I know! It took forever! But here it is! Beware it's longness... smirk I think I got carried away writing this chapter. Anyway, read on!

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Chapter Two: Secrets

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Math Class: Swifty

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"Whoever wanted to stick in letters with numbers is beyond me," muttered Blink, looking over his work once more as he ran his fingers through his hair.

I think a hundred girls just swooned right then and there.

I didn't know the guy too much, seeing as how I just met him today. In a short amount of time I found out that he was forced by his parents to attend summer school (Ha. Who wasn't?), likes the color green, and currently has problems with math.

Which is obviously why we're all here.

It didn't take long for us to figure out that we hardly did anything in this class. Seeing as how we're all working on different levels here, our teacher, Ms. Cruz, just decided to hand us our books and pick up where we left off when school ended. Then the rest of the time was just work. Basically, we just read the damn book and do the required problems or equations. Fun.

"I don't even think my brain is functioning this time of morning," said the kid who was wearing the cowboy hat earlier. Jack was his name. But for some reason Cowboy just suited him more.

"That's 'cause you're too busy looking over there at that girl, dumbass," smirked Spot, nodding towards Brandie.

I smirked, holding back my laughter as Jack shot Spot a glare. It's been well known that Jack and Brandie are currently on break even though they sure don't act like it. I swear. I never understood those things.

"You better watch what you're sayin' Spot," muttered Jack, cooling down just a bit. "It ain't healthy for you."

"Aw, c'mon, ladies, quit arguing and do your work," I said, smirking.

"Don't be callin' me a lady."

Jack gave me a glare much like he did with Spot before looking back at his book to continue working, which was previous to giving another quick glance over at Brandie.

Really. You'd think the guy would have any willpower.

"Scared to get in touch with your feminine side, Cowboy?"

Damn. Spot was in one of his moods again. He would pick a person and well, literally… pick on them. Blink, however, was still muttering about how much gasoline dear old Bob needed to get to New York.

I glanced over at the other two tables not too far from us. For some reason, girls just tend to group together, don't they? But as far as I was concerned, as long as Alexia was not in this room, it's all good. Who'd have thought that Jamima was going to come walking through those doors, in both my classes even? The girl's alright, I have to admit that, I did go out with her, but having her and Alexia around wasn't exactly pleasant.

I hate it when things are complicated.

"I swear, Conlon, you're asking for it…"

"Ooh, am I?"

"Shortie."

"Dumbass."

"Dick."

"Jerk."

"Fag."

Much as I hate to say it, it looked like Jack touched a nerve. Spot was glaring like I've never seen him before while I couldn't help but keep a confused look on my face. He was about to open his mouth to shout back an insult when Lute along with Endora and another girl I didn't recognize. Must not have been from here.

"Although that has been quite entertaining to watch," said Lute, breaking off the two boys' eye contact with each other. "Ms. Cruz over there is still going over equations with Riley and told us to ask for help and seeing as how all of you are studying oh so very hard…"

Well, we were all practically just goofing off… with the exception of Blink and Bob.

"What do you want, Lute?"

"Did you not just hear what she just said?" said Endora, raising her eyebrow at Jack.

"Help, dumbass," said Lute, rolling her eyes at him.

"See, that's what I told him!" piped Spot once more.

"Help… mentally?"

I smirked, grinning at how Jack could be a real lovable ass sometimes. It's not like we hated him, it was just the way he was. I was working my way towards ignoring them once again but was interrupted by a sudden tap on my shoulder. I looked up to see one of the girls that Lute had dragged with her. The one that I didn't recognize.

"Are they always like this?" she whispered, raising her eyebrow at the group; Lute trying to keep her cool, Jack probably thinking up with more insults, Endora annoyed as hell as to why they even came here, and Spot just enjoying every minute of it.

"You get used to it," I said, shrugging carelessly. "I'm Swifty."

"Danielle," she said, smiling back. "Er, did you do the equation with…"

I glanced over at her book, checking on what she was currently working on, a slow smile spreading across my face the minute I recognized the name.

"Why don't you go over to Blink over there?" I said, nodding towards him. "Looks like the two of you are on the same page. I ain't even close to that problem just yet."

"Oh, er, alright," she muttered, making her way towards Blink.

I can just imagine them right now. Blink, Danielle, and… Bob. What a happy family.

"That's not an eight!" muttered Jack, frowning at Lute and Endora. "It's a three, don't you see?"

"Can't really with all that chicken scratch," said Spot, mostly to himself.

"I heard that."

"Good for you, hon."

"Don't call me hon."

"Oh --."

"Jack?" said Endora, tapping him on the shoulder with a smirk playing on her face.

"What?" he snapped, looking back at her.

"It's an eight," she said, pointing at his notebook as he leaned forward to look at his own writing.

"Oh. It is."

"Dumbass," muttered Lute, Endora, and Spot all at the same time.

Hmm.

Did I tell you all how much I love math class?

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Drama Class: Race

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Who was he?

Really.

Who?

I kept my eyes on the swirly pattern of the carpet beneath me instead of the usual plastic blue chair. Our Drama teacher, Mr. Naz, doesn't have any chairs in his room. Except for his, of course. He said that we needed enough space for our exercises and whatever we would be doing for class. So now we were all here, sitting in a circle on the floor.

I feel like I'm going to therapy.

But that was beside the point.

He had a girlfriend, dammit. That rules out all possibilities of –

"RACE!"

"Er, yes?" I muttered, snapping out of my thoughts. I looked over to my right side, where Sapphy was comfortably sitting. "What now?"

"I think it's still a little bit too early for you, is it?" said Mr. Naz, looking at me as he raised his eyebrow.

"It's too early for all of us," mumbled Bumlets under his breath.

"Now, c'mon, you're the last person," continued Mr. Naz, ignoring Bumlets' comment. I wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't heard it either. The guy insisted that we play RENT in the background, not that I was complaining, of course, I know all the songs by heart; especially I'll Cover You.

"Last… last person to what?" I mumbled, nudging Sapphy.

Honestly, I had no idea what was going on. That's what happens when my mind tends to drift off and think about things… such as that one light-brown haired –

"Last person to introduce yourself to the class," replied Sapphy.

OH YEAH.

I knew practically most of them considering that they were half of my Creative Writing Class, but the other faces still seemed a bit fuzzy to me.

"OH!" I muttered, jumping to face the circle of students. Oh, and teacher. "My name's Anthony Higgins but everybody else just calls me Racetrack 'cause I… uh, like the races. I have a younger sister, Irish, but she's in math class right now. Oh, and I go to St. Francis, the one across the highway."

"Okay. So what kind of things do you like, Race?"

Yup. Therapy.

"Well, I like RENT… and musicals in general, I guess," I answered, trying to wrack my brain for what else I liked.

Hmm. Does that guy back at Creative Writing count?

"Are you okay?" muttered Sapphy, nudging me once more as Mr. Naz continued to give his little introduction on his Drama class. Normally, I would've listened, I have to admit, these classes really are fun, but today my mind was just roaming. And Sapphy noticed.

"Don't worry, I'm fine," I answered, looking up at Mr. Naz who drew a bunch of logos on the board. I also noticed that he stopped playing RENT, causing a couple of groans from Sapphy, Kyriel, and Anna.

The fact that I also have Over the Moon stuck in my head prior to it being the last song being played didn't help the situation any better.

"Okay, now that we've got the introductions over," said Mr. Naz, drawing the Nike logo on the whiteboard with his back turned to us. "Our first activity is going to be symbols."

"Symbols?" muttered the boy named Bumlets once again. "What does that have to do anything with what we're going to be doing?"

"Well, a part of acting is using emotions, isn't it?"

"No duh," said Elizabeth, rolling her eyes. "Can't act without emotions, now, can we?"

Wait.

Why does she look oddly familiar?

Well, not familiar. Just…

Then it suddenly dawned on me. I thought back to earlier during that class, when introductions were going. I know I wasn't paying attention much, with obvious reason. But I did listen in here and there. That girl. The same blonde hair and blue eyes. She's his sister!

"That's right," nodded Mr. Naz, snapping me back to attention. "Which brings us to what this lesson is about. You need your emotions to act, so in that case, you need to be in touch with yourself and your feelings, which means you have to know yourself. These symbols… you recognize them right away when you first see them, right?"

"Well, yeah," said Skittery. "Nike. And the one next to that is Pepsi."

Mr. Naz smiled and nodded. "Right. Now, what you'll be doing for the rest of the time until this class ends is to think about your symbol. It can be anything from an animal, a plant, or even an object… anything that represents you. After you've got that far, I want you to draw it and write a description on why it is your symbol. We're going to be presenting these tomorrow so if you didn't finish, feel free to take them home."

And with that, Mr. Naz was sitting on his chair fiddling around with his computer while he left us to think of what our symbols were.

What symbol I was going to be, I had no idea. It didn't even look like most of us were actually doing our work, some just running over to get some paper to doodle and listen to RENT until the class ended. It wasn't too bad actually. But he was still on my mind. Geez, I've never been worked up about something like this since I found out that I had front seats to The Lion King on Broadway.

"Maybe I'll be a camera," said Elizabeth, shrugging.

"What," asked Itey, raising his eyebrow. "And blind people to death with bright flashes?"

"No! I just like photography, that's all," she answered.

"I'll just be a color," said Snitch, looking through a box of Crayola much like a little kid. "Ky, pick one."

"Black."

"No."

"Red."

"Well…"

"Green."

"Elphaba was green," said Sapphy, looking up from her work before clearing her throat and mimicking Galinda's voice best as she could. "So you see, it couldn't have been easy…"

"You think we can listen to something else besides musicals?" asked a blue-eyed girl wearing jeans and a vintage t-shirt. Mel. That was her name, I think.

But I wasn't currently thinking about her name, I was wondering how long she was going to live in this room with all these musical-loving people.

"Not that I don't like musicals or anything, they're awesome," she continued. "But do you think we can listen to music like Dashboard Confessional? The Starting Line? Maybe even Taking Back Sunday?"

Wait. Actually, those aren't that bad.

"Yeah," agreed Skittery, nodding back at her. "I kinda like the sound of that…"

It didn't take long before Skittery, Snitch, Ky, and Mel were launched into a conversation all about rock bands and music. Ah, and they shall unite.

I wasn't surprised; nobody was working on their symbols. You'd think we were actually back in school. Only for some reason, I liked this type of school better. Sure, we had to deal with writing in that notebook for Creative Writing (which I'll probably just fill up with a sentence or two each day), but the rest of the day wasn't so bad. Fact is, we get to leave earlier than usual, especially since summer school here ends at noon.

It was perfect.

Well, almost perfect.

Dammit.

The remaining fifteen minutes of the class passed by like a blur. All I ever achieved in that little white paper was a bunch of scribbles. Scribbles that didn't even resemble anything. Okay, I admit, I was sidetracked, but I really couldn't help it.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but by the end of the day, I was actually miserable. There was no way in hell that things were going to look up for me. And it still stayed that way until class ended, when I jumped in my car and watched the blonde kid whisper into his girl's ear as I drove away.

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Burger King: Bumlets

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"Good afternoon and welcome to Burger King. How may I allow you to kill you today?" said Skittery, smirking as he adjusted his headset in place.

Ha. I love that guy.

"SKITTS!" shouted Kyriel, rolling her eyes and giving him a smack upside the back of his head as she took off the headset and tossed it over to Snitch. "That's Snitch's job!"

"Thank you, Ky," he said, smiling as he put on the headset. "I'm so sorry about that ma'am. It seems like one of our employees has taken the headset from me. Yes, yes, won't let that happen again. So, ma'am, you said you wanted a noose AND a handgun?"

"SNITCH!"

"What?" he muttered, smiling with much innocence as he could.

"Give me the headset."

"Man, Ky," frowned Snitch, handing it over to her as if it were some prized possession. Which, it actually was. It's a mighty lot of fun playing with that headset. "You're no fun."

"The girl's just doin' her job!" I said, winking at Ky, who at this time was receiving an order from a very angry lady. Much more successful than the other two, I had to admit. "Besides, she doesn't want to get in too much trouble with the manager away during his afternoon break, right?"

And it was true. None of us wanted to get into trouble or else we would be staying there much longer than we planned for. Oh, and there was also the small pay.

I had to admit, none of us really wanted to be here serving French fries with ten different varieties of a burger you could ever think of, but it was summer and we all needed a summer job. I was kind of weirded out by those three… they sure were something, nevertheless working here sure made it fun. Not to mention I went to summer school with them, which wasn't too bad altogether.

"They should just hand this place over to Ky, really," smirked Brittany, passing by with a packet of cold French fries in her hands. "She can be like, Burger Queen."

"I'm really going to have to go against that," muttered Kyriel, shooting a look at Brittany as she made her way towards the back kitchen.

"C'mon, Bumlets," said Snitch, dragging me along towards the next window where the customers were supposed to get their good food for their pay. Ha. Good food. If they could only see the things before it was cooked. "Let's go over to the other window so that Ky can have some alone time with her headset."

"HEY!" shouted Ky from afar, covering the mouthpiece with her hand. "YOU'RE LEAVING ME WITH SKITTS?!"

"Ooh, try this one! Welcome to Burger King, how may I jump off a cliff today?"

Ky sure had her hands full.

"Hand me some of those napkins over there, Snitch," I said, putting in the straw and any other condiments the customer needed before I gave it off.

"Here," he said, taking the Burger King paper bag from me as he stuffed it with napkins. "Let me try this."

"Should I be worried?"

Really, should I?

I hardly know the guy and I don't want him jerking my chain.

"Ah, just trust me," he said, putting on an incredibly cheesy smile as he opened the window and handed the meal towards the customer in the car.

This was going to be interesting.

"Thank you for stopping by Burger King. Hope to see you again soon."

"Oh, why thank you, young man," said the lady as she graciously took the bag and gave him a sincere smile. "It's nice to see such polite children these days. The person on the speaker that I talked to earlier, can you believe, he asked me if I wanted a noose and a handgun! Honestly!"

I raised my eyebrow, glancing over at Snitch while I put together the next customer's meal.

"We apologize for that, ma'am," he said, giving her that innocent smile like he did with Ky just earlier. "Whoever that was was way out of line. I don't understand what makes them do these things, you know? If you ask me, we should be all studying for the upcoming school year! And the music, these days, oh my goodness…"

You'd think Snitch was meeting his mother-in-law, really. He looked like he was about to burst with charm.

"Thank you, young man. But it looks like I may have to hurry on…"

And with a smile and a wave, she was gone.

"Damn, Snitch," I muttered, before opening the window to another customer and handing them their meal, then shutting it back down. "I don't know what to make of you, man."

"I ain't a man," he answered, smirking.

Oh.

Well, I should've guessed earlier.

"Just an expression," I answered, shrugging carelessly.

"We're not weirding you out, hopefully?"

"Well… it sure is entertaining having you guys around here. It makes making burgers simply wonderful."

"Ah," smiled Snitch. "That's why we're here for."

"So tell me, Snitch," I said, completing another order and handing it to the customer, not saying a word to them. That was how I operated. Open window. Give. Fake cheesy smile. Close window. I didn't bother talking to them even. They were probably in a rush. Why do you think they're in the drive-thru instead of inside the actual restaurant?

"You're a nice guy. Why don't you have another man on your shoulder?" I smirked.

"Getting personal, are we?" he joked, tossing me a couple of ketchup packets. He maintained the smile on his face, but I saw the way it fell just seconds earlier before I turned around to get a medium-sized Pepsi.

"Hey, if I'm going to tolerate the bunch of you, I should at least get to know you."

"Well…" he started uncertainly. "I don't…"

"I'm working upfront," said Skittery, popping his head on the side (which made Snitch jump at least five feet in the air) before smirking and pointing towards Ky. "I think I've irritated her enough."

"Uh, okay, great," muttered Snitch.

"You okay?"

"I saw an ant."

"You're so gay," muttered Skittery before disappearing once again.

I smiled at Snitch, raising my eyebrow.

He rolled his eyes at me, letting out a small sigh as he grabbed the meal that I just had made, opened the window, and faced the customer.

"You are the hundredth customer today. Look in your bag to find a your complimentary ant on your French fries. Good day."

I rolled my eyes, smirking as he closed the window before the customer could even utter another word.

"I promise I won't tell," I said, looking at him seriously. "Really, I won't."

"Thanks, Bumlets."

"No problem. So… uh, was there really an ant on his French fries?"

"C'mon," grinned Snitch. "Does this look like a face of someone who would lie to you?"

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A/N: Muahahah! And the second chapter is done! Really, I think I was in a weird mood when I wrote most of this. Anyways, most of the stuff that went on in the Burger King scene was taken from an RPG that me and Ky have done a long time ago. Yes, that is what happens when we RPG. Ooh! Also for those of you who are in the drama class [Sapphy, Elizabeth, Alexia, Mel, Jaylene, and Anna] tell me what your symbol is and why or else I'll be forced to make one for you. :P

Shout-outs

Coin: Ack! Bare! I am currently obsessed with that musical... I so badly wanted to see it, but I live on the other side of the world! So I have to make do with the songs I downloaded from Sh-k Boom Records. Mreh. Aw, did you like Snitch in this one too? Also, thanks for sending in your email!

Lady of Tir Na Nog: Burnt your arm? Aw... I ain't such a great cook either. I'm beginning to think I may have to live on take-out.

geometrygal: Aw, congratulations on getting into college! [applause] That's awesome! Aw, well, I hope you had enough Swifty in this chapter!

C.M. Higgins: Thanks for replying back to my email! There ain't much Denton in this chapter, but we'll see in the next one!

Sapphy AND Lute: [lmao, tackle-glomps] You guys are awesome.

pizzaDORK: Heheh. Thanks! I'm glad you like it!

Song Birdy: Yeah, I got the idea from English class when we had to keep a journal in fifth grade. Heheh. And look at these teenagers keeping one for themselves! [I should speak, I have an online journal. :P]

Dreamless-Mermaid: Hey! First off, thanks for reviewing my other story! Heheh, I was so glad! Thanks for also lettin' me be in your newsies fic!

BoogityWhup14: [looks in the crystal ball, raises eyebrow] Please try again later, the future is unclear...

Raven: Aw, hey Ray! Don't worry, your character should make an appearance in the next chapter. It was much fun rpging with you and talkin' to you on AIM! Must continue our rp next time okie? [wink] Hahah!

uninvisible: Hahahah! That's awesome! I'm Asian too! Aw, but I like marshmallows...

turpentine chaser: Of course there has to be Snittery! How could I resist?

Frenchygoil: Aw, thanks, love you lots! I'll keep that full name fact in mind! [wink]

Moonlights Sundance: Hahah, I would've done the flirting here, but you were in the other class! [snaps fingers] Next time then, huh?