A/N: Wow, two updates within the same month? Who even am I? Anyways, hope you enjoy :)

Saturday - 9:27 p.m

Lime Household

Rachel was never much of a party person, but she couldn't stand being locked up in her house any longer. The more she thought about the breakup, the less it hurt. But only because the signs were there the whole time, she was just too naive to notice. She tried not to let it bug her, besides, pretty soon she would head off to college far-far away and she could hook-up with a guy who was more than just a football player. Because that's all Chad was. A douchebag, meat-headed football player.

As soon as she walked into Ricky's house she automatically felt so guilty; his house was going to be so trashed by the end of the night, which was unfortunate because it's a really nice house with a really expensive interior. She somehow got a drink (some crappy beer that tasted absolutely disgusting) and made her way to the backyard.

It was really awkward. The party was in full swing, but to Rachel that didn't matter because she didn't really have any friends, or anyone to latch onto. Swallowing her anxiety, she walked towards the two boys sitting on the swingset. "Get a haircut?" She nodded towards Hoagie, who's hair looked much better. It was still really curly, but more tamed than it had the last time she saw him on Thursday. He took a drink of his beer and nodded,

"Yeah. I figured when my mom said I looked like white Jimi Hendrix, it was probably time." Bartie scrunched his eyebrows and shook his head,

"Personally, I see Jim Morrison after he moved to Paris to become a poet." He added. Hoagie shrugged and rubbed his face,

"No beard," He looked back towards Rachel, noticing how uncomfortable she looked. Instead of mentioning it, he said, "So, Rachel, since when do you come to shitty house parties?"

"Normally, I'm not a huge fan of drunk teenagers doing stupid things, but I could use a pick-me-up and free booze," She answered, hopping up and sitting on the old wood, hoping it will hold her weight. When nothing creaked, she let out a sigh of relief and took sip of her beer.

"Too bad the booze sucks," Bartie mumbled sniffing his own drink before making a gagging noise. Then he sat up and looked around, obviously searching for someone within the crowd of teenagers. "And nobody is drunk enough to make a scene,"

"Yet." Hoagie muttered.

"What about you guys? I thought you were too edgy to come to high school parties." She sent a meaningful glance towards both of their ripped jeans and tee shirts representing rock bands from the '60s (Hoagie, The Doors and Bartie, The Who). Hoagie pushed his glasses up his nose, an ill-mannered retort on the tip of his tongue. He was ready to spat it out but when he saw the smirk playing on her lips, he faltered. Banter. That's what that was. To be quite honest, he had no idea Rachel even had a sense of humor.

"Yeah well, Bartie's looking for some pot and I'm-"

"Here to stalk Abby Lincoln- not that it matters 'cause if she's not here by now, she's not coming at all." Bartie finished for him. If looks could kill, Bartie would be very dead. If there was a wall, Hoagie would have slammed his head into it and he would've thrown Bartie through it. But he learned his lesson: don't tell Virginia anything ever. The single-raised-eyebrow look that Rachel was giving Hoagie reminded him a lot of Nigel Uno. He always made that look and it was always the left eyebrow.

"Not stalk." Was all the auburn-haired boy said. He didn't want to seem like a creep. Because he wasn't. He was just hoping that Abby would be here and he would finally get the opportunity to talk to her. Although he knew that would never happen, he'd have to grow a pair real quick and that wasn't going to happen.

"You guys would be cute together," Rachel mentioned, swirling her bottle around. "Where do you plan on getting pot from?" She looked at Bartie, who jerked his head up and rolled his eyes,

"Joe Balooka. If the piece of shit ever decides to show." He checked his phone again, obviously annoyed. Rachel was too busy thinking about how little she knew about her classmates due to the fact that she's been so wrapped up in Chad for the past three years. She shook her head and felt a smile creep on her face as she saw three girls enter the backyard. She looked at Hoagie, who had also noticed. She let out a giggle when she saw his face turning a shade of pink from the lights illuminating the backyard.

"He probably won't, you know he doesn't like dealing at parties," Hoagie mentioned, not taking his bright blue eyes off of Abby. She looked so good and thankfully, there were enough people so that she wouldn't notice him staring. Or notice him at all.

"I'd rather deal at parties, it's less suspicious than an abandoned parking lot at night," Bartie muttered as he continued looking for Joe. Hoagie finally glanced over at his sandy-haired companion and glared through his Buddy Holly glasses. Bartie glanced up from his phone to look at Hoagie. "You used to be good friends," He mentioned, with a rather large amount of disgust in his voice, "Text him."

"He's your dealer. And you've got your phone in your hands. You text him." Hoagie responded, shaking his head and looking back towards Abby, trying to take in as much as possible. God, she was so pretty.

"Stop staring."

"I'm not staring," Hoagie kept staring. Rachel watched with an amused smile on her face from the sidelines. For some reason, the two of them gave her the sort of familiarity feeling that Fanny and Patton and Nigel used to give her (although, not as strong). And watching them banter back and forth with each other made her wish that she had someone to do that with. But instead, she was stuck sitting on a crappy wooden swing set, drinking gross beer, watching two teenage boys who don't get nearly enough credit argue back and forth.

Rachel was not prepared for Fanny to come up to her. She thought the two had established a respectable 'you stay away from me, I stay away from you' situation, but apparently, that was not the case. The redhead was more than a little tipsy, and Rachel gagged at the stench of beer over her, but then again, Rachel probably had that exact same stench on her because she was a bit intoxicated herself.

That was probably how she had the guts to actually stand up for herself. But now, she was balls deep into an argument that was probably going to end in crying, physical fighting, or maybe both. "Yeah, Fanny, I know it's real hard for you to keep your hands off of boys your so-called 'friends' are dating," Rachel said, still sitting on the same spot she was about an hour ago, giving a meaningful glance at Patton.

"Bit hypocritical, don't you think, Rachel?" Lizzie apparently finally had enough and stepped in for Fanny. The evil grin that appeared on her face when she saw Rachel falter gave everyone watching chills. She scrunched her eyebrows together. Who could she possibly be talking abou- Oh. She looked across the backyard and locked eyes with kid who hadn't had a full head of hair since he was seven. That's who she was talking about.

"Nigel?" She didn't have to ask, she knew. Lizzie stared as if she was the dumbest person alive. Which, maybe she was for indulging Fanny and arguing with her. Rachel quickly glanced back at Hoagie, who was sitting in the same spot as he had before, except he looked like he was going to explode. Bartie was off somewhere dealing with Balooka, who had finally shown up. "Lizzie- if I really wanted your boyfriend, I would have him by now." Lizzie's face turned a dark shade of red as everyone who close enough to hear and sober enough to understand laughed. Mentally, Rachel patted herself on the back, a sly grin appearing on her face, especially as she saw Abby Lincoln laugh as well (she couldn't really explain it, but for some reason, Abby's opinion meant way more to her than it should have).

Lizzie's head whipped back to stare at Nigel, who looked pitiful leaning onto his crutches. He shook his head at Rachel, who fake gasped and internally wondered where the hell she found all of this courage that's apparently been pitted inside of her all along. "Is that your way of telling me to stop? Why should I?"

"Be the bigger person," She heard Hoagie scoff from across the swingset. She jerked her head over, thinking about how she would crap her pants if Hoagie actually spoke up. The kid who used to get the shit beat out of him by the jocks and bullied by the cheerleaders coming to her aid was crazy. Stupid even.

"Fanny started it. Rachel should end it." The look on Patton Drilovksy's chisled face from the porch was priceless as he stared at the bespectacled teenager from across the backyard.

Unfortunately the feeling of pride swelling in his chest was cut off and it was obvious that Rachel would not be the one to end the quarrel. The distant sounds of sirens and flashing lights ended whatever spark began that night and people went off running in all directions. Suddenly, Hoagie and Rachel both hopped down and made a beeline for the gate opening. She sort of stumbled, which made easy for Hoagie to keep up with her. Just as the two were within reach, the gate burst open. Rachel almost spun around, but as she saw Hoagie strategically dodge both of them, she laughed and did the same thing, both of them jogging away from the house.

"Shit." Hoagie was bent over, his hands on his knees heavily breathing. "Bartie. I forgot Bartie."

"He'll be fine," Rachel said, "Did you drive?" She prayed the answer was yes, because she didn't. She took a bus. Which may have sounded ridiculous at the time, but looking back she internally praised her past self.

"Yeah," He stood up and pulled the keys out of his pocket and nodded toward the beat-to-hell Subaru parked on the other side of the road. He was obviously smart enough to park far enough away from the house, unlike plenty of other of their classmates. "Need a ride?"

10:56 p.m

Sanban Residence

"Is there a reason why you're crying into a bowl of cereal at eleven o'clock on a Saturday night?" Kuki sniffled and wiped her nose with her sleeve. She glared up at Mushi and deadpanned,

"Probably because I hate my life," She answered, expecting her twelve-year-old sister to make some nasty remark, laugh about it, and then go back to her room, which would leave Kuki and her Rainbow Munchies alone. Instead, she plopped down on the couch and looked at her expectantly. "What?"

"We're sisters. Confide in me." Mushi said, still staring at her older sister. Kuki scoffed and shook her head,

"So you can bully me about? Yeah, right." She muttered, eating another spoonful of sugary goodness. "I get enough crap from my friends, I don't need it from you too." Mushi's face softened as she kept staring.

"Seriously, Kuki. You can talk to me. We are sisters." Kuki was suspicious. Mushi was (normally) the absolute definition of evil, she only ever cared about herself or her (gross) boyfriend, Sandy. She glanced at the younger girl again before taking another bite of cereal.

"Not much to say." She shrugged. Mushi kept looking at her, motioning for her to continue. "I'm stuck in a friendship with girls that I don't really like. Fanny stole Patton from me." She said. This time Mushi did laugh, making Kuki angry.

"Dude, Patton sucks. It's better that he dumped you." She said.

"Not the point. Fanny and I are supposed to be friends, but instead she's been sleeping with a guy that she knew was with me," Kuki responded, staring at the TV. "There was a party tonight and I couldn't stomach going because halfway through I'd have to watch Fanny and Patton sneak off and canoodle,"

"Canoodle?" Mushi had a small smile on her face as she began laughing at her sister's word choice. Kuki finally cracked a grin and then started laughing along with Mushi. Maybe she wasn't so evil after all.

11:21 p.m

Mel's Diner

"Can't believe you got coffee," Bartie shook his head in mock disgust as he nodded towards Rachel, "Especially straight black coffee. Gross," Rachel rolled her eyes and shook her head,

"First of all, there's sugar in it. Therefore, it's not straight black coffee. Second, I don't drink milkshakes. They taste too… milky." She laughed looking at Abby's expression; a dark eyebrow raised and the look of astoundment in her eyes.

"Aren't milkshakes… supposed to taste like milk?" She wondered, making Rachel nod.

"Yeah, that's why I don't drink them. Because they taste too milky."

"That's the dumbest thing I've heard anyone say, ever," Hoagie laughed, taking a sip of his own milkshake, which was cookies 'n creme but with chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla. He was trying really, really, really hard to not stare at Abby. The absolute last thing he would have expected to result from going to some shitty party was for him to be sitting in a booth across from the girl he had a crush on. It made him regret leaving the Subaru a complete mess; wrappers and dirty clothes and random sheets of (incomplete) homework were everywhere. Rachel only laughed and took a drink of her coffee,

"Besides, coffee helps sober you up. I kinda need that right now," She internally groaned at the thought of a hangover, but then realized that if she was sober enough to be worried about a hangover, she probably wouldn't have one.

"You had like two beers," Bartie mentioned. "And they were the shitty kind, too." He mentioned, taking another sip of his strawberry milkshake, sticking his tongue in the whip cream, getting some of the fluffy substance on his nose. Hoagie nodded towards it, making Bartie try to lick it off, but failing miserably as his tongue wasn't long enough.

"I'm a 5'6, one-hundred-seventeen-pound girl who almost never drinks," She laughed, "I have zero tolerance," Then she looked over at Abby, who was sitting on the outside of the booth, "Did you have anything to drink?"

"No, Muffy's plan was to get super wasted so I was the designated driver," She stirred her own milkshake with the spoon and then continued, "But we took Angie's car because mine's too nice for Muffy to puke in it,"

"Can't she just open the door?" Rachel wondered making Abby laugh to herself,

"She can't hold it in, ever. She just spews," The other three laughed along with her. All three of them individually feeling a strange sort of familiarity that they had never really experienced at such high levels.

"That's what Nigel does. You would expect someone so clean to make it to a toilet or a trash can, but he just can't," Rachel added, grabbing another sugar packet and dumping it into her mug.

"Speaking of Nigel, what happened to his uh-" Hoagie paused, "The body part that I can't think of- the thing that's in the middle of his leg-" The auburn-haired boy rambled, laughing harder and harder as he couldn't think of the word.

"His knee?" Abby laughed,

"Yeah, that, his knee," Hoagie nodded, looking over at the dark-skinned girl. A glance turned into something a little longer as he tried to take her in because he knew that this was definitely a one-time thing. Besides, Abby and Rachel were too cool to hang out with him and Bartie anyways.

"He tore his ACL,"

"So he'll be out until," Abby paused to the math inside her head, "At least track season, depending on how he handles everything. That sucks," She added, making Rachel shrug,

"Yeah, for him," She mentioned, taking another sip of her coffee that was beginning to run low.

"Jesus, Rachel," Bartie said, despite laughing, "That was fucking brutal."

"Yeah, well after that bullshit he pulled tonight I feel absolutely no remorse," Rachel responded, picking up her empty mug. It had a cute little design on the front of Snoopy wearing a red 'Joe Cool' sweater. She cracked a small smile and then glanced back up, "So yeah. Screw Nigel. And Lizzie. And Patton. But especially screw Fanny,"

"Hell yeah!"

"I'll drink to that," Hoagie took another sip of his milkshake that was becoming increasingly empty. He looked up and saw their waitress coming with their food. She placed the scrambled eggs with hashbrowns in front of Bartie, the cheeseburger with onion rings in front of Hoagie, the waffles a la mode in front of Abby, and finally, the veggie omelette in front of Rachel. After saying their thanks, she went back to get them all coffees (minus Abby, who got a Coke).

"So volleyball, how's that going?" Rachel looked at Abby as she stabbed into the omelette. The dark-haired girl shrugged as she chewed her waffle,

"It's okay. I was never really a big fan of volleyball though,"

"But you're so good," He didn't really think that the words were coming out of his mouth until they did, Hoagie tried as hard as he could to try and prevent his cheeks from turning rosy. But as Abby grinned at him, he knew it was hopeless.

"Eh, I only played to hang out with Muffy and Angie. And Anna," She added as if she forgot.

"So you got a boyfriend?" Bartie asked, completely changing the subject. Abby wasn't too keen on being interrogated but she didn't let it bother her. She looked at Bartie and laughed while shaking her head,

"Nope. No boyfriend," She raised her eyebrows and glanced back towards the sandy-haired teenager, "Don't you have a girlfriend?"

"Yes, but she doesn't want people to know. So no, I don't have a girlfriend and her name is not Virginia." Bartie responded, taking a sip of his recently delivered coffee. He gagged and reached towards the creamer on the table. Grabbing five little cartons he said, "Rachel, you've gotta be really fucked up if you can drink coffee like this," Rachel laughed and rolled her eyes.

"What about you," Abby glanced over beside her. The blonde raised her eyebrows in questioning, "Still dating Chad?"

"Oh, no." She said through a mouthful of egg and vegetables, "I actually caught him cheating on me yesterday. I went to surprise him and… yeah,"

"Aw, that sucks,"

"Chad was a douchebag anyways,"

"The girl he was with-" She started laughing. "When I walked in, I dropped coffee all over my brand new white shoes, she said 'are you his sister or something?'. Oh man, that is by far going to be the funniest thing that's ever happened to me. And you're right, Chad is a douchebag. All football players are."

"For example," Bartie glanced at Hoagie, "Tommy." Hoagie glanced over and glared over his glasses.

"Dude, no offense, but Tommy is a 'Patton 2.0' in the making," Rachel said. Hoagie shook his head,

"Yeah, none taken. I hate Tommy. And not in like a brotherly way, either." He said. "Being the oldest sucks." Rachel nodded in agreement. Being the oldest did suck.

"High school sucks," Bartie muttered,

"I'll drink to that," Abby said, the four of them all picking up their glasses and clinking them together, goofy smiles on all four of their faces.

A/N: And that's that. Anyways, there probably won't be another update in a while, I've got to get my shit together and boost my GPA. But I won't be working nearly as much as I have been for the past threeish months, so maybe I'll be able to sneak in another chapter here or there. I hope you enjoyed and this anxiety-filled teenager would really love a review to reassure her. Anywho, I hope you have a happy New Year and I hope you all stay safe!

xoxo,

Maddie