"Come on, guys, please!"

Alicia's voice can be heard from Derrick's locker, which is odd because she's not even in sight. Chris would know. He checked. She's not that hard to pick out of a crowd—there's something about her that's easy to find. She sounds like she's begging, though, and Chris realizes he doesn't like the way that sounds.

"I didn't peg her for the loud type," Derrick comments, counting quickly on his fingers. It's his own special way of figuring out if he has homework. Don't ask him to explain; he never does.

Cam shrugs. "She's tiny. Tiny people have big personalities."

Chris notices them as soon as they enter his line of vision. Skye's got her multi-colored-blonde hair in a messy braid, Alicia's hugging two textbooks to her chest, and Massie's biting her lip. He can't tell what they're arguing over, but Alicia looks sad and Skye has this expression of adamant determination.

"I wish she'd talk to me," Derrick says wistfully. Cam rolls his eyes and mouths, He does this all the time. Chris stifles a chuckle. "Ever since she cried on me, I feel like she's ignoring me."

"Well, you're not exactly friends…" Chris states bluntly.

"And you're not exactly friends with Massie!" Derrick shoots back, running a hand through his messy hair. "But you went off to act like Mr. Fucking Hero anyway."

"That's different."

"Different how?"

Chris opens his mouth to explain because he has a killer defensive argument, but Cam steps in, sighing and sound tired. "Can we not fight over two girls we barely know?" he asks. "Especially if they're going to be passing us very soon? I'm not in the mood for this right now."

Derrick grumbles something, kicking a locker.

"…not going bowling, Leesh. We can do something else…"

Bowling?

If they're not exactly friends, Chris thinks, why not change that?

"You're going bowling?" he questions loudly.

All three girls stop and turn on their heel to look at him in such synchronization it freaks him out. Do they practice things like that? Honestly. It's like they're triplets or something.

Skye shakes her head. "No. We're not."

"But… please?" Alicia pouts.

"I hate bowling," her blonde friend explains with a sigh, as if she's always telling her this.

"Bowling's fun, though," Cam puts in. "I mean, it's more fun than anything we'd ever be doing tonight. I think you should go."

Skye glances at him, narrowing her eyes slightly as she looks him over. "I have nothing against bowling, Cam. I'm just a terror and should never be allowed near a bowling ball ever again."

"That was one time." Massie finally speaks up. She sounds tired. Chris feels bad that he hadn't had the opportunity to talk to her last night—he was kinda busy… Still, he offers up a slight smile when she catches her eye. She barely reciprocates.

"That guy went to the hospital!" exclaims the blonde, throwing her hands up in the air for emphasis. Chris hears Derrick laugh but he's too busy trying to figure out what possibly could be wrong with Massie to wonder what's so funny.

Did something happen at home? He knows he's not exactly close to her, but he knows enough to be aware—only slightly—of her personal situation, with her crazy mother (who most likely should be on antidepressants or bipolar medication or something) and her workaholic dad.

She'd tell him… right? Well, he hopes she would since he actually does care about her wellbeing. He wasn't kidding about that. He wants to be friends, even if he gets weird feelings and thoughts when they're alone. He wants to help… she could be the one to help him, too, if he only let her in.

It's hard to do that, though, and he feels even weirder that she didn't even let him in and he knows about her. If only Kristen weren't such a humongous bitch sometimes and left her mouth shut. Maybe then he'd be able to feel less uncomfortable.

"…so I apologized, right? And all he did was yell at me in German and stormed off to the nearest hospital." Skye sighs. "That's why I can't go bowling. I basically got kicked out of there for the rest of my life."

"Oh, shut up," Alicia teases, "there's more than one bowling alley in the vicinity and you weren't even kicked out. We left when we wanted to. No one cared. They thanked you for getting rid of him." Turning to face the boys, she adds, "He was apparently the most annoying customer they've ever had with really weird requests. I wouldn't be surprised if they have a framed photo of Skye hanging on their wall."

"I wouldn't be surprised if anyone else did either…" Cam mutters under his breath, casting a quick look at Derrick.

Chris grins.

"Wait, seriously? You're that bad?" Derrick inquires, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't think it was possible for someone to bowl backwards."

Skye shoves him into the metal lockers. "And you're the god of bowling?"

"I'm not one to brag, but yes."

"I feel like that's the kind of story you can hear but you won't believe until you see it actually happen," Cam notes thoughtfully. "I would like to see you hit someone in the shin with a bowling ball. But only if you'd let me."

Skye looks murderous. Cam merely raises his hands up in surrender and shakes his head as if he means to say no hard feelings?

Chris watches Massie out of the corner of his eye, notices she's barely paying attention to the conversation, and that her face is pale again. Had she…? He swallows, hoping she didn't, before he opens his mouth to speak.

"Well, Alicia, if you want to go bowling and they don't, I'm pretty sure all three of us would go with you."

Cam nods enthusiastically. "Anything to avoid another awkward movie night at Dylan's!" He appears happier than he's ever been. "What time do you want to go? What alley? I'll walk there if I have to."

"That's not necessary, I'll drive," Derrick announces.

"Really?" Alicia asks, a faint pink coloring her cheeks.

"Yep," Chris responds. "I don't mind bowling and you sound like you really want to go…"

The Latina turns around and sticks her tongue out at her two friends. "At least someone wants to go with me!" She grins in triumph.

Chris watches interestedly as Skye glances at Derrick and then back at Alicia repeatedly. He wouldn't have picked up on the action if Alicia hadn't told him and Cam that Skye had a crush on Derrick, but she did, so now he notices every little detail.

The blonde sighs in a way that makes him feel like she's just signed her death wish. "You can't just go alone…" she deliberates, making a face. "I guess I can potentially put another life in danger for you."

"Mass?" Alicia asks.

And for some reason, Chris feels a weird pull in his stomach, almost as if he's riding on Massie's answer. He wants her to go so badly so he can see her—and he's not sure why he's feeling this way.

Like Derrick said earlier, he barely knows her.

The brunette coughs, shrugging one shoulder. "I guess. I wasn't really against it in the first place."

"We're going to have to take two cars now," Derrick points out. "I mean, we could all squish into mine but it's not going to be comfortable…"

"It's cool. I'll take my car, too."

"I'm riding with Chris," Skye immediately announces. And when Derrick looks at her in confusion, she blushes a deep red and mumbles something about going home with Massie who would most likely be getting a ride with the boy in question anyway.

But Massie doesn't seem to hear her.

Chris lightly touches her shoulder. She jumps about three feet in the air, whipping her head around. "You scared me!"

"Sorry," he whispers. "I'm just… are you okay? You seem off."

She nods curtly. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just a lot on my mind. Don't worry about me."

Chris stares at her, wants to say something else, something like you can talk to me, you know. He doesn't, however, and relents. Her excuse seems like a legitimate reason. He can't interrogate her for thinking, can he?

::

Chris hasn't been to this bowling alley since he was eleven—he thinks it's then, but he could be wrong—and he feels as if it hasn't changed at all. It's still as shiny as ever. The sounds are slightly soothing, even though he really doesn't know why.

The car ride over was awkward, to say the least. Anyone could tell that Skye was more than relieved to be away from Derrick and all he could hear was hushed conversations between Massie and Skye, even though Massie was sitting shotgun. Then, eventually, they fell into a routine of texting each other when they needed to say something they couldn't discuss in front of him.

He was tempted to tell them he didn't care if they talked about Derrick out loud—he wouldn't tell him anything. Unless Skye completely tore him to shreds, then Chris would most likely tell his best friend to drop his crush on her and leave it be.

But when they got there, things lightened up considerably.

Alicia grabs Skye's hand and pulls her off to get shoes. Cam watches her go, an expression on his face that Chris can't quite pinpoint.

"Dylan told me Kristen cancelled the dinners," Derrick begins, making a face. "What's that all about?"

Chris shrugs. "She said she thought they were boring or some shit yesterday. Stopped them completely. Not like I'm complaining."

"Best decision that girl's ever made." Cam salutes.

"I guess so."

"Well now it doesn't interfere with your sessions anymore," Derrick points out, casually glancing over at Massie. Chris rolls his eyes at him—they're all well-aware Massie knows he goes to the therapist. She did walk in on him. "How was it, by the way? He still being a douchebag?"

"I wouldn't know," Chris replies honestly. "I didn't go."

Massie frowns at him, but says nothing. Cam and Derrick do that for her: "What?"

"I had other… um, plans."

Derrick raises an eyebrow. "The dinners are cancelled. Besides, you never miss out on one of those."

"I figured getting in Kristen's pants was more important than therapy."

Cam blinks at him. "You're serious?"

"She finally decided to let you in?" Derrick looks incredulous. "Never would have expected that."

Massie looks pained and coughs awkwardly. "I'm… gonna go… over there." She points to where her friends are, hopping on one foot as they try to take their shoes off. Alicia almost falls over. "Bye."

She scurries off and Derrick watches her in amusement. "We probably should have waited until she left before we started discussing this."

Cam sighs, rubbing his face, ignoring Derrick's comment. "Are you serious right now, dude? Because Kristen doesn't look like the type to drop her pants. Ever. At all. In front of a boy, at least."

"Well, she did," Chris responds. "Even I was confused, but I wasn't going to test her."

The three of them started heading towards the shoe exchange. "So, like, how was it?" asks Derrick, pulling his shoe off.

"Um, normal?" Chris answers. "She seemed to like it…"

"Again, she doesn't seem like the girl to like sex." Cam slips the girl behind the counter a twenty, following his friends as they walk over to merge with the three other girls. Alicia's bouncing on her toes, Skye's scowling at the line of bowling balls she could choose from, and Massie's sitting idly, eyes set straight on the lane before her.

Chris shrugs. "Not complaining. Now Josh can't tease me endlessly, you know?"

"That got so annoying," Derrick complains, lacing up his shoes. "It's not our faults that his girlfriend put out three months into the relationship sophomore year."

"Who?" Alicia asks, wrinkling her nose.

"Claire and Josh."

"Not classy." Skye shakes her head. "But what more do you expect? She's not exactly the epitome of sophistication."

Cam nods in agreement. "But that doesn't matter to him. He thinks that everyone's girlfriends should be putting out like his does. Or that we should at least be getting some from random girls at parties. Sorry, but I don't do that." He shrugs. "Not sure if it's because I'm old-fashioned, but I'd rather do it with someone I actually like, you know?"

Chris glances over at Massie again and really wants to ask her if she's sure she's okay, but before he can even move closer to her, Alicia opens her mouth and declares they start bowling.

They make Skye go first. The blonde glowers at them, but grabs a ball anyway, and throws it down the lane.

She actually does suck. Granted, she knocked down three pins, but it's a surprise she even managed to do that.

Alicia's better than she is and she kind of twirls around before tossing the ball gracefully. She explains to them afterwards that she's a dancer—jazz, tap, hip hop, ballet—and it makes things a little more fun.

By the time it's Derrick's turn to go, Chris' phone vibrates in his pocket and he stops paying attention.

From: Kristen
Are you guys coming to Dylan's tonight?

He looks around. His friends are legitimately enjoying themselves and even Massie stopped being antisocial to laugh at Derrick. He types out a response, telling her that they're probably not, sorry, and waits for her to answer.

Why?

We're bowling.

"Chris! You're up!"

He grabs the ball and, barely paying attention, manages to get most of the pins down in one shot. He can hear Skye complain that she's the only one who can't bowl to save her life and he grins, knocking the rest of them down in order to get a spare.

Upon sitting down, he grabs his phone again.

Lmao seriously?

He bites his lip and types back: yes. He's not going to lie to her.

She responds back so quickly he wonders if she was waiting for him to text her back. He barely notices Massie staring at him, too absorbed in his phone to pay her any attention.

Why would you do that? That's so like middle school

You know how Derrick has that thing for Skye Hamilton? Her friend Alicia wanted to go bowling so he jumped on the bandwagon and dragged us along with him

So it isn't exactly a lie… Derrick does like Skye and he did agree to go because she was going. Chris doesn't know why he's telling his girlfriend this because last time, Kristen flipped that he was carrying Massie Block's books to her class for her. He hopes she doesn't call him to yell.

"Skye really does suck," Chris says, turning to Massie.

She swallows her French fry before responding. "Yeah, but look. She's getting better."

It's true. She actually managed to get the ball to go in a straight line after Derrick told her to try following through afterwards. It's what they do in basketball. For some reason, it actually works.

"True. So… are you sure you're okay? You still seem out of it."

Massie rips up her napkin into tiny pieces. "I'm fine. Still have a lot on my mind."

"You can, um, tell me, you know," he says slowly. "I said I'd help you."

"Oh." Massie blinks. "I'm fine, though. Don't worry about me." She forces a smile but he's not convinced. "Really, Chris. It's cool. I don't need you all the time."

You barely need me, he thinks. For once, he wishes she would talk to him about what's bothering her, but she barely opens her mouth when she's uncomfortable with something. His phone vibrates again and he turns back to the conversation with his girlfriend.

Aw I'm glad he finally decided to go after what he wants. I think they'd be cute. Have fun!

Chris is majorly confused by her change in heart but doesn't push it. Instead, he responds again and they end up texting nonstop about all the things that Kristen's doing (Dylan's trying to force them to watch Remember Me but Claire hates Rob Pattinson no matter what movie he's in).

He tells her that Derrick's been trying to teach Skye how to bowl for an hour but it's not really working. She thinks that's funny. He likes the way she's so cool with this right now. Maybe it's because he never mentioned Massie, but he doesn't know.

He's so absorbed in his conversation that he doesn't really hear Massie announce she's going to the bathroom, Alicia can play for her if she wants, she'll be right back. He doesn't realize all the French fries are gone and she drank her entire Sprite.

And when she returns, he doesn't realize she smells like that perfume she always wears and she's chewing two pieces of gum.