Ross' POV:

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEE—!

Like every morning, I groan as I take my phone from under my pillow and shut off my alarm. I yawned as I lifted Robert's arms off of me and got up from my bed.

"Rob, wake up." I tiredly say to him, I gave him a little shake but was met with a snore.

"Rob!" I say a little louder, shaking him more.

Eventually he finally woke up and sat up from my bed. He yawned as he stretched his arms and looked up at me.

"Morning." he says with a smile.

"Morning, how'd you sleep?" I say back, also with a small smile.

"Very good," he gets up from my bed and starts going through his drawers for clothes. "Do you know what the weather is today?"

"Uh, no, I don't usually check it," I answer, also grabbing my clothes for today. "I'm gonna change in the bathroom."

He gave a thumbs up and I went downstairs to the bathroom. I did my usual morning routine then walked out to the dining room, where my mom was cooking breakfast like usual.

"Morning hon." she greets with a smile.

"Morning mom." I say back as I sit at the table.

"I'm making you special pancakes." she says with a snicker.

One thing to know is that when my mom says she's cooking something 'special', she did something I probably won't like, like adding an extra ingredient.

"... What did you do?"

"Oh, nothing that special. It'll still taste the same, they–"

She was cut off when Robert came downstairs, wearing the heaviest, thickest green coat you've ever seen with his usual yellow mittens and blue ushanka.

"Morning guys!" he says with a smile, acting like he wasn't having a hard time walking in that... thing.

"Robert, what the hell are you wearing?" I ask, stunned at how it looked and how he even managed to fit that in the small dresser my mom bought him. Where did he even get that?

"Well, it's going to be really cold today so I got prepared!" he answers, he seemed pretty proud of himself.

"Okay, but don't you realize we're going to be in school for most of the time? With a heater? Warmed up? Co–"

"Then I'll just take it off."

"You're going to carry that ginormous thing with you all around school?!"

"Yeah, don't question me! You're going to regret not getting all bundled up."

"I'm going to regret not–!"

"Boys, boys!" Mom shouts. She walked over and placed plates in front of us. "No yelling so early in the morning. Especially after I made such a special breakfast."

"Ooo, what'd you make?!" Robert asked excitedly.

"You'll see."

She then brought a bowl over to us filled with pancakes. When she placed one on my plate I stared at it dumbfounded.

"... Mom, what is this?"

"Isn't it obvious? They're rainbows!"

"... But why?"

"For love and support!"

She continued serving us and Robert looked at them in awe.

"How'd you get them to be rainbow colored?!" he asked.

"Just food coloring," she happily answered as she sat down in the middle of us. "Y'know, I can teach you how to cook if you want."

"Really?!"

"Mhm, I've already taught Ross all I know so I can't teach him anymore. I wouldn't mind teaching you!"

"Yes! When can you teach me?!"

"Just come over whenever I'm home and I'll teach you."

"Thanks!"

Mom smiled at him and Robert went off on the pancakes.

"So Robert, you asked my son out with a pizza box?" she suddenly asked.

He coughed on his pancake but quickly regained himself and swallowed. I laughed at him.

"Well um.. I bought him some stuff and uh.. got a big screen and projector to watch a movie at a spot, then um.. I gave him the pizza box with pizza in it and spilled my guts out." he awkwardly explained.

"Hm, sounds nice.. how'd you get the money for it all?"

"Roy, y'know Carm-"

Her face changed to an annoyed one. "I know." She got up from the table and started to walk off. She was mumbling in spanish.

"Way to go Robert, you pissed my mom off." I joked with him.

"I– I didn't mean to!"

I laughed at him and gave him a punch. "I know. It's probably good she left though because she was starting to get a little too nosy."

We laughed at each other and went back to eating our pancakes.

After about ten minutes we finished and got ready to head out. We packed our bags, put our shoes on, said bye to my mom then left. We were instantly hit with the coldest breeze I've ever felt. I guess Robert was right, but I can't let him know that. I'm sure I'll be fine.

I shut the door behind us then walked off my porch, Roy was waiting for us as usual. And his attention was immediately averted to Robert's giant coat.

"What the fu–"

"Don't you freaking question me! It's cold damn it!"

Roy looked at me then shrugged his shoulders as we walked. We both couldn't deny how cold we were though.

-

Half an hour later we arrived at school, Robert took his coat off then stuffed his mittens in the pockets. Me and Roy were happy to finally be inside with the heater. Robert must've noticed us shivering cause he chuckled to himself, which made Roy punch him.

We walked over to the vending machine to get some chips and just hang out until the bell rings like usual.

"So you're going home today?" Roy asks, munching on doritos.

"Yeah, Ross is gonna to help me pack, you could come if you want." Robert offers.

"Sure I'll come. I convinced my parents to unground me."

"Really? How?"

".. I enrolled in a business class here."

"Oh."

"It's fine though, I'll just cheat through it!"

"Dude you suck at cheating!"

".. I'll figure it out."

The bell rings for first period and Roy walks off, since his class is in the opposite direction of me and Robert's. Me and Robert start walking towards my class, History. There was no one in the halls as usual since we were late so we held hands. I looked up at Robert to ask him something but saw that he was deep in thought, which confused me.

"Rob, you okay?" I ask worriedly.

He doesn't look back at me, but says, "Yeah, was just thinking of um.. nevermind. I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You know you can–"

"We're here."

I looked in front of me and realized we were in front of my class. I don't want to leave him though, somethings definitely up.

"Meet you and Roy at the vending machine after class. Kay?" He smiled, but it looked sad somehow.

".. Okay," I hesitated but before he walked off I said, "I love you."

He turned around to look at me. "Love you too. I'm fine I promise."

We smiled at each other before I finally walked into my class.

Robert's POV:

I continued to make my way towards my class, deep in thought. I feel bad for not telling Ross what I was thinking, I know he's really good at comforting but I didn't want to tell him I was thinking about my dad. He should be gone for good now but I still can't help wondering about what's going to happen now, or in the future. So many questions were going through my head:

Is mom going to be okay?

Is dad actually going to jail?

How long will he be there?

What if he somehow gets bailed out?

Is he going to come crawling back to us later?

Will he change?

"Hey kid, where are you supposed to be?"

I snapped out of my thoughts and looked in front of me, it was the hall monitor.

"Uh, I'm heading to class now. I was in the bathroom." I muster up quickly.

"Well I don't see a pass so-"

"He forgot to take it, our teacher told me to bring it to him."

I looked to the side of me and noticed Susie. She showed the hall monitor the pass and he sighed.

"Well hurry up and get back to class." is all he says before he walks off.

"Thanks Susie." I said to her.

She gave me a smile. "No problem. Where are you heading? I'll walk you there."

"You sure? I'm going upstairs to B hall."

"I'm sure, I have a free period right now so I'm not really missing anything."

"Alright then, thanks."

We started our walk upstairs, it was kind of awkward since we haven't really talked in a while.

"So, um, how've you been?"I ask her.

"Good. How about you?" she asks back.

"I've been good. Still drawing your creepy stuff?"

"Yeah."

"That's cool.."

And back to being quiet again.

We used to be best friends in the first middle school I went to, but when I became friends with Roy and Ross she never spoke to me again. She had told me that they were no good and annoying but I didn't think so. When I hung out with them for the first time I was actually having fun, I felt like I fit in. We pulled pranks, went on little adventures, and all kinds of things that Susie didn't want to do. Susie's great, but she's more laid-back, she'd rather stay home and draw rather than light things on fire in a parking lot. I guess I understand why she never spoke to me again.

After a bit we finally arrived at my class.

"Thanks for walking me, I'll see you around?" I say with a slight smile.

"Yeah, I'll see you." she hesitantly answered.

I was about to open the door but Susie suddenly stopped me.

"Hey, I'm sorry about what happened in middle school." she says apologetically.

I turn around to look at her. "It's fine, I guess I understand why you did that."

She smiled. "You seem like you're doing better now, no dirty clothes and you even cut your hair!"

"Yeah, it was hard to maintain and it was always dirty."

We laughed about that then I put my hand back on the handle of the door.

"I better get inside now. Don't want to get in trouble."

She chuckled. "Pretty sure you already are. See ya!"

We waved bye and she walked off.

I finally opened the door to my class, and everyone including the teacher looked at me.

"Robert, what are you doing here?" the teacher asked.

"Uh, I'm here for class?" I answered.

"Mhm, so you completely forgot you have indoor suspension for two days?"

Crap.