"Come on Keelan, please?! I already told Ilyse you were going to pick her up nice and early so you have to come already." Nat was pleading with me now about going to the fair with her and Simon. It was the weekend and she had literally been on my case about it since Monday, which had gotten stale and old by now but I still hadn't agreed to go.

Besides, who wanted to be seen with Ilyse anyway? She was like the school charity case, everyone knew she was poor but it was just one of those things that no one ever pointed out. I still remember her at junior dance with Seth, how she'd looked so ashamed to be there with him.

Seth and I had been friends too, he'd made up our trio of guys when we were juniors and stuff. He had Maggie to deal with now though, which meant he had to stop hanging out with Cal and I. Sure, that was stupid as hell too but he was pretty committed to Maggie in ways that I'd never understand so Cal and I carried on without him.

"What a great idea Keelan, why don't you go out and chaperon Natalia on her date. Yes, that's what you can do. You're always going on about looking out for Nat, well now you can." I could have yelled at dad if he didn't look so pleased with himself, now I HAD to go. Mom too was starting to see the good in my going on a double date, I could just see it in her eyes.

It was Saturday night, we had just sat down for dinner.

So I sort of knew that this was half the reason Nat raised the topic at dinner while mom and dad were here, the other reason was that she hadn't actually asked either of them if she could go. Now that the heat was off her and on me mom and dad would probably forget all about it.

"Two things though, I'm busy being grounded and I have no money. So sorry Nat, as appealing as a night on the town sounds...I can't go." Mom's eyes narrowed at that, I tried to keep the smile from my face. Reverse psychology on her was easy sometimes, especially when she felt so strongly about it.

"You're going on this date with Nat's friend, you're going to be a gentleman...you're going to keep an eye on this Simon and at 10:30 you're going to drop that girl off and bring Natalia home, okay?" That was what I'd been waiting for. The direct order, I hated them when it was something I really didn't want to do.

But a night out before my summer of hell truly started sounded...okay. Even if it was at a fair babysitting Nat and her boyfriend.

"Fine mom, but can we make it 11:00? We have to drive Nat's friend to the other side of town and then come back, if traffic is on the road then...you know?" I let it sit there, mom would think it over for a few days I was sure so wasn't going to push it.

After dinner while Cor, Nat and I were washing up Nat leaned over to give me a hug and kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for negotiating for me Keelan, I don't think I could have gotten a direct order and late night time out of mom." I just smiled and nodded, it had always been like that.

Nat was too kind to ever debate with mom, dad she had twisted around her pinky finger. But mom was a whole other category, I don't know why she let me debate with her so much but I was the only kid she allowed to do that.

"You owe me big time Nat," I said before resuming the dishes, in all reality Nat owed me nothing.

The weekend was more or less spent lazing about, mom for once had to go away for work which left dad in charge of the house. Which also meant we could have a little bit of fun and an outing before the 'school week' started for me again.

Usually the weekend was spent doing something productive but seeing as mom wasn't here and dad was a load of fun on a good day, we went exploring around town. It wasn't the greatest thing we could have been doing and it wasn't the most fun we'd ever had but just getting to spend alone time with dad was better than anything we'd done in the last few weeks. It kind of made things feel okay again, not that things weren't okay in the first place.

When Monday morning rolled around and mom walked back into the house as punctual as ever, the fun sort of got sucked out of the air. It was back to reality for everyone, which meant dad going away for another two weeks, me going to summer school classes, Nat getting ready to go to work and Corlan...I wasn't sure but it looked as if he were off to summer camp.

"How'd you manage to get to go to summer camp? Or is this a science camp?" I think Corlan liked spending his summers around other kids like him...well, not 'like him.' But science camp in the summer was what he liked best, he'd gone to his first one two years ago and hadn't shut up, mom wouldn't let him go to science camp last year so I was surprised he managed to go on one now.

"I just kept pestering mom, she let up eventually. I made pretty good arguments for why I should go, what their money was being spent on and how much I would eventually learn." See, we were all different. I approached mom with blunt honesty, Nat held off completely and Corlan...he used rational logic.

"Well dude, I hope you have fun. I'll be stuck in classes and stupid mentoring, but at least one of us will get to have fun this summer." Corlan laughed before giving me a hug, dad was taking me to school before going to the airport while mom was going to drop Corlan off where ever the bus picked him up from.

"You'll still have fun! I know you Kee, you'll think of something." For the first time, Corlan was wrong. I couldn't think of anything that would make this summer any amount of fun. Cal was going out of town too, which meant I was stuck at school with teachers that didn't want to be there...and Brock.

"Send a text or something every now and then. Or a picture, ya know? Okay, gotta go. Have fun!" Dad had been waiting in his car for a few minutes, he never rushed us whenever we were saying goodbye.

"I'll only be gone a week this time, try not to let your mom get to you and please don't get at your mom. She's just sticking to what she thinks is right, okay?" I nodded, dad always worried about our sanity whenever he left the house, especially when mom was being all righteous and stuff.

"I won't have time to drive her up the wall dad, but you don't have to worry. I'll take Nat on her date tomorrow night and we'll be home by the time you and mom set and that's that. And don't worry! I won't be a douche to Nat's friend." Even though I really really wanted to make clear that this was a pity date and not an actual date.

"That's my boy. Okay, got your lunch and books? Here, I better give you this now. It's to last you the whole summer so don't go splashing it all at once, okay?" Dad handed over a wad of cash, it was three monthly allowances rolled into one, which was a lot of cash.

"Thanks dad, I won't." I never was great at spending money, I don't know what it was but every allowance I had been given went straight into my savings account. I don't know what I was saving for, I guess I'd realize what that thing was when I set eyes on it.

I said goodbye to my dad before going to the office.

School was different when everyone was gone, well almost everyone. I reached the reception desk at the same time as Brock, he sneered at me. Which got my blood boiling for obvious reasons, "still the charity case I see." I don't know why Brock hated me but he did.

"Still like guys I see." My brain stalled when that slipped out, I half expected Brock to hit me or deny it but when I looked over at him his eyes were as round as saucers, his mouth hanging open.

Before he could ask the most obvious question we were interrupted by Mrs. Ashford, the receptionist. "Right boys, here are you summer schedules. There aren't that many of you on the school program this summer so your home room is here, your classes are more or less separated into two different rooms. First half of the day spent in one and second half in the other, your mentoring program will cut into your afternoon classes a fair bit but you've both been excused for much of the afternoon. This year the mentoring program will be based over in the gymnasium, that will run from 1p.m until 4-ish and then you can go home after that." The summer school program on top of the mentoring program made this summer feel like I was still in school...like actual school.

"Thanks Mrs. Ashford." I took my program and papers that Mrs. Ashford had been holding out to Brock and I before heading off to our home room. I half expected Brock to drop what I'd said, we were outside when he finally caught up to me.

"Dude, you were joking back there...right?" I stopped when he began talking and turned to look at him. He didn't seem like the golden boy then, there was clear stress and worry written across his face, I could have been an ass and tormented him by saying that, yeah I had been joking. But instead I shook my head, which seemed to really finalize and cement things for him.

"If you're worried about me saying anything, then don't be. I've known for a few months now, saw you and Mr. Wilson together in the locker rooms when I'd forgot to grab something. I don't really care, it's your thing...not mine." I shrugged and turned to head to class, leaving Brock there to ponder over things.