A/N: Thanks to Ravenshell for being an awesome beta!

Chapter 44

I sigh as I glance at my diamond-studded cheetah print nail gels for the fifth time. "It'd be nice to get to the skating rink before the ice melts next spring."

"Geez, Simone. I think they heard you in the projects."

I roll my eyes. Casey can be such a douchebag sometimes. Correction. He's a douchebag all the time. "You should know, you live right next door," I quip back. Don't try to play me like your section A building is better than mine. I smirk at him. He flips me the bird while April's dad isn't looking. I flip him back just before her dad turns around. I fake an angelic smile as I play with a coil of hair from my pink-tinted afro puff. "Finally!" I roll my eyes heavenward as April runs down the stairs, skates and bookbag in tow.

"I hope I can depend on the three of you not to get into too much trouble today." Mr. O'Neil eyes the three of us.

"C'mon, Mr. O. You know it's all good!" I wave off his concern.

"We're going to the skate rink, how much trouble could we possibly get into?" Casey shrugs nonchalantly.

I blow a raspberry laugh from my lips as Casey tries to look innocent and Mr. O looks all kinds of nervous. "Okay, but serious… how much trouble do you really think we'll get into with your goody two-shoes daughter keeping us in check?" I tilt my head and cross my arms as Mr. O smiles and shakes his head.

"I'm not sure what's more surprising, the fact that I agree with you or that the two of you haven't corrupted my daughter yet."

I suck my teeth. "Aw, Mr. O, you know you like us." His smile turns into a chuckle at my antics as I bat my extended eyelashes in his direction. He starts packing papers into his fancy briefcase.

"April, I have class all day and I probably won't be home until late tonight; Simone, if you're staying overnight, there should be leftover takeout from Murakami's in the fridge; and no Casey, you cannot sleep over." Mr. O is hilarious—in a nerdy dad who thinks he's funny kind of way.

"Got it, Dad."

"Later, Mr. O!"

"I wasn't even going to ask to sleep over, but now I kind of want to…" I grab idiot Casey by the sleeve as we hurry out the door.

It doesn't take us long to reach the skating rink, but skating isn't really what we're planning to do. April's sneaking out to see her boyfriend, Donnie. She said her dad and his dad had some a huge argument on Thanksgiving and now they're not allowed to see each other. She said it had to be believable otherwise her dad would see right through her scheme. And who's better at scheming against parents than Simone Calloway? ...Nobody.

April and I sit on a bench, as Casey wanders off toward the food truck. Figures.

"Okay, you remember the plan, right?"

"April, will you just chill the heck out?" I give her an annoyed look as I do my best to keep warm in the weather-beaten fleece jacket I found at a charity shop. "You're going to your dude's place, I have your house key." I dangle the small key by its key loop before shoving it back in my coat pocket. "I'll be back at your place by 5 o'clock. I'll hang out in your room with the door shut, and when your dad comes home, he'll think we're both in your room having a girls' night 'movie marathon'. Your dad'll never know you're gone. I got this." I shiver as the sun does little to take the cold out of the crisp air. "I just don't understand why we had to do this at the skating rink. The mall would have been just as good and warmer."

"Sorry, it was the only place I could think of that Casey would come to."

"Who cares about Jones?! Why is he part of this plan again?"

"…Um, less suspicious if I'm out with a group of friends?"

"Right…. You still gotta thing for Casey? I mean, it's cool if you do. I mean, hey, do yo' thang."

"What? …No! ...it's just that he knows, I mean, I needed to… it's complicated, okay?"

I shrug my shoulders. "Well, here comes complicated right now." I motion to the hockey player in question as he comes back with two steaming cups.

"Hey, Red, I got you some hot cocoa."

"Thanks, Casey." He smiles when April accepts the cup of chocolately goodness. The rich sweet smell is enough incentive for me to grab the other cup.

"Yeah, thanks, Casey." I blow into the cup before stealing a few sips. Mmm. Warm chocolate does a body good.

"That was not for you."

"You should be thanking me. For about thirty seconds you didn't look like such an inconsiderate prick."

"And thirty seconds before that you didn't look like a piglet." I kick him in the shin for that comment, just hard enough to show my annoyance. He snorts.

"Watch it, Jones, or the next kick will be higher."

"Ha! I'm wearing a cup," he says smugly as if this knowledge is somehow a kicking deterrent.

"Whatever. I'll still kick your scrawny little white tail." I roll my neck before taking an exaggerated sip of my stolen beverage. Casey frowns. Mmm. Tastes even better now.

"So, are you guys ready to hit the ice? I've got some mad figure eight skills," Casey asks, though he's talking more to April than to me.

"Actually, Casey, I'm going to go see Donnie." By the look on his face, it's obvious he doesn't have a clue this was all a ruse. Dang, April, that's a low blow even for my standards. "I just needed a planned distraction to get out of the house."

"Why didn't you tell me, like, before now?" I take another sip of my cocoa and look to April as she stands up so Casey's not looking down on her from the bench. Yeah, April, why didn't you tell him?

"Because you're a horrible liar and my dad would have seen right through you." Twisting my lip, I reason with this answer. Yeah, that's pretty much true. Puck boy couldn't lie his way out of a paper bag with a chainsaw. I turn back to Casey.

"So, what? ...Were you just gonna ditch me and not say anything?" His face is red and it's not from the cold. Uh-oh. I know my girl April's got a clapback for this joker.

"I wasn't ditching you, I was going to see my boyfriend and your friend. He's sick, remember?" Oh snap. The sass is for real. I've been on the receiving end of that hidden Irish smack talk, and even though it doesn't hold a torch to mine, red-headed sass is nothing to play with. Casey looks like the word 'boyfriend' just slapped him across the face.

"Look, I can't deal with that right now, okay? I…I thought you wanted to hang…with me."

"Casey Jones, you are unbelievable right now. You know what? I can deal with you. Just don't screw this up. I'll text you later, Simone." I give her a thumbs up while swallowing a mouthful of cocoa. April snatches her bookbag from the bench and storms off, disappearing into a bustling crowd.

I look back at Casey, who's trembling with anger right now, but it's short-lived as most of his temper tantrums are. Now he just looks like a kicked puppy.

"Sucks to be you right now." I stick my tongue in the paper cup retrieving the last drop of heavenly sweetness before tossing it in the trashcan beside me.

"Shut up, Simone! Nobody asked you to come anyway."

My neck snakes back at the unacceptable tone. If white boy don't know, he's gonna learn today.

"Okay, first off," I start as I stand up, resting one hand on my hip while the other holds up a single diamond-clad glittery nail, "April asked me to come. Matter of fact, I'm the one who helped her come up with a plan to see Donnie. So don't get all pissy with me because you still jonesin' after April. Secondly," flawless finger number two goes up, "you're being a jerk, I mean more of a jerk than usual. The dude has cancer. I don't even know the guy, but I feel bad for him. I'd think you of all people would get that."

"Why? Because my mom has cancer?!"

"Well, duh, Sherlock, that's exactly what I mean!" God, the boy is heartless and dense.

"That doesn't mean anything. People die from cancer every day. Whether I'm there or not, she's still going to die!"

Suddenly, my third point doesn't seem so important anymore. We're both silent. He realizes his slip of words and I realize this is about more than just his crush on April. Our eyes meet, and in those few seconds, I see a deeper hurt that I'm not prepared for.

"That bad, huh?" My sass deflates to a much mellower tone.

"Yeah." He sighs, sitting down on the bench I was just sitting on as he pulls his black skull and crossbones beanie down to his eyebrows. He must be pretty tight with his mom, which is something I can't relate to. It's my mom's fault I've been in and out of foster care. Kind of hard to build a relationship with that kind of track record. But I still get what it's like to lose a parent.

"My dad was killed in a convenience store," I offer as I sit beside him. He looks at me, a little taken aback by the confession.

"My mom isn't dead." I ignore the defense in his voice, because it's an all too familiar headspace.

"But she's going to die. I mean, that's what you said like two seconds ago." He mutters something before glaring at the ground. "Look, stuff happens. Dads get shot and Moms die of cancer. You can't change it. It just is what it is."

"I'm just tired of dealing with this. First my mom, and now my friend, Donnie."

"The same Donnie that popped April's cherry before you could?"

"What? ...Are you serious?! Did she tell you that?!"

That was too easy. Gullible little idiot. As amusing as that little outburst was, I break my mask of seriousness with a snort. "No, but somebody's still got the hots for April." I coyly cut my eyes at Casey, leaning back against the bench with a cheeky smile as he grumpily hunches over with his elbows on his knees.

"I don't have the 'hots' for Red, I just wanted to hang out to get away from everything for a while and I thought she wanted to do the same." He sighs with a hushed curse under his breath as his eyes spark with a sudden realization. "Oh, God… I do still have the hots for April." He covers his face with his cut-out gloved hands. "I'm an idiot."

"I've been telling you that for months," I mutter before sighing. Casey's whole 'woe is me' act is getting old. "You know the quickest way to get over girl?"

"Hm," he huffs from behind his hands.

"Hook up with another one."

He finally lifts his head from his hands to give me an incredulous look. "What, you gonna teach me how to be a man-hoe, now?"

I suck my teeth. "From the messages on the girls' bathroom stalls, you're not too far from accomplishing that life goal."

"According to the guys' stalls you should get a medal of high achievement." He guffaws as I slug him in the arm. "What? ...you started it!"

"I was trying to cheer you up, jerkface!" I growl at him before pushing myself off the bench. I stomp away from him, pretending the crunch of snow beneath my feet is Casey's head. I'm not sticking around to be talked down to. Forget that! The only reason I even tolerate that joker is because of April.

"Hey, Simone! Wait!" When I don't wait, my arm is grabbed, forcing me to face that puck-faced loser.

"Touch me again and you won't have any teeth left."

"Sorry, sorry!" He backs up, holding his hands up with shamed innocence. "I shouldn't have said what I said. I'm sorry."

"Whatever." I turn to leave.

"You were right!" His admission gives me pause and I turn to face him, waiting for him to continue. "You were right, okay? Life…. life sucks. I don't even want to think about how much it sucks, because it'll just suck even more. I know your life sucks too. We may live in different sections, but we're still on the same side of the screwed up tracks. So, why don't we go to the arcade and do something that doesn't suck?"

I size him up before knocking into his shoulder as I brush past him. "Just don't start moaning and groaning when I kick your butt at basketball shots." He's a little slow on the uptake, but he quickly runs to catch up to me as we start trash talking each other before we even get to the arcade.

TBC

A/N: This short chapter is a 'breather', a little in-between to move the story along and a break before the roller coaster ride ahead ;) Thanks for all the reviews, favorites, and follows. You guys are awesome! There's still a bit more in store for our heroes as mini plots are merging together. As always, please feel free to leave a review. I love reading your excitement and positivity in your reviews. It's a breath of fresh air.

See you next chapter!

Poetique