"Okay, I have to go back to work. Stay here, be good," Michael's mother said in a rush as she closed the door behind her.

"Bye!" Michael called after her. He was sitting on the couch, the only one in the small apartment.

He'd been picked up early from school because of a doctor's appointment. School still went on for about an hour, but his mom had just decided to let him chill at home for the rest of the day.

Michael picked up his controller for his video game and picked a simple one he could play alone.

Eventually, he got hungry and went to the fridge to grab something. He picked an apple and took a bite out of it. When turning around he glanced at the digital clock. It was almost 4:00.

What? Michael thought. Why hasn't Ostin come over yet?

He tried to think if he had any previous commitments, but Ostin had said he would be free after school. His parents were gone for the day so they were gonna raid the fridge and watch cat videos.

Michael hopped back on his couch and pulled his phone out. There were no texts from anyone, including Ostin. He sent him a text about what was going on and went back to his game.

He paused it ten minutes later and checked his phone.

No texts.

Michael got off of the couch and walked over to his apartment door. He opened it and stepped out into the hallway, walking a short way to Ostin's front door.

"Buddy?" Michael called and knocked a couple times. He tried the door handle and found it unlocked. He slowly opened the door and peered in.

The layout of Ostin's apartment was similar to his own, but there was different furniture put in different places.

Michael stepped into the apartment and shut the door behind him. "Ostin?" He walked over to the short hallway and could see a light on in Ostin's room.

Michael could hear frustrated muttering coming from inside. He knocked a couple times on the painted wood. "Ostin?"

"Come in!" Ostin shouted back.

Michael twisted the handle and stepped into Ostin's usually neat room. Now there were papers strewn on the floor and bed. Ostin had his back to Michael, typing away on his computer.

"Hey," Michael greeted. "What'cha doin'?" Michael asked, imitating a cartoon he used to watch.

Ostin didn't answer, just kept typing on his keyboard. He looked over at a couple pieces of paper every few seconds.

It wasn't unusual for Ostin to get fixated on something for long periods of time. He would spend hours finding stuff on one topic. Michael wanted him to get it checked out, but…Ostin's parents assured that everything was fine.

Michael cleared off a spot on Ostin's bed and sat down. "You alright?"

"Yep," Ostin replied quickly. He was typing as fast as he could, hitting the backspace key angrily everytime he accidentally misspelled something.

Michael leaned back onto his elbows, sure that something was wrong, but not positive about what to do.

Ostin kept muttering to himself, but Michael couldn't make out what he was saying.

"Okay…" Ostin said. "I think I'm done!"

"Alright," Michael replied.

"So, here's how we're gonna do it. I hacked into Mitch's phone, and by that I mean I grabbed it when he dropped it earlier. I found out that he, Jack, and Wade are planning on going on a road trip, but they're stopping somewhere secluded first!"

Michael nodded intently. If it involved Jack and Wade then it probably wasn't anything good.

"The place is in the middle of the woods. Apparently they've met up there a couple times. They're meeting there in a few days, which gives us just enough time to break into Pizza Max's and hack into their security feed," Ostin said, typing on his computer again.

Michael raised an eyebrow and sat up. "We're breaking in?"

"Yeah, yeah," Ostin replied, waving his hand around. "It's fine, anyway, we'll be able to get in there and secure our alibi. Now, I know what you'll say, 'won't the cops check for tampering?' I thought about that and I think I can pull it off and cover my steps pretty well."

That's not what I was gonna say at all, Michael thought.

"Now, that's the easy part," Ostin continued. "On friday we'll leave school and jog over to the place they're meeting up. Jack is driving Wade there, but Mitch is also going to be walking, so we have enough time to get there."

Michael opened his mouth to say something, but Ostin held up his hand, even though he was turned away from Michael.

"I've thought of it! I tracked the route that Mitchael takes and I found one that'll take a little longer, but there's only a 31.2 percent chance that we'll run into him, so I think it's worth it."

"Ostin," Michael said as Ostin's voice started to crack.

"Now, before you ask, yes, I've thought about hiring a hitman. Why didn't I? One, we don't have the money, but that's not the main problem. Two, and most important, a hitman means a money trail. I'm pretty good with technology, but I don't think I'll be able to hide that much."

"Ostin!" Michael said forcefully.

Ostin flinched and Michael immediately felt guilty. "Ostin," he said quietly. "What happened?"

"Nothing! I'm fine! Always fine," Ostin said as his voice cracked more. "There's nothing wrong with Ostin Liss! He has amazing grades, never done anything wrong, is a model student and son, so he must be just fine!" He sounded like he was crying now.

"Talk to me," Michael said.

Ostin dropped his hands from his computer with a sigh before shuffling his feet. He slowly turned his chair to face Michael, but stared at the floor.

There were bruises forming on his jaw and angry red spots on his arms and cheeks. One of his lips was bleeding a little, but Michael couldn't tell if that was from a punch or just because Ostin's lips were chapped.

"You weren't there after school, so…"

"I'm sorry, buddy," Michael said as he stood up and walked over to Ostin's chair. "Floor time?"

Ostin nodded and slid off of his chair. He folded his legs up on the ground and Michael sat down across from him. Tears fell onto his lens, so he took his glasses off and wiped them with a piece of his shirt. "Jack Vranes," Ostin spat out. "Wade West. Mitchael…whatever his last name is."

Michael gave a soft laugh. "I can't remember either."

Ostin folded his glasses up and set them down on the carpet. "I wasn't actually gonna go through with the plan…"

"I know," Michael replied.

They sat in silence for a while before Ostin pulled his phone out and typed something in. Music started to play and Osin set his phone down in the middle of them. He closed his eyes and hummed along to the words of some Taylor Swift song.

Michael stood up and quietly opened Ostin's door. He walked down the hallway and into the kitchen. He opened the freezer and rummaged around until he found a tub of chocolate ice cream.

Then, he grabbed a couple of spoons and a few cans of soda. He walked back to Ostin's room to find him sitting in a corner, rocking back and forth.

Ostin had brought his phone with him and it was playing a song from a musical.

Michael set down the things he brought and went to the bathroom to fetch the first aid kit. It was a familiar item to Michael, unfortunately.

He went back to Ostin and sat down in front of him. "Hey," he said softly, not wanting to interrupt if Ostin was doing something important.

Ostin sighed before opening his eyes and looking down. He smiled sadly at the ice cream. "Thank you," he said before picking up one of the spoons Michael brought. He opened the lid of the tub and stuck his spoon in it.

He just stared at the spoon for a couple seconds. It was right in the middle of the tub, rigid in its position. Ostin let out a choked sob and then completely broke down.

"W-why do they pick o-on us?" Ostin blubbered. "I hate it! It's s-so unfair! What did w-we ever do to them?"

"I don't think it's something that we did," Michael told him. "They just needed a target, and we're… different. In other words, the obvious choice."

"That's stupid," Ostin sniffled.

"I know," Michael sighed. "But, hey, we've got each other. I'm never going to a doctor's appointment during school again. We stick together."

Ostin smiled through his tears. "Bones?" He asked and held out his fist.

"Bones," Michael replied and bumped it. He picked up the other spoon on the ground and stuck it in the ice cream. "Now, if you're not gonna eat this, I will."

"Pshh, you couldn't eat all of it anyway."

"Watch me, man."