Authors note: Horror struck. I wrote this chapter and was about to publish it, when for no reason it deleted itself. This is very annoying, so this chapter may seem a little rushed. Well, at least the first half. As a response to this, I have decided, as an experiment, to go over the top on the description of thoughts of the characters, especially Fillmore and Joseph. By the way, due to the manner of the comments I have a little experiment, can you post TOXHS at the end of your review. I have also written in a new character, Nick Andrews, a spy like character. He appeared in one of the earlier chapters. If you read this notice can you guess which character he was. I am pretty sure no one reads this section so make sure you post the keyword.

Chapter 21

Fillmore rubbed his eyes as the searing, yet beautiful to sober people, morning sun struck his hangover ruined eyes. He opened one, though only slightly, and saw it was early morning, around nine (he guessed). The dew had wet his back overnight and he had a horrible back and stomach pain. Oh, how much did I drink? He thought, and sat up.

"What the hell," he exclaimed as he looked down to his chest and saw a crudely scrawled note attached to his chest, written on lined paper. He pulled it off and blinked his blurred eyes until he was able to read it.

Hello Fillmore,

It's Edward, and I thought I would leave you out here for the night. I don't envy you, it's going to hurt in the morning when that stunning sun hits your eyes.

-Edward

"Bastard," he mumbled as he fell back to the ground. He sighed when he remembered what happened last night with Ingrid. He had made an enormous mistake last night. He was looking outward, not wanting to blame himself. He was drunk; he said in his mind, he had no control over what he was doing. Fillmore knew this wasn't true, however, he hadn't planned on kissing Ingrid, it just happened. What was worse was now things were going to be difficult with both Ingrid and Joseph, which would make life in the safety patrol so much more difficult.

Ingrid was his partner, and she had shouted at him and told him to never speak to her again. This was putting pressure on everything in his life that he enjoyed. It couldn't go down well if things continued like this. He started thinking ahead, and his headache causing him to get worse, what if Vallejo had to choose between Fillmore and Ingrid.

No! He thought, shaking his head. The pain became unbearable but it did its job, he had forced himself to stop thinking. I have got to get moving, he thought. He forced himself onto his feet and brushed himself down. He pulled the back of his shirt round and sighed, it had a large amount of dirt on it. Ma's going to kill me, he thought.

Fillmore made for the house. To his surprise, many of the lights were off upstairs, so people were still asleep. Fillmore checked his watch, it was 8.43. As he raised his eyebrows his phone beeped. He checked it, it was an update from the AllknowingGal on the gossip website. This should be funny, Fillmore thought.

Update from: AllKnowingGal

Well, well, well, well well well well well well. Last night was great, wasn't it. I bet you are all surprised how early I am up and I doubt any1 will read this until about 5 in the afternoon. Anyway, last night went strange didn't it. That Edward boy punched out a footballer and I saw it, it was so funny, it really was. Who knew Edward was such a monster? I didn't. Karen and Frank hooked up as well, I don't know what went on but I am pretty sure it was naughty. He he he he he he he. I have a massive headache/hangover and im sure every1 else does as well. Dudes and dudets, we consumed half of the worlds alcohol last night and we are alive, how cool is that? I saw a familiar bastard last night, he came in for a minute, stole some cider from the seniors and walked out again. You may remember him, though probably not, everyone was smashed at this point. It was the notorious spy, Nick Andrews. You know, the one with the book about everyone and finds things out in manner that I can't understand. Was he even invited… what a gatecrasher.

The safety patrol started throwing people out, which was fun, as most of the older patrollers were drunk themselves. On the matter of the safety patrol, who can believe that Andy fell asleep on the couch whilst all the fun/music was on, that's impossible. It was mega loud. Danny got off with Megan, which was suprising, I didn't know she was into kids like him. Don't take it personally Danny, we all love you really :P. Also, Fillmore and Edward hanging out, playing chess! At a party! I remember Fillmore from middle school, but I don't remember him being a chess fan, nor the kind of guy that played chess at a party. Edward must have infected him with his weirdness! Noooo, Fillmore fight against it!

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Fillmore chuckled as he read the quite long, with respect to normal, blog from the AllknowingGal. It was amusing to see his name crop up, but a little weird to read that he had been infected by the so called "weird virus or gene". He half stumbled toward the house for cereal and some coffee, which at this point he needed desperately.

He walked through the living room and saw Andy still sleeping on the couch, with "I am a homo" written in biro on his forehead. It was scribbled over and over so when Joseph wrote it Andy must have been out cold. Fillmore chuckled when he saw it, and chuckled more when he realized that when Andy woke up all hell would break loose.

When he entered the kitchen he saw Ingrid making coffee with powder. Oh God, he thought, what am I going to do? Before he could consider Ingrid turned and Fillmore instantly imagined her either ignoring him or shouting. To his surprise, she smiled. "Hello Fillmore," she said.

"Hey Ingrid," he said, barely managing to suppress the wonder in his voice that she was speaking to him. "Listen," he said, building up courage, "about last night…"

"Don't worry about it Fillmore," Ingrid replied, stirring the coffee. "You were drunk, it was an accident, and it doesn't matter."

Seriously, Fillmore thought, there is no way that this could be this simple. "Really?" he said. "I'm sorry Ingrid, I really am."

"It's alright Fillmore," Ingrid said, thinking about her conversation with Edward the night before. "Do you want some coffee?"

"That would be great," he replied, leaning his head on his arm and looking down (away from the sun).

Ingrid smiled nastily to herself and poured the rest of the coffee into the bin next to her. "Sorry, we are all out." She giggled behind her hand.

[X]

Joseph's horrific headache woke him and he moaned in anger. For God's sake, he thought, how bad was last night for me to drink so much? He leaned back on his pillow and sighed when he remembered why he had got so drunk. Fillmore and Ingrid betrayed me, he thought. The memories flooded back to him and they became more detailed.

Joseph checked his watch and sighed again, it seemed to be all he (or anyone) could do at the moment. What was he going to do about Ingrid and Fillmore? The more he thought about it the more he blamed Fillmore and the less he blamed Ingrid. From what he could see, Fillmore had kissed Ingrid. Ingrid looked surprised and he saw it actually happened. She didn't do it.

Ingrid was almost in the clear in his mind, which left Fillmore on his mind. Fillmore had kissed her, and there was no forgiving that (at the moment). Then again, Fillmore was drunk, and he knew that Fillmore had liked Ingrid for a long time, since middle school. He had to think about what he was going to do about Ingrid, before he got together with her, due to Fillmore's feelings.

There comes a point in every teenager's life when he thinks the dreaded thought, why was life so hard? Of course, when each of them thought it, it was different. When Joseph thought it, it was that he didn't know what to do when Ingrid had kissed Fillmore. With Edward, however, he thought it when his leg was in agony, when his mom was puking in the toilet and when he was depressed constantly. Teenagers grow up differently, some more than others.

To help him get up, Joseph rolled out of the bed onto the floor. As he did so, there was a knock at the door. He looked at it: "Who is it?" he called.

"Karen," the voiced called.

"Ok," he called back. "Come in."

Karen opened the door. She was wearing a pink dressing gown with purple areas of fluff around the center line and cuffs. "Have you got a hangover too?" she asked and winked.

Joseph nodded, and it felt like his brain was bashing against his skull. "It's like the world is spinning," he said.

"It kind of is," she replied, and laughed. Karen had always found science related humor amusing; it was a quality that she and Ingrid shared. No one else, however, had that particular part of their sense of humor.

"Funny," Joseph replied sarcastically.

Karen giggled. "Oh by the way," she said. "I have been meaning to ask you, what happened?"

Joseph bit his bottom lip. "Well," he began and trailed off into silence before composing himself. "Ingrid and Fillmore kissed."

"What," Karen gasped.

"It was more Fillmore than Ingrid," Joseph explained, voicing the thoughts that were racing through his head a few minutes ago. "Fillmore was drunk. Besides, he had been acting strange all night."

"Yeah I know," Karen said. She nodded and pulled her phone out of her pocket. She fiddled with it for a second and brought up the allknowingGals page. She handed it to Joseph.

Joseph read through it for a minute or two and then frowned when he read the section about Fillmore. "He played chess at a party, with Edward!" he exclaimed, laughing slightly at the idea.

"Yeah," Karen said and giggled. "Anyway," she said, bringing the conversation away from Fillmore in an effort to cheer Joseph up. "I hooked up with Frank!"

"Really," Joseph said, pretending he didn't already know. "That's great."

[X]

Edward opened the door to the room which he had locked and slept in and snuck past the room Joseph was sleeping in. He crept downstairs and heard Ingrid and Fillmore talking. Problem solved, he thought, whilst reaching into his pockets and taking a painkiller.

"Well how are we, happy campers?" Edward asked, limping into the kitchen.

"Good now," Ingrid said. "Well, at least between me and Fillmore. Between me and Joseph, however, I am not so sure."

Edward turned round to see Andy, asleep on the couch. "Boy, I sure hope no one is asleep!" he shouted in Andy's direction. Andy sat up quickly and fell of the chair.

"Fucking bastard Edward," Andy said, standing up and brushing himself off. "Oh, my head."

"We are all feeling the same, Andy," Fillmore explained. "I think, and I can't be sure because everything is a bit of a blur, that everyone went a bit over the top."

Edward sat down at the table, but on the side so that he wasn't sitting next to Ingrid and Fillmore (who were sitting opposite one another). He got his chess computer out and set up the small, magnetic pieces. "Do you know how antisocial you are?" Andy asked, as he moved toward the table.

"Do you know how ridiculous you look with that on your forehead," Edward replied, without looking away from the board, planning the whole game ahead.

"What do you mean," Andy asked, standing up to look in the window as a mirror as Fillmore and Ingrid sniggered. "Oh for fucks sake," he muttered and ran out of the room. Ingrid, Fillmore and Edward heard him run up the stairs and shout.

"Joseph! Joseph!" they heard. "You bastard!"

Ingrid and Fillmore burst into fits of laughter at the sound. Edward, as usual, did not respond. He was making moves at an alarming rate and he was crushing what appeared to be a skilled computer.

Edward's phone, a debatable phone (it looked more like an old brick), rang in a traditional, old-style phone ring. He walked out of the room leaving Ingrid and Fillmore wondering who was calling him.

"Hello?" Edward said down the phone.

"Hello Edward, it's Nick," Nick said.

"What is it?" Edward asked.

"I have another copy of one of my notebooks on our grade," Nick explained. "Though it will cost you."

Edward got money through selling computer software that he had created online, turning quite a good profit. "Fine, who does it include?" Edward asked. "Why is it extra?"

"Well," Nick said. "There is a new student coming, I forgot to mention it when I gave you the earlier disk. I had been digging in the written personal records forms for it. I think his name was…"

[X]

Fillmore's phone beeped signaling that he had got a text. He frowned and picked his phone out of pocket.

Hello Fillmore.

Guess what, we are moving. I am coming back to X high school after a long while away. Sorry for not telling you sooner, I wanted it to be a surprise. I have spoken to Vallejo, and I am back on the safety patrol starting Monday, when I will be back at San… Anyway, I will see you on Monday.

"What is it Fillmore?" Ingrid asked, frowning at Fillmore's expression.

"I got a text," he said. "From Wayne, he is coming back!"

End of Chapter 21

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