"It's time to get up, Liyah."

I groaned in response to the voice as I turned over in hopes to show that I was not interested in getting up. For someone who is sleeping on a blanket laid out on the floor, I was very comfortable. It beats the small space I used to sleep in before.

I heard things be set down beside me and then the feeling of someone being closer to me. I soon felt large hands grab onto my shoulder and shake me a small bit. "Go away," I spoke, half awake and hoping to be asleep again soon. The figure began to shake me harder. "Stop," I whined, hoping the person would listen. Which, technically they did.

Soon the person next to me had stood up as I no longer felt the force of another body next to me. I was happy with that until arms wrapped around my waist and lifted me from the ground. "What the hell!" I shouted in response to the sudden gesture. I was now wide awake from complete shock and confusion, and as soon as I was set down on my feet I turned around to look up and see Ethan standing in front of me with a small grin on his face. "I hate you."

He shrugged. "I know."

I rolled my eyes and pushed him out of the room for me to get ready. I had some change of clothes that I would occasionally go through, back at my old camping area I would just use a bucket of water to wash them and then lay them out to dry before I could use them again. The sink in the area worked but it wasn't fun because I couldn't necessarily shower. I would just have to take the bucket and fill it with water to pour all over myself and scrub my body with my hands. Maybe not the most hygenic, but it kept me clean to a certain degree.

My final addition to a black shirt, blue jeans, and my usual sneakers was Ethan's letterman jacket. Just because he was physically around didn't stop me from wanting that jacket to be near me. It also helped because again, it was a warm jacket.

I finally walked out of my classroom to see Sue and Ethan already standing outside of my door having a conversation. Well, somewhat of a conversation. Depends on what you'd consider a conversation when you speak with Ethan. I suppose adding Sue to the mix doesn't help much either. She was usually a very serious and straight-to-the-point person, but a different side of her always comes out whenever I'm around. It confused most people but it made sense to us. She was someone I had known for as long as I could remember, it's not weird to us to just feel like kids again around each other.

When the two had realized that I exited my room they immediately turned to face me. "Are you ready?" Sue asked me. I just nodded and she smiled in response. I've never hung out with Sue and Ethan at the same time. I'm sure it was new for them too, especially since I talked about them to other quite a bit.

When we had left and gotten some ways away, Sue spoke up. "Hey, Aaliyah?"

"Yeah?" I looked over at her, her expression seeming a bit sad.

"Do you know what happened to your friends?"

My expression turned sad as well. I sighed. "No," I answered. "When it first broke out at our school I went to look for them but by the time I started searching I saw that their cars weren't in the parking lot anymore. I guess they left without me." Repeating those words and thinking of it again honestly hurt me. Knowing that these people I ate lunch with almost every day forgot about me. "Though, I kind of expected it." I continued. "I felt like I was always the forgettable friend."

"I didn't forget you."

I quickly turned to the source of the voice, coming to the quiet boy that stood next to me and Sue. "What?" I asked, knowing full well what he said but not accepting it. Not fully taking it in.

"I didn't forget you." He willingly repeated, this time turning to face me too. "I looked for you, you know."

I looked back at him with complete confusion. Though, it almost felt good. Knowing someone looked for me, knowing someone thought about me. I knew Sue and my parents thought about me but I wasn't expecting anybody else to think of me. I guess Ethan did mean a lot to me and I considered him one of my closest friends despite him sleeping the majority of the time we "hung out" but I just felt like maybe he didn't see me the same way as I saw him.

When he went to continue speaking he turned back to see what was in front of him while we all continued to walk. "We were finishing up our pre-game practice when people came out screaming from the school. I didn't know what was happening but my first thought was," He stopped speaking for a second. I knew he was trying to hide any awkwardness he was feeling but I could tell by his body language. He tensed slightly and looked down at the floor instead of ahead. Then he cleared his throat and simply said "you."

I'm not sure if I felt embarrassed or awkward and I wasn't sure if it was because of what Ethan said or the fact that Sue was standing right next to me and I knew she was staring daggers at him.

"I knew math was the period and it's in the front of the building so I thought maybe it would be easy to find you but before I could get myself any closer to the school I heard my team screaming and saw they were being attacked." He explained, a tone of hurt becoming noticeable in his words. "I went to help them as much to the best of my ability. After I did I wanted to run back to find you but my other teammates grabbed me and ran in the opposite direction before I could." He sighed gripping the handle of his bat that he was holding over his shoulder. "We hid out somewhere for a bit but later I went off on my own to go to your house to check if you were okay. Everything was gone by the time I got there. I just hoped you were safe with your family this time."

I hadn't heard Ethan talk so much before. There are occasions where he has to speak more than he'd like to, but this felt like something he did want to talk about. "When everything broke out it was a bit difficult to get out with the crowds and the screaming. By the time I was able to get out and get a clear view of everything I finally thought about heading towards the baseball field. A couple pushed around later and I found the area but it was already empty. Then I went back to the parking lot and saw all of my friends gone. I tried to head home and that didn't work out." I forced out a chuckle, attempting to make a small joke about my experience. "I was hoping to head home and find my parents and possibly find out what was happening with Sue but I didn't make it in time."

"It's probably shitty to say, but I'm glad you didn't." Sue bud in. "You know why." She finished.

"Blessing in disguise in such a fucked up way." I shrugged, indifferent to the situation. Something I didn't know how to deal with, it was too much to understand.

After that small bit of walking and conversation, we made it to the convenience store that I used to stay in. Unfortunately, when we got there it seemed that someone else had found it as well. "Shit." I stopped in my tracks, seeing the mess that lay inside the area. I groaned.

"Hey, we can still check what's left," Sue assured me, patting my back. "Anything helps at this point."

I nodded to her at her statement, sighed again, then got myself together again. We all walked into the store. It was mostly destroyed but there were still a lot of useful things left. "Hey, Sue?" I whispered over to her, gesturing to come over to me when I stood in the back next to the drinks. She looked around, most likely looking for Ethan, then when the coast was clear came over to me.

"What?" She whispered back.

I smiled at her listening to me and pointed to some drinks that were left. Alcohol. "Would you like to be my beer pong partner?"

"No." A different voice answered the question for Sue.

"What?" I whined in response. "Why not? I played with myself for the past 2 months I just want a partner, man." I continued to whine, crossing my arms.

"You're not drinking-" Ethan began to continue when he abruptly stopped. I was confused by that then turned to face Sue, who was once again shooting daggers straight at him. When I turned back to face Ethan, he was returning the glare. I kept looking back and forth between the two, each expression becoming more and more intense as time went on.

Ignoring my two friends trying not to kill each other right in front of me, I quickly grabbed some alcohol anyway. Ethan saw, just rolled his eyes, and walked away.

"I won." Sue turned to me with a smug look on her face.

"Yes, you did Sue." I giggled. "Yes, you did."

By the time we arrived back at the school, it was already pretty dark. We automatically went to the meeting room, seeing if anyone was expecting us, which there was.

"Welcome back," Lawrence smiled at us. "Were you able to get what you needed?"

He had such a soft and welcoming voice with such a calm smile. Why did Sue not like him? I trust her more than anything, so no matter how kind he may seem I'm just following what Sue's actions tell me.

Ethan nodded to answer his question, I could tell Sue wasn't open to wanting to respond. We all walked to the center and put down the stuff we grabbed onto a table. Yet, I tried to keep my bottles of alcohol in my bag in secret. Though, I didn't succeed.

"Do you have more?" Lawrence asked me.

I looked at him and tried to mask my guilt, but I failed. I was never an amazing liar. "No," I responded quietly.

Ethan, who stood next to me, just nudged at me and looked at me with an expression that I knew was telling me to just give up. I sighed and pulled out the two bottles of alcohol I had. I felt awkward and embarrassed knowing everyone was staring at the bottles I had laid down in front of me, all curious for my reasoning. I shrugged, "I just wanted to be a beer bong partner." I honestly explained, hoping someone could take some kind of pity on me.

"Wait," Zion spoke, catching my attention. Avoiding the stares of everyone else he just leaned over and asked, "Can I be your beer pong partner?"

I stupidly grinned, no longer feeling like I was viewed as an idiot. "Just so you know, I've practiced on myself for the past 2 months. Don't believe you have a chance." I leaned over challenging the cocky boy who stared at me.

He just smirked in response and finalized with, "Try me."

"Zion, you're drunk."

"No I'm not!" Zion shouted back in response. "I want a rematch!"

"Zion, I've beat you twice." I laughed at his exaggerated reactions that was definitely due to the fact that he was a very competitive and cocky man yet was losing to a small girl with a high alcohol tolerance.

"2 out of 3." He crossed his arms angrily at me.

"I'll get you some water," Eugene chuckled and walked out of the room. He had been watching our match the whole time, along with Ethan, Harry, Hailey and Sue. Lawrence was invited but he didn't seem to be interested and chose to stay out. Of course, Sue was a little uncomfortable with the idea of both Lawrence being there to watch and Lawrence not being there.

The situation with Lawrence was a bit confusing, as it felt like Ethan was his right hand man and Ethan trusted him completely when Sue absolutely resented the man and had nothing but extreme suspicions towards him. As much as Ethan is important to me and how I trust him with everything because I know he is nothing but a trustworthy guy, I'm with Sue on this. Sue is a very reserved girl, not liking to jump to conclusions and likes to get into intense research. So, if she is suspecting something or someone, especially with something as serious as murder, I will trust her completely and it would only be over my dead body for me to not trust her instincts.

Eugene walked back into the room with a small bottle of water and handed it to Zion. He just glared at Eugene, snatched the bottle from his hands, and drank the water in the most aggressive way I had ever seen anyone drink water before. As soon as the bottle left his lips he turned his glare towards me. "How the fuck are you so good at this?"

I smirked, "2 months of practice. Really brought up my aim and my alcohol tolerance." Zion's stared daggers into my soul, but I didn't let that phase me. "Hey, it's okay, you're just rusty. Just need to get back into the groove." I reassured the man. "Then you'll beat me."

He squinted his eyes at me, seemingly curious and suspicious of my words. "Yeah," He spoke slowly. "I'll beat you." Zion then turned to leave the classroom we were in and tumbled a small bit.

"Woah," Eugene helped him balance. "Come on, let's take you to bed big boy."

"Don't ever call me big boy again."

"We'll see about that, big boy."

Even after they had left the room I could still hear them bickering throughout the hallway on the way to Zion's room.

Aftwerwards everyone, including myself, slowly started gathering some stuff around and cleaning up the small mess. Though, Sue chose to stick close to me as although I didn't drink nearly as much as Zion, I still had to have a couple drinks.

Ethan soon walked up to me and Sue when we had looked at the bottles of alcohol. "You're already almost out." I heard the voice speak.

Sue chuckled. "Zion drank most of it."

"It's not even like the cups were big and these bottles were large, Zion is just a little girl." I crossed my arms and rolled my arms.

"Or it's because you drank every day for 2 months out of boredom-"

"No, Sue," I interrrupted. "It was out of training. Competition. As soon as this world goes back to normal mark my words, I will be the worlds best beer pong player." I made the bet, giggling along with Sue while Ethan cracked a smile.

As soon as this world goes back to normal. That phrase repeated for the rest of the night in my head even through my giggles and smiles.

As soon as this world goes back to normal. Please be soon.