The characters on screen droned for what felt like an eternity to the brunette laying on the couch with an enthralled eight-year-old hanging onto their every word. Cheesy lines went in one ear and out the other as she sleepily tried to tune them all out. Dunno why people bash on geeks when shit like this exists, Hana thought to herself.

With each angsty cry, the lethargic pull downwards of her eyelids seemed more alluring, until she finally allowed her eyes to close. The sounds of the TV and conversation in the living room slowly drifted away to a dull droning and her mind drifted off to the infinitely better dreamscape.

Jane squealed when Jakeward said yet another swoon-worthy confession to Roxanne, excitedly smacking Hana next to her with flailing limbs. She turned to the teen, ready to unload an entire thesis of an analysis onto the world, only to stop when she realised Hana was asleep. "Oops," Jane winced. "Mom's not gonna be happy with us."

A small voice at the back of her head tried to nag at her; shouldn't she be more concerned? Mom did say that they couldn't let Hana fall asle-

She forgot that train of thought when she heard a small thump from outside. It rung out a second time and she finally got up, wandering over to her brother and his dorky friend. "Did you hear that?" Jane asked hesitantly, frowning.

Ethan brushed her off halfheartedly without a glance. "It's probably nothing." He then went straight back to gorging on copious amounts of marshmallows while his friend mirrored him. She pulled a face at his back, irritated that he didn't even bother to pay attention to her.

As she walked out the door to go check, she grumbled about dumb, useless older brothers that don't care about anyone. At that moment, she spotted some kid smacking tennis balls into the side of her house repeatedly, to her chagrin. If her parents came back to property damage, there would definitely be a lot of angry shouting.

"Hey," she called out indignantly. Her finger lifted accusingly at the boy who then turned to look back at her. Well, at least he paid more attention to her than her brother. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" The brat taunted her in a mocking tone before continuing to smack around balls. They thumped loudly each time, bouncing back slowly.

Jane glared at him. "Trespassing." She wracked her brain for anything that could get him to stop, and nearly groaned when she realised there was really only one option. Not an effective one, but still available. "If you don't stop," she gritted out with a sour expression, "I'll call my big brother."

Said big brother, of course, didn't hear a single bit of that exchange and honestly probably wouldn't have cared regardless, what with being too preoccupied with the marshmallows stuffed in his mouth. He and Benny argued back and forth in muffled voices through the fluff over what number they were each at, limbs waving wildly with excessive passion.

They froze as soon as they heard a scream from outside. The two stared at each other in shock before Ethan let out a garbled shriek of "JANE!" and practically flew outside. He slid to a stop at the edge of the porch, Benny slightly bumping into him from behind as two furious parents glowered at him.

"-even let her fall asleep in the cold! Look at her, she's in such an uncomfortable position too!" Hana stirred slightly at the sound of a voice pitching higher in maternal fury. A comfortable warm weight was thrown over her pleasantly and she burrowed further in content. "You irresponsible wastrels! You know it's dangerous for her to sleep like this-"

She frowned slightly as the tirade continued, pulling her out of her slumber fully with the help of a toasty blanket. Her eyes blinked open slowly to see Mrs. Morgan ranting at the boys, red in the face. Oh boy, she sighed. "Hi Mrs. Morgan," Hana yawned in a sweet, sleepy voice, dialing up the innocence as much as she could.

The woman whirled around instantly. "Oh my goodness! Are you alright dear?" Samantha Morgan fretted nervously, wringing her hands repeatedly. "I know your circulation issues only cause a little bit of trouble when you sleep in the cold, but every time I see you lying there so still and barely breathing, I can't help but think the worst and don't worry I'll make sure these two knuckleheads never see the light of-"

Hana cut her off lightly in mild concern before the woman could get even more mad. "I'm alright, thank you," she replied with a small smile, shooting a meaningful look to Benny. He got the hint and slowly nudged Ethan towards the stairs. They made a silent dash as she tried to keep Mrs. Morgan's attention on her. "How was your date night?"

A brilliant smile instantly lit up her face. "Oh it was lovely!" Hana nodded along absentmindedly as she listened to her ramble on for a while. Those two so owe me.

The three teens strode into their new high school in varying states of emotional extremes. Ethan was whispering to them anxiously, lamenting about his punishment. "They got us a... babysitter." He finally admitted to them with a raging blush spread across his pale face, before scrambling to elaborate at the sound of Benny's sharp cackle of delight. "It's just for Jane though."

Benny gave him a smug look. As opposed to Ethan's distress, he was much more thrilled with the whole ordeal. It was as if his friend's misery practically screamed 'potential' to him. "Dude. That's gold. A babysitter in high school?"

Hana blinked slowly, chewing calmly on the bread roll she had brought. While the other two were emoting quite strongly for albeit vastly different reasons, she seemed to be taking everything in stride like always with not much of a visible reaction. "You did almost let your sister get kidnapped," she thought aloud. Ethan sputtered in response almost immediately as Benny pet her on top the head proudly. She sent him a light glare, trying to fix her bangs before letting her free hand fall back into the pockets of her gray sweatpants.

"How was I supposed to know she would wander outside?" He tried to defend himself. His hands gestured to punctuate his points as if that somehow made his argument stronger. "No one with common sense wanders in the dark if they're not even five feet tall!"

"Yeah," Benny snickered. "Hana never goes out after dark and she's like three feet tall." She elbowed him sharply without batting a lash and he doubled over, wheezing. "I don't understand how your spaghetti limbs have any strength," he whined, letting his forehead rest on her shoulder despite how uncomfortable it was to bend over that far while walking - especially with how much she tended to slouch.

Hana shook him off gently before hooking her arm through his lazily. "I've got muscles, you just can't tell 'cuz I always wear hoodies and jackets," she reminded him. "If you actually went to my track meets then you'd see."

The two nerds pulled identical faces at the idea of going to an athletic event. "Well that was in middle school, so guess it's too late," Ethan tried nonchalantly. Benny sent him a subtle thumbs up and they shared a nod.

"First of all, you're not slick. I saw that." Benny quickly slipped his hand back in his pocket sheepishly and sent her a grin. "Second of all, I tried out for the high school track team over the summer and made it on the team with the best mile time."

Ethan whistled, raising his brows. "Damn Hana," he congratulated her. "That's actually great. You're pretty good at that... sport stuff."

She snorted as they stopped at their lockers. They each tried out the combinations listed on their school registration papers, and popped them open smoothly. "Wow Ethan. I bet a lot of girls are gonna fall for your poetic way with words," she said, and she and Benny high-fived without looking, ignoring Ethan's exasperated expression.

"But look on the bright side," Benny slid back smoothly to the topic of the year with a shit-eating grin. "One of these babes could be over at your house tonight." He wiggled his eyebrows mischievously, glancing furtively at Hana, only for his face to drop slightly as she merely pushed her round, thin glasses up absentmindedly and nodded appreciatively at the girls passing by.

"She actually does go to this school," Ethan mentioned to them as he shoved his stuff in his locker before slamming it shut. "And her name is apparently Erica, or something." He scrunched his nose in discontent. "Hopefully I can convince my parents that none of this is necessary by tonight."

As a good friend, Hana didn't tell him how much she thought that idea was bullshit. As a mediocre friend, Benny opened his mouth to tell him exactly what he thought.

Luckily enough for the poor nerd, the three got distracted as they overheard a silky voice speaking to the principal. "Let me give you a hand, Principal Hicks," the guy crooned. He smoothly plucked the coffee from his hands before taking a sip.

"Ah, thank you so much Jesse," Mr. Hicks smiled pleasantly. Hana raised a brow at the rather lackluster reaction. Isn't this man too naive to be a figure of authority? He finished putting up the missing poster over top the trophy case. An odd choice in location in her opinion, but perhaps that's just what they did here.

"Anything for our fearless leader." She glanced at Benny to see his reaction at this whole thing. He didn't seem to know how to react either, just staring dumbfound. "Do you mind?" 'Jesse' asked like an afterthought, lifting up the cup casually.

"Isn't it too late to ask if you already drank from it?" she muttered under her breath. Benny choked out a short laugh before muffling it with a cough as the guy glanced over at them suspiciously.

"...French roast." He finally said after tearing his eyes from the trio. Principal Hicks echoed him emptily with an odd expression. "Good choice." Jesse and his posse strode off confidently in all their sunglasses and faux leather finesse, brushing past them like a phantom breeze.

Everyone blinked in vague confusion. "Boys in drama club," Hicks chuckled nervously. "Always making a scene."

The three friends paused before turning to each other slowly. A grin crept onto Benny's face and the other two prepared themselves for whatever bull he was about to spout. "Did we just meet a Jedi?" He hissed in a thrilled whisper, his eyes lit up with excitement.

"We didn't really meet him," Hana pointed out. He waved her off eagerly.

"Nothing you say can ruin this."

"This is it," Ethan hyped himself up, lightly tapping Benny's arm as the lunch lady scooped... stuff onto his sandwich. "Our whole future social lives could depend on how we act these next few days."

Hana came up behind them silently without saying a word. Neither noticed her presence and Benny turned around happily with weird, clunky goggles. "What do you think?"

Ethan gaped at him incredulously. "Benny!" He scolded before snatching them off his head, to said boy's chagrin.

Benny took them back pettily, flipping his friend off. "They're state of the art alien DNA detection goggles," he lectured. With the way he gazed at the object though, one would think it was a poodle that shat gold instead. "High school cafeterias are the ideal place to test them out!"

She took that moment to pop up between them, and they both startled violently. Ethan let out a high-pitched squeak that had her blinking in surprise, slightly worried for the health of his voice box. Quite frankly, she had no idea males could send their voices that high. It was actually kind of impressive in a roundabout way. "How do they work?" Hana asked as she reached out to fix Benny's hair. Putting on and taking off the goggles had made a mess of it, sticking out in all directions.

Ethan snickered slightly as Benny's face flushed. "Well- I- they don't really say- it wasn't on the box-" he stuttered. When Rory interrupted them, he practically collapsed with relief.

"Hey guys," the blond called with a bright smile. "Over here!" The three smiled back at him, though Hana was the only sincere one.

"Hi Rory," she beamed. Her eyes crinkled behind the thin lenses, the light perfectly reflecting off the warm, chocolate brown pools like stars in the night sky- Benny stopped himself.

"Los tres amigos y belleza ride again! Any of you got a buck twenty eight?" The other students in line started glaring at him as he took more and more time. Ethan, ever the socialite, noticed and sighed in exasperation.

"That's it," he sniped at them. "I'm getting away before any of you can brand me as a-" He spilled his food all over a girl. Great job, Hana thought tiredly, her smile dropping as she fell back into her usual apathetic expression.

"You really just had to scare away all the hot girls," she muttered. Ethan scowled at her.

Benny slung an arm across her shoulders, lowering his goggles back over his eyes and tutting disapprovingly. "We have a lot to teach him," he quipped. Hana nodded empathetically. The friends found a table to sit at and plopped down in sync.

Hana assessed Ethan from where she sat across from him, leaning into Benny who always seemed to be warm for some reason. She wasn't complaining though, it was nice to have a personal heater she could cuddle into whenever she got cold, which happened much more often than she liked. "Chill buddy," she droned. "Worse comes to worst, I'll just hook you guys up with my athlete friends."

Benny turned his head and leaned back to look at her in surprise. "You already made friends here?" He asked.

"The other track girls invited me to eat lunch with them, but I told them that I wanted to help my freshie friends adjust first." She gave them a smug grin, snuggling into her hoodie and batting her eyelashes innocently. "They said I was so sweet."

Ethan raised a brow. "You just wanna sleep and know we won't bother you if you do."

"Bingo."

"How can a jock be so lazy?" Benny wondered aloud, gaze drifting off. His eyes happened to land on a particular table and he perked up instantly. "Look," he pestered them. "Ethan's branded babe is friends with Erica."

Hana blinked. "The blonde chick?" She asked curiously, before pausing. "Hol' up- Ethan, didn't you say your babysitter was named Erica?"

Ethan scoffed, rolling his eyes at the two of them. "I doubt it's the same girl. That's a pretty generic name," he pointed out.

"I've known you since seventh grade and your luck's never been that good." She slipped her phone out and opened up the photos app, ready to show all her evidence of his lowest moments to the world. He caught her eye and practically dove for her phone, eyes wide. She snickered and hid behind Benny who used the chance to steal Ethan's apple.

"Let's go find out," Benny grinned as he stood. Rory, who had been surprisingly quiet until that moment cheered him on with Hana. They all sent dumb looks to Ethan, especially when Benny got the older girls to look back at them in confusion. By the time he got back, she and Rory were practically in a laughing fit that just spiraled as Hana heard his odd laugh.

"Holy shit," she wheezed out. "This is too much."

"They found the rest of that senior," Benny commented as he looked down at his phone. Hana yawned, not bothering to react. She had already spent too much energy that day in her opinion. Emotions are draining, she thought to herself tiredly. I'm not moving a muscle when I get home.

"The rest of him?" Ethan asked, perplexed.

"Benny," she demanded in a groggy voice. "Operation Sigma-D." He sighed, but crouched down nevertheless and let her hop on. She clambered onto his back like a sloth, snuggling her face into the crook of his neck, not bothering to pay attention to their conversation.

They paused to watch that girl Ethan bumped into pop off on that Jesse dude from earlier, pushing past him angrily with boss shades. Erica coming onto the scene didn't seem to help much either as she just brought up that dumb franchise again which seemed to aggravate the others for some reason. Why are they so pressed about vampires?

Hana grumbled irritably when Benny jolted as he tried to dive out of the way of Jesse's car. "Dickhead," she muttered to his amusement before relaxing again. The sounds of their conversation filtered through her ears and she let herself drift off, a sense of security in her company.

I already published this somewhere else but idk the site is kinda dead so im movin it here. So uhhhhhh here u go, go wild kiddos