Don't Tell Them Where I Live Now.

Nathan to work almost an hour late, he walked through the doors with a grin. I didn't bother to greet him, instead I paid attention to the few customers we had.

"I heard about school." He snickered, putting his stuff behind the counter.

"Yeah." I mumbled, ringing the lady up.

"Sucks." He commented, I was surprised he wasn't overly happy about it.

"Yeah," I repeated. The lady thanked me and walked out. "Next." I greeted friendly, and smiled at the gentlemen in front of me.

"I'm sorry." Nathan randomly apologized.

"Nothing you did." I shrugged, smiling at the man. "Is this all?"

"Yep." The guy nodded, pulling out his wallet.

"I'll have to see an ID for the booze." I replied, and he did as I instructed. I couldn't believe he was thirty years old, random but still. "Have a good day." I smiled, handing him his ID back.

"You too." He returned the smile and walked out. I leaned against the counter and let out a much needed sigh.

"Busy day?" Nathan suggested, leaning against the wall.

"Yeah." I mumbled.

"So I heard Jacen had a lot to do with it?" He continued, which annoyed me.

"Yeah." I repeated, a frown appeared involuntarily on my face.

"They're all assholes." He commented.

"I expected you to be happy." I scoffed, darting my eyes in his direction.

"I thought so too, till Lory told me how bad you had it." He mumbled.

"She talked to you about it?" I asked, my brows furrowing.

"Yeah. That's why I was late." He shrugged and went to the bathrooms. I couldn't help but wonder what Lory had to say. So once he came out, I was determined to ask.

"So... What'd she say about it?" I finally pipped up.

"Doesn't matter." He answered.

"Oh." I tried to be nonchalant but it really bothered me.

"Lets just say, she's really hurt." He added.

"She doesn't know that you know, does she?" I questioned, in response he tensed. "I should wear that wig then, so you don't get in trouble." I informed and he shrugged.

"At this moment, I could careless. She knows how those kids at her school are, I don't know why she's acting like it's such a shocker." He ranted.

"It still shouldn't ruin your relationship." I weakly smiled.

"I guess." He shrugged. "I'm going to go straighten things up." He said before walking away, and I just stood there... watching him.

After work, I dreaded going home. But I knew I had too. Nathan closed the liquor store up and let me go home a hour early, not that I wanted too. I walked with my hands in my pockets and kicked a few pebbles on the way. Once I made it to the door, I glanced over my shoulder to make sure there wasn't any unexpected vehicles here again.

"How was work?" Tristan greeted as I closed the door behind me.

"Long." I answered, taking my jacket off. "I guess my mom paid the utility bills?" I suggested, taking note of the warm temperature in the small house.

"Nope." He chuckled. "I did."

"Thanks." I appreciated it a lot, not that I was going to tell him that.

"It was either me or Skyler." He rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the television.

"You mean, Skyler's mom?" I corrected and he laughed.

"Yeah." He laughed, enjoying my little joke.

"Don't be jealous that you guys are poor and I'm not." We both heard and turned to see Skyler standing in the hall.

"Whatever." Tristan acknowledged, but I on the other hand just went in the kitchen and grabbed a PB&J sandwich.

"How was work?" Skyler asked, standing in the way of my exit. I didn't bother to answer, and when he didn't move; I decided to just sit down at the table. "You can't ignore me forever." He added, but I didn't answer at all. I didn't even look at him. "Fine, I guess you want everything to be even harder?" He growled and walked out.

"Did you want to sleep in my room?" Tristan proposed once Skyler was gone.

"Totally." I sarcastically joked.

"Pssh, whatever it was a friendly offer." He stuck his tongue out. He was sort of like a fatherly figure, but not so much. If that makes sense?

"I don't know." I randomly said aloud.

"Umm... Okay?" He chuckled. Taking a seat next to me.

"I just cant believe my life was taken out from underneath me." I whined. Suddenly I felt Tristan's cold hand touch just under my jaw. "What are you doing?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I feel a heart beat, so you're still alive." He was so sarcastic sometimes.

"You know what I mean." I groaned, pushing him away.

"Don't be so dramatic, it could always be worse." He reminded me, getting up and sent me a reassuring smile. "I'm going to bed. I hope to see you there later." He winked and walked out. I just rolled my eyes and finished my sandwich, along with my soda. Then I went to MY bed.

Next day at school:

It went by so slowly, again people just ignored me. Except Jocelyn and sometimes Kenny, he wanted to make the plans for doing the photo-shoot at his house, that was the only reason he talked to me. The girls ignored me still, people around just scoffed at me and I'm fairly sure someone tried spitting on me. PE was dull, the guys just stared at me. Jacen smirking the whole time, and Skyler muttering things to Kaleb. I couldn't believe how happy I was that school was finally over for the day.

"Come on." Kenny called, leading me to his car. "I'll give you a ride to my house, then to yours after wards if you'd like?" He proposed.

"I don't mind the ride to your place, since I don't know where it is. As for mine, I don't want anyone else seeing that pathetic excuse of a house." I frowned, getting inside his little corvette.

"That bad?" He questioned, starting the car up.

"Try going from such a nice place, to a small three bedroom, one bath, shack looking thing." I sighed. "Not that I should add to the list of you being able to make fun of me."

"I don't make fun of others, I find it pointless." He assured with a shrug, speeding off.

"Then why don't you talk to me?" I bit my bottom lip, afraid of his answer.

"I have too much to deal with than to deal with petty drama." He answered, which as I figured hurt.

"I'm sorry." I apologized.

"I should be sorry, I don't care about social status. Sure, I'm mean to Nathan. But he and I have history, I used to have the hugest crush on Loretta." He sheepishly admitted. "Then again, I have a crush on most." He chuckled with a grin.

"Oh." I rose a brow, a small smile appearing on my face.

"I'd say this all would die down, but unfortunately... Everyone at our school not only go by social status, but they're so into having drama and something to talk about. I highly doubt it will die, unless you do something that will dramatically change everyone's opinions about you. What that is, I don't know." He rambled, pulling up to a very nice house that actually reminded me of my old house.

"Wow, Kenny. Your house reminds me of my old house." I gasped, same color and everything.

"Really?" He quirked a brow, getting out and shutting his car door gently.

"Yeah." I smiled, getting out too and shutting his door exactly the same way he did his.

"You should see my room, and tell me if it's the same." He winked with a light laugh.

"Eww what's she doing here?" We heard and turned to see Monique standing next door.

"Shut up." Kenny groaned, going to the front door.

"She isn't welcome down this street, Kenneth!" She screamed from outside her house, I tried ignoring her comments. But it failed and I felt a pain in my heart.

"I'm not used to being the center of attention." I sighed, going inside his house. Kenny shut the door behind me and locked it.

"You get used to it." He shrugged, tossing his house keys on the small table next to the door. He started up the stairs, and I simply followed like a dog. "This is my room." He weakly smiled, then opened the door.

"Wow." I breathed out, so many trophies and jerseys on the wall.

"Yeah." He groaned, closing the door behind me. "My dad wants me to be the best." He shrugged, going to his bed and sat down. He pulled his back pack on his lap and pulled out papers with drawings.

"What's that?" I asked, taking a seat next to him and eyed down all the stuff.

"I drew out my ideas for our photo shoot." He grinned.

"You should add that in the file, you could probably get extra credit for creativity." I suggested and he quirked a brow.

"You think so?" He smiled, and I nodded.

"If you're that into getting good grades." I shrugged.

"No one knows it, but I really am. I secretly do my homework and turn it in early. I just don't like everyone to know." He mumbled.

"Why don't you want them to know? I mean, it's obvious you have to have good grades to be on the football team." I explained and he looked away with an expression that meant he took that into consideration.

"That's true. I just wanted to fit in." He nervously laughed. "Sort of like what you did." He turned to me, and stared in my eyes. We connected for a moment, but then he turned away. "Plus, I'm not just on the football team."

"You aren't?" I retorted, ignoring the connection like he did.

"I'm on the baseball team, golfing league, and track." He listed. "Oh and dance." He laughed at that one.

"Dance?" I mused, a smile on my face.

"Yeah, it helps with my balance. I also do hockey, but that's not at the school." He stood up and gestured to the hockey sticks that are hanging on the wall.

"That's cool. You're really active in sports." I complimented and he nodded.

"I barely get time for myself, I have to sneak out to do anything." He sighed, looking at the floor.

"Why?" I questioned, I didn't want to butt into his life of course.

"I've got an older brother, he's in the military. Well... Was. Anyways, my dad always compares me to him. Wants me to succeed too." He scoffed, looking away with anger.

"Was?" I repeated, maybe I'm going too far with this.

"Yeah. Afghanistan, he...didn't come home." He choked up. I frowned and for some reason, went and hugged him.

"I'm okay." He assured with a light laugh. "He's been declared MIA for awhile now, but one day they'll send that guy with the flag to our doorstep."

"I'm so sorry." I apologized.

"Not like you did anything, I mean you personally didn't send him out or even kill him." He harshly joked, I didn't find the humor in it but some people have different ways of dealing with things. Once we parted, his eyes met mine for a split second then we both looked away.

"Yes, umm. Well." I mumbled, and he rubbed the back of his neck.

"The guys should be coming over in a little bit, till then... Want some food?" He suggested, a smile tugging at his lips.

"Sure. What do you have?" I replied.

"You'll have to come see." He teased and went to the door.

"Mmm... Sounds tempting." I flirted back and followed him down the stairs to their almost too big kitchen.