Danny somehow muddled through just about the entire week, wondering if anybody actually knew how he felt. While he severely doubted it, there were, in fact, other lonely, desperate teenagers in his town. If only he knew the half of it.

Popularity is founded on lies. Most people who have even a bit know that the popular clique never really likes each other. The only reason most of them put up with each other is to maintain their own image. But when you aren't truly happy in that kind of image, what does it really matter? Dash asked himself that every day. What good was it to hang around people when no one gave a shit about each other's wellbeing? The only real friend he had was Kwan, who was pretty much in the same situation, albeit with less hopelessness and despair. Dash envied his friend's ability to always remain positive, despite hate 95% of the people he associated with on a daily basis.

It all started a few months back. Dash got suspended for punching a kid in the face. When the principal called up his mother, and she asked to speak to her son, he thought he knew what was coming. He expected punishment, yelling, anything that showed her anger, but he didn't get any of that. She didn't reprimand him in any way, she didn't ground him, didn't confiscate a single thing. She looked up at her son, looked him straight in the eyes and said the five words no child ever wants to hear their mother say to them:

"I'm so disappointed in you."

She closed her eyes slowly, shook her head gently, turned and walked away from him. No yelling, no lectures, just five words, and it left him feeling terrible, guilty, and horrible. His mother watched him, head hanging low, shoulders hunched, walk up the stairs to his room. She couldn't understand where she had gone wrong when she raised him. Dash was always bigger than the other kids, so from a young age she taught him to stand up people weaker than him and be kind to everyone. She tried to teach him that violence was never the answer to anything. She didn't see him for the rest of the night. The next day she didn't see him until she got home from work. She could tell he had been crying; his eyes were still a bit red and puffy. He had spent the whole night thinking of a way to apologize to her, but she said the best apology he could give her was a promise to stop the delinquent behavior. He swore he would, and he's kept his promise to this day.

While he has felt good for keeping his promise to his mother, he's felt miserable otherwise. His popular "friends", and he uses the term friends loosely, called him out on it, and found his reasoning to be pathetic. To say they wanted nothing to do with him was pretty much the bigger understatement of the century, but to keep up appearances they all stand in the same area and breathe in each other's bullshit, just to fool the rest of the student body, who wasn't about to question it for fear of degradation. So he would stand around with them, fake laughing at their ridiculous attempts at being funny, trying his hardest not to feel ashamed for not stepping in when they antagonized someone, and getting away from them as soon as possible.

His attention was snapped back to reality when he felt his friend shaking his shoulder.

"Hey, you in there man?" Kwan asked, waving a hand in front of his friend's face.

"What, yeah, yeah I'm fine." Dash managed to stutter out. Truth be told he was miserable and just wanted someone to talk to about it, but he wouldn't feel right dragging Kwan into the spiraling vortex of his mind, so he did the next best thing, he lied. His friend shrugged and went back to shooting at zombies, or skeletons, or whatever. Dash wasn't focused on the video game they were playing, which explained the terrible score he was getting right now. When the 'GAME OVER' screen flashed across the TV, Dash threw the controller down and sat back, tilting his head back and placing his opened palms on his facing, running them through his hair. He let out a frustrated sigh and stood up.

"Hey, Kwan, I, uh, I'm gonna head home now."

"You sure, man?"

"Yeah, I've got a lot on my mind, I think I'll take the long way home and think this shit out."

"Alright, I'll call you later, okay?"

"Yeah, seeya."

Dash made his way out of his best friend's house, slipping his hands into his pockets as he walked out the door. There was so much to it than just not having any fake friends to keep him company. He wanted someone who sincerely wanted to be around him. Sure, he had Kwan, but they were best friends, Kwan was like a brother to him. He could never really remember having friends. In fact, other than his imitation companions, he couldn't recall anyone who didn't cower in fear when he walked past them. Even after he gave up tormenting the student body, they still feared him, force of habit more than anything. He was the most well-known student in school, but he was sure he was the most alone.

Across town, Sam and Tucker were spending their Friday trying to make the most of the last day of vacation. They had already exhausted most of the movies in her private collection, and Tucker's collection, and her on demand service, and were out of things to watch on TV. They thought about going to a restaurant, but at 5:45 in the evening on a Friday, they knew they would never get in anywhere decent, and you can only live off of Nasty Burger for so long.

"Man, I'm so hungry." Tucker whined. Sam rolled her eyes, he had just finished off a tub of popcorn and he was still looking for food. As he rolled around on her bed moaning, she chuckled and picked up the phone.

"Will a pizza satiate your tremendous hunger?"

"It's a start."

Sam shook her head in disbelief, dialing the phone number. She ordered their regular, which they got almost every Friday without fail, minus what Danny usually got. She hung up with a sigh, placing the phone back on the base. It beeped as she let go, signifying it was charging again.

"The pizza guy sounded surprised when I told him to leave off Danny's order." Sam flopped down on the other side of her bed.

"Well you could've still gotten it."

"I know, your iron stomach could use the extra calories."

"Hey, I take offense to that. But I am also flattered."

"Wow, I actually have no response to that."

"That's one more point for Tucker."

"Yeah, to my several dozen points." Tucker stuck his tongue out at the girl; she grabbed a pillow and threw it at him. It hit his face and fell onto the bed. He picked it up, and she grabbed the other one, and they began to swing at each other, laughing.

Dash was about a mile from home when the sky opened up. The rain hit him like a tidal wave, sending a shiver down his spine. The clouds darkened, and thunder echoed throughout the neighbourhood. Dash started to run, his house now visible in the distance. His clothes were soaked, and he could feel their weight bringing them down. The clothes weren't the only thing, but right now his concern was getting home, not feeling sorry for himself. As he walked up the front steps, he saw that his mother was home. He turned the doorknob and she stopped him before he could even get two steps inside.

"Honey, you're dripping water all over the carpet." She said, sticking out a hand. He took off his wet jacket and handed it to her. He took off his shoes and left them by the door.

"Now go upstairs and change into some dry clothes or you'll get sick."

"Yes, mom." Dash smiled to himself as he walked up the stairs. It was nice to have someone looking out for you, even if it was your mother. Some people his age would complain if their parents treated them that way, but Dash viewed it more as a blessing, he was lucky to have a mother who cared. It was all he really had.