Promise Me The Stars

Dinner was insane, well anything is insane when Jimmy is in the room. The group almost got kicked out of the Italian restaurant twice. The owner, an old Italian man that went by the name Sonny, stood off to the side, glaring at the group as a plate of noodles was spilled on the red satin table cloth.

Why the guys would think it was a good idea to come here with Jimmy, Hazel would never know. But she did know that slippery noodles covered in sauce were heading towards her lap and preparing to make their new home on her pants. She scooted quickly away from the table and watched as the noodles slipped over the corner of the table and onto the floor in a waterfall fashion.

"Whoops." Jimmy yelled. Just then Sonny came over and, quite rudely, asked them to leave with some harsh words in Italian that Forest smirked at. Though Hazel couldn't blame Sonny, Jimmy was a handful.

​​

"Who's riding with who?" Matt yelled as everyone trailed into the parking lot.

It was dark by now, the only light source that was provided were the street lamps that lined the parking lot and it sent a eerie glow throughout the asphalt space. Forest could see the two cars they had brought next to each other across the parking lot. Why they had parked so far away Forest didn't know, but he did know he hadn't liked dark parking lots ever since January 27th of last year.

Forest walked out of the school. He had been held back for, get this, talking too much in class. Forest never talked in class, he never really talked any time else either. So it was unrealistic that Forest would get in trouble for talking.

The parking lot was dark, it was six and the middle of January. Therefore the sun went down at five here in Colorado. Forest had no choice but to walk home from the school, his mother was working and it wasn't like there were any other people to come pick him up from the prison that lurked behind him in the shadows. The sound of his feet hammering against the ground as he walked was the only noise he paid any regard to. It wasn't like he really needed to pay attention to anything else in the parking lot.

Glancing around, the world seemed practically empty, the only cars in the lot were those of the teachers that had stayed after, one being Mrs. Timmel, who had been the one who had accused him of the immoral thing he had done, which he hadn't done in the first place. He felt the searing pain of Shadow pushing against the walls of his innards as anger built in his soul against Mrs. Timmel. He smothered Shadow back and continued to walk through the gloomy parking lot. Wishing he had called Hale even though the old biker was probably drunk off his ass. He hated walking in the dark.

Forest heard the person before he saw them, as he turned something assaulted his head and his body was met with the ground almost instantly. His eyes cracked open, a searing white light made him close them again. He could feel a thick trail of blood carving down his face, down into his ear as he lay on the ground.

"They're going to kill you this time Forest." Shadow stated, he talked in a dull tone, Forest hated that dull tone that Shadow talked in when he was in these situations.

But Shadow was right, they were out to kill and Forest was going to be a dead body in the parking lot by morning.

A blow to the ribs brought a hiss out of Forest, the pain he felt was a known pain, but he never got used to it. He could get beat a million times and he would never get used to the pain he felt every time.

"What are you going to do this time Forest?" Shadow asked. Forest's eyes cracked open again and he saw a dark figure coming over with something in his hands. The moment it made contact with his leg he knew it was a metal pipe.

"Should've waited till morning or something." He could see Shadow standing against a tree that lined the parking lot, staring at him getting beaten by his peers. He blinked and Shadow was gone.

"Okay kid. I've had enough of this getting beaten crap. Let me out and i'll take care of it." Forest didn't listen to Shadow. He tried to get up, only to be kicked down again with a swift boot to the side.

He kept fighting, and kept getting knocked down. There was nothing he could do now, just wait for them to leave and hope that someone showed up to take him to the hospital or something.

"Let me out." Shadow's tone had changed, like he was gritting his teeth and about to choke Forest out himself.

"Fine." Forest breathed before letting his eyes slip close and darkness surrounded him.

He woke up at home, sleeping in his bed, pain shooting through his body. He couldn't sit up, barely felt like he could breathe. But he was alive and all thanks to Shadow.

"What happened?" Forest groaned, bringing a hand to his head to run his fingers along the bandage that now lived there.

"I beat them up for you. Got you home, and bandaged you up without your mom or sister seeing. You're welcome." Shadow answered.

"How...is that possible?" he groaned as he slowly sat up and looked around his bedroom. The navy blue walls filled with posters of Guns N' Roses, Metallica, and others.

"You turned off one part of your brain and gave it to me. Therefore you were still capable of doing things only it was me. It goes with your disease kid." Shadow shrugged from across the room near his dresser that was positioned near the one window in the room.

"Thanks Shadow." Forest breathed before laying down again and letting his mind slip away back into the black unconsciousness that welcomed him with open arms.

"Gotta protect you to protect myself." It was the last thing he heard before darkness swallowed his mind.

Somehow, while Forest had been thinking about the past, he had been placed in a car and was heading towards the unknown. He was alone in the car with Matt and Brian, they were having a quiet conversation as Forest stared out the window at the unknown scenery that passed by. Matt and Brian still hadn't noticed he was awake.

"Where in the hell are we going?" Forest asked after staring for five minutes and not seeing anything he knew. There was a small yelp and Brian turned back to look at Forest who had his cheek in his hand and a bored expression on his face.

"Shit kid don't scare me like that." Brian said. Forest glanced over at the glaring man and smiled.

"My bad, I wasn't aware you scare so easily. Where are we going?" he leaned up so he was in between the seats and looking at the two men.

"Buy beer." Matt stated turning into a liquor store parking lot, acting like he wasn't aware of the things that had just happened between Brian and and Forest.

"Isn't there enough of that at Zacky's house? I saw him haul in a shit ton just this morning, or was it yesterday?" Forest mumbled to himself, the previous events were blurred in his head so much he didn't know if he fell off a cliff two hours ago or two days ago.

"We're not going to Zacky's we're going to Matt's and we're out at his house. So come on." Brian said getting out of the car. Forest raised his eyebrow because one: who took their friend's kid into a liquor store? And two: he had never been to any of the guys' house so it was weird.

"Why did I have to come in here?" Forest asked as they had stepped into the hazy shop, the smell of cigarette and cigar smoke hanging in the air. There was a bell above the door that rang as Matt let the door close behind them.

"Well we weren't going to let you stay in the car alone, this is a bad neighborhood." Matt stated.

"And you need to know where to buy the best booze." Brian said before slinking away laughing as Matt tried to slap the back of his head NCIS style.

"Follow me." Matt muttered. Forest walked behind him as they walked past a few aisles of alcohol.

He spotted a homeless looking man making his way up to the cash register cradling a bottle of whisky in his arms and another man in a hat grabbing three, make that four, bottles of Jack Daniels off a shelf. And he looked the type that didn't have many friends. The seedy guy in the fisherman's hat, the Greek variation of the hat with the bill like a baseball cap, gave Forest a look as he passed that just confirmed the man wasn't too friendly.

They walked to the back where the coolers were and Matt sighed as he spotted Brian with hims arms full of liquor.

"Got enough Brian?" Matt asked as he took a few bottles from the man and headed towards the counter.

"Just the right amount." he stated with a grin, setting the bottles on the counter. Forest glanced at Matt and watched as he rolled his eyes and smiled at Forest when he caught him looking.

"This all?" The cashier asked glancing over the purchase.

"Yeah." Brian said pulling out his wallet. The cashier eyed Forest for a moment and then took the credit card Brian held out.

"How old are you kid?" Forest gave the man a blank stare, his eyes opened a little wider then usual. It always made people uncomfortable and Hazel usually yelled at him whenever he did it.

"Sorry I asked." The man mumbled looking away quickly and bagging the booze in plastic bags.

The group walked out, Matt and Brian chuckling about Forest's stare, and Forest just wanting to go home and take a long nap and forget about the parking lot memory. But as fate would deal it, he had to go to Matt's house and endure the party goers there. And looking at the amount of booze that had just been bought it was going to be a long night that Forest dreaded.

​​

The moment the car Zacky was driving pulled into Matt's driveway Jimmy was jumping out of the car. That would have been fine if he didn't have to jump over Hazel in the process, almost making her fall out of the car and onto the concrete driveway. And blood stains would not be tolerated in Matt's driveway. Johnny came to the rescue though, reaching out and grabbing Hazel's arm before she went tumbling to the ground to suffer severe head wounds and most likely die.

"Thanks." Hazel murmured to Johnny as she got out of the car like a normal person does, with your feet below the rest of you.

"No problem." he said closing the door to the car after he had jumped out. They started towards the house, Zacky behind them on the phone with someone. Hazel thought it sounded like a girl but she couldn't be sure as she wasn't listening close enough.

"Matt's not home yet!" Jimmy yelled as he came bounding back to the door where Hazel stood looking around the new place. Johnny went walking towards the doorway where Jimmy had just run from and Zacky walked in just then, stuffing his phone in his pocket.

"Then we just chill and watch tv till they show up." Zacky stated touching Hazel's elbow to usher her into the living room.

That plan would have been okay if Jimmy hadn't been there. The house was in a comfortable silence for the first ten minutes, the only sound that could be considered bothersome was the hum of the children on tv. The high squeaky voices that most people couldn't stand.

"Hazeeeelll." Jimmy dragged out the girl's name as he peeked around the couch. He was positioned on the floor, crawling around being, well Hazel didn't know what he was being.

"What?" she asked, keeping her eyes focused on the flat screen TV on the wall that was playing some rerun of South Park. Zacky noticed her watching and changed the channel, stating she was 'too young to watch that filth.' She sighed and then turned her eyes to Jimmy when the new show didn't interest her.

"We have to set up our fort so the enemies can't get in." he said in a raspy whisper his eyes were narrowed as he looked at her and he was peeking over the arm of the couch so all she saw were his eyes and up. She giggled at the sight and stood up.

"Okay." He quickly pulled her down and said they needed to find base camp. That began their journey upstairs. Zacky and Johnny exchanged a glance before Zacky reached over and changed the tv back to South Park.



After Matt had pulled into the gated community he lived in Brian was gracious enough to point out Matt's house. After that Forest grinned and started thinking up a plan to cause a bit more chaos in the lives of everyone.

"I'm telling my dad you took me into a liquor store." Forest stated the moment the car stopped.

"So?" Brian asked looking back at Forest.

"He's new at this fathering thing, he'll get pretty mad I bet." Both their eyes widened and they tried to make a grab for Forest but he slipped out of their grips and ran towards the front door.

The small glance he got at the house told him it was expensive. Well the front gate at the beginning of the gated community also told him it was expensive. The outside of the house was a sandy color and there were some large windows to the right of the garage that, well he guessed, served the living room.

"Daddy!" Forest yelled through the house as he stepped into the hall, cupping his hands around his mouth to make it travel further. The sound of stumbling footfalls came from a doorway and then Zacky was standing there with a worried look on his face.

"What happened. Are you okay? Are you hurt? Well hurt worse from what you were?" The questions flew out of his mouth and Forest didn't even think he knew what he was talking about. Must come naturally to a parent because he had so many memories of his mother doing the same thing if he came running into the house yelling for her.

Matt and Brian came rushing into the house and Forest flew forward before they could grab him, connecting his arms around his father in a tight hug.

"They took me into a liquor store on the bad side of town. Some pedophile in a fisherman's hat fucked me with his eyes!" Forest said dramatically as he fell on the floor, groaning as his back hit the floor.

"You did what?" Zacky asked looking up and glaring at the two men.

"He didn't see things that he can't unsee!" Brian argued, "And a guy in a fisherman's hat didn't fuck him with his eyes."

"How do you know? You were down the aisles loading up on booze. And my mind is fragile so it could have scarred me for life!" Forest said. He heard Shadow chuckle and it reminded him how fragile his mind was on some occasions.

"It's fine Zacky he's just being dramatic." Matt said sighing and looking at Forest. Who had acquired the new position of being sprawled out on the tile floor acting like he was dead. And with all the bruises and cuts that were visible the act was quite convincing.

"Yes I am. But they did take me to a liquor store in the bad part of town and that can't go unpunished!" He boomed pointing his finger at the two men.

"You'll live Forest," Zacky laughed, "And what can I do? Not talk to them for a week?"

"Of course I will!" He stated happily before standing up a bit painfully and looking around. " And no, where's my sister?"

Everyone shrugged as Forest looked around at them. Zacky and Johnny, who had walked into the hallway sometime ago, hadn't seen them since Hazel had run off upstairs with Jimmy.

They could be anywhere though, the house was pretty big. Four guest rooms and then the master bedroom that Matt slept in. Five bathrooms, a gym, game room, living room, kitchen, dining room, and then there was the vast backyard that had a swimming pool and room to spare. All for one person, but he was never really alone. The guys always came over or he always went over to their houses. But it was nice to know if Matt ever wanted to be alone he had a huge house to come and be alone in.

​​

"Jimmy. What are we doing?" Hazel asked.

They had spent the last half an hour building a fort in one of the guest rooms. It was huge, they had set up the box spring off the bed as a wall then built from there with many blankets and chairs and couch cushions that they had taken from the game room on one of their secret missions.

Now Jimmy was sitting in their fort with a sketch pad in his hands and colored pencils and crayons at his side.

"Drawing a map of the enemy's place. We're in their turf now and we need to sneak down and steal what they love most. Pizza." he stated, some thick accent rolling off his tongue. Hazel laughed quietly at it. He must have spent hours practicing it or he really did have a Russian accent that no one knew about.

"What happens if they catch us?"

"They won't. We're top notch Russian spies. No one can catch us." Jimmy stated before showing her the map. It was well drawn, the whole house drawn out in a multicolored map that almost hurt her eyes by how bright it was. There was a red line, the only red on the map, showing which way they would go, then there were places in black where they would hide if someone came close.

"You do this a lot don't you."

"All spies do this a lot." he stated, narrowing her eyes at her, "Are you saying you don't do this a lot therefore you're not a real Russian spy?"

She laughed and a grin formed on Jimmy's lips.

"Now let us go. Operation get to food because I am still hungry is go!" he whispered loudly before crawling out of the entrance to their fort.

​​

No one really looked for Hazel and Jimmy. The house was too big, they were too lazy, and what's the worst that could happen? That question would soon be answered when they went to get the pizza that sat in the kitchen.

Wild silent hand gestures from Jimmy told Hazel to go ahead and sneak down the stairs. She did, going slowly and without a sound in her bare feet. The living room was full of yelling and cheering as something happened on the TV. Hazel guessed they were watching sports, because no one really cheered when someone cooked dinner on a TV show. And if they did...well that would be weird, weirder then what she was doing now.

The kitchen was in Hazel's sights and she heard Jimmy sneaking around behind her. She looked back, just as he did a somersault off the stairs and hid behind a wall. She smiled, rolled her eyes and crawled into the kitchen.

Her eyes spotted the pizza box sitting on the counter and she just stood up and walked over to it. Her stomach growled as she opened the box, taking out a slice of the pizza and taking a bite of the greasy goodness. Jimmy ran in soon after grabbing a slice and jumping on the counter, eating a piece of pizza in the process. Hazel joined him and they sat there swinging their legs.

"Mission accomplished." Jimmy stated giving her a high five as Hazel giggled.