A/N: God, I love writing to this fic...It really makes me happy. :] I'm also super glad that people actually review it. I adore your input, I really do! I wanna apologize for Matt as well, haha. As I said before, he is rather difficult for me to...keep in character? I guess you could say that. I guess I just made him as complicated and cocky as can be because I find that super hot! XD Also, he's maybe even worse in this chapter...But do not fret! He wont be a complete asshole for forever, I promise you that. :] I just like giving Mello a hard time, what can I say? Thank you soooo much to my reviewers and my readers. You guys make my days that much better. I hope you enjoy this chapter. :]

White Noise-

Chapter Three; Climbing through the window is not acceptable.

My day could not get any worse. It really couldn't.

I was lying on the ground, sand in my ears, volleyball resting beside my head. Oh, and my head hurt. A lot.

"Are you okay?" Misa's voice had never been more annoying.

Oh my god, I just wanted to say fuck everything and go home.

Her feet ended up near my head right next to the ball and I turned and glared at them instead of her. "I just wanna go lie down…" I moaned, holding onto my head. I hated volleyball. I hated sports. I hated my life.

"Oh, you party pooper!" she exclaimed, stomping her feet, getting sand in my eye. "Stop being so emo."

Light came and saved the day once again before I punched Misa as well. "Just leave Mello alone, Misa. He's having a rough day."

"Yeah, well. He should get over it and just have fun with us. I miss happy Mello…"

My eyelids folded over my eyes and I sighed. Well, happy Mello wasn't coming back anytime soon.

"You can go back to the cabin, Mello," Light said, helping me up off the ground.

I brushed off the sand and shrugged my shoulders. "You sure that's okay?" I ended with a small glare towards Misa who just puckered her lips at me.

Light grabbed the volleyball and threw it back over to Near and L. "Yeah. Maybe after you get some rest you'll feel better. You and Misa can swim a little later if you want."

I nodded a little and thanked Light for being so understanding, unlike his leech of a girlfriend. As I walked away I heard the blonde saying my name, probably talking shit on me. I didn't care…they could all gossip about how much of a downer I was being. All I wanted to do was curl up under a blanket and disappear.

And it was all his fault.

I hated that stupid striped shirt and those dumb ass goggles. Why the hell even wear goggles? It's not like he was riding a motorcycle or about to jump into the damn lake. He was starting to piss me off almost as much as Near did. I never thought anyone else would reach that kind of level.

My body hit that bed like it was a divan of clouds. My lungs let out the biggest sigh in history and I closed my eyes, ready for the best nap ever.

I was maybe two minutes away from passing out when I heard a knock coming from the window. It scared the shit out of me so my heart started beating like a drum. Who in the…?

No. Fucking…hell no.

When I turned and saw red through that window I almost threw up. Why hadn't I pulled the blinds down? Any sensible person would do that before they were about to sleep! Why the fuck didn't I do it?

He had the biggest fucking grin plastered on his face, like someone had painted it there instead of it being natural. The goggles were hanging around his neck this time, I wanted to grab him by those goggles and beat the living shit out of him.

Instead of getting up, instead of even moving towards him, I fell back onto the bed. There was no way in hell I was about to get up and talk to him. That window was staying shut.

But to counter me, he kept knocking.

Why didn't I expect that…? Of course he wasn't going to stop just because I went back to lying down. Of course he wasn't going to be courteous or kind or even think for one bloody fucking second.

My teeth clenched in my mouth when he started blending the knocks together to make some horrid sounding beat. I was seriously going to murder this kid.

I stood up angrily; I felt the wind blowing past me with how fast I was moving. My feet stomped over to the window and I took some heavy breaths to try and calm myself down. As I stared at the boy I started mouthing words to him.

'Go away.'

He tilted his head and I looked away at that moment. He was so fucking…cute when he did that. Why did he have to be so damn good-looking? Out of everyone in the world I just had to be attracted to the biggest asshole on Earth.

I attempted trying to reason with him again, though while looking at the side of the window this time. I tried speaking out loud instead, "I said, go away!"

The redhead smiled then and shook his head. "Let me in!" I could hear him, slightly muffled but I defiantly made out what he had said.

My face probably looked as irritated as I felt. Or maybe it wasn't doing it justice at all because Matt looked as exultant as could fucking be.

I was so done talking to him. I stuck my hand to the window and flipped him off.

It felt like that grin would never leave him. My whole being just wanted to punch him again so badly. But if I opened that window I knew that I was going to regret it. I wasn't going to let him win, not for the life of me.

Matt's eyes suddenly started wandering and I tried following them. They ended up on the locks to the window. My heart sunk when I realized that they were unlocked. When my eyes connected with his again I knew I had lost. And just after I had said I wasn't going to…

He opened the window and instantly started climbing into the room. I felt like I was being swept away by the ocean, waves hitting me full force and there was nothing I could do but go along with it and hopefully not drown.

"That took longer than I thought it would…" he said, now standing in my little room. He was invading my space. He was interrupting my nap. He was ruining my day. He had already ruined it enough. Why couldn't he just leave me alone…?

Without asking me if it was okay, he pulled out a cigarette and lit it, smoke filling the room. "You look really fucking pissed," he admitted, laughing a little.

I took short, quick breaths, like I really was drowning. His waves were just too strong and too overpowering. Nothing had ever done this to me before. I'd never been so…weak and feeble. And that pissed me off even more than his stupid goggles did.

"We're you like, about to go to sleep? Sup with that, dude?"

I felt like if I spoke, I'd just start screaming my lungs out at him. I didn't want to scream or ruin my lungs. So I stayed quiet.

"Helllooo? You in there, Mells?"

That was the worst nickname I had ever heard. And Misa had already tried giving me plenty. I hated all of them. And I especially hated Mells.

"Please shut up…" I walked back over to the bed and sat down. My head was pounding, my stomach was in knots. I just wanted him gone…

Instead of leaving like I hoped he would, he sat down about a foot away from me. He didn't talk anymore though, which I was thankful for. I saw him grab an ashtray off the side table that I hadn't even noticed was there. He continued smoking. It was silent for maybe two minutes. I couldn't take it anymore. "What the fuck are you doing here…?"

"You didn't hang with me today. So I figured I'd come see you." He talked like we were best friends. As if he really knew me for more than half a day.

I swallowed a little spit that was clinging to my mouth, it tasted really gross. And I blamed the redhead for that. "And you just…figured you'd come right through the window, did you?"

He chuckled and put one foot up on the bed, his boot getting dirt on the sheets. "Well yeah. I just did, didn't I?"

My fingers ran their way through my hair, pulling the bangs out of my eyes for only a few seconds before I let them go. The smoke was starting to make me sick, I hated when people smoked indoors. "Do you even use your brain…? Or do you just not have one?"

He blew some smoke out through his nose, raising one eyebrow at me. "You don't have to be so rude about it."

I let my mouth hang open for a couple seconds before I started talking again, words spilling out of my mouth, "Oh, sorry. Was I being rude? My apologies. Let me just go get you some tea and we can discuss how your day was. Or, no—wait! Maybe we can go jump through other people's windows and see how much we can piss them off? That sounds great!" I don't think I had ever had to use that much sarcasm in one sitting. I really wasn't that much of a sarcastic person to begin with. Though, it kind of felt good to insult him like that.

The boy just sat there and stared at me for what seemed like minutes but was most likely only a few seconds. With his eyebrow still raised, his dirty boot still on my bed of clouds— which now seemed more like a pile of mud—he suddenly started cracking up. He practically had to hold a hand over his mouth with how loud he was being. He threw his head back in laughter and I just gaped at him. Astonished wasn't even the best word for how I felt.

I didn't really think that a good enough word existed to describe how I was feeling.

Stunned. Shocked. Upset. Angry. Infuriated. Embarrassed. Uncomfortable. None of them sounded…extreme enough.

And the worst part of it all, was that his laugh was the most gorgeous sound I had ever heard.

There was seriously something wrong with me…

"God, Mello. You're…something else," he finally spoke after stubbing out his cigarette and clearing his eyes of a few tears. I could not believe what I was hearing. I was something else…? Had he ever looked in a goddamn mirror?

"I don't get you…" I managed to say, more like mumbled. It was all I could think of to say…my mind was just swimming in confusion.

I couldn't see his reaction because I was staring lifelessly at the floor, my hair creating a curtain around me. "What's not to get?" It was kind of funny the way he was totally clueless. Either that or he was just fucking with me again. I wouldn't put it past him if he was.

"Everything. You. Just…"

"Sooo…stop thinking so hard about it? You're just gunna cause yourself a lot of stress." I saw him leaning down until he was on the floor in front of me, bending his knees so that he could look me in the eyes. "Oh shit, look! You've already got wrinkles!"

One long gloved finger reached out and poked my forehead, right where part of my scar was. I probably looked like I had just gone through a train wreck, and I sure as hell felt that way. Matt's face was in a stupid, fake shocked kind of expression. He looked dumb. Yet…so hot…

I really…really hated my life.

And then it got even worse. If you could only imagine.

The door on the other side of the room creaked open and I saw two beady eyes staring at me through the crack as it moved. All I had wanted to do was to be left alone for…half an hour. Was that really too much to ask…?

Near's smile hadn't ever really been appealing, but right then it was one of the last things I ever wanted to see. His voice emanated through the whole room and my hand was about to come up to my face, as if I could hide behind that. "Sorry…am I interrupting something…?" I could tell he was enjoying every second of my untimely demise.

From what the white haired boy was seeing, it was Matt knelt down in front of me while I sat on the bed. Obviously, that wasn't something anyone would want to walk in on, but it wasn't like we were doing anything in the first place. So it didn't even matter.

But Near would never let me live this down. Even though what he was thinking, or just mocking me for, wasn't even true.

My hand went straight for the first thing I could find and I threw it at the door. It ended up being the ash tray and even though I almost hit Near with it, all I really managed to do was get ash all over my floor…

Fucking great.

"Nice one, Mello," Matt said while standing up, his weight shifting from the heels of his feet to the toes. He rocked there for a few seconds while I screamed at Near.

"Learn to knock!" I yelled, infuriated with just the thought of Near entering my room without permission. What if he did that while I was sleeping? Or even worse…?

While the ash tray spun on the ground, Near peeked his creepy little head through the door again and said, "Learn to lock your door, Mello."

I growled and wanted to throw something else but there wasn't anything around me. "Learn to not be such a fucking creep!"

Near just smiled even more, I could tell he had something extra horrible to say. All I wanted to do was hold my hands over my ears and scream "lalalalalala!" as loud as I could. "Learn to keep it in your pants."

I heard Matt snicker from besides me and I turned to glare at him. He stopped when I did and instead just kept smiling. "He got you there. I think I like this kid."

"What the fuck do you mean he got me there? We weren't even doing anything!" I was going to fucking kill both of them. Very slowly and very painfully.

"Regardless of what you two kids were doing in there," Near started talking again but didn't open the door all the way. I think he was afraid of me throwing something else at him. "Light wanted me to ask you if you were up for some swimming yet. Misa is just dying to see you in that speedo."

How could someone have such white hair and features and yet be so damn black and disgusting at the same time?

The redhead couldn't help from laughing then, I could tell. Of course he couldn't. Of course no one could give me a break today. That would be asking way too much.

"Dude, Mello…you wear speedos…?" He was holding his hand over his mouth this time, trying to hide his laughing.

"If the both of you don't get the fuck out of my room in the next two seconds…"

"Oh no, Mello is threatening. Everybody run. He might punch us," Near said sarcastically, but he did leave, closing the door behind him. Looks like he had his fill of make-fun-of-Mello time.

He was most likely way too excited to wait. He was going to tell everyone just what I had been doing instead of sleeping. Because it was Near. And Near was an albino prick who was out to ruin my life.

"You guys fight like an old married couple." Oh, and I forgot I had another prick to deal with as well. This one not so much albino. Just really stupid.

"Out…"

"Why?"

"I said get out!" I knew that I had emotional problems, and I knew that sometimes I got mad for stupid reasons. Most of the time I got over issues pretty quickly and realized that I was just being over sensitive. I didn't hate everyone. But this time…was different. Because I had tried staying calm. I had tried reasoning with him. I had tried everything I could think of. Even Near wasn't as dumb as this guy was. I'd never punched Near before.

Matt didn't move so I stood up and grabbed him by the goggles, bringing him down a few inches so he could really understand what I was trying to say. With his face just inches from mine all I could smell was cigarettes. "You piss me off. Get the fuck out before I call the cops."

"Do we really have to resort to extortions?"

"Yes, apparently we do."

"Tell me how you got your scar."

What the fuck went on in this guy's head…?

"Are you insane?" I was really starting to wonder if he had some kind of freaky mental condition.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe a little."

"Sorry, I'm not really into crazy guys."

"But you're into guys in general?" His eyes lit up, mocking me in a way.

I narrowed mine further at him. "Defiantly not guys like you."

"So what are you into, then?"

My grip was starting to loosen on his dumbass goggles. That scared me. I tightened it quickly and yelled, "Why the fuck would something like that matter to you at all? Just get the hell out of my cabin and back to yours!" I used my hand to shove him away from me, causing his back to hit the wall behind him.

I turned from him and walked over to the door, about to open it and leave when he spoke once more, laughing in-between his words, "Yeah. You're right." I looked over my shoulder a little to see him heading towards the open window as he finished talking. "Doesn't matter to me at all. See you around, Mello."

And then he was gone.

XxX

Yes. I had gone swimming. And no, there wasn't any kind of speedo like Near had said. I wouldn't wear one of those if someone paid me to. Though of course Near would say otherwise, if only to make more fun of me.

So I was trying really hard to be happy Mello, like I was about seventy percent of the time, but it felt like the harder I tried, the more depressed I became. I hadn't battled with depression in a long while. It had been at least two years that I had gone without slitting my wrist or ever really thinking of killing myself. And it wasn't like I was…thinking any of that right then. I was just…unhappy. Very, very unhappy. With everything. And my life wasn't horrible. I was out on a vacation with my best friends, minus Near. Instead of being depressed I should have been glad.

I just couldn't fathom how someone as self-absorbed and childish as Matt could ruin this for me so easily…

My eyes drifted towards the cabin beside ours, about ten yards away. They were having another fire, but not as many people were out there this time around. I tried hard to keep my eyes from searching for red or black and white.

"Mello! Throw me in!" Misa called to me from the dock and I sighed a little but did as she said. When I reached her I picked up her small body and tossed her into the lake. She screamed happily and made a decent size splash. I smiled a little; Misa was kind of cute in a…really weird kind of way.

"That is so fun, I wish I could do it to you!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms up and falling into the lake once again. She ended up just floating on her back and staring up at the stars. I swam over to her and joined in on the gazing. There were plenty to look at this far out in the sticks. I could even see some of the Milky Way.

"I wish Light would swim with me…" I heard Misa say.

I turned a little towards her, pursing my lips. "He will eventually. Maybe he just doesn't want to swim at night."

"So then…let's swim earlier tomorrow!"

"Sounds fine to me," I told her.

She grinned and started climbing on top of me. I rolled my eyes a little and knelt down so she could put her legs around my neck. "Light! Hi Light!" She called over to him, waving her arms around obnoxiously. He turned and waved a little, but then turned back to L, whom he was talking to.

I heard her sigh above me and she tapped my shoulder with a dainty finger. "Hey, Mello…"

My hands on her legs, I looked up towards her. "Hmm?"

"Light…do you…even think he likes me at all…?" She sounded sad. Like…horribly sad. It made me feel really terrible.

I lowered her back into the water and she held one arm around her chest, clutching her shoulder tightly. She wasn't even looking at me, her eyes focused on the water, the ripples traveling around her swimsuit and my stomach.

I wish that I had some idea of what to say to her. If there was anyone in the world who was the worst person to ask for advice or anything of that nature, it would be me. I even hated getting told advice. Nothing good ever came of it.

But I didn't want to lie to her…obviously I knew that there were two things: what she wanted to hear…and the truth. Light didn't like her. He probably liked his dog more than he liked Misa.

Her eyes were misty, tears at the brims. "I…try so hard, Mello…for him…for him to like me. But I…it's like nothing I do ever…"

Sighing a little I reached out and pulled her close to my chest. It felt strange and unlike me to be hugging someone, but it was all I could do at that point. It wasn't like I could tell her anything. She cried a little on my shoulder, both of us attempting to stand without swaying or falling over in the water. I wasn't sure if I should have been petting her head or anything but I tried not to think too hard about it.

When she was finished, she peeled away from me and looked me in the eyes. "Do you like me, Mello?"

I let out a small laugh through my nose and smiled as best I could. "Of course, Misa. You're one of my best friends."

She nodded a little but sighed again. God, I couldn't do anything right.

"Friends…" she mumbled, playing with a string on her suit. "Maybe…Light and I are just meant to be…friends…"

I placed a hand on her shoulder and shrugged. "All I know…is to never give up. No matter what life throws at you. Just keep on fighting."

Wow. I gave advice. And it wasn't half bad.

Misa finally smiled again and I felt better. I had even slightly forgotten about…the redhead.

"Thank you, Mello. Why can't Light be more like you, huh?" she poked me in the rib and I backed away from her.

"Maybe because Light isn't as awesome as I am."

"Light is the most gorgeous human to walk the face of the earth!" Misa told me with stern eyes.

I probably could have argued with her there. But I defiantly didn't. No way in hell was I talking about that…redhead.