Trudging along the road Krystine headed to school. Her truck wouldn't start that morning probably for the fact that it was freezing as balls outside and her truck was old. It was her own fault since she wanted such an old vehicle. Her father had tried to convince her for a more modern truck but she was determined to have a 1950's Ford pick-up. There were still some kinks in the truck and that was one of them. The truck wasn't one to be fond of the cold. Krystine pulled her sweater closer to her body and pulled her hat-flaps down fondly. The girl passed the Street of Flags and was startled by the sounds of a horn. Turning slightly she saw a bunch of boys in a car whooping and hollering. Scowling Krystine kept walking. What in the world was that? It was about 7 in the morning on a Friday. It was an anomaly in the tiny town.

Continuing her journey that had about 5-10 minutes more to go another car came whizzing by the pedestrian. Krystine glared until she noted that it was Jay who then turned around by drifting. Stopping in her tracks she stood and waited. The same thing had happened before but without the creepy people in another car. The known car stopped right in front of her and hands flexed on the steering wheel. Rolling her eyes she headed to the passenger side and opened the door. Without even a word she got in and he headed off in the opposite direction of the school. "That was a waste of a walk to school," Krystine muttered and crossed her arms over her chest. The fingers on the steering wheel started to drum as a reply. Krystine rolled her eyes and leaned back in the seat while looking out the window. The silence loomed around the two teens. Unspoken words were exchanging. They both knew what the other was thinking and refused to speak it. Jay drove into a coffee stand, Captain Jack's Espresso, and rolled down his window.

One of the baristas came over to the window and opened it. "Hey there. What can I get cha?" The pad of paper peeking out from under her along with a pen.

"I would like a triple shot mocha with a bit of caramel in it and a Chai Tea," he said and smiled his hosting smile. The lady was obviously swooning underneath her smile and brushed on blush that seemed to get darker.

"Alrighty-I'll get that for ya right away," She smiled and closed the window but having a small crack. Probably to listen to the two teens. Krystine wasn't a very happy camper at the moment and continued to look out the window without saying anything.

"I'm getting you your faaavoorite besides a frozen hot chocolate," he said singsong like. And then nudged her. Turning her head a bit she looked at him and blinked.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." It was then quiet. The awkward feelings emitted between the two. Even though they had been friends for a what seemed a life time awkward silences were impossible to avoid. The barista looked out the window slyly and then returned her eyes to the blender that had the makings of a frozen drink.

"Shouldn't you be taking your girlfriend to school and not your friend?" asked Krystine tartly. Looking back at the boy straight in the eyes. As much as she hated to admit it, she wished she were in Flora's position sometimes. Then people wouldn't look at her like she was trying to steal Jay from anyone. Though, she could never like her best friend like that-there was no way unless Hell froze over. And it wasn't likely considering the ozone layer disappearing.

Puzzlement. Complete and utter puzzlement was written on the face before her. Not like it was anything knew but this was a serious conversation. "Flora has a car-I don't need to take her to school," he said and brought up his hand to her hair and tousled it a bit. Krystine's hand came up and flicked his away. He messed up her curls that took about an hour to do. A smile still on his face. "Cheer up will you? It's Friday and the football game will be freaking epic!" Which put a small smile on Krystine's face. The window opened up and the drinks were thrust out to them. Whipping out a gift card Jay exchanged with the barista and handed the chai to Krystine. Graciously sipping it fleeting eyes looked over at the yellow building. Happiness bloomed within her and the bad attitude waved goodbye.

"Enjoy!" And off they went to endure the day before one of the best days.

Hustle and bustle of the halls were again happening as the lunch bell sounded. Pizza was on the menu today and boy was everyone happy about that. The last couple days the food wasn't that great. Krystine smiled, happy to be out of class and heading to the library. Ever since the 7th grade she'd been going to there instead of the actual lunch room. She did ever once in a while if someone dragged her out or Jill commanded that Krystine be social. Still being chipper, the girl found herself in her spinny chair and waiting for the line to decrease a bit so she could get something. "Hey Jill."

"Well hello there Miss Krysti. And how's your day going?" Jill asked and looked up from the book she was working on. The dedication she had was amazing. Even though she never got her teaching degree like she hoped, Jill still worked hard at the school as an aid of sorts. The knobby fingers would work at the type writer, putting new clear covers of books, making notices for students or anything else they other staff would push on her. Which she would take graciously and only every once in a while get a little frustrated. Jill really was a piece of work. Pulling at the sticker that showed the book was an AR book Jill went back to work listening for Krystine's answer.

Krystine kicked her feet a little and leaned back into the chair. Looking through the windows to the lunchroom then back to the older woman. "Well enough. I got coffee today. A vanilla chai from Jay," she said and smiled.

"How nice. That Jay is a wonderful boy... Say, is he still dating that Flora girl?" Jill crossed her wrists and her head tilted to the side. A dark aura instantly filled the room as Krystine looked up to the blue eyes.

Clearing her throat, Krystine said, "Yes."

"You don't sound very happy about that..." She knew, there was no way that Jill could miss it. Krystine knew that but played it off like it was nothing while pulling out her water bottle from her bag.

"I'm totally cool with it. Flora's just a bit different than me and we fight...a lot. Not like it matters to me," Krystine said truthfully. Her insides tossed and turned within her for some reason. She loved the boy as a brother and wanted the best for him and that girl was definitely not the best. Fingering the cap to her water the girl stared down the bottle. The steel surprisingly cold even after a couple hours. Putting the bottle to her pink lips Krystine took a long drink. Jill blinked and fluffed her short hair before starting another book. She knew better but decided to let the young lady find out on her own what was really going on.

"You keep telling yourself that. Go get your food or something. Someone might think you're anorexic," Jill said in a slightly demanding voice.

"Yes ma'am." With a salute the petite left the library and found herself in the middle of the food line with some of her friends.

"-So I was like, 'whatevers teach!'" The group laughed together when Krystine walked up. Theo was again making some funny imitation of what happened in a class of his. Something probably from that morning. Looking about the group Krystine didn't see Jay but did see his twin, Danni. The blonde flicked her hair to a side and smiled at Krystine. Grasping her hands Danni pulled Krystine over and instantly there was a group hug.

It happened nearly every day it felt like, a ritual if you will. "We were talking about you in Art. Did you make the cookies for the party?" Danni asked.

"Of course I did. I would like to pretend for a while that I'm eating junk food like the rest of you," she laughed. A smile gracing it's presence. The nine friends beamed back while the line to the food shortened until they got their food. Krystine looked down at her tray as she walked with the group to their table. Spinach with cheese and chicken, a banana and yogurt. Krystine has had problems with digesting fructose, sugar, for nearly 4 years and was finally getting used to eating 'the right foods'. Looking over at her friends' trays she noticed the pizza, salad, and oranges or apples. Sighing, she sat next to Danni and Theo. "I miss pizza..."she mumbled and stabbed at the chicken with her fork. The group looked over at her and all had different looks on their faces. Some were sad, some were unsure and other were saying 'dude-we all know the story'. Suddenly Krystine couldn't see anything except little slits of light.

"Maybe you should just eat whatever you want. Screw your digestive system," a male voice said.

"Haha Jay," Krystine said and pulled his hands away from her eyes. Her eyes went up as her head tilted back. With eyes meeting they smiled. "I'm sure you don't want me to be sick all the time. That's what would happen if I ate whatever I wanted." Gently letting go of the boy's hands. Jay grabbed a nearby chair and sat in it behind his sister and Krystine without much thought. He scanned her tray and everyone else's. The poor girl; she didn't have much of a choice with school food and her sugar problem. Reaching out he picked up the orange from Danni's tray and started to open it.

"Who said you could eat that?" She said and tried to get it away from him. Pushing his seat away he dodged her attack easily. Growling a little, Danni tried to go after it again and failed. "Whatever." Being victorious he started to eat the orange. The taste of sweet victory in his mouth.

Lizzie coughed and placed her fork down. Everyone looked over at her and she scanned every person. "You do realize that you both can get food right?" All of the people at the table laughed and Lizzie cracked a perfect smile. With that the ten of them continued on with their lunch and put the trays away. The chairs got put up and the tables washed down before some epic hacky-sac playing.

In the circle of players were J.P., Theo, Georgie, Danni, Nelly, Krystine and Flora. The hack was going great until Krystine and Flora both tried to go for it. Flora's foot hit Krystine's which made them both miss the sac. Krystine sniffed and picked up the hacky and served it over to Georgie. Georgie pulled a few cool tricks until he was called a hacky hog and passed it over to Theo. Which he then made a stall on his chest. "Come on Theo, roll it down!" J.P. said with a laugh. Slowly the hacky went down his body to his right foot which kicked the bead filled fabric over to Nelly. Without doing any tricks she kicked it over to Danni. Pulling another stall but on her back it went down her back and she kicked it back into the circle where Flora attempted to kick it. She missed it by a few inches and began to pout.

"I'll never be good at this. How do you guys even get one kick?" Flora's eyes welled up, almost ready for tears. A few of her friends came up to the girl to comfort her. Krystine made a 'tch' noise but didn't say anything. Looking at the clock and then calculating the amount of time they had left before class. Without saying a word she left the circle and grabbed her stuff to head to Journalism. "Jaaaayy. After the football game can we go to the movies? We haven't gone in a while," Flora said as she hugged him. Her dyed-blonde hair fell across her body into his. Krystine stopped in her tracks to hear his answer. He obviously would tell her not tonight. She knew about the parties the band people had. Heck, she even tried to crash a couple of them. Krystine hugged her small frame waiting for Jay to respond.

"You know I have plans for tonight. How about tomorrow? We can go see that one that you were talking about in L.A..." The bell rang while he was speaking and Krystine couldn't make out the rest of what he said but she knew that he wasn't ditching the band geeks. A smile graced her lips and headed to class.

Krystine was about to yank out her hair until someone poked her in the side. The girl had been working on the school paper for a couple days now. She had been trying to perfect it for the first paper of the school year. At the moment it was being more of a pain than an accomplishment. "Hey Krys, are you okay?" Asked Alice. Her long brown hair slid past her shoulder and on to Krystine's. Green eyes reached brown eyes quickly.

A smile went to the stressed girl's lips, " Oh yes. I'm just needing to finish this so we can print the papers." The final touches were saved and the print button was hit. The two printers in the room came to life and the papers with articles were ready to be folded. "Alright. Everyone grab some papers and start folding. We better be getting these out by the end of sixth period. I'd rather they get out by the end of this period." Pulling her hair to the side she started folding some papers. The group groaned but gathered up some papers. Within a few minutes there were tons of the newspapers being giggled over while folding. "...five, six, seven, eight..." Krystine continued to count the papers as they were finished. Over all they had 100 finished out if the 150 they planned on for the 373 students in their school. Picking up the folded things Krystine headed out to the classrooms to distribute.

The door opened to the art room and Bonnie pulled her head up from her painting. Eyes lighting up she poked Jay and said, "Look! The paper is hear!" She jumped off the stool and bee-lined over to Krystine. Holding out a hand a paper appeared in it. "Sweet!" Wit ha quick hug she ran back over to her stool to read the newspaper. Blinking then looking around, Krystine gave a quick smile to the art teacher.

"I have the paper for your class. I hope I didn't disrupt too much," she said and placed the papers on a table.

Jay's eyes wandered over to the girl at the doorway. Her face was bright with pleasure. She had got the paper out the day she wanted it out. Jay knew that look well; almost like she found something sweet she could digest. He waved a bit to her and vice versa then went back to the drawing and she to Journalism. He hoped to have it finished by Christmas but there was so much detail in it. The charcoal piece was starting to get a bit too tiny for his fingers. Switching to the pencil he started a flower petal. When the bell rung the flower was almost done.

Walking into the band room Krystine was instantly snapped at. "I said to stay after yesterday, Krystine," Mr. Mir said with a stern look. Her bored expression stayed upon her face with a shrug. Inside she was boiling already. She was not in a peppy mood after her stressful day in Journalism. Mr. Jenson already wanted articles for the next newspaper. Adding on some silly argument would just cause her to be in a fouler mood. Pulling her eyes away from Mir's she trudged over to her saxophone case; setting up her beloved instrument. Mr. Mir sighed and rubbed the side of his head. What was he to do with her? The rest of the gang trickled in one by one with Jay coming in last. A pink lipstick stain on the side of his lips. Krystine noticed the odd color and tilted her head. "Alright, I want-"

"You have lipstick on Jay; you might want to keep away from being a drag queen during the day," Krystine said flatly and sat down on her chair. Danni, J.P.'s sister looked over at him and giggled. She was fine with his girlfriend but knew how Krystine felt about her. Danni was cool with everyone; but when something came up about them that was funny she'd laugh. She opened her mouth to say something but saw Mir's facial expression. Mir looked frustrated but kept cool.

"Krystine, Danni; contain yourselves for the class period. Anyway, I want you all to be at the game tonight. We have plenty of music to play and a crowd to impress," Mir continued on with his speech. The classmates all looked at each other. The boredom setting in before ten minutes of class had gone by. Krystine played with one of the keys on her saxophone, every once in a while looking up to Mir. A swack was heard and everyone's heads snapped up. "Since I'm sure all of you heard what I said let's start with The Banner." A groan from a few bandees were heard but they did as they were told.

"That was probably one of the most ridiculous day of class ever," Krystine said and headed to the gym. Lizzie walked next to her and gave the shorter girl a look. "What? Didn't you think so too, Lizzie?" Krystine rolled her eyes and picked up her gym bag full of clean clothes.

"I think you're just overreacting as usual," the brunette spoke softly.

"Tch." Krystine pulled her bag closer while going through the gym doors. "I think you're just being critical of the situation."

"Do you even know what you are saying Krystine?" Lizzie laughed as they walked into the locker room. Krystine mimicked her before changing into proper volleyball gear.

The practice went smoothly with help from the football boys. They smacked some good hits to the girls so they would be ready against tough teams. Krystine drank from her water bottle graciously before heading to the locker room. Walking in she said, "Remember to hide all your things in your locker and lock it. You never know what will get taken." She spoke from experience. One time she had a pair of slippers taken during a football game even though only the opposing team was in there. She was not very pleased to say the least. Pulling on her sweatshirt she headed out. "And I better be seeing you all at the game. Support the Wildcats!" A few hoots and hollers were heard from the gym and both locker rooms. Yeah, this will be one hell of a year for the Wildcats. Krystine thought before leaving to get food before the game.

Authors Corner: So I would really love some feedback or even some suggestions from you readers. I know you're out there! Even a simple "hey, I like your story." would be awesome. Next up is the football game. Any ideas for a name for the opposing team? Love, Ancel