Disclaimer: If I owned these boys do you really think this is what I'd be doing?

Chapter: "The Normal Teenage Experience"

"I don't like her."

"What?"

"Are you crazy?"

"I thought she was kinda cute."

Everyone stared at Spot in surprise. He had never met a girl he didn't like. Besides, none of the other guys could really find anything wrong with her. Except for one.

"Actually, I agree with Spot. I didn't like her either."

All right, something was wrong. Jack liked every girl. Jack liked everything with breasts.

"Are you two feeling okay? I mean, she is a girl. Since when do you not like girls?" Blink looked suspiciously at his two friends. "Is there something you guys aren't telling us?" Everyone laughed as Jack and Spot blushed furiously.

"Shut up, jackass."

"Aw, Blink, they're just mad because Patience liked Skittery," Mush said, plopping down on the couch next to Race. "She told me when I took her home," he added to Skittery.

"Really?" Skittery looked thoughtfully at his hand. "She is cute."

"I don't not like her because she likes Skittery," Spot said, getting a little frustrated. "I don't like her because she's…she's…because I don't!" That being said, he stomped into the other room.

"Well, somebody's in a bad mood," Racetrack said from the couch.

"Did she really say she liked me?" Skittery asked Mush.

"She danced with you all night, didn't she?"

"Oh, shut up!" Jack said, stomping out of the room, following Spot.

Patience smiled as she got ready for bed. That really had been a fun party.

"They'll love you." Mush said, knocking on the door. It opened to reveal about twenty normal teenagers doing normal teenage things. There were a few boys sitting on the couch, nearly yelling at each other, trying to be heard over the music that was blasting from the stereo in the corner.

"Come on, I'll introduce ya to the guys." Mush led her over to the couch. "Guys, this is Patience, but mostly we call her Red. She goes to school with me and she tutors Blink." Then Blink started to point out each of the boys in turn and introducing them.

"So, this is Racetrack. That's Skittery. Jack's over there, this is his house. Oh, and that's Spot." Patience was used to stupid nicknames by now. Hell, she even had one, but she still wished Mush would tell her their real names.

"Hey." Damn. She had meant to say something witty and interesting. She wanted to make a good impression on Blink and Mush's friends, but all she could think of was "Hey." At least the boys' reactions weren't much better. A chorus of "Hey's" were repeated back to her.

Spot looked the new girl up and down. She wasn't too bad looking. Maybe even cute. She was short, probably even shorter than Race. Short, dark red hair, blue eyes, and plastic-framed glasses that were the same color as her hair. She was biting her lip and playing with her hair.

"Hey," he said, along with the other boys.

"We were just getting ready to start a poker game. Wanna play?" Racetrack asked, pulling a deck of cards out of his pocket.

"Um, okay." Patience nervously sat down. She didn't know how to play poker. People had tried to teach her before, but she always forgot. Plus, Racetrack's semi-evil laugh didn't help much. Uh-oh. This was going to be a problem.

Mush smiled happily at the poker game going on in the middle of the room. Patience and the boys looked like they were having a great time. He had known that the other guys would take to her immediately. And why wouldn't they? They were friends with him weren't they? Yes, they were going to let her into their circle. Oh, he was good.

Patience didn't last very long in the game. She didn't know how to play and she didn't have much money to begin with. Racetrack laughed and handed her money back to her.

"I wish I'd a known you were such a crappy poker player. Next time, we're playing strip poker."

"Next time, I won't pretend to suck," Patience said, making a mental note to never play poker with Race again. He just laughed and ruffled her hair.

"I'm just playing with ya." Patience laughed, but didn't totally believe him.

An hour later, Patience could be found in the kitchen, getting a drink and having a very…involved discussion with Skittery. It sounded more like an argument, really.

"How can you like Panic at the Disco? They're overrated sell-outs," Skittery said.

"Just because a band is popular does not make them sell-outs. Besides, didn't you just say that you like Green Day? They won a freakin' Grammy."

"Yeah, but that's different."

"Okay, well who else do you like?"

"Snow Patrol, Hawthorne Heights, Dashboard Confessional…"

"Emo kid," Patience said, laughing.

"I am NOT!"

"It's okay, I'm kidding. I like those bands, too."

Suddenly, the argument became an agreement as they started talking about which songs were the best. This discussion lasted all the way to the living room, where a few kids had cleared some room for a dance floor.

"So, do you wanna dance?" Skittery asked, suddenly becoming shy.

"Um," Patience blushed, "Yeah. Sure."

They made their way to the center of the living room, along with the other kids. They danced, laughing and smiling at each other until a slow song started playing. Suddenly, Jack appeared out of nowhere.

"Hey, Red. Would ya wanna dance with me?"

Patience looked at Jack and then back at Skittery. "No thanks. I was just about to dance with Skittery here." She turned her back to Jack and put her arms around Skittery's shoulders. (Which was harder than it looked, as he was so much taller.) Jack just watched in shock as the couple in front of him started to sway to the music. No girl had ever turned him down before. Surely there had to be something wrong with her. Right?

Spot stood in the corner of the room, watching the happy teenagers dancing around him. Spot didn't dance. Spot was a badass. Badasses don't dance. That's the rule. He saw Jack headed toward the spot where Skittery and Red were dancing.

"Another girl lost to the Cowboy," he thought, spying the look of want on Jack's face. Jack always got what he wanted. Spot watched the exchange between Jack and Red with disinterest. That is, until Red turned her back to Jack. Spot laughed out loud at the look on Jack's face. He'd never been refused before. "I like this girl," Spot thought, seeing Jack walk away, completely stunned.

Exhausted from dancing, Patience threw herself down on the couch, Skittery right beside her. Race had to jump out of the way for fear of being crushed by the two.

"I'm going to get a drink. Want one?" Skittery asked.

"Whew. Yeah," Patience answered, her face flushed.

Skittery forced his way through the crowd to the kitchen, while Patience carefully watched him go.

"See something ya like?" Racetrack asked, smirking.

Patience blushed; embarrassed that she had been caught checking out Skittery. Luckily, she was already so red, that nobody noticed except Race.

"Um…I was just…you see…um…"

"Hey, you don't have to explain to me," Race laughed, ruffling her hair. Patience was really getting sick of people ruffling her hair. They were making it all static-y. She was busy trying to smooth it down, when Spot sat beside her on the couch.

"Hey, ya havin' fun?"

"Yeah, I was just…" Spot didn't give her time to finish.

"Cause if you wanted to, we could go somewhere a little more…quiet." He whispered the last word into her ear.

"Actually, I'm kinda waiting for Skittery to come back, so I don't think so," she said matter-of-factly. Then she got up and walked to the other side of the room. She didn't like how he just assumed that she would just leave with him and she especially didn't like how part of her wanted to. She shook herself, trying to get rid of the chills that went down her back when Spot had whispered in her ear. They were uncomfortable. In a good way, but she still didn't like it.

Skittery found her in the corner just as her phone rang. She answered it and winced at the voice on the other side. Skittery couldn't make out the conversation through the noise of the party, but it didn't look good. She slammed the phone shut and started to grumble. All he heard was something about "stupid parents."

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just have to go. Um, I'll see you later, okay?" She didn't really want to leave. She was having too much fun with Skittery.

"Wait. Can I call you sometime, or something?" Patience blushed.

"Sure." She hurriedly scribbled her phone number on his hand. "Bye," she called over her shoulder trying to find Mush.

She found him, attached to Blink, on the couch. She cleared her throat, but the boys were obviously too caught up in each other to notice. Finally, she tapped him on the shoulder.

"Whatcha want?" Mush asked, semi-annoyed.

"Can you give me a ride home? My mom called."

"Yeah, okay."

The pair quickly said goodbye to everyone to the party. After Mush gave Blink a quick kiss and whispered "I'll be right back," they ran out to Mush's car.

They rode in silence for a while until Mush decided to find out what was going on with Skittery.

"So, you and Skitts seemed to be getting' pretty close."

"Oh, I liked him," Patience sighed. "Do you think he liked me?"

"Of course."

Patience smiled at him. That really had been a fun party. Mush dropped her off and drove back to the party, only to be confronted by Spot about Red.

After she said goodnight to her mom, ("No, Mom, I wasn't drinking. No, I wasn't doing drugs. MOM! Of course I don't have any hickeys!) Patience made her way to her room to go to bed. She climbed into bed and smiled as she turned off the lamp. That was the best normal teenager experience she'd ever had.

Please review. I would really, really, really appreciate it. I'll leave you with that thought.