Wednesday, January 30th

They were back in school. That wasn't a good statement in Finn's eyes. He hated school. No, hate wasn't a strong enough word. He loathed school. To him, the education system had failed him in more ways than one.

He sighed and stuck his hands deep within his pockets. This was week 3 of the new semester, and every day he felt as if it was already dragging him down. At this point his grades weren't bad, but that was only as of this point. Once state testing starting coming around his grades would inevitably fall.

He strutted down the hall, his eyes wondering, looking for something that would keep him entertained. There was nothing going on. His fellow peers kept casual conversations as they continued to their next class.

Earlier than he wanted to, he reached his class. Other students passed him as he stared at the door frame, every time he crossed over, he lost a little more of himself.

Maybe I should skip class...He thought, looking around him at the familiar faces of other students. What would Jake think of that...

He sighed and entered the classroom, removing his backpack and placing it under his chosen desk. Thankfully this teacher didn't have assigned seating, which was a rarity these days.

The bell wrung, gesturing to the teachers across the school campus that their minute amount of break time was over. "Good morning." The teacher yawned on cue. "Take out your notes. We're watching a few videos over the cellular anatomy within our bodies." He looked around until his eyes landed on Finn. Of course Finn knew what this meant. "Finn, can you name one part of the cell?"

"Mitochondria."

"Good, what's it's purpose exactly?"

"It's the powerhouse of the cell, pretty much the brain."

"Right. Now Rachael-"

Finn was lucky he even remembered that much. He wasn't sure why that one piece of information stuck in his head.

The class continued on and for most of the class, the light was off so they could see the smart-board screen clearly. The movie wasn't awful, it was supposed to be appealing for people in his age group. For Finn, it just wasn't clicking. He didn't care about it, nor did he want to care enough to understand. None of this would transfer over to his adult life after high school.

When the bell chimed everyone immediately left class in a hurry, including Finn who realized he should have just skipped class.

He marched outside with the large group of students who were also trying to escape from this hell hole. He headed toward the parking lot where Jake would be waiting for him. Usually he took the bus, but today was different. It was Rain's birthday. So Jake took the day off work to take them both to dinner. Finn was only being picked up because Jake had nothing else to do.

"Hey." Finn greeted solemnly, closing the car door behind him.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Long day." Finn stated. "Just want to go home."

Jake watched his brother, looking him up and down to decide what his next move would be. But life wasn't like his card games. These decisions were different. "Do you need me to stay tonight?"

"No, you have fun with Rain." Finn was giving short responses, almost as if he was mad, but he wasn't. He didn't know what was wrong with him.

"Okay, well I can give you money to order a pizza or something. Sound good?"

"Sure."

Jake gripped his steering wheel, trying to contain his anger. "Okay, seriously, what's up? There's obviously something wrong. I'm trying to help here. That's what you wanted me to do, right?"

"Yeah." Finn's voice was quiet, thoughtful. "I was just thinking, maybe I should drop out."

Jake shook his head. "Mom and Dad would come back from the grave and haunt me if I let you do that. You're one semester away from graduating. Then you'll be done."

Finn nodded, understandingly. "Still, I can't stand being in there."

"No one can, we just have to do it. Have you thought about college?"

Finn shook his head, still staring out the window as his older brother drove. He fiddled his fingers in his lap. "I'm not cut out for it. Plus, I don't have the grades or ACT scores they'd like. I'd be piled in debt."

Jake shrugged, glancing over at his brother. "Most people are piled in debt, you know-"

"I don't want to be like most people." His voice went soft again.

Jake drummed on his steering wheel for a second before he realized something. "You can work with me then."

Finn looked over at his brother. "Really?"

Jake nodded. "You're a month away from 18. You can come work with me at the coffee shop. It'll be a good first job, I think."

Finn sat in silence for a moment in thought. He'd get to meet a lot of cool people, plus it would keep him busy. He might be able to finally get his first car and eventually get on his own two feet. Maybe if he was lucky, he could live on his own so that Jake and Rain could finally live together. Since he was alone a lot these days.

"I'd like that."

Jake couldn't help but smile. "I'll talk to the owner about it then. There shouldn't be any problems though. She said she thought it would be busier, come spring."

Finn nodded. "Who works there?"

"Bonnie and I work most nights. There's a kid named B-mo that works there now, and I hardly know the people who work mornings."

"You're the manager right?"

"Night manager, yes. Why?"

"I wasn't sure. You don't talk about work often."

"There's nothing to talk about. Nothing really happens." By the way Jake's hands were gripped on the wheel. Finn felt as if that weren't true.


Although the thought of working in a music store would fill Marceline's heart with joy, she found that when dealing with obnoxious customers who obviously had no idea how to handle the merchandise was more than she could handle. It was as if those same annoying customers were playing horribly on purpose. As if they couldn't hear that the guitar was way off pitch, continuing to play on regardless of that. She hoped she would get used to this.

Her manager said she (surprisingly) handled it well, so that was a sign that she was meant for this job. She supposed that meant she'd adjust well as an educator.

It was now closing time and the outside doors were locked until they were supposed to leave.

"Marceline," One of her fellow co-workers yelled from an instrument group over. He was a lanky character, pale as sin, and Marceline thought she remembered him saying he was in a screamo band. "Can you come help me stock the drum sets in the back?" He asked, jerking his thumb behind him.

"Sure, I'll be right there, Dean." She finished re-organizing the guitar straps and made her way toward the back room.

When she opened the door she noticed her co-worker leaning against one of the doors; noticeably the piano room. He immediately noticed her presence and put a skinny pale finger to his lips, shushing her and then waving her forward. She did, taking precaution not to make any extra noise.

He pointed toward someone in the middle of the room playing piano. She wasn't sure why this was significant, as it was a music store after all, but she looked anyway and noticed one of their other co-workers playing on it. Her hair was a deep auburn red that curled and spun down to the middle of her back. That was all she could see from her standpoint.

"I've never heard her play." He whispered.

Marceline had to admit, she was graceful with her fingers. Every note was given an appropriate tempo, length and measurement of sound. She didn't want to say it was perfect, but there wasn't anything else she could call it. She was playing like a professional.

"What's her name again?" Marceline whispered as the man closed the door silently.

"Phoebe, she's worked here for a year now and I've never once heard her play an instrument. She always stops when someone comes in." The man chuckled, crossing his arms over his chest. "I don't know why she'd hide that sort of talent. Even I'm not that good." He immediately began to shrug it off. "Alright, help me lift this box."

Marceline obliged, taking one side of the box and lifting it, but she couldn't help but listen to the whispers of perfect melodies through the door.


It was dark out, not a star to be seen in the endless sky. Marceline assumed it was because they were in the city, but she was starting to think it was because of the annoyingly bright street lamps blinding her sight.

She kept the door to the store opened while her manager and Phoebe were setting the alarm. Marceline still didn't understand why they had glass doors. It was all too easy to break in and steal anything in there. All you'd need is a brick and a ski mask.

Phoebe then walked out of the store with her bag loosely hung on her shoulder. "Alright, go home guys, I'll see you tomorrow." Letting the door shut behind them, the manager waved and walked to their car. Phoebe was heading in the same direction as Marceline, who had parked right beside her.

"Apparently Dean didn't know you played piano." Marceline interjected into the silence.

Her head snapped to look at Marceline. "What?"

"He said he's never heard you play." Marceline repeated, leaning up against her car when they had arrived to that point.

"Oh...I didn't think anyone was around." She didn't looked pleased, even slightly offended.

"You okay there, champ?"

The red head nodded and proceeded into her car, the engine started up with ease. The girl rolled down her passenger window to say, "I'll see you tomorrow, Marceline."

"See you." Marceline opened her car door and started her engine as well while Phoebe drove off.

The rocker didn't mean anything on her intrusion. There was nothing to be upset or embarrassed about. At least she knew not to cross that line in the future.

What an oddball.


Review Time!

DarkestAngel18: Thank you for voting. Because you voted first you get 5 brownie points. Fun fact: I almost wrote the Harry Potter fic over this one.

D3nsei: You know, in a lot of fics you see ash as this horrible guy. And yeah, he's sexist, yeah...a lot a bit sexist, and he manipulates people. But to my knowledge, he doesn't seem like he'd actually hurt anyone.

Loveliest Guest: No one gets hurt when you have the big ol' Jake by yer side.

Zoppez: Updates ahoy! I will keep up with it the best I can.

Howdoyoucomeupwithausername: First off, you got a really long name there bud. Secondly, That makes me so happy! When I first dtarted writing fic, I would often read others to see how I can improve mine. I would binge on fanfiction just to see how the writer wrote. Asking myself what's good and whats bad. But now, I can finally consider myself a good writer. Thanks bud!