Nigel's phone rang and he answered it.

"Hello?...Hi mum...at Abby's? I told dad tha...Oh, I forgot about that...leaving when?...Okay...I'll come home now then...no we were going to stay overnight...okay. Bye"

He hung up. They all looked at him, wondering what the call was about.

"My dad forgot that we were supposed to be going fishing for the weekend, I need to go home because we're leaving early in the morning." Nigel explained.

They all groaned. "We were going to have a sleepover like we used to. Abby and….Hoagie apparently have already left us" Kuki whined.

"I know, sorry." Nigel sighed. "It was great to spend time with you all anyway. We should do it again."

He stood up, said goodbye and headed upstairs. Kuki followed to let him out and lock the door. When he'd left she headed back downstairs. Wally had shifted on his beanbag so that he was now lying on it. He tipped back the last of the beer and placed the can on the floor.

He looked up at her and gave a small smile.

"Alone at last." He grinned.

Kuki didn't know what to say. She had to admit that she was kind of freaked out, after embarrassing herself walking to the house. She now had to spend the whole night downstairs...alone with him. Maybe she could just go to sleep, or maybe she could get some tips using Abby's wifi and her phone...

He noted her fearful expression. "I'm kidding."

Kuki smiled shyly and sat down. She decided to look at the first photo in the album again. Picking up the book she opened it and stared at how they all used to be.

"It's weird how much we've all changed isn't it?" Wally said. Lay in the bean bag, looking at the ceiling.

Kuki looked up. "I don't think we've really changed...well only Hoagie losing his baby fat."

"I mean in ourselves. Like, us. When we were kids I always thought that you'd be the loud, confident one because you always were so merry and confident." He said.

Kuki thought about it and gave a laugh. He was right. She had gotten quite shy since she'd turned thirteen and they'd stopped playing all the games and became teenagers. Wally was extremely popular from the minute he started school, his good looks and cute accent was a one way ticket into the popular crowd. After he turned thirteen and hormones kicked in, as did his confidence and knowledge that he was hot…girls would practically throw themselves at him and he developed a liking for it. Wally was also fairly athletic, this aspect added with his developed bad boy attitude and lack of interest for school attracted both the males and females. Every group of boys wanted him to be apart of their clique..mostly any girl who had class with hm fantasized about a date with him at least once.

Unfortunately, girl world isn't as simple as that of guys...looks was only one aspect of popularity. Luckily for Kuki...though she didn't know or think it...she was extremely pretty. Her skin was flawless, her face simple and attractive and her rare, amethyst eyes made every girl who looked at her scowl with jealousy. Had Kuki have not been so pretty she'd be classed as 'a complete dork' the kind of girl in class who the populars always closed in on as they had every single reason to pick on them, these poor unfortunate souls would be subject to horrendous bullying and torments throughout the school day by the popular frat boys or hot chick girls who felt the need to pick on others in order to assert their own authority. But, she was only in the 'nerd' column...the classmates who were extremely clever and hard working, therefore, in the popular's eyes, not worthy of being in their presence. they would be prone to simple digs and scoffs if they made a comment in class, sometimes a shove or harsh word in the hallway. From their first day at high school Kuki could see where she stood on the popularity scale, this gave her confidence a great knock and she learned to stay quiet in class to avoid ridicules.

"Yeah, you're right." Kuki nodded. She looked back at the screen. Her attention drew back to the film. The two men had entered a room, not noticing an eerie little girl sat behind them. Kuki bit her lip, she'd seen the film over five times now and this part still freaked her out.

"RAAAA!" Wally's voice made her jump, his arms suddenly grabbing her shoulders.

She sighed out the deep fearful breath that she had just taken. "Wally!"
She hit him sharply on his arm and he gave a sulky expression.

"Okay, you never used to hit!" Wally moaned.

Kuki scoffed. "I always used to hit you!...You always deserved it!"

Wally widened his eyes. "If I said that to you I'd probably get arrested!"

Kuki laughed and gave a shrug. As the film ended she pressed the eject button and took the disk, then pressed the remote to find a channel worth putting on. She glanced at the time and gave a yawn.

"How did me and Abby ever stay up all night?" She laughed. It was one o'clock and she was exhausted. Wally gave a grin.

Kuki chose to put the FOX channel on and turned the volume down so that it was low enough not to bother her trail of thought. She lay back into the bean bag and made herself comfortable. Gazing at the fairy lights above her she began to relax.

"So what you planning to do when we finish school?" Kuki asked.

Kuki looked over and jumped. Wally had obviously moved his bean bag a little closer to her. She hadn't noticed. They were so close now, the bean bags were touching. It was if they were sharing a double bed!

Kuki mentally kicked herself for acting like such a stupid, teenage girl.

"I don't know." Wally shrugged. Putting his hands behind his head. He gave a laugh. "I always liked the idea of being a doctor, you know, cutting people apart and stuff...but...you know...guys like me can't get jobs like that."

Kuki rolled towards him, propping her head up with an arm. "Why not?"

He glanced back at her with a Duh look. "You have to be smart to be a doctor!"

"You're smart." Kuki shrugged. Wally blew a raspberry in disbelief. Kuki sat up. "You are!"

Wally shook his head. "Nah, I'll end up getting a job in a garage and something and being stuck there until I retire."

Kuki shook her head. She spoke timidly. "Wally stop it."

She had a hurt look in her eyes and a frown on her face.

"What?" He asked, propping himself up to look at her.

"Don't talk about yourself like that." Kuki scolded in a low voice. "You are smart. You can do whatever you put your mind to."

"You can't say that about me." Wally laughed, placing his hands back behind his head carelessly. "I've always been the underachiever. You've always been the smart one."

Kuki shook her head. "Only because you can't be bothered. If you put your mind to it you could easily get the grades."

"Yeah...right." Wally agreed sarcastically. Kuki frowned at him. The last time she'd seen him this insecure was when they were ten years old and he was embarrassed about his fear of water when his father had bought the pool.

She sat up fully and scooched over to him. She then pulled him to make him sit up and pulled him into a hug.

"You know I'd never lie to you Wally, I KNOW that you're smart, and you could be anything that you want to be. You just need to work hard for it."

His arms snaked around her hips. She heard him sigh and felt his cheek on her head. His grip tightened, he then let her go and smiled at her. "Thanks Kuki."

She smiled at him.

Kuki stood up and headed to her bag. Pulling out her pyjamas.
"I just need to change." She said.

She walked out and headed upstairs. Along the hallway and into the bathroom. She changed into her pink pyjama top with white, rainbow monkey patterned hot pant bottoms. She then looked at herself in the mirror. Deciding she looked a little rough she ran the hot tap and helped herself to Abby's aloe vera face wash. She then dried her face and topped it with moisturiser. Staring back into the mirror she fixed her hair and proceeded to walk out of the bathroom.

As she walked along the landing she heard faint mutters from Abby's room.

"Hey, look at this picture!" Hoagie whispered, a hysterical laugh in his tone. "I'm gonna post it!"

Abby sniggered back.

Kuki smiled as she heard them both giggle and chatter together. They sounded comfortable and happy. They sounded normal.

She headed back down the stairs and into the basement. Wally was still in the position that Kuki had left him in, now flicking through the television channels.
He looked up at her and blinked.

"Wow." He said.

Kuki blinked at him. "What?"

"N...nothing." Wally replied. Looking back at the television.

Kuki felt his eyes turn back to her and felt uncomfortable. She rushed back onto her space on the beanbag. Picking up a throw blanket and throwing it over herself to hide her body.

Wally turned off the television and rolled over to face Kuki.

"Abby and Hoagie still awake?" He asked.

Kuki nodded with a smile. "Yeah, they were just lay there laughing at stuff by the sound of it."

Wally gave a chuckle. "He is so getting grilled for that in the morning. I'm just going to the bathroom…"

"Why is he so scared of what people think?" Kuki asked aloud. Staring at the fairy lights.

Wally glanced over to her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean. He's always happy talking to you and Abby, no matter who's around, because you're both cool. But when it's me or Nigel...It's like he has to check that no-one's around to see it."

Wally shrugged. "You know he's always had this urge to fit in. Once he lost that weight he started to get accepted, I think he was just so scared of being an outcast. Don't take it too harsh. He'll see that the friendship's more important than what people think. Especially if Abby's got something to do with it."

Kuki laughed. "I guess...Why did you never care? You never seemed to worry about people seeing you walk with me in the hall, or sit with me in class."

"Why would I?" Wally asked.

"You're one of the coolest guys in school. Most of the popular kids hate me." Kuki replied.

This time, it was Wally's turn to sit up. "I don't care what they think. I never asked to be popular. They can say what they want. You've been one of my friends for nearly ten years. A bunch of shallow idiots can't change that."

Kuki beamed. "Who are you and what have you done with Wally?"

"What?" Wally asked.

"The little tough guy I used to know would have never said that." Kuki laughed.

Wally rolled his eyes at her. "Shut up!"

"Yay! He's back!" She chirped.

Wally gave a laugh. "You sounded like ten year old Kuki just then too."

Kuki laughed and pulled out her phone. Her facebook had numerous notifications.

"Wow, Hoagie's tagged me in some photos." She stated.

Wally leaned over to look. Kuki smiled when she saw them. The group pictures of the five, the picture of a confused Wally and Kuki. The seflie of Kuki and Hoagie.

"I think he's stopped caring what people think." Kuki smiled, looking at the tagged photo, which would be posted all over Hoagie's wall for his friends to see.