Rocks pelted my window.

"Hey! Casil!"

I looked down. It was Naomi. I opened it.

"What?"

"Come down here and walk with me to the bus stop!"

I rolled my eyes and slowly made my way down the stairs. I mumbled a short "Bye" to my dad as I passed him getting ready to go to his bookstore. I walked outside.

"You're really annoying me," I said to Naomi.

"I'm annoying?" she asked. "You're the one who won't change the stupid sign in your window!"

"So what?"

"So!" She started to yell. "Change the fucking sign, Trinity! So he's an ass! Big deal. It was kinda obvious, ya know?"

"Shut up Naomi." I turned my head away. "I'll change it when I want to."

She was about to argue when we heard a voice.

"Whoah! Dude!" it said. "That's a fucking cockroach!"

I turned and looked over in the bushes at the bus stop. No, it couldn't be.

"Xavier?" I asked.

The boy stood up. "Yup, that's me, Mr. Jerk of the century. I'm slowly killing my lungs and I'm gonna commit suicide by twenty one." He threw up his arms. "I AM EMO!"

He walked over to us and slung his arms over our shoulders. "So which one of you wants to go out with me, since I'm all hot and stuff?"

Naomi pushed him off and looked at him in disgust. I just stood there, frozen.

"Don't be such a meanie!" He made a pouty face, making him look just like Xavier. "If you do that, I'll make out with your friend here." He turned to me with a face-splitting grin. "Come on, sexy."

"Man, you're an asshole." Another boy who looked just like the first one came out of the bushes and held out a tube. It contained a cockroach. "Cockroach?"

"Fuck man! it's huge!" the other one said, snatching it. He grinned and held it in front of Naomi, who shrieked. "Wanna take a look at it?"

He started chasing Naomi with it. The other one stepped toward me. "Sorry for my brother's pure asshole-ness. I'm Damen." He pointed to the other guy, chasing Naomi around. "That's Damon."

I studied him. "Are you…?" My voice trailed off, whisking the thought away.

"Related to Xavier?" Damen grinned. "Second cousins. We're living with him for the next three months."

"Ah." I nodded as the bus pulled up.

"Okay," Naomi said as she sat down at our table. "Xavier hasn't been here all morning. So that means you can forget him for today, okay?"

I bit my bottom lip as I eyed the empty table that Xavier always sat at.

Naomi grabbed my head and faced it towards hers. "Forget. Him." She said slowly. I brushed her off and went to my lunch.

"Uh-oh," I heard Naomi say. I looked up and saw Damon and Damen walking towards us. They pulled up chairs.

"We've decided that you guys are our new friends," Damon said. "So we'll be sitting with you from now on."

Naomi fumed and balled her fists while Miyuki smiled.

"Great," Miyuki said. "Now we're officially a group."

"Right," I said, my head on the table. "Let's call ourselves Loser Force 7."

Andre laughed at my sarcastic joke.

This was going to be a long day.

I stepped inside my house and thought about what Damen said today about being Xavier's second cousin. I thought about how I only had my dad and that freaky dude who came to my house, known as 'grandfather'. Then there was my mom, who I was pretty sure I was never going to see again. But I think that's it. Or at least, I thought that was it, until that afternoon.

I walked downstairs after finally changing my sign. "Today is hollow." There was a knock at the door. I opened it.

"Hello," a woman with blonde hair and a British accent said to me. "It's nice to see you, Trinity. Is your father home?"

"Uh, no," I replied, uneasy at the fact that she knew my name. "He's at work. Can I help you?"

She stepped inside the house. "We have a lot of talking to do, then."

I have an aunt.

Aunt Mai, her name is. She was my mom's little sister. I felt kind of stupid for letting her convince me that she was actually my aunt. I mean, thirty minutes into the conversation and I finally remembered the safety rule of "Don't let strangers into your home". She showed me a childhood picture she had of her and my mom. Mom was sixteen in that picture, she told me. She had black hair and red bangs. She wore a faded pink T-shirt with suspenders whereas Aunt Mai wore a schoolgirl uniform. She said they went to different schools because she lived with their dad and Destiny, my mom, lived with their mom, who later died of drug overuse. That made me think of Xavier and his smoking problem. She said that she had a British accent because she and her boyfriend lived in England.

When the stories were over and night had fallen, Aunt Mai said she had to go. She told me to tell my dad that she was in an apartment down the street and that she'd be in America for a while.

I kind of liked having an aunt.

I slowly walked to my dad's bookstore, ashamed of myself for what I was about to tell Lee.

Lee was a girl who worked the checkout counter at the bookstore. She's always been there for me, from the first day of middle school all the way to my first period. I trusted Lee and her advice. But I've never gone to her with boy trouble before.

I walked inside, just as Lee was flipping the 'Open' sign to 'Closed'.

"What's up, Trin?" she asked.

I sighed and sat on top of the checkout desk.

"I have trouble…boy trouble," I said, rubbing my temples.

"And?"

I paused. "I like a guy," I said. "But he's a total jerk and just plays with my head. And I... I think... I'm getting feelings for a guy who looks just like him."

BUM BUM BUM!

When I wrote this, I kind of pictured younger Mai as Avangeline from Negima, haha. I think I may go as her to the next anime convention I go to.

ANYWAY! Go read Dirge's fic, Destiny: A Range of Colours. You know what it is, if not, you're a dumb ass.

Please review. Flames will be used to ensure Todd's chances of getting sicker from tuberculosis.

Fez's Rock Harder Than Rocks!

~Nikki-senpai