better keep your arm wrapped, too."

                "You have so many rules," Silas said.

                "Three whole rules, I can see how you're overwhelmed," Ray said. "Get out of here."

                Silas and I left the house, heading around to Jack's driveway to get in my car. I tried to peek in the windows, but I couldn't see anything in the house.

                "Hope Waymire whoops that kid's ass," Silas said as he hooked his phone up to the aux cord and searched for a song.

                "Mr. Waymire wouldn't hurt Jack," I said, backing out of the driveway. "He's intimidating, but he's not abusive. He just makes Jack do all the annoying chores, really."

                Silas finally settled on a song, setting his phone in his lap as the music crept out of the speakers and filled the car. I turned the volume down a little.

                "Didn't know his name was Chester," Silas said.

                "Oh, yea, Jack is just what everyone calls him," I said.

                "I knew that. I just didn't know his real name," Silas said. "Jackal, right? 'Cause he looks like one of those creepy ass things."

                It was true. Jack had sharp, pointed features, which had earned him the taunting nickname "Jackal" as a kid. He'd embraced it to spite his bullies, and everyone ended up taking to calling him Jack for short.

                "We're a group of bad nicknames," I said.

                "Oh, yea, doesn't Akira's mom call him something stupid?" Silas said.

                "Bumble bee," I said. "Because when he was little he used to stumble through her flower shop to sniff all the flowers. Bumble bee, Guzzling Garrett, and Jackal. The greatest squad known to man. Do you have any embarrassing nicknames?"

                "Nope," Silas said. "Not much to get out of my name."

                "Not much to get out of Chester either, but somehow we got Jack," I said. "What about your last name? Anything embarrassing to get from that?" I paused, frowning. "Wait, what is your last name?"

                I knew Ray's last name was Edmon. But I had no clue what Silas's last name actually was.

                "Kelley," Silas said. "My name is Silas Kelley."

                "Oh, yea, you're screwed on the nickname department," I said.

                "Only nickname I ever had was Si," he said.

                "My only real nicknames were Guzzling Garrett, and Gar," I said. "So, really, you're doing better than me in that department."

                "Doesn't it bother you?" he said. "Someone called me some shit like that, I'd knock their mouth off."

                "There's no point getting worked up about it," I said with a shrug. "My boyfriend got more upset than I did, but that's just because, you know, rumor about me sucking guys off and all that. It is what it is. People spread rumors, and the best thing I could do was play along until they went on to the next dumb rumor."

                "Should learn to stand up for yourself," Silas said.

                "I can stand up for myself," I said, shaking my head. "I just know when it's a waste of my breath to do that."

                "Sounds dumb to me," Silas said, cupping his cheek in his palm and staring out of the window.

                "Wasting your time arguing with people who aren't listening sounds dumb to me, but to each their own," I said, shrugging a little.

                I turned the volume back up as Silas kept his gaze on the view outside. I rolled my window down to let the air in, and after a few minutes, Silas copied me, resting his arm out of the window.

                We reached the restaurant and I parked the car, the two of us getting out. Silas was picking at the bandages on his arm, so I shot him a stern look.

                "Hey! If you take those off, I'm telling Ray," I said.

                "I don't need 'em. Just a scratch," he said, but stopped picking at it.

                I led him into the restaurant, and he looked around. I could see the discomfort creeping onto his expression, watching as he played with the edge of his shirt.

                "Everything okay?" I asked.

                "This looks fancy," he said.

                "Oh, I mean, I guess it is a little fancier." I gestured to my T-shirt and shorts. "But you can dress casual, too. No one judges here. The fanciness is usually more for the dinner crowd, not the lunch crowd."

                I led him over to the hostess and she checked her rotation sheet before leading us along. I glanced back at Silas, wondering why he was even so worried about the way he was dressed. He was in jeans and a plain shirt. It's not like he was here in sweatpants and his sleep shirt.

                We were seated and the hostess left us with our menus. Silas flipped his open, eyes shooting to the price.

                "We coulda gone somewhere cheaper," he said.

                "It's not that expensive," I said. "Not compared to other nice restaurants. But we don't have to eat here if we don't want to. It's your- It's Ray's money." I caught myself before I could word vomit there. I wasn't actually sure what Ray's relationship to Silas was, though I was guessing Ray was his uncle, or at least some type of biological relative. They had some vaguely similar features, but they also had different last names and Silas always called Ray by his first name. Plus, Silas had only started living with him a few years ago.

                "Doesn't mean I should just waste it," he said, but his eyes scanned over the food items a little eagerly.

                "Here, I recommend this," I said, pointing to an item on his menu. "Super good!"

                Our waitress came around and took our drink orders. We gave her our food orders, Silas taking my suggestion. We handed over the menus, and with nothing to distract us, I tried to think up a conversation topic.

                "How long have you been friends with Kaito?" I asked. I tried to think back to when Silas had first started hanging around the Riku house, but I couldn't actually remember.

                "Few years," Silas said. "He ain't a fan of your trio."

                "Because he's not a fan of Akira," I said. "Those two stopped getting along as they got older. I think it's because of the pressure Mr. Riku puts on Kaito. He's a lot more lenient with Akira. I'm sure Kai sees it as favoritism."

                "Is he wrong?" Silas said, raising an eyebrow.

                "Sort of," I said. "I mean, Mr. Riku and his brother both expect their oldest kids to take over their business. Their cousin Sara has the same pressure, but she didn't let it ruin her relationship with her younger sibling. But Mrs. Riku and Akira bonded over her flower shop, and Kaito never had an interest in that, so I'm sure he feels like his parents favor Akira. It's sad, really. But Kaito's just gotten meaner as he gets older, so I stay out of their family business."

                "You known 'em a long time?" Silas said.

                "Since we were kids. Akira, Jack, and I all had class together in elementary school," I said, smiling a little. It felt like so long ago we were having imaginary Pokémon battles during recess, trying to keep ants as pets, and trying to convince people we were biological brothers.

                "Was Jack settin' people on fire back then too?" Silas said moodily, picking at his bandages again.

                "Well, actually..." I rubbed the back of my neck, remembering his snappers and bottle rockets from when he was younger. He'd steal matches from his kitchen to light off whatever he could get his hands on. "Anyways, how is your arm? Feel any better?"

                "It feels fine. Just stings a little," he said, forcing himself to stop playing with the bandages. "Had worse before. You all overreact."

                "We literally burned your arm," I said. "I think asking if you're okay isn't overreacting."

                "Had worse," he repeated. "This'll heal up quick enough."

                People with that high of a pain tolerance frightened me. Silas had some noticeable scars, one particularly eye-catching one above his elbow, but nothing that looked super serious. I couldn't imagine how he could shrug off a burn, even if it was just a minor one.

                "Still, I'm sorry it happened," I said. "Guess now you can tell your friends you got lit today."

                "Hey, your mouth? Yea, don't ever open it again," he said.

                "I don't think Roan would like that," I said.

                "Don't care. Don't want to hear your lame-ass jokes."

                "Listen, it's not my fault you took Katy Perry too literally."

                "About to make Drowning Pool a literal event too."

                "Okay, rude."

                Silas shook his head, though I thought I saw the faintest hint of a smile on his face. It was gone as he looked up at me again.

                "We ain't hanging out together all day," he said.

                "Well, I figured. Are you going to hang out with Kaito after? I'm going there to hang out with Akira. Or I can drop you back off at Ray's," I said.

                "Kai's," he said.

                I wasn't really sure how they were such good friends. Kai was serious and focused, always careful to give himself a good public image. Silas was quick to throw punches and pick fights. It was good, though. Maybe they helped each other.

                That's what friendship should be. People you enjoyed, and who helped you grow. I'm sure people though Akira and I didn't fit well as friends, but I couldn't imagine my life without him or Jack.

                It wasn't too long before the waitress brought us out our meals and left us to eat. Silas took a tentative bite of his food, looking surprised as he chewed it.

                "It's good," he said, swallowing down the bite.

                "I told you. See, I have horrible taste in firework plans, but fantastic taste in food," I said, digging into my own meal.

                The two of us ate, Silas eating much more slowly than my fat ass. When we were done, Silas took the check and paid with Ray's money. We left the restaurant, full and ready for a long ass nap.

                "Man, that was good," I said, stretching a little and unlocking the car. "I could sleep for the next seven years."

                "Don't take a nap in the car," Silas said, getting in.

                "Oh, calm down," I said. "I'm not trying to die before I can digest such a good meal."

                I handed him the aux cord and started driving. Silas picked a song and the two of us rolled our windows down, letting the whip of air wake us up.

                I parked at Akira's house, figuring he'd be home by now. If not, I'd just head on over to the flower shop to see if he needed any help. Jack would text us whenever he was done getting in trouble at home.

                "Hey, tell Ray thanks for lunch," I said as Silas and I got out of the car.

                "Garrett?"

                I looked over and waved at Akira. He tossed a bag into their garbage can before coming over to me.

                "I didn't know you were coming," he said.

                "Well, ta-da! Here I am," I said.

                "Kaito is in the basement," Akira said to Silas.

                "Hey, you better have that bandage on when I leave. Or when you leave. I'll check on you," I warned him.

                "You're worse than Ray," Silas said, shoving his hands in his pockets and moving past us, making his way into the house.

                "Why are you driving around with Silas?" Akira asked.

                "That's...kind of a long story," I said.

                Akira narrowed his eyes at me. "Please tell me whatever happened with Jack has nothing to do with that bandage on Silas's arm."

                "You know, I think I left the stove on at home. I better go," I said.

                Akira grabbed my arm and dragged me towards the house. "You're going to tell me the whole story, Garrett."

                We went up to his bedroom and I explained everything that had happened. I left our Ray's speech to me, but threw in that Ray thought I was friends with Silas, and had given us money to get lunch together.

                "Garrett," Akira groaned. "Why the hell would you let Jack do that after getting in trouble so recently?"

                "It was an accident," I said. "If Jack hadn't sneezed, it wouldn't have gone wrong."

                "But it did go wrong, and now Ray is threatening to call the police!" Akira said. "We're lucky he's never called them before, but now Jack pissed him off."

                "Mr. Waymire would never let Jack get in trouble like that," I said.

                "It doesn't matter if Mr. Waymire has the whole damn police force in his pocket, all it takes is for Ray to have one strong connection, and Jack will be in trouble," Akira said. "Besides, he's almost 18. His dad can't shield him forever. If he goes away for college and pulls this kind of stuff, he'll be out of his dad's influence area, and he'll get in a ton of trouble."

                I dropped my gaze, hating that he was right. "I know, I know. We'll talk to Jack about it. We'll figure something out. I'm sure his dad's already talking to him about the issue."

                Akira rubbed his temples. "You two are a pain in the ass. So are you friends with Silas now?"

                "Not friends," I said, shaking my head. "Ray just thought we were. Silas isn't bad, though."

                "Not anymore he's not," Akira said. "But that doesn't mean he doesn't still have trouble lingering from the past. Just be careful if you start spending more time with him. Silas is a fighter, and you're not. You don't want to get caught up in that brand of trouble."

                "I won't," I said. "We just went out to lunch."

                "I guess we'll just hang out until Jack is free," Akira said. "Then we really do need to talk to him."

                "I'm not sure having him and Silas in the same house together without Ray here is a good idea," I said. "Silas was pretty eager to change him from looking like a jackal to looking like Freddy Krueger."

                "I don't know, Freddy kind of looks like a jackal in the right light," Akira said.

                "Not the point, Akira," I said.

                "I know," he said. "Just trying to fend off the crippling anxiety of how bad this is going to go when Jack gets here. We can just try to keep them separated."

                "Have you seen our luck? I highly doubt that's going to happen," I said.

                "Shut up," Akira said miserably. "Maybe Silas will leave before Jack gets here. Or maybe he'll calm down before he gets an assault charge."

                I pat his shoulder. "We can hope. It probably won't do us much good, but we can certainly try to hope."

                Akira pushed a controller into my hands. "Let's play video games until he gets here. I need to keep my mind off this train wreck as long as possible."

                We set up a video game and started playing together. Hopefully we could keep things between Silas and Jack from getting too ugly when Jack got here.