"Ah she lives, good morning sunshine. I thought we were going to send in a search and rescue team," Lori laughed, sitting at the table in her robe and coffee mug.

Jess smiled and made her way to the fridge, grabbing some OJ and pouring her a heaping glass. She scratched the back of her head, looking into the living room with a puzzled look.

"Auntie, where's Erin?"

"Oh, she hasn't surfaced from her room yet. Why don't you go check if she's awake?"

"Psssh, I'm not moving, "Jess sighed, flopping onto the couch, pulling out her cell phone. She took a moment and listened for moment in the spare bedroom.

"I'll be out in five," shouted a voice.

"See," Jess smiled towards Lori, "friend intuition."

Five minutes later emerged Erin, Jess' best friend. Erin had curly chocolate hair like Jess, but a couple shades darker. Her chocolate eyes peaked through the mass of hair in front of her face. She wore an olive t-shirt with a pair of black shorts and black converse.

"Hello friend, "Jess got up from her spot on the couch, adjusting her blue summer dress. " You ready to go?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," she shrugged her shoulders, grabbing a pop tart and heading towards the door.

"You girls have a good first day; it's your senior year, so go have fun!"

"Yup," they chorused, closing the door and driving to Dillon High.

"So, anything I should know about moody-pants," Erin poked Jess in the shoulder as they pulled out of the driveway.

"Um, I really haven't seen anyone all summer, 'cept a few. And I'm so glad you're here for senior year."

"Hey, no problem, you needed help raising a little hell. Boston was getting boring without you."

"Good to know," Jess smiled, pulling into the parking lot of school.

"So," Erin exited the car and pulled her purse on her shoulder. "Office?"

"Office," Jess nodded, "I'll bring you there and bring you to your first class then I think you'll be okay."

"I can take care of myself," Erin laughed.

"Yeah," Jess giggled, "You're tough like that."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Walking down the hallway towards the lunch room, Jess searched for her friends as she wanted to stop by her locker first. She ran into a girl she hadn't met before; accidentally spilling a notebook or two of theirs.

"I'm sorry, shoulda been lookin' where I was going..." the nameless girl apologized.

"Eh it's okay, I never liked pre-calculus anyways. My name's Jess."

"I'm Brandi, Brandi Rose, I'm actually looking for Julie Taylor, and we've hung out a lot over the summer."

"Oh nice, I know Julie! We haven't hung out too much, but still great friends nonetheless."

"Well, you want to go to lunch with me?"

"Sure why not, anything to get away from these obnoxious girls."

"Rally girls," laughed Jess.

"Whatever they are, just get them outta my way."

Both Brandi and Jess made their way to the lunchroom. They squeezed through the throngs of rally girls and football players until they made it to an empty table. A couple minutes later, Erin, Tyra, and Julie made their way to the table.

"What a second, how do you, when did you-" all the girls said simultaneously, breaking into laughs. The girls enjoyed their lunch, chatting about classes and such.

At one point in time, the footballers made their way over towards their table, saying hi and asking how their summer went. Landry came over wearing his # 85 jersey.

"Well hey ladies, how y'all doin' today?"

"Well Landry, I've been better" Jess, the only downer of the responses.

"Oh shut up Jess," Erin scoffed, "You're fine you haven't seen- oh, never mind."

Just as Erin spoke a number 33 jersey came into view, shuffling over to their table.

"Afternoon ladies, Tyra, Taylor... Daniels." he uttered, nodding in her direction.

"Riggins," she nodded, avoid his eyes and grabbing her bag and leaving the lunch room.

Making her way through the hall, Jess made it to the library; sitting at a table and burying herself in a book. A body sat next to her, resting their face on their hand.

"Having a nice first day aren't we?"

Jess peaked over her book and breathed with a sigh of relief.

"I've had better days Matt, how's life?"

" Not that bad, that new J.D McCoy kid is gonna run me out of a job and my grandma is losing her mind, other than that...." he trailed off, looking outside, " What's eating you?"

"Nothing, just keeping myself immersed in my school work and avoiding certain football players."

"Riggins?"

"Ugh, yeah, we kinda broke it off."

"He said you ended it?"

"And how did you know that?"

"Well what else is there to talk about at practice?"

"Oh really? What else do football players talk about," Jess stood up, Matt following in suit.

"He's with Lyla Jess."

Jess' stomach dropped. "Good to know; thanks Matt."

She made her way out of the library, leaving Matt to his own. Jess snuck past the office, sneaking out to her spot in the bleachers.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

She hummed her way towards the bleachers, making her way to about the middle, propping her legs up. She kept humming the same tune, writing down the same words in her notebook.

When I met you, I didn't know what to do.

I was tired I was hungry I fight.

Now I'm away, I write home everyday

and I see you on the TV at night

She laughed, "This could be something," she pulled out her phone and texted Landry, informing him of her excitement. She leaned back and basked in the sun; sinking into a glorious nap.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Jess, Jess, JESS," Erin's voice rang in her ears, shaking Jess back to reality.

"I'm up; I'm up, oh hello gorgeous." Jess cocked her head to side, standing up and adjusting herself.

"I've been looking all over for you."

"Sorry that I booked it at lunch; I kinda have a habit of doing that nowadays."

"Well I don't care, I'm hungry. Shall we go now?"

"Sounds like a plan, I'm thirsty."

"Good, after you left we planned, we being Tyra, Julie, Brandi, and I decided we want to go to the Alamo Freeze."

"Okay, but first we need a pick me up."

"I thought you'd never ask," Erin smiled, resting her arm on Jess' shoulder as they made it to her truck.

"I have to run by Landry's; I need to chat with regarding important matters."

"Don't bother, he's coming too."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The Alamo Freeze was packed to the nines, just as predicted. Thankfully seats were saved for them as Erin and Jess, pulled into the parking lot. Smash waved from behind the counter as they made their way to the back of the restaurant. They sat down, picking off everyone elses food that was already order. Jess grabbed Landry's soda and took a sip, following it with sip of her flask.

"So...." Landry spoke, grabbing his soda back from her hand. "You had something you wanted to say to me?"

"OH YEAH," Jess exclaimed, waving her arms a bit freakishly. "I have been humming this tune in my head and I think I got something going."

"Well what does that mean for me?"

"Landry, I want in your band. I need something to do after school besides mope around."

"You got that right," Erin agreeing, rolling her eyes.

Jess eyes her friend and stuck her tongue out. "Well at least 'til I find a job Landry."

He smiled, stretching his arms behind and scratching his head. "Well, it sounds like a plan. We have band practice tomorrow; we'll have it in the music room."

"Awesome, "Jess leaned over and kissed Landry on the cheek. " Thanks so much; no if you'll excuse me, I need to use the restroom."

Jess scooted out of her chair and made it to the other side of the room, saying sporadic "hellos". As she entered the bathroom, she opened the door, making into a stall before hearing two other voices.

"So how are things with you and Tim?"

Jess' ears perked up, straining to recognize the voices, until she heard almost Satan herself.

"We're actually doing pretty well actually; he might have a chance at college. Some letters of interest have been coming his way..."

"Well that's good, how's things with you?"

"Well I don't know about Vanderbilt yet, but that's where I've always wanted to go."

Jess rolled her eyes, flushing the toilet

"Lyla."

"Jess."

They nodded silently as Jess washed her hands. She turned and headed out of the restroom.

Heading back towards the table, the rest of the group getting up.

"Where were you," Julie asked, sliding a book into her bag.

"Yeah, I thought we had to send in a search party," Brandi laughed.

"Oh nothing. You ready to go?" Jess turned towards Erin, jingling the keys.

"Well, actually since you rendezvous to the restroom, I'm going to go get started on the project I was assigned in English Lit with Brandi. See you later at home?"

"Yeah, sure," Jess turned towards the door, walking in unison with Landry towards their vehicles. "So I'll see you tomorrow after school for practice right Landry?"

"Actually, I have something going on tomorrow. How about Thursday? I have another independent study this year at the end of the day. Just pop in then."

"Okay, will do."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The next couple of days went by rather quickly, the way Jess liked it; the sooner the weekend the better. She practically skipped to Landry's independent study on Thursday, humming the whole way. The rest of the band was tuning, prepping, and diddling as Jess entered.

"So Landry, I have a tune and a chorus I've been humming all week. I need your divine expertise to help me out."

"Well let's get going."

They played and brainstorm until the end of the day until just before the last bell of the day rang.

"Well Miss Daniels, I think we might have something here."

"Landry Clarke, would I ever let you down?"

"Of course not, theirs a talent show next week, like a 'Welcome Back To School, Let's Unite sort of thing', we should enter."

"Aye Aye Captain, now go to practice, I don't want you getting in trouble."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Jess drove to the convenient store, blaring the radio. She was on a mission, and if she was to fail this mission her friends would beat her. She sauntered into the store and bought a big huge bottle of Amaretto and Coke. Thank goodness for allowance wielding aunts. She made her way back to the school to find Brandi and Erin sitting outside near the fence, chatting. The football practice had ended and the football players were exiting the field house.

"Good evening ladies," Jess smiled, carrying her brown bag. "I thought I would award you for being such upstanding scholarly students."

Both of the girls laughed, standing up peeked in the bag.

"Oh, very nice choice," Erin smiled.

A couple football players, including Riggins made their way over to them.

"Whatcha' up to ladies?" Tim spoke, standing in a relaxed stance, eyeing the brown paper bags.

"Nothing," Brandi and Erin chorused, smiling brightly.

"I find that hard to believe," Bradley scoffed, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, come on now Jess, what are you up to?" Jamarcus raised an eyebrow.

Jess turned to face them all, plastering a smile on her face.

"We're making memories, what do you think we're doing?"

Tim modified his stance, placing his hands on his hips. "Well aren't we invited?"

"Nope," Jess answered, much to Erin and Brandi's dismay. "Girl's Only."

The guys groaned, "Well that's no fair. But we'll see you tomorrow right? There's a party down at the lake after the game against West Cambria."

"We'll be there," Erin piped in, making sure Jess couldn't say no.

The girls turned towards the field, enticing the boys as they stood there stupid.

"G'night Girls." Riggins shouted from the fence.

Brandi, Jess, and Erin waved and made their way to the sidelines, opening up the bottles and making their drinks. Jess raised her glass, signaling for Brandi and Erin to do the same. They downed their drinks. They continued to do the same until they finished the bottle. By that time they were making fun of cheerleaders, waving their pretend pom- poms.

"GO PANTHERS!" they yelled, running around the fifty yard line.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Song of the Day- Girls Just Wanna Have Fun- Cyndi Lauper

Hope y'all like it. Oh and I'm looking for some help, kind of a secret mission for someone. Message me if you're interested. Amaretto on me!