I'M NOT DEAD I SWEAR

By the way, I think I'm going to change POVs from first person to third person. It's easier for me. Normally, I'm up for a challenge, but… you get it.

CRUTCHIE

The day dragged like crazy. Normally, Crutchie liked school. Well, as much as you can like school, anyway. However, the first day was always… something else. Teachers' and students' names to learn, homework to remember – just a lot of information to take in.

So when the bell rang to signal the end of classes, Crutchie maneuvered his crutch from under his chair and hurried out of the class as quickly as he could. As he moved through the hallway to his locker, his crutch jostled against someone else's foot. He looked up, ready to apologize if necessary.

It wasn't. "Hey Davey!" Crutchie smiled at the taller boy. Davey offered a small smile in return.

"Hello, Crutchie." Davey matched Crutchie's gait, accompanying him down the hall. "How was everything?"

"The same as it always is on the first day," Crutchie replied, rolling his eyes. "It's all a jumble for me, really." He chuckled. "I don't know how you do it, keeping everything so in order."

"Just between you and me, I don't either." Davey turned his head, scanning the row of lockers. "This is mine. See you later?"

"See you!" Crutchie called over the sea of student voices as he continued down the hall.

"Never thought you'd come in," Jack drawled as Crutchie nudged the door with his shoulder, opening it enough to walk through. "Was starting to thing you was dead or somethin'."

"You're not getting rid of me that easily, cowboy," Crutchie smiled, sitting down on his bed and propping his crutch up against the bedpost. The mattress seemed to almost stiffen under his weight, which Crutchie never seemed to understand. He was used to it, though.

"How was the first day?" Crutchie laughed lightly as his friend flopped down next to him, hands propping up his chin.

Crutchie shrugged. "Same as always."

"Yeah." There was a beat, then Jack rolled over onto his back. "So how about the new kid, huh? That curly girl?"

"Oh. Her?" Crutchie thought back to the girl he had sat by at breakfast that morning. "She seemed nice."

"Mhm." Jack smirked, nudging Crutchie playfully. "Pretty cute, too."

Crutchie raised an eyebrow, though he couldn't suppress a smile. "You have a girlfriend."

"I know, I know," Jack said. "I'm playing." He paused. "She is a bit cute, though. In an adorable way, I guess."

Crutchie pursed his lips. He supposed Jack was right. The girl was cute – in an unusual, boyish kind of way. And, he figured, like Jack said, in an adorable way.

"Don't leave Katherine for her or anything, though," Crutchie smirked.

"Hey!" Jack said in mock offense, hand over his heart. "I wouldn't leave Katherine for anyone."

They laughed together for a moment, then died down as Jack's phone buzzed. Crutchie attempted to peek over Jack's shoulder, but he was lightly bounced off and plopped back down onto the mattress with a little yelp.

"It's Race," Jack said, flopping back down onto the bed. "He's suggesting we all go out to Jacobi's tonight."

Crutchie shrugged. "Sounds good to me. It's not like we have anything to do yet."

A knock on the door startled them both. "Come in," Crutchie said. The door swung open narrowly missing denting the wall behind it, and Race sauntered in with a slightly disapproving Davey in tow.

"Hello, boys," Race said, leaning against the wall and forgetting to close the door, which Davey did for him, mouth still an exasperated line.

"Hi, Race," Crutchie smiled. "We just got your text. Sounds good to us."

"That's great," Davey nodded. "So far, we've got you two, Al, Elmer, Jojo, Katherine, and Cinnamon."

"Cinnamon… that's the new girl, right?" Jack asked.

Race nodded, then snapped his fingers, pointing to Davey. "Hey Dave, why don't you invite that new roommate of yours?"

Davey grimaced. "I don't know, Race – he seems a little closed off."

"That's how you were when we first met you, though," Jack said. "No offense," he added quickly.

"None taken," Davey replied.

"You should try," Race prodded. "I mean, none of us have met him yet."

"I know, it's just…" Davey frowned. "He's standoffish. Doesn't seem to want to interact."

"Even so, I agree with Race," Crutchie piped up. "Give him a chance, you know? Maybe he won't be so cold once he's gotten to know someone."

"Yeah," Jack said. "After all, Davey, weren't you kind of like that when we first met you?"

"Hey," Davey objected as Race cackled in the background. "I may have been a bit of a popsicle, but this guy is scary levels of self-isolated."

"You still have to melt popsicles, though," Race added once he had finished laughing.

Davey scrunched up his face in thought. "It's not often that Race is right, but you know what? Sure."

Crutchie smiled as he walked through the door, a feeling of warmth washing over him. He waved to Elmer, who waved back excitedly from a cluster of their friends. Jacobi's Diner had been the group's main hangout for as long as Crutchie could remember going to school at Denton. With the small arcade at the back of the restaurant, it was more or less perfect for them.

He heard the doorbell jingle. "Crutchie!"

Crutchie turned around and smiled wide when he saw who had called him. "Katherine!"

She walked up to him and hugged him, still being mindful of his crutch. "I wish I could have seen you more during the day, but it seems we don't share too many classes."

He laughed lightly. "Well then, I guess we should just enjoy the time we can, huh?"

She laughed with him and nodded, then her eyes widened in remembrance. "Oh! Almost forgot." She waved forward Cinnamon. "You remember Cinnamon from this morning."

"Hello… again," Cinnamon smiled, a playful look in her eye.

"Hi. Uh, again," Crutchie smiled back.

Katherine waved forwards a girl who seemed to be almost hiding behind Katherine before. "This is Hannah. She's new this year. We're roommates, so I thought it would be nice to ask her to come with us."

"Nice to meet you," Hannah said, smiling politely and extending a hand. Crutchie resisted the slight urge to spit into his palm (force of habit – it had been a running joke between him, Jack, and Davey) and shook her hand back.

"And I'm Smalls," came a surprisingly loud voice from behind Cinnamon. A small girl with short but shaggy hair came practically stomping forward.

"I'm Crutchie." Crutchie waved, and Smalls gave a toothy and surprisingly shark-like smile back, giving a small wave in return.

"She's my roommate, and so I decided to follow suit with Katherine and ask her to join," Cinnamon shrugged. Smalls shrugged with her, almost in unison.

All of this talk about roommates caused Crutchie's mind to drift back to Davey. He hadn't shown up yet. Would he be arriving alone? Crutchie wondered. Judging by the description Davey gave of his roommate, most likely.

"Well, see you later, I guess," Katherine said as she gave Crutchie another quick hug. "We're going to go and play some games."

"Have fun!" He called after them. He saw Cinnamon look over her shoulder and wave in return. He had barely had a moment to readjust his crutch beneath him when he felt a clap on his back.

"You seen Davey?" Race asked from behind him.

Crutchie shook his head. "I'd have expected him to arrive with Jack, but he showed up alone. It sure would have been great to have someone here to keep Jack from breaking one of the games."

Race snorted. "Yeah, he sure gets angry at those. Remember that time he almost cried over Pacman?"

Crutchie bowed his head, giggling. "How could I forget?"

"Hi." Davey said as he walked through the door. "I guess I'm a little late. Sorry."

"No sweat," Race called over his shoulder.

"Good. But you won't believe what I did."

"What?" Jack asked, having come back from the arcade looking slightly put out.

Davey lowered his voice a little, leaning towards them. "I got him to come with me."

"You did?" Crutchie raised his eyebrows in slight astonishment.

Davey nodded, then turned around at the jingle of the doorbell. "Speak of the devil, huh?"

"You didn't say there would be this many people," a gruff voice mumbled. The voice came from a boy with a short, stocky figure. His arms were crossed, and he was looking down, seemingly to avoid any eye contact.

"Sorry," Davey said. "You don't have to stay long, if you-"

"No," the boy cut him off. "It's fine."

Davey nodded, a little awkwardly, then turned to the others. "Alright then. Guys, this is Seàn."

Seàn made something that could be interpreted as either a grunt or simply a noise of disapproval. "Just call me Spot."

"Uh, okay. Spot then." Davey nodded again. "Spot, this is Crutchie."

Crutchie waved. Spot furrowed his brows. "Crutchie? D'hate to be rude, but that sounds a little… iffy. You don't mind that name?"

Crutchie shook his head. "Nah. I'm fine with it."

Spot gave a little nod. "Ah. Who're you?" He shifted his focus to Race, who seemed to be zoning out in Spot's direction.

Crutchie gave a little nudge. "Race," he whispered. No reply. "Race?" Nothing again. "Anthony."

Race jumped. "Oh! Sorry." He laughed sheepishly. "What were you asking?"

"I was asking for your name." Spot raised an eyebrow, the tail of his lip barely quirking up into a smirk.

"Right. Racetrack Higgins. Just Race is fine." The blond stuck out his hand.

Spot looked at Race's hand, then back at his face. "Your name is Racetrack?"

"Just a nickname," Race said quickly, hand still extended. "It's actually Anthony, buuut I like Race better."

"…'Kay," Spot said, finally shaking Race's hand. "You all have some weird names around here."

"I'd figure that's a little rich coming from someone with a puppy name," Race said. Crutchie could see Jack groan, his hand pinching the bridge of his nose.

"A what?" Spot's eyebrows furrowed again as he took a step towards Race. Although Race was much taller than Spot, Crutchie saw the blond visibly straighten up. The two stayed there for what seemed like two minutes but what realistically only about ten seconds.

Just as Crutchie felt that Race might burst from holding his breath, Davey clapped his hands together. Thank god, he thought.

"Okay, so this is Jack," Davey said, lightly pushing Jack forward.

After everyone was introduced (which took a while), Jack suggested they should probably get a table. As they walked towards a booth in the corner of the restaurant, Davey fell back from the front of the group, falling into step with Crutchie.

"What happened with Race?" Crutchie asked.

Davey shrugged. "Don't know. But you have to admit it was kinda hilarious."

"That last part wasn't," Jack added. "I didn't know if the kid was gonna clock Race or if Race was gonna implode first."

"I do have to admit that I was a little on edge," Davey said. "But, again, you have to admit, it was a little laughable."