We Build Then We Break

by CaseyIsMyValentine

Casey has no meaning in life. And he has nothing to care about. And basically, the only thing he has to look forward to is his funeral. So then he meets her. And now he has some meaning in life. Ta-da.

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own most of the dialogue in this story. Wendelin Van Draanen does.

We Build Then We Break

Part I

"Casey," Taylor said, "Casey, hey. Casey. Casey. CASEY."

I rolled over on my bed. "What? What do you need? Why are you in my room?"

"Dude, it's already 2 in the afternoon. Wake up, man. Stop being so vampire-ish."

I sat up, stretching. "It's a three day weekend; forgive me for wanting to sleep in, after the total and complete lack of sleep I get during the week days."

He blinked. "Get up, and do something. You have waiting friends and it's like you could care less that you're burning sunlight."

"Get out of my room. Tell Jake that I'll meet him at your place in twenty minutes. And fuck you."

Taylor wiggled his fingers and he left my room. "Mind your language, Acostaaaaaa."

I rolled my eyes as he shut the door behind me. I got up and trudged into my bathroom. What was their deal? What if I wanted to stay in and sleep? It's not like I had much to do in the day, anyway. I mean, hang out with some messed up friends wasn't my idea of a productive idea. Don't get me wrong, Jake and Taylor are great guys. Sometimes they just do things that I don't understand why they'd do it. Like Taylor, for instance, took up smoking last summer.

I mean, what's so great about smoking? It's not even like he can do it in public. He sits in his basement where his parents never go, in the middle of the night with a cigarette feeling "good" about himself for smoking. Well, that benefits him a lot. And Jake isn't into smoking, but Jake's kind of snarky all the time and treats people like they aren't worthy of him unless they prove to be. Sometimes it bothers me, watching him act that way to people who don't really do much to him in the first place. But I've given up on trying to get my friends to do better things with themselves than smoke and snap all the time. They never listen, so if they want to mess up their own lives, fine. But they're not too bad once you get on their good side.

I have other friends too, like Billy and Danny, but I hang out with them at school more. I never really see them outside of school. I have no idea why. Maybe it's because Billy has raging family issues and he doesn't really like opening up to people about things like that so he covers up with being wacko all the time. And Danny is pretty cool but let's face it— people like Danny are going to be quarterback on the high school football team next year and have a cheerleader girlfriend and people like me, Casey Acosta, are going to be living alone with their dad with no chance of finding a girl he actually cares about and not really too interested in caring about school sports because I'm mostly into baseball and high schools never have baseball teams.

At least not Santa Martina High. I'm going there next year and it doesn't have a team. I'll have to join a local baseball team. And that requires effort, something I have given up on lately. It even takes up effort to say the word effort. It sucks that Santa Martina high has no baseball team. That's the dumbest thing ever. I swear, when I'm in high school I am going to talk to whoever the sports director of the school is and ask him why they have a softball team, but not baseball. The only excuse they can come up with is "Baseball is too difficult for girls so it degrades them. With softball, both genders have a chance."

Really, that's the lamest excuse ever. Girls can do anything we can do. Not all girls, I admit, but a lot of them can do whatever they like as we can. I mean baseball is only a little more difficult than softball. Wow, a smaller ball. Big difference. Some different rules. Bigger difference. No one cares. We just want to play.

Anyway, so that's why Danny and I don't hang out outside of school. And Taylor and Jake and I have been friends since grade school so we just hang out because we're close.

I sighed and finished brushing my teeth and washing my face. I stared at myself in the mirror. I needed a haircut. Actually, no I didn't. I liked my hair better when it fell in front of my eyes a little. I preferred a more laid-back look. I don't want to be like one of those guys who spends forever jelling their hair and planning one of their perfect-preppy-Abercrombie attires. Please. I prefer not to look like I just walked out of a Calvin Klein catalog. It makes me sick to think that some guys bother trying to be like that. Why waste your time when you can just be a regular teenage guy and look equally as regular?

I went to my closer and grabbed a clean shirt and pants. Honestly, I don't know why my pants are always so baggy. I don't necessarily bother myself to try on pants or jeans and find my exact size. Like who really cares? Why else do belts exist, except to assist us in keeping our pants up. Belts are like, my saviors. And pants? So I just buy a big size and yeah, they're usually three times too big but I just use a belt. Thank god for belts. They're pretty useful. I mean, they keep your pants up and they serve as a portable whip, too! Okay, okay just kidding, I was kidding about the portable whip thing. I don't whip people with belts. I was attempting humor. I'm starting to feel like one of those weird inner-emo brooding dark vampires who everyone seems to think are hot and sexy but really htye are not hot and sexy. Maybe I'm saying that because I'm a guy and don't think of other guys as "hot" or "sexy". But what do girls find attractive in brooding emo vampires? Like seriously, the way the vampires just stare at the girl? It's not mysterious¸ it just looks like he's constipated.

CONSTIPATED, I tell you.

As you can see, I'm not too exciting. I'm just a person. There's not much I live for, if you know what I mean. My dad is the same dad he'll ever be and ever was, my friends have changed for the worse, my sister has turned into someone I don't even know, and my mom has refused to acknowledge my existence. Also, as if eighth grade wasn't bad enough, you'd think I could at least get a girlfriend and make myself useful. That's just the problem there; I always try to make myself feel something for a girl. I've done it plenty of times: asked a girl out, only to realize that she'd rather spend her time in the theater in a bathroom fixing her makeup and texting her friends 'OMG GUESS WHAT GUYZ I'M LIEK OUT WITH CASEYYYY' instead of being with me in the actual movie. And you know, I don't really care. Because I never really liked anyone I asked out anyway. So yeah. I'm useless and boring. I knew I need something to care about, but what do I have? Nothing. So I just live my life day to day, trying not too think about the next day because I knew I would depress myself even more. I'm not depressed; I'm just bored with my life. There's nothing to do anymore, no one to care about, nothing exciting.

After changing I grabbed my skateboard and headed over to Jake's house which was only a few blocks down from mine. When I got there, Jake and Taylor were on the grass with their skateboards at their feet, talking.

Jake saw me first. "Case!" he called out. He got up as I hopped off my skateboard and approached him.

"Long time no see?" I joked and he grinned.

"Taylor and I are heading down to the mall. You coming?"

I rolled my eyes. "I didn't drag myself out of bed for nothing, right?"

He grinned and pointed at Taylor. "Told you he was still Casey!"

I gave him a look like he was crazy. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, Taylor thought you were having some sort of emotional breakdown and I told him you were fine. You're fine, right?"

"Oh, I'm fine all right." I said, glaring at Taylor. "Emotional breakdown? Way to be creative, Taylor."

He fist-pumped. "S'what I do, Acosta." he grinned.

"Asshole." I scoffed, but grinned anyway. They were alright.

We all three got on our skateboards and just slowly cruised along, talking about dumb things like who was hotter, Leanna (a girl who lived on Taylor's street), or Dana (my neighbor). Dana had some sort of psychological problem (I'm assuming) that made her physically attracted to me the day I moved into that house a few years back. I have no idea why. She's honestly a nice girl, only too pushy and clingy and she deluded herself into believing that I'm into her or something. I'm not. Really. She's okay, a little shorter than me, she's my age, super-long dark brown hair. The only thing is I don't know her real eye color because she always wears purple contacts. I'm not even kidding you on this one. She's not a slut, but she's pretty close to being one. The only thing that's keeping her from being a world-class slut is that she doesn't have eyes for any other guy but me. Or at least she says so. It's sweet, that she likes me and all, but what's there to like? I mean, I'm the average guy in your baggy pants and t-shirt with unkempt messy brown hair and brown eyes who rides a skateboard and takes a bus to school and goes to the eighth grade. Nothing special here. Really, the only thing remotely interesting in me is... Oh wait, I don't even know. Why do I even exist?

Suddenly the conversation diverted from Dana and Leanna to skateboarding. "Casey, speed up a little. You're lagging behind." Jake ordered.

I rolled my eyes and sped up, only instead of speeding up a little, I sped up a lot just to bother Jake. I went right ahead of him. "Happy?" I grinned triumphantly.

Jake called, "Oh, it's on!" and suddenly he and Taylor were skating after me, eventually Jake sped ahead of me after I let down a little. He seemed to be going on turbo-speed today or something. And before we even knew what was happening, he crashed.

It was a bunch of teenage girls, two of them riding bikes and one girl on the handlebars of one bike. The girl on the handlebars sort of propelled into the air and Jake sort of went smack! right into her. Taylor collided into the girl on the bike before he could stop himself. I managed to stop before I hit anyone, thank god.

Jake's jeans are ripped as are the girl who he hit, and he's bleeding, as is the girl who he hit. He's sitting on the ground looking extremely pissed and suddenly I'm nervous that he's going to have one his Jake-rages. Jake-rages are not a pretty sight. Or Snake-rages. Or whatever he likes to go by. But it's too late, because a Jake-rage is being born.

"Crap." Jake snapped as he stared at his scraped hands. He's bleeding all over and suddenly he's snapping, "Ugh. Shit. Goddamn, fuck. What the hell?"

Now the girl has scooted away from him, and he starts shaking his arms, wiping his bloodied hands on his pants. "Seriously, what the hell? Jesus— Stupid females!"

The girl is handling things much better than Jake. "I'm sorry. I...I..."

Jake looks up at her. "You what? You thought you could ride around town like a circus act and people would stop and cheer?"

I feel kind of guilty that I'm letting Jake get away with snapping at her like that. I mean, it's not completely this girl's fault. It's also Jake's fault for not watching where he was going.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry." her eyes are closed and she looks pretty pained. I kind of wanted to help her up, I mean, what's Jake doing sitting there? Hasn't he heard of proper etiquette? But I knew if I helped her up, Jake's Jake-rage would turn on me and I was so no up for that today.

Suddenly I recognized the girl on the sidewalk. She was...Sammy Keyes, the girl who'd punched my sister on the first day of school. I grinned to myself, remembering how my sister hates Sammy so much. And then I remembered all the other things she's done, like use the P.A. system to expose Heather, and scare her half to death before Christmas break. Yeah, pretty cool girl there. Suddenly I'm laughing, and I can't help but keep picturing Heather with her fake bandaged nose, having to peel it on in the middle of the lunchroom. I'm suddenly cracking up, and I can't contain myself. Who knew that same girl would one day crash into Jake on a sidewalk? Maybe she attracted chaos around her, I don't know. But it was something that made me smile. She's the only girl who's ever stood up to my sister Heather, and I respect her for that.

Sammy looked at me with this look of anger in her eyes, giving me a Shut The Hell Up NOW look. But suddenly Taylor and the girl by him are laughing too, and so is the third girl. Only Jake and Sammy aren't laughing.

Suddenly Taylor said to the girl next to him, "You don't remember me, do you?"

The girl squints, "Oh...yeah...you're..."

"Taylor. You asked me for directions the first day of school, remember?"

Now I'm not too interested in Taylor and his interest in this girl. Taylor is a huge flirt and so this was normal. I was just glad it wasn't Sammy he was flirting with, because I'm pretty sure that would have lead him to a broken bone of some sort. I smiled to myself. Then I bent down and grabbed Jake's skateboard. I then went over to Jake. "Here you go, Snake. You all right?"

"Yeah, dude. Thanks." he said as he continued glaring at Sammy. He gets up and we're all about to walk away when we hear Sammy say, "Hey, wait a second!"

Jake turned back.

"Where'd you get that skateboard?" she asked.

He gives her a dirty look. "Oh, now you want to learn to ride? Don't even go there." he gives me a look which basically means Can-You-Believe-This-Bitch-Even-ASKED-Me-That?-What-A-JOKE. Then he said, "Walkin's more your speed."

I didn't think anything about this was very funny. Sammy had already said sorry like five times. And she had only asked him a simple question.

"No really, where'd you get it?" Sammy was suddenly beside Jake, looking at the board. "Where'd you get it?"

"I bought it off a friend, okay?" he sneered.

"Well where'd your friend get it?"

"Hey, back off, psycho!" he looked at Taylor then at Sammy. "At a garage sale, alright? Like it's even any of your business."

"It is my business!" she snapped. She grabbed the base of the board and twisted it over. She pointed to a small little strip of purple on the board. "This is my skateboard and I can prove it. I wrote my initials right here."

"I don't see no initials." he smirked.

"Scrape off the paint."

He backed up a little. "You are psycho!"

Suddenly she was practically on him trying to get it, and he pushed her away. "Dude! Get a grip!"

One of the girls whispered something to Sammy and suddenly the other girl called out, "Yeah! Hey— that thing's pretty beat up, anyway. Why don't you scrape off the paint and settle this? Unless you're lying and you stole it."

Jake took a step forward. "Who you callin' a liar? You think I'd want to STEAL this thing?"

Taylor steps in between them. "He's telling the truth. He bought it off me. I got it at a garage sale for five bucks."

"But it's mine," Sammy said one last time.

"If it was, it's not anymore." Taylor gives her a small sympathetic look I know he doesn't really mean. But I know the truth. I know that Taylor and Jake found it in the arcade at the mall and since the owner was obviously not paying attention, they just took it and thought, What the hey, a free skateboard. They even told me themselves that they'd done it. It had bothered me a bit that they'd go as far as to steal but I hadn't known what else to say then.

I then notice a pickup truck coming toward us. It's Taylor's family's truck. The truck parked in front of us. Taylor groaned, "Maaaaan."

The window rolled down and Ben popped his head out. "Mom and Dad want you back home."

Karl, who's in the back of the pickup, sort of leaned forward and grinned. "Hop in the paddy wagon, bro. The gestapo's out in force."

Sammy and her friends were whispering something while this is all happening, and I couldn't hear what they were saying. Suddenly I realize that if Taylor is going home, I don't want to be stuck going to the mall with Jake and his anger alone.

"Hey, would you mind dropping me off at home?" I ask Ben.

Karl grinned at me. "No, Acosta, you can just ride your own ass home on your board." he laughed. "Just messin' with you. Of course Ben'll take you home. Get in."

I suddenly have this weird fear inside of me that Sammy heard Karl say my last name "Acosta". She'd surely piece it together that I'm her archenemy's brother and then hate me for being related to Heather and for being friends with Jake before even knowing me. I'm nothing like Heather and Jake. But thankfully she was too busy whispering with her friends that that she hadn't caught that little detail. I climbed into the back with Taylor and soon Jake gets on too, since our day plans are pretty much crushed. Not that I'm too upset about that, you know.

So as we drive off and away from Sammy and her friends, suddenly Karl popped his head back to where we were sitting. "Who were the chicks?"

Jake seems too pissed to answer so I said, "Jake accidentally hit a girl on a bike."

"That's soooo how the story went," Jake snapped sarcastically, "but I'll let it pass since I'm in too much pain to honestly care about what happened."

"You could have just given her the damn board." I said absent-mindedly.

Jake shot me a dirty look. "Don't tell me you actually care about returning a skateboard to a girl who was probably gonna put it to waste and sell it online, anyway."

"She said it was hers." I said.

"Guys, guys. Who cares? It's over. Done with." Taylor finally cut in. "And you guys better come to my party tonight. You're my best friends and I'm murdering you both if you don't."

Karl grinned at us playfully. "It's gonna be wildddd, man."

"No, it's not!" Ben called from the driver's seat inside. "It's going to be a normal party! Not wild!"

Karl shook his head. "I swear, it's gonna be sweet." he grinned this maniacal grin. "Like I said, wild!"

"Is he high?" Jake whispered to Taylor.

Taylor shrugged. "Most likely. No wonder Ben picked me up so early. He must be really tense after finding Karl high."

I was thankful to be dropped off at home after that. I needed some more "sleep" before Taylor's New Year's party tonight where I would not be getting any sleep at all.

"Casey! Casey... Casey! God, Casey—"

I whipped around. "Stop saying my name! Why do people always say my name a million times?"

Karl laughed. "Because, Casey. Just be glad you don't have a name like Francis."

I was at Taylor's New Year's party and completely not enjoying myself here.

"What's wrong with the name Francis?" I asked, genuinely confused.

Karl gave me a look. "Don't be somber." he said.

"What? How am I being somber? Karl, you okay?" I looked closer at him. Oh, no wonder, he'd been drinking. I sighed. When would Karl learn?

Karl handed me a can of beer. "Enjoy the party, dude." and sauntered off.

I stood there with a can of beer in my hand, knowing I wasn't going to drink it. I was about to put it down when suddenly Jake was beside me. "There you are," he said, "God, that stupid bitch that was freaking over my skateboard is here. At the party. Skank."

I blinked. "Sammy?" How was she a skank? Why do people call other people skanks when they don't really even know them?

Jake gave me a look. "How do you know her name?"

I shrugged. "She goes to my school."

"Okay, whatever, but she's actually here at this party. Why the hell was she invited? Taylor is so dead for this."

"Where is she?" I asked. I suddenly wanted to know, and that suddenly seemed like the only thing that mattered at the moment to me. Wait. What? Since when have I ever actually cared about something like this? But for some reason it suddenly mattered to me.

Jake shook his head. "In the foyer with Taylor and Heather and some chicks. Why don't you go tell her to get lost?"

I rolled my eyes and handed him the can of beer as I pushed past him into the foyer. Sure enough, I saw the back of her in her dark jeans, high tops and black and white sweatshirt.

I overheard Heather saying some crap to Taylor about inviting the idiots on the street (obviously Heather was pissed over Sammy being here), and suddenly I felt sort of protective over Sammy. Not that she even knew me, but still. I just wanted to go tell Heather to go to hell, but I knew how well she'd take that. I found myself saying, "Cool it Heather! Either get back in your cage or get out of here!"

Sammy turned around and her face seemed shocked for some reason, and I automatically knew why. Because she saw me that morning riding with Jake and Taylor, and now it seems as if Heather and I know each other well. And she probably thinks that because I hang out with people like that, that I'm just like them. That I'm a jerk and conceited and just like them. But I'm not. And I don't want to be. And I hate it when people automatically assume they know the type of person I am just because of my friends and sister. I'm not anything at all like them. I scowled at her for a moment, because it bothered me that she assumed that of me. Even though I was only assuming that she was assuming. So I stopped scowling midway because I realized how irrational I was being. I hadn't even spoken to her once yet! What if she didn't think that of me?

Wait. Why did I even care what she thought? Who cared? I mean, she was just a girl I barely knew.

A really cool one. A smart one. A brave one. A tough one. A cute one.

Cute? Where the hell did that one come from? And why was I suddenly finding myself attracted to her? I've never found myself attracted t a girl before. Ever. Maybe I've thought some girls were cute before and had little crushes but never like this. This felt…different.

Heather blinked at me for a moment, looking sort of surprised that I'd stepped in. If there's one thing, it's that she usually listens to what I say. Sometimes. Taylor clapped his hands together and said awkwardly, "Why don't you guys shoot some pool or play darts or something? I'll get some munchies." and he's gone in a heartbeat.

The two girls with Sammy go off to play Pac-Man, or something, and I suddenly recognize one of the girls Sammy is with. Her name is Marissa, and Heather has spoken about her a few times. I have a feeling Taylor invited her because he likes her, but at the same time I'm not sure if that's entirely the case. Taylor usually has multiple motives for everything.

They asked Sammy if she wanted to play and she told them to go on ahead. Then she turned me and said, "Could you please get Taylor to give me my skateboard back? That's the only reason we're here."

At first I sort of stared at her like a moron. Was she talking to ME? Yes, she was. Wait, what did she just say? Oh, that she wanted her skateboard... Why was my mind wandering so much? Answer her, Casey, and stop staring at her like she's an extinct species! "Your skateboard? You still on about that?"

"Look, he called and told us to come to the party so he could give us the skateboard. Do you know where it is?"

Wow, that was so un-Jake-like. He would usually never give it up that easily. "I can't believe Jake's giving it back after all that."

"Jake's Snake, right?"

I looked at her straight in her eyes and nodded even though she wasn't looking at my eyes or anything. She was just sort of looking at my face, but not making very much eye contact. Why? Was I hideously ugly or something? I hoped not. I hope Dana wasn't lying when she called me cute, or hot, or whatever she wants to call me. I mean, Dana can be annoying but if her opinions are legit, that would be a good thing because then Sammy would maybe—

WHAT AM I THINKING! Stop thinking about Sammy like that! She doesn't matter to you! I screamed in my head.

"All I know is Taylor told Marissa that they'd scraped the paint off and realized it was mine after all. Is Snake, uh, Jake, even here?"

"Oh, he's around here somewhere." I answered as I looked over my shoulders.

"Aren't you gonna turn into a pumpkin or something if you're not home by midnight?" Heather snapped randomly. "Better hurry."

Sammy suddenly snapped, "Well, who put a Stupidity Spell on you? Can't you see I'm trying to get out of here? You think I want to be in the same room as you and the Witless Wonder?" she then muttered, "As if she had any brain cells left to kill off."

I can't help it, I find myself suddenly cracking up. Heather said to me, "She's gonna narc." and when I don't answer she attempted to push me. "Do you hear me? She's gonna narc."

I ignored her idiotic comments and laughed some more. "A Stupidity Spell...the Witless Wonder...!"

She pushed me again, harder, but I didn't budge. "Stop it! I'm serious!"

I opened my eyes to see Sammy standing there looking at me a little curiously and so I ignore Heather and said, "C'mon, let's go find Jake."

She followed me, and when we exited the room I turned around to see her still there. I smiled. Why did she make me happy like this? I barely knew her. At all. And I usually never felt this way about anyone, yet alone a girl. But I was still smiling at her, and then I took her hand.

At first she tried to kind of pull her hand away. But I didn't let go. I didn't really want to. I realized how tense she was being and said, "C'mon, Sammy, relax!" with a smile on my face. Would she think I was weird if I procrastinated finding Jake and just talked to her myself?

"Relax?" she sputtered, "Excuse me, but I feel like I'm in the middle of some adolescent ambush. Heather's here, there's beer everyone, there're boys as big as grizzlies out there smokin' dope and you're telling me to relax!"

I laughed all over again. "Adolescent ambush? Are you always his funny?"

She stopped to look at me strangely for a moment and then, "I'm not funny, I'm serious! And how'd you know my name anyway?"

"How'd I know your name?

"Yeah. I never told you what it was, and I don't think anyone even said it, this more morning or now."

"Well, I've known your name. You're...uh...kinda notorious." I realized what a complete perverted stalker I sounded and seemed like. Holding her hand, knowing her name already... But that didn't stop me from letting go of her hand. I have no idea why.

"Notorious? How am I notorious? What's that supposed to mean?"

"At school." I grinned.

"You go to William Rose?"

"Never noticed me, huh?" I asked. Of course she hasn't, I'm not really anything special. Like I said, usually a boring guy with the oversized pants hanging out with the stoners. Yeah, real noticeable.

She shook her head. I said, "Well, I've noticed you."

She blushed a little and I felt bad for making it all awkward for her so I said, "And Heather talks about you."

"Well," she said with a dignified voice, "if you're so tight with Heather why are you holding my hand?"

I just kind of stared at her a minute, wondering how she even had the nerve to go around saying these things. It made me like her even more. She didn't seem afraid to do or say anything that was sure.

"First of all," I said, wanting to make myself clear, "Heather and I are NOT tight. Second off... I don't know..." I gave her a little shrug and smile, "I like you."

Sammy finally pulled her hand away, "I don't even know your name!"

"Hey, well, I guess you don't." I said with a small smile. "But I can fix that." I winked, hoping I wasn't making a complete idiot of myself. This was SO not usual Casey-behavior. This was Taylor-behavior, flirting with a girl I barely even know. But I was doing it because...why? Because I liked her? Had I really said that aloud? Did I MEAN it? "My name's Casey, I live at 782 Golden Oak Circle, I'm in the eighth grade at William Rose Junior High, I like skateboarding, mountain biking, skiing, and baseball. My favorite color's green and if my dad would let me, I'd eat macaroni and salsa for dinner every night."

Instead if saying something like 'Oh, you like mountain biking huh?' or even 'I already KNOW you like to skateboard weirdo. You were doing it in the morning', she said, "Macaroni and salsa?" with this inquisitive tone that made me laugh. Why does everything she says make me smile?

"It's god-like." I said, hoping I wasn't smiling too big, because then I'd end up looking like the Joker and she'd think I was even weirder than ever.

But instead of looking at me like I'm weird, she's also smiling. "I'll have to try that sometime. Macaroni and cheese and salsa, or just macaroni and salsa?"

"Gotta have the cheese." I grinned for like the millionth time. Then I added, "But we were on a quest for your skateboard, weren't we?" I mean, if I stood here in one place too long, Heather would find me and ruin everything. I bet the last thing in the world that she wants is for her brother to be hitting on her archenemy.

"So where's Jake-the-Snake?" she said with a smirk on her face.

I laughed all over again (Quit it, Acosta!). "Don't let him hear you say that.. Jake's fine, Snake's fine. But Jake-the-Snake is like The End. And I don't know— he's got to be around here somewhere."

We headed down the hall looking for Jake. I wasn't holding her hand anymore and for some reason it made me feel self-conscious. Like I should be doing something with my hands. I shoved them in my pockets, hoping she wouldn't notice how stupid I felt. I was still looking for Jake when I remembered how the skateboard was in Ben's truck this morning. "Well, you know, it still might be in Ben's truck. I saw it thee earlier."

We go outside the house to the driveway and when I see the truck, I'm almost positive the skateboard is in there. And why am I feeling so happy about that all of a sudden? Could it be that I really want to be the one to give her the skateboard back? But why? When she wasn't looking I stole a quick look at her. She was cute. Really cute. And every time she spoke it made me feel something happy. I went over to the truck and tried opening the doors but they were locked. I looked into one of the windows and was relieved to see her board inside. "There it is! On the floor."

"Really?" she asked, coming over to where I was.

"Yeah, I thought it might be. I saw him put it there this morning after Ben brought us back from town."

"You mean it's been here all day?"

"I don't know...I guess so."

"Has Jake been here all day?"

I couldn't answer to that so I said something along the lines of, "You got me. I had to take off..." then I said, "But Taylor kinda wanted Jake to stick around so his mom wouldn't blow too bad. Anyway, I think Ben had to work today, so if it's in there now, it probably has been all day." I start to get a sinking feeling in my stomach.

"And if it's been in the truck all day..."

"...Then nobody's scraped off the paint."

"Exactly. And nobody's planning to give me back my skateboard."

I really didn't want to fail her. I really didn't want her to go inside and tell her friends that coming here was pointless because then they'd leave and I would be able to see her anymore. If she left, I would never have a reason to talk to her again. So I tried making up dumb excuses. "We don't know this. Maybe they did and they put it back in here. Maybe..." but she gave me a nice-try-but-you-know-you're-wrong look. So I threw my hands up. "I don't know! Why would he tell you that if it wasn't true?"

"The reason's name is Marissa."

"Marissa?" I think of that girl Sammy was with, her friend Marissa. And how Taylor was flirting with her in the morning. So maybe Taylor liked Marissa...but why would he invite all of them if he only liked Marissa...? I've heard from Heather how Sammy's friend Marissa was super rich and all, and that's why people liked her a lot of the time... "Naw..." suddenly I had an idea. "Hey! Ben stashes a key around here somewhere..." and before she could say, 'Uhhh I'm not breaking into someone else's van,' and walk away, I knelt right down and looked underneath the truck for the tin case in which Ben usually put his key.

Sammy got down right beside me and started looking underneath, too.

"It's gotta be here...unless Karl didn't put it back."

"Karl? Does he drive?"

"Just got his license. Ben about has a meltdown every time Karl takes the truck, but Ben's like that." I got on my back and scoot myself under the truck.

"Wouldn't the just fall off if you put it there?"

I'm busy trying to search for the key and before I can answer she laid on her back and got underneath the truck right beside me. "Wouldn't it?"

I was a little surprised that she'd even bother getting down underneath here. I mean, I'm a guy she barely even knows, at a party of a guy she barely even knows, under a truck that's not hers, looking for a skateboard that wasn't planned on being given back to her anyway. What kind of a girl would actually get under the truck? I looked over at her and laughed, because for some reason I feel happier today than I've ever been before with a girl. No go has ever made me feel this way before.

"What? I'm sorry, I just don't get it. Where would you hide a key in this mess?"

"In a key keeper." I said, still smiling. "A little in case about the size of a matchbox with a magnet on one side."

She got busy looking for the tin case but I found myself staring at her. She has green eyes. And have I mentioned that she's really, really cute? She noticed me staring and I was glad it was night so she wouldn't see me blushing. To cover up the fact that I was caught staring, I asked, "What ARE you doing down here?"

"I'm looking for a key...?" she said like you-are-such-an-idiot.

But I'm still smiling. "You must really want that skateboard." in my mind I'm thinking, And I must really want her to like me.

All of a sudden one of the liquids from the truck drips on her face and I guess she was taken by surprise because she jerked her head up and her forehead hit the truck.

"Oh, man, are you all right?" I asked as she scooted out from the truck. She hadn't even said "ow" or "dammit" or anything.

"I'm fine." she said, her hand on her forehead.

"Are you sure?" I asked, coming out from under the truck also.

"Yeah, but I think they could build a ski resort around this bump on my head."

I couldn't help it, I laughed. Why was she so funny and cute at the same time? Why couldn't I get enough of her voice? "You're a mess!" I laughed. There was oil smeared on her forehead, and the liquid that had dripped on her face had run down her cheek. I sort of recognized it, and I was pretty sure of what it was.

She got up and took a look at herself in one of the side view mirrors of the truck. She wiped off some of some of the liquid off her cheek with a finger and tried to figure out what it was.

"Is that Tranny fluid?" I asked.

"I don't know." she said, looking confused.

I got up and swiped some of the liquid off her cheek. I rubbed it in between my fingers, and then even smelled it. "Yup. Tranny fluid."

"Is that from the transmission?"

"Yeah. Ben's truck leaks all *kinds*." I nodded. I pull the sleeve of my shirt over a little and wipe her cheek.

She gives me a little smile. "Thanks but I think I ought to wash this stuff off. Is there a bathroom I can use?"

"C'mon, I'll show you." I start to walk back toward the house with her following me but she suddenly said, "Hold still." and began swatting at my back. I turned around when she was finished and offered to do the same for her except she was much messier, so when I finished swatting her back I began swatting her sleeves.

"Ow!" she suddenly cried.

"What? What? Did I hurt you?" I said, mentally kicking myself for hurting her.

She gave me a meek smile and pulled up her sleeve to show me the bandage wrapped around her arm. "From this morning..?"

I suddenly remember the skateboard fiasco in the morning and grinned. "Oh yeah...! Sorry. You've had a real couch potato day, haven't you?"

I lead her back into the house wondering why out of all the girls I've met in my life, she is the only one who makes me feel this way.

A/N: I thought this would be interesting. Do you want a part Two to complete the story or just leave off like this or what…? And review or I won't update hah because I get busy and such and so, so I need The Feedback-ness of Your Lovely Reading-ful Eyeball Retinas. Thank you. Oh and PS I'm the same author who wrote Run Devil Run and Another Heart Calls and such, just changed my name. Casey is my Valentine sounds like a band name doesnt it? Me and my friend were like, "AHHH COOL BAND NAME!"