You Found Me

It was a Friday night and although the band (yes, every time I say the band, that automatically includes Daisy) invited me to go watch them rehearse tonight, I stayed at home in my jumper and sweatpants with my hair thrown up in a bun and ready to study several chapters of AP Chem. I sat on the carpeted floor and lied down on my stomach with my highlighter in hand and a pencil prepared just in case I needed to write notes.

Honestly, I'm just really glad that studying hard has become a habit of mine. I've become particularly fond of just reading anything and I'm happy that I decided to study harder now because I was thinking of going off to a nice college and get a scholarship. It's not that I'm looking forward to just leave everything and ship myself to go study, but now, that's what I think I'm best at doing. Studying.

I've finished one half of a chapter when I was startled by a person who appeared out of nowhere in front of my doorway with wide eyes. He was panting like he's been running for miles and it made my eyes widen like I just saw him grow another head.

"What the actual-" I shrieked when Kennedy pulled me out of my room and down the stairs.

"No time to explain," he shook his head and practically dragged me out of my house and into his car.

"WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU TAKING ME? I DON'T EVEN HAVE SHOES ON FOR FUCK'S SAKE," I practically screamed at him as he continued starting the engine and driving off. "IT'S 8 IN THE EVENING AND YOU JUST KIDNAPPED ME FROM MY HOUSE. I DIDN'T EVEN TELL MY PARENTS WHERE I WAS GOING."

"Your mother and father are fine with you leaving as long as you're with me or whoever in the band. Trust me, I told them on my way up to your room," he glanced at me and sped off the road.

"Except Pat," I muttered and rolled my eyes.

"What?" He looked at me his one squinted and back at the road.

"Nothing," I chuckled quietly and shook it off. "But that's not the point! Where are you taking me and what's so important THAT I DON'T EVEN HAVE TIME TO CHANGE CLOTHES? I'M IN A JUMPER AND IN SWEATPANTS. AND NOT TO MENTION. NOT. WEARING. ANY. SHOES."

"Jumper?"

"It's a kind of sweater thing-" I explained but then shook my head and glared at him. "That's not the point. Where in the world are you taking me?"

"It's Daisy," he spoke in a serious tone, not even looking my way. "We just have to get to her, alright?"

"Why? What happened to Daisy?" I asked, a worried tone in my voice. I couldn't even imagine what I'd do if anything bad happened to Daisy. I haven't known her for a long time, but she's the best girl friend I've ever had and I'd go out of my mind if something goes wrong. "John didn't drop by at our house. Does he know?"

"Yeah he does. Now can you please be quiet for a moment because I'm concentrating on driving right now," he glanced my way and looked back at the road. I swore that I could see his mouth twitch like he was hiding a smile.

"Why are you trying to hide your smile?" I tilted my head at him and scrunched my eyebrows.

"I'm not smiling." He totally was smiling now. He was practically beaming and grinning. He was fighting the urge to laugh and I just sunk back to my seat and rolled my eyes.

"You're so dead the moment you stop driving," I muttered and crossed my arms, thinking that he's just playing with me.

The moment I went out of the car, Kennedy rushed by my side and took my hand, pulling me to Daisy's front door. I cursed under my breath because he just made me run on the pavement with my bare feet and I looked like a mess. He was knocking frantically on the door and while I was trying to catch my breath I scanned him from head to toe.

As much as I worried about Daisy and what was so important that I had to get here right away, Ken could have let me change into jeans and slip in into my sneakers.

"Why the fuck do you get to be presentable and I have to look like I just rolled out of bed?" I scoffed at him and crossed my arms.

He didn't answer and we were met by Pat on the other side of the door, making us come in the house. The moment I stepped in, I noticed the whole band sitting on the living room of Daisy's living room. The glass table was moved aside and there were tons of pillows and blankets everywhere.

Pat and Jared were sitting in front of the television with tons of stacks of DVDs in front of them while Daisy and John were sitting on the middle couch with the both of them completely engrossed in a conversation they were having. Kennedy soon joined the two guys in front of the television and walked towards them picking on the movies. I was left slacked jawed, staring at all of them clueless with what was happening.

It wasn't until Daisy turned to me and stood up from her seat. "What are you doing there?"

"If I'm going to be completely honest, I have no idea what I'm doing here," I said, raising both of my hands up in the air with my eyes widened. "Kennedy should've just put a bag on my head and tied my hands together and dragged me here. That would've been more subtle."

"I'll keep that in mind the next time," Kennedy said, turning my way and giving me a thumbs up.

"Is everything okay?" I asked, looking at her from head to toe, trying to figure out if something was even remotely wrong with her. "Are you okay? Because if you are okay, Kennedy is not going to be okay because I'm going to kick his brunette ass right now."

"I'm fine but don't kick Kennedy's skinny ass," she laughed and grabbed my wrist. But before she could take any step further, she looked at my feet and narrowed her eyebrows. "You don't have to take your shoes off when entering my house. Go get them."

"You know... I would but I KIND OF LEFT THEM INSIDE MY DRAWER AT MY HOUSE WHEN KENNEDY DIDN'T GIVE ME TIME TO CHANGE INTO JEANS OR AT LEAST SLIP ON SOME SHOES," I glared holes on Kennedy's head and groaned. Daisy just laughed and pulled me to the couch where she and John sat. "What am I doing here anyway? I was in the middle of studying."

"Do you ever sleep or something?" John tore his gaze away from his phone and raised his eyebrows at me.

"I usually do, yes. Every night and I wake up some time before six in the morning. I think it's a basic requirement of a person to sleep everyday so," I said, the annoyance obvious in my tone.

"Can you cut back on the sarcasm?" John pressed his lips together and rolled his eyes.

"Can you cut back on the stupid?" I imitated him and leaned back on my seat, pulling my legs under me.

"The point is, you could use the rest from everything. And a slumber party slash movie marathon is what we're doing tonight. And you can't say no," she said before I could interrupt her. "Don't get mad but we just really wanted to cheer you up with the Kean thing. You've been awfully quiet when we hang out together for the past couple weeks."

"There's no Kean thing anymore. And aren't I always quiet?" I raised my eyebrow at her, not even remembering a time where I raised my voice to talk except now when I'm ranting about getting pulled here without a single clue with what was happening.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" John said, pulling me away from the living room and to an empty hall. He let go of my wrist and crossed his arms at me. "March, we genuinely care about you here and we're just trying to make you even a little cheered up. If you don't need this and you don't feel even a little sad about what happened the night of the wedding, look me in the eyes and tell me everything's okay."

I looked at him straight in the eyes but I tore my gaze away and rolled my eyes. "Everything is okay."

"You are the worst liar I know," he shook his head in disbelief and chuckled to himself. "You want true friends? They're the truest you're gonna get. Pat suggested this whole thing and he, along with Kennedy and Jared put together a bunch of movies for us to watch tonight. Garrett's at the kitchen helping Daisy's mom prepare snacks for all of us. And I ordered pizza. So if you want to go home, go home and get back to your textbook for AP Chem," he motioned for the door and stared at me.

I just stood there in silence while my glare softened into just a stare. I crossed my arms at him and breathed out, completely frustrated by everything that's happening. I may be smarter than John academically, but I know he's street smarter or something like that. Like the person I can count on to give me fucking life lessons. And it's fucking me up.

"Come here," he grabbed my arm and pulled me to him, engulfing me in a hug. I wrapped my arms around him and sighed exasperatedly. "And don't worry about your sweats because we all have our sleeping gear packed." We walked back to the living room and at the same time, Garrett walked in from the kitchen, balancing 3 huge bowls of popcorn in his arms. He settled them down on the floor and stood up straight, pressing his lips into a smile and waving at me.

"Uh, hey," he smiled softly then looked back at the kitchen door. "I'm going to finish preparing snacks," he pointed at the kitchen and started walking there.

"I'll help," I nodded at him and the people around the living room, excusing myself. The rest of the guys gave me a smile while I followed Garrett to the kitchen where I saw Daisy's mother, Julienne, putting fries on plates.

"The kitchen smells amazing, Julienne," I grinned at her and she returned it, putting the pan down.

"Thank you, sweetheart," she gave the plates to Garrett and grabbed the plastic cups on the drawer above. "I should also thank Garrett because he helped me get all of this stuff ready."

"Really?" He raised his eyebrow at her and laughed. "Julienne, all I've been doing is grabbing things from here and putting them out of the living room, grabbing things from the drawers you can't reach and grabbing the pans from the oven."

"Speaking of pan in the oven, March, can you get the next batch of cookies in the oven? They're supposed to be done by now," she nudged over to the oven and I simply nodded, picking up the pot holder on the counter and putting the baking pan on a rack. I put them on the plate at let them cool there while I washed the dishes and the tools in the sink. "March, drop that there. Take the plate of cookies and bring 'em out there and join your friends. I'll take care of this."

"Okay let me just-" I grabbed one of the baking pans just to discover that it was one of the pans fresh out of the oven, making me pull my hand back in an instant the moment I felt the heat of the pan sting my skin. "Holy sh-" I paused and widened my eyes when I realized that Julienne was beside me. "Sh-shirt."

I laughed and she shook her head at me with a grin on her face. "Children and cussing."

At the exact right moment, Garrett went through the door with different clothes than earlier. He was wearing only boxers and a clean white shirt. He stood by my side and looked at my hand.

"You burned yourself?" He furrowed his eyebrows at me. I nodded shyly and I was about to say it wasn't a big deal when he took my wrist and led me to the sink, putting my hand under the cold running water. "Freshman Health actually helps sometimes," he chuckled, smiling at me. I hadn't even noticed Julienne go out of the room until she went back in, a burn ointment in hand. Garrett took it from her and he put it on my fingers.

I couldn't even keep my eyes on my hands. My gaze went from his copper-colored hair which looked like it was flying everywhere, to his sky blue colored eyes and that soft smile he had on his lips. The moment his eyes locked on mine, I immediately stepped back from him and nodded a thank you before continuing to go out of the kitchen when Julienne told us so. I shook it off and threw Garrett out of my mind, walking over to the other guys.

What met me was all of them already in what I assume what they sleep in at night. Pat and Jared were wearing pajamas while Ken and John wore shorts and Daisy was in her sweats as well.

"That's why the moment I saw you in your sweats, I decided to just pull you here because you were already in costume," Kennedy wiggled his eyebrows at me. "You look presentable for what we're doing."

"That's touching," I mumbled, sitting down on the floor and grabbing a pillow, leaning on the couch behind. "What're we watching?"

"Apocalypto, Cars, or Happy Feet?" Jared who was sitting on the recliner on the right side of the living room help up the three CD cases and looked at us for answers.

"How the fuck did Apocalypto make its way there?" John crinkled his nose at the movie choice. I knew he never was a fan of blood and gore. "I say it's the talking cars."

"I was thinking more of Final Destination 3 or The Grudge 2," Daisy smiled teasingly at John, patting his leg as if it was going to comfort him.

"Rollercoaster ride gone wrong it is," Pat took one of the DVDs from the stack and put it in the player, making John groan and sink back on the couch. Pat lied down on his stomach on my left on some thin mattress, Kennedy was seated beside me in front of the couch while Garrett was on my left.

There were a bunch of snacks in front of us and while Pat, Jared, and Garrett were going at it, Kennedy and John were a little skeptical about eating anything. I knew John. If he just ate while watching this, the food would go to waste well because, he's gonna throw it all up. I reached over to the pile of food and took one of the bowls of popcorn and offered it to Kennedy who looked anything but comfortable in his spot. He looked at the bowl and took just one, whispering "thanks."

I learned that Garrett, Pat, Jared, and Daisy didn't have major problems with movies like this. Although it really was too brutal and gory from time to time, they didn't squirm like John did. But I had to find a way to keep from smiling too much because Daisy was trying to make him feel at least a little bit better.

I turned back to the screen and continued watching the TV, offering Garrett and Kennedy popcorn from time to time.

"You don't have a problem with blood and guts flying out of people?" Garrett chuckled quietly, sipping on whatever he had in his red cup.

"A little. I think it's too morbid and I'll probably have a nightmare or two but it's a little bearable for me," I whispered, grinning at him. "And you're perfectly okay with these kind of stuff?"

"Yeah," he nodded and laughed. "It interests me."

"Which part? All the guts or the decapitated people?"

"Both?" He chuckled. "I always liked these kind of movies. Zombies even more. Are you enjoying this though?"

I opened my mouth to speak and looked around me. My mind goes back to earlier when John pulled me aside. Never in a million years would I have imagined someone or a group of people would do this just to get me away from all the shit I've went through for the past two weeks. And maybe if they weren't my real friends, I'd still be at home shoving my face on that Chemistry textbook. But here I am, spending my Friday night with them.

I should really rethink my decision to not let them know that John's my brother.

"Yeah," I nodded and beamed at him. "I'm feeling great."

He returned the grin and at that same time, the bell rang and I'm not even sure if John threw some of the popcorn from their bowl into Garrett's head. We all laughed, except for Garrett who glared at John. "Must be the pizza. I'll get it."

John grabbed Garrett's shirt before he could even stand up, making him fall behind on the floor. "No no no. You stay there. I'll get it because I could use a rest from all these brain matter," John motioned for the TV making me laugh even more.

"Are you sure?" Daisy said before he could make it halfway from the living room to the door. "When you open that door, you don't know what thing could slice you in half or poke your eyes out."

He looked back at Daisy with a horrified face and walked back to his seat. "Garrett, you get the door."

***

"Aren't you happy that we're watching the talking vehicles now, John?" Daisy teased, biting her lip to stop herself from laughing because of the look John was giving her.

He was practically glowering at all of us with his arms crossed. Pat had just put Cars in the player right after Final Destination. And it was a pretty great idea since even I felt a little paranoid with our surroundings. I got Kennedy to relax and eat unlike John who refused to move from his spot beside Daisy. Whenever I turned back to look at him, he looked like he was too pale that he would faint any time soon. I felt bad in a way because I always knew ever since we were little, I already knew that all the blood and all the gory stuff wasn't his thing.

"We should've watched the talking cars instead of watching that horrible movie," he rolled his eyes and put his hands on his head. "That was awful and I don't think I'm going to an amusement park, the gym, the salon, or maybe anywhere ever for a while."

I turned to Garrett and we both snorted trying to keep ourselves from laughing. We've been making fun of John while we were watching. I was very full from all the pizza, fries, and popcorn so I sunk back on my pillow and straightened my legs on the floor. After 30 minutes into the movie, my cheeks were already pressed on Garrett's arm and he didn't seem to mind that I was leaning on him because he didn't move an inch. I actually think he stopped breathing, but I didn't call him out for it. I could feel my eyes drooping and I was ready to just fall asleep so I shifted positions and lied down on my stomach and grabbed a chocolate bar from the pile of snacks in front of us. It had just started raining hard which was very unusual, but no one seemed to be fazed by it. It made the room colder and the speakers connected to the player was making it enough for us to hear what was going on.

I flinched when I felt someone touch me on my lower right back. I looked back and it was Kennedy, holding his hands up in the air. He pulled my jumper that was riding up, exposing my lower back. I sent him a smile to thank him and continued watching the show. After that, no one really interacted or talked much for the whole duration of the movie, except maybe for Daisy and John who were still on the topic about John being such a pansy with the movie.

When Cars finished, it was only a few minutes until midnight but it didn't seem like they were going to retire to sleep yet. They were planning on watching one last movie but before Pat and Jared could decide what that was, John excused himself and made his way to the rest room.

I was about to stand up and walk to the kitchen to get a glass of water when the lights went out and so did TV and the player. I tried to hold on to something to balance myself and a hand caught mine. "Daisy?"

"Garrett," I could hear the familiar chuckle that made me smile in the dark.

I could barely make anything out in the darkness. When Garrett took his phone out and tried lighting his surroundings, Pat was already on the couch, clutching Daisy's arm and she tried shaking him off but he wouldn't budge so she just let him latch onto her.

"That's fantastic," Jared laughed, also taking his phone out to see where he's going. "I'm going to ask your mom about candles, alright?"

"Can you also go to John along the way and tell him to get here?" Daisy asked, pressing a smile. Jared nodded and he started shuffling away from the living room when we heard someone yelling.

"WHAT THE FUCK. WHO TURNED THE FUCKING LIGHTS OUT?! I was in the middle of-" The voice obviously belonged to John but it was soon replaced by a loud thump and groans.

"I found John," Jared muttered. Garrett pointed his phone at them lying on the floor. "Why were you running man?" He rubbed his head and squinted at the tall boy that crashed into him.

"Because I was taking a piss and the lights went out. I thought I was oh I don't know... Going to die," he sputtered, scratched his head and made his way to the couch to Daisy's other side.

I swore I could've seen Daisy roll her eyes with the help of the light coming from Garrett's phone. I laughed to myself and looked back at them. "I think I hid some of the matches and the candles downstairs in the basement," she gestured to the door on the far end of the hall.

"I'm going to go get them." We turned to the voice that belonged to Kennedy. He took his phone out and lit his path to the door leading downstairs.

"I'll come with you," I smiled, letting go of Garrett's hand and walking by Kennedy's side.

"You three, help me put the food aside so now one steps on them," I heard Daisy command the three other boys she had around her.

I followed him to the door at the end of the hall. He took a moment in front before opening the door and just staring at the stairs. He looked back to me and I was waiting for him to take the next step but he seemed to be frozen on his spot. He then closed his eyes and shook it off and lit the path down to the basement. I had the urge to giggle at him being a little freaked out by the darkness.

Once we reached the bottom step, he opened another door and entered the basement. We could hear the trees rustling and the rain pouring hard and to be honest, I was getting spooked out as well.

"Tell me what you're thinking," I said quietly, following him step by step in the dark room. "Because the silence is killing me and I'm getting scared second by second being down here."

"You're getting scared?" Kennedy turned to me with disbelief written all over his face. "I think I crapped my pants a few several seconds ago. I'm starting to regret volunteering myself to go down here," he looked around and walked to the pile of boxes on the right side of the room.

"Why did you volunteer to go down anyway? I'm guessing that you aren't the type that enjoys all the horror and the scary stuff," I said, peeking at the boxes. I wish I had the time to at least grab my phone before I was taken to Daisy's house. That would've been more helpful now.

"I-uh," he paused as if he was thinking of the perfect excuse to say. "I don't know. I just didn't want to be up there. I wanted to take my chance on dying a morbid death down here," he turned to me, with the corners of his lips pulling upwards into a soft smile. When he didn't see any candles or matches in the box he was looking, he moved to the other side of the room and began looking in the drawers of the cabinet.

"So what is it really?" I asked with a curious tone, following him to where he went. He didn't say anything and he just kept tinkering with all the drawers and cabinets to see if there was anything that could help illuminate the surroundings upstairs. "Ken," I said, but he didn't budge. "Hey, Ken. Kenny," tugged his shirt, hoping to get a reaction from him.

He stopped moving and he kept both of his hands on the edge on one of the cabinets and looked down on the floor, hanging his head low. He took a deep breath and turned to me slowly. "March, can we just find the candles and the matches? I really don't want to stay here any much longer."

"Then why'd you really volunteer to look for the candles in the first place?"

"Let it go, March. " He spoke in a low tone, staring intently at my eyes. "I didn't want to stay there," he shook his head, showing me the box of candles he had found in one of the drawers along with the matches.

"Ken!" I said, a little too loudly because he looked at me with an annoyed look. "I'm not going to leave here until you tell me."

His eyebrows shot up and his mouth fell agape. We stood in the dark in silence until he finally spoke. "Shut up, March. Let's go or I'm leaving you here without any light." He turned around to leave the basement and go up the stairs.

I caught up by his side and stayed quiet until we got to the others. Jared already had a few candles that were probably from Daisy's mom but I'm sure the one Kennedy found would be more than enough. There were already about 4 thin mattresses on the floor with a bunch of pillows and blankets scattered around. The table was moved between the mattresses and the TV and they put most of the candles there and they lit it. It actually did a pretty good job with illuminating the room.

"Movie marathon turned campfire," Daisy smiled, looking at the many candles on the table. "I like it."

"Are we going to sleep now?" Jared yawned.

"Haven't you guys ever heard of a laptop? Texas Chainsaw or Bring It On? " She stood up from the couch and took one of the candles and went up the stairs.

"Tell me it's the cheerleaders. Tell me it's the cheerleaders," John muttered repeatedly to himself.

The moment Daisy came back with her laptop under her arm, the rest of the boys except John and Kennedy spoke, "Chainsaw."

"Perfect," John groaned and I could see Ken closing his eyes and hanging his head low in disappointment.