Of Moons, Birds, and Monsters

Karen and Colby drove me absolutely nuts. After Luke and Mr. Moreno left, I took a shower thinking that the girls wouldn't wake up for a few hours. I was horribly wrong. As soon as the shampoo was mixed into my hair, they started giggling and flushing the toilet on purpose, making the water scolding hot. When they did that the fourth time, I called it quits and got out. I made them breakfast in hopes that they would calm down. I didn't help.

I tried everything in the book to try and make their energy level disappear. We played some hardcore tag in the back yard, and when that didn't work, I took them to the park. We had to leave shortly after. Colby started punching another kid because he supposedly pushed her down the slide. I tried feeding them lunch and putting a movie in, but that didn't work either. I was seriously considering putting some cough syrup in their drinks; I was that desperate. But, I knew I would get into some major trouble for it. They were just insisting on being pains today.

I was so relieved when I got to school. I took a nap through my history class since we weren't doing anything. It was a little weird to me that I found calculus relaxing. The blond kid that sat next to me didn't notice I was there, so we didn't share a conversation. Mr. Goldman just sat at his desk with his TV dinner watching episodes of Seinfeld.

I sat on the stairs in front of the school entrance next to Travis. Mason and TJ stood on the wall while Kass sat in the middle of the sidewalk.

"Heard from Biggers?" TJ asked, looking directly at Travis.

"Yeah," Travis nodded. "He and Sarvadi are just chilling at Sarvadi's place. I went over there today. Those fools are just smoking and playing on the PS3."

"Lucky bastards," Mason muttered, kicking loose pebbles.

"Good he's chilled out, though," TJ shrugged.

"He doesn't usually do those types of things, does he?" I asked slowly, hoping that one of them caught what I was hinting at.

"No," Travis snorted, leaning on his elbows. "Louie is like the biggest fucking goon there is."

"True that," TJ laughed. "He's one of those, what do you call them? Rodeos?"

"You mean Romeos'?" I chuckled.

"The romantic thing in the tights," TJ shrugged. "With the roses and the cheesy lines that girls love."

"He's taught me a lot on how to treat a lady," Travis slowly nodded. "If it got me laid faster I would probably use it."

"How sweet of you, Travis," I snorted, resting my elbows on my knees. "When is Louie coming back?"

"Why you wanna know?" TJ asked rudely.

"Do you miss the little Keebler Elf?" Travis teased with a pout, pushing himself up so he mirrored my sitting position.

"Yes, I do," I admitted with a nod. Louie was always nice to me, and he seemed really cool to hang out with.

"Well, no worries, Rizzle," Travis chuckled, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. "He'll be at Bang Bang's party tomorrow."

I slightly winced at his arm heavily draping themselves on my shoulders. They were still kind of sore.

"I'm gonna get laid tomorrow," Kass cheered, slowly nodding his head.

"Me too," Travis grinned. "Right, Rizzle?"

"Excuse me?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't let me down," he smirked.

"Yeah, right," I scoffed, trying to push his arm off of me.

"I still have all the condoms you gave me," he informed, refusing to move his arm. "Maybe we can use them."

"No, thank you," I said sternly, still trying to push his arm away from me. "I have a boyfriend."

"He doesn't have to know," he whispered, kissing my neck.

"Hey, hey, hey," Mason said loudly, staring at us. "No."

"No what?" Travis asked rudely.

"Off limits, remember?" Mason reminded him with a raised eyebrow.

"I got it from here, Mason," I told him before turning back to Travis.

"So, what do you think?" Travis grinned, pulling me closer to him.

"I think not," I answered, trying one more time to push his arm off of me.

Again, he wouldn't budge. His grip tightened, and I felt really uncomfortable. At first, I thought it was a joke. But now he was completely serious and it made me panic.

"Dude, back off," Mason demanded.

"Why do you care?" Travis growled, looking Mason up and down.

"'Cause I have been trying too God damn hard for her and Luke to get together, and you aren't going to mess it up!" Masson hissed, pointing a very angry index finger at Travis. "He's doing pretty fucking good to get her."

"Wait," TJ began, his face swirled in confusion. "You and Squid aren't really going out?"

"Damn it, Mason!" I exclaimed, making a sour face at him.

"Haha, you got caught!" Kass laughed.

Mason ran his hand through his hair before he slapped himself.

"So, she's free game," Travis smirked.

"No, I'm not," I snapped, finally pushing his arm off of me.

"Fine," Travis sighed, leaning back on his elbows. "But you can't say I didn't try."

"Damn creeper," Mason scolded.

"I'm fucking horny, dude!" Travis exclaimed. "I haven't been laid in almost two weeks. What the hell do you want me to do?"

I shook my head at him and watched as my tiny blue car pulled into the driveway. Today was far from a good day. I just wanted to get home, yell at Dawn, take a shower, eat, and watch That 70s Show. It was the weekend, and I desperately needed some rest.

Luke parked in the space closest to us. He scared the crap out of Kass when he honked the horn. We all got a laugh out of it.

As soon as Luke opened the car door, I jumped up and walked as fast I could to the Cavalier. Luke handed me my keys and made his way to the other side of the car.

"You're a damn liar, Squid," Travis smirked.

"What do you mean?" Luke asked, leaning against the car.

"Mason spilled the beans," TJ spoke. "We know you're not with Rizzle."

"Fo' shizzle," Kass nodded with a wide smile.

"Cool," Luke shrugged, getting into the car.

"Mason," I said loudly. "Taking you home or not?"

"No," he answered shaking his head. "No, I think I'm going to ride home with TJ."

I nodded and pulled out of the parking lot. I did catch a glimpse of Travis winking at me. It made me grimace and drive a little faster. Hopefully he was just acting stupid because he was, like he said, in need of sexual contact and in no need for anything else.

"Jack is staying at Izzy’s house again tonight," Luke informed me. "So you can stay another night if you want."

"I dunno, Luke," I sighed, beating the red light. "I'll have to go back home tomorrow for sure to pick up some clothes."

"That's alright," he shrugged. "And you won't have to climb through the window. Dad is going to the Bullpen as soon as I get home. So you can run into my room before he leaves."

"Are you sure?" I asked, unconvinced that this was a good idea. It wasn't that I didn't want to stay; I just didn't want to get caught.

"You don't have to stay again, but I would like you to," he shrugged.

I bit my lip in thought, trying to figure out what I would do with my car. Mr. Moreno would know if I was there if I kept my car in his driveway.

"Know of anywhere I can put my car?" I asked, turning down the long country road that his house was place on.

"Put it in the neighbor's yard," Luke shrugged. "They went to England for a funeral or something. They won't be back for another two weeks."

"That'll work," I nodded, still scared out of my wits that we would be caught.

"So you'll stay?" Luke asked with hopeful eyes.

"Yes, I’ll stay."