Chapter 5:

Danny Pov:

"D-Danny," Sam's voice croaked out weakly.

"Sam," Danny said in relief as he went towards her, only to slow down when he saw the piece of wood that was lodged in her side.

"Sam," Danny repeated in a whisper, horrified.

He ran to her in a panic, not sure about what he should do.

"You'll be fine," Sam gasped, "I- l-love-"

She didn't finish her sentence. She couldn't finish her sentence.

"SAM!"

I woke up in a cold sweat clutching my sheets. I closed my eyes tightly, the tears already threatening to fall.

"I love you too," I whispered.

If there was one thing that I wished- it would be that I had saved that ring. The ring that I was going to give to her- that stupid little class ring. If there was anything I could have saved to remind me of her- that would be it. It was going to be the promise ring that would swear us to each other.

My alarm clock then blared loudly, signaling that it was indeed time to get ready. I turned off the alarm clock and was surprised to see a note on the nightstand.

Hey Danny Dude,

We need to talk. If you notice, it's only six in the morning since I changed your alarm. Now get dressed and come to my house. I'll make breakfast, I swear.

-Gear

Once again, there was a little loop at the end of her name that formed a small gear. It was her signature after all. At the bottom, under her signature, was what I assumed was her exact address- it was only two houses down from mine. I looked to the clock- like the note said it was six in the morning instead of seven. Sighing, I got up and showered, hoping that maybe if I scrubbed hard enough my depressing thoughts would come off.

I changed into some classic jeans, red sneakers, and a white t-shirt since it was close to what I wore back at Amity Park. Deciding to change it up, I grabbed the black hoodie and a red beanie as well.

Shaking my head, I headed out and went to her house. For once, when she opened the door she was dressed in her normal attire- the metallic bracelet, her goggles, black skinny jeans, a black bandeau top, black combat boots, and she had the metallic belt that hung loosely around her waist. Both of us knew, however, that both the bracelet and belt weren't just for show.

She smiled,

"Double D, wassup? Come in."

"Wow, Gear," I said as I walked in, "I think this is the first time you've woken up this early."

"Yeah yeah," she grumbled, "Whatever. I usually wake up at seven thirty."

"On a school day," I pointed out, "When it comes to the weekends, I know for a fact that you usually sleep in until like two in the afternoon. After all your sleepovers with Jazz..."

My voice died off at the end and we shared a somber look. Gear took a deep breath and headed to the kitchen as I plopped down on the couch.

"So," I said hopefully, "Breakfast?"

"Don't sound so cheerful at this unholy hour, it's unnatural," Gear grumbled, "And you know full well I don't cook."

"Yet you said you were going to make breakfast?"

"I was kind of hoping that you would be okay with cereal," Gear said sheepishly.

"I'll make it," I offered, "years of living with my p- parents made me kind of a chef."

Gear laughed,

"You? If I recall correctly, Jazz was the talented cook."

"No really," I laughed, "I was the cook, she just liked everyone to believe that it was her cooking."

I was sure that it was the first time I was able to talk about my old family in good ways without getting sad. I got up and opened her fridge. I grabbed some eggs, milk, and bacon.

"For someone who doesn't know how to cook, you sure have a lot of cooking supplies."

"It's more of a habit. I kind of live on hot pockets and TV diners," Gear said sheepishly.

Curious, I opened her freezer and whistled. Tons and I meant tons of TV diners- ranging from Salisbury steak diners to pasta to the family size turkey with gravy- were stacked up in the freezer along with a lot of hot pockets, but I noticed the hot pockets were mostly ones that had meat in it.

Shaking my head, I started to fix breakfast for the both of us.

"So, what did you want to talk about," I asked.

"Well, you know the twins that gave you the pizza," Gear started.

"Yeah?"

"Well, they know that I know you," Gear sighed, "I mean, it's not too big of a deal, but I just felt that they needed to know, you know?"

I sighed,

"Do you trust them?"

"With my life."

Considering that Gear usually didn't trust people so easily, I nodded.

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay."

Gear looked a bit taken back before she laughed. I wasn't sure why she was laughing, but it was wasn't long before we were both laughing as we retold stories about my family. We were still laughing and telling stories as we ate.

"-I don't think I ever told you what happened when we were little," Gear mused, "You were really young, but when Jazz and I were like seven years old. I woke her up when she was spending the night at my house because it started to snow. We sneaked outside without jackets and ended up catching a cold. We were both stuck inside so we actually just shared my bed until we both got better. You probably don't remember, but you came and visited us since we were at my house."

"I did," I asked shocked, not recalling the memory.

"Yeah," Gear laughed, "I remember because you brought over Bearbert for Jazz. You were so shy and embarrassed, but it all went away when Jazz sneezed on you! You were out of there very fast, there was practically a trail of fire behind you!"

We both laughed as we finished eating.

"So, school," Gear said, standing up, "Let's go DD."

I wondered what today held for me.

Third Person:

Axel slammed on Alex's door and glanced down at his watch. It was seven thirty, and if she didn't hurry they would be late.

"Alex, come on! We're gonna be late!"

"Then why don't you quit trying to break my door and let's leave."

Axel whirled around to see Alex, already ready for their first day at Midtown. Technically it wasn't their first day. Their true first day had been about three years ago, when Steve had suggested a more normal way of living. They just stopped going when the dojo Alex taught at blew up.

Axel looked at how normal his sister could look. She was wearing jeans, black converse, and a light blue top. Axel was wearing something similar. Jeans, red converse, and a green shirt. He frowned slightly.

Why do all of my shirts make my man tits pop out? he thought. Alex couldn't help but snort.

"Dude, quit being so self conscious. I know that's a normal teenager thing, but we're not normal. Besides, Carol and Jan think you look good that way. Now can we please go now?"

He nodded and followed her outside and into a taxi.

Alex sighed as another dodge ball came her way. She caught it with her usual monotone expression and chucked it at the guy behind Axel. It was third period, which meant gym. However, their dodge ball game was interrupted by the large double doors opening and closing.

Alex and Axel looked to the doors to see Danny stumbling through. He wore jeans, a red shirt and beanie, along with a black hoodie.

"Sorry I'm late, I kinda got lost," he said to the gym teacher.

He blew his whistle in Danny's face and started yelling at him, and to get out there and try not to get hit in the face. He quickly nodded and went to Axel's side, eying him closely. Axel nodded a hello before chucking his ball at a jock from Alex's team. She didn't mind though. He had a bad arm anyway.

She looked back at her people on the sidelines, not really paying attention to the game anymore. She got bored really easily, but felt obligated to finish what she had started.

Axel watched as the guy who was a bit bigger than Danny threw a ball at his sister, who was looking away. Needless to say, he had a pretty good arm, and good aim. Probably a baseball player.

Danny watched the dodge ball head towards that girl twin that gave him pizza. he was about to shout out a warning but was to late. He squeezed his eyes shut as he heard the ball make contact with her, but something was off. There was no bouncing of the ball on the floor, or a body hitting the floor. He peaked an eye open to see Alex firmly grasping the ball, her head turning and glaring at the person who threw it.

"Two things," She said, taking a couple steps forward, making shivers running up Danny's spine. Axel just sighed, knowing exactly what was going to happen.

"One, Face shots aren't aloud, and two" She chucked the ball at him. It went so fast he had no time to dodge, and he ended up getting hit in his man berries,

"That was a cheap shot," She finished.

The very few people on her team were snickering at the boy that was crawling away. She looked over at Coach, who had his mouth open and his clipboard on the ground.

"I have never seen anybody throw a dodge ball that hard, and with such good aim. How about you join-"

"-No thanks, not interested. I have plenty to do at home. Trust me."

"He shut his mouth after she glared at him slightly and went to get an ice pack for the fallen boy.

"Alex, was that really necessary?" Axel asked, shaking his head.

"Of course. If I hadn't done that then he would have ever learned."

"How I ended up with a person like you for a twin I will never understand. I mean, come on, the stomach would have been better. You can't just go for a dude's melons like that."

Danny couldn't help but chuckle and nod in agreement.

"Yeah...But his reaction was kind of funny..."

All three in unison looked over at the boy who had an ice pack on his crotch and smirked.

Danny didn't really know what to think about the twins. The girl seemed way tougher than her doppleganger, and also kind of bipolar. She was nice to him before they even knew each other's names, and then completely full on demon at the guy during just a dodge ball game gone wrong. Axel seemed more like the caring type, who wouldn't do such an inhumane thing to another dude unless he had to. Yet, at times, they mirrored each other perfectly, through attitude, movement, and mood. He was knocked out of his thoughts when the bell rang. He saw how the twins looked at each other and smiled sort of widely.

"Lunch!"

Gear was the first of their little group to arrive in the cafeteria. She quickly got her lunch- which was a lot more than most people would expect her to eat. She got two burgers and a slice of meat trio pizza. It got extra, of course, but it was worth it. She had a high metabolism. According to some research, using your brain actually does burn calories and since she used her brain a lot more than most people, she had to eat a lot to keep from 'burning out.'

She sat down in her usual seat and began to devour her food. For a while, she watched the new freshmen try to figure everything out and look lost. As soon as one of them started to sit beside her, she tsk'ed.

"No can do, freshmeat."

"W-what," the freshman asked shocked.

"Nothing personal dude," Gear smiled, "but I'm saving these seats for my buddies."

She heard Danny's laughter.

"Oh look there they are now!"

Her eyes widened as she shoved another large bite of burger into her mouth. Danny was entering the cafeteria with the twins. She whistled as the freshman looked confused. Danny didn't get any food as he sat down beside Gear.

"No food," Gear asked.

"More like, forgot my money," Danny shrugged.

Grumbling, she shoved one of her extra burgers to him,

"You owe me, dork."

Danny thanked her as he began to eat, but he raised an eyebrow at the freshman,

"Who's he?"

"The guy whose in my seat," Alex answered as she came to the table.

She glared at the freshman who gulped. The poor guy quickly left the table, taking his food with him. Alex huffed as she sat down beside Gear. Her tray even had more food than Gear's. Axel's tray was just as filled.

"You need to pay more attention," Axel said as he took a seat across from Gear.

"Wah," Gear asked, her mouth full of food.

"That guy was checking you out," Axel pointed out, "And staring at your chest."

Gear just shrugged, not really caring since the guy in question had already left. Alex just shook her head while Danny watched curiously.

"How come you eat so much? And why is it all vegan stuff?"

"We're vegans with extremely high metabolism. It's a pain, but it also means I can eat without getting fat, so it's also kind of a good thing," Alex replied. Axel nodded in agreement.

"Besides, we have a few more complex reasons. I mean, come on, who would want to eat food that you don't know where it came from. It's just gross." Axel stuck out his tongue out slightly for emphasis.

Danny couldn't help but feel torn up on the inside. After all, the person he loved had been a vegan, while his best friend had eaten nothing but meat and junk food. Not only that but Alex reminded Danny of Sam a lot. They were both tough, and wore dark colors, and had dark hair. He sighed.

"What's up?" Axel asked. he shrugged.

"Nothing, don't worry about it."

"Okay," Alex said, "When you say 'don't worry about it' right after you say 'nothing' it kind of gives away the fact that something is indeed bothering you. But, we know when to not push about personal things, so...Yeah..."

Alex nodded.

"Thanks. So...Where are you guys from?"

"New York, born and raised," They answered at the same time.

"Cool."

The twins nodded, and Alex felt her left eye twitch. She muttered a curse under her breath as it started to ache.

"Something wrong?" Danny asked.

"No, it's just my eye. See, a few years ago I got into this fight, and he kind of got my eye with his blade. I can't see out of this eye."

She moved her bangs away from her face so he could see. His eyes widened. There was a huge slash that went from the middle of her forehead and across her eye. Even on her eye ball there was a deep scratch.

"That must have hurt."

She shrugged.

"Well, this is New York. You either learn and adapt, or you get out of town. They're not joking when they say it's a concrete jungle."

Gear looked at Alex surprised. She never showed anyone her eye, let alone just blurt out she was half blind. That was giving away a weakness, and that was something Alex nor Axel ever did. It was just unnatural for them.

"Tell anyone and you're dead."

Danny gulped and nodded as she stuffed more fruit into her mouth, muttering to herself.

"Well, that was odd," Axel said, picking up his magically empty tray. Alex followed after, not really bothering to say good bye. Danny turned to Gear.

"You have some weird friends."

Gear snorted.

"You don't know that half of it, Double D."