It's a regular typical day at the mall on a weekend morning as I was the first to arrive at the gangs usual spot at the Big Squeeze.

Caitlin, Wyatt, Jonesy and Nicki showed up a little after me as we greeted each other.

Then Jen showed up and I couldn't help but to stare at her forehead.

"Uh Jen?" I called out to my friend.

"Yes Valerie?" Jen responded nonchalantly.

"What is that," I hesitated. "On your forehead?"

"It looks really gross" Caitlin said with a gag.

She was right.

There was a big red blob in the middle of Jen's forehead.

So gross!

"It's a zit guys." Jen said with a sigh, lowering her head.

"Looks like a big monstrous zit to me." Jonesy said.

"Jonesy!" Nicki yelled at him as she elbowed his stomach.

"I knew it!" Jen shrieked. "My mother told me nobody would notice! Now the whole world will see this thing on my face today."

Jen put her head down, ashamed of the zit.

"Oh honey. I'm sure it'll go away soon. Right Wyatt?" I said, glaring at Wyatt who was about to sip his cup of joe.

It seems he wasn't paying attention.

"Right WYATT!?" I repeated, emphasizing his name.

Wyatt was startled from the tone of my voice and chocked a bit from his joe.

That caught his attention.

"W-What?" He said, looking at me and then at Jen. "Oh yeah. Don't worry about it Jen. It'll go away."

"Sure it will." Jen said with a sigh and put her head down once again.

I sat next to Jen and rubbed my hand across her back to give her reassurance.

After about a minute, Jude finally joined us.

"Hey dudes and dudettes!" Jude shouted as he approached us.

"Sup Jude!" I greeted him with a huge smile.

He smiled back and took the empty seat next to me.

As Jude sat down, Jen looked up in which Jude took a good look at the gigantic zit on her forehead.

His eyes widened in shock as if he'd just seen an alien life form on her head.

"Holy cow brah!" He screamed. "What happened to you!?"

"Don't. Mention. It!" Jen threatened.

Jude shut his mouth before he could say another word.

Before any of us could say another word, Nicki checked the time and spoke first.

"Woah, aren't you going to be late for work Jude?" She said. "Scratch that, shouldn't you be working RIGHT NOW?"

She emphasized the last two words.

"Who is watching the 'Stick It' stand right now?" Wyatt asked as he took a sip of his joe.

"No one." Jude answered nonchalantly.

"Jude!" I shouted. "You shouldn't be slacking!"

"I know." He sighed. "But I'm really tired."

"Considering the fact that you just now showed up and your shift probably started a while ago, you're going to land into some big trouble." said Caitlin as she popped the lemon hat on her head.

"I know." Jude said with a yawn.

"Well, why didn't you sleep last night?" Jen asked as she used her hand to cover the zit.

"That's because I was had a zombie movie marathon last night." He answered.

"Seriously?" I asked.

"Yup." He answered with pride. "Didn't sleep till 4 a.m. dudes"

"It's your own fault for staying up all night." Nicki said, shaking her head. "Now if you excuse me, I gotta get to the Khaki Barn or else the clones will torture me with their nagging."

"Same. Gotta head to the Penalty Box or it's time out for me and this zit" Jen said, whining as her and Nicki left the circle.

"Hey Caitlin." Talon greeted as he approached us.

"Oh! Hi Talon!" Caitlin squealed.

All communications with Caitlin has been lost once Talon, her current boyfriend, showed up.

That just leaves me, Jonesy, Wyatt and Jude.

"Hey guys, you know that new job I got?" Jonesy asked us.

"You mean at Not Quite Naked?" Wyatt questioned with his eyebrow lifted up.

"Yeah!" Jonesy said in excitement.

"How did you get that job?" I asked. "I thought managers wouldn't hire male workers."

"Isn't that store full of dudettes?" Jude asked.

"Sure that store is full of hot chicks." Jonesy started. "But don't worry, I told them I was homosexual."

Our jaws dropped when Jonesy said that.

I never woulda thought he would pull that card in order to get a job.

"Jonesy, for once, I am speechless." I said as I stood up from my seat.

"It's genius" He said.

"Sure it is." I said, giving him a thumbs up. "Good luck with your job. I'm heading to work."

With that, I started walking towards my job until Jude called out to me.

"Hey Val, wait up."

I stopped and turned.

"What's up Jude?" I asked

"Mind if I walk ya to your job?" He asked. "You know, since Stick It is along the way."

I couldn't help but to blush.

I could never say 'No' to Jude.

"Sure" I said with a smile.

He smiled back and walked along my side.

I've always had a crush on Jude ever since the day we met.

I believe it all started last year when I was new in town and I purchased a lemonade at the Big Squeeze. Jude was the first person from the gang to approach me and introduce himself. He was always so nice and sweet to me. I find him to be a really cute and funny guy.

I know I can always count on Jude whenever I need someone to talk to. I just don't know if I'll ever confess my feelings to him.

"Hi Jude!" A female's voice interrupted my thought.

I looked to see who it was that spoke and noticed Starr.

I frowned at the sight of her.

She's the reason why I don't want to confess my feelings to Jude.

Nicki told me that Jude and Starr used to have a thing for each other.

They only kissed once but their relationship ended up in some sort of disaster.

"Hey Jude." Starr said once again as she roller bladed towards us.

"Hi Starr" Jude greeted.

"Hi Valerie" Starr greeted me with a smile.

"Hey Starr" I said quietly.

I don't hate or dislike Starr. She's a really sweet person.

What bothers me is that sometimes I think Jude still has some personal feelings for her.

We parted ways from her as Jude and I approached my workplace, Just Desserts in silence.

"Well, here's my stop. Thank for walking me Jude." I said, grinning at him.

"No worries. See you later Val" He waved as he headed towards his job.

"Give me a call when you finished your shift!" I shouted

"Gotcha dudette!"

With that, I headed inside, put on my apron and started my shift.

I was assigned to stand outside the store and provide free chocolate samples.

How boring.

It's really only been two hours since work started and I am bored out of my mind!

My manager just so happened to not be paying attention to me so I whipped out my phone and gave Nicki a call, my 'go-to' gal.

"Hello?" She said, answering the phone call.

"Sup Nicki." I said

"Let me guess, you're going to die from boredom?" She asked with a chuckle.

"Gee, I wonder how you know." I answered sarcastically.

We both laughed.

"So Valerie..." Nicki started talking. "Jonesy texted me that Jude walked you to Just Desserts again."

"Yeah. He did." I said with a smile.

"You seriously need to tell him!" She shouted.

"I can't!" I shouted back. "You know it'll ruin our friendship if he doesn't return those feelings!"

"Oh come on! I'm absolutely sure that Jude likes you back!" Nicki shouted again.

"Well, I don't believe you. I highly doubt it's true.." I said sadly.

"Why so?" She asked.

"We bumped into Starr." I frowned once again.

"Well, did he say hi to her first?" She asked

"No, she started it." I answered.

"Then he probably did that just to be nice! I'm telling you Valerie! Tell him!" Nicki screamed once again. "I'm pretty sure Caitlin and Jen would agree!"

"I guess so. I bet Jonesy and Wyatt would do the same." I said with a sigh.

"See! We're all rooting for the two of you ever since we met!" Nicki said with confidence.

I couldn't help but to giggle.

Nicki sure is the best person a friend can have.

We continued to chat on the phone for the next couple minutes.

It was basically her complaining about the clones while I continued to hand out the free samples.

I was soon approached by a weird, odd looking customer.

"Hey Nicki, I'll call you back. There some weird guy here."

With that, I hung up my phone and stared at the guy.

He was making a funny facial expression.

His skin was very discolored and deformed looking too.

His mouth was open so I could see lots of drool as well as rotted teeth.

"Sir?" I finally spoke nervously. "C-Can I help y-you?"

The guy didn't respond. Only made some weird grunting noises.

"Uhn...Uhn.."

"W-What?" I asked confused.

Within a matter of seconds, he grabbed my arm which caused me to drop my things.

"Hey! Let go!" I shouted as I squirmed myself free from his grasp. "Let go of me you psycho!"

The weird looking man wouldn't let go so I had to punch his arm.

After about a minute of struggling, I finally freed myself from his grasp.

I fell to the ground and looked at my arm.

His arm was detached from his body and was still gripped onto me.

"W-What the!?" I freaked out and threw the disgusting arm away from me.

I looked at the gross man and he seemed to slowly walk up to me with one arm.

"What is going on!?" I shouted as I backed up and looked around.

I noticed that other people were just as gross looking at this guy, even my manager looks like one of them!

I also noticed those monsters biting innocent people and seeing a change.

With that, I got up and started running.

"I need to find Jude and the others!" I said to myself as I kept running and dodging any incoming arms.

I took out my phone and started calling Jude.

His phone kept ringing until it reached to voicemail.

I called the next person, Wyatt.

The phone call was answered immediately, as if he didn't want the give the phone a chance to ring.

"H-Hello!?" Wyatt shouted, sounding as if he was running.

"Wyatt!? Where are you!?" I screamed. "I was attacked by some weird, freakish looking man!"

"Did you get bitten!?" He shouted.

"No! I'm okay!" I answered.

"Good! I'm with Jude! We're heading to Not Quite Naked, Jonesy's in trouble!" He screamed.

"Got it! I'll meet you there!" I said.

I hung up the phone and ran at a faster pace, making my way towards Not Quite Naked.

I'm relieved Jude and Wyatt are alright.

I just hope everyone else is okay.