Author's note: Here comes the 10th chapter of a Heartless Void filled! This story has also reached past its 100th view! Let's break out the vodka and celebrate! (Not really with vodka though, sorry. Maybe some apple juice?)

Chapter Ten: Nits and Giggles

I wake up and realize that I completely forgot to pack my lunch the night before, so I scramble to get it ready. I just shove in a orange plastic bowl and a colossal can of beef soup and call it a day. I scarf down some cereal, feed the cat, and head out the door. I get up extra early to walk to school. I walk pretty much everywhere I go unless it's too ridiculously far or it's raining. On those occasions, I take the bus. Even when it rains, I'll sometimes take a short walk in bare feet just to enjoy it.

I eventually pass by what I now understand as Jayden's house and my heart skips a beat. I wonder if he's up yet or whether he's already on his way to school. Just then, I see someone come out of the wooden door and stride across the front lawn. Yep, that's him. Crap, now I have to explain why I'm just standing here in front of his house for no apparent reason. He sees me and heads in my direction.

"Hi" he greets. I say hi back.

"So I'm guessing you want to walk to school together?" He guesses.

"Sure." I reply. Whew, I'm glad no awkward and fabricated explanations were required.

We walk to school together for the rest of the time. It's a dewy morning with the smell of pine still fresh in the air and a faint breeze pushing against us. I can't believe my brain has decided to like this boy as more than a friend. No boy has ever done that. What the heck have I gotten myself into? I think of what to say to him and came up with zilch for a while. I then thought about a random joke I made up last week.

"Wanna hear a joke?" I offer.

"Sure" he gleefully accepts.

"How do you make an octopus laugh?"

He takes a minute or two to think up the answer and gives up. "I don't know, how?"

"Ten-tickles!" I reveal.

We both get a great laugh from that, causing a jovial and lighthearted feeling to carry over to school. In English, we review a short story we recently read called the Most Dangerous Game and the teacher asks us some questions.

"What happened in the bedroom?" Our balding spectacled teacher asks in the most subliminally funny way possible.

"Naughty, naughty things..." I whisper to Alex. The answer is, of course, that Rainsford killed General Zaroff, but the wording of that question was just begging for a wrong answer conjured up in the minds of teens.

We both silently snicker, making Jayden look our way.

"What's so funny?" He whispers to us both. We silently explain the joke to him and he joins in our giggle party.

"What is so funny back there?" The teacher spots us and glares in a way that just dares us to challenge him.

Darn, we're in hot water now. Just then, Alex pipes up,

"Umm... We're just wondering what would happen...if..there was a bunch of lice eggs that got into a bowl and it looked like rice and..someone ate it?"

There's an intense moment of silence as the teacher ponders our desperate and improvised response.

To my astonishment, he then starts laughing uncontrollably, doubling over in his chair. Holy cow, I didn't know it was even physically possible for this guy to laugh! Who is this man and what has he done with our English teacher? He sure has an odd sense of humor. After a couple of minutes of his hysterical response with an entire class all staring at him like they just saw a pink gorilla suddenly appear in our classroom, he starts to calm down.

"Okay class, next question:"

After school, I walked home out of the cluster of faces all streaming one way in a current like every dismissal and start on my usual direction home. Jayden greets me with a seemingly cheerful look.

"Hey, what's up?" He chimes.

"Nothing much, just walking home." I reply.

"Want to stop at the park?" He offers. I think about it for a second.

"Sure." We walk over to the park and head to the swing sets first. I guess I could stop for a while. We both get on a swing and competitively propel with all our might to get super high until we could've done a full 360 if we went any higher.

"Victory is mine!" I scream over the squeaking of chain as the swings try to keep up.

"Not if I can help it!" He shouts back.

"I bet I can jump off farther than you!" I challenge.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah really!" I jump off with all my effort, flung into the air and soaring high for about a split second. And then I landed butt first and came skidding downwards across the wooden chips onto my back. I looked around as he tried to beat me and landed stomach-down right next to me.

"Who won?" He looks up and asks

"I think it's a tie" I tell him

We both have one more swinging contest, ending in a tie as well.

"What do you want to do now?" He inquires

"Let's climb some trees!" I propose.

"Alright!"

We both run to the nearest climbable tree and I eventually find myself 20 feet off the ground with Jayden on the branch above me. I look down and suppress a shout. Holy cow. I'm 20 feet in the air. I would totally be hospitalized at the least if I fell from this height. This is kind of scary. Climb trees, I said. What could go wrong, I said. A grimy-looking passerby passes us by, looks up, and catcalls us. What the serious hell just happened? Why did he just catcall us? Is he bisexual or something? When he's out of sight, we both decide to slowly inch our way down the tree, almost falling to our doom a couple of times. We eventually each the ground in one piece.

We both end the day by parting ways and going to our respective homes.

I end up working for hours on one of the school projects I was assigned. It's supposed to be a group project on the different groupings of biological life and their cell differences. But, of course, I got stuck with the bulk of it, as usual. It seems that in every group project there's only one person who cares about it actually getting done. Whatever, at least at home I can listen to Matsune Miku while doing it. My mind eventually wanders over to Jayden. Well, if we can't be together as a couple, then I'm just as fine if we're friends.

Author's note: I'm sooooo sorry about it taking so long to update. There's been lots going on lately. School, family, test ulcers, prior obligations, writer's block, etc. here's the latest chapter and I know it's not much, but I already have a great idea for next chapter's events. Please tune in next time, please try not to get frustrated with me and I will try to deliver as much as possible. Please review, favorite, or any kind of feedback if you can. You don't need an account to post a review and if you favorite it then you'll be notified whenever there's a new chapter.

Happy Halloween and for a special treat, I propose a challenge! Show this video to anyone you know and see how long they can watch it: watch?v=hpP5lh6Pl6c. Warning: this video contains extreme weirdness. Watch at your own risk. Also feel free to post their reactions in a review. Have an awesome one you guys!