At home, things were slow and quiet. Andy came home from work at six and we had dinner. None of us ate together. Mom at the computer while she typed quickly, stopping every now and then to take a bite from her sandwich or drink some water. Andy sat in front of the television watching some stupid sitcom. I took my plate to my room and finished some homework. Times like these I missed my dad. I pulled out the picture of him I kept in my desk drawer and I stared at it. My dad was really handsome. He had blonde hair like mine and a tiny bit of stubble lining his jaw, at least he did in this picture. He had perfect white teeth without ever needing braces. I missed him. When he was around, we were a family. We all dropped what we were doing to have a dinner together. He made sure of it. No matter how busy any of us were, he'd make sure to take time out to have a family dinner and just talk. I think that's what I missed the most. Now we were all scattered. Not really a family at all.
Tears stung my eyes as I remembered what Dougie had said to me. I didn't want to believe what he said was true. It hurt thinking about it. I fell asleep with that thought in my mind and dad's picture in my hand.

The next morning I walked into English expecting the same treatment I got from Garrett yesterday. I told myself that morning, Dakota don't expect him to talk to you. Don't expect him to say hi.

But he did.

"Hey, California," he smiled as I took my seat. He turned around and straddled his chair, resting his arms on the back of it so he could face me. I smiled, "Hey."

"You're fifteen right?" he asked me. I nodded, "I'll be sixteen in a month."

"Damn," he laughed. "I'm still the youngest."

I smiled, "When's your birthday?"

"Not till February," he told me looking disappointed. I gave him a sympathetic grin, "Hey, someone's gotta be the baby."

He laughed and nodded, then quickly changed the subject. I had talked to other kids in some of my other classes, but Garrett was the first one besides Heather to hold a conversation with me as if he liked me.

Heather sat down and I smiled at her then continued my conversation with Garrett. Heather shot me a dirty glance. I ignored it seeing as I didn't do anything wrong. When Mrs. Whitman told us to find a partner for a worksheet, Garrett immediately turned around and smiled at me. I knew all the answers. He just copied them down. I didn't mind though. I liked Garrett. I liked having a friend. I looked up and saw Heather and her cheerleader friends eying me. I blew the eraser dust off my paper and kept scribbling down answers for Garrett to copy.

The bell rang and Garrett said bye and thanks for the answers, then he bolted out of the room. Heather caught up with me on my walk to study hall. "Are you and Nickelsen friends?" she asked me.

I shrugged, "I don't know. I mean I talk to him every now and then but –"

"Don't." she warned and walked away.

Why were people suddenly warning me about things I didn't want to hear.

John wasn't in study hall today. I nearly made myself sick wondering where he could be. I shouldn't care so much.

Lunch came and went slowly. The past two days I sat with Heather and her friends. They liked me and they were nice to me. Today, there were no seats left. They all shot me dirty glances. No one offered me a seat. I walked to the other side of the lunch room.

And right in the corner by the vending machines I saw a familiar face. I slowly walked toward him to make sure he wasn't going to ignore me like everyone else did yesterday. When I got close enough, he looked up and smiled. I smiled back and he waved me over. A wave of relief crashed over me. I didn't want to be sitting alone.

"Didn't want to eat alone, California?" he laughed. I shook my head and laughed, "How'd you know?"

"I saw you wandering around over there alone. Saw you got rejected by those cheerleaders," he laughed, "Ouch."

"Yeah, a real blow to the ego," I smiled back sarcastically. I was glad Alex was talking to me. He and Garrett didn't ignore me which was a good sign. Did this make us friends or not?

"Mind if I sit down?" I asked him.

"Oh I don't mind," he shook his head, "You probably should though."

I wondered what he meant by that, but I sat anyway. He ate his chips quietly for a while, shoveling four or five into his mouth at once. I laughed. He looked up and shouted across the cafeteria with his mouth full. I looked back and saw Nick coming to our table. He waved to Alex and smiled, then took a seat next to him. He noticed me and shot Alex a nervous glance. Alex just shrugged and his eyes fell back to his chips as if they were the most interesting thing on the planet. I picked at my thumb nail.

"You're alright with sitting here?" Nick asked me. I looked up.

"Should I not be?"

Neither of them answered. They simply changed the subject and just like that I was hypnotized again. I forget about the weirdness and just had fun. It was nice to have friends.

"Do you guys know where John'O is today?" I asked casually during the silence between different conversations. Nick looked at Alex. Alex looked back at me. "Yeah."

And with that the bell rang and we all filed out of lunch. I lost the guys in the crowd and ended up alone for the rest of the day. Not even the cheerleader drones would talk to me. Something was wrong.