So, here is another chapter. Recently, I had actually been feeling slightly like a dick because I thought that I hadn't updated this story for more than a month, which I never really want to leave you guys hanging like that, since you guys are so fucking awesome with your all of support, so I really started working my ass off this weekend. And then I realized that I had updated this story on the sixth. Yeah, I'm an idiot. But that actually brings me to another point, which is that I am going to try to start writing more. I had originally wanted to put up about a chapter a month, but then I realized that, for a story that I wanted to get at least thirty chapters in, it would take so damn long to make any progress, so I recently decided to start writing some pretty much everyday, which this choice was extremely strengthened by the fact that I am going to try to start my third story this week. So, yeah, I really need to write more, although when summer comes and I'm off of school I'll probably write a lot more. Anyway, on with the chapter.

Another Reason for Me to Fucking Hate Football

I woke up and saw Ashley on my bed next to me, yawning silently. Since I moved in Ashley has been sleeping in here with me on my bed, and I didn't really have any issue with it, so I didn't stop her.

"Morning." I said, reaching over and petting her head.

"Morning." She said "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah." I said, getting off of the bed, "You?"

"It was alright." She said, getting up and stretching, "Although I wish that we had some actual food to wake up to instead of a barely edible greasy excuse for food."

I laughed and said, "Yeah, eating nothing but fast food the past few days has absolutely sucked."

The past three days since Maxwell left we've only been eating fast food and frozen pizza, because apparently the only people that live here that know how to cook are Maxwell and Kyle, and Adam and Levi, who have been staying here as well recently, only leaving to go home and change shower and change clothes, can't cook either.

"Yeah, you're telling me." She said, "And all this is so fucking bad for me as well."

"Oh yeah, Pokemon can't digest fast food and junk food as well, can they?" I said, putting on my boots and tying my bandanna around my neck.

"No," Ashley said, jumping off of my bed, "and it's fucking horrible on me. I always feel like shit for a few hours after eating it."

"Tell you what," I said, "how about I make us all some real food for breakfast?"

Ashley's ears perked up and she said, "Wait, you know how to cook?"

"Um, yeah." I said, laughing sheepishly.

"Why didn't you say something earlier?" Ashley asked, "It would have been so much better than the shit we've been eating."

I shrugged and said, "I don't know, it just didn't occur to me, I guess." I opened the bedroom door and said, "C'mon, let's go. The others won't be up for a while anyway."

"Yeah, I don't know how they can sleep until almost eleven." Ashley said as we left, with me closing the door behind us.

Recently my sleep schedule has went from waking up at about five in the morning to waking up at six, which was absolutely an improvement, meanwhile the others all slept in late unless woken up, except for Ashley, who woke up at about the same time as me. When we got to the bottom of the stairs I looked into the living room and saw Adam still asleep on the couch. While they've been staying here Adam's been sleeping on the couch, while Levi has been sleeping with Jessica in her room, which seemed to make Ashley and Adam fairly uneasy. We went into the dining room, which I had only been in a few times since we almost always ate in the living room. The dining room was a large room with a long wooden dining table with six seats on each side, with a large chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The kitchen was fairly normal, which made for a nice contrast from the fairly grand dining room that you had to go through to get there. I had only been in it once, and that was to get a drink, so I wasn't too acquainted with the placement of everything yet. Three doors lead off of the kitchen, one being the guest room, another one being the bathroom, and the last one being the laundry room. We entered the kitchen and I went to the fridge and opened it.

"What do you want to eat?" I asked Ashley as she leapt up onto the counter.

"I'd love some pancakes if we have any mix." She said, her voice slightly muffled as she opened an overhead cabinet with her mouth.

I closed the fridge and went over to the pantry and started looking around.

"Doesn't look like there's any mix." I said, closing the pantry and turning to Ashley to see her get out a can of coffee and a coffee filter.

"Damn it." She said, putting what she was holding down on the counter, "That sucks."

"Hold on." I said, going back to the fridge, "If we've got the ingredients I could make some from scratch."

"Awesome." Ashley said as I started getting the ingredients out and putting them on the counter.

I began cooking, with Ashley working on the coffee. Apparently in the time she's spent living here she has learned to do a lot of different things, including efficiently and cleanly make coffee by using her mouth as a hand, which I have seen three times now and am still confused as to how the hell she does it. When she was done she leapt off of the counter and came over to me.

"Do you care what I put in them?" I asked her.

"No not really," She responded, "but if you put sweet things in them, could you please make some without it for me? I think that I've already eaten enough unhealthy food for a few weeks in the past three days."

I laughed and said, "Of course. Can you find me some food to put in them though, I hadn't thought about it until now."

"Sure." Ashley said, going over to the pantry.

She came back over to me a few minutes later holding a bag of chocolate chips.

I took them from her and said, "Thanks." As I began adding the chocolate to the food I asked, "So isn't Kyle supposed to get here sometime today?"

"Yep," Ashley replied, "so you'll finally get to meet him. Although he'll probably be home much later-"

She was cut off by the sound of the front door opening and a voice yelling, "Hey, anyone awake yet?"

"Or he'll get home right now." Ashley sighed before responding with, "Yeah, we're in the kitchen!"

Within a few seconds a Zoroark-morph wearing black jeans, a white t-shirt, and black tennis shoes came in the kitchen.

"Hey Ashley." He yawned, giving her a small wave. He noticed me and said, "Oh, hey. You must be Riku, right?"

I nodded and said, "Yep. And I assume that you are Kyle, correct?"

"Yeah." He said, sticking his hand out. I shook it and he said, "So what are you guys doing up this early?"

"You know that I always get up early," Ashley said, "and Riku apparently does as well. And besides, I could ask you the same question, seeing as everyone knows that you're rarely up before noon if you can help it."

"Yeah," he said, chuckling, "but Val's parents wanted to get a move on early today, so we all woke up before the sun was even fucking out yet and left."

"Wow," Ashley said, feigning shock, "you even got up before us."

"Haha," Kyle said sarcastically, "So what are you two even doing?"

I was about to reply when the coffee maker dinged, signaling that it was done.

"I'll get our coffee," Ashley said, leaping back onto the counter, "you can keep cooking. Do you want some Kyle?"

"Sure," He said, with another yawn, "That'd be nice, thanks."

"To answer your question," I said, "I'm making breakfast for everyone."

Kyle let out a sigh and said, "Finally, someone else can cook in this house. It's so fucking annoying sometimes being one of the only ones."

"Oh, shut up." Ashley said, nosing Kyle's coffee over to him on the counter, "Not like you ever cook, anyway."

"Hey, I cook whenever Maxwell's out of town," Kyle said defensively, "and that's normally a fair fucking amount."

"Well, neither of you are cooking right now, so you two can be useful in a different way." I said, "Ashley, can you go get everyone else up and tell them that breakfast is done?"

"Sure." She said, followed by her running out of the room.

"Now Kyle, can you get everyone else coffee while I finishing plating the food up and bring it in there?" I said.

"Sure." He said, opening the same overhead cabinet that Ashley did earlier, "Who all's here besides us?"

"Adam and Levi." I responded, grabbing two of the plates of pancakes and heading towards the door.

"Ugh, Levi's here?" Kyle groaned. I nodded at him and he said, "Arceus, I fucking hate that guy. Something about him just screams "douche bag" to me."

"Oddly enough," I said, "I got the same feeling. Then again, that may just be because he made a joke about my height."

"What do you mean?" Kyle asked, "You can't be shorter than, like, 5, 8 and that isn't that short."

"Yeah." I said, "Oddly enough, when I first got here I was only 5, 2 and I've somehow grown a lot in these four days."

"Huh, that is weird." Kyle said.

I just shrugged at him and entered the dining room and saw Adam walking in, arms stretched above his head and his mouth gaping in a yawn. As soon as I entered he stopped yawning and I could see his nose twitch slightly as he smelled the food.

"Damn dude," he said, "what smells so good?"

"I made pancakes." I said, showing him the plates in my hands before sitting them on the table.

"Wait, you can cook?" He asked. I nodded at him and he said, "Fucking wish you had said something earlier man, I hate fast food. So what's with the bags in the foyer?"

"Kyle's back," I said, "and he is currently getting everyone coffee."

Suddenly a loud yell of, "Son of a bitch that's hot!" came from the kitchen, so Adam and I rushed in there. Kyle was standing a few feet away from the coffee maker, holding his hand, with a small puddle of coffee in the floor in front of him with pieces of ceramic laying in it.

"Correction," I said, sighing, "He is in here burning himself on coffee."

"Fuck that's hot." Kyle said, shaking his hand.

"Well what did you expect," Adam said, "its fresh fucking coffee."

"Shut up, asshole," Kyle said, flipping him off, "or do I need to call your drill sergeant?"

"Hey man, don't even joke about that," Adam retorted, "while you were off having a relaxing vacation I was busy in that hell of a camp having to deal with fucking rednecks."

"Seriously guys, what are you, five?" I said, sighing, "Stop bickering. Listen, I'll clean up the mug, so Kyle, you finish bringing the food in there, and Adam, you finish getting the coffee."

"Alright." They both said.

Adam went over to the counter and said, "You guys want me to get you guys some?"

"I'll get my own." I said, going over to the laundry room door and grabbing the broom and dustpan from inside.

"I've already got mine." Kyle replied as he took a drink of his coffee before sitting it back down and bringing two more plates into the dining room.

I cleaned the shattered mug up as Adam and Kyle did as I told them. When we were all done, Adam and Kyle grabbed their coffee along with the others and left the room, while I got my own.

As I was getting my coffee Ashley came in and said, "Hey, can you get me some, Adam forgot."

"Alright." I said, getting another cup down, "You can go and wait at the table and I'll bring it to you."

"Thanks." Ashley said, exiting the room.

I got her coffee and grabbed mine as well, before going into the dining room. Seeing that everyone except for Jessica and Levi was already sitting at the table I gave Ashley her coffee and sat down in my usual spot. As I sat down, Jessica and Levi came in, both yawning widely.

"Hey, you're back Kyle." Jessica said, waving. "So who picked up the food?" She asked as she and Levi sat down across from me.

"No one." Adam said, "Riku here apparently knows how to cook and never told anyone."

"You can?" Jessica asked. I nodded and she said, "I wish you had said that earlier."

"Alright." I said sighing, "You're the third person to say that. I get it; next time I can do something that isn't really uncommon and has yet to come up in any conversation ever, I'll be sure to tell you."

When we were done all eating, Adam said, "Wow, I never realized just how much I missed real food."

Levi suddenly got up, causing Jessica to say, "What, do you have somewhere to be this early?"

"Yeah," he replied, "remember, I've got football practice today."

"Oh, right," Jessica said, "I forgot. Is it alright if I come and watch?"

"Sure," he said, "but I need to get going now or I'll be late."

"Okay, I'll just catch up after I get showered, then." Jessica said, rising from her chair. She went over to Levi and kissed him on the cheek, having to stand on her toes since he is about six foot while she's about 5, 8, and said, "Love you."

He gave her a quick hug and said, "You too," before leaving the room, followed by the sound of the front door opening and closing, signaling that he left the house.

"That reminds me," Kyle said, "Riku; I'm supposed to take you to the school to get registered."

"If you guys want to wait, I'll come with you." Jessica said.

"Sure," Kyle said, pulling out his phone and checking the screen, "it isn't even seven yet, so it's not even open yet."

Jessica nodded and left the room, and we heard her climbing the stairs quickly.

"Riku, don't you need to shower as well?" Ashley asked me.

"No," I said, rising and starting to get the dirty dishes off of the table, "I've started showering at night, before you get in my room."

Ashley nodded to me and leapt off of her chair and left the room.

"Hey, man," Kyle said, grabbing a few of the dishes off of the table, "do you want me to take care of these?"

"Sure, thanks." I said, handing him the plates I was holding. "Adam and I'll wait in the foyer."

Adam and I went into the foyer and saw two suitcases sitting in the center of it.

"He only took two suitcases with him and he was gone for almost all of the summer?" I asked Adam.

"Yeah, Kyle's always packed fairly lightly," Adam said, "that and I imagine that they used the hotels laundry room while they were there."

"Yeah, I guess." I said.

We stood there in silence for a few minutes until Kyle came out of the dining room and came over to us.

"Arceus, I hope that Jessica doesn't take a while to get ready." He said, "I really want to get this over with."

I chuckled lightly and said, "Hell man, I don't care how long she takes as long as it isn't as long as she took a few days ago. I was waiting for at least an hour."

"Yeah, well she doesn't normally take more than thirty or forty minutes," Kyle said, "so she should be done in a little bit. While we wait, why don't you give me your phone so I can put my number in it?"

"Alright." I said, taking my phone from my pocket and handing it to him.

"Oh yeah," Adam said, "give me the phone when you're done, I haven't done that either."

Kyle looked at him questioningly and said, "You've been hanging out with him for three days and he still doesn't have your number? You stole my phone from me and put it in within the first hour of us knowing each other."

Adam laughed sheepishly and said, "Yeah well, we were younger then, and I've matured more since then."

"Dude, it was two years ago." Kyle said, "Unless that military camp actually did do something to you, in which case we need to fix whatever they did, then you have not matured that much since then."

"Okay then, I sorta forgot." Adam said.

"Well, while you guys do that, I'm going to go upstairs and grab something." I said.

I dashed upstairs and went to my room. I opened my closet and grabbed my jacket off of its hanger and closed the door. I began putting the jacket on as I left my room, closing the door behind me.

When I got downstairs Adam gave me my phone back and said, "Seriously dude? A jacket? It feels good outside."

I shrugged and said, "I don't know, I just like wearing my jacket."

I checked the contacts on my phone and saw two new numbers in it. I pocketed my phone and we continued waiting in silence. After about twenty more minutes Jessica finally came down the stairs.

"So, everyone ready?" Kyle asked. We all nodded and he said, "Okay then, let's go."

We left the house and began walking along the road. I looked up at the sky and saw that it was a blanket of light gray clouds, as far as I could see.

"Damn," I said, "that sky does not look very happy."

Kyle looked up and said, "Yeah, but I checked earlier and there's only, like, a ten percent chance of rain or something, so we should be good."

It took us only about thirty minutes to reach the school. It was a large, two-story building made of red bricks with bleachers almost the size of the school a few feet to the right side of it, and a forest to the left of it.

"I think his practice is about to start, so I'll go ahead and head over there." Jessica said, walking towards the bleachers, "See-yah guys."

"Alright," Kyle said. He turned to me and said, "Adam and I'll be walking around the school, so when you're done come get us."

"Um, alright." I said, "So, where exactly do I go?"

"Just go into the school and follow the signs to the office. When you get there just tell them what your name is and what you're there for." Kyle said.

"Alright." I said.

I went to the front door and opened it. I entered into a hallway lined with lockers. The floor was made of white ceramic tiles and the ceiling was made of gray tiles. I saw a small sign on the wall that was directing to the front office. I followed the signs until I found the office. I entered it and saw three doors on the wall in front of me, and a middle aged woman with blonde hair sitting behind a desk to my left, typing on a computer.

She looked up when I entered and said, "Oh. Hello, how may I help you?"

"Hello," I said, walking over to the desk and extending my hand out, "I'm Riku Mathers, I'm here to register."

"Oh right." The woman said, rising from the desk and shaking my hand, "Maxwell has already called ahead and explained the situation. I'm the receptionist here, Mrs. Fealix, nice to meet you. This is mostly just to fill in a few things that Maxwell wasn't able to tell us, so we hope you can."

"Alright then." I said.

She pointed to the door in the center and said, "Just go through that door. Your guidance counselor is just in there, she's the one you'll want to talk to."

I went over to the door indicated and knocked.

I was answered by a female voice saying, "Come in."

I stepped in and saw an Espeon-morph sitting behind a chair.

"Hello, how can I help you?" She asked.

"Hello, I'm Riku Mathers. I was told that I needed to come down here and register." I said, hovering by the door.

"Yes, we have been expecting you." She said, "My name is Mrs. Skythe and I'll be you're counselor." She motioned to one of the two armchairs across from her desk and said, "Please, sit down." I sat and opened a drawer on the back of her desk and pulled out a file, saying, "There isn't really much to get down still, really. It's mostly just some side things and a small amount of medical info."

"Alright." I said.

"Okay," she said, opening the file and pulling a pen out of a small cup on her desk, "Maxwell has already informed us that, unlike Kyle and Jessica, you'll be using his last name to register." I nodded and she said, "First off, we need to know of any allergies that you may, whether it is food related or not."

"Don't worry, I don't have any allergies." I said.

"Very well." She said, marking something down in the file, "Do you have any existing medical conditions that we need to know about?"

"No, not that I can think of." I said.

"Alright." She said, marking in the file again, "And lastly, we understand that you do not have any education past elementary school, correct?"

"Um, yes." I said nervously.

"Well, in this case we have made an exception to the normal education system due to your situation, so you will be a freshman here along with Kyle and Jessica," She said, "but we will move you back a few grades if your scores show the need for it. Understand?"

"Yes." I said, nodding.

"Very well." She said, nodding, "That will be all. The first day of school will be a week from now. You may go."

I nodded and left, shutting the door behind me. As I passed Mrs. Fealix she gave me a nod of acknowledgment and I left. When I left the school I saw Adam and Kyle on the front walkway, in a stare down with Archer, Trinity, and Andrew, and it looked dangerously close to becoming a full fight, with Archer and Kyle only from each other's face and their hands balled up into fists. I went over to them and stood next to Adam and Kyle.

"Oh look," Andrew yelled, "If it isn't Mr. Emo, Adam's little sidekick. What's the matter, did you call for some backup or something."

"Shut the hell up, you stupid fucking fish!" Adam retorted.

These two are going to get us in trouble before the school year even fucking starts. That's great.

"Fuck you, you little goth wannabe bitch!" Trinity yelled, getting in Adam's face.

Deciding to end the confrontation before it got even further out of hand, I put my hand on Kyle's shoulder and said, "Leave it dude, just leave it."

He shrugged my hand off of his shoulder and said, "Fuck no; you didn't hear what these assholes said."

"It doesn't matter what they said," I said calmly, "whatever it was, it isn't worth a fight. And besides, no one really wants to see blood spilled right now anyway. So just leave it, they aren't worth it."

"Fuck no man." Kyle said, before throwing a punch aimed directly at Archer's face.

Archer held up his arms, prepping himself for the attack, but before the punch could make contact I reached out and grabbed Kyle's wrist, stopping his fist.

Everyone looked at me in shock and I said, "I said leave it, therefore fucking leave it."

I then dragged him towards the football stadium and away from the fight, with Adam falling behind us reluctantly.

"What the hell dude, let me go back and kick their asses." Kyle said, trying to pull his arm from my grip, but I just ignored him and continued moving.

When we entered the bleachers I saw Jessica rising from her seat, so I continued dragging the struggling Kyle towards her before pushing him back into a seat next to her.

"What the hell happened?" Jessica asked, "I heard you two yelling at someone."

I was about to answer when Kyle blurted out, "It was those assholes who always fuck with us. They wouldn't shut the fuck up, so I was going to kick their asses, until Riku had to step in and stop it."

"Damn it. Really Kyle, your first day back and you're already trying to get into a fight?" Jessica said, sighing, "For fucks sake, you really need to calm the hell down."

"What were those assholes even doing here?" I asked.

"Apparently Andrew and Archer have joined the football team this year," Jessica said, "so they were here for practice."

"Wonderful." Adam said, sighing, "Another reason for me to fucking hate football."

Kyle sighed and got up, saying, "Whatever man, I'm going to go walk around town, You guys wanna come?"

"I'm in." Adam said.

"Alright." Kyle said. Turning to Jessica and I, he said, "What about you guys?"

"I'm good." I said, with Jessica echoing me.

"Alright then, suit yourselves." Kyle said, beginning to walk away, "I'll be back by dinner. C'mon Adam."

As Adam followed him, Jessica yelled after them, "Just please don't get into anymore trouble today, okay?"

Kyle gave her a thumbs up over his shoulder and she sighed.

"He's going to get himself hurt one day." Jessica said. She turned to me and said, "So, you ready to go?" I nodded and she said, "Alright. Levi said he's going out with some if the team, so let's go ahead and head home."

We left the football stadium and I saw Archer, Trinity, and Andrew, standing exactly where I left them, and we walked past them without a glance. As we began walking home, a rather loud clap of thunder sounded out, causing Jessica to jump.

"Damn," She said, looking at the sky, "Looks like the clouds got a fuck ton angrier. Let's hurry home."

Looking up I saw that she was right. The sky had turned form a light gray to almost black while we were out, and I could see blankets of rain pouring down in the distance.

We had been walking for a few more minutes when Jessica said, "Hey, thanks for earlier. Y'know, for keeping Kyle out of trouble." She sighed and said, "I swear, one day that temper of his will get him in the hospital, or worse."

"Yeah," I said, "He should really try to control it."

"He didn't use to have one; it's those assholes that caused him to have it." She said, "He doesn't even give a shit when they insult him or anyone else, except for me."

"Is he really that protective of you?" I asked.

Jessica sighed and said, "Yeah, he has been ever since we were on the street. He doesn't like leaving me alone without him or one of our friends. I mean, hell, it took forever for us to convince him to go on vacation with Jasmine, since every single time it was suggested he shrugged it off."

"So does he just think that he's the only one that can protect you or something?" I asked.

"Yeah," Jessica replied, "He kept coming up with excuses, but I know that he just wanted to stay to keep me safe. Hell, every boyfriend I've ever had he's threatened about what he'll do if they hurt me."

"Damn." I said, before we returned to walking in silence.

After a few more minutes of walking there was an exceptionally loud clap of thunder, followed by rain starting to pour down, pelting us. We continued trudging through the rain, which quickly began dropping in temperature to where it felt like it was damn near freezing, but I threw my hood up over my head, and my jacket kept me dry and warm. Looking over, I saw that Jessica was soaked and shivering, with her arms wrapped around her, which didn't surprise me seeing as she was only wearing a t-shirt and jeans. And they called me crazy for taking my jacket with me. I took my head off and slid my jacket off of me, exposing my arms and head to the cold rain, before putting the hood on Jessica's head and draping the jacket itself over her.

She looked at me, an expression of surprise on her face, and said, "Th-thank you."

Jessica put her arms through the sleeves and we continued walking, the only sound being the pounding of the rain on the sidewalk. Fuck its cold. I looked over at Jessica and saw that her shivering had now completely stopped and she was no longer getting wet from the rain. Fuck it, I can deal with it. Better me than her, anyways.

So, how did everyone enjoy the chapter and the introduction of Kyle? I know I didn't really put much detail into what he was doing while cooking, but that is just because I really saw no point in it, seeing as this is a fanfic, not a cookbook. Anyway, I hope everyone liked the chapter. Goodbye until next time, which will hopefully be soon.