Back when JDs father was a nice man, he wore nice dress shirts instead of tacky salesmen-like suits. He had more hair back then too, still slicking it back. The stench of cigarettes overpowering the cologne that he had to steal back from his son.

"If you do anything stupid today we aren't going to let you out of the house until the summer is through." His dad looked back at his kid in the rear view mirror.

His mother rolled her eyes, "That's a bit harsh. I think maybe a week before summer is over is better."

"Well, good thing I'm not going to do anything bad. You two act like I'm some kind of maniac." JD had looked out the window at the rows of nice homes.

"Because you're prepubesnt." His mother laughed, looking to her husband as he smiled, pulling into a grand house's driveway.

The Dean's all made their way to a large backyard after exiting the car. Already hot in the afternoon heat, Jason followed the lead of his mom's dress skirt, he watched a nice, pristine family come into view. Immediately feeling regret and annoyance as he saw no sign of a boy.

Instead, a girl sat. Her hair tied back, she looked at the oncoming family with ease. Today she'd picked out her favorite outfit and had her mother do her lipstick in a light shade. This being the most exciting thing happening in her summer so far.

On cue of her parents, she stood up. Watching her father get ready to introduce his family like trophies.

"Bud Dean! Welcome!" He put on a wide smile, "This is my wife, and my daughter, Veronica."

As off as the families seemed to each other. A very sturdy handshake session ensued. The two teens quickly where ushered away so that the grownups could talk. Their feet swishing through the slightly overgrown grass. They had no idea what to talk about.

"So... Jason-" Veronica began, but was inturupted.

"I go by JD, only my parents call me Jason." He stopped walking as she did.

Tucking a stray peice of hair away, she nodded, "Right. Okay, JD, what do you do for fun?"

He hated icebreakers, but knew they were oh so necessary, "Um, well, I like wandering around and stuff. Playing video games I guess... Burning things."

She rose an eyebrow, "That seems psychotic... Tell me more."

Laughing he looked at the sky, "Not houses or anything like that. I'm not an arsenalist. Mostly books and shit. Stuff that's fun. Like CD's."

"What do CD's do when you burn them?" She asked, continuing to walk with the intriguing boy.

"They melt. Turn to goo. You know, cool things man. What about you Veronica Sawyer? What's your fun factor?" He shoved his hands in his jeans.

"Oh my god. Literally nothing. I watch movies and listen to music like all the other kids in the world." She sighed.

"Hey that's great. Whatever you like to do, you like to do. Whatever is fun to you must be worth something." He shrugged, trying to make her feel less awkward.

Feeling light she nudged him with her shoulder, "Eh, it's not as cool as burning things. I wish I did interesting stuff, like hang out in the park till dusk, go to parties. I'm lame."

JD rolled his eyes, "You're not lame. Having bonfires with CD's isn't grand, it's weird. We can find you a new hobby. Make you feel better about it."

"So I'm charity now?" She groaned, feeling like a royal pain.

"No," he tried to hide his grin, "Just a loser in need of a good ole fashion fun run."

She shook her head and snorted, "Are we going to set fire to something then?"

He scoffed, "At least once."