"Did you see what Sean was doing in the hall?" giggled a blonde sitting at her desk with one leg crossed over the other. She talked as she held a compact mirror and caked on more powder under and around her eyes, "It was too funny, Andrew is such a fucking nerd." She pursed her lips and turned her face one way and the other before deeming her make-up perfect. "Who carries a monster camera like that around?"

In front of her sat her friend, a brunette with wild curls and green eyes named Natalie, "Oh, Ivy. You're so rude." she laughed inspecting her nails. "It's not his fault he was born that pathetic." Those of us in class could hear the conversation clear as day. The majority giggled, which fueled the girls' egos, whilst a small portion of us didn't mind what they were saying. I didn't mind, but I fully know who they are talking about, the school's puppet, Andrew. Since I could remember that kid's had a rough time with the people at school, he wasn't very talkative which caused people to start picking on him due to his lack of friends.

"Sunshine!" sang Ivy's voice, "Your mom's not out today, the fog's taking over." She was turned in her seat with a bright smile.

Putting down my pencil I give her a roll of my eyes and give her a smile. "Funny, Ivy. Your poison's leaking, by the way." I comment back to her. My retaliation causes Natalie to laugh while Ivy clicks her tongue. "So, care to tell me what Sean did? God knows you'll tell me in Astrology, might as well get it over with." I say leaning against my hand waiting for her story.

"I like bothering you with gossip during Astrology. You know this, Sunshine." She says waving her hand around.

Nodding I look down at my desk, "Yeah, your grades totally show it." This time around Ivy makes no come back and only smiles before returning to Natalie. Ivy and I are childhood friends, we always teased one another about our nature themed names we had had been given. Our parent were "ex-hippies", or so they call themselves. Ivy was always well known around school, more for her looks than her smarts. Unlike her, I was known for my way of being "snarky", which wasn't too bad. I managed to make friends who tease me as much as I do them.

Within minutes the classroom was full and the teacher had come in and started writing on the whiteboard. Natalie and Ivy continued to laugh and giggle in hysteria about whatever caught their interest. People sat in their seats talking to their neighbor, while I left my head down jotting everything that came to mind, or what was happening.

"Andrew! Andy! Andy! Andrew!" dropping my pencil for the second time I look up to see Andrew Detmer walk into the classroom with his head low and shoulders hunched forward with a camera in his hands pointed to the tiled floor. "Why aren't you so chipper with your camera now?" Searching for the voice's owner my eyes drop on Ivy.

"Poison, Poison Ivy." I reply catching everyone's attention now. "Why don't you find yourself a part-time as a clown?" the class chuckles as Ivy turns fully in her chair once more.

"Sure, Sunny. I'll attend your next birthday party. What'll be the theme this year, Hello Kitty?" she says feeling victorious.

Sending a smirk her way I lean back against my chair with arms crossed over my chest. "Actually, I was thinking Batman villains. So, come as you are, Poison."

Natalie giggles and Ivy sticks her tongue out childishly before facing the front. "Okay, settle down," announces our teacher. It takes a while for everyone to settle, but once they do everythings is silent as she, Mrs. Hugh, begins to explain today's simple plan. Dismissing her alacrity over pronouns and old films, I avert my eyes from her tall being and move them across the room to see Andrew fiddling with his camera. Then, I see him set it down under his desk between his legs before slouching back in his seat with his arms on his desk. He didn't talk to anyone, didn't look around, he simply sat there staring down at his notebook.

Mrs. Hugh clapped her hands waking me from my analyzing. I watched as she walked to her desk and turned on the monitor and the projector situated on the ceiling flickered on shining onto the smartboard. The teacher moves back to the front of her desk and officially starts the class. In mere seconds we all become puppets and obediently jot down what we were told.

Blue, red, and yellow color the hallway walls. Everyone stands in their little circle like penguins huddling for warmth. "Sunshine, there's a party tonight at the old hospital." Surprisingly, I'm a penguin in a circle as well. "Want to come along?"

Crystal, a close friend, stands across from me with long lashes, her hair pulled back in what seems to be a rat's nest, and clothes that seem to be able to fit someone two sizes smaller than her. She's a sweet person with a lack of clothing size numbers, but none-the-less she looks completely normal.

Taking a sip from my water bottle I give her a nod and swallow my liquids. "The abandoned hospital?"

Her pink lips pull back into a wide smile showing off a smiley piercing. "Totally sick, huh?"

"Completely, that place hasn't been mopped in years." Shifting my gaze adjacent to me I chuckle to Miranda's comment.

Releasing a scoff, Crystal waves her off. "Keep your bad vibes to yourself, you aren't going anyway."

To my left came a chuckle from Emery. He was laughing with a hand over his mouth, his eyes were slightly closed in an animated way, "Crystal, learn to keep your rude bottled up." He then turns to me with a smirk and nudges my shoulder with his own. "I'm going we could have some fun."

Emery, the golden boy of the group, the only boy. I met him last year in Social Science. He's related to Miranda, the pair could never be anymore different. Emery was a bit more outgoing and forward compared to his cousin, who usually kept to herself. He's always saying things that make him sound interested in me, but it's merely for the laughs and giggles.

Pursing my lips I give him a shake of my head in thought. "You'll be there?" I repeat. Emery nods making his chocolate brown hair shift slightly, "Man, I don't think I'll go then."

He lets out a gasp with a hand on his chest as Miranda and Crystal laugh like crazy, "Sunshine!" he says exasperated and looking around shocked, "But last night, what was that about then, babe?" he asks advancing and taking a grip on my waist. "Come on," he chuckled swaying us back and forth. "We could get wasted and puke on each other."

Behind us Miranda gags and Crystal lets out a louder laugh, than that of a hyena from the Lion King.

"You're disgusting!" she shouts through laughter and tears.

Emery stopped our movement and settled his forehead onto mine. "She loves me just like that." I watch his eyes twinkle with amusement as I let out a snort while turning away from him.

"Let go, Emery." I say with more fits of laughter. "That was gross, really." The brunette shrugs with a smirk and says nothing in reply. "Alright, I'll go. Give me a ride, Crystal."

Her platinum hair bounces all around her as she nods with great speed. "Yes, of course! My god, I thought I was going to be stuck with this moron!"

"Damn. Is it hurt my feels day?" shouts Emery just as the bell rings. "Whoops, we gotta go, guys. Education calls." he announces pulling Crystal away with him. "See you at lunch!" he smiled with a wave all the while Crystal complains about a pain in her wrist.

Miranda chuckles shifting her bag to the opposite arm. "I'll walk you to class? There are creeps who roam the halls."

"Oh?" I hum as we walk down the hallway. "Like this guy?" I ask pointing to a Vote 4 Steve poster on a bulletin board.

"Exactly that creep. His face has been everywhere the past few weeks."

Shaking my head I say a quick "good-bye" before disappearing into my Astrology class. Stepping in the first thing that greets me is a rolled up paper ball. "Ouch, you could have just handed me the paper for an autograph." I call out loud. In that moment I see Ivy rolling her eyes. "So, do you want a boob sign?" I tease sitting in my desk beside her.

"Shh, sh!" was her reply as she rips my bag off my shoulder and drops it to the ground. "Okay, story time." Ivy gets comfortable, crossing one leg over the other with her body facing me. "Alright, you saw Andrew's monster camera, right?" She didn't wait for a response. "The little creep was walking around with it in the morning talking to himself. Sean and his buddies came along and took it from him. Andy looked like he was about to piss himself!" Ivy let out a fit of giggles before calming down and looking for a similar reaction.

Ivy usually had funny things to narrate, but stuff like this wasn't exactly entertaining to me. Sure, humiliation was amusing in certain scenarios, such as in movies, but that was only in fictional works rather than things like this. I turn away from her as a response. I can hear her whining and could feel her fingers pulling at the fabric of my cardigan as she did so. Ivy continued to apologize over and over like a child who had done something wrong. She goes on until the teacher, Mr. Wyatt, comes in to start the lesson on whatever the universe has to tell us through the planet's alignments. I didn't mean my response to be rude., well she never took it as so. Ivy only continued to try and talked to me until I caved in.

"Sunny, sun." she whined in a whisper. "Don't be a dick."

Upon hearing this I broke into a smile. Glancing up at Mr. Wyatt, I see him in front of his desk reading to us from his textbook. "If Sean nearly made Andrew piss himself, he took it too far." I whispered quickly, "Now pay attention. Your F will soon be a F-." I said, which only gave her reason to laugh.

"Well, look at you be a caring citizen." she teases before turning back to her notes.

After class, I found myself waiting for Crystal and Emery with Miranda, who was impatient. She kept talking about the sandwich she had in her bag that was shaped like a cat's head. Within two minutes Crystal appeared with a tray of food from the cafeteria with Emery jogging behind her to catch up with his own. "Oh, my fucking shit!" shouted Miranda as hostile as ever. "Run faster, Emery!"

"Damn, who shoved a log up your ass?" he asked with a click of his tongue.

Crystal dismissed their hissy fit and moved on to more important matters. "Where to eat?" she asked looking around the courtyard. We crane our necks to look for a spot, but all seats were occupied. Students walked everywhere with their friends while the majority sat eating and joking with one another.

I hummed to myself looking at the tables. "Hey, Sunshine!" Stopping my search, my eyes land on Sean and his friends sitting at a large table with a few open chairs. "Sit with us?"

"Guys-" I call behind me, but they're way ahead of me and take the only open chairs available. "Well, thanks." I say with a roll of my eyes. "Where am I suppose sit now?"

Pushing his chair back, Sean patted his lap. "Here." he responded with a smirk, but Emery quickly acted.

"Yeah. I don't think so." he chuckled pulling me into his lap. "She can only be near me."

Sean raised his arms in surrender with a wide grin. "I was only offering a seat."

Making myself comfortable I move back into Emery as he holds my waist. "It's awkward how comfortable you two are with each other." voiced Crystal biting into her cheese pizza.

"Well, I have to be comfortable with him." I say as I look at her. "I'm his cover-up." with those simple words the table, including Sean's buffoon friends, roar with laughter.

"Oh no!" shouts Emery with a high pitched tone. "The cat's out of the bag, the beans have been spilled! Now we can stop meeting at night, Sean."

The table laughs even harder as tough boy Sean squirms under the golden boy's touch. I shake my head and look around the courtyard and find Andrew Detmer walking by filming with his camera and talking to himself. He glances our way with it and looks away. "And those are the assholes of the school."

I watch him walk off in what seems to be the soccer field's direction. "Hey, I'm going to the bathroom." I tell Emery as I rise off him and take my bag following Andrew's fading steps. Reaching the field I only see athletes practicing and the cheerleaders doing their thing, but there's no Detmer. I stay planted at the corner of the bleachers until I see Catherine, the captain of the cheerleading team, walking along the bleachers and stop in front of them.

"Hi," she says nicely. "Can you not video tape us? It's kind of creepy."

"Uh-no. I-"

The voice catches my attention and I walk further to see she's talking to Andrew. "Not everything's about you, Cathy." I joke stepping beside her. "He's filming for me. I needed footage for English." I smile to her.

Catherine rolls her eyes at me. "Sure, Sunshine." she gives me a wave and walks away. I wave goodbye as well before turning to look at Andrew.

He's hunched over in his seat looking at me with his hoodie almost falling off his shoulder. "Hey, Andrew." I greet ascending the bleacher stairs. "How'd I do for being the asshole of the school?" with that question I chuckle as I move my hands into the pockets of my cardigan.

Andrew lets out a breathy laugh through his nose as he smiles down at his hands. "You heard that?" saying that he instantly goes stiff and looks back up with frightened eyes. ""Holy shit, you heard that. I'm sorry. I-"

Smiling down at him I shrug. "You're fine. I'm not close with Sean." Andrew visibly relaxes. "I heard what he did this morning. You okay?"

"Why do you care?"

I hum to myself and plop next to him. "I just do. I know what it's like to be picked on."

His brown hair moves with his quick movement. He's staring at me with those wide blue eyes once again. "Really?"

"No." was my response. "So, do you eat out here alone?" I ask trying to make conversation.

"Uh, yeah. Do you always sit on guy's laps?"

"Yes, I do actually." I reply standing up. Andrew's neck slightly cranes up as he watches me as I do so. Quickly, I sit back down onto his lap, forcing him to lean back. "It's a condition, if I don't sit on a guy's lap I might spontaneously combust." I say making an explosion gesture with my hands and a ka-boo noise.

Andrew looks up at me and shakes his head. "You're easy to talk to, Sunshine."

Perking up, I smile looking down at him. "So, the Andrew Detmer knows my name!" I lift my hand and ruffle it through his soft hair. He smiles like there's no tomorrow and looks away.

"You've kind of moved attention away from me like, all the time and your name is something someone could never forget. Even if they tried. " he said fixing his hair straight right after I got off of him. "Sunshine." he repeated my name as if he were trying it out on his tongue. He shakes his head, "What the hell were your parents thinking?"

I fall beside him once again and look up at the covering over the bleachers. "They were probably high on the morphine in the room." Looking down at the field I see everyone who had been practicing begin to pack. "Oh," I stand up and look down at Andrew. "See you around?"

"Yeah, I mean we're in the same English class," hearing that I smack my hand against his shoulder. "What?" he laughs as I run down the bleachers.

"Don't sass me, boy!"