"Winter finally decided to go screw itself." One of the girls declared during breakfast, "We're going to chill on the bleachers today! Join us." She did not allow Oliver any room to refuse. "You know, after work."

The boy smiled out of mannerism. "Of course. I will be there."

The table quieted, which was unusual for the girls and with the background of their other Housemates. Oliver looked around in alarm, and found that his neighbor's little posse emerged from the kitchen, tight knit, and strutting like they owned the place as always. He was tempted to spring up and say hello, but after what went down the previous day, he rather be around the company of his lady friends. So, he ducked his head, and kept his eyes on his food for the rest of breakfast.

When it came time to leave, he waited until the girls got up to disperse to their own doings, and weaved between them to hide himself from his neighbor. He swore he felt eyes on his back, but did not turn around and check. If he made any contact with those boys again, they may drag him to do more awful things, so Oliver made it a priority to rush to the bakery. He and Bella had a special order to make!

~.~

~BOINGERS~

~.~

"Flowers? You added flowers," Anabella noted as she circled the completed wedding cake. The boy kept a smile as he picked at his nails. Her face puckered, slate eyes jumping from the vines and branches of purple blossoms against the icing. When Oliver began to falter with his proud humming, she cracked a broad grin. "Well done."

When the buyer entered the shop, her reaction was poorly masked once the bakers brought the cake onto the main counter. The woman eyed the three tiered masterpiece as if it were an alien object, a beautiful alien object. "I...I love cherry blossoms," she whispered as if the police would burst through the windows and arrest her for thinking so. Oliver and Anabella exchanged mischievous smiles.

"It is a beautiful day, Oliver," she said after the kitchen was tidy. "The sun is shining nicely again." When the teen gave her a confused look, she clicked her tongue. "Go and enjoy it."

"But there is all Summer-"

Anabella snatched a dishrag from the oven's handle, and whipped it against Oliver's lower back. He yelped, and clamped his hands on the affected area, eyes wide and frightened at the elder's fury. "Go on, now, Oliver. We will be driving tomorrow."

Oliver obediently went for the front door, but not before receiving a plastic bag of sugar cookies. As he stepped into the warm outdoors, he swore he caught Anabella coughing, but the metal door groaned loudly as it shut, but she would have stopped by the time he tugged it open again. He decided to stop staring into the windows, and go back the House. The girls were waiting for him.

The boy hummed, some random words peeking from his tune. The passersby swerved from his chipper strut, their heads twisting to the sides, since apparently, they could not tear their gazes away. Oliver smiled through his singing. "Sugar, mmhmm, sugar, sugar..." His tunes cut off to a startled squeak as the branches above his head shifted around angrily. He slowly craned his head up, spotting a familiar ball of white fur. A flat face peeked through the budding twigs.

"Singing," the cat-money said. "I have not heard singing in many moons."

Oliver cheekily grinned, and lifted a treat from his bag. "Cookie?"

"Apple?"

"No, even better."

The chimera tipped its head, as if nothing better than apples existed. A clawed paw snatched the cookie, and it eagerly devoured it with a quick flick of its poufy tail. The mystical animal stared at him with wide eyes. "The weather is not the only thing that is warm."

"Did you like it?"

The creature shrunk back, before shooting up the tree without a response. Oliver opened the bag of cookies, taking quick whiffs to detect anything strange about them. They were wonderfully aromatic, and he smiled in anticipation of eating them. "The girls will love these," he said aloud, and hurried across the yard to the benches.

"Hey, hey!" One girl hooted, gaining the attention of the others. "Long time no see, right? Ha-ha!"

"Hello ladies," Oliver raised his hand, and they tapped it with their palms in greeting. He plopped in his usual spot in the middle bench.

"You're late!"

The boy lightly whined from their teasing jabs, "I had work!" He held up his bag for a peace treaty, not forgetting to take one for himself. "Look! Cookies!"

The bag was out of his fingers before he could finish speaking. Like pack animals, the girls ripped the plastic for the goods inside with dangerously sharp nails. "Hey! I just saw you take two!"

"So what?"

"So what?! Give me one, you hog!"

Antagonizing the spar, another one made disturbing noises. "Oink! Oink!"

"Stop oinking! She just took three!"

"Girls," Oliver shook his head with an endearing smile. He muttered under his breath, "What savage beasts."

The fight for cookies cut off to a crisp silence due to a newcomer steadily staring at the girls. The many pairs of eyes would easily prompt a disturbance to slink away, guilty for watching, but it did not affect Allen for some odd reason. "Y'all got cookies?"

"Um...Oliver brought them."

"We're out," another said.

"N-not necessarily," Oliver grumbled, twisting his own treat in his hands. The other boy was about to die without it, so he sighed heavily, and held it out. "Here, take the blasted thing."

Allen gasped loudly, "Really?!"

"Take it," Oliver angrily insisted, waving the cookie at him. Several girls snickered as he clarified, "I get plenty of things to eat from the bakery, so this is nothing."

"Aw, shucks, Ollie, you're the best!" Eagerly snatching the cookie with an outstretched hand, Allen crammed it in his mouth, and leaped over the lower benches. The seat warmers leaned away, glaring at him in shock at his audacity to invade their territory. He parked his rump right next to Oliver, grinning at the girls like he could not stop. He asked, "What's up?" but it came out (with crumbs) like, "Whaffup?"

Oliver announced, "Allen, you have just landed yourself in a nest full of queen bees."

Ignoring the comment, and the glances casted from corners of eyes, the other boy said, "That was awesome! Did y'make it?"

"That was Anabella."

"Don't you make anythin'? Aren't you a baker?"

"Baker in training."

"Oh." Disappointment was not enough to get Allen to stop smiling. "So when are we gon' hang out?"

"Aren't we 'hanging out' right now?"

One of the girls loudly cleared her throat, and reached under her seat to pull out a small black suitcase. "Guess who brought her nail polish?!"

The others murmured in approval, flocking to her for the bottles. Allen glanced around, craning his head to snoop. "What's happenin'? What's goin' on?"

Two girls shimmied closer to Oliver, wearing dangerous smiles. He winced like he saw a terrible misfortune. "Ooh, must I choose? They are all lovely colors!"

"What's that stuff?"

"Then we'll use all of them!"

"Ollie!"

"It is nail polish to color your nails, Allen."

"That's why they be callin' it nail polish, right?"

"Yes, dear."

The girls snickered. Allen watched them brush the colored tips across the other boy's fingertips, as if he never saw the madness before. "Do y'think y'all can make my nails look pretty?"

The bench warmers looked at him in shock, some giving in to giggles. "You want your nails painted?"

"Sure, why not! What kind o' colors you got?"

With a little more certainty, the girl that brought the goods dug around her bag. "I have a wicked hot red, or fluffy yellow." She dug a bit deeper, finding something really interesting. "How about the darkest, manliest color I have; black?"

"As long as you make it look cool!"

"Oh, yes," the girl almost sneered, "you will be the coolest boy on the block."

"Rad!"

The girl streaking Oliver's nails leaned in to mutter in his ear, "Is he a friend of yours?"

He shifted to side to side with a glance to the other boy in the corner of his eye. "Y-yes? It just...sort of happened."

"Huh," she straightened to focus on her paint job. "Better here than with those idiots running around."

"What idiots running around?"

"Crookednose has gathered up a posse and started acting like they own the place, and demand all kinds things from everyone. Food, toys, even some guy's hat. They gave some other poor kid a wedgie for not giving up the pack of sweets he brought into the gates."

"Classic," Oliver dryly commented. "Wait a tic, Crookednose? Who could have possibly earned such a nickname...?"

"Your neighbor."

Oliver considered his permanently marred face. "Oh? Oh, I see." He glanced down to his lap when the flood of memories and guilt of the apple escapade washed back to him. "He is..." He tried searching for kind words, "My neighbor tends to keep to himself. He used to blow me off, but lately we have been getting along more, I would say."

"He what?!" Allen squawked.

They gave him a confused look. "My neighbor used to blow me off every time I tried to talk to him."

"Uh, I'm goin' to go out on a limb here, an' say you mean he snubbed you every time you tried to be friendly."

"Yes," Oliver hissed. "That is what I meant the first time around." He shook his head as the other boy wiggled around on the metal bench, and he turned back to the girl. "That is strange, though. I can see them getting into a few scuffles with some of the other blokes here and there, but a classic case of the bullies?"

"Believe it, Oliver. They've only gotten worse."

Another girl murmured, "Being cooped up in the House all winter must have really gotten to them. Those sickos were humping the air like a blind dog when I wore that flowery dress of mine."

"It's a shame. I really liked that one. Maybe in the summer, they'll get outside the property more, and leave us alone."

"Wait," Allen glanced around with an angry face. "Why can't you wear pretty dresses?"

The girl gave him a dull look. "There are creepy boys that stare and try to touch us whenever we show our skin."

"Not all boys do that!"

"I did not say they do."

"Look at Ollie! He's wearin' those shorts. There ain't no boys creepin' on him."

Oliver suggested, "Let us keep it that way."

"Stop moving!" The girl painting Allen's hand snapped. "Unless you want black fingers!"

"Shit, my bad."

Another girl grumbled, "I do not think boys would creep on him for his shorts."

"What d'you mean?" Allen gestured with his free hand to exposed legs. "I don't see why not!"

A few scattered giggles rippled through the crowd. Oliver coughed, looking anywhere else. "You should keep quiet, before you say anything else stupid."

"I wasn't bein' stupid."

"Right." Oliver glared at the paint on his nails, feeling as pink as the polish. The girl streaking the color glanced up, and smirked. He adverted his eyes to the budding branches over their heads.

His friend wreathed on the bench, unable to keep still despite the girl's warning. "I don't get it. If you don't like 'em creepin', why don't you say somethin'? Or punch 'em in the face?"

"I would," one girl said, "but every time I turn around, they have more idiots in their gang. It's really scary when you're by yourself!"

Oliver chewed the inside of his cheek. Just what was his neighbor up to?

"Yeah, all the guys are like, joining in on the racket. It's a shame. Some of them are cute."

Another girl tossed her hair over her shoulder with a little giggle. "I don't see Luciano's little clique getting tied in with them."

"Not yet," Oliver said. The sheer thought of Crookednose's and Luciano's gangs joining to a giant mess was a waking nightmare. "I hope it stays like that."

"And I hope you stay with us, Oliver! You won't go with those stupid...ugh, those stupid, idiotic, dumb morons, would you?"

The boy's grimace flipped up to a nervous smile. "No, why would I do that?"

The eldest girl shrugged. "I dunno. To fit in?

Oliver offered, "Maybe for the companionship?" The girls handed him strange looks, and he quickly added, "I mean, that is what I would look for."

"You have that here, though."

"I know, I know! I was just saying if I were to join in on the 'fun.' Not that I plan on doing so!"

"Good." They relinquished their prickly gazes back to painting each other's nails. "So what about you, Allen? Are you planning on doing anything stupid?"

The other boy let out a rumble of giggles. "Ooh, and have a bunch of crazy ladies come after me? I'll try to be cool, but in the end," he give Oliver's shoulder a shove with his own, "I'm with Ollie."

Some of the girls tittered, and Oliver used the hand that was not being painted to rub his shoulder. They kept looking up at him, always snickering, and he knew they were waiting for him to say something. Allen, too, but instead of being discreet with it, he never dropped his gaze, nor that lopsided grin. The baker had enough unlawful things going on at the bakery. He did not need it back at home. "Well, if that is the case, then you better get used to having your nails painted."

~.~

~BOING~

~.~

Late into the evening, Oliver had retired to his room, tired from sitting in the sun all day. He went to open the bathroom door, but the fan was whirling, telling him it was in use. The teen stood by, hearing his neighbor making more pained noises over his infamous stomach aches. It was difficult to imagine such a recluse causing trouble. He lightly knocked on the wood.

"Ugh, what?!" His neighbor snapped. "I'm busy!"

"I need to ask you something."

Again, "I'm busy!"

"When you are done being busy!" Oliver spat with equal venom. He marched to his bed, and flopped on the rickety mattress, peeling off his shoes. "I do not have to be nice. I could be as nasty and vile as other people, maybe even worse, but I am not." He sputtered under his breath, "People should at least be more civil. It is only common courtesy."

The door swung open, and his ramblings cut off. "Huh? Oliver? What did you want?"

Oliver shot from his bed. "You all right? You look as if you are about to fall over."

"Just tell me what you want, okay? Make it quick."

Maybe he was going to fall over, indeed. "Why are you bothering the girls?"

As if it were possible, his neighbor's bent nose crunched further with a sneer. "What are you talking about?"

"They were talking about how some of the boys were bothering them. Especially since the weather is warming, and they would like to wear more suitable clothes, but they feel too uncomfortable with the cat calls-"

"Come on, Oliver, really?" Crookednose sounded so unpleasant when he was snarling. Oliver cut off, gawking at his outburst. "Haven't your balls dropped yet? That's what boys do. They tease girls."

"I-I...well, I suppose," Oliver awkwardly coughed into his elbow. He did not know if he was too afraid to even consider teasing his bench mates, or it simply never crossed his mind. "Can you be more tactful with them, though? They may like you a bit more if you do not make them uncomfortable."

His neighbor straightened against the door frame, his face (or most of it) smoothing to a thoughtful look. "Would you know? You talk and hang out with them a lot, yeah?"

Oliver raised his eyebrows. "Yes..."

"Good, good. So you know what they're for and stuff. You're kind of like the secret spy, you know?"

"No, I do not know," Oliver scoffed. "I am not there to peep on girls, for your information, and I am not going to start for anyone."

"Come on, Oliver," the other boy repeated. "You did a great job with getting in and out with that apple business. You have a knack for this kind of thing. I can feel it."

"What in the world are you asking of me?"

"You know, talk us up to the girls. Get them warmed up for us. Maybe you could get them to wear those pretty dresses again. I'm sure you'll appreciate it, too."

Oliver gawked at his neighbor in disbelief. "You want me to...play match maker?"

"Hm, well..." Crookednose turned his gaze to the ceiling, most likely to come up with more sickeningly sweet words.

The other teen would not let him. He pointed to the bathroom door. "Get out of my room."

His neighbor shook his head a bit, as if to register the command. "Excuse me? You don't like that? They already like you-"

"And I am not going to ruin that. Get out."

"Oliver, why are you being like this?"

"Why are you? I swore you were growing on me for a moment or two back there. Now I know you actually were, but not in a good way."

"Not in a..." Crookednose snorted, and it sounded absolutely awful. "I knew it. This is what I get for trying to help one of your kind be a normal person, and do normal people things. Whatever, Oliver, we gave you a chance. If you aren't going to let us help you...then, there's no saying what will happen between us in the near future."

"Resorting to petty threats now because you are not getting your own way?" Oliver stuck his hands on his hips. "And what in the world do you mean my kind? Just what are you implying?"

His neighbor slipped from the door and grabbed the knob. "You seriously don't know? Wow, it would be just awful of me to ruin it for reality to have its way with you."

Oliver's mouth popped open again, but the door slammed behind the other boy with a resonating thump. Another slam sounded, as his own bedroom door was treated harshly by hand. A new kind of guilt made his face flush. Oliver did not wish he had to resort to such crude words, and even hoped to one day be able to call Crookednose a friend, but things loved to not happen the way he planned them to go.

He decided to ignore the other teen for the next several weeks, leading the months around his fifteenth birthday, but secretly waited until he and his pals got over their stupid superiority kick. It only had worsened. Crookednose had sauntered to the bleachers once the warm weather blessed the House to directly hit on the girls while his followers hooted in the background. "It's a shame that all of you won't fit into my bed. Looks like I'll have to visit each of yours! What do you say, girls?!"

The young ladies had proceeded to throw their make up pieces at them, but Oliver swore the boys were grinning at the attention. He caught his neighbor's eye, and they narrowed in the slightest, as if to say, 'Told you so,' about something dumb, before he and his little posse took off with their failed mating calls. When Crookednose acted so stupid, it made Oliver realized he lost potential on the inside. He had not forgotten that he once admired his neighbor, and even wished to impress him, although it was for a short amount of time. However, such was no longer the case, since they took what want, when they wanted it, and even if they did not need it, including the attention and good mood of his lady friends. These boys had fallen to the infamous saying, 'The more the messier.'