It was a Friday afternoon in February, and the six teens were hanging out at Jude's house, listening to "The Kill" by 30 Seconds To Mars on his stereo. "You say you wanted more, what are you waiting for, I'm not running from you" they all sang along. "It's too bad 30 Seconds To Mars doesn't sound like this anymore." Nikki said. "What do you mean? Their music's still good." Wyatt said. "True, but they were at their peak when Jared Leto went through his emo phase. Now they're poppier since he's going through a, well, Jesus phase." Jonesy said. The gang all nodded in agreement. They couldn't argue with that Jude, meanwhile, was doodling with a pencil and paper. He drew a man and kept drawing then erasing his eyebrows. "What are you doing, Jude?" Nikki asked. "I keep drawing then erasing this guy's eyebrows because I can't decide if he looks better with or without them." Jude said. "Oohh... Kay?" Nikki said, confused. This was typical Jude behavior and reasoning, but it was still odd. "Hmm... I wonder if I can do that in real life." he said, taking the eraser to his eyebrows. Nothing happened, except for all of his friends giving him weird looks. "Exactly how stoned are you today?" Nikki asked. "No more stoned than usual. Why do you ask?" Jude asked. "No reason." Nikki said. "The Spring Fling's coming up, and for once, I don't have to put it all together. They gave that job to Julie." Jen said, relieved. "I just hope I can find a date. I don't wanna have to go stag." Wyatt sighed. "So ask a girl out." Jonesy said. "It's not that simple, Jonesy." Wyatt said to his overconfident friend. "Actually, it is, you've just gotta quit being a wuss, find a girl, and ask her. I asked Nikki." Jonesy said. "That's easy for you to say, you two are already together." Wyatt said. "Oh, it won't be so bad, Wyatt. Lots of people go stag, I am." Caitlyn said. Sure, she was usually the boy crazy one but ever since she realized that lots of guys go stag - good looking guys, at that - she wasn't as worried about finding a date. Luckily for Wyatt, lots of pretty girls go stag as well. He just had to not let Jonesy get in his head. Jude, meanwhile, still had yet to ask Jen. Sure, the wasn't as nerve-wracking as say, prom since he didn't have to put together a proposal, plus he and Jen have been together for a while now, but that didn't mean he wasn't nervous. It didn't help that he hadn't gotten a chance to ask her. This was one of the rare times the two had any free time together, and he didn't want to ask in front of the whole gang. He wanted to wait until the two were alone, but he hadn't gotten the chance to these past couple months. Things were still great between the two, but they had been growing kind of distant lately. The two had their yearly anniversary a couple months ago, but due to all of these exams and tests at school and work being chaotic for the two of them, they had very little free time and when they did, they were usually tired, and seldom just amongst the two of each other. "I should probably get going, I've gotta study for finals next week. Later." she said, leaving. Jude felt defeated. This has been going on for two months. If they kept being like this, there'd be no way he'd be able to ask her to the dance. He hoped things would mellow out after finals week.