I made it an hour without crying but as soon as I got on the bus I updated my bus driver and another one of my 7th grade stranger friends and my ex-boyfriend of my relationship status. My bus driver hugged me as she congratulated me. Sam called him a "weirdie" and my stranger friend asked why. I explained and tried my best to not sound like I was about to breakdown and fall into a million pieces. Sam's friend who sat in the seat behind him and across from me has seen me like that. I said I was going to kill myself a few months ago and he called the cops on me and he was there when they showed up. Willow just happened to be there when him and the cop showed up too. I cried my eyes out and begged the cop not to tell my parents but i lost and my parents know that i threatened that even though i didn't really mean it and treated me nice for a few days but went back to being mean to me. I did try to kill myself a few weeks after that but my friend Vlad stopped me.

I got off the bus with my ear buds blaring "Dazed and Abused". It was a slow sad song with no real climax but it was one of those songs that explain my life. I was standing on my front porch trying to find my house key in my backpack when a voice came from nowhere.

"Hey" he said. I squealed, he caught me off guard.

"Uh...hey, who are you?" i asked the teenage boy whom I had never seem before. He had short-ish shaggy black hair that covered half of his face, ghost pale skin, bright blue eyes that looked a little unreal and dark tight clothes.

"I'm Oliver, I just moved in next door. I've been saying hi for like, the last minuet or two"

"Oh, I'm Hazel Daae. Nice to meet you" I said to Oliver.

"Hey, are you okay? Your eyes look a little glassy." He asked. And your eyes look a little beautiful.

"Yeah, fine, just had a bad day."

"Well...do you want to put your school stuff in your house and come over to mine and talk about it?"

"It's really not that interesting"

"Then can you help me figure out how to fit a baby grand piano through a skinny door. My parents won't be home for another three or four hours and news said it was going to rain in like an hour"

"Oh, you just want me to help you get your piano inside? Hate to break it to you Oliver but, I'm not strong and I'm super clumsy"

"Well then I'll just put it in the garage until my creators come home and we can hang out and talk about whatever is making your day suck."

"Fine, just give my one minuet" i said returning to searching for my house key. Found it! I unlocked the door and opened it. I had set my backpack on the ground and as i was about to pick it back up Oliver grabbed it and walked inside my house. "That's cool just walk in my house with my things" i mumbled under my breath.

"Nice house" he said as he walked around my living room. My mother is an interior designer so we don't have the usual "country" style house. Everything is very urban.

"Thanks"

"Where do i put this" he said swinging my backpack

"Just put it on the couch" I said, he did as I said.

We went back to his house and sat on the floor in the living room because all the chairs were wrapped in bubbled wrap. The house was so much different the i remember. When I was a little kid the boy that lived next door, Kale, was my best friend. His parents had a messy divorce and after 5th grade I never really saw him again. He was more then a friend though, I loved him like a brother. Looking at his house just made me sad. I remember being in this very room drinking juice and playing a putt-putt computer game with Kale. The horribly stained carpet was no longer here, just wood floors.

"So tell me, why do you look like you're about to cry." He asked as he got two Mountain Dews out of the refrigerator (that was about the only thing plugged up).

"It's really nothing...I broke up with my boyfriend"

"Then...shouldn't he be the one who's upset?"

"No, I didn't want to break up with him. He was going the break up with me and i didn't know how nice he was going to be about it so i did it to his face at school. That was actually the first time I broke up with someone to their face."

"I know how you feel, I had to break up with my girlfriend last week."

"Why?"

"I was moving, long distance relationships don't work, at least for me they don't"

"Why did you move?"

"My Dad's job makes us move around a lot."

"Where did you move from?"

"Purgatory, Colorado, horrible name right?"

"Yeah...sounds like a bad place to live"

"It is, there's was like 10 people in my grade, that sucked. Everybody knew everybody, which is okay but you can't meet new people and everything is so boring there"

"What grade are you in?"

"8th, I'm 14"

"Dude, that's my grade! There's over 800 people in Oak Knoll, but me, Rosemary, Raven, Vlad and Mustang are the only emo, scene, goth, punk kids. "

"There was only three other people like me in Purgatory and they were a lot older then me and they did drugs and drank a lot, but we formed a band and they were my best friends. I was the lead singer"

"You sing?"

"Yeah, rock and screamo"

"That's awesome"

"Thanks, do you sing?"

"Eh, a little, I play guitar and drums"

"I play piano, guitar, cello, bass, bass guitar, drums and i know how to work with some dubstep sound effect stuff"

"Well aren't you an overachiever" I said. Talking to Oliver made me feel better, he's cute too. I just realized that his nails are painted black and he has smeared eyeliner on. He probably had a thin line on, slept in it and didn't bother to put more on this morning. His nail polish was chipped and on the side of his fingers a little bit. He's definitely punk, he has that whole "I don't care" attitude. I love that, it's hot.

Chapter 3, Take This Lollipop

"I want to see you play piano and sing" i said

"Alright, piano is in the garge" He said as he got onto his feet then helped me up. We walked into the cold gargae that was filled with boxes, a black glossy baby grand piano stood in the middle of the madness. "Just got to move some of this stuff so we walk" he said shoving boxes aside. A box labled "glass" fell on the floor and an unsavory sound erupted from inside. "whoops, that sounded like it broke. Hahaha". We made our way to the piano. We sat down on the bench and Oliver tired to deside on a song to play.

"Okay so you probaly know it, so if you want, sing along" he said then gave me a smile. He started playing the fimilar tune of "Bad Day". His vocie was ruff but sweet at the same time, deffinitly a rock vocie. I wanted to kiss him, but that was probaly because I'd had been kissing Mustang five times a day everyday for the past month and I've become addicted to kissing. His face is right there, it's so tempting.

"That was really good and It's really cold out here" I said when he was done, afterall, it is Decemeber.

"Then by all means, let's go inside!" he said. Oliver put his arm around me as we walked to the door. "All the rooms are white in this house, I have to paint them, like, tomorow or else I'll feel like I'm in a mental house or something. I started unpacking some of my stuff and putting it in my room"

"Where's your room"

"Upstairs, I'll show you" he said. We bounced up the stairs hand in hand. I've only be upstairs in this house a few times, Kale wasn't allowed to have people in that offen, but i remeber one day I came over because he wanted to teach me how to play pool. We played for about half an hour or so then his brother Jake came in and got really mad. Turns out, I wasn't suposed to be there he snuck me inside behind his parents backs. I had to hide in a closet while he tired to figure out a way for me to sneak back out of the house.

Oliver's room contained no firnature, just an ipod dock charing an ipod on the floor and pictures on red sting hanging from the celing, a few boxes what were labled "Oliver's clothes 1", "Oliver's CDs", "Olivers pictures" and "Ollie's cams" also a rug that looked like it was from the 70's (it probaly was) layed randomly in the middle of the floor. "I kind of like to take pictures" he said as we ventured inside of the room.

"Ha, i can tell. What do you like to take pictures of?"

"Diffrent stuff, sometimes i'll set up scenes and other times i just see random stuff. I have a picture of my band in here somewhere" He said then started looking through the pictures.

"What was your band called?"

"Dust in the Wind"

"Cool!" i said

"Found it!" he shouted, I walked over to him to see the picture. It was three guys hanging onto the limb of a snowy tree. The first one had red skinny jeans, no shirt, a six pack, a thick line of black eyeliner under his eye and hot pink hair that covered both of his eyes. The guy next to him had brown hair that was swished around his face (kind of like a hardcore justin beiber thing), a bull ring, white converses that had been drawn on, and a trench coat that was covering everything from his neck to his ankles. The last dude was only hanging onto the tree with one hand and looked like he was over 20, he had a 5 o'clock shadow, lip rings, five earings in each ear, brass knuckles, a black plain hoodie, black skinny jeans that were pulled down to mid-thigh and to top it off, he was giving the camera the finger with his free hand.

"How old are these guys?" i asked

"The guy with red jeans is 17, his name is Desmand, he played bass and he was from scottland. The guy in the middle played lead guitar, he's 20, his name is Zackie. Then theres Hades, yeah, like the greek dude in the underworld, it's his real name. He was the drummer, he was 27 and he liked to get in a lot of troubal but his cousin was a cop so he didn't get arrested as much as he should have."

"And you're 14?"

"Just turned 14 in Novemeber"

"Wow, were any of your friends your age?"

"Well, i knew people my age but we weren't friends. My band and my girlfriend...ex-girlfriend, were the main people i hung out with. Enough about me, I want to know stuff about you"

"Me?"

"Is there anyone else I'd be talking to?"

"Oh, well...there isn't that much to me"

"Then tell me what there is to you" he said with a smile. He actaully seemed intrested in who i was.

"My favorite color is black or maroon, I like to write but I don't show many people what i write, i play guitar, I'm a rockaholic and textaholic, I really picky about a lot of stuff. Hmmm, I'm punk, I have a lot of teen angst, I like creepy things, cats scare me, I have a dog, my sister is a jerk and I want to be a fashion designer. That's the basics, I guess"

"Textaholic, me too. What is your number?" He said as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

"804-327-7897, what's yours?"

"I'll text you" he said as he took out and IPhone. Seconds later my phone buzzed, "Hey it's Oliver ;)". I saved his number to my phone. "Send me a picture of you for the contact ID thing" he said outloud

"Sure, you do the same" I said as i scanned my pictures, trying to find one where i didn't look stupid. I desiced to send him the picture of me after I had taken my faux-hawk down and my hair was huge and emo-looking. My phone buzzed, picture message from "Oliver". He had eyeliner on that looked freshly done, his hair had red on the tips and he looked absolutly misreble. Mabye that was because he had a microphone wrapped aroudn his neck. Even while getting choked, he looks hot.

"I dyed my hair before back to solid black before I moved here," He explained "By the way, what time is it?"

"5:08"

"I got time"

"For what?"

"Whatever i want to do, my parents come home until like seven or whatever"

"Where are your parents?"

"With the mover guys probaly or out getting something. I...don't actaully know, they just said bye we'll be back in a few hours, don't kill youself"

"Nice, what do your parents do?"

"Mommy is a music producer, Daddy is in the military. What do your folks do?"

"My Mom is a works for Robert Rentz and my Dad works for Jencare"

"I'll pretend like I know what those two things" He joked

"Interoir Designer and Marketing manager for a medical practice"

"Let me guess, your mom is the cooler one?"

"Yep"

"Same with my parents. My dad treats me like I'm in the Military, it sucks. I don't even know how my mom can stand him most of the time, I can't."

"Same with my parents! My dad yells at me and my sister 24/7"

"I'm an only child, I wish i had a brother or sister"

"Take mine, my sister Lottie hates me. Well, more like she doesn't care"


"I'm sure she does and just doesn't show it"

"She wants a baby and she's 19, I told her not to and told her that it would ruin my life. She said 'I don't care about you, I just want a child'. One of her friends is willing to be the dad"

"Thats...messed up, really messed up. Does she live with you?"

"Yeah, right across from my room"

"Slip birth controll or plan B into her drinks, you'll be fine"

"If she has a baby I'll end up killing it. I hate kids, always have. If that thing wakes me up at 4am crying, I'll come in her room and hit it with a hammer then hit Lottie with that same hammer"

"You're so nice" He said sarcasticaly

I sat at the dinner table poking my fish. I hate fish, it's so gross. Why does my dad think i like fish? Everytime he makes fish he acts suprised when i say i hate fish. "How was school?" my father asked

"Fine" I lied. I wasn't allowed to date Mustang because he had gotten a girl pregant, or that's what people said. I didn't like my parents telling me who i can and can't date so i dated him anyway, it was only for 20 days and we only kissed. But I'd be digging my own grave if I told them I dated him and broke up with him.

"Did you learn anything new?"

"No"

"We have new nieghbors"

'Yeah, I met thier son"

"When?"

"After school, he was outside so I introduced myself" I had to bend my story a little bit, I'm not allowed to go in boy's houses or let them into mine. I have so many rules, how am I suposed to be a proper punk when I'm getting held down by rules that are just to controll me. I'd disobey more of them but my parents scare me.

"What's his name? What's his age?"

"Oliver, he's 14, he's in my grade"

"What is his last name?"

"I didn't ask, I can text him and ask him right now"

"You gave your number to a strang boy? Hazel, you need to stop doing that, it's irrespoinsiable." Since when do I do that?

"What did he look like?" My mom asked

"Black shortish hair, blue eyes, black clothes, regular hieght."

"Was he cute?"

"Yeah."

"I don't want to hear my 13 year old say boys are cute."

"John, it's fine." My mom warned.

"He sounds like an emo freak."

"That's sterotyping Daddy. Emo people are emotional, he didn't seem very emotional to me."

"I bet he cuts himself."

"Still sterotyping, he didn't have any scars on his arms" Or did he? I don't remeber if he did or not. Oh, he had a long sleeve shirt on, mabye he did have cuts that he was covering up. "I'm done"

"You barely ate."

"I'm not hungery." I said as picked up my plate and rinsed it off in the sink.

"Come sit." my dad said invtiting me back to the table.

"I got homework to finish."

"Okay then...you better do that." my dad said but I was already upstiars. I don't have any homework to finish.



I layed in my bed listening to "Punk Goes Pop Vol. 4" and texting Oliver. It's only 9:30 at night, I wish time can go faster. I'd rather be at school then home, theres no parents or Lottie at school. "Hey Ollie :P" I texted. Within a few seconds my phone buzzed "Ollie? I think you should buy me dinner before making up pet names for me. How about I call you Haze?"

"Nahhhhhhhh, I've been called Haze way too much."

"I've been called Ollie way too much"

"So whats up :D"

"Stalking your house :D jk jk jk I'm unpacking stuff. Wanna help?"

"My parents would kill me if i went to ur house. ur parents ever come home?"

"Yeah, they went to home depo to get a new sink because aprently the sink that was arealy here clashed with the color they're gonna paint the kitchen"

"My parents what to meet urs, y'all busy?"

"Nah, come on over. wait...did u just say YALL!?!?"

"People say that down here"

"Ew, no offence"

"Welcome to this southen wasteland :D i hate it here"

"It's really warm here"

"it's 42 degrees!!!"

"I just came from CO, u go there, then u can say its cold"

"where are you orginally from?"

"Alaska, wbu"

"Virginia"

"Lol, you've always lived here. that sucks :P"

"YEAH IT DOES"

"T~T why are you yelling at me wahhhhhhh"

"lol, whats ur lst name? i forgot to ask"

"Hill, not only is it boring, it's common"

"I've nvr met anyone with the last name hill"

"Cool :D so are u still upset about breaking up with ur bf???"

"yeah :'("

":("

"Y r u sad"

"Because you're sad :("

"Thx :/ dont be sad cause of me"

"D= too late"

"Is tomorow gonna be ur 1st day at okms?"

"I'm guessing thats what the school is called and yeah, i start tomorow'

"Do you know your classes?"

"Yeah, A day- math, civics, gym, strings. B day- Sciance, art, ace (whatever that is), LA."

":O we have all the same classes on B day and one class on A day"

"yay! i'll have at least one friend all day B day"

"My x is in ur math, ace, gym and LA"

"Ew, what's his name"

"Mustang, he has a shaved head, gadges and he talks a lot in class."

"Can i say ew?"

"Sure"

"EW!!!" He texted. The lights flickered on and off in the hallway, that means my mom is calling me. Ugh, great what does she want. I know it's not my dad because if he was calling me he'd be flicking the lights on enough too make me have a siezer and he'd be banging on the walls.

"I gtg, text u later ;)" I texted

"laters"

"HAZEL!" my mom screamed

"Yes ma'me"

"HAZEL!" she repeated, i love it when she doesn't hear me. I ran out of my room. "Oh my God! I've been calling you for the last five minuets'

"Sorry, I had my ipod in"

"Grimm is on, come watch!"

"Okay, one sec"

I stood at the bus stop shivering and listening to Escape the Fate. It's so cold, I hate winter. I have thick jeans, a cami, a long sleeve shirt, a shirt over that, knee high boots and a leather jacket. How am I still freezing? I couldn't stop thinking about Mustang, he wanted to break up with me for another girl. I know he has a history of being a player but he seemed like he ment it when he told me he loved me. She's older, that's probaly what it is. Why do I feel like I did something wrong, like I could have changed his mind. No, I couldn't have. No one changes his mind, execpt for the times I did. I begged him not to fight Rosmary's boyfriend Jared while everyone was telling him too but he didn't fight him. He wanted to kill his stepdad and I freaked out on him because I'd die if he went to jail, he promised he wouldn't.

I still care about Mustang with all my heart. I don't care if I'm part of the picture, I want him to be happy, even if I'm not happy. Does that make me in love with him? Matt is one of the many mutal friends we have but he's proabaly the closest one to me and him in that group. Matt told me to get over Mustang or I'd come crawling back to him like I always do. I have no memoery of crawling back to him. I remeber texting him at midnight after we broke up the first time and I asked him a million questions but he never asked me anything. I remeber walking around with him in the school and a few other people and they would always ditch him and it would be just us and being the first and only one he told that he shaved his head and the next day everyone thought I told him to do it.

A tap on my shoulder pulled me off my train of thought. I paused my IPod to see who it was. "So when does the bus come" Oliver asked. His breath was vapor when he talked

"Eight but she's late a lot"

"Can i sit with you on the bus?"

"Sure but I'll be listening to my IPod"

"Me too" he said. Today his eyeliner was fresh, his black nail polish was still chipping, his shirt was from the vans warpped tour, his jeans where red and skin tight, and his black converses where ratty.

"Nice clothes"

"Same to you, I thought you were a punk" He said scoping my wardrobe. My shirt was from the Rockstar Uproar tour, my jeans had holes with leather and plaid patches on them to cover them up but were only held together by safety pins (Did anyone tell the inventor they're not that safe, I have a huge scratch on my knee from putting on these pants this morning), there was a faded bandana on my left combat boot, my black make up was heavy and my hair was huge and covered in hairspray from teasing it this morning.

"Yeah, I am. I'm just saying you won't fit in, just like me. The only diffrence between us though, is that you're the shinny new toy. Everyone will be talking about you for a while. Mustang will probaly want to be friends with you and the preppy girls will be all over you too. I don't know what is it about emo boys at my school but it's like a fashion statment to be dating them or friends with them"

"Is there a lot of emo kids?"

"More girls then guys but less and less every year. Theres only like 7 emo kids and most of them are in the 7th grade"

"Oak Knoll sounds fun!" he said, he was kidding though. "So mustang will want to be friends with me?"

"He's friends with everybody"

"I don't want to be friends with him"

"I am"

"You broke up with him"

"When we start talking again we'll be friends"

"For some reason I can tell I wont like him"

"He actaully nicer then you think, or at least, to me he's always been nice"

"That's what he wants you to think"

"You're kind of nice"

He looked at me and smiled "That's what I want you to think"



"So, why are we in the libery?"

"Just hanging out until we have to go to homebase"

“When do we go to homebase?”

“8:30” I said. It was 8:24, I was leaning agianst a bookcase with Oliver next to me. I glanced over at the door and guess who I saw comming in, Mustang. “Crap!”

“What?” Oliver asked

“Mustang, he just walked in” Oliver looked over at the door, they made eye contact but Oliver’s gaze returned to me

“Is he the jelouse type?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Just play along” He said as he put his arm around me. Mustang looked at us, he gave Oliver a wierd look then started to walk over to us. Oliver put his arm around my sholders and I leaned aginst him a little bit. Mustang's facial expression changed.

He wasn't just comming to see me or Oliver, we had the same friends in the morning and they we're interogating him a few minuets ago but he brushed them off. We were in the normal spot Mustang and I hang out at. When he arrived at the bookshelfs everyone was silent and most of us didn't look at him. He tried to hug Raven but she didn't hug him back. "Is everybody mad at me or something" Mustang asked. An akward silance followed his question and I could feel the negative engery radating off of everyone.

"No" I awnser after a few seconds. Everything when back to normal after that, all of his groupies that he calls his friends hugged him and contuined thier conversations. Then he was infront of Oliver and I. We usally hug in the morning but Mustang just waved akwardly. I waved back, I thought we were going to be friends agian.

"Are you new?" He asked directing his attention to Oliver.

"Yeah" Oliver said emotionalessly.

"I'm Mustang"

"Oliver"

"So...y'all are friends?" He was looking at the new emo kid's arm around his ex-girlfriend

"You could say that"

"Oh..."

"It's 28" i anounced. We all left the Libery at 8:28 so we would have enough time to get to homebase, I'll get lunch detention with Mrs.Moore if I'm late again.

"That means?" Oliver asked.

"We're leaving" I said as i walked to the doors with him while everyone scattered to thier hallways. I hugged Raven goodbye and walked with Vlad, Rosemary, Willow and Oliver to the 8th grade hall. Mustang went to the nurse to get his ADHD pill. I don't know why he doesn't take them at home, mabye it's easier for him.

We split up as we went to our diffrent homebases, I'm one of seven in my homebase. Theres usally 20 something kids in each homebase but I have the Math teacher and a lot of people come in during homebase for extra help with math. I took my seat between Vlad and Jake, like I do everyday. We're all convesed Jake is gay but he says he's not. This school won't matter to him in a few months. He got a part in a soap opera and he's moving to hollywood over the summer or Winter break. But Winter Break is next week.

"Have you heard about the new kid?" Jake asked

"He moved in next door" i awnsered.

"His name is Oliver" Vlad added

"Are we going to have another Mustang at this school" Jake asked. He sounds like a gay man, no joke. Mustang has a gay brother and he's all for gay people and he even thinks Jake is gay.

"Just because we have another emo kid doesn't mean he'll be Mustang's twin. Oliver doesn't even like him"

"Oh true Vlad, you're emo and you're not like Mustang" Jake proclaimed

"I'm goth, theres a diffrance, get it right"


"How is there a diffrance, I really want to know."

"Ok, punks have an attitude and dress more like metal heads then emo and they listen to like angery rock music and its mostly harder stuff. Scene is more of a fashion style then anything. Emo people are emotional and they don't have to cut but they sometimes do and they listen a lot of screamo and tight black and some color clothes. Goth people like reading and writing and art, they're more quite then emo people and they think death is intresting and more then half of they're clothes are dark colors unless you're a cyber goth, then you have hair falls and neon colors and gas masks and fuzzy leg warmers. Metalheads are the people who are obessed with hardcore rock music and they're more like punks. Rockers are a watered down version of punks and metalheads, they're less hardcore." I explained

"That...sort of made sense"

"Now you have no exuse to call me emo" Vlad said.

"Theres diffrent types of goth too, but I won't get into that right now"

"What type of goth are you?" Jake asked Vlad.

"Industrial goth"

"What the frick is that?"

Vlad sighed, he doesnr like many people or talking to a lot of people. I'm one of the very few people he talks to. "It's like baggy pants and chains and metal and lots of black". That wasn't the best defination he could have given but he doesn't get along with Jake that much and he's not a morning person.

I'd be lying if I didn't say I was attrached to Oliver, but i have this hopeless romantic devotion to Mustang. It's much more complicated. I don't want to like him or even know why i like him but I've liked him for so long that it's almost natural. It sounds completely sick and twisted that, but he's a bad habbit, like ciggeretts. He's my addiction.

I sat in my room listening to "Something I Can Never Have" by Nine Inch Nails and wrote down my feelings on a loose sheet of notebook paper that I'll burn at the end of the week. I don't like reminding myself of what made me unhappy or looking back and think about how stupid I was being. I always go to the lake with the pages and a lighter, set the pages on fire and drop them in the lake. It's not exactly envormently friendly but burning them at my house would get me grounded.

There was a clicking sound at my window, the one facing Oliver's house. I pulled back my black and red curtains and found Oliver hanging out of his window. He waited for me to open my own window to talk to him. "Finally, I've been throwing stuff at your window for the past ten minuets."

"I was listening to my IPod, you could have called." I said as I tried to undo the window screen so I could talk to him better.

"Dad took my phone."

"Why?"

"I looked up something that he didn't like."

"Do I want to know."

"It wasn't bad, he just didn't like it."

"So he took your phone?"

"Yeah."

"So...what where you looking up?"

"Depression information."

"You're depressed?"

"I dont know, no one will take me to a therpist. My dad says I'm just being stupid."

"I can't talk to my dad about my feelings. He'd judge me"

"I didn't tell my dad, he caught me looking up depression stuff. He was like 'you're not depressed, you're just being stupid! Now give me your phone and finish unpacking, wrotheless emo!"

"Thats...harsh."

"That's my dad for you. He's gone most of the time, pretty sure thats why my mom doesnt get a divorce"


"My dad is kind of the same, my mom doesnt want to get a dirvoce though."

"Do you know what time it is, I haven't unpacked my clock yet"

"Uh, yeah its 9:45"

"I'm suposed be in bed by 10. I might have to fake sleeping for a while"

"I'm go to bed at 11 but i won't fall asleep until like 1, mabye 3am"

"Do you have sleeping problems Angel?"

"More like a lot on my mind"

"I'm not used to my house being so close someone else's house. It's nice being able to sit in my window and talk to you." he said. A man's vocie escaped from his house. It sounded too farway to be inside his room.

"Oliver Jed Hill, come here! NOW!"

"Crap, my dad is calling me, he said my middle name too. I'm in troubal. Later Haze"

"Bye Ollie" i said. He smiled at me as he closed his window.

I returned to my loose journal and my music. Then the lights flickered on and off in the hallway, I paused my IPod and heard my Mom calling me. "Hazel! Come meet the new neighbors." I walked out of my room and grabbed a jacket. I walked out onto the deck, Oliver and his family were sitting around a fire with Lottie and the male perental unit. The female parental unit was fetching some beers for Oliver's parents.

"Hazel, these our the new nieghbors, the Hills. They moved her from Colorado" my dad anounced.

"Hey" i greeted

"Hazel and I have already met" Oliver said. "We're in some of the same classes"

"Yeah Oliver won't shut up about her" His dad added.

"Way to do the exact oposite of what I told you to do, thanks Dad" Oliver said under his breath. I laughed a little as my mother came back with the beers.


We were out there for about an hour or so, I was almost 11. I can see the Hills and the Daaes being very close. I didn't like Oliver's dad very much, he had a death grip on Oliver's sholder half the time. He also gave me some backhanded compliments that my parent's didn't really seem to notice. I've learned a couple thing's about Oliver and his family already. One, they're not that close. Two, his parents are strict. Three, his dad hates the alturnative cultuar. Four, his dad is completely mean to Oliver. Five, Oliver's middle name is Jed.

At 11:27 I was in bed with the rest of my house, but i wasn't planning on sleeping. With the light of an electric candel I read book 2 in the Supernova serise and munched on a blueberry granola bar. My Ipod was on low playing the song "Tied My Hands" by Seether. My sleeping and eating habbits have been a little offtrack ever since I stopped taking depression pills. I wasn't suposed to take them, my sister took them and offered them to me some days. I had gotten a little used to them but i told myself I had to stop. So I did and I'm on week 2 and 3 days without a pill. It's some sort of an acomphisment, I guess. I feel horribal about myself for getting hooked on Prozac in the first place. Another thing that Lottie messed up.

Staying up reading and eating and listening to depressing music gives me an ounce of peace at the end of the day. I'm on my feet all day, well, it seems like it. Plus, i hate the falling alseep process. Waiting to get tired just wakes me up more. Supernova is about punk vampires, I have an odd taste in books. I'm not sure what tied my hands is about but it sure has a caughty depressing tune and meaningful lyrics. A granola bar is about all i can eat, somehow I ended up being anoereixc. I swear, it didn't start out as starving myself on purpose, it just turned into that when i thought I was fat. I still think I'm fat, I've just learned that what I see in the mirror isn't actaully real. It's funny how messed up I am.

But in a wired way, I enjoy being messed up, seeing how messed up I can get, it's a game that we all play, those moods where i want to kill myself and the days i go without sleep, food or very much water. There's an odd thrill I get from it. But that thrill is more addictive and more dangerous then anyone can imagain. It's worse then Mustang, much worse.

Right now, I place fourth in the game.

Ah, the sweet joy of Friday. No bedtime, no homework due tomorrow, only a few more hours of school, then just friends all weekend long. Raven, Willow, Rosemary, Vlad and I have already planned to go to the mall. Vlad doesn't really like people or malls or shopping but, he is a good shopping buddy and I have to make memories for him because if I didn't then he would sit in his room alone forever. When he looks back on his teen years I don't want him to remember that.

I could feel Oliver's eyes forcing on me. We were in ACE, supposed to be doing the warm up. I wanted to look back at him but then our eyes would make contact and I'd be lost in a gaze until the teacher told me to face forward. I can't just look into some one's eyes while they look at me, i usually end up waving or sticking my tongue out at them. Or maybe Oliver isn't the one starring, maybe it's Mustang. Mrs. Moore sat them next to each other. But I don't want to get caught looking at Mustang either. There's really no winning in this situation, at all.

Something hit the back of my head, I looked behind me and Mustang and Oliver were both looking away. I looked around to see what they threw, a folding piece of paper sat in chair. I picked it up and read it "Hey Hazel, u doing anything after school? Been working on a new song, want to show it to you :) -O"

I scribbled "Sure, could this not wait until we go on the bus or something?" then I threw it back to him. He caught it and both him and Mustang read it. That's cool Mustang, I wrote it to Oliver but you can read it too. Oliver smiled then wrote down something else and threw it back to me.

"Ha ha no, I thought I'd forget to ask and Mustang wanted me to prove something (don't worry about it)."

"Hazel" Mrs.Moore said. "Give me the note" her hand was open for me to place the note inside of it. I handed over and she opened it up and started reading it. Yay, embarrassment, my life is complete. "Hey Hazel, are you doing anything after school? Been working on a new song, want to show you. Oh, it has a little O beside it, so this is a conversation between Oliver and Hazel. So Hazel said, sure...could this not wait until we got on the bus. Then Oliver said ha ha no, I thought I'd forget to ask and Mustang wanted me to prove something, don't worry about it. Oh look at that, there's another page stuck to this one and...it's a conversation between Mustang and Oliver."

I looked back at Oliver and Mustang, they were looking at me scared to death. What were they talking about? Mrs. Moore began reading. "This looks like Mustang's handwriting, so this is what mustang said, 'So...are you going out with Hazel?' Oliver's response was,' would it matter to you if i was?'. Then Mustang says 'Just wondering, are you?', then Oliver says 'Something like that winky face'. Seems like Mustang is getting pretty frustrated at this point because he starts writing big and he says 'what's that supposed to mean?'"

"What's the point of this?" Oliver interpreted

"Is there something that you don't want me to read in front of Hazel?"

"Uh, yeah like all of it."

"Are you going to pass note is class again"

"If i say i wont will you stop reading?"

"yes"

"Then yes" he promised. Mrs.Moore balled up the paper and threw it into the trash can. Oliver sat with a growl on his face pointed at Mrs.Moore the rest of class. I doubt he did any of the work either, I didn't. It was too hard and I just don't feel like doing math this morning.

At the end of the day all my friends stop by my locker and tell me to pack of faster so we can all go home. I love my friends. Oliver has join the group that stops by my locker. Everyone was talking at once, he was saying something but I couldn't understand it. I threw my civics binder in my locker, grabbed my science textbook, shoved it in my backpack and slammed my lock. I stood up and kicked it closed because papers were still sticking out. "Finally, can you be any slower" Rosemary asked. Well, I'd be faster if I didn't have 20 people talking to me at the same time and repeating themselves when I don't answer.

"You should meet me at the lake" Willow said "You can bring Oliver too"

"I'm right here"

"I wanna come!" Raven said

"You don't even live close to Willow and Hazel and Ollie and Vlad" Rosemary said

"It's Oliver, not Ollie"

"Yeah..but you can give me a ride." Raven said with her smile that gets her anything and everything.

"My brother is sick, he can't drive us"

"Maybe another time" Oliver reassured her. He has become friends with pretty much all of my friends already. They all know I called him, even though they think he's cute, they all have their own love life and they're practically begging me to get over Mustang.

"Am i coming over to your house to help you with math Monday?" Willow asked me

"Yeah, I have no idea what I'm doing"

"Can i come too, I suck at math, I'm more of an English guy" Oliver asked

"Same!" i said "Vlad, you should come to the lake with us, if you're not doing anything"

"Well, I was going to read or set things on fire..."

"You can join me in setting paper on fire"

"That's what I was going to burn" he said. Vlad was the one who came up with the idea to burn the pages at the end of the week, it was my idea to write our feelings down. Vlad has been a close friend since 2nd grade, we were always the quietest people in the class and i had a crush on him. We've changed a lot since then but our friendship never changed. I've always been looking out for him and making sure he's not completely miserable. If I didn't I'm not sure if anyone would, he doesn't really let people in. I'm not sure what's so special about me.

We all walked out in one big herd to the bus loop the went off in different directions to our buses. Vlad and Willow rode the same bus, Raven and Rosemary did too. On my way to my bus with Oliver we met up with Cassie. I always see her in the beginning and the end of the school day. "Hey stranger friend!" she greeted

"Hey stranger friend!" i echoed, then hugged her. Hugs were one of my favorite things, I hug everyone, even people I don't know. I know Cassie though, we've been friends all year. The buses started their engines and everyone scattered and ran to their bus cutting off my conversation with Cassie at hello. Oliver and I loaded onto the bus which had enough people that you could put your backpack in one seat and sit in another seat. I sit in the front, only because the people in the back are annoying, then again, so are the people in the front. So, pretty much everyone is annoying. Oliver and I can't have a descent conversation without someone screaming in our ears so we put in our IPod, sit next to each other and don't talk. Unless I have something I want to tell him, but I usually just talk to him when I get home. Sometimes we text while we're sitting next to each other, which seems really sad and that we're slaves to technology but it'd just easier to talk to each other like that.

Today we sat together without saying a word. I listening to Tied My Hands by Seether and he listened to Pain by Three Days Grace. Sam was constantly looking at us, I refuse to talk to him though. Every Time I do, he starts liking me again. It's kind of like me with Mustang, but more pathetic. Oliver nudged me and took out his phone when I looked at him, I did the same. I read his text "What's up with the creeping hipster"

"He either, A: thinks you look weird, B: looking at me, C: thinks we're dating or, D: all of the above" i texted

"Y is every1 sooo weird in this town?"

"This place is weird and it sucks"

"When I move again u need to come wit me"

"I wish i could"

"Mr.Hipster is starting to make me want to punch him in the face and break his glasses"

"Ask him what hes looking at" I texted. Oliver took out his IPod to pause the song, I did the same.

"Hey" Oliver said with an angry undertone.

"Um...hey?"

"What are you looking at?"

"Nothing, I've just never seen you before. Did you just move here?"

"Yeah, what of it"

"Nothing, god, what did I do to you"

"You've been creeping on us for the past 10 minuets, it's annoying"

"Are you two dating, because that's what it looks like"

"You would know"

"Just a question"

"Maybe, maybe not. Would it matter to you if I was"

"What's your problem"

"What's yours"

"No problem"

"Then face forward"

"Okay I will" Sam said then turned around. Oliver seemed satisfied and turned his song back on.

I think that I know that something is wrong with Oliver. No, not wrong, wired wrong. I'm not being hypocritical, there's a million things wrong with me but there's something that's bothering him. I want to find out what it is. Oliver and I we're in our houses putting our stuff down and getting somethings done before we leave until sundown, which isn't that long, only about three hours. Vlad and Willow were going to meet us there. When we say we're going to the lake, we really mean we're hanging out at the mini concert tunnels that are less then 5 feet tall so only I can stand up in them that are on the other side of the lake. We just say the lake because "the mini tunnels across the lake" is too long and the lake sounds more normal.

The doorbell rang, Oliver was waiting for me. I quickly finished freshen my make up and sprinted down the stairs. I don't have a huge house, it's only two floors. I share a bathroom with my sister that super tiny and we usually end up fighting if we're awake and in there at the same time. My room is a fairly good size, it has enough room for a double bed, dresser, desk, bookshelf, guitar+amp+music stand and a 5 foot all Christmas tree. "COMMING!" I yelled but doubted he could hear me through the door.

"Better be!" he yelled back through the door as i turned the door knob. "Hello there gorgeous"

"Hey, thanks, you look pretty good yourself" I said. I couldn't help but smiling when he smiled at me.


"Thanks, shall we go to the lake?"

"We shall" I said locking the door behind me. He took my hand and we ran down the street. We only ran a few feet through before I ran out of breath, I may be skinny but I am in no way shape or form athletic. The lake was in the middle of neighborhood near Willow's house. Our neighborhood wasn't huge but it was big enough that it took about 15 minuets to get to the other side by foot but small enough to know the people in your school that lived in your neighborhood. Well, not really know them, more know of them. Lottie was working late today, parents night out at the daycare she works at. There shouldn't be too many fights tonight, I think I might even invite Willow over.

With the lake in sight I saw a dark figure duck then head into the mini tunnels. Vlad is here. From far away he looks like a shadow because of all the black he wears, plus it was winter so he had a scarf hugging his face. I saw Willow's head poke out, she spastically waved at us. We returned an even more spastic wave then ran again to the mini tunnels.

"So this is the lake?" Oliver said gazing at the random body of water

"Yep, we actually just sit in these tunnels thought" Willow said. Vlad was already sitting Indian style with a container that probably had some edible substance inside.

"Whats in the Tupperware?" I asked Vlad

"Brownies from my Christmas party in math workshop. I'm not gonna eat the rest" He said as he opened the container. We all took a seat on the floor of our suburban cave and took a brownie. Vlad's mom is a pastry chef and she teaches culinary arts down at the collage in Richmond. She always makes brownies and cookies and other delightful things, especially if there's a party at school. Vlad's dad is a professor at collage too, he teaches classical literature, Shakespeare and Poe kind of stuff. Sometimes when we have school off or there's night classes and Vlad has to come to work with his parents I'll go with him. Reading classics and making cookies beats sitting with boredom for hours upon hours any day.

"These are beast brownies" Oliver said "I didn't know it was possible for brownies to be this good"

"Thanks, my mom is a chef and shes way too involved in my school stuff"

"Vlad has a goth family" I said. His parents are Victorian goths, they met at a goth club. They don't drive a hearse or anything gaudy like that, their house is dressed in black lace and dark colors. Classical music is always being played and his dad is constantly quoting poems or plays. There's always some sort of tea and pastry available and a warm welcome to anyone who has appreciation for the goth subculture. I'm a classy punk and a V.I.P in that house. Many think it's weird that Vlad's only friend is a girl but it's fine between us.

I'm not really his only friend, most of my friends consider him a friend but in his mind, I'm the only one. "I want to get to know you guys better" Oliver announced.

"Okay, ask us some questions" Willow responded.

"Favorite color?" he asked

"Red" i answer

"Orange" said Willow

"Black...duh" Vlad grinned

"I like gray. Okay next question, What's your family like"

"Well, we fight a lot but get over stuff quickly. My sister wants nothing to do with my parents so I'm constantly doing things with them. Everyone is always grumpy. Lottie is very selfish and doesn't know how to compromise and thinks she knows everything. And my parents work a lot" I said. Well, that was the basics...sort of.

"My parents are divorced and my dad is a horrible person, he needs to be killed with a spork. I just found out that my mom smokes and her and my step dad had a fight and he started talking to another girl. My mom wants to give him a second chance though. My sister is one year older then me and my ex-boyfriend is a liar. I broke up with him but he's saying he broke up with me! My sister is dating another one of my ex-boyfriends but he's two years younger then her and i still like him. Your turn Vlad"

"OK, my parents are goth and they're very involved in my life and I have a sister and I miss her because she moved to England. I'm the favorite child and my parents pretty much let me do whatever I want, I really have nothing to complain about. I just like being creepy, but I'm really shy." he said

"My dad works for the military and he's constantly gone, that's a good thing though. He's abusive and a total jerk. When he's home he gets drunk and tries to hit my mom, but then I end up getting in fist fights with him to protect my mom. I move around way too much and as soon as I get used to a place we pack up everything and move again. My dad is leaving tonight, I think. I should be okay for a while" Oliver explained.

"Dude, that's not good. If your dad is abusive you should tell the police" Vlad advised

"He's a high ranking military officer. I tried to tell someone in Dallas but they thought I was just trying to get rid of him because he's strict, everywhere I go he warns the police that I lie so I can't report abuse. Plus, it would just get me in trouble because I hit back and I have assaulted him before."

"What if you could get proof that he hits you" I suggested.

"Well most of the time it's more then just hitting. But anyways, what do you mean. Set up cameras or something? I tried that once and he found it so now every time he comes home he looks for camera in case I hid any."

"Give me a week, I'll think of a different way to catch him"

"What do you mean more then just hitting?" Willow questioned

"He's like cut me with a knife on my tongue, ear, arm, wrist and cheek. He's choked me, kicked me, hit me with a belt, banged my head up against the wall, threw things at me and probably the worst thing he did was put drugs in my drinks. Like he put muscle relaxer in my coffee one time."

"What's wrong with your dad!?" Willow shouted

"I don't know! He just hates me. He hates what I'm about."

"My dad doesn't really get the punk thing either" I said.

"He's leaving after dinner tonight" Oliver said

"You should come to my house for dinner, to avoid him. Y'all should all come"

"Sure, I'm in" I said

"Same here" Oliver agreed

"My dad can't cook, I'm coming" Willow said

"Cool, dinner is at 8:00" Vlad said

"Why do you eat so late?" Oliver asked

"That's the normal dinner time around here"

"Weird it was like 5 back in purgatory"

"My parents don't even come home until 6 or 7" I added.

"Hazel, I almost forgot to tell you. I finally unpacked everything in my room. You should come over and see"

"I wanna see your house!" Willow ordered

"Let all go to my house until dinner, it's cold out here!" Oliver ruled.

"Lets!" I agreed.

We walked into Oliver's room not knowing what to expect, we hadn't known Oliver for more then a few days. The photos still hung from the ceiling on red yarn but the walls were painted black with gray cursive writing. "We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we fine someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in a mutual weirdness and call it love" I read out loud. It wasn't the only words but it was the first one i saw.

"Oh, that's a Dr.Susse quote" He explained

"I like it" I said observing the rest of the room. The Ipod dock that was lonely and laying on the floor before was now on a sleek black coffee table around some chairs that were low to the ground and where black and white stripped, kind of reminds me of beetlejuice. The 70's rug with still in the same place. There wasn't a bed, anywhere. There was however, a small couch that looked like the thing you lay on while talking to a therapist next to the windows that had a lovely view of the backyard in dismay.

When the Williams lived here they had a go-cart. They tore up the backyard pretty bad, there's not any grass left. Not that there was really any to start with, it's always been a muddy miniature forest, the go-cart just made it worse. I can still smell the gasoline they spilled, Mr. William's cigares, they're dog Doolittle and their cat Nutin (pronounced in a very southern ascent it sounded like Nutin but his name was actually "Nothing"). They had gotten rid of the broken and rotting wooden play set a long time ago but I could still see it there.

There was a desk in the corner that almost matched the chairs and had wires and papers strewn across it that I wouldn't dare to touch. Over the bed was a hanging bookshelf that had black bound books and little lights that looks like slices of pizza hanging off the edge. There were posters placed randomly on the wall. In the middle of the picture madness, there was a red glass chandelier hanging on a black wire, he probably rigged it himself.

"Dude, sweet room!" Willow said

"Thank you, I finished it last night"

"You just moved here Wednesday!" I said

"I work fast"

"Did you take all these pictures yourself?" Vlad asked looking at a few.


"Yeah, they're all arranged in their different albums. They have different colored dots on the back, that's how I tell what album they're in." he answered

"What album is the one with black dots?"

"It's the negative space, it's the depressing pictures I took when I was in purgatory. Some of them are scenes I set up and some of it is stuff I found."

"It's cool"

"Thanks" Oliver said. Vlad is acting very out of chatarter today. He's actually talking, it's so weird. He never talks this much to anyone but me, especially strangers.

Suddenly, the front door slammed. "Oliver!" his dad called.

"No, he's home. Crap! Ah, you guys gotta hide." Oliver whisper yelled.

"Oliver! Where are you?"

"Be right there." Oliver yelled back.

"Where do we hide?" I whisperer screamed back

"Uhh....closet!"

"Oliver Jed Hill, get down here now!"

"Hide now please" Oliver begged. Willow, Vlad and I all ran in the closet and stayed as quite as possible.

We heard loud boots clunk up the stairs and Oliver's bedroom door open. Then came the scream of his dad "When I tell you to come here, you come!"

"Sorry" Oliver's voice was so quite I could barely make out what he was saying

"No, you're not! If you where you wouldn't have kept me waiting! Get that hair out of your face and put on clothes for guys, you look gay."

"These are guy clothes" his volume grew a little louder

"Doesn't look like it. Are you gay?"

"No"

"Don't lie to me!"

"I'm not lying" he said, it was almost yelling. I think I'm touching Vlad's leg.

"You're a freak. Can't you just be normal, for once?"

"Aren't parents supposed to tell their kids to be themselves?" Oliver asked, he seemed pretty angry but he brings up a valid point.

"Parents of normal children."

"I know that Amber adopted me before she married you but that doesn't give you an excuse to hate me."

His father didn't respond then there was a cry of pain and a loud thump against the closet door that you could feel through the floor. The boot clucked and the door slammed again. Oliver moaned for a moment and I heard the front door slam again.

"You guys can come out now" he said. I opened the door and we all tumbled out.

"Thank god, Hazel had her hand on my leg the whole time" Vlad said

"Sorry, there wasn't really another place to put my hand. Are you okay?" I asked him.

"Yeah it sounded like he hit you then stormed out of here"

"Ha, yeah that's because he did. He punched me in the stomach." Oliver said laying on the ground.

"My mom said y'all can come over but I have to go home now. Are you okay?" Vlad said as he texted his Mom back.

"Yep, I only coughed up a little blood. I'll be fine, see you are Dinner"

"Bye" Vlad said

"Fair well Vladimir!" I said as he left the room

"Later Vladdie" Willow yelled after him.

Out attention turned back to Oliver. He got to his feet and walked over to his bathroom, he lifted up his shirt and looked in the mirror. "Yeah, that's a bruise" he announced. Willow and I follow him, he turned to us. "See?" there was a red and purple patch of skin on the lower end of his rock hard abs.

"Does it hurt?" Willow asked

"Actually, yes, it's extremely painful. I'm going to lay down now" He said then slowly walked back to his room holding his stomach.

"Do you have pain killer or anything?"

"No"

"I have some at my house, do you want me to go get it?"

"Would you give me pain killer?"

"Yeah, no one at my house uses it and you need it. You're in pain"

"Please get it"

"Okay, be back in like 7 minuets" Willow said running out of the room. I looked out the window, there weren't any cars in the driveway. His dad was gone.

Oliver laid down on his bed-couch and I sat next to him, feeling guilty, that I could have stopped his dad from hurting him. "Sorry you had to be around when he did that." he said with what looked like a forced smile

"I'm sorry I didn't stop him"

"He would've done worse then punch me one time if he found out you were here. I'm glad you didn't try to stop him" he said still forcing himself to smile. "I don't really like talking up to you. You should lay down so we're on the same level."

Even though I thought there was a possibility that I could regret it, I laid down. The couch was big enough for one person to have a lot of room or two people to be close together. Luckily we were skinny so we weren't pushing in. "That's better " he said once my face was eye level with his. I could feel his breath on my face. I wanted to kiss him, if I tried to, he'd let me. I could kiss him. So why shouldn't I?

"You know, they said that eyes are the pathway to your soul" He said

"Your eyes are very blue, almost unreal looking. Are you wearing contacts or is that your real eye color"

"Hundred percent real. Your eyes are brown but up close they look more maroon to me, their pretty. You're pretty"

I stared at him for a minuet, not knowing what to do or what to say. Should i say thank you? Should I compliment him? His lips are right there, why don't I just kiss him? "Thinking about something Angel?" he said.

"Isn't it a little early for pet names?" I asked

"Angel fits you." He smiled

"Do you want a pet name too?"

"Nah, I'll stick with Oliver. Pet names aren't really my thing." He said. We both looked at each other smiling, I couldn't help but smile. Cute, interesting, and charming, he's got the whole package. I thought he was going into kiss me but it was just a tease, he leaned his face against mine. Then there was a knock at the door, Willow was back with the pain killer. I stood up quickly to answer the door.

"Hey" I said frantically. Willow knew something had happened, or sort of happened. I always acted a little spazzy and overly exited when something between Mustang and I happened.

"I got the pain killer" she said giving me and all-knowing look before Oliver turned around. Willow knew me better then I did, the second Oliver was out of earshot she was going to put me through a full integration to know what happened while she was gone.

"Yay, you're back." he greeted. Willow gave him a pill packet containing two white chalky pills that leave white grime on your tongue. When I broke my arm last winter because I had tried jumping off the roof of a building onto another building (Mustang's idea) I had taken the same pills. They weren't at all pleasant.


"Hazel and I will go get you some water, be right back" Willow said as she yanked me out of the room and then walking back inside to hand him the pills. When she returned she grabbed my wrist and dragged me down the stairs.

"What happened while I was gone?" she asked with eye's full of excitement

"We...snuggled, I guess." I said.

"Snuggled?

"Well we were laying down and talking and for like half a minuet he had his face against mine"

"Did you kiss!?" she asked as she searched for a cup.

"No, I wanted to but we didn't."

"EW!" Oliver yelled from upstairs. "That was nasty! EW! Why didn't you warn me how bad that taste. Blech! Am I gonna get loopy or something?"

"Yeah!" Willow yelled back

"Yay, can't wait!" he yelled back sarcastically. Willow and I laughed, Oliver is probably the best thing that's happened in a while. I've only known him for three days now but I know this is going to be an awesome friendship. He got Vlad out of his shell around Willow, which in the five years that they've know each other, had never happened. It was always awkward but I think Vlad has two more friends today.

Willow found a cup and filled it with water from the sink. we rushed back upstairs spilling a few drops of water along the way. We burst back into Oliver's room. "Guy's, I don't hurt so much anymore" he said with a way-too-happy-kind-of-creepy-drunk-clown smile.

"That means the pain killer is working" Willow said babying him the way she always did to me when I would say stupid things.

"Is-is that good?" he said as his smile went into neutral and disappeared.

"Yes" she said in a kindergarten teacher voice

"Oh..." Oliver said then stared blankly into space.



About an hour later the pain killer was almost completely worn off, but not enough for us to leave him alone. Willow had to go back home to do her chores before she was allowed to go to dinner at Vlad's house. I was left in charge of Oliver. He mainly stared into space, he didn't say anything or do anything weird. He didn't even move, which freaked me out a little bit because at moments i thought he was dead.

Oliver yawned like he had been asleep for a while "Hey Angel" he said

"Hey stoner, you've been staring at the wall for the past hour."

"I blame the meds" he said "Is Willow still here?"

"No, she went home"

"Then, come sit." he said moving over a few inches. I obeyed and went back to laying with him like we were before. "So, hows your life going?"

"Eh, it's going, I guess. What about you?"

"Gotta love my dad, in case you didn't hear. He's not really my dad, I'm adopted."

"Do you know who your real parents are?"

"My mom's name is Kate Mayer. She gave me up but not my younger brother, his name is Danny. They're both blond with blue eyes. That's all I know."

"Ever tried to find her"

"She didn't want me when I was born, she won't want me now." he looked at me with adorable puppy dog eyes...i mean eye. I can only see one of them. "It's hard being an adopted kid, if your own parents didn't want you, who does."

I gazed into his glassy eyes that were lined in black. They were a bright blue that couldn't possibility be real, they looked mini oceans. From the expression on both of our faces we were thinking the same thing. Our lips met and I was sucked into a passionate kiss. His lips were soft and cold. His kisses were hard, like he was attempting to eat me. My heart raced, or maybe that was his, we were pressed up against each other so tight. I could feel him smiling, not the way-too-happy-kind-of-creepy-drunk-clown smile, more like a satisfied smile. He licked the edge of my bottom lip before retreating.

I open my eyes satisfied with the kiss, i licked my lips. He did the same "Well that was fun" Oliver said.`

"Yep" I agreed

"My stomach still hurts from getting punched" Oliver laughed

"Is that funny?"

"No, if I didn't laugh..." he trailed off

"You'd cry?"

"Yeah" he said laughing more.

"Aw, poor Oliver"

"Tomorrow, I'm gonna pierce my lip!"

"Why?"

"Make my dad mad" he said still laughing hysterically

"Okay, just don't laugh while they're doing it."

"No promises Angel"