|My Religion|

I walked into school the next day with a coffee cup in hand. And Danny's hoodie on my body. A simple brotherly gesture from my surrogate brother. But what would Cole think when he'll see me with it on? I mean... we did almost have a moment. If it wasn't for a friend of his, Jay I think, calling him. I walked to my locker and placed my things in it. I took my stuff for morning classes before I was brought into a hug by Cole.

"I'm glad you're okay!" He told me.

"Okay?" I gave him a weird look. "Hello to you too. And I'm glad you're okay too?"

"I heard you were attacked by a ghost and that you were abducted by a group of people in a white van." Cole told me.

Mental facepalm. Of course. So, the Black Ninja thought I was abducted? Told the police or someone? And became a piece of gossip garbage going throughout the school? This will be hilarious when I tell the others. I noticed Cole give a weird look to the hoodie.

"What are you wearing?" he asked.

I looked down at it. "Oh this?" I gripped the fabric in my hand. "It's just my friend's hoodie. He and a couple of my other friends from Amity Park staying with us while they're on a 'semester break' because the school got destroyed by ghosts."

"And is this friend your-."

"No! Not at all! He's more like the brother I never had." I explained.

"Good. Good." He nodded his head. In an awkward manner.

I'm there with you, buddy. It was quiet afterwards. But not awkward quiet. Content quiet. Like... I don't know how to explain it. But... that didn't matter because we could have our moment that could've happened yesterday. The raven haired boy started to lean in. And I did to. And we always got it. And there goes... the theme of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Remind me again why Tucker's ringtone is She-Ra again. Sounds like something Sam would have done. Maybe that was the case.

I answered my phone. "What?! I'm busy!"

"Where's your Scooby-Doo collection?" Why is this important?

"Why?" I asked him.

"Sam and Danny want to have a Scooby-Doo movie marathon while you're out. And I don't want to deal with their combined wrath if I say it's stupid." The techno-geek explained.

I sighed. "Tell Sam it's in my closet in a black leather-bound binder with the words Scooby Doo across the top in white chalk."

"Great! Thanks! Sorry for interrupting you and your boyfriend."

"He's not my. Ugh." Tucker Foley had hung up on me.

I slipped my phone into my pocket. The mood was evidently killed. This is great. We should work on timing. Or getting to the kiss faster. Not that I want to kiss him (I do), but that I wish the moment wouldn't be interrupted, so I know where it was headed. Or the outcome of... said... kiss. Man, I sound stupid.

"So, my friends want to meet you." Cole told me nonchalantly.

Oh. Oh. Oh. His friends wanted to meet me? A light blush creeped onto his face. They didn't think we were a thing? Did they? Now I can feel my face growing hot. Am I blushing? Please don't tell me that I'm blushing! Please!

"And where will... uh... I be meeting them?" I asked him.

"This little hangout spot we know. I can take you there if you want. Although, they'll probably jump to conclusions though. Well most likely Jay and Lloyd would. The others... well Kai is a 50/50. Nya and Zane probably wouldn't bug us. Nya would probably say something about their being another batch of estrogen to combat the testosterone in the room or whatever." He told me.

I smiled at him. I always liked how his chocolate brown eyes would light up when he talked about his friends in front of me. He talked about them like they were family. I know what that's like. To create a make shift family out of your friends. Out of nothing. But compassion and hope.

"But then again, they're all going to ask questions to you. About you." He continued. "So, don't be freaked out, okay. And if they're getting too intense or personal, just let them know. And if you don't feel comfortable with that, then I'll step in."

He's too sweet. He's too good for me. He's Cole. He's my friend. But our relationship was different than my other friends. He kept me hidden from his friends. And I kept him hidden from mine. But then again our respective friend groups knew about our other friend. But why did we do it? My reasons were to steer clear of Amity Park. Because I'm running away from dad. That didn't totally worked.

I put a hand on his arm (that was still on my shoulder). "Don't worry. I'll be fine." I reassured him.

His eyes seemed to sparkle into a smile. And the two of us found one another staring at each other with goofy smiles. That is until the bell rang, signaling it was time for homeroom. We bid goodbye to one another and went our separate ways. When it was time to meet his friends, the boy was waiting by my locker, backpack slumped over his shoulders, headphones over his head covered by his black beanie, and black hoodie on him. Natural Cole. My favorite kind of Cole. As I stepped closer to the boy, I could hear the sounds of Three Days Grace on some sort of playlist (it went from Animal I have Become to Unbreakable Heart). I pulled the headphone off his ear which made him turn to me.

"I... uh... hi." he stammered as he looked at me.

"I need to get to my locker, Brookstone." I told him.

"Oh... of course." he stepped to the side as I did what I had to do with my locker.

And before I knew it, the two of us were off. Off to meet his friends in a place I think I didn't have any point in being at.