"Gurl!" Claudine honked in a thick Jersey accent from across the patio, "Get over here!"

Dollface stared wide eyed and startled at Claudine's invitation.

Dollface looked at her projected path, a table far from everyone else on the porch with Tina, a bitchy girl named Gena and her weird nerd brother Devin and an unspecified European immigrant named, what was it, uh, Zim? Maybe?

Dollface gripped the sides of her lunch tray and quietly walked over to Claudine's table.

"Ya did great today!" Claudine smiled, "I wish I could'a seen you in that dress!"

"Thanks." Dollface said, taking the comments in the quiet politeness of which she was taught.

"Dollface has betrayed us!"

Dollface recoiled, blushing profusely at Zim's loud outburst.

Shit, was that kid weird!

He had to be something, maybe Tourette's?

Whatever he was, it was actin' up today.

Maybe he skipped on meds?

Again?

Well, Dollface probably should go back to her usual spot to celebrate Tina's victory, it was the right thing to do...

"Anyway, anythin' else ya wanted t'tell me?" Dollface asked, sweet as strawberry syrup.

"Can't wait t'see ya this weekend!" Claudine assured, lips painted a dark berry.

"Oh really?" Anit rolled her eyes. Dollface hadn't even noticed the gold head scarf and Jilbab sitting with perfect posture and smoked eyes lined with Kajal eating her lunch next to them.

"Anit, be nice!" Claudine snapped, "She's just a kid!"

Anit rolled her eyes, "Laura needs to stop inviting random strangers over. Next time, some smelly hobo will be crashing our parties!"

Dollface looked at her boots.

"But she seems nice!"

Frankie, the biology teachers' daughter was standing up for her.

Ew.

Dollface could have lived very well without that.

"Sit next t'me." Claudine said, grabbing Dollface's hand in her dark one.

Dollface found herself unable to say no to that. Laura smiled at her, nibbling from a vegan finger sandwich platter.

Dollface smiled back, glad she was wedged between Claudine and Laura. Laura offered a tasty morsel. Without a doubt, Dollface took it and popped the little vegan sandwich between her teeth.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Oh gawd, that Zim freak again.

"Zim's been betrayed!" Zim shrieked. Girls looked up at him and stared in confusion. What was a boy doing here?

For a matter of fact, why were there two of them?

"Zim," Gena rasped around pizza and a book about Alien Cyborgs picked up at a gas station down the street earlier in the morning, "Your voice gives me a headache."

"Yeah, and we technically shouldn't even be here, we just hopped the fence to join Gena." Devin said, rather matter-of-factly.

"You too, egg-head," Gena growled.

Dollface giggled.

"What's so funny?" Anit snapped.

"Nothing!"

"Whatever." Anit said, "I know diversity is an issue here, but, really now?"

"Great, glad it's settled," Frankie wrote off the new conversation forming, "Claudine, why are you still in that class?"

"Whaddya mean?" Claudine asked, freeing Dollface's hand and waving away the question.

"That, uh, fashion class thingy." Frankie said, slurping down something from a to-go cup. "Anyone want some hummus?"

"No thanks." Claudine said, "And I really loike that class. Besoides, I got a scholuh'ship to be there."

"Oh yeah, construction family." Frankie smiled, "Totally forgot."

"Yeah." Claudine said, dark face darkening. Claudine took a bite of leftover steak and chewed the juicy medium rare bite. She swallowed, hard.

Dollface glanced at the fur ruff around Claudine's neck, remembering white sheets with little dots of rainbow confetti printed on them, laying on tables lik long trailing ghosts. "Laurie?"

"Yeah?"

"Am I still gonna come over tomorrow, or should I just stay home?"

"No, I want you to come!" Laura assured, "It would mean the world to me!"

"…Jesus, what the hell is wrong with that Zim fuckwit?" Marco snarled, chomping into his sandwich.

"No fuckin' clue, man." Dorado said around a large bite of a sub sandwich. He swallowed it down and chugged some water from a bottle he lugged around with him everywhere.

"How the hell can he be so loud, he's across the street witha buncha girls!" Marco groaned. Dorado set his sandwich down, thinking around his ham and cheese.

"No clue dude. I was scared I would wake him up when I got up to take a piss last night." Dorado absently grabbed a bag of chips and opened it. "Aw man, all air."

"Ey, can I have some?"

"My chips."

"Harsh."

Silence as Dorado munched on the three potato chips in the personal sized bag.

"What country is that dipshit from again?" Marco asked.

"Dunno."

More silence.

"Remind me to never go there." Dorado finally said.

"So, get that teddy bear back?"

Dorado looked up from the empty bag, disappointed in its foil-lined void.

"Y'know, to the chick?"

"Yeah." Dorado said, quieting down, Zim's grating wails dying out as well, in one last howl.

"What's wrong dude?" Marco asked, sandwich remembered and ready for consumption.

"I think I saw something last night." Dorado looked over his shoulder. Usually other boys would sit with them, but they were off with new classes, leaving Marco and Dorado to themselves.

"What? What did ya see?" Marco leaned forward, brown eyes lit up and the last bite of sandwich promptly shoved in his mouth.

"I can't describe it." Dorado started, trying to remember what he saw, "but I think I found out who's been doing all the robberies."

"Which ones?" Marco asked.

"Close your mouth, dude."

Marco horse-snorted, chewing then swallowing the dry glob of bread. He picked up his water bottle and started gulping it down. Dorado looked across the street.

He could see Dollface today, sitting with a group of overly-groomed girls.

She looked out of place.

He shrugged it off.

Not his problem.

"So," Marco leaned forward, head in hand, grinning like a snake, "What did you see? Who caused it?"

Dorado could never tell if Marco genuinely believed him or not.

"Well," he said, "it was sitting on a car, the one found with missing pieces and dents this morning."

"Mhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmm?" Marco widened his eyes, like a prompt.

"It's hard to describe." Dorado said, trying to structure his sentence, "I can't quite say…"

Marco groaned loud enough for other guys to look up at them.

"It's fine, he's just an idiot!"

"Hey!" Dorado yelped, annoyed with Marco.

"Chill." Marco laughed. "Tell me though."

Dorado leaned in his chair, arms crossed. "I guess I can describe it. I don't think there are even words for it."

Silence.

"It looked like a person." He said, "Vaguely."

Marco nodded.

"And," Dorado said, constantly thinking, "It looked like it had a hump on its back with these huge metal spider legs, and it used those to walk around with, and the hump or a pack or whatever on its back was attached with a bunch of hoses and wires."

"Why had it been stripping cars and robo-rats?"

"Well, that's the thing." Dorado said, thinking of the ratty clothes and the hissing air and the glowing silver eyes like those of a bobcat's in a streetlight. "It was eating them."

"What?"

"Yeah, eating parts."

"Why?" Marco looked incredulous.

"You don't believe me, do you?" Dorado grumbled.

"Well…." Marco said, "It's hard to believe some of these crazy nightmares you get."

"This wasn't a nightmare." Dorado mumbled, starting to wonder if it was.

Silence passed through them like a river of sadness.

"I think Cowatchsky noticed."

Marco sat up straight, "Really?"

"Yeah, she asked if I wanted to get coffee or whatever and I said no, so we listened to some music on her Walkman instead."

Marco blinked at him.

"What?"

"Dorado, this is why I got a girlfriend, and you didn't."