AN: sorry for not updating anything recently. i have to write a short story for english and have been working on that. so all my literary skills have been put into that instead of these. sorry about that.

The next day I had plans on hanging out with Courtney, Bridgette and Noah, but first I had to unpack more boxes into my room. Conrad was fast asleep in his nursery and Amy was making the empty cardboard boxes into a fort. I visited her every once in a while to check her progress; since she had a room to herself, she was free to make the fort as large as her creativeness could take her. The last time I checked, she had several boxes around her that reminded me of a classic castle, she was also wearing one of the boxes as a helmet. She reminds me of when I was that age; when she gets older, I want to teach her how to play guitar.

I was quickly unpacking all of my clothes into my wardrobe and hung some in my closet. I was very excited to be hanging out with Courtney outside of school, especially since school was always so strict when it comes to uniforms and behavior. I can finally see her in her own environment, just like when I saw her singing. When I removed one of my shirts from its box I noticed something hard was inside it; when I unwrapped it, I remembered that I kept the last one of my model trains there so it would be well protected. It was given to my by my late grandfather when I was young, before he died one of the wheels fell off and he promised to fix it. He never had the chance to, but my mum told me that it didn't need to be fixed, it was unique in that way; she said nine would be my lucky number because the train was unique like me. After his death I sold every other model train I had because I lost interest and they weren't from my grandpa, with the money I earned from selling them, I had enough to buy a second hand acoustic guitar. I became so into music that my parents bought a new acoustic guitar and electric guitar, though I prefer to play acoustic so that I can play it anywhere and not need an amp.

It was midday when I heard the doorbell ring; I was in a pair of black jeans, a short sleeved blue button up shirt, a studded belt, and a studded dog collar. I don't often wear collars and things like that, but a friend gave me one for my recent birthday and I felt the need to use it at least once. I ran to answer the door, just beating my dad to the punch; I waved him off then greeted Courtney. She was wearing a loose off the shoulder cream shirt with dark skinny jeans and a body tight black denim vest. She giggled when she saw me; I looked at her strangely and waited for an explanation. When she stopped she understood why I was blankly staring at her, "With that collar, you remind me of someone." I was confused, "Anyone I know? Do they go to our school?" She shook her head, "No and no. You just remind me of my boyfriend." I frowned subtly, "Should I take it off?" She examined my face for a moment, "No, it suits you." That got me thinking, her boyfriend wears dog collars like this and is a criminal… what is this girl into?

I bid farewell to my parents and closed the door behind me, I heard a soft response coming from the kitchen so I assume they knew I was going. We walked down the pathway with at least a foot between us, I had my arms in my pockets and she had her arms entwined behind her back. I wasn't sure what I should have said, so I said something bland, "So how are you?" She looked over at me, "I'm good, you?" I looked into her eyes and was speechless for a moment, "Uhh… Yeah, same." Her eyes were staring into mine also, she was looking for something, I could tell. I noticed a small step from the road up onto the next pathway, I stepped up but she didn't seem to notice it. She tripped and almost fell onto the hard concrete, but I caught her just in time. If I had seen it sooner I would have warned her or be able to steady her, but I caught her just as she was about to hit the ground. She looked confused and I could feel her breath heavily. My left arm was wrapped around her shoulders and my right arm was wrapped around my waist, I didn't want to let go but I set her down and rolled her over so that I could see her face.

Her face was frozen in shock; no movement was seen in her now black eyes. Over a few minutes she slowly came back to realize that I had my arms wrapped around her torso, staring into her eyes. I looked at where my arms were and quickly moved them away, "I'm sorry." She kept staring at me, this was getting awkward. "Don't be, you stopped me from getting injured in the dumbest way possible. I almost did an Izzy." I laughed at that, it was an inside joke between the kids at our school. A girl in our grade, Isabelle Johnson, is the most clumsy and accident prone girl that anyone could meet. Sure she excelled in things like Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Manual Arts; but that didn't make her any less of a klutz. "I guess it's helpful that I have decent reflexes," I added, it didn't seem necessary. She sighed in agreement and decided to stand up; I stood with her from my kneeling position. I looked around the street to see who else was there, but there was no one in sight. I felt a tugging on my shirt and looked down at Courtney, "If it wouldn't be too much to ask, but can you keep that moment between you and me? I don't want others knowing that I almost did an Izzy." I smiled and laughed, "Of course, your secret is safe with me."

Within seconds, Noah and Bridgette approached and we all headed to the nearby park to start the neighborhood tour.