[ 1 ]

[ Krei ]

  "FLABBAGAFIN!!"
  "HOLY--"
  I whipped around to see Tom laughing maniacly. I shoved him as he fell backwards. He fell into a group of girls, and they somewhat squealed out of shock. I smirked and waited for him to get up.
  "Damn, Krei. What's with you?" she asked, rubbing his head.
  "Don't do that, Tom! You remember what happened on the ice skating rink when you did that!?"
  He and I remembered perfectly well. I was still wobbly from not having do it for a while, and he came up behind me, and yelled right in my ear. I fell back, and pushed him down with me. I of course, am never cold, so I wasn't wearing a sweatshirt. I cut my forearm on Tom's ice skate and had to get stitches.
  "Yeah, that was funny!"
  "No it wasn't."
  "To me it was," he giggled.
  I shot him a look of distaste, and he looked back innocently.
  "Where's Travis? Isn't he usually with you?" I asked.
  "He had to take a leak."
  "What about Al?"
  "Dunno. Probably bothering someone."
  "Vick?"
  "Probably with Al."
  "Crap, does that mean I'm stuck with you?"
  "Maybe. I think Mark's coming, though."
  "Mark?"
  Mark.

  I failed to explain this all. My name's Krei Barker. Travis, obviously, is my brother. We're two years apart. He's a junior here, as well as Tom and... Mark. Tom and Mark are Travis' best friends, and, well, since I'm freshmeat, he's watching over me for a while.
  Al and Vick are my friends, however. Best friends since Jr. High. I met Al before I met Vick, but they both mean the same to me.
  I guess this would be kind to mention: They're both girls. Al is short for Allison. Allison Swidler. Vick is short for Vicky. Vicky Young.
  I have no clue about how anyone feels about anyone yet. Hell, I've only been here for three weeks. It sucks being here, though. The only thing that makes it better is that I have my friends here. Tom is like an older brother to me. And Mark...
  Mark's my secret... 'crush.' I hate using that word. It was hard to explain at first, but at the second week, I had forgotten my wallet and he bought me lunch, and even took me to a burger joint after school.
  Well... that's exagerating. We all went. But he still bought my food! He was so adorable.
  Vick was quiet about her emotions. If she liked someone, I would be the first to know after a few weeks of her admiration.
  Al was shy. And quiet. She was innocent, too. If she liked someone, she usually told Vick or myself right away to learn how to hide from it.
  But I was different. I knew that if I liked a guy, I shouldn't give any hints that I do. I smile a lot and let him persue. If he doesn't within a month's time, I drop it. It's worked so far.

  "So... how come your friends aren't with you?"
  "We have classes across campuses."
  "Same as me."
  "Same as you."
  "Krei!" my eyes were covered.
  Yes. My eyes were covered, and an arm went around my neck.
  "Do I have to guess?"
  "Yehhhhhssss...." they hissed pervertedly into my ear.
  "Mark," I said.
  "How the fuck do you always know!?" he whined.
  "I have Spidey Sense."
  "So you're a man?" Tom asked.
  "What?"
  "Spider Man?"
  I slapped my forehead.
  "No. I'm a girl. Trust me."
  He glanced at me questionably before smiling and running of. I turned around to see him tackle Travis.
  "Sex Slave!" he yelled gleefully.
  "Butt Buddy!" Travis yelled back.
  Suddenly, my ass was slapped.
  "YACK!"
  "Ola`."
  "Vick, you asshole."
  She laughed.
  "Where's Al?"
  "Boo..." she muttered.
  She was on the other side of me already.
  "You guys pop out of the ground... like daisies sometimes, I swear."
  "La dee dah. Hey Mark!" Vick said happily.
  Vick didn't know. Neither did Al. I decided to keep this one to myself for a while. I looked over at Travis and Mark to see them mock-making out. I just burst out laughing. I was making some weeeeird friends.

_____

[ 2 ]

[ Al ]

  It was already after school. Unbelievable. The day had just begun. In my mind at least. Even though my reaction to everything is pretty slow. 
  As always, Tom was whiny and wanted to go to our usual burger joint. As we walked, I noticed that Krei and Vick seemed to be avoiding each other.
  This was usual. They got into fights a lot of the time that would last with a grudge for a couple of days. Of course, they had failed to mention anything to me, so I had no idea what the blue fuck was going on.
  But then again, I didn't really feel like caring. 
  Once we got to the burger joint, I took my usual spot in the corner of the restaraunt and opened up my sketchbook. I always drew and never ate, and was never bothered unless Vik or Krei needed to talk to me. Mark, Travis, or Tom never talked to me to begin with so that didn't really matter to me.
  But yet, my day had gone faster than normal. It was easy to predict that something different would happen.
  "Let me see!"
  That came before my sketch book was taken from my hands. I didn't want what I was drawing to be seen- practically because I wasn't done. And frankly, I was embarassed when people looked at them. 
  When I realized it was Tom, I wanted it back more than ever. He made fun of everything and I hate critisism- which I know, is stupid for an artist to believe.
  I was surprised by his reaction.
  "Wow. Al, these are really good," he said after glancing at a few pages.
  "Can I have it back, please?"
  "Hang on."
  "Now, Tom."
  "Hang on."
  "I like them. Especially this one."
  He turned it over and showed me this.

  I took this oppurtunity to snatch my sketch book back, and clutch it to my chest.
  "Al, I had no idea you were so good."
  "I don't need your support."
  "You draw what you feel?"
  "Most of the time."
  "What were you feeling when you drew the picture two back from that?"
  With that he walked away. I flipped two pages back to see this.

  I remembered that that was the day that I had begun to sprout a crush. On Tom. I slammed the book shut and looked back up to see Vick walking over and slouching in the seat across from me.
  "You still nervous around him?" she asked.
  "I have no idea what your talking about."
  She just scoffed, and looked back at Krei, who was sharing an order with Mark. 
  "You're just like Krei. You think you hide your feelings well, but in reality they're as plain as day."
  "What the hell are you talking about?"
  She just smiled at me. Mark came back over with Travis and their food to leave Tom and Krei at their own, seperate table.

_____

  I went home after that. Vick usually came over, but she decided not to this time. She said she had a lot of homework and wanted to go home. This sucked. I wanted to talk to her about Tom, too.
  Once I was sure they were away, I took out my sketch book and started drawing again.

- incomplete chapter -