Sometimes, we forget to do our homework so we either do it at the last minute or do not do it at all. I would love to graduate with Sam and be less stressed out, but I care too little about school at this point. My father might not approve of me dropping out without a valid reason, so having a successful band could change his mind. He does encourage me to listen to my gut feeling and do what I think is best. I thought being a lead singer could make me happy not just to make him proud of me, but to help me cope with stress. Sam noticed how I was feeling, thankfully. We were sitting together during our lunch hour at school that Friday and she saw how out of it I was.

"You okay?" She asked. "You look dead inside. Is it that time of the month?"

Okay. That was a bit awkward. Sometimes, Sam does not know the right thing to say when it comes to more serious topics. But I appreciate her curiosity for me so I took that comment with a grain of salt.

"I'm alright," I replied. "And no. I'm just a little worried about how we're going to do at the concert. It can get tense during rehearsals. I'm obviously sensitive when it comes to criticism and I overthink everything."

"I can tell. What do you say about a sleepover at my place? We can watch movies and try out makeup and dresses."

"Eh. I'm not really that feminine. I don't want to throw off Rose's schedule either. She's can be unpredictable."

"That's the problem. You worry too much about their expectations. What I'll do is tell Rose to shorten our rehearsal time because five hours is just absurd. Then I'll convince her and my foster parents to let you hang out at my house overnight. Then maybe I'll teach you how to meditate. I assume you've never done that."

"You would be correct, but I think movies will do the trick. And you never had a sleepover before, so I hope that it will work out. Thanks for the offer."

"Of course! I feel kinda bad because I waited all this time to invite you over. My foster parents didn't like your family so I don't know how they'll feel about you. Hopefully, they won't dislike you because we've been friends forever. That reminds me. You still haven't met them! We'll be making history tonight. Er. Also, about that thing that I said about the time of the month. My bad. That was too much."

If I had to choose one thing I liked about her, it would be how she catches herself when she embarrasses me. I was excited to be invited to her house for the first time, but it made me wonder about what else she hid from her parents. I thought I would just hold back on the overthinking for now. As we waited for Rose and May after school, Sam informed me about positivity and how there is always a bright side. Sure, I can sometimes be enthusiastic, but bad vibes can be very contagious for me. Being more positive might help my stress a little bit. Rose and May came over to us shortly and we walked to their car. Sam told them about our sleepover.

"Why weren't we invited?" Rose asked. "I can't remember the last time I went to one, but I'm a pro with those. I'll be the life of the party. And May, I guess."

"I thought you grew out of those," May added. "We are adults after all."

"Well, yeah. I'll bring out the wine."

"May has a point. No-Eyes and I are still kids at heart. You two would feel weird being with us, especially because we won't be drinking." Sam said, trying to keep me from worrying.

"That sucks. I could let you guys go early so you won't have to drive in the dark. I'm being super generous right now because I just aced an exam so don't get too comfortable with the schedule change." Rose explained.

"I just downloaded that drum machine app I talked about a little while back, so go crazy," May added.

We rehearsed Rose's first song and while I did have a few nervous voice cracks, I remembered Sam's advice and shook off the guilt. She and I were released an hour early so May could drop us off at Sam's house. I thought that inviting May would not be such a bad idea because she might be laxer with us if we just hung out and watched movies together so I offered her a chance, which pleasantly surprised Sam.

"No, thanks," May responded. "I have a date with my boyfriend after rehearsal tonight. Don't tell Rosie about it, though."

The back of my mind was telling me to worry about what she said, but worrying was the last thing I wanted to do that night. I also did not expect her to trust us with her secret boyfriend, but the more you know. We were dropped off at Sam's mint coloured one-story house with a front-yard filled with rocks and some stepping stones. I am not exactly introverted like Sam is, so she figured that I would not be too worried about meeting them. I was still clueless about how her family would react to seeing someone as intimidating as myself. A scrawny, black-eyed 2-D offspring. I loosened up when her step-father opened the door. He was a tall, muscular African American man that wore mature clothing, which was unexpected. I also did not expect him to stare at me in disbelief because I was a total stranger instead of my peculiar appearance.

"Pumpkin... Who's this?" he irritably asked.

"This is my bestie! You can call her by her nickname, No-Eyes," she replied.

"No kidding," he remarked.

This was an incredibly uncomfortable experience confronting her frank step-father, but I tried to let it slide and make myself look good in his eyes. Play on words intended.

"Don't worry, sir," I said. "I brought no alcohol or cigarettes. We were friends since childhood."

"Hey! Don't leave the door open! Mosquitos are gonna come flyin' in!" a raspy female voice shouted from another room.

"... Come on in," he said softly.

Not the best first impression for parents to make when introducing a friend from school to me. We entered their house and I saw how noticeably flushed Sam was. She said the other day that she does not often have guests that are not family. The interior of the house was filled with many portraits revealing that she has two older brothers that must have moved out, decorations, a sweet smell and seemed spotless compared to the apartment. We all walked towards the kitchen where her step-mother was preparing dinner.

"Hey, mum," Sam called. "This is my friend from school, No-Eyes. We're gonna have a sleepover."

"Well," she happily exclaimed. "Would you all like some dinn- AAH!"

She turned around and shrieked as if she were pranked by someone in a Halloween mask as she clasped her chest. We all jumped and I felt an immense wave of guilt for forgetting to bring my pair of shades with me at a time like this, yet lowkey insulted by the over-the-top reaction that I should be used to. She was a lean caucasian lady with a heavy underclass-like voice, another unexpected thing. She stared at me for a little while and sighed.

"Ah, sorry about that, darling," she apologised. "I'm a bit squeamish. Sammy, you've known her for a while?"

"Yeah," she replied. "Can you come over to my room with the food when you finish it please?"

"You don't want to have her sit with us at the table? We could get to know each other." her step-mother asked.

"No, thanks. Maybe another time. We'll be watching movies and stuff."

"Well, you're more than welcome to come over if you girls change your minds," her step-father added.

Sam smiled and we walked to her room. I noticed how I would constantly tense up interacting with them, but she did her best to cheer me up every time. She told me things such as how my tension is not a part of me and I do not have to worry about a thing. They were kind but debatable words. Her room was small and somewhat bare, similar to my tiny room in a way. She had a small TV and a whole shelf of movies underneath. It was otherworldly to be invited to her room for the first time.

"Well, your foster parents are pretty... Interesting." I said.

"I am so sorry about them. I shouldn't have expected them to just roll with having any strangers in the house. Not that I see you as one. I meant them." Sam replied.

"And your siblings?"

"Half-brothers. They only occasionally visit, but I do have someone that keeps me company who comes out whenever she wants."

"... Comes out?"

The room felt still. Sam's eyes were suddenly whitened and bugged out. A necklace emerged from under her shirt, one that she had never revealed to me since I first spotted it months ago. It was simple, black-chained and had a single charm of a glossy red heart, which had glowed a bright red light. The heart hovered and illuminated as a blue, somewhat static being stretched out of it. The being was revealed to be a blue ghost with long, curly brown hair and an outfit that would have been considered fashionable in the seventies. It appeared that Sam's eye colour had been transferred to her eyes. Her plump red lips moved in a rather exaggerated way when she spoke.

"Ah," she grunted. "Sammy, it's getting kinda tight in there. I'm claustrophobic."

"Oh, so now you're gonna complain?" Sam giggled. "This is No-Eyes. You've seen her before, but she hasn't seen you, obviously."

"Well, hello there, girly! I'm Amy. Her real mom. Thank you for being her friend. She woulda gone psycho if it weren't for you. Although Sam and I are besties-"

"Okay, mum," Sam interrupted. "No-Eyes, I think you two will get along just fine. She might be a bit too much sometimes, but she doesn't bite."

"Wow. Passive-aggressive much?" Amy added. I only stood there in awe from encountering the ghost of Sam's mother that she had hidden from me, who was clearly an American, but I finally reacted by going into my investigator mode after conjuring several questions for both Sam and Amy.

"Sam," I said. "You didn't have to hide her from me. She's amazing. How long have you been hiding her?"

"Thank you, baby," Amy replied. "I've been hiding in this necklace with her since my murder a few years after she was born. I don't know how it happened or who killed me yet, but that necklace was Sam's favorite for a while and I needed a place to hide, so she managed to keep it and myself safe from Death. Thankfully, I've been able to escape from him successfully many times."

"Wait. You don't remember how you died?" I asked.

"Nope. I was presumably poisoned or shot. What matters is that I'm still here and I repay Sammy for protecting me. We also write songs together. We're like a team... Can I trust you not to tell everyone about it? Rose and May can know 'cause they have no-one else to talk to and they could find out on their own, but anyone else is no bueno."

"Yeah, I promise. You two seem very secretive, I must say. You guys have anything else you want to reveal?" There was a brief silence after I asked this, but Amy attempted to break it.

"I have something else to reveal: I. Love. Sleep-overs. C'mon, ladies! What movie are we watching tonight?"

Sam looked anxious as Amy and I chatted but was back to normal once we got on the topic of the sleep-over. "Oh, yeah. I planned on letting No-Eyes decide what we should do..." Suddenly, her step-mother tried to knock on the door because the dinner was ready. Sam and Amy began to panic.

"Oh," her step-mother said to herself. "The door's unlocked."

...