"Oy, Lantern!" A seventeen-looking young boy with electric blue hair called over to a yellow-haired girl across the hallway of a crowded school. The girl glanced over her shoulder, and seemed to fail to find her caller when her face soon contorted with confusion. The boy raised both of his arms, waving at her, and she suddenly brightened when she saw him. She made her way, weaving in and out of the crowds, towards him.

"Hi, 'Lectric." She said, smiling at him. He glanced around and saw a few kids staring at him for his yelling across the hallway. He glared at them.

"What?" He hissed, and they turned back to their lockers or began walking to their next class. There was only three minutes left until the late bell rang anyway. Lantern shook her head at him, and wrapped her other arms around her books so she was now hugging a 'Discover Chemistry!' and a 'The Fundamentals of Calculus' to her chest.

"I finally saved up enough for that motorcycle I've been wanting. You want to come with me to pick it out?" He asked.

"Did you actually convince your parents?" She said, mildly surprised.

"Well, no…" He said slowly. He smirked, and touched his eyebrow piercing. "But I didn't convince them to let me get this either, and they took it just fine, didn't they?"

Lantern shook her head good naturedly at him. When he had gotten his eyebrow pierced, his parents had forbidden him to leave his room or have any contact with the outside world for two months. They had attempted to take the piercing away from him, but he had somehow made up a convincing lie that allowed him to keep it. He tugged a pocket of her pants, and she slapped his hand away playfully.

"You're going to get grounded forever," She warned. He shrugged.

"Ah, they'll have to un-ground me in about a year. They can't keep me in the house after I turn eighteen anyway." He said, and she grinned in spite of herself. "And you never answer my question, Lantern. Do you want to come with me and help me pick it out?"

"How are you going to get there? It's too far to walk."

"Don't worry about that. I've got it covered." He winked at her. She sighed. Every time he said that he 'had it covered', it always ended up being some illegal act. He tugged at his own pocket of his black pants with much too many pockets, in Lantern's opinion, and smiled at her. "Well?"

"As long as I'm not involved on any federal crimes, I'll go." She said. "After school?"

"Directly." He answered. He looked down at his watch, and looked back up to her. "You have one minute to get to class."

"Oh, shoot!" She said, and turned to run to class. "I'm going to be late. I'm never late!" She could hear him laughing at her behind her, and fought the urge to turn and curse at him for making her stay so late. He was just now turning to saunter to class, she just knew it. He never cared about being late or doing his homework, yet he still, somehow, always managed to pass his classes with at least a B. She never understood how he was able to pull that off. She always studied hours a day, and hardly got an A. She grumbled about this all the way across the school, running so fast that she might have been able to make a track record, if she had ever wanted to get into sports.

The bell rang just as she had stepped into her advanced chemistry class. She slipped into her desk next to a tall black-haired girl.

"What happened?" The girl asked her. "You're never late."

"I'm not late." Lantern snapped. "And I was held up by 'Lectric."

"I should have guessed." The girl said, shaking her head. The teacher coughed in front of the room, and the class suddenly fell silent and took furious notes as the teacher lectured through the entire class time.

When the bell finally rang, Lantern felt a hand holding her hair, and stopped. She turned to the girl with black hair and sighed.

"What do you want now, Raven?" She asked. Raven tossed a piece of paper at her, and she caught it easily before shoving it in her pocket and leaving the room. She quickly made her way to her locker, where she began shoving her two math books and science book into her backpack for homework that night. She was already a night behind in her science class, and she didn't understand what they were doing in her calculus class. She would need an extra hour to get everything done that night.

She felt a tug at her back belt loop of her too-big black pants, and felt herself being pulled away from her locker. She had just enough time to shut it before she was dragged down the nearly empty hallway. Most kids had already made it out. There were a few kids left, and a few in the bathroom, more than likely doing drug dealings. The teacher's were always so oblivious as to what went on outside of their own classrooms. Lantern always thought they were idiots.

"Alright, I'm coming. You can let go of me now." She said, and slapping away the hand from her pants. She turned and pushed open the doors that led outside of the school. She saw Lectric jog ahead of her to a nice-looking black pick up truck with a few boxes in the back. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"It's not stolen!" He said. She still looked at him distrustfully. "Really! It only happened once, Lantern. You'd think you'd let go of it by now."

A year back, when they were both still in their sophomore year, Lectric had taken a metallic green car, and had nearly been taken to jail if his father hadn't been a good lawyer. He had been grounded for nearly a year then. He had been unable to leave his house for ten months. Lantern had hardly seen him at all that year. Every now and then, he'd convince her to sneak into his room, which was usually fine, until the day that she had nearly been found out. Since then, she had never snuck around his house again.

"Whose is it?" She said, her tone skeptical.

"It's Raven's." He said. "She let me borrow it!"

"Give me your cell phone." She said, holding out her hand. Lectric grumbled something about how nice it was to be trusted as he tossed his black, skull filled phone at her. She almost missed it, but caught it between two finger, as she lifted it up to dial in the number. The phone rang three times before Raven's answering machine took it.

"I'm not here. Get over it. I hope you know what to do at the beep because I'm not going to hold your sweaty hand." Raven's voice came over the phone. Lantern hung up without leaving a message, and tossed the phone back to Lectric, who shoved it into his oversized pocket. He looked up at her expectantly for a report.

"She wasn't there." She said carefully. Lectric grinned, and got into the driver's seat, straightening himself up to reach into his large pockets and grab some keys. He shoved one into the ignition, and started it up.

"Are you coming?" He asked. She leaned against the closed door through the open window.

"You didn't take it without her knowing, did you?"

"I prefer to think of it as borrowing." He said. "I'll give it back to her tonight."

"She's going to be peeved, 'Lectric." She said.

"You're good-looking." He said in a deeper tone. She grinned at him in spite of herself. "Why don't you hop in, babe?"

"Don't call me babe." She said, and opened the door before jumping in. She shut the door as he pressed the gas petal down, and they took off. "Not so fast!" She yelled at him, and shut her eyes as a few high school kids crossed the street. He stopped suddenly, and she flew forward, desperately grabbing the door handle. She turned to glare at him as she settled back in her seat, and put on her seatbelt tightly.

"You could of hit them, you idiot." She said. He shrugged.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She said, crossing her arms on her chest. "Don't go so fast next time. Are you intent on getting arrested before eighteen?"

"I've already been arrested. Just never in jail." He retorted. She sighed, putting her head in her hands, and shaking off her backpack. "In fact…" He said thoughtfully as he drove down the neighborhood and out onto the highway. "I've been arrested, let's see, one, two, three…" He counted off. "Five times."

"You'll never get a good job that way. Or get into a good college for that matter." She warned him. He shrugged again.

"I'll go wherever they want me. It doesn't matter that much, Lantern." He said offhandedly. She glared at him.

"Sure it matters!" She argued. "Everything matters. It's going to be your way of life, and I don't want to have to bail you out when your parents finally give up on you."

"Ah, me parent's have already given up on me." He said, and grinned at her, looking away from the road.

"Eyes on the road!" She screeched at him.

"Alright, alright. Keep your pants on." He said. "Please." He added as an afterthought. She pulled her backpack in front of her, and dug out her chemistry book, opening it to 'Chapter Fifty-Six, Unit Seven', and began reading. Lectric glanced over at her, and grabbed the book away.

"What's this junk that you're reading?" He asked, putting it in his lap and looking down at it. Lantern grabbed his head and forced him to focus on the road ahead of them as she took the book back.

"It's my homework for the night, and keep your eyes on the road!" She answered in an annoyed tone before she returned to her reading. She read for the rest of the trip.

"Lantern…" She heard Lectric's voice. She brushed him off, continuing with the chapter. "We're here."

"Let me finish. There's only five pages left."

"That's going to take forever." He said, and snatched the book from her hands. She glared at him, and he grinned, taking her backpack as well. After setting the book back into her bag, he threw a strap over his shoulder and shut the door behind him. She slid out of the truck, and followed him, weaving through cars that were placed all over the lot, and to a section full of motorcycles. Lectric immediately found his way to a bright blue one, that, of course, had a black skull across both sides. The seat was black, and the black wheels had four skulls around them.

He poked over at it.

"How about this one?" He asked, bending down to examine the wheels. Lantern shrugged.

"I don't know anything about motorcycles." She said. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Then tell me what you think of the way it looks." He said casually. She shrugged again.

"If that's the kind of thing you like, I suppose it works." He glanced over at her over the bike.

"That's not much of an answer. What do you think of it?"

"I don't much like the blue." She said. He shrugged.

"Anything else?"

"Nope." She said, and suddenly added thoughtfully: "You seem to have an obsession with skulls, 'Lectric."

"Oh, you're just saying that." He said in mock flattery. "Stop, you'll make me blush!"

"You don't have to get cynical about it."

"You don't have to use those big words." He said. She looked at him with a slightly confused expression.

"What big words?"

"Cynical." He answered, before standing up with a sligh grunt. He walked over to a black motorcycle, and put a hand on the seat as he bent down to inspect this one as well.

"You know what cynical means."

"Just slightly." He said. "Doesn't it mean something like sarcasm?"

"Cynical," She started. He poked his head up over the motorcycle and shook his head.

"I recognize that tone," He said. "I don't want a lecture on what cynical means. What do you think about this one?"

"It doesn't have skulls on it."

"I can paint them on." He said with a shrug.

"Yes, it's fine." She said. He grinned at her, and she smiled back despite herself. She chuckled as Raven, who seemed to appear out of nowhere, came running up behind Lectric, and smacked him on the back of his head. He fell to his butt, rubbing his head.

"Ow, that hurt!" He complained, looking over at his attacker. "Oh, hi Raven." He said, with an uncertain smile. She glared at him.

"That was for taking my truck." She said. He stood up, and pointed over to where her truck was parked.

"I didn't take it. I borrowed it." He said, and rubbed the back of his head again. "That really hurt, you know."

"Good, it was supposed to." She hissed at him. She made her way over to her truck after stealing her key back from his pocket. With that, she drove off, leaving them stranded in a car lot. Lantern looked over to Lectric, who was still rubbing his head.

"Well, hurry up and get your motorcycle so we can go home. I've got two or three hours of homework to do!" She said, her hands on her hips. He stood up, and shifted her backpack to his other shoulder.

"Lantern!" He said in a mockingly shocked voice. "Getting a motorcycle takes days of consideration."

"Not this time." She said.

"You didn't let me finish." He said. "Which luckily, had been pre-approved. I'm just here to pick it up." He told her.

"Then why did you take me to 'pick it out'?" She said. He grinned.

"You've never ridden a motorcycle." He said. Her eyes widened.

"Wait, you never said anything about me riding the thing!" She said. "I thought that I'd drive the truck, or perhaps I'd call someone to take me home."

"No, no." He said. "You're going to ride the motorcycle with me."

"Oh," She said quietly. "No, no, no."

"Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes." He said, walking over to a black motorcycle with a 'sold' sign on it. He took off the sign, and let it fly off in the wind. He patted the half of the seat behind him. "Get on."

She turned the opposite way. "I'll walk."

He gunned the engine, and rode up next to her. "Get on before I make you get on."

She didn't even give a thought to how he would 'make' her get on, and threw a leg over the bike nervously. She grabbed the backpack, trying to keep the least amount of contact between them as possible, but Lectric grabbed her arms, unattaching them from the backpack.

"The backpack won't hold you." He said. He shook off the backpack and handed it to her. "You put it on and scoot up."

She did as she was told, and he grabbed her arms again, wrapping them around his waist.

"Don't we need a helmet or something?" She asked, her arms very loosely around him, still attempting to make the least amount of contact as possible.

"If you would look at the back of the bike…" He suggested, and she did so, finding two helmets fastened to the bike. She grabbed one, and shoved it onto his head. He brushed it off. "I don't need one," He said. She crossed her arms on her chest.

"I won't ride on this with you if you don't wear a helmet." She said stubbornly. He sighed, and put the helmet on his head, refusing to fasten it. She did the same, but fastened hers. He grabbed her arms again, wrapping them around his waist.

"No," He said, pulling on her arms. "You have to hold on tightly. That's right," He said as she tightened her arms around him. "Ready?"

"No." She whimpered, and he laughed.

"It's not bad, you'll see."

She shut her eyes as he gunned the engine again, and started off. Her arms tightened automatically around him the moment they started off, and she felt a scream work it's way up her throat. There seemed to be nothing between her and the road. Nothing stopping her from falling off the bike and losing her skin when she hit the rough road. The wind hit her bare arms, and froze her. She was getting cold. Now she knew why all the motorcyclists wore jackets so often. It could freeze you, riding a motorcycle. She found that her grip had loosened slightly, and noted that riding the motorcycle wasn't so bad after all. She was actually having fun.

Finally, Lectric slowed to a stop in front of her house. She glanced around, and could feel Lectric turn around to see her.

"I told you it wasn't bad." He said, grinning at her. He unfastened her helmet and took it off for her. "Try to tell me that you didn't like it." He challenged. She finally let go of him, and smiled back.

"It wasn't too bad." She said casually, and reached up to brush her hair back over her shoulders. He took off his own helmet and laughed, running a hand through his already messy hair, only succeeding in messing it up more.

"Wasn't too bad?" He repeated. "You loved it."

"Blah, blah." She said, and turned around, walking to her front door.

"I'm picking you up tomorrow for school!" He called after her, and she turned to him.

"Only if you get here before the bus gets me!" She called back. He didn't seem to hear her though for he had already climbed onto the bike and was ready to make his way out of the neighborhood and into his own.

She made her way inside, and into her room with a quick 'hello' to her parents and older brother before she started taking out her three textbooks to do her homework.

Wow...this is much different than any other story that I've written. A whole chapter and no mention of anything supernatural. ^^;; Gah, it's probably very bad...;

Reviews...please?