Well, here I was. Climbing out of my Uncle Kurt's car to attend a funeral. I had to come since I was living with the McKenzie's now, even though I didn't know the guy who died. I think his name was Coach Buzzer or something. We had to come to New England which is apparently my Uncle and his friends' hometown, to attend the funeral. I patted down my black knee-length dress as I stood on the grass, holding onto my cousin Charlotte's hand.

"Hollywood!" Kurt's voice made me jump a little as he had a smile plastered on his face, walking over to greet a man. We all followed, looking curiously.

"Hey, look at that." The man laughed as he exited the car, his family in tow. "Kurt McKenzie. And the whole McKenzie clan." The men hugged while laughing and smiling. He then moved onto my aunt. "Deanne, you look great." He kissed her cheek which she returned. "My wife's over there, go say hi." He muttered to her which made Aunt Deanne walk over to the slim woman with sunglasses. "Children." He greeted us wih a nod of his head, and it made me laugh a little.

"I see that ass is still growing." Uncle Kurt commented which made me laugh again, softly squeezing Charlotte's hand. "Got a little Kardashian in there."

"Okay, well, you've kinda turned into a Michael Vick thing... if he was bulimic." 'Hollywood' said jokingly.

"I don't know how you can talk to me like that when you look like Edia Ming with a propeller on your head." Uncle Kurt spat after Momma Ronzoni had insulted him about his job. He was brushing out Andre's hair, it making me giggle.

I covered my mouth to stop a snort as I heard a ringtone go off that sounded like some crappy rap song. I looked over to see a boy, who looked no older than me, with sunglasses and a suit on, pull out his phone and check it. The boy next to him, who I assumed is his younger brother, was dancing rather terribly to it.

"Didn't I tell you to turn the phone off, Greg?" Hollywood, who's name is actually Lenny, told the boy.

"But it's my massage therapist." Greg defended, making me raise an eyebrow.

"What? No. No cellphones." Lenny demanded.

"Wait, no cellphones?" A man with surfer hair and a striped shirt strode up to us. "Then I'm outta here."

"Higgy!" Lenny said, surprised.

"Who's ready to get their funeral on?" Higgy said excitedly, shimmying his chest a little. "I'm sorry. Death makes me weird."

"Hey, did you know that kid's staring at you?" I heard Charlotte whisper next to me. I looked down, since she was a few inches smaller than me.

"Which kid?" I questioned, furrowing my eyebrows.

"The taller one with the sunglasses." She told me. I turned my head to see the kid who had the gangster rap ringtone actually staring at me. He was trying to cover it up by wearing his sunglasses but I just scoffed and rolled my eyes, turning back to Charlotte.

"He's too weird for me." I told her but she just chuckled.

"When has weird ever bothered you?" Charlotte asked.

"It hasn't." My lips curved into a smirk, a devilish look in my eyes.

"Hey kids, it's time to go in now." Uncle Kurt halted our conversation to get us inside the church. I just shrugged and pulled on Charlotte's hand gently.


We were ushered into the church by Uncle Kurt and Aunt Dee, taking a seat on a row near to the front. We were behind the Lamonsoffs and in front of the Feders. I was squeezed in between Andre and Charlotte, silently watching the service start. After only a few minutes, the priest called Lenny up.

"I'm sorry. I'm not prepared at all. I feel very honored that Coach asked me to do this, uh... I also feel terrible because I haven't seen the Coach in so long. And he always wanted me to come to town and see him. I got caught up in what I've been doing and I regret it. I understand that the Saint Mark's team of 1978 was the only championship team the Coach ever had. And that's very impressive. Judging from the talent we had to offer, believe it or not, Robbie and Marcus were actually shorter back in 1978." His speech was moving.

"Yeah, but those guys had a skill you never mastered." Eric spoke up. "They knew how to pass the ball."

"Looks like someone has to pass the fried chicken." Lenny joked. "I'm kidding. We're saying goodbye to a big part of our lives. All of us. Y-You affected everybody in this room. I hope we get to live our lives like you. Have no regrets when life's final buzzer sounds." He finished the speech and I actually had a few tears in my eyes. I quickly wiped them away before anyone could see.

Rob was up next. He was belting out a dramatic rendition of Ave Maria. He danced around the steps, holding a picture of Coach Buzzer in his arms. Lenny, Eric, Kurt and Marcus were all laughing kinda loudly. It brought a small smile to my face as they laughed it up. When Rob had finished, Marcus made a buzzer sound which made everyone laugh, including myself. Rob shouted at him but they just brushed it off.


We were finally let outside and I sighed happily as the sun beat down on my exposed back and legs. I had my hand slipped into Charlotte's, us walking around together. When I walked past the table with the two gaming twins sat at it, I saw the older one look up for a split second to gaze at me. I gave him a weird look and he quickly looked back down as I was away from his vision.

"That kid is really creepy." I observed.

"Which kid?" Charlotte asked as she sipped her drink.

"The one who keeps staring at me." I told her.

"Maybe he has a crush on you." Charlotte nudged my shoulder.

"Never in my wildest dreams, Char." I nudged her back, grinning.

"Do you like him?" Charlotte questioned.

"Ew, no. He's a spoilt brat. His personality turns me off." I commented as we sat down at an empty table.

"Come on, Skye. You're becoming a freshman. You need a boyfriend before you go to high school." Charlotte whined.

"Since when do I need a boyfriend? I got my family and my friends. That's all I need." I said, wrapping my arm around her shoulder and pulling her into my side.

"This is going to be a great weekend." She said as I hugged her.

"Yeah." I smiled. "It so is."


That is it for the first chapter! I'm so excited to write this! I hope you enjoy reading this and the next chapter will be here soon.