Kuki woke up in the morning and Billy was already up. Slightly wet from the shower that he'd just taken. He was now dressing himself in jeans and a white shirt. Kuki smiled at him and sat up.

"You're leaving?" She asked innocently. Bringing her knees to her chest and holding the duvet near her face.

Billy looked at her through his mirror as he picked up a geometric tie and began to put it on. "I told you, I've got that meeting with the bank for funding with the baseball company."

"Oh!" Kuki smiled. "Can I come?"

Billy shook his head. "You'll make me nervous. Stay here."

Kuki sighed. Another day for her to be stuck in the house.

Billy fixed his hair and then turned around. Walking over to Kuki and kissing her on the cheek. "I'm going out for a drink with the guys after. I'll be back late."

'Great' Kuki thought to herself. 'That means he'll be out half the night and then come back hammered.'

With that, he walked out of the room and Kuki soon heard the click of the closing front door. Kuki gave a sigh and lay back in bed for a moment. Trying to decide what to do today. She could look for jobs...but Billy didn't want her to have one. She could go for a walk...but Billy hated her leaving the house without him. She could text, call or email her friends...oh no, she had none. She realised that since being with Billy she had somehow become distanced from her friends. She'd always assumed that it was apart of growing up...growing apart. But obviously not as Wally said that the rest of them had kept in touch. Maybe it was just her...Stupid, unreliable Kuki. She tried to remember how it happened. How was it possible that five friends who would always ready to take on the world together and spent more time together than at their own homes with their own families could break apart?

They'd all gone to various high schools, bar Hoagie and Wally who went to the same, following their long and happy time together in elementary and middle school. Kuki knew no-one in the high school that she'd been sent to...in exception of a few annoying, arrogant children whom she had no interest in hanging around with. Not being with her best friends made her shy and lose a fair amount of confidence. Luckily, on her first week, she realised that Chad Dickinson, although two years her senior, also attended the school. She started hanging around with him in between classes, at recess and lunch. Eventually she got to know his friends, one of them being the varsity jock, Billy. A tall, medium built brunette whose wispy, quiffed hair lightened at the end, making it look like he had highlights. His face was masculine and long with a strong jaw and pearly white teeth, and the most mesmerising gray eyes.

There was something about Billy that Kuki found...exciting. She didn't know if it was his bad boy attitude, or athletic body, maybe it was because all of the girls around him adored him or just how nice he was to her. Kuki invited him over to meet her old gang one day and brought him to the treehouse. He was charming and friendly and most of her friends got along with him. After he left they all gathered around as they always wuld and Kuki asked them what they thought.

"Nice enough guy." Nigel shrugged.

Hoagie agreed. "Yeah, he seems fun."

"Abby don't know." Her best friend shrugged. "There's something about him."
Wally simply scoffed. "He's a tool."

Kuki loved being friends with kids older than her. They crept her into parties and older rated movies and stayed out way later than her friends of ex-sector V. One party that they had been to was ending pretty late, but Kuki, being younger, had a ten o'clock curfew. So Billy walked her home. She felt so grown up having a boy walking her home from a party, her ears ringing from loud music, feet throbbing from the high heels that she'd borrowed from her friend Maisie and head spinning from her first game of beer pong. She couldn't remember how but Billy had somehow placed his arm over her shoulders as they walked.

"Well here you go." Billy said with a small smile as they arrived at Kuki's doorstep.

Kuki began to bob up and down in the cold as she put her key in the door and let herself in. She then turned around and beamed at him with a giggle. "Thanks for a great night. I hope I remember it in the morning."

Billy gave a laugh. "Let me help you remember."
He gripped the sides of her dress and pulled her closer. Her heart jumped into her throat as she too leaned forward and they shared her first real kiss. It felt amazing. Billy placed a hand at the back of her head and pressed her closer to him. Eventually she managed to pull away, hearing her mother beginning to pace upstairs and knowing that she was supposed to be inside.

"Goodnight." She smiled.

Billy grinned, his hands now in the pockets of his mahogany varsity jacket. "Night Kitten."

Kuki smiled and closed the door, leaning against it after it shut. That was the first time he'd called her by that nickname and it gave her butterflies in her stomach. She gave a smile and headed upstairs to bed. Sure to sleep soundly dreaming about her new crush and now possible boyfriend.

After a couple of dates to the movies and out for dinner, Kuki and Billy soon became a couple. She was so excited to tell her best friends, who were all really happy for her. Well...all except for Wally, he didn't really say much about it.

Months went by and Kuki found it harder to keep in touch with the former sector V. They would plan meetups and when Kuki told Billy she was going he would either insist on coming to or would have already made arrangements for them. There were also times where Kuki was about to go and meet her old friends but Billy would be ill so she would cancel to look after him. Eventually when Kuki would make arrangements Billy would go moody about not being invited or not getting to spend that day with her, although he'd seen her every other day that week. Sector V gave in trying to make plans with her after a year. Not that she could blame them. She was never free, if she looked at it from their side, she'd think that she didn't want to spend time with them.

Kuki tried to text and call them too, as she always had. She used to always call Abby on a Thursday after she'd had history to share each other's notes. She'd be messaging Wally over nothing on facebook almost every night, sharing stories of their day and laughing about random factors. After Kuki had been with Billy for around six months he began to cause an argument if she got her phone out or went on facebook while he was around.

"I've come here to be with you, not to share you with your cell!" He'd complain.

Deciding that he had a valid argument Kuki simply decided not to do it around him. After that he began going through her cell phone and facebook messages. Following that he would accuse her of having relations with Wally, Hoagie or Nigel anytime he would see their name. He made her delete them to prove it and soon made up an excuse of her using Abby to pass messages between herself and one of the boys, so Abby's name was off the list too. For Kuki's fifteenth birthday, he bought her a new cell phone, with numbers already installed. None of them being male or any of her old friends from elementary or middle school. He also asked her to deactivate her social media. Due to his fear of hackers, although he still had an account...obviously he was just worried about her.

After Kuki had graduated from high school she was looking forward to going to college. However Billy, being two years older than her and in his last year insisted that he'd 'been there and done that' and college really wasn't all it turned out to be, other than a waste of money. Instead they found a nearby house and moved in together. Her mother, father and sister visited often. Until this year, where Genki had gotten a promotion which was based back in Japan. Without a thought her mother and father packed up and left, Mushi chose to go with them as she could study in Japan when she finished school that year.

Now, Kuki felt alone. With only really Billy for company and the exception of his friends when they came over for dinner. Kuki didn't really have anyone else to talk to. She felt lonely sometimes. But then would think about the people who had no-one in the world to rely on. No loving boyfriend to live with, no family who it is possible to visit every now and then. Her optimism hadn't left her personality completely.

Kuki gave a sigh and looked around. Still trying to decide what to do. That flashback made her remember the kind of things she used to enjoy. Like dancing, or playing with rainbow monkeys, or drawing, or flowers...flowers? That was it! She could go and do some gardening on the front lawn. Billy had told her not to leave the house, but going out of the front door and onto the front lawn was surely acceptable.

She got up and changed into some old clothes, some tattered leggings and a big, baggy green jumper. She hadn't worn these since she was about fourteen. Luckily, she hadn't grown that much so the oversized jumper now just fit her well. Without brushing her hair she put it into a high, messy bun and looked at herself in the mirror. She had to admit that she enjoyed Billy not being in the house every now and then. She didn't have to dress up and look her best. She then went downstairs to the storage cupboard and found her old, floral gardening tools and headed out of her door. She smiled as she knelt down on her path and began tending to the flowers that led to the house. She pulled out her mp3 and turned it on, gently humming along to her music as she worked. Eventually starting to sing to herself.

"Oh, so you think you know me now

Have you forgotten how

You would make me feel

When you dragged my spirit down?"

Movement in the corner of her eye made Kuki look up. She jumped when she saw a blonde boy stood at the top of her path. Embarrassed, she pulled out her earphones and gave Wally a small smile.

"Nice singing." He grinned.

Kuki blushed. Wally gave a chuckle. "I don't know what this is, I don't see you for years and then suddenly I bump into you twice in two days."