Jorge sits at his desk on a Monday afternoon at school. His eyes stare straight at the clock. 2:55. It was so close to being the end of another long day. His mind steadily focused on the hands as they move closer and closer to the sound of the bell. He sighs. Slouched in his chair falling more and more with each passing moment. Soon after, the clock finally strikes three. He finally moves his eyes away from the clock and leaves his seat. His posture is still extremely slouched as he walks with his eyes nearly locked to the ground. As he gets closer to the door, he spots Harmony looking around for him. He pauses, tries to make it seem that he's in a decent mood, and begins to walk towards her. After a few steps, she notices him and waves her hand. He waves back and heads over to her as she speaks.

"Hey there! How was history?"

Jorge looks at her with a soft grin.

"I survived, so there's that."

Harmony laughs as they walk out of the doors to the school. She seems in her usual "chipper" mood. Jorge admired the fact she knew how to take the positives out of life and roll with it. He sort-of envied it. She hums happily along as they walk down the street. Harmony interrupts her humming to speak.

"I wanna try and get the gang to hang out this Saturday, since last week didn't work out. You down?"

Jorge looks over at Harmony and tries to smile.

"Yeah, I..."

Before he can say anything else, Harmony continues speaking.

"Okay, good! We just have to get the rest of them on board again. It shouldn't be too hard."

Jorge goes back to his reserved state, putting his hands in his pockets and keeping his head tilted towards the ground. Harmony, oblivious to Jorge's change of mood, speaks in the same quick tone as before.

"The gang wants to meet down at The Shack again to get some grub, so I just figured I could ask them there. It shouldn't be a big..."

Harmony looks over at Jorge to realize his demeanor. She silences herself and ceases walking as she looks over at Jorge until he looks back at her. She then asks him.

"What's up? You seem down."

Jorge quickly fabricates a quick fib.

"Oh. I was just tired from class. You know how boring history is..."

Harmony senses the dishonesty in Jorge's statement, yet decides to stay mute and continues to walk. As they approach the shack, Jorge interrupts the walk.

"Hey, I gotta finish up some work at home."

Harmony looks at him confused.

"Oh...Umm...Ok."

Jorge quickly retreats, subtly squeezing in one last farewell.

"Bye."

Jorge walks off as Harmony continues to walk towards The Shack. Jorge had been acting very odd of late, but nobody could pinpoint why. Harmony had an idea he was unhappy, but couldn't figure out what exactly was bringing him down. As she approaches The Shack, she notices Twister and Anna sitting alone at a table. Harmony approaches them with a big smile.

"Hey guys! Where is everyone?"

Twister is the first to respond.

"Well, Rick and Otto-man are still practicing for the tournament, while..."

Anna interrupts him.

"Reggie wanted to talk to Sam after school. She said they'd be here a little late."

Harmony sits down quickly as she speaks.

"No worries. We can wait."

Harmony looks around to see the two of them in not-so-bright moods either. Anna's more of a frustrated look, while Twister's one more of worry and deep thought. Harmony tries to get them talking to see if she can figure out the problem.

"Monday's are the worst."

While Twister stays fairly quiet, Anna bites on Harmony's bait.

"You're telling me. Where do I even begin?"

As Twister and Harmony listen, Anna begins to go off on her day as they wait for the others...

Reggie and Sam are sitting down on a bench outside the school. The big rush of kids getting out had already passed, making the area they were talking fairly quiet. Sam's voice states his concern as he begins the conversation.

"Is everything alright? You seemed pretty upset when you asked me here at lunch."

Reggie's frustration is clear on her face as she responds.

"It's just...Rick..."

Sam quickly stands up.

"Rick? Did he hurt you?"

Reggie quietly chuckles.

"No, No. I just worry he might not be really into this relationship. Like..."

Reggie thinks for a second before continuing.

"We're walking home the other day together. I ask him a simple question. Where do we go from here?"

As she continues, Reggie's voice begins to grow in a mix of upset and agitation. It becomes scattered as she continues to try and speak through it.

"He never answers the question. "Wherever you want it to go." It's like he's not even interested..."

As Reggie continues to lose her voice, she lowers herself on the bench. Sam slowly and calmly puts his arm around her and consoles her.

"You don't think he cares about you two?"

Reggie shakes her head sharply in frustration.

"No no no. I know he cares. I just don't know how much. He's so quiet about everything. It drives me insane. How can you be with someone who won't tell you what they're thinking?"

Sam continues to console Reggie without a response, letting her express her emotion. After a few minutes, Reggie composes herself enough to regain her control and stand up from the bench.

"I'll just have to talk to him when I can. For now, let's just meet up with the others."

While she seemed in control of her emotions, Sam had a feeling she's still frustrated. Her eyes seem dead set on her next destination. Her motion very stiff. Her voice still tough and broken. She's holding it in. Sam knows he can't change how Reggie felt, just to let her handle it. She always finds a way to get past it over time. The walk towards the Shack was quiet. Sam wanted to help Reggie feel better, but he understood it wasn't the time. He became just as frustrated as her, but couldn't let anyone else see that as the two approach the rest of the crew sitting down. They can see Anna is talking up a storm while the others just listen. Anna notices the two and breaks off from her story to greet them.

"Hey. Glad you made it."

Reggie and Sam both give unconvincing nods of acknowledgment as they sit down with the rest of the group in attendance. Sam takes notice of those not there.

"Wait. Where's Rick? And Otto? And Jorge."

Twister quietly answers.

"Still practicing."

Reggie adds on her own jab.

"They both certainly need it..."

Everyone there chuckles as the group goes quiet for a few seconds before Anna interjects.

"I can't believe they bailed on us..."

The group is still quiet. It became more common recently for the group to be split up around town. It was a tougher feeling for some more than others. Everyone had their own things going on, which put a bigger separation on the group. Just as the silence starts to get uncomfortable, Anna's voice is heard again.

"Okay, so I was telling these guys about how Lars has been ignoring me of late..."

Reggie and Sam quickly notice how the conversation had been going before they arrived. Anna continues to rant on without even the slightest pause about Lars and their relationship. Reggie always had a worry she talked too much about Rick over the past week, but since Anna finally revealed to the group what was going on between her and Lars a few days ago, she had not stopped talking about it. As much as Reggie cared for Anna, it drove her and the rest of the crew mad how she never stopped.

Reggie wasn't really focused on what Anna was saying. And from what she saw from the rest of the crew, none of them were really paying too much attention, other than Harmony. There was something about Harmony's empathy that confused her, but she really did care for everything going on in her friends life. It was really great to have someone like that around when things were going tough. No matter what was going on, Harm was willing to listen. Through good and bad times.

She looked over at Twister, whose staring off at the skate park. Twister's mood had drastically changed along with everyone else. Twist's kindness had always been Reggie's favorite thing about him. When someone else he cared about was upset, it affected him a lot. The whole mood of the group seemed to have changed his mood as a whole too. His worry towards Otto's problems were obvious, with them being best friends. But he cared about everyone. He asked a lot about her and Rick's relationship and how it was affecting her and Rick. He never worried about himself. Just others.

Then she looked next to her at Sam. Just like everyone else, his mind was clearly somewhere else, as his face stood with a robotic stare off into nowhere. Everyone's issues bothered him just like it did all of the crew. Reggie had noticed he came up to her a lot to ask if she was doing okay. It was great for her to have someone ask, especially with Rick's struggle to commit to a lot of what Reggie wanted to do. While she understood Rick was busy, it upset her how little he seemed to show her affection. She felt bad Sam had to listen to her vent all the time, but having him care about her well-being was a blessing.

Just as she begins to fade away into a day-dream, she hears a loud voice jump the entire table.

"Are you guys even listening?!"

Anna's quick jolt of frustration shook everyone there. All of them had been somewhere else and had not realized how obvious it was they were not paying attention. Harmony responds first.

"Sorry girl. Just a lot on all of our minds."

Anna contains her emotion swiftly.

"No, it's okay. Sorry I yelled at everyone. This week has been rough."

Everyone quietly nods in agreement with her. The tension the group was dealing with was pulling at each of their emotions. Every single one of them was slouched. Low on energy. Slow to move. Fatigued at what life was handing them. Harmony looks around at the group before speaking.

"It's Monday. Maybe we should just head back home. Chill for the night. Give everyone time to rest."

The group looks around at each other before a silent approval is reached. Each one of them gets up slowly as they head back. Twister heads towards the park to tell Otto and Rick to meet everyone back at home. Anna and Harmony started walking towards the pier to look at the scenery again. Sam then looks at Reggie who is the only one still sitting.

"You ready to head back?"

Reggie takes a second to regain focus as she gets up and starts walking back with Sam. Neither take too much effort to walk back with any speed. As they continue up home, Sam begins another conversation between the two.

"I don't think Rick really understands just how lucky he is..."

Reggie looks over at Sam with a curious look.

"What do you mean?"

Sam takes a deep sigh before continuing.

"I mean. He just seems to have his mind so set on doing everything he can that he forgets to appreciate what he has. Ever since he got here, it's all been about completing some certain trick he sees or accomplishing some new goal he sets for himself. He rarely gives you any time. I just think he takes you for granted a little bit. Maybe he doesn't realize it, but I can see it affecting you. I hate seeing you like this."

Reggie looks down to the ground. She knows Sam has a solid point, but she's tried to understand it from Rick's point for a while now. He always had big goals. Big plans. Tall mountains to climb. She could see why he spent so much time to be the best. It was a lot like Otto, but Rick never seemed so cocky about it. She takes it all in before responding to Sam.

"He's a great guy. I just wish he was around more. I wish he didn't have to worry so much about doing all this crazy stuff so I could see him more.

Sam became silent. There was so much more he wanted to say, but he knew it would just cause unwanted drama. It killed him how Rick went around and tried to do all this crazy stuff Sam could only dream of. He was perfect. Better looking than Sam ever thought he could be. Funnier. More athletic. Better with words. Sam's jealousy was overtaking him. Rick took the girl of his dreams. As every day passed, it became more and more difficult for Sam to cover his feelings, and he might have let that slip to Reggie just then. Just as his mind was ready to overwhelm him, they reached their houses.

"Sam."

Sam looks back at Reggie as she continues.

"Thank you for listening. I appreciate it more than you realize."

Sam smiles at her as he responds.

"Any time. You know where I live."

Reggie laughs before heading into her house. Sam suddenly had a smile reaching from cheek-to-cheek. He hadn't felt that way in so long. Reggie did that to him. There was something about her, even from the youngest age, that took Sam by storm. He just didn't know how to express it in the right way. As he once again shook off the thoughts of Reggie, he walks over to his house. He then notices the front door is wide open. He didn't see any cars in the driveway, making it clear his mom was not home. Did someone break in? As he walks into the house, everything seems to be in fine order...other than his room. The door is slightly open, but he can see his stuff scattered on the floor. It had been the first time in a long time he'd seen his room like that. Sam had a thing with keeping his room neat. His voice is shaky as he tries to dissect the situation.

"Hello? Is anyone in there?"

No response. He slowly creeps up to the door before gently pushing it open. He enters to see his clothes scattered around. He couldn't figure out any reason why, until he looks over at the other side of the room. Jorge's stuff is all packed up. His bags full. His bed made, another first since Jorge rarely made the bed, but without most of the blankets. There wasn't a ton of stuff packed in the bags, but as he looks cautiously, he notices a good portion of food and blankets packed in the big bag as well. Someone had packed away his stuff for a trip. Sam's confusion overwhelmed him. Just as he started to think, he looked behind him to see Jorge standing in front of the door. Jorge's face is painted in shock as he drops the note in his hand and the pen in the other hand. The note floats over near Sam, who picks it up and looks at it. As he quickly reads it, he looks back up at Jorge in shock. Jorge is now sitting on the ground, tearing up. Sam slowly goes over and hugs him. A muffled sound can be heard from Jorge, thought it's tough for Sam to comprehend what he's saying.

"I...j..u...st...wanna see m...m...y...family."

As Sam looks back on the note, he reads again.

"I'm so sorry. But I wanna find my family again. Don't take me running away as your fault. I just need to be with them again. I'm so so so sorry. -Jorge"

As a family, the group of eight had already dealt with all kinds of crazy things, however sometimes the most serious and severe problems help bring those who have drifted slowly apart back together...