"You're pretty nervous, aren't you kiddo?"

"Kind of, I've never really had anyone over."

"I'm sure it'll be great. Any kid you choose to invite must be gold." He starts to walk away and I feel the urge to go up and bear hug him… but fortunately I manage to refrain – a good decision, considering he's seventy three years old and has arthritis. Instead I walk into the kitchen and wait for Sheldon to come in; maybe he has some good snack foods… and advice. Hopefully both, as I'm clueless in every department.

"Hey Jake, what's up?"

"Having a friend over – I know, shocking, but I was wondering if you had any food that I could… present, or whatever it is you do."

"Sure thing, buddy, I actually have a few extra trays, a few of Zach's friends couldn't make it." My mouth actually drops open when he brings out two trays of… food? Man oh man; there's popcorn, like, three types of chips, licorice, and about seven varieties of chocolates and gummies. Sheldon chuckles at my still open mouth, and it takes me a few minutes still to shut it. "And as far as the movie goes, I recommend Fast and the Furious 2, seeing as there's a good chance he hasn't seen it, and it's just an all around kick ass movie. And you've seen the first one, because we watched it at your dad's birthday a few months ago. You liked it, remember?"

"Right… can I get the second one?"

"Kid, you better get used to being rich. You have a hotel setup, so you can rent movies on your TV that haven't come out yet. Come on, I'll show you." We each grab a tray and Sheldon leads the way up the stairs and into my TV room – mine's set up like a mini theatre, with a big TV and a bunch of bean bag chairs with a few coffee tables here and there – setting the trays down on two of the tables, Sheldon and I walk over to the remote cabinet and he grabs the remote, expertly presses a few buttons, and finishes explaining to me how to pick out and rent whichever movie I choose – which will probably be the one he recommended. Just after he leaves I hear a small cough in the general direction of the doorway; it's Lash. I smile awkwardly and say hello the best I can without stuttering.

"You're house is insane, man. You have this whole floor to yourself?"

"Well, this half is mine and the other half is Zach's." He whistles, and I feel a little bit more confident about this whole 'having friends' thing as he walks through the door and looks around. "Dude, how on earth did you get all this in here?" He motions toward the various food and beverage machines and I can't help but laugh. When we first moved in, Kelly and Anna had us draw up a few rooms we'd like, and I went all out on mine, not knowing it would become a reality. I put in nacho, popcorn, soda, and candy machines that were all free, of course; cause who wants to pay for food in their own house?

"I designed the room when we first got here; anyways, what movie do you want to watch?" I bring up the menu without making any mistakes – thankfully.

"Woah, these aren't even out yet." I nod slightly, and hope he picks one that won't give me nightmares. "Hey, have you seen fast and the furious 2?"

"Not yet, but I really want to – should we get that one?" Lash nods and walks over to a bean bad, plopping himself down and lazily grabbing a handful of popcorn. I follow Sheldon's instructions and almost sigh with relief when the movie starts to play. Of course, instead I sit in a bean bag near Lash and grab a handful of whichever bowl was nearest to me, which happened to be chips. Yep, I think I could definitely get used to this.

"Jake?" I'm woken by the sound of Zach's timid voice. I have no idea what time it is; but I think Lash is still here… yep, he's sleeping in the other bean bag chair. "Jake, why is Lash still here?" He walks over slowly and is helping me up; the screen is black and I can tell it must be either really late in the evening or really early in the morning.

"What time is it?"

"Buddy, it's almost time to leave for school." Oh lord; this is going to be slightly awkward. I really don't want to wake him up and risk getting severely injured; but if I just leave him there and go to school I'll just be postponing the injuries… and if I leave a note it'll seem like a one night stand… and that would be horribly disturbing. Zach elbows me lightly in the ribs and I figure he expects me to wake up the… guest. Try to think positively, Jake; we had fun last night, he was friendly, made some jokes, had some fun. Yeah, I'm sure it'll be totally fine. Let's just walk over and…

"Hey, Lash." Oh man, I actually didn't stutter.

He's rolling over slowly. "Oh woah, what time is it?" I grab Zach's wrist and look at the time.

"Its quarter to eight, man; we gotta leave in like, fifteen minutes." He doesn't look all that alarmed… which alarms me.

"Oh… weird; you think I could borrow a shirt?" I turn around slowly to ask Zach if Terry, our maid, is up yet, but he's taken the opportunity to sneak out the other door. I mumble a 'yeah' and motion for him to follow me down the hallway. "Sorry about that, by the way; what time did I fall asleep?"

"Long after me." I say with a chuckle as I turn into my room and then into my closet.

"This is your closet?" I feel like kind of a girl with a closet so big, but hey, it's useful. I motion for him to pick a shirt and I quickly grab a dark red one for myself, walking quickly into one of the bathrooms to change. I wonder if he'll keep on the striped shirt… I heard he's never seen without it on. I decide to brush my teeth and wash my face while I'm in there, to avoid walking in too early. Taking a quick look at the clock I realize I'd better get down soon, Sheldon's probably already laid out my breakfast. I walk out of the bathroom and – luckily – Lash is finished getting changed. He's wearing one of my Ramones shirts, with his sleeves underneath. I motion for him to follow me once again and we slide down the banister to the main hallway and through to the kitchen where, sure enough, my tray is waiting; and of course all knowing Sheldon has put a tray beside mine with pancakes, bacon, and orange juice. Lash lets out yet another whistle and says hello to Sheldon.

Sheldon ponders for a few moments before saying "Hey, I recognize you…"

"Yeah… I'm one of the four students who tried to take over Sky High last year." Lash is starting to wince slightly and I can tell he's really hoping Sheldon won't say anything; but I know he won't. The guy's done more jail time that anyone else I know, and wouldn't dare ruin a potential friend for me, as pathetic and nerdy as that sounds.

"Oh yeah, which jail were you in?"

"Uh, Maxville high security for supers… why?"

"I've been in there a few times, it's a lot nicer than the prisons for non supers. What's your power?"

Lash seems a little overwhelmed. "I stretch." Sheldon seems fairly impressed. "You?"

"I can shoot heat rays from my eyes." Yeah, ever wonder how cooks things so fast?

"Nice – these are awesome pancakes, by the way; thanks." It's kind of surprising how civil Lash can be. "Hey Jake, what's with all the pills." I look down and see that one extra has been added to the pile; what the crap? I shoot Sheldon a funny look – I don't think I've been in for any tests recently, but I guess there's something else wrong.

"Jake has quite a few health problems; the fourteenth one is four your calcium deficiency, the doctor sent them over yesterday, sorry kid." I can hear Lash muttering something that sounds almost sympathetic, but I really get uncomfortable when Sheldon or Zach tells people about all my 'deficiencies.' It's not my fault, so there's no reason to feel bad; all that can be done is being done.

"Yeah, no big deal." I put my hand out while looking at Lash and feel Sheldon place the warm mug in my hand, placing one on the counter for Lash before walking over to Zach – who is, once again, looking through his backpack – and placing the money in his hand. I walk over and grab my bag, autopilot starting to switch on.

"That's quite a routine you've got going on." He says, chuckling slightly.

"Yeah; we'd better get going or else we'll miss the bus." Zach has a slightly bitter tone in his voice, but he'll get over it.

"Oh yeah, Lash, do you want to borrow a bag?"

"You have spares? Wait, dumb question; sure, that'd be great." I lead the way to Kelly's office, where he's sitting, sipping his coffee and typing elegantly – I didn't know you could type elegantly, but I can't think of any other word to describe it, it's like he's pressing down on little clouds or something. I knock on the inside of the door quietly and he looks up and smiles.

"Hey there Jake, what can I do for you?"

"Hey Kelly – do you have any spare bags Lash could use for today?"

Kelly ponders a moment before speaking. "I think we do, let's go take a look." He motions for us to follow him to a room just past his office; it's his personal office supply store. I hear Lash quietly say 'you've got to be kidding me' and feel a small smile creep its way onto my face. The house and everything in it is nothing short of overwhelming, but I guess you get used to living a charmed life, no matter how things were before… although I guess most people are born into families like this.

"The back shelf there has school supplies, go ahead and pick a few things; and have a good day today."

Lash speaks as soon as the door closes and we head towards the back wall. "So that's your dad?"

I hesitate for a moment; I'm not really used to that word. "Yeah, yeah he is." I feel pretty blessed to be able to say that word so proudly, but I think I deserve it after all these years. Lash finds a messenger bag similar to mine but with black and white stripes as opposed to my black and white checkers. We run through, quickly grabbing the necessities; binder, notebooks, paper, pencils, eraser, sharpener, ruler, calculator – and are out the door before three minutes is up. I wave to Kelly on our way past and we slide down the banister once more, almost bumping into the impatiently waiting Zach.

"What took you guys so long, we have to go!" He grabs my wrist and once again, we practically jog to the end of the driveway, Lash having no trouble keeping up with us – lucky kid with his long legs. We stop at the gate and I shut it while Zach runs towards the bus and heads moodily to the middle section where his friends are. Of course when Lash and I get on the bus everyone goes quiet and looks at us as if we have chainsaws in our hands. Lash leads the way to the back of the bus and I sit down next to him awkwardly. I have a funny feeling that I'm the only one who's nervous about this whole situation, but I can hardly hear my conscience screaming at me over the loud 'whispers' I'm hearing from all around us.

"Oh my gosh, I told you that new kid was a villain."

"Yeah, I didn't think he actually hung out with Lash."

"I heard they're planning revenge on the school." Oh dear; the last thing I want is for people to start thinking I want revenge… on a school; specifically, a school full of people who can and would kick my ass, probably resulting in a panic attack and possibly brain aneurism. I look over to Lash and see that he is chuckling slightly, obviously aware of the situation but either immune to it or… or Lash really is cooler than I thought.

"Don't worry about it, they'll be whispering about someone else by the end of the day." Alright then, a combination of both. "Hey, are you busy tonight?" I shake my head no; I haven't been busy since I was eight years old. "Awesome; my band's playing tonight at this place downtown, you should come check it out – see if we're really as emo as I make us seem."

I can feel my face turn as red as it can – considering the absolute lack of color it naturally contains – as I remember the day I accidentally blurted out my first impression of the extendible villain I am starting to think of as my friend. "Yeah, that sounds pretty cool." I try hard to appear calm and cool, as if I get asked to go see bands at 'some place downtown' all the time, but I can tell I'm not doing a very good job, as Lash has started laughing once again. I have to admit, his laugh kind of creeps me out, it sounds so… cruel, like a villain in a movie, cackling away at some horrendous thing that they've caused while innocent heroes are on the phone being told of where to go to stop the evil… yeah… I'll stop now; that was awkward, even in my head.

"Cool, we're meeting after school at that coffee shop in the mall and we'll walk down and set up, you can to come early." Sweet, now I can even be a groupie! …er, never mind.