Joslyn was working at her job after school in the local comic shop when Nate of all people walked in.
"Joslyn, since when do you work here?" He asked surprised to see her although she didn't seem surprised to see him. Then again she knew he kept comic books in his backpack, he didn't know that she had ever so much as picked one up.
"Just started a month ago" she responded from the counter clearly enjoying that fact that in the empty shop he couldn't ignore her. She was being patient with him but it was the beginning of November and he still had barely spoken to her since last May.
Nate went over to a shelf and quickly selected the comic he had come here for, normally he liked to look around at the other stuff in the shop but with Joslyn working he just wanted to get in and out as fast as he possibly could. So he grabbed the book and put it on the counter then went through his wallet for the money as Joslyn rang it up.
Ok this is pathetic Nate thought as he took out his money, he was not about to start only going to his favorite comic shop when a certain person wasn't working just because he made her mad a few months ago.
"Hey um listen I'm, I'm really sorry about what I said a while ago. I didn't know about your dad" he apologized handing Joslyn the money. She put it in the cash register, gave him his change and put the comic book in a bag.
"You didn't say anything that had to do with my dad, I just chose that moment to tell you about him" She said but as she handed Nate the bag she grinned.
"But if you really feel that bad then apology accepted" she said causing Nate to smile just a little as he left.
Mikey could barely watch as Vanessa attempted the different obstacles at the old skate park. Sometimes he wondered why she didn't compete, she was good enough to in his opinion but according to her she wouldn't stand a chance. He tried a few things himself but for the most part he was content sitting on the ledge of the half pipe watching his friend and trying to get some homework finished.
"Have you studied at all for the French test tomorrow?" He asked her when she finally stopped to catch her breath
"A little" she replied grabbing her water bottle, Mikey knew that by a little she meant that she had skimmed the vocab list.
Taking a long sip of her water she sat down next to him taking off her helmet and leaning her head back against the rail.
"So has Gus been driving you as crazy as Becky's been driving me?" She asked, Vanessa normally wasn't one for gossip but if her sister was driving her nuts then she made an exception.
Gus and Becky had been dating ever since Halloween and it was starting to bother Vanessa that sitting with her friends at lunch no longer meant sitting far from her sister.
Mikey shrugged "I don't know I think it's just going to take some getting used to"
Vanessa nodded "yeah I guess, god I never thought I'd see my sister with a boyfriend" she said slightly chuckling. Then again maybe that was just something normal for siblings, you know that the day will come when they begin dating but for the life of you it's impossible to picture.
"Hey it's not like there aren't any guys who like you, I can think of a few who have told me how pretty they think you are" Mikey said just trying to be nice but Vanessa glared at him.
"Why would they tell you?" She asked almost offended, she didn't really believe that people thought she was pretty but if someone did, why were they telling Mikey?
Mikey only shrugged thinking that he probably shouldn't say anything more so Vanessa rolled her eyes and stood up
"Whatever" she mumbled strapping her helmet back on and heading down the half pipe. At the other side of it she tried a flip she was yet to perfect, maybe her skill level wasn't high enough or she was still grumbling about her conversation with Mikey and her focus was off. Whatever it was something went wrong.
Mikey saw Vanessa fall off her board in midair and heard her let out a short shriek in fear before her head made contact with the wood of the ramp, effectively knocking her out.
"Vanessa!" Mikey exclaimed sliding down to the bottom of the ramp on his back and springing to his feet the second he could.
He dropped to his knees besides Vanessa's unconscious form desperately shaking her arm
"Vanessa, hey Vanessa wake up. Come on Vanessa wake up, get up" he pleaded. She turned her head to the side and moaned which sent a huge wave of relief over Mikey. Turning her head back his friend opened her eyes before rubbing them as she sat up
"Dah! That, that hurt!" She exclaimed as she got to her feet and went to grab her discarded skateboard
"You're ok?" Mikey asked watching her carefully and quickly getting to his feet upon noticing that she was swaying from side to side.
"Yeah I, I'm, I'm fine. I'm fine" She answered but her words slurred together like those of a drunken sailor.
Suddenly she went down again face first but this time Mikey grabbed her from behind and held her up. Standing there with Vanessa's limp body in his arms he tried to think of what to do, she wasn't heavy but she lived three streets away and due to how far behind the factory the skate park was it would feel more like five, he couldn't carry her all that way. But neither one of them had a phone so he'd just have to wait until she woke up and then hope she didn't pass out again on the walk home. So he carefully laid her down where they were at the base of the ramp and after that was done he went to grab her skateboard. Just as he picked it up he heard her moaning again behind him and turned to see her sitting up.
"Don't get up, just sit there while I grab my stuff" he ordered before hurrying back to the ladder to get his stuff, he'd have to come back later for his bike but he didn't mind, it's not like anyone knew it was here and would steal it.
He returned to find Vanessa where he left her taking off her helmet. Slinging his backpack onto his shoulders he picked up her skateboard
"I can carry it" Vanessa protested but Mikey only held out a hand to her, she rolled her eyes but obeyed Mikey's unspoken words and took it allowing him to slowly pull her to her feet.
"Are you good?" He asked wanting to make sure before they began the walk home, the last thing that they needed was for her to faint in the middle of the road.
"Yeah, probably got a concussion but I'm ok" she said, her speech much clearer this time.
"And my friends tease me for wearing a helmet" she joked as they began walking.
They had walked about a street and a half, with Mikey occasionally placing his hand on Vanessa's back for only a second at a time because she swatted his hand away each time insisting that she was fine walking herself.
"Hey thanks for getting me up by the way" she said as they walked
"What you thought I'd just leave you there?" Mikey asked with a chuckle but Vanessa shrugged
"When we were ten Becky and I went camping with our Girl Scout troop and I was really homesick. I got locked outside the cabin one night and granted nobody knew I was out there I had snuck out for some air but I guess I was so homesick that I fainted. When I finally came to I looked at my watch, half an hour had passed and nobody noticed I was lying unconscious in a bush" she said with just a hint of annoyance in her voice.
Mikey just looked down not knowing what to say
"You know it's weird, my dad used to tell us that being twins meant that we would never be alone but it feels like until two years ago I spent most of my life alone, all I did was shut people out" She said seeming to be lost in her thoughts until she looked back at Mikey
"I'm sorry I think my concussion's getting worse, I didn't mean to bore you with any of that" She apologized.
"If this is what you're like with a concussion then you need to hit your head more often" Mikey joked to which Vanessa gave an amused smile
"And why is that?" She asked wondering what the punchline to this joke could be
"Like you said, you shut people out; it's nice to hear you open up" Mikey said causing Vanessa to roll her eyes
"Yeah well don't get to use to it" she said.
What was it with Gretchen and guys she used to hate? First she tutored Vince and was at least back on civil terms with him but now she found herself talking in the hallway with none other than Conrad Mundy. He was a year older than her so one would think that he'd be too caught up in the fun of having made it to his senior year to be talking to someone he had never once said anything to. Gretchen had no idea what made him talk to her all of a sudden, she supposed it was because they were in the same study hall and it was so quiet in there, he just wanted to break the silence. She had to say though she was beginning to like Mundy, he wasn't anything like he used to be. Sure he was still the carefree and trouble causing kid she knew in elementary school but he was different. For one thing his criminal record never got worse than stealing from Kelso's all those years ago, the worst thing he had now was a couple of speeding tickets and he had gotten his grades up. He said that he was joining the marines after graduation and wanted to make sure they thought he was smart enough. Anyways Gretchen would walk with him to study hall and even talk to him during it, something which she never used to do and annoyed the teacher greatly. She was proud of who she was, she had always been the class genius and was currently one of the top kids in her class while Mundy was still on the lower half of his but everything he talked about just sounded so exciting to Gretchen. He'd tell her about the tricks he did with his motorcycle and how he and his friends were fixing up his dads old car to enter it in the demolition derby next year at the fair or how his truck got stuck in a mud pit the last time he went off-roading. It was stuff that had never interested her before; in fact she always hated it. Hearing about how hurt people got doing those types of things she wondered why anybody did them. But when Mundy talked about it he laughed and said how much fun it had been, even if he walked away with an injury. And Gretchen couldn't understand why but every time she heard one of these stories she secretly wished she could do something like that.