The boys sat around their usual lunch table, the one they spent their entire freshman year sitting at, enjoying the local gossip of the first day of school. Jay was vividly retelling how he had gotten a girl in his chemistry class to drink vinegar, thinking it was water.

"Then, she got a look on her face like she was going to puke, turned around, and spit it all over that girl Vicky!" he said, adding in hand gestures for good measure.

"Dude, you're sick!" Sonjay said, high-fiving his friend.

"Chemistry is sick!"

"And hear you were thinking you were gonna hate being a sophomore," Austin Starr said, grinning deviously at the other boy.

Brandon, known by the group as 'Senshi' (a joke on his obsession with warriors and ninjas), shook his head quietly, as usual. 'Why do I even hang around these idiots?' he asked himself for the millionth time, though he knew the answer. These guys were the misfits, the weirdos, the social outcasts, bought together by the fact that they were all generally rebellious, indifferent to school, or involved with a special green plant that made them all very happy. They took him in when he started at Crockett in the middle of their freshman year, and haven't let him go since. They were his friends, in a sense of the word, and he was happy to have them.

"Hey, have you guys seen Alex?" Chris Sabin asked, scanning the cafeteria for his lifelong friend.

"Knowing him he's in the girl's locker room, rigging up his camera to video them in the shower." Austin had never been a big fan of Alex. They both were great friends with all the other guys in the group, but could never quite come to terms with each other. They were just too much alike, which caused a lot of tension between them.

"I haven't seen him around either," Sonjay said. "He's been really distant lately. In fact, I don't think I saw him all summer. Has he had anymore problems with Dan?" Alex and his step-father weren't the best of friends, either.

"Not that I know of," Chris said, biting a nail. "He definitely would have told me."

"Hey, speak of the devil!" Austin said and Alex finally decided to show up, plopping into his usual seat with a dreamy look in his eyes.

"Dude, where is your class? On another campus?" Jay inquired, stealing a few fries and a chicken nugget from his distracted friend's tray. He didn't even notice, which worried the other boys. Alex had a thing about his chicken nuggets.

"Hey, Earth to Alex! You in there buddy?"

"She goes here. She wasn't lying." The dazed look still invaded his eyes. He stared past his friends into the warm September air.

"Who wasn't lying?" Jay asked, looking for the source of his happiness.

"Fuck that," Sabin said angrily. "Where the hell have you been all summer? We haven't seen you since like, June."

"Sure you have," he said, stabbing his mashed potatoes. "I went to the lake with you guys. And we went camping, and we went to that film festival in Traverse."

"You ditched us at the lake, canceled on the camping-" Senshi said, counting on his fingers. "And when did we plan on going to a film festival?"

"We didn't," Chris said, folding his arms across his chest. "So Alex, why don't you tell us who you've been cheating on us with?"

"Guys, I'm not cheating on you, I swear. This bromance is my one and only. Certified legit, guys." His friends obviously weren't buying his excuse, so he let out a deep sigh, causing the blond tuft of hair hanging in his eyes to fly upward. "I've been with Skylar."

"Who the hell is Skylar?" Chris shrieked, a betrayed look on his face.

"She's this chick I've been seeing since around, uh, June."

"Oh good. It's a woman," Sonjay said, a look of pure relief passing his face. "It's okay Chris, it's a woman."

"We've had so much fun these past few months," said Alex. "And she goes here, and she's so pretty, and smart, and I just still can't believe it!" Alex had a huge smirk on his face again, staring longingly into the tortured mashed potatoes. Jay had torn apart the rest of his chicken nuggets and arranged them in the shape of a teddy bear, but the amusing décor evaded Alex is his love drunk stupor.

"So why haven't we met her?" Chris said, still upset at not knowing every detail in his best friend's life. "I mean, since you like her so much."

"See? That's the funny thing," Alex ran a hand through his hair nervously. "She asked the same thing about you guys. 'Why don't you want your friends to know about me? Are you ashamed of me?'"

"Are you?" Senshi asked. "Because if you're ashamed to introduce her to us, then there might be an underlying problem you don't want to address when you're with her."

"Well, it's not so much her...as it is...you...guys," Alex said slowly.

"What, so you're ashamed of us?" Austin asked.

"No, just you," Alex retaliated. Senshi held up a hand to keep the peace, then let Alex continue. "I know you'll like her, Shi-Shi, but the rest of you might not. She's, um... different from the rest of us."

"Is that because she's black?" Jay asked, fake suspicion on his face.

"No, I don't mind that she's black." His friends looked at him, then back at Jay, amazed at his awesome psychological powers. "It's... well, it's hard to explain."

"So let us meet her," Sonjay said, eating a spork full of green beans, then spitting them back into his napkin. "Gross."

"Um, okay. Sure. When do you guys want to meet her?"

"After school," Chris said instantly. He HAD to meet the whore who was taking away HIS best friend.

"Can't, she has this thing..."

"Has to go meet her pimp?"

"What?" Alex said, paying attention to Chris for the first time. "No, she's just busy on Mondays. How about tomorrow at lunch? She eats out in the courtyard."

"Okay," the other guys said. "Sounds like a plan."

"So, you lied to us, eh Shelly?" Austin asked, scanning the courtyard for an unfamiliar face. All he saw were their fellow sophomores and the upperclassmen, seeing as freshmen were forced to eat in the cafeteria. "I don't see anyone new."

"That's because she doesn't sit at the tables," Alex said, throwing a fierce glance at Austin. "She'll be near the back." The boys walked around the school towards the back courtyard. The big oak tree was perched in the middle, along with a long brick wall that ran under it. After school the skaters would usually come back to skate and smoke, before being thrown off campus by the security or administration. But during the day, this is where the quiet girls went to study or the stoners went for a nap.

A girl was sitting by herself near a curve in the wall, resting against it while she sipped from a cup that read "Bombadill's". She wore a tie dye t-shirt, a pair of blue jeans shorts, and a plain gray hoodie with the sleeves pulled up to expose the various bracelets on her left arm. A battered copy of Brave New World was clutched between her lithe fingers, her dark eyes scanning quickly over the page as she soaked up the knowledge Aldous Huxley provided for her. A pair of ear buds hang down the side of her face, entangling themselves with her loose hair as the wind blew in from the lakes.

They all knew what this meant.

"Dude! You're dating a fucking HIPSTER?" Sonjay asked, a baffled look crossing his face. "Have you lost your mind?"

"Look, I know what you guys are thinking," he tried to explain, but was cut off by Chris.

"This is what you ditched us for?" he accused. "Fake glasses and Goldfrapp concerts?"

"I fucking...hate...Goldfrapp," the girl, Skylar, said, closing her book and looking up at the boys. She pulled the headphones from her ears and smiled at Alex, and in that second, the sun centered on her, lighting her features to the highest luminescence. "Hey."

"Hey," he said, turning into Jell-O, as was normal when he found himself around her. She glanced from him to his friends. "Oh, um, these are the guys. This is Jay, Austin, Senshi, Sonjay, and Chris."

"The famous Chris Sabin," she said, turning her smile on Chris. "You're the one who's got him so worked up all the time, eh?"

"Damn right," Chris said, frowning at her. "And I'm his best friend. Don't forget that. I'll always be his best friend."

Skylar looked a little taken aback, but shook it off. She understood the connection those two had with each other, much like she and her sister, Andrea, had. Alex, trying to reduce the awkwardness of the situation, slung an arm around her waist.

"Well, what were you listening to, Babe?"

"A new mix tape by The Notwist. They have this song Consequence that will completely change your life, swear. I'll have to let you hear it tonight."

"What's happening tonight?" Chris asked, frowning at Alex's arm around this...whore.

"We're going down to the lake for one last swim. You know, before it gets too cold," Alex answered. "You guys want to come?"

"Well, we would, but we wouldn't want to interrupt your sex orgy," Chris said bitterly.

"Oh come off it," Jay said, elbowing the scowling brunette. "Sure we'll come. If that's okay with you?"

"Of course!" Skylar said, her award winning smile working its way back onto her face. "I've been wanting to get to know the guys Alex talks so kindly about. Does 6:30 sound good?"

"It's a date," Alex said, pecking her on the lips. "See you later babe."

"Bye hon. And it was really nice to meet you guys," she said, picking up her bag (an Urban Outfitters exclusive, no doubt) and made her way towards the art's building just as the bell rang.

"So start talking Shelley," Jay said when she was out of earshot.

"What do you mean?" Alex asked, looking back at his friends innocently.

"Why should we be supportive of your relationship with some fucking hipster chick?"

"You guys just don't know her yet," Alex said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "She's really sweet, and she listens, and she knows what to do. I don't know, I can't explain it. You'll just have to give her a chance. I know she's a hipster, but if we could just get passed that-"

"Why?" Austin said. "So she can condemn us for listening to Slayer and Linkin Park?"

"She loves Slayer," Alex said, glaring at Austin. "She's not judgemental like that. Sure she'll try to get you to listen to the stuff she likes, but is that any different that what we do to each other? Nah, she's not picky." He paused in thought. "Unless you use bad grammar. She fucking hates that."

"Thanks for the notcie," Chris said, rolling his eyes.

The guys walked on in silence, thinking about the new chick and how she affected their friend. They hated seeing his so gaga over some broad, because it was so easy for him to get hurt. Alex rarely let people in, especially after his father had died, and if this girl hurt him...

"So, she's in Honor's English?" Senshi asked, breaking the silence.

"Huh?"

"She was reading Brave New World. That's an honor's book."

"Oh," Alex said, shaking his head. "Nah, she's taking all Sophomore courses. She's reading that for fun."

"What?" the guys said in unison. This chick's strangeness was getting way out of hand. Fucking hipster.

"Okay, I understand reading for fun, but that wasn't Twilight," Sonjay said.

"She hates Twilight," Alex said.

"Or Harry Potter," Jay retaliated.

"She's read all of them. Finished the last one in a week. I swear if he were real, I'd beat the shit out of Malfoy, the way she talks about him. 'Oh, he's so mean, but he's just misunderstood. I wish I could just take him on a picnic and feed him grapes all afternoon!'" Alex let out an angry snort. "Fucking books."

"She reads the classics?" Senshi asked, a surprised look in his eyes. Girls Alex dated were usually just preps or sluts under the disguise of "hardcore rocker girls". They rarely ever had any depth to them. Alex flashed him a coy smile.

"Told you you'd like her," he said. 'One down, three to go,' he thought to himself.