I leaned my face closer to Hope's to kiss her cheek, then she suddenly pulled away out of my arms.

"Um, i-it's been a while since we talked." She said as she put her hands behind her head, "What's new?"

"Nothing…" Except the fact that I can't stop thinking about you and blush whenever I do.

"Same…" She replied, keeping her back to me.

"Hey babe." A voice called.

We both turned to see a tall brown haired boy dressed in all black walking towards us. I noticed something on his back, I figured it was a back pack, until it moved.

"You're wearing Joel on your back?!" Hope exclaimed.

"What?" The boy said with a shrug, "Mind getting him off my back?"

"You put him there." Hope said as she pulled a baby off of his back.

"Yea, I also had you on your back." He said grabbing her butt.

Instant rage swelled with in me when I saw that.

"Stop!" Hope snapped slapping his hand off of her then looking at me.

"Who's this?" the boy asked

"Tom, Odd. Odd, Tom." Hope said looking away from both of us.

"Don't tell me you have a new guy already!" Tom said turning to her.

"He's….a friend." Hope said as she put the baby on the grass.

A friend's better than nothing, right? But it didn't feel alright.

"Good." Tom said, "Just remember," He grabbed Hope by her waist, "I'm the only one with a big enough dick to control you."

Tom forced Hope into a kiss and deliberately shoved his tongue in her mouth for me to see.

"Later my little slut." He said as he spanked Hope then turned around and walked away.

I started to run after him, but I felt Hope grab me.

"Don't…" she began, but never finished.

Instead she sat down, picking up the baby and held him close to her.

"Hope… Why did you let him get away with that?" I asked as I sat down next to her.

"He's Joel's father." She said without looking at me.

"So?"

"'So' what?"

"So what difference does that make?" I asked

"Joel's my son." She said.

"So I've heard."

"Tom would take him away. He has more money than I do… any judge would give him custody of our baby. I can't blame them though." Hope looked off to the side, "After all, I'm not exactly the best role model. I do love my little boy though. You can leave now."

"What do you mean 'leave'?" I asked

"No one stays after I tell them, you don't have to feel sorry for me. You can leave when ever now." Hope's voice seemed very distant.

"You couldn't get rid of me even if you tried." I said as I put my face closer to hers.

Hope's eyes widened as she gasped and turned to look at me, but I was a bit too close and we ended up cracking skulls. We both rubbed our heads.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yea..." I replied, "You?"

"Fine…"

"Mumama." A little voice said as I felt a hand on my leg.

I looked down to see Hope's son. He was wearing one of those baby hats that had bear ears on it and an outfit that mad him look like a mini bear.

"And who do we have here?" I asked as I picked him up and put him on my lap.

"Odd, this is Joel." Hope said smiling, "Joel I'd like you to meet a very close friend of your momma's. Can you say 'hi'?"

"Papapa." Joel said reaching his arms towards me.

Does he think I'm his dad? No, he just left his dad.

"Yea, you'd like him as your dad more than Tom huh?" Hope said to Joel.

"Hope!" a voice called.

We both looked in the direction of the voice as Joel grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled. Ow

The same girls from my dream came running up to us.

"Hope, here you are." One of the brunettes said

"After what Sam said we figured we'd come to see if you were alright." The blonde girl said.

"Yea I'm fine." Hope said.

"Are you sure?" The other brunette said.

"Yes, I'm sure Sydney." Hope repeated. "Odd, this is Anna, Rei, and Sydney."

Anna was the first brunette, she was very tall and skinny, she reminded me of a pole; Rei was the blonde, she wasn't tall, but she wasn't short. And Sydney was the other brunette; she looked a lot like sissy, only she had brown hair.

"And who's this?" Sydney asked

"Girls, this is Odd." Hope said, "Odd, the girls."

"Oh my god!" Sydney shouted, "You mean to say that he's the one you made out with?"

"Sid!" Hope exclaimed as she blushed.

"Wow, you said he was cute, but you never told me he was hot!" Anna said.

"Anna!" Hope looked mortified.

"Mm-hm. Looks like Hopie's snagged herself a hottie." Rei nodded.

At the moment I really didn't know what to think. Hope had gotten up and was chasing the girls around shouting random threats. At that moment my cell began to vibrate.

"S.O.S XANA

-J"

(a/n: wow! Chapter 16! I'll be wrapping this up soon, but watch out for the sequel "school days". There is more chapters in this story. Thanks for reading!)