A/N: I am so sorry for not uploading yesterday, and then being so late today. A few things came up, and I wasn't able to get to it until now. So for those of you that faithfully waited and were disappointed, I apologize profusely.

This chapter is pretty laid back. No real story significance of any kind happens. It's just the gang doing their own things. So, if that doesn't interest you at all, then you can skip this chapter altogether. But remember, this is a slice of life story, so it's inevitable to have stuff like this.

Anyway, I hope you do read it and enjoy how different it is to everything. It's basically pure fluff.

Take care and enjoy.

Chapter 38

Pet Projects

"Okay, Elsa, I think this top would look great on you," Harley said as she held up a lime green tank top.

Elsa glanced over at her and grimaced, mostly because of the color. True, she wasn't much into wearing tank tops unless it was unbearably hot out, but lime green was an atrocious color in her opinion. Besides, the thing looked awfully small. Too small, actually.

"Um, I don't really care for the color," Elsa replied. "Maybe if it were a blue or something...wait, it looks really short."

"Well, yeah. It's supposed to show off that sexy belly of yours. Oh! You should totally get a belly button piercing!"

"No, I don't think so. I have enough piercings."

"You only have two, babe," Rose said as she was rummaging through a rack of shirts she was actually considering trying on.

"Two is plenty," Elsa countered. "I don't need as many piercings as you have."

"Maybe not. But you would look great with a few more."

They had decided to take Elsa clothes shopping after a long week of her having constant nightmares and slowly slipping back into a deep depression again. This was primarily Harley's idea to try and cheer her up, and the four girls decided to go ahead and just do it. Or Rose, Harley, and Anna decided to drag Elsa into it. She was very much against the idea at first, but after some major coaxing from the others, plus pleading and urging from Micah to do something fun with the girls, Elsa caved and went along with it. She wasn't the typical girl that liked to go shopping for clothes, but her friends were trying their hardest to cheer her up, so she felt obligated to at least give it a shot.

They had wandered the mall for nearly thirty minutes before Harley had enough and started forcefully ushering Elsa into every clothing store they came across. Most places were a bust, as Elsa was horribly picky about what she wore. Just like she had told them in the past, she preferred her band tee shirts and skinny jeans to just about anything else they could find. She didn't even wear feminine shoes. The pair of black and white Converse she had on was what she liked. Thus, it made it exceptionally hard to shop for her, at least when it came to trying new things. When Jeremy had taken her shopping for clothes, he didn't give her a choice; he told her what to wear and when. No matter how much she argued, he wouldn't listen. At least her friends were willing to listen to her, even if it frustrated them.

What Elsa couldn't understand was why Harley was so adamant about the shopping. The girl already had everything she wanted. She even spent an exorbitant amount of money on Rose's birthday present, meaning the girl was not left wanting for anything. Luckily for her, Rose loved the ring and had been wearing it ever since. Elsa was pretty sure her friend had no idea how much the ring actually was. It didn't matter though. The money seemed like it mattered little to Harley. She wasn't a rich snob or greedy in any way. The girl was always willing to share with everyone. In fact, she loved it. Harley was one of those people that firmly believed in spreading the wealth and sharing it rather than being uptight and selfish. If it brought happiness to others, then that was what mattered to her. She even donated money to charity on occasion, especially those that benefited children or animals in some way. That was just her personality.

"Ooh, how about this one?" Anna asked as she held up a black tee shirt with the print 'Off Limits' in big bold white letters.

This made Elsa cringe. "How about no."

"Well, you are off limits, aren't you?"

"I don't need a shirt that displays that, thank you very much."

"But what if other guys start hitting on you?"

"Anna, what do you think the odds of that happening are?" Elsa asked rhetorically. "It hasn't happened once in my entire life. I don't think it's going to start now."

"But-"

"I said no. Besides, it's right on the chest. Like I need help pointing out that I have boobs."

"Fine," Anna said, defeated. "Although, I don't see where else the words would go."

They ended up looking only a little bit longer before deciding Elsa wasn't going to like anything they showed her. It had been like that in nearly every store they had been to. There had been only one store where they were successful, and it was a plain black tee shirt that she bought with a pair of plain dark blue jeans. The others thought she was being incredibly boring, but Elsa was okay with that. She was simple, and she wanted to keep it that way.

"You know, Micah is eventually going to want to see you wear something new," Rose said as they left the store empty-handed.

"I doubt it. If he did want to, he'd have said something about it by now," Elsa replied.

"Have you ever thought that he was just being nice because he doesn't want to upset you?" Anna said. "I mean, think about it. You guys have only been together a couple months. It's probably not something he's willing to say right this second. But I can promise you he's probably thought it."

"Yeah, remember how he liked you in that dress back when you went on your first date with Jeremy? He loved it. You should do something like that again," Rose added.

"Fine. What do you suggest I do?" Elsa asked.

"Let us actually help you. We're not going to tell you to wear something ugly, or something that we don't think would fit you. Plus, Harley here has good fashion sense. You should let her work her magic at least a little on you."

"Okay. You win. Harley, next store, you pick something out and I'll try it on."

"Yay! This is going to be so much fun! We are totally going to make you hot as hell!" Harley exclaimed excitedly.

"She's already hot as hell," Rose reminded her. "We need to turn this up to eleven."

"I have no idea what you two are going on about," Elsa admitted, "and I think I'd rather keep it that way. Me? Hot as hell? Please, I'm average at best."

Before she could react, Rose smacked her friend up the back of the head much harder than normal. It was enough to actually sting. "Knock that shit off, Elsa. You know full well that you are drop-dead gorgeous. Micah and I tell you this all the time. We wouldn't say that if it weren't true. Even Harley thinks your incredibly hot, so quit with the self-deprecation. You are incredibly beautiful on your own, and you'll manage to pull off anything we throw at you. So get used to it."

"You didn't have to hit me," Elsa whined, still rubbing the back of her head.

"Then don't say that shit anymore," Rose warned her. "You've been doing it for as long as I've known you. It's not true, so stop. Look, there's an Old Navy. Do you want to try there, babe?" The last was to Harley.

"We can give it a shot, but I don't shop there normally. It's not really my type of store. I don't really see Elsa wearing anything from there either," Harley said.

"Okay, well, there's always Hot Topic...but you can't really get a lot there, and Elsa already has pretty much all the shirts she wants from there."

"Ooh, how about we get you a tattoo! You would look amazing with one!" Harley told Elsa.

"No, no tattoos, no new piercings, nothing like that. Alright? Please," Elsa said adamantly, shaking her head and whipping her braid around.

"Oh come on! You should try something new! How about just a nose piercing? A tiny little stud in the nostril. Rose is going to get one. Maybe you guys could do it together?"

"No."

"Come on, Els. We could get matching studs and be besties," Rose teased.

"Absolutely not."

"Okay, now I'm going to be serious. You would look great with one. Just, consider it, alright? It would be a complete change, it would surprise the hell out of Micah, and he would love it. Plus, I don't really want to do mine alone."

Sighing, Elsa's shoulders sagged just a little as she started thinking, realizing that they weren't going to let up. "Look, I'll think about it. No promises. I'm not really keen on the idea though. My ears are pierced, and that's honestly all I want. But we'll see, alright?"

They walked around a little longer before deciding to enter a store with a name in French, Sens de la Mode. The name wasn't very clever in any way, but Elsa figured that the average person wouldn't have any clue what it translated into. Most probably liked it because it sounded foreign. In fact, she doubted that the store was even French in origin.

As soon as they entered, Elsa could feel that it was one of those upscale stores that Jeremy would have taken her too if it had been there at the time. It was immediately apparent that she wasn't going to like what they had to offer, but she didn't want to back out of her promise to at least try. So she held her tongue and followed the others in.

There didn't seem to be much that she would like. If she were to be honest, most of the clothing was kind of ugly and superfluous. She couldn't imagine who would wear the stuff. But the store had quite a few other people wandering about, almost all women, and she knew that there were clearly people daft enough to be suckered into buying what she considered to be horrible fashion. People like Jeremy. He would have forced her to buy the most expensive outfits they had if she were still with him. She was incredibly happy that she had cut that cancer from her life a long time ago.

Harley grabbed Elsa by the hand, startling her, and led her towards the far side of the store. There looked to be some relatively normal clothes at this end. "Okay, I know what you were thinking, and you're right. A lot of the stuff in this store is ridiculous, and I would never be caught dead wearing any of it. But this section is more our style, so this is where we're gonna look. I especially like their pants. They have cute designs on them, like the glittery flowers on the butt. They also hug the hips really nicely, so you can use them to maximum effect to just make Micah lose his mind. Here," she said, grabbing a pair of jeans off the rack, "try these. They have little butterflies on them, and they totally look your style. You like the skinny jeans, right?"

"For the most part, yeah. I mean, I'll try any of them on if you really think they'll look good, but I do prefer skinny," Elsa told her.

"Perfect. Give these a try. They should be your size. If not, we'll try another pair. Now, we should probably get you a couple pairs, just in case. No point in just getting one pair of pants. How do you feel about skirts?"

"Um, I haven't worn a skirt since I was eight."

"Okay. So you're not big on the idea then?"

"I didn't say that. I just grew out of it a long time ago. But, if you really think I should try some on, I did promise I would give it a shot."

"Okay. I think you would look good in a miniskirt to be honest. But, I don't think you'd get away with wearing it at school. So if we get you one and you like it, it'd have to be worn at home. What do you think?" Harley asked.

"I don't know. I mean, I felt really self-conscious when I wore a dress. It felt like the entire world could see up underneath it," Elsa said.

"I understand. If you really don't want to try a skirt, then we won't. It's your call."

Elsa thought hard about it for a moment. She hadn't exactly worn anything like that since she was little. It was different back then too. There was no real fear. At least, not with most people. It wasn't long after certain things had transpired that she became very self-conscious and refused to let anyone see her like that. But, she was nearly an adult now. Her life had been much better the last four years. She was also slowly feeling better about herself again, if only slightly.

"Okay. I guess I'll try. What do you have in mind?"

"Well, first we need to see what they have, if anything. Then, we need to find you a couple tops. You would look great in blue or green I think. Other colors would be too bold. Maybe something earthen, like a light brown. Purple wouldn't be too bad either, but I want to get you out of the dark tones. A light violet could work. Oh, come here."

Before Elsa could say anything, Harley had her by the hand and was dragging her through the store again to another rack of clothes. As soon as they stopped, she was already digging through the shirts, completely engrossed in her mission to find something that Elsa would like or look good in.

"Here we go. It looks like it's Egyptian blue, it's cute, it doesn't have any text on it, and just has the outline of a flower on the front. It might show off a little skin, but it will at least reach your waistline. It would look good with those jeans or even a skirt if we can find one. Plus it'll compliment your eyes. Now we just need to find you one more..."

They ended up looking through two more racks of shirts with no real luck. Harley was trying to avoid getting her two shirts of the same color, and was looking for something green or brown, but found nothing that she considered good looking. But she refused to give up. She was bound and determined to find something good for her friend.

"How do you feel about butterflies?" she eventually asked Elsa.

"Um, I guess they're alright. Why?" Elsa wondered.

"Because I just found a cute brown tee shirt with a rainbow butterfly on it, and I think it would look good with those pants. But if you don't like the design, then we can keep looking."

"I'll try it if you really think it'll work. I promised I would."

"You don't have to do that if you really don't feel comfortable, Elsa. This is meant to be fun. I'm not trying to pressure you into anything you don't want. The whole point of this was to get you out of your house so we can cheer you up. But it's been obvious since we started that it's not working."

"It's not that, Harley. It's just I'm not the kind of girl that does a lot of clothes shopping. I don't feel the need to have different outfits for everything. I'm very simple."

"I know you are," Harley said, "and all I'm trying to do is help you feel more confident in different things. Plus, I want you to really wow Micah. We haven't even gone to look at makeup yet."

"Makeup? Nobody told me that was part of this," Elsa replied nervously.

"Elsa, sweetie, I'm trying to help. I want to give you a sort of makeover. You'll love it, I promise. Besides, it's something I've thought about going to school for once high school is done."

"You want to get into cosmetology?" Elsa asked.

"Yeah. It's all I'm really good at, and I enjoy doing it. But I'm not just talking about some lame job at a department store. I kind of want to get into doing special effects makeup and stuff. Or at least opening my own place where I can help people learn different styles and techniques. I even thought about simultaneously being a hairstylist. Open a salon of some kind. I know it's not a big, glamorous dream, but it's what I kind of want to do. I can make good money doing it, I enjoy doing it, and I could be real competitive if I want. But I'd have to hire people that want to go above and beyond the normal everyday styles."

"I had no idea. It sounds like you've put a lot of thought into this."

"I have. I've talked about it with Rose, and she fully supports it. Have you noticed that she's started wearing some makeup too?" Harley asked.

Looking back over her shoulder, Elsa scanned the store for her sister and friend. They were off looking at some dresses that she could only imagine the price of. "Honestly, I wasn't paying attention. Sorry."

"It's fine. I gave her some makeup that would more blend in than make her stand out. She's a little darker skinned than you, but not by much. So I gave her some very earthy tones. You'd be surprised how many shades there are to brown and green. I did manage to give her cheeks the tiniest bit of color with some blush. Next time you look at her, really look. You'll notice a slight difference.

"As for you, there's a lot we could do. Now, I'm not saying your mother did a bad job, because honestly, I like what she did. But we could do more. I want to show you how to really do eyeshadow, learn to use eyeliner, concealer, all that stuff. Not that you need that much. You have a beautiful face as it is. But we can make you glow with the right look. Oh! Look! Skirts!"

Once again, Elsa was dragged through the store to yet another clothes rack. This time, there were skirts of different sizes and looks. It was overwhelming.

"Aha! We just found exactly what I was talking about. Here, a simple black pleated miniskirt. I want you to try this on. It'll look really good with the blue shirt," Harley told her.

Before she knew it, Elsa was being guided, rather forcefully she thought, towards the dressing rooms. Moments later, she was shoved into a booth with the clothes in hand. There was a tall, full-length body mirror that she was staring into like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. She had no idea why she was so scared. It wasn't really any different from what she did with her mother in ninth grade.

Soon, she was standing there in her underwear as she was attempting to talk herself into trying the miniskirt. After about two minutes of procrastination, she finally just gave in and did it. Once she had it and that blue shirt on, she looked in the mirror and gawked. She actually looked pretty good she thought. It showed off more skin than she was comfortable with, but at least she was trying.

"Okay, I'm coming out!" Elsa called out, and she could just imagine Harley getting excited.

When she stepped out, all three of them were standing there expectantly. Then, as if in unison, all three gawked just as much as she had moments ago. Elsa assumed it was a good thing.

"Holy shit, Els, I didn't think I'd live long enough to see you like this," Rose said with a whistle.

"Yeah, Micah is going to love this," Anna added.

"You have great legs. I can't believe it. I mean, I knew you'd have good legs, but holy hell! Elsa, you really should dress like this more often," Harley demanded. "I don't think Micah could handle it though. He'd probably have to fight off way too many guys."

"I highly doubt I look nearly as good as you're making it sound, but thanks anyway," Elsa said with a slight smile.

"Are you kidding? You have amazing thighs, and those hips are delicious. Alright, go try the other stuff on so we can buy it and get out of here."

After another showing of her new clothes, they were at the register and paying for everything. It was Harley's treat, which was a good thing because Elsa couldn't afford the clothes at the prices they were at. Once they were done there, Harley was leading the gang down to the other end of the mall where a store that sold some of her favorite makeup brands was located. Luckily, they didn't spend nearly as much time there as they did looking for clothes.

As soon as they entered, Harley was once again dragging Elsa through the store, grabbing different makeups and telling her why she was choosing that particular product and color over the others, although she would occasionally ask Elsa her opinion on her options. Eventually, after several hundred dollars worth of makeup, they were back out in the main part of the mall and headed towards the food court.

They debated amongst themselves what to eat, but eventually settled on some Thai food. Anna wasn't thrilled with the choice, but she decided to go ahead and go with it. There was a teriyaki place on the opposite end of the food court, but she was the only one that liked that type of food as much as she did. As they sat to eat, Elsa had that strange sensation that someone was watching her. She took a quick glance around, but didn't see anyone she recognized, so shrugged it off and sat.

"So, tonight when we get back to your place, it's makeover time. I promise I won't do much with your hair, if anything, but I'll be making you look sexy as hell. Trust me, you'll like what I do," Harley said as she took a sip from her drink.

"Yeah, if she can put makeup on my face and make it look half-way decent, she'll do wonders with you. Er, not that you need it. Okay, sorry, that sounded really bad," Rose said as she smacked her forehead.

"Can we do me too?" Anna asked enthusiastically.

"Sure," Harley told her happily. "You're just about as pale as your sister, so I'm sure what I have will work. We can always stop off at my place and grab my stuff though. I have all sorts of makeup. Probably more than someone our age should have."

"But what about Micah? He's going to come home at some point," Elsa reminded them.

"Don't worry," Anna assured her. "We already have it planned out. He's staying with Kris tonight so we can do this. They're doing guy stuff anyway. I think he said that they were going to go look at this old car that they found on Craigslist. I don't know. All I know is we have the whole night to just the four of us."

"You guys are hellbent on doing this to me, aren't you?"

"Yes. Deal with it, blondie," Rose teased. "Besides, we've never really had a girls night before. Plus, how often have we done girly stuff together? Never. Harley here is the girliest one out of all of us. So, she's gonna teach us how to be girly as hell. Or at the very least, how to look good."

"I didn't know you were into this sort of thing," Elsa said with a raised eyebrow.

"Eh, it's a more recent thing. I guess she's rubbing off on me. But I will say it's actually kind of fun. It feels weird saying it though."

"Well, to be honest, you're the one that was always going on about how to be sexy. So this shouldn't really be outside your comfort zone. But that's not the case for me. This is way outside of my comfort zone."

"Elsa, I think it's a very good thing that you step outside of that zone and do something new and exciting. To me, this is exciting. I get to see my friend take on a whole new look just in order to dazzle the man she loves. Sure, we may have coaxed and prodded you into doing it, but you will not regret it. You're going to love how you look when I'm done with you," Harley declared.

"Maybe. I don't know. The little makeup I normally use has always been more than enough. I can't imagine what you're going to have me do."

"You'll see. We made sure to get you all colors that will compliment your pale and smooth complexion. Nothing bright or dark. It's all light and mild tones and colors. Just trust me. It'll work."

After they ate, they threw away their trash and headed back out of the mall towards Rose's car. Once again, Elsa had that feeling that she was being watched. She glanced back over her shoulder, but still didn't see anyone suspicious. Eventually she just chocked it up to her dislike of crowds as they left the mall.

00000

"So where exactly are we headed again?" Micah asked as he rolled down the passenger window.

"Far end of Carbanado, which isn't really that bad since the town is tiny," Kristoff replied.

They were in his truck heading up the hill from town towards Bonney Lake, then to their destination on the other side. It was close to a forty minute drive, but that was mostly due to traffic and the fact that they didn't know where exactly they were headed. Their GPS had already had them turn down the wrong road a couple times. Micah just figured their phones were being stubborn, but he wasn't entirely sure after the third bad direction that it gave. He thought maybe something was just off with the app in general.

"Google Maps is usually pretty good about this sort of thing, so I have no idea why it's giving us so much trouble. Wait, it says to turn here...but there is no road in that direction. What the hell?"

"Bro, it's fine. I've got this. I know where we're headed. I got the directions off the computer this morning, remember?"

"Yeah, but what if those directions were wrong too?" Micah asked.

"They're not. Trust me."

They had turned onto SR 410 after about ten minutes of driving south on the freeway, and were currently heading east towards the small town. At some point, Micah wasn't sure when, the GPS actually started cooperating with them. They had found an old 1969 Ford Mustang for sale on Craigslist for a great price, and now they just had to head up to the owner's place and make a payment to pick it up...provided it was in good enough condition for them to want it. The pictures on the ad made it look like it was decent enough, although they knew the engine was going to need some work. Thankfully, they had Kristoff's dad to help with that.

After roughly another fifteen minutes of scenic driving through the hills, they came to a turn off that led down an old and weathered road. The condition was bad enough to rattle the truck mercilessly. Off to one side was a fenced-off field with some alpacas, which were somewhat popular in the area, and on the other was just nothing but trees. It felt about as backwoods as one could get this close to the city. At the end of the road was an old yellow house, and it had definitely seen better days. There was a rusty brown barn behind it, and the boys assumed that whoever lived there owned the alpacas too.

"Alright, this is the place. At least according to the directions we got. Hopefully this'll work out," Kristoff said, not sounding too sure himself.

"I'm just curious. Let's say this works out and the car is ours. How do we plan on getting it home?" Micah asked for the dozenth time.

"Like I told you before we left, I have a tow cable in back. We'll just have to be super careful on the way back. No big deal."

"Have you ever actually towed anything before?"

"Yeah, I've had to tow my mom's car several times to the shop. This shouldn't be a problem."

As they climbed out of the truck, an older gentleman stepped out of the house and waved at them. He was in his sixties, his very short hair mostly gray, and he had a dark blue polo shirt on that was tucked into his jeans. He seemed incredibly friendly, at least when Kristoff talked to him over the phone the day before. He also liked to talk about his family, which was something Kris could relate to. They ended up talking for almost an hour just about family and some of the stories they had. It seemed to warm the old guy up to them, which was definitely in their favor. The old guy ended up lowering the price by $200 just because he liked them so much. So now he was only asking for $1,600. After they did a price check online, they found out that they were basically robbing the poor man. It made them both feel kind of guilty.

"You must be the young man I spoke to yesterday!" the old timer exclaimed as he made his way over. "It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"It's great to meet you too, Mr. Grant," Kristoff replied, holding out his hand to shake the old man's.

"Please, Carl is fine. Mr. Grant is for debt collectors and people I don't like. You I like. This way boys."

He showed them around to the back of the house where the barn was, and pointed at a large blue tarp that was clearly covering the vehicle. When he pulled it back, there was a cloud of dust and dirt that whipped into the air, causing the boys to choke just a little. The car itself wasn't in that bad of shape, at least not on the outside. It was supposed to be a jet black with a white pinstripe down the length of the vehicle but the paint was chipped and worn. The windows all seemed to be in tact at least, and there was only one small dent that they could see on the rear fender on the driver's side. What had hit it there didn't do much, but it was enough to chip the paint. That was probably due to the age though. There were flecks of rust poking through the cracks in the paint.

When they opened it up, it definitely smelled like it had sat there for a very long time. It was incredibly dusty inside, and they could smell mildew in the headliner. Some of the upholstery was cracked and torn, and there was a big gash in the back seat. The back seat was a bench instead of bucket seats, meaning they could fit three to four people in there. Perfect for the girls, since all four of them were tiny. The trunk was kind of dirty, with grease rags and a rusted tire iron just sitting loose inside. But it was in good shape otherwise, if not incredibly tiny. They definitely wouldn't be taking any wild trips in it.

Under the hood was a different matter. Everything was rusty and greasy. There were even signs that something had built a nest inside at one point. It was clear that the thing hadn't been started up in a very long time, but how long the old man hadn't said. They could see there were a few things that definitely needed repairs, and a couple hoses that needed to be replaced. The contacts on the batteries were heavily corroded, and they could almost smell the acid from it. It also smelled of urine, cat urine to be precise, which meant that it had housed several different species of wildlife at some point.

"Well, what do you boys think?" Carl asked after the tour.

"I think we have a lot of work to do, but I'm totally looking forward to it!" Kristoff said happily.

"Yeah, this is going to be interesting. Not cheap either. Hopefully your dad will be able to help out a bit," Micah said.

"Yeah man, don't worry about that. Pops will help. He already said he would. Besides, this was sort of his idea. He wanted to get me a classic car, and this is pretty damn classic."

"Well, this is one hell of a gift, let me tell you," Carl said proudly. "Now, I'm not into collecting old things, in spite of the fact that a lot of the stuff around here is pretty old. I've been wanting to get rid of this thing for a while now. Not that I don't appreciate it, but clearly it hasn't seen any use in a long time. But it's a car for young folks like you two. That's why I'm giving it to you at such a low price. Don't think I didn't look into the value of it. But honestly, I don't need the money a collector would buy it for, and I don't want to think about it sitting in some old guy's garage just being used for car shows. I want it to see some real use. So fix this baby up, take your girlfriends out on dates, and try and enjoy what this thing can do."

This made both boys grin. "So, does it still run?" Kristoff asked.

"I highly doubt it. It's sat here for so long. The gas is probably bad and I can guarantee it needs an oil change. Plus the spark plugs are most likely shot. Honestly, I wouldn't try starting this up right now. Do you have any plans on how to get it home?"

"Yeah, we brought a tow cable just in case."

"Excellent. Let's hook this baby up and get it the hell out of here."

It took them nearly half an hour to rig the thing up and pull it out of the barnyard out onto the street. The truck definitely proved it could handle the weight of the car, considering it was much heavier than modern cars. But it moved, and surprisingly the tires held in the air that Carl was kind of enough to put in them. Once they were parked back outside, Kristoff had to hop out in order to hand over the check to Mr. Grant, and then they were on their way back home.

"So, you said you saw Jeremy a couple weeks ago?" Micah asked as they slowly made their way back out to the main road.

"Yeah. It was a couple days before Rose's birthday," Kristoff told him. "It was at the mall. Anna and I were there getting Rose her presents when we spotted him and one of his buddies at the food court. We decided to grab a bite to eat, and followed them out after they got up to leave. We followed him out to his car, where I decided to have a little talk with the punk. Nearly choked him to death, then laid him out on the ground before walking away. He's damn lucky I had Anna with me too, because if it wasn't for her he'd be dead."

"I so desperately want to kick his ass. I don't care when or where, but it's something I have to do. After what that son of a bitch did to Elsa, that's the least he deserves."

"Don't worry, man. You'll have your chance. We have all of this year for it to happen, and I wouldn't be upset at all if we just hunted him down and did it. That may sound dirty and illegal, and it probably is, but I don't give a damn anymore. The guy has zero respect for her, and he's still threatening and harassing her. Plus we know he's the one that beat the hell out of her, so really he has it coming."

"Soon then," Micah said. "That's what I want. I want to resolve all of this and send a clear message to the bastard that he better back off. He is screwing with the wrong girl. I'm done putting up with his bullshit. Elsa has already given me permission to beat the hell out of him, and that's exactly what I plan to do. Next time I see him, he's gonna wish he was dead."

The drive back to Kristoff's was slow, and there were a few hairy instances along the way, but they did manage to finally arrive safe and sound. Neither of them were sure that they would make it considering all the hills that they had to drive over. But, they were home and that's really the only thing that mattered. So, when they pulled into the cul de sac, they had to unhitch the car and manually push it up the driveway into the garage where Kris' father had made room. Nobody else was home at the moment, so it was just the boys.

After they got it situated inside, they went into the house and grabbed a couple Cokes from the fridge before crashing on the couch. They didn't say much for a few minutes, but there really wasn't much that needed to be said. The girls were out hopefully having fun, and the two of them had guy stuff to do. Or at the very least, they would once Kristoff's father got home. He'd be able to go over the car and see what would need to be done first, and then they'd start writing up a list of parts they might need. Of course, no work was going to be done right away. That would take a bit to get to. That and a lot of money. They didn't have the kind of money that Harley did, so they couldn't just waste it on whatever. They had to know exactly what they were going to need and get exactly that at the best price they could manage.

"I think I'm gonna go call Elsa and let her know we're back with the car," Micah finally said after he finished his coke.

"Alright bro. Tell her I said hi," Kristoff told him.

As he stepped outside, Micah realized just how bright and beautiful the sky was. There was a fresh breeze blowing through the neighborhood, one of the neighbors was outside watering their rosebush, and the kids across the street were running around having fun. It was a lovely summer day, and he hadn't noticed it until just then.

Once he had Elsa's number dialed in, he simply waited for her to answer. He wasn't even sure that she would, considering that they were supposed to be out at the mall shopping. But, it only took her about five seconds to answer, and it actually surprised him.

"Hey sweetheart, how'd it go?"

"It went well. The old guy is really cool, and he even knocked the price down for us a bit too."

"That's great! Kristoff's dad has to be happy about that."

"Yeah, he seemed pleased with it. Once he gets back from running errands, he's gonna go over the car and see what needs to be done. He wants us to learn how to do all of this stuff, and he said that there are videos on YouTube that can walk us through the whole thing. So that's what we're gonna do. I'm pretty excited to be honest. Never really done this sort of guy stuff before."

"I'm really glad to hear that. I hope you enjoy it. I really do. I think this will be good for you."

"Yeah, I think so too. I just hope it's not too overwhelming. You know how frustrated that gets me."

"I know, but you're really smart and can figure things out fast enough when you put the effort into it. It's not really any different from your math lessons. More often than not, you know the material better than you give yourself credit for."

"I guess. How are things with you?"

"They're okay. The girls are trying to torture me with new clothes and makeup. We're back at home now, and right at the moment Anna is getting a tutorial on how to put lipstick on. Harley is super patient and a really good teacher. I don't know how she got so good at this stuff, but she is amazing."

"I've never heard you talk about this stuff that way before. It sounds like you're sort of getting into it."

"I think it's slowly sinking in that I need to do this. I've come to realize that my clothes are boring and the small amount of makeup I use could do with some additions. Not that I want to be one of those girls that cakes on tons of the stuff to try and look like a whore. That's not me. But I want to learn how to do it properly so I can dress up for special occasions. I'd like to actually be more girly than I have been."

"I don't think your clothes are boring, but whatever."

"I didn't think you would. But after talking to everyone, they pointed out that I definitely need a change. So I got a couple things that might surprise you. I hope it doesn't upset you."

"Why would it upset me?"

"Because of how different it is."

"I'm sure I'll like it. You look good in everything you wear."

"Thank you. But this is really different. You'll see when you come home tomorrow."

"Now I'm not sure I want to wait."

"Well, too bad. The girls said that this is supposed to be just the four of us, so that's how it's going to be. You and Kris have your own project going on anyway."

"Yeah, but there isn't much more we can do with it at the moment. It's going to cost a lot of money, and we don't have that right now. So it's going to be done slowly over time. The whole engine is probably going to have to be rebuilt, the interior has some work that needs to be done, and we have to figure out a way to get rid of the moldy smell that's in the headliner. That will probably have to be replaced as well. So yeah, it's gonna be a bit before it's done."

"Well, it should keep you guys busy for a while then. Hopefully you'll have the thing up and running by the end of the school year."

"Maybe. It depends on how much work needs to be done to it."

"I know. But still, I'm looking forward to it."

"Yeah. Hey, um, I just wanted to say that I miss you already. I know that's kind of sad, but I do."

"It's okay. I miss you too. I was hoping you'd come home tonight, but that isn't going to happen, so I have to just busy myself with all this makeover nonsense. I figure I might as well enjoy it since I don't have much of a choice."

"Yeah. I set this up with the others because you needed to have a good time, and I clearly wasn't able to do that for you. You needed to get the hell out of the bedroom and enjoy life for a bit so you didn't dwell on things anymore. I know you've gone through hell, baby, I really do. I've been there for all of it, remember? But you just can't live like that anymore. It's not healthy. So I wanted you to do this and have fun for a change."

"I know. Thank you. It means a lot, and believe it or not, it's helping. Anyway, it looks like it's my turn to be turned into a circus clown, so I'll let you go. I'll text you in a bit, okay?"

"Yeah, sure. I love you."

"I love you too."

"Oh, hey. Kristoff told me to tell you that he says hi."

"Okay. Tell him I said hi back. Bye babe."

Hearing her voice always lifted his spirits and made him feel good, and even when he was in a good mood it just made him feel better. Micah still couldn't get over the fact that they were together. It had been just a little over two months, and a lot had already happened. School was about to start back up in a couple weeks, and he had no idea what to expect going forward. With Anna finally joining them in high school, and the addition of Harley to the group, things were sure to be more interesting than before. Unfortunately, he couldn't tell if that was a good thing or not.

After he re-entered the house, he took his seat back on the couch and just leaned back into it as much as he could. Everything was going alright. Elsa was no longer pissed off at him, he had talked to Rose some more since the incident at her party and things were back to normal between them, and he was looking forward to starting school back up. Overall, things were great. Except for one important detail.

Jeremy.

Micah knew for a fact that he was the one that broke into Elsa's house and beat her bloody and unconscious. He knew that Jeremy was guilty of all the threats and harassment she had endured over the summer. He also knew that the guy was scared of them. Kristoff had already told him that much. Micah wasn't small by any stretch of the imagination, although he wasn't big and burly like Kristoff was. Somehow, that boy was strong as hell, and could fight if needed. Micah's only real experience was chasing away Marshall back in grade school. Luckily they hadn't had to deal with that cancer in a long time. But Jeremy was proving to be as toxic as ever, and didn't seem to learn his lesson. He had been warned by Kristoff on more than one occasion, arrested and placed on a restraining order, expelled and forced to change schools, and nearly knocked out. They hadn't heard anymore since that incident, but they were waiting for something to happen.

"Hey Kris, what do you think the odds of Jeremy's buddies screwing with us this year are?" Micah asked after a time.

Kristoff simply shrugged. "I dunno man. It just depends on how stupid they want to be. If they mess with me or you, no problem. We can take it. But if they mess with one of the girls, especially Elsa, then they're dead meat. Neither of us will tolerate that shit anymore."

"Yeah, true. I just don't want to get expelled because of those assholes. But I do hope I run into Jeremy soon so I can remind him to leave Elsa alone. He seems to forget that a lot."

"Don't worry. We have all year. He'll get what's coming to him. That much I can promise."