"Hey," a short girl with long blonde hair sat at the lunch table next to Axel, followed by a tall skinny boy with jet black hair sitting across from her, "My name's Emily, you can call me Em or Emily. Doesn't matter to me. And this is my friend Dudley."
"My friends all call me Dud," he explained as he opened his bag of chips and offered them to Axel who declined with a shake of her head.
"I'm his only friend and I call him Milk Dud," Emily explained haughtily.
"Hi," Axel croaked out, not having expected this bombardment.
"What's your name?" Dudley asked, mouth full of chips.
"Uh, Axel," she explained.
"Oh that's a cool name," Emily looked at her, "Never met an Axel before."
"Uh yeah, my dad was obsessed with the band Guns N' Roses. He named me after the singer, except we spell it differently."
"Cool," Dudley agreed, "So you're new here?"
"Uh yeah. How'd you know?"
"Never seen you before," Emily explained, "It's a small school. Everyone here has basically been going here since kindergarten."
"Oh," Axel nodded, "So I guess that'll make me an outcast."
"Well, then you're in good company," she pushed her blonde hair out of her face, "Milk Dud and I are also outcasts. Welcome aboard."
Axel just kind of sat there for a moment. Making friends had always come so naturally to her, but that probably was due in part to the fact that she'd been at the same school her whole life. She knew how it was for new kids, they would struggle to make friends, eat lunch alone, and today was the first day of school and she actually had people come up to her wanting to be her friend. This was definitely something she didn't want to turn down unless she wanted to spend the rest of the year eating lunch alone.
So she smiled at them, "So, you guys have lived her your whole lives?"
"I have," Emily answered, "Dud moved here in third grade and we've been inseparable ever since."
"Oh," Axel nodded, "So you guys are a couple?"
Dudley nearly choked on his chips, "Oh hell no."
"Hey!" Emily barked, "You could do a hell of a lot worse than me."
The boy rolled his eyes, "You know that's not what I meant."
"Yeah, yeah," Emily rolled her eyes, "So what do you say? Do you want to make our duo a trio? We've been looking for some fresh meat to sink our teeth into."
A small laugh escaped Axel, "Sure why not?"
"Awesome!" Emily cheered, "Do you want to come over after school? I live just around the corner on Mulberry Street."
"Mulberry Street?" Axel asked, "No kidding?"
"Yeah, do you know it?"
"That's where I live too."
"Oh awesome! We're neighbors! I didn't know any new families were moving in."
"No," Axel shook her head, "Just me. I moved in with my mom about a week ago I guess."
"Ah, okay. So you were living with your dad?"
"Yeah, we lived in Kansas."
"Well that's a big move. What gives?"
Dudley cleared his throat, "Em, she might not want to be full on interrogated in the school cafeteria. Why not wait until we bring her to your place and we have the water boarding equipment in place?"
Emily just rolled her eyes, "Ignore him."
Axel chuckled, "I'll text my mom and ask her if it's okay."
"Who's your mom?" Emily asked, "I've lived on that street my whole life so I know practically everyone."
"Uh," Axel scratched her head, "Her names Kristen. Kristen Katsopolis."
"Ah, okay. I do know her, she used to watch me when I was little. She's awesome, but she never told me that she had a daughter."
Axel just shrugged, really not wanting to get into it. Also not sure how much she could safely tell. She really needed to come up with a story that she could tell people.
"So you're literally right across the street from me."
"It's like divine intervention," Dudley interjected, "The three of us were destined to be the best of friends."
"Thank God, because Dudley I was getting really sick of seeing your face every time I turn around."
"Stuff it, blondie."
"Are you on Mulberry Street too, Dudley?" Axel asked.
"No, he's on the other side of town, but he basically lives at my house anyways. Even when I'm not there he's always there."
"She was asking me!" Dudley whined, "But she's right. Her house is way better than mine, she's got name brand cereal and Wi-Fi."
Axel smiled, "Well, if my mom says yes then I'm there."
"She will," Emily assured her, "her and my mom are like best friends. They go on double dates all the time," she paused, "Is your mom still with Robert?"
Axel shook her head, "No, I don't think so."
"Wait, did he know that you were coming up here? Did he even know you existed?"
Axel's sighed, "I don't know," she said curtly and was really relieved when she heard the bell ring, "I should probably get to class."
"Yeah, okay. Sorry, I'm not trying to be nosey."
Dudley rolled his eyes, "She's kind of got no filter. She doesn't understand social norms."
"Its fine," Axel stated, "This is just all new to me too."
"Why don't you give me your number?" Emily asked, "At the very least we can walk home together, okay?"
Axel nodded and quickly scribbled her number on a piece of paper and handed it over.
"Where's your next class?" Dudley asked.
"Uh," Axel took a look at her schedule, "Math with Atkins?"
"That's where I'm going too," Dudley smiled, "I'll walk you there," he looked to Emily, "See you later loser," he said, walking along with Axel by his side, "She's really awesome, you know once you get past her incessant need to know everything."
Axel nodded, "Yeah, I'm sure."
"She's not a gossip though. I mean, you don't have to worry about her spreading all your secrets all over school. No one really cares about us here. We kind of just fade into the background."
"How come?"
"We're not really joiners. Pep-rallies and group sports really aren't our thing."
The rest of the day went off without a hitch and as it turned out either Dudley or Emily or both were in all of her classes with her so by the time the end of the day rolled around they were all together and started their walk home together.
"So," Emily began, shifting her backpack to a more comfortable position, "What do you think about the school?"
"It's small," Axel stated, "A bit smaller than my last school. I knew pretty much everybody there though, here is a different story."
"Yeah, I bet," Emily nodded, "Did you ask your mom if you could come and hang out?"
"Yeah, she said it was fine. She works late though so it's a good thing because she hasn't had a chance to get me a key made. So if I hadn't run into you I would be sitting outside all alone until she got home from work."
"You can stay for dinner!" Emily smiled, "I'm sure my mom would love it. She always cooks enough for a football field when it's only ever her, me, and Milk Dud so there will be plenty."
"Okay," Axel nodded, "I was just supposed to call my dad after school."
"Is he back in Kansas?" Dudley questioned.
"Yeah, him and my Uncle Sam."
"You should call him now, while we walk," Emily offered, "That way you don't forget."
"Okay," Axel nodded, pulling her cellphone out of her pocket and calling her dad's phone, it rang several times before going to voicemail so she didn't bother leaving a message, hung up, and slipped her device back into her pocket, "Guess he decided he didn't want to talk after all."
"Okay, so I've got a ton of homework," Dudley stated, "And we need to get started on that group project for history," he looked to Axel, "Mr. Jenkins said you could be in our group if you're interested."
"Okay," Axel smiled.
"Don't think we're gonna do all the work and you're gonna get a free pass," Emily teased, "Just because you're new."
"No, I didn't think that," Axel bit her lip.
"She's just kidding," Dudley assured her as they turned the corner on their street, "Besides, it's a super easy project. We'll have it knocked out in an hour."
The trio made their way to Emily's house. They worked on homework, did their project, ate some snacks, and watched television until Emily's mom got home.
"Hey mom!" Emily called from the couch as her mother came through the front door, "This is my new friend Axel. I hope you don't mind, I invited her to dinner."
"Hi Axel. I'm Georgia," she smiled then looked to Emily, "I thought we agreed nobody except Dudley was allowed over when I'm not home," she looked back to Axel, "No offense, sweetheart."
"None taken," Axel assured her.
"I know, Mom," Emily got up and walked over, "But it's kind of a special circumstance."
"And what might that be?"
"Well, she's new to the school and didn't have any friends."
"I'm still waiting for the special circumstance."
"She's Kristen's daughter. I thought it would be okay."
Georgia's face scrunched up, "Kristen doesn't have a daughter."
"Apparently she does."
"She never told me. Who's her father?" Georgia was speaking softly, but Axel could still hear her.
"Dean," Axel said to them, getting up off the couch and walking over, "Dean Winchester. I'm Axel Winchester."
"I never heard of a Dean."
"Well, there is one," she explained, feeling a little bit defensive, "Kristen hasn't been around much for my life, and probably why she didn't tell you anything. But I'm here now, and it doesn't look like I'll be going anywhere for a while. Sorry to barge in on your house."
Georgia shook her head, "Nonsense, sweetie. I was just a little surprised as she's never mentioned have a child before. Kris has lived across the street from me for a good eight or nine years and we've been the best of friends, or so I thought… I didn't mean to be rude. Please, stay for dinner."
Axel shook her head, "I really should get home." she picked her backpack up and slung it over her shoulder.
"You said you don't have a key," Emily argued, "How are you gonna get inside?"
"I think I left the backdoor unlocked when I left this morning," Axel lied.
"Sweetie, please. You don't have to leave. I really am sorry," Georgia pleaded.
"No worries, ma'am," Axel smiled, "I'll see you at school tomorrow, okay?" she directed to Dudley and Emily.
"How about we walk over together?" Emily offered, "I usually leave here at 7:45."
Axel smiled, "Sounds good," she said, heading towards the front door, "I'll see you then." Then she slipped out of their house and trotted across the street, the sun was fast setting and she climbed the fence into the backyard and walked around to the back porch. She checked the backdoor but it was locked so she took a seat on the porch and pulled her phone out of her pocket. It had been three hours since she had gotten out of school and tried to call her dad and she hadn't received a text or a return phone call, which struck her as very odd.
In Axel's entire life there had never been a point in time that she couldn't get ahold of her father if she needed to. If she was at school she could call him from one of their phones and he would always answer, always. Even if she couldn't call him from school it was guaranteed that the second she stepped out of the school building that the Impala would be there in the parking lot waiting for her, without exception it had been every day since she was five and starting school. When she was at home all she had to do was walk into the other room and he would be sitting there on his computer or cooking or watching TV and she could talk to him. If she needed him while she was asleep all she had to do was rollover and reach out and he would be there, without fail.
Now she couldn't just walk into the other room and find him. Now he was over three thousand miles away, they had never even been in two separate states. The summer that Axel had spent up at Jody's with Claire Dean had been there too, he was just sleeping on the pull out. The original plan had been for Axel to spend the summer away, but Dean couldn't make himself leave. So he stayed, and Axel had been glad for that because she would have been lost without her dad.
She was lost now. So completely and totally lost because she no longer had her daddy to talk to whenever she needed him. She had just started a new school where she had gone into it not knowing anyone and while the day had gone okay the only person that she wanted to talk to was her dad because he was her best friend. And now he was nowhere, not even returning her phone calls. And for the first time in Axel's life she felt truly alone, and she would for a very long time.
