We waited for Dave outside the front of the school. He came out running, but with a blank face, and hands shoved in his pockets, a few girls chasing him.

"Let's go," He said as he passed us. The hoard of girls were rushing at us, so we started running as well. I ran ahead of Dave, and lead the way to my house. About halfway there, the hoard dissipated, and it was just the three of us.

"Dude, what the fuck was that?" Karkat asked, slightly out of breath. Because of color guard, we had gotten pretty goo at running, thought we did cheat a little by using sashays we learned in color guard to help us move faster.

"Yeah, that was the daily girls that chase me out of the school. They all are begging for dates, but I don't think they understand that I am just not into chicks. They're aesthetically pleasing as hell, but man, I just don't like girls in that way, yo." He said, shrugging.

We continued to walk home, talking about all kinds of things. Karkat was not happy, but as we continued talking, he seemed to get a little more comfortable with Dave. When we got to my house. We said hi to my mom, introduced her to Dave, and the three of us went upstairs. Dave pulled out his guitar, I pulled out my ukulele, and we sat on my bed. Karkat pulled out my desk chair and sat in that, crossing his arms.

Dave began by saying we could just pick a song to warm up, then we could take turns with songs we wrote and adding in our own part. Like, when we play one of my songs, he'll listen to it first, then I play again, and he adds in another melody he thinks sounds good.

So first, we played My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark by Fall Out Boy, which sounds really cool in an acoustic version. Then he taught me Wonderwall. Admittedly, it was really fun to play. I could see why he was so obsessed with the song. Then, we moved on to the the songs we have written.

I played him the one I played the first Guitar night, let him think a moment, and then I played it again. He added in a melody that I thought was really cool, and made the song sound a lot better. When we finished, Karkat nodded in approval. Dave Smirked, and then pulled out his laptop from his bag, and pulled up a tab of his own music.

"This is a newer song I've written. Listen first, then feel free to add whatever you think fits."

"Uh- well, I have never written anything improved, so I might not be very good..." Dave hesitated a moment, and thought for a bit.

"Okay, here's what you need to do." He told me he took me by the shoulders, and looked me in the eyes through his sunglasses. "Clear your mind, of everything you're worried about, everything negative. Positive energy makes this easier. Now, relax your body, and then shake it out. When you hear the music, close your eyes, and feel the music. Music is very fluid, very.. emotional. You have to really feel the music, and it will just come to you. That's how I write my songs. It takes practice, but once you get the hang of it, songwriting becomes super easy, as does improv." He told me. I did as he told as he told me, and I relaxed a little.

Dave began to play, and I closed my eyes, tried to really feel the music. I relaxed myself, opened my mind to the music, and tried to think of a melody that would compliment his. When he finished the song, he looked at me, asking if I was ready. I nodded, and he began playing. I hesitated a moment, then began playing along with his song. It sounded pretty good, I think I did a really good job.

"See? Did that help?"

"Yes, so much, thank you, Dave!" I leaned forward and hugged him. He went rigid a moment, the remembered I was kind of his friend, and hesitantly hugged back.

"Whatever, it was nothing, really." He said, though I saw a slight tint in his cheeks.

"You really did help me though. So thank you." I told him, smiling at him.

As the rest of the jam session went on, I realised he probably didn't have many other friends, if any. He didn't seem like the social type, but when I did things that seemed normal between friends, like tease him, or hug him, he seemed to be uncomfortable or confused. I hoped we could really be good friends, because he seemed like he really needed one.

My mom called us down to dinner, and the three of us went downstairs and sat at the table. We sat down, and began to eat. We introduced my mom to Dave formally, and she smiled and welcomed him to the house.

"So, Dave, do you wanna take off your sunglasses? It must be pretty hard to see with them on." My mom said.

"Oh no, ma'am. Thank you, but I wear these for medical reasons. My eyes are ultra sensitive to light, and these are tinted specially so I can see without straining my eyes." He said, pushing them up the bridge of his nose.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I hadn't realised. Well, I hope you enjoyed yourself here. I could hear you guys playing, you two are really good! Maybe you could do a duet for Guitar night next week!" She said, smiling. Dave and I looked at each other and shrugged.

"Why not? Sounds fun!" I said, and he just shrugged.

"Sure. Sounds cool." he said.

After dinner, we drove Dave home. We dropped Karkat off at his house, then went home. I was getting ready for bed, when I saw my ukulele, and hesitated. I pulled up youtube, played a few songs, and tried doing that thing Dave taught me. It worked out pretty well, to my surprise. I could learn a lot from that kid.

A/N I will post the recording of me singing and playing on my ukulele Kristy Are You Doing Okay tomorrow, along with the winners of the cover art contest! I will post them as a separate chapter tomorrow along with the chapter of the day! I WILL CONTINUE TO ACCEPT ENTRANTS TO THE CONTEST UNTIL MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. NO OTHER ENTRIES WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER THEN. I will need the winner's skype account so I can talk to you about the story. Until tomorrow, my Dear Readers!