I'm walking from my house down to the school. The early morning mist is rising into the air off the trees and shrubbery. The birds are chirping quietly, not yet ready for their early morning concert. Even the sun's orange tint off the clouds is helping put on this serene feeling. Yet however calm this scene maybe, it's not reaching out to help me. I take a long drag of the "cigarette" I've been smoking since I got a block away from my house. They say smoking is bad, along with weed, especially if you don't have a medial prescription. But, it's the only thing keeping me from not bouncing off the wall. And I'm seriously going to need it for today. I cut through a hole in the fence, leading to the back of an apartment complex. It's a short cut I take to get to the school a little faster, and Tavros lives here too. I usually walk with him to school, but I don't feel like it today.

This weekend is still buzzing through my head. Mr. Vantas got a phone all last Friday in the middle of class. He let the class take a quiz while he argued with the man on the other half of the phone. Apparently, the cabin he wanted, two bedrooms, two baths and a scenic view over the lake, was under construction. He said he wanted to reschedule his trip then, but the next available time was months away. They had a policy that you had to all a week ahead to cancel, so a refund was out the question. So Mr. Vantas had to downgrade to a one bedroom, an outhouse, and in the middle of the forest.

"Gamzee!" I glance up and turn. I'm closer to campus now I spit of my joint and stomp it out with my foot, just as John runs up.

"Hey, bro, what's up?" I stick out my hand for our normal handshake-we just fist pound, then high-five- but he just grabs my shoulders and starts shaking me back and forth.

"You know damn well what's up!" He stops shaking me so he can look me in the eye. And so it doesn't look like I got stuck in the middle of an earthquake.

"I do?" Before I can even get the words out, he starts shaking me all over the again.

"The game! You weren't at the game!" He lets go of me. His glasses were starting to slip off the bridge of his nose from all these vibrations. He pushes them back up, while I take a step back.

"Yeah, John, I told you I wasn't going to motherfucking show up. Did we all up and lose the match?" I start walking again and he falls in besides me, still not looking to happy. If we lost this one, we wouldn't be able to go to States.

"No, we didn't," He says curtly "But we won by the skin, skin, of our teeth,"

"Then chill out bro, with your motherfucking buck teeth, you guys must have won by a motherfucking mile," He punches my shoulder, while I hold back my laughter.

"Vey funny, I hope your camping trip was worth that terrible joke," He scoffs.

Suddenly, my brain shifts back to what happened. It was going great, right up until Sunday night. "Maybe..."

"That's the sprit!" We walk onto campus, just as the warning bell for first period. "Well, I'll see you later!" John quickly runs across campus to whatever class he has first. I slink on over to mine, something I looked least forward to today, P.E. with Coach Strider.

((())

"Makara! How many laps is that?" Coach Strider is standing to the side of the track as I cross the finish line.

"Nine!" I keel over, resting my hands on my knees. I should really quit smoking.

"I only said to do four!" He smirks down at his clipboard "I guess I'll just mark it down for next week then," He swipes out his pen from out of nowhere and marks down a reminder. I walk out of the other runners way, come off the track, and start heading towards the belchers. "Oh, and Zahhak wanted to talk to you,"

"Oh?"

"Yeah, something about the math on Saturday," He looks over the rim of his glasses "He's down in the office,"

"Okay," I walk inside the boys locker room. Dreading have to talk to Coach. His lights are on in the office, so I poke my head in.

"Hey, Zahhak, you wanted to see me?" He's sitting at his desk reading yesterdays stat sheets. He looks up when he hears me talk.

"Ah, Gamzee," I cringe at his voice. Coach Zahhak has to be the creepiest coach you could have. He has a voice similar to Igor in the Frankenstein movies. Which wouldn't be so bad if he didn't have that eerie habit of just watching people. At every one of our games, while the other coaches are cheering their heads off, arguing with the officials, or yelling from the side-lines, Zahhak just stares at everyone. So being down here in a dimly lit room with him doesn't help. "I was hoping you could explain to me why you didn't arrive at yesterdays meet."

"Oh, well, I was out of town," I scratch the back of my neck "I left a note on your door Friday. And I couldn't cancel,"

He glances at me with his dark blue eyes before he speaks up, "Are you committed to this team, Gamzee?"

"Well, yeah," I lean against the door frame "Of course I am,"

"Are certain? You've been excluding yourself from practices, don't come to your in-school physical therapy sessions, and now your skipping mee-"

"Aw, Coach don't be like that,"

"I have to, if you aren't supporting the team. It's like a race horse, Gamzee," I mentally roll my eyes. There he goes on one of his horse metaphors again "He works excellently when all his legs are working, but if one leg has a limp, he won't run correctly. He wouldn't have a fair chance at winning," He tells me passively.

" Coach, could you say that normally?" I really have no clue what he was trying to get at.

"What I'm trying to say," He raises his voice "Is that if you aren't committed to the team, then why be on it?

I look at him in silence. He is bluffing, I can see it in his eyes. I let the silence build up, as an idea starts to form in my head "You're right," I smirk "You're absolutely right,"

He leans back in his chair, "I'm glad you agree. We have prac-"

"I quit."

He shoots back up, "W-what?"

"I'm quitting the team," I get up from the doorway, heading out the room " I mean, your right, if I'm going to all these things, then why should I be on it?"

"You can't quit! You're the only reason we have a chance for state!" He chases me out the door, grabbing my shoulder.

"Hey, Zahhak, there's no I in team, bro," I shake him off "I'll turn in my jersey tomorrow,"

"Gamzee, please, let's not be brash," It looks like he's about to drop to his knees. "The guys look up to you, you also play first in all the categories," We walk into the locker room, the other boys have finished up their laps and are staring at this odd scene "You would really be placing us in the rough spot,"

"But, Coach, I'll only drag us down. I'm the horse's limp leg, or whatever you were saying," He just stands there watching me until I go around the corner.

((()))

You know what I hate about high school? Well one of the things I hate. Is how news spreads around like wildfire. It wasn't even lunch yet, and everyone seem to know that Gamzee Makara just quit the track team. John was more than upset, so was Tavros. Tavros was more upset, though. The only reason he joined the team was because I convinced him. So now they've both think I've abandoned them. I'm not that worried though, I'll just show back up at the next practice. The only reason I quit at the spur of the moment, so Zahhak knows I'm not his meal-ticket to success. I walk across campus, heading in the direction of the math office. This is my second to last period of the day, math with Ms. Serket.

"Gamzee," She has a terrible habit of dragging out her vowels, but I'm not complaining "How are you today?"

"Fine," I slump in my seat. The class starts ushering themselves in. Ms. Serket does not like you late to any of her classes. If you are, she'll make you do eight sheets of calculus question, due eight minutes before class. Needless to say, she has a perfect attendance rate.

"Take your seats, we have a lot to do today," She starts writing on the board, while the rest of us pull out our graph books. I glance back, and I see Sollux talking to Aradia, across from the Eridan is flirting with my Nepeta. She's my brother's girlfriend's sister. But, I treat her like she's a blood relative anyway. She looks at me with these pleading eyes reading, please make him stop. I scribble jot down something quick on a piece of paper, then turn towards Eridan.

"Eridan!" I whisper. He doesn't acknowledge me, "Eridan!" I say a little louder. He swivels his head in my direction. I throw the piece of paper at his chest, and turn back a few seconds, I hear metal chair legs screech across the floor, footsteps, and a large slam of a book on the desk.

"What is it, asshole? I'm talking to someone I actually like," Sollux stands up glaring at him.

"You have a lot of nerves Sol,"

"What are you crying about now?" There's a thud, and a bunch of wows coming from the other students. I grab my back-pack, and slid closer to Nepeta.

"Gamzee, did you have to start a fight?" She scolds

"well, I got the motherfucker to stop talking to you, right?"

"Thanks," She rolls her eyes "Anyway, what's this I hear about you quitting the track team?"

"Oh no," I fall back in my chair and groan "Not you too,"

She giggles "Yes, me too," We watch as Ms. Serket runs by shouting at my two friends fighting on the ground "Let me guess, Zahhak pissed you off again?"

"Yeah, talking about how I don't support the team or whatever. I'll be back by Friday," I sigh out

"He hasn't called your dad yet?"

"My dad would be to busy to pick up his phone, let alone answer it," I scowl "Anyway, how was English today?" I quickly change the subject. We both have Mr. Vantas, and she could go on all day on how cute he is.

"He wasn't here today," She pouts. I widen my eyes and turn towards her. "What?"

"He's not here?" I say slowly. She nods. "Oh shit," I put my head in my hands.

"What's wrong Gamzee?" Nepeta places her hands on my back "Are you okay?"

I made Mr. Vantas quit, I know I did. I shouldn't have let him drive me home, or just gone to the game instead of that stupid fucking camping trip. I bet he even told Mr. Scratch. I'm going to get expelled. I bang my head on the desk, not noticing the security guards running in to break up Sollux and Eridan. At least I saved Coach Zahhak the trouble of kicking me off the team. The bell starts to ring, and I walk back to my desk to grab my stuff. Still not saying a word to Nepeta. I mine as well enjoy my last English class going to Skaia Highschool.

"Hey, Eridan!"

"What Sollux!?" The guards have them separated across the room.

"You fight like a girl!"

"Really? That's the best you can come up with? God, you're an idiot!"

"That's not what your mom said last night!" Sollux sticks his tongue out.