Two.

Claudia

"I'm going to Stacey's!" I called as I thundered downstairs.

"Claudia-" I heard my mother begin, her voice irritated.

I ran out the door and slammed it behind me. I didn't want to hear it. My parents had known I wouldn't be graduating for some time now, but it was only last week I'd informed them that I wasn't going to try. Ever since I had been doing my best to avoid them. My parents had been under the impression I was going to attend summer school and the first semester of next year to get up my credits, but I am through with school.

I walked quickly down the street, lost in thought. I know it's not the greatest desicion. In fact, it's downright stupid. I don't have a plan as of yet, I'm just going to wing it. Stacey and I have talked about maybe getting a place in Jersey, where apartments are cheap. Stacey isn't going to college yet. She wants to hold off, explore the world, she says. We figure living in New Jersey and working in New York might be fun. I have to do something, because after I told him I'm dropping out, my father informed me I am to be out of the house by the end of summer. My mother hadn't said anything to object to it, but she had looked ready to cry. I guess my parents have had enough of me. When I came home with a tattoo last month they had gotten mad. This sent them over the edge.

Stupid Janine. It's her fault they have such high expectations.

It doesn't take long to get to Stacey's house, and when I was getting close I slowed down. Things might be weird. I haven't spoken to Kristy since sophmore year, when I heard a rumor she had been messing around with the guy I had been dating. I confronted her about it, and things ended up with us rolling around in the hall yanking each others hair. We'd both been suspended for a week, and I have not even made eye contact with her since. From what I hear around school she's changed a lot, grown up a lot, but I'm still a little worried.

Of course, I never took that we fought all that seriously. The thing I never got over was the fact that Kristy Thomas, of all people, had stolen my boyfriend. These days the whole situation seems petty and stupid, but back then I had taken it quite seriously.

I smiled to myself and shook my head, vowing to forget it. I was approaching Stacey's house...

From where I was, I could see Kristy, Mary Anne, Stacey, and Mallory on the porch. All but Kristy were sitting on the bench. Kristy was leaning against the railing smoking a cigarette. They all looked happy.

"Hey, guys!" I called as I walked up.

Kristy spun around. I could see her thinking the same things I had been. I summoned up my strength and smiled at her. She smiled back.

"Claud! We ordered pizza!" Stacey greeted me. She knows how to make me happy.

"Please tell me you got some of it without meat..." a crabby voice said from behind me. I turned around and found Dawn. Mary Anne would not tell us why she came back to Stoneybrook last year, but I have some idea. These days Dawn is skinny and pale and almost zombie-like. She hardly talks and chain smokes constantly. She isn't graduating, either, but I guess her mom is making her stay in school until she does. I'm pretty sure it's drugs, but have never asked Mary Anne out of respect for Dawn's privacy.

"Can't you at least say hi before you start complaining?" Mary Anne growled. Poor Mary Anne, her sister brings out such a nasty side of her.

Dawn didn't answer. It's what she does.

I stepped onto the porch. "So, Sea City, huh?"

Kristy grinned. "Yeah! No parents, no kids, just the old BSC having fun. Sounds great, right?"

Sounds like I'll come home and find my room packed. "Sounds like a blast. When?"

"One week after graduation, to the day." Stacey said, smiling broadly. I could see visions of bikini's and hot tan guys dancing in her head.

"What about the rest?"

"That's what I'm wondering." Said Mary Anne.

"We need to make phone calls." Mallory added.

After that things seemed to roll smoothly. It really felt like we were all in eighth grade again, like high school had never happened. Sometimes I wish it hadn't.

Later, much later, Mallory had gone home and Dawn's curfew had been enforced (she had to be home by ten but Mary Anne could stay out as late as she pleased.) The original BSC sat around Stacey's dining room table, still picking at pizza and giggling like old times. We had put in the proper phone calls. Jessi said no. She had studying to do. Shannon was going on vacation with her family the entire month of June. Abby, who's family had moved back to Long Island two years ago, had also said no, which wasn't shocking. Her mother was currently in remission with breast cancer.

Kristy excused herself for a cigarette for the millionth time. I looked at Stacey and Mary Anne. "Okay, okay. I'm going to go talk to her."

"Thank God." Stacey said. The two had been bugging me to since the first time Kristy had stepped out.

I made my way to the front porch. Kristy was standing against the railing again. She smiled at me.

"Hey." I said. What the hell do I say?

"You want to talk about it, huh?" Same old Kristy.

"I guess."

"I'll start. I owe you an apology. I... I was so stupid back then. I thought I was grown up, I guess. That's no excuse for what I did."

I chuckled. "I really don't care about all of that. It was stupid to fight over a boy. Cary Retlin at that."

Kristy made a face and giggled. "That is so embarassing. He's such a loser." She stabbed out her cigarette. "I don't know what either of us ever saw in him."

Kristy headed for the door, which is where I was still standing. When she reached me I didn't move. After a moment of hesitation I held out my arms and she hugged me. "I'm sorry, Kristy. I wish we'd done this a long time ago." I murmured.

"Me, too. No guy is worth the friendship we had." She replied, sounding choked up. It was true. We'd been friends since we were toddlers.

We walked back into the house together. Kristy returned to her place at the table and sighed. "So guys... let's be serious for just a minute. Do you think is going to work?"

We all stared at her, question marks in our eyes.

"Are we going to be able to spend two weeks together without trying to kill eachother?"

Hmmm. How to answer that...

"I don't know about Dawn." Mary Anne said darkly

"I think she'll be okay," I interjected quickly. "I mean, she wants to go, right? She could say no." I wanted badly, so badly to add that maybe if Mary Anne would ease up on her a little, Dawn would be a little happier, but Mary Anne is so touchy about her sister that I don't dare.

"What about Mallory?" Kristy asked.

The three of us looked at eachother silently. While today had been fun, we just hadn't liked Mallory much the past year. She's turned into kind of a fake, and I don't personally trust her. I could see Mary Anne wanted to say something but was holding back.

"She's barely sixteen." Stacey said carefully. "I don't know how much fun we could have with a sixteen-year-old hanging out."

Kristy nodded. "Yeah, I thought about that, too... but it's kinda her house." She sat forward thoughtfully. "How about we let her come, but at the first sign of trouble she gets sent home? Mallory's pretty cool, you guys, I don't think she would come back blabbing to her mother everything she sees us do, but if she proves to be a problem, or if it starts feeling like we're baby-sitting instead of on vacation, we could tell Mrs. Pike she needs to leave."

I nodded. "That could work." I was still watching Mary Anne. She really looked she had something to say about Mallory.

A cell phone rang. It was Kristy's. She made a face. "Mom." She said, answering. "Hi mom... okay, no problem, i'll be home in about half an hour... no... yeah I know. Okay. Love you, too. Bye." She flipped her phone shut. "Okay, I gotta go."

"My car..." Mary Anne said.

"Oh right! Come on, I'll drop you off at school. Claud, do you need a ride home?"

I shook my head and looked questioningly at Stacey. She smiled and nodded. We didn't have to talk, she knew I wanted to stay over. "No thanks, Kristy, I'm staying here." I told her. "Home isn't very friendly these days."

We watched Kristy and Mary Anne leave, and Stacey looked over at me. "Are you going to school at all tomorrow?"

"Nah. What's the point? Thanks for letting me crash here, though."

"Did you fight with your dad again?"

"No, I just haven't really talked to either of them in the past week. Now it's getting past the point of being mean to where I just feel akward. I want to talk to them, to mom at least..." I sighed. "Now I just don't know what I would say." Truth is, I kind of want to ask them both if they still love me. I know I'm a huge disappointment to them.

Stacey put her arm around my shoulder and squeezed. "Come on. Let's go to my room and find something on T.V."

In the morning I woke up to find Stacey already gone for school. I could hear Maureen puttering around the kitchen, and smelled coffee. I padded downstairs and into the kitchen. Maureen smiled at me. "Hey Claud. You guys are still fighting, huh?" She poured a mug of coffee and handed it to me.

"Yeah, I guess." I mumbled, taking my cup to the table and dumping six spoonfuls of sugar into it. Stacey's mom has been so awesome to me. She hasn't once lectured me on finishing school and told me I'm welcome to stay here anytime.

Maureen drained her cup of coffee and picked up her purse. "I need to leave, I'm running a little late. Lock the door if you leave, sweetie."

I promised and took my coffee to the living room, where I curled up on the couch and flipped on the T.V. This is what I do now, lounge, watch T.V, play on the computer. Four days out of the last week I've been doing this at Stacey's. I need to get a job soon, because I know my dad isn't going to give me money anymore. I have money saved, almost a thousand dollars, and I can live on that for a while. I'd been saving for a car...

Some time in the middle of Maury Povich, I nodded off. I woke with a start when the doorbell rang.

I headed to the door sleepily, knowing I must look like hell. "Who is it?" I called.

"It's Dawn." Came a sullen voice from the other side.

Confused, I opened the door. Dawn walked in while I was still opening it. "Hey."

"Uh... Hi. How'd you know I was here?"

"Stacey told my sister on the way to school this morning." She dropped her bookbag on the floor. "I was tired of school."

I still didn't quite know what to say. "Oh... did you need something?"

"No." Dawn murmured, heading for the livingroom. I followed her in, and she flopped on the couch. "What're you watching?" She asked.

I sat down, still akward. "Just, you know, daytime stuff.

"Hmmm." She fell silent and focused on the T.V. I just shook my head to myself and decided to let it go. She'd tell me why she was here eventually.

After about fifteen minutes, Dawn looked over at me suddenly. "Do you still paint and stuff?"

I thought about it. "Sometimes I do, yeah. Not like I used to. I designed my tattoo."

"Isn't it weird how much we've all changed? I used to be so... health conscious and an enviroment freak, remember?"

I nodded. This is the most Dawn has said to me in four years. "We're growing up, is all. Nobody stays the same forever. Besides, you're still a vegetarian, right?"

"Yeah..." Dawn looked sad. "I wish that was enough."

"What's changed about you, Dawn?" I asked. Will I finally hear Dawn's big secret?

She was quiet for a moment. "I used to be much happier." She said, choosing her words carefully. "My family could trust me."

I waited.

She looked at me again, and I could see hurt, deep hurt in her eyes. "How are you parents taking you dropping out?" She asked.

"Not great. I'm here, right?" I bit my lip, and decided to try and tell her I could understand where she was at a little. "I'm a huge disappointment to them. My dad is kicking me out at the end of summer."

"Just for dropping out? That's all?"

I nodded. I think it's pretty harsh, too.

Dawn fell silent and looked back at the T.V.

I guess that was as much as Dawn Schaffer opened up these days.