A/N: Do you think I should redo the summary? I haven't gotten a lot of hits or reviews with this fic and I don't know why. Oh well, I'm too in love with this fic to give up on it. But I'm kindly asking for advice or praise in a review. Just to make you guys who are reading not confused, this chapter isn't about Gene. This chapter focuses on the people Gene is writing his story to. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own any Teen Titans characters.

Chapter 2

"Where is he?" Zach exploded as his impatience got the better of him. He tapped his foot as the clock ticked by slowly that early morning. Middle school wasn't even starting and all the kids were gathering into their groups outside the building talking loudly and giggling. The boy's brown eyes lit up when he spotted Gene's girlfriend, Rose, above the crowd of teens. She was gracefully climbing the steps to their school's main doors.

Zach frowned when he didn't see her with his best friend. With a disappointed sigh, Zach caught up with Rose. "Have you seen, Gene?" Zach asked Rose as he pulled up beside the girl smoothly. She truly was stunning. Her long black hair spilled down her back and over her slender shoulders. Her brilliant green eyes could make any guy fall to his knees in submission.

Rose Zimmerman was just an overall sweet goody good girl. She would cry even if a pesky fly died in front of her. She was studious and responsible most of the time. She was the person in Gene's life that made him strive for good grades and to do well in the world. Her engaging personality was what had caught the young boy's eye that year. They could talk for hours about things. She was overall perfect in Gene's eyes.

Zach Turner, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. With his short Mohawk and lip and eyebrow piercing, he was already labeled as a rebel in many adult's eyes. The teen was loud, rude, and out going. He flirted with any good looking girl in the school, middle or high, and he was turned down too many times for his friends to count.

But Zach somehow became Gene Summer's very best friend. Zach had moved from Atlanta, Georgia to the small Pennsylvania town at the beginning of sixth grade. Zach disliked the move. He hated the change from busy streets to farm lands. And he swore even now that he would never get used to the road apples on the streets left behind by the Amish buggies.

Zach had spent most of his sixth grade year on a bridge that reminded him of one back in Atlanta, thinking about his old friends and sulking about his parents' choice to move. He was surprised one day in the summer when a kid his age suddenly ran past him and jumped up onto the edge of the bridge. Some kids swimming the cool, refreshing river below yelled up at him to jump.

"I'll only jump if someone else does it with me!" the kid had yelled back down.

"You're crazy, Gene!" the kids had shouted with laughs.

"I'll go with you!" Zach had shouted as he took off his shirt. The kid had looked at him with a giant smile on his face. "I've done this back in Atlanta a thousand times," Zach had told Gene with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. Gene had the same shine in his violet eyes as they both looked down into the depths of the river below them. "Just…hold your nose."

That jump had been the start of their relationship. Zach was Gene's wild and crazy side. There was never a dull moment when the two were together. Even though they had only known each other for two years, it was like they knew each other since first grade. Now that Gene had a girlfriend, Zach wasn't giving his friend a chance to hang out more with her. Rose had realized that if she wanted Gene, Zach came with him. She was beginning to get use to him, but he still annoyed her at times.

"No, Zach," Rose said calmly to him as they walked down the hallway, "I haven't seen Gene anywhere today. He must be having a sick day."

Zach gave a sharp, disbelieving laugh and said to her, "Sick day, my ass!" Rose sighed in annoyance but let Zach continue. "Gene is playing all of us. His parents are out of town and he's playing hooky. He should have called me this morning! We could have caught a bus to the beach!"

"Or he could just be sick," Rose said blankly.

"Yeah," Zach said with a shrug, "But my theory is more entertaining than yours. Plus, Gene Summers always comes to school…unless we're playing hooky," he added quickly. "You remember when he came in here one morning with that high fever? He was sent home before first period even started. He would be here today if he was…"

Suddenly something dropped in front of them. The two jumped back in surprise. Zach looked up just in time to see a tiny black hole in the ceiling close and disappear. He frowned in confusion and then looked back down to see Rose picking up the thing that had dropped in front of them. She held the thing up between them with the same deep confusion on her face.

"What the hell is it?" Zach asked, suddenly unimpressed. He folded his arms in front of him and stared skeptically at the bundle of notebook paper in Rose's hands. Rose looked up at him and then tilted her head to the side. "What?" he asked loudly.

"Were your eyes always cat like?" she asked with confusion. She then sighed and added, "Or are those just contact lenses?"

"Gene's weirdness is rubbing off on you, woman," Zach said. "My eyes have always been the same. Now, what is that load of crap your holding that came from the ceiling? What does it say?"

Rose nodded politely to him and unrolled the papers. It must have been the light that made her think she saw his eye's look like a cat's. "It's in Gene's hand writing," she observed.

"Give me those!" Zach said with frustration as he snatched the papers out of her hands. He read the first few lines and frowned deeply. "What is the kid doing to us? Is he freaking serious? He says he has been kidnapped and wants to tell us the story."

Rose giggled cutely suddenly as she looked over Zach's shoulder to read. "I'm sure this is just one of his many stories. He is a good writer, you know?"

"Yeah, but it's like he's writing to us," Zach said as he read more of the story in his hands. "This is interesting, actually. I've never read any of Gene's work." The two were suddenly emerged into their friend's story and read it there in the hallway. The more they read, the more they believed that Gene really was kidnapped by the guy in the sunglasses.

The bell suddenly rang loudly in the hallway. Both teens jumped and gasped in surprise at the sound. They looked at each other then back at the story. "We'll read the rest at lunch," Zach finally said. He rolled the pages up and stuck it in the backpack before Rose could say anything about it. "See ya'," he muttered with a small wave.

The teen forgot about the papers till Rose suddenly sat across from him at the lunch table. Her lunch consisted of a chicken topped salad and bottle water. Zach looked at it with disgust. Like always, his was the opposite. He had a hamburger, slushy, chips, a cookie, soda, and two whole tubs full of ketchup.

"Did you forget breakfast?" Rose asked him, noticing the mountain load of food on the boy's tray.

"No, I had two bowls of cereal this morning," Zach mumbled through the food in his mouth. He shot her a dark glare while asking, "Why?"

Rose blushed profusely in embarrassment. She stumbled over her words as she said quickly, "No reason! I was just asking!" Zach shrugged and continued to wolf down his hamburger that had been completely smothered by his ketchup. Rose hesitated before finally asking, "Do you have the papers?"

Zach silently reached into his back pocket and grabbed the papers with a sigh. He put them on the table in the middle of them. They then quietly began to read while they ate.

A/N: The next chapter is Gene's story. I hope you liked it so far. Please review!