“Taking my time on my ride… taking my time on my ride… oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-”

The song cut off as Tony’s phone started ringing. His hand blindly fished for his ringing phone, disconnecting the Bluetooth to answer. “Hello?” A pause. “Oh, hey, Dad.” His eyes remained on the road, but his eyebrows knitted. “Uh, I’m actually going somewhere right now.”

He tried to hold his phone with his shoulder as he stopped at a red light. I reached over and held the phone to his ear so he could drive properly. He thanked me with a glancing smile.

“Alright. I’ll drop her off at home.” A few beats. “Okay. Bye, Dad.” He nodded at me to put the phone down.

I did so. “What happened?” I asked him.

“My dad usually picks up my sister at the deaf-blind school, but he’s getting out late, so he asked me to pick her up.” He put the song back on Bluetooth. The light turned green and he turned left. “So we’re going to drop her off at my house, then go to the movie. We won’t be late.”

“Oh, that’s okay.”

“Could you grab my phone again? Go to the ‘Soccer’ group chat so I can send them a voice.”

I followed his instructions and held the phone up so he could inform his friends. “So your sister goes to a deaf-blind school?” I asked when he was done.

“It’s an after-school program. She goes to the public school, then she goes to the Center for Deaf and Blind Children to wait for Dad. She learns more sign language there.”

“That’s nice. What’s her name again?”

“Addie. Well, Adeline, but we call her Addie. Like my name is Anthony, but I prefer Tony.”

“Oh, Anthony.” I smiled teasingly. “I like Anthony.”

“I like it, too, but Tony’s simpler.”

“And Adeline. Beautiful name.”

We arrived at the Center two minutes later. Cars were parked in the lot, with parents getting out to collect their children. “This’ll be a nice surprise for her,” Tony said as he parked.

He got out of the car. I followed and looked at the many children running around playing. I noticed a little boy pushing a girl in a wheelchair. The girl wore blacked-out glasses, laughing hysterically. The two chased another girl, who ran in circles, giggling. I smiled at the scene.

“There she is.”

A little girl resembling Tony ran out of the building with a pink backpack. She laughed as she played tag with another girl. Her friend signed something to her and waved, running to her father in another car.

She looked around, spotting us. Her little face brightened like a lamp and she ran like a bullet to her older brother.

“Tony!” she shouted, her voice ringing out in a high tone. She ran into Tony’s arms. He chuckled as he picked her up and hugged her tight. My cheeks were aching from so much smiling.

He put her down and she looked over at me. With a questioning look, she signed something to him— presumably asking who I was. Tony led her by the hand over to me. I smiled down at her, hoping to give a good impression.

“Addie, this is my friend Diana.” He spelled out my name with his hand. “She goes to school with me.”

The little girl beamed at me and waved. She signed something.

“She says, ‘Hi, Diana, nice to meet you’.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” I said.

Tony came up to me and showed me his hands. “Nice…” He wiped his right hand over his left palm. I copied him.

“To meet… you.” He showed me the other signs. I repeated them to the best of my ability.

She signed something again with question. “Are you taking ASL?” he asked.

“No, I’m taking Spanish,” I said sheepishly.

He translated my words. Adeline nodded, shrugging. She then asked another question, which apparently embarrassed Tony, since he instantly turned red as a tomato. He responded without saying anything aloud.

She continued signing insistently. Tony reached down and pinched her nose, then messed up her hair. She giggled and poked his nose.

They really loved each other. I didn’t see much of that with the Fields. Even though Harry and I were getting along, we were nothing like Tony and Addie.

It seemed nice. Having real siblings.

“You okay?” Tony looked at me with concern.

“Uh, yeah, I’m okay.” I smiled, this time forcibly.

“Let’s go. We don’t want to be late for that movie.” We went back into the car. Addie bounced on the backseat and patted her seat, insistently motioning to me.

“You mind sitting with her?”

“‘Course not.” I happily obliged and slid in next to her. She beamed with joy. Tony started the car and we pulled out of the parking lot.

Addie took her phone out of her pocket and texted something. She then gave it to me, showing me a message: “Are you and Tony besties?”

I smiled, a bit relieved. I wished I knew sign language. “Yeah, I guess you could say that,” I responded.

“I love your name! You’re really pretty, too!”

“Aww, thank you!”

“What are you doing together?”

“We’re going to watch a movie.”

She seemed particularly excited at that, texting enthusiastically. “Like a date?”

What the-

I looked up at Tony, a bit panicked. His eyes remained on the road. I calmly replied, “No, we’re going out with a few of his other friends.”

Addie seemed a bit disappointed. “Oh, okay. You know, he talks about you.”

My heart quickened and my stomach rippled. “He does?”

“Yeah, he says you’re really fun. I’ve always wanted to meet you! You sound so cool!”

I chuckled. “Thank you! You’re really cool, too! Tony’s told me about you in class.”

“Getting along well?” he asked from the front seat.

“Yup, very well.”

“You’re using her phone, right?”

“Right.”

“Yeah, she loves showing off her phone at school. Don’t tell her this, but that phone’s under a ‘kids’ program. The apps she has there are limited. She thinks it’s a real, adult phone.”

“Gotcha.”

She gave me the phone back. “He was kinda scared that he wasn’t going to have friends at school because we moved here. But he’s really happy there! He really likes you. I was scared, too, but the kids in my class are really nice. I like it better in the center, though. I always have to use my phone at school because no one talks sign there.”

He really liked me?

She took the phone back and wrote another question. “What were you talking about?”

“He was just asking if we were getting along.”

We arrived at Tony’s house. It was a one-floor house of yellow wood with a gray roof. Tony stopped in front. “I’ll be back around 5,” he said, his hands moving fluidly. “In the meantime, you do your homework, okay? Don’t stall.”

The girl groaned and replied.

“No, homework first.” Tony gently pushed her towards the house. “Mom’s the one who’ll ground you, not me. So you do your best, okay?”

She nodded. She hugged him and signed to me, waving. I waved back and watched her run inside.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

“Your sister is so nice.” I got into the passenger seat.

“Thanks. She really liked you.”

“I noticed. She, uh… said you told her about me.”

We pulled away from the house. He blushed and chuckled lightly. “Yeah, a bit. You’re a very interesting person, so… lots of stories.”

“But we only talk in Biology.”

“That’s enough.” He glanced at me. “You’re a fun person, Diana.”

My stomach flipped and heat rushed to my cheeks. “Thank you, Tony.”

He briefly checked the time on his phone. “Okay, we’re on time. I hope you like the movie.”

“I’ve never really watched anime, so this’ll be a first.”

“Really?” His brows raised. “You should watch the Sora series. It’s really good.”

“It’s on TV?”

“No, FilmX. You have that?”

“I don’t think so.”

“You can use my account. It’ll help you understand the film a bit more.”

“Sounds cool.”

He glanced at me again with a smile. “I’m glad you’re coming with us.”

I gazed at him. His eyes strictly stayed on the road, but a calm, sweet smile graced his handsome features. For a while, I couldn’t move.

He was glad I was coming. He was glad… to be with me. And to be honest… I was glad to be with him.

~~~

Harry

Loud groans and yells rang out through the living room. Tommy’s elbow knocked right into my bucket of popcorn, sending the buttery kernels flying.

“Agh! Tommy!” I bent over to pick them up.

“Sorry.”

The commercials came on as the football game paused. Some of us got up to stretch and pop our knuckles from sitting down so long.

“They were so close! Come on!” Lucas stood from the sofa chair. “You got any beer?”

“No beer,” Kyle said.

“Come on, it’s not like your parents are here.”

“I’m not doing this again. I almost got arrested because of you.”

Lucas laughed with the others. “That was two years ago!”

“Just get some soda.”

“I’ll get some Fizz. I’m the adult here.” Sam nudged Kyle and went to the kitchen with Lucas.

“What time do your parents get back?” Hector asked.

“In an hour. They had a late meeting again,” said Jack.

“I thought they had a lighter schedule.”

“Yeah, well, lockdown’s over,” he remarked bitterly. There was an awkward pause.

“How’ve you been holding up?” Eddie asked us.

We all shifted, glancing at each other. “Okay,” Tommy said.

“Now that she knows, are you… I don’t know. Better? Worse?”

“What do you think?” I asked dryly.

“I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking.”

Tommy shrugged. “As good as anyone can be in this situation.” He grabbed my popcorn and ate a handful. I snatched it back.

“What about you, Rick?” Hector nodded at our best friend sitting on the floor next to me.

He only glared at him, downing the rest of his soda. “I could use some beer.” He stood.

“Rick, no, no beer. Please.” Desperation crept into Kyle’s voice. “I promised Mom.”

“Why do we have to talk about this?” Rick demanded.

“Because Diana’s coming back, and we’ll have to face it anyway,” Jack pointed out.

Rick only groaned and grabbed his empty bottle of soda. “I don’t have to see her. I don’t want to look at her.”

“Well, neither do we, and we have to see her every day. You’ll have to face her eventually.”

“Whatever.” He went to the kitchen.

“She’s taking a while to come back, now that you mentioned it.” I checked the time. 4:53.

“If Mom said until 5, she has until 5,” said Jack.

I looked at him. “Since when?”

“What do you mean?”

“For you, ‘come back at 5’ meant ‘come back at 3’. You’re still like that with me and Tommy.”

“Yeah, well, now I’m not.” He threw some popcorn into his mouth, crunching it between his teeth.

4:53 turned into 4:54. I decided to text her on GoodNews. Hey hows it going over there? Is the movie over?

“Game’s on! What’s taking y’all so long?” Kyle called.

Sam and Lucas soon returned with more bags of potato chips and two sodas in hand. Lucas looked disgruntled while Sam was amused. “They better make it this time,” Lucas grumbled. “I feel like I’m wasting my time with this game.”

“It might turn around.”

4:55. She still wasn’t here. She hadn’t responded, either. Was she seriously waiting until exactly 5:00 to get here?

The game went on. More popcorn flew. More yells erupted.

4:56. 4:57. 4:58.

Movement outside the window caught my eye. I stood, carrying my popcorn with me, and peeked through the curtain. Diana rounded a white sedan from the passenger seat. Tony got out of the driver’s.

“She’s here,” I announced.

“Oh, joy,” Tommy sarcastically remarked.

“I’m actually kind of curious. I mean, I’ve seen the pictures, but… in person should be kind of different.” Sam got up and wiped popcorn off his pants.

“Yeah, me too. Is she nice, at least?” Eddie asked.

Jack shrugged, his eyes never leaving the TV screen. “Yeah, I guess.”

“That’s my cue to leave.” Rick stood.

Lucas reached out, stopping him by the shoulder. “No, come on, Thatcher. Give the ghost girl some slack.”

“Get off me, Flynn.” He brushed his hand off.

“Come on, it’ll be interesting. You’ll have to talk to her if you keep coming over here.” Lucas stood in his way.

“No, I don’t.”

“Guys, shut up. I’m trying to watch the game. The game you guys came over to watch.” Jack frowned at them.

“Lucas, let him go,” Kyle sighed.

“I just want to see what happens. We’re delaying the inevitable.” Lucas’s lips curved into that irritating smile again. That smile I always wanted to punch but never got to.

“Get out of my way.” Rick’s eyes burned and his fists clenched.

“Don’t be fighting when she comes in-” Hector was interrupted by the door.

All eyes turned to Diana.

~~~

Diana

“I’ll definitely look up the series. It was good.”

“I’m glad you liked it. You’re telling the truth, right? You honestly liked the movie?”

“Yeah!”

We turned onto the Fields’ street. Their robin’s egg blue house rushed up toward us. There were a couple cars in the driveway I didn’t recognize.

“Want me to walk you up?” Tony asked.

“Sure.”

He parked in front of the house. I got out of the passenger seat and rounded the car. We walked up to the porch together.

This was honestly the best day I’d ever had. Tony’s friends were wonderful. They were all so nice to me, and they even treated me to some ice cream. Even though they were a little put off at first, they seemed to grow more comfortable with me once we started talking.

And Tony was so funny and charismatic. There was just… something about him that I really liked. I didn’t know what. He made me feel comfortable and happy.

“Thanks again for inviting me. I had a great time,” I said.

“Hey, it’s no problem. You can hang out with us anytime. They’re all really cool people.”

“They are! And funny.” We stopped at the front door. I could hear the boys shouting inside; probably watching the game.

“Sounds like a party,” Tony chuckled.

“Apparently.” I bit my lip, awkwardly shifting on my feet. “Um… thanks, Tony. It was so much fun. Uh… say hi to your sister for me. I wish I knew sign.”

“You could learn it.”

“Two languages are a lot for my schedule.”

He shrugged. “Well, if you lose interest in Spanish…”

I blinked. “I can change it?”

“Yeah. You didn’t know?”

I shook my head. “No… I just took Spanish because I wanted a language. Not that it’s not a beautiful language, but… it’s pretty difficult.”

“If you want to change it, you can just go to the office and tell them.” He started back to his car. “I, uh… I should go before I end up staying out past curfew.”

“Right.” I smiled. “I’ll see you, Tony.”

“Remember to do your Familiar account.” He waved and got back in his car. I watched as his white sedan grew smaller in the distance, disappearing around the corner. With a giddy giggle, I turned to the door and used my key to get in.

Inside was a rather… unexpected sight.

Nine pairs of eyes were suddenly on me. I froze on the spot, looking around at the strangers. Three of them gave me the ‘look’ as they regarded me.

“Um…” I closed the door.

“Um, hey, Diana.” Harry came up to me and took my backpack as I shrugged it off. “You were cutting it close.” He showed his phone clock; 4:58.

I gave him a look. “I’m here. So… who’re your friends?” One boy in particular gazed at me with an off-putting smile. I immediately felt uncomfortable looking at him.

“Right. Um, Diana, these are Sam, Hector, and Eddie from college.” Kyle motioned to the three gawkers behind him.

One of them cleared his throat and stepped forward. He was a bit taller than Kyle, towering over me. “Nice to meet you.” He shook my hand, his dark skin contrasting with mine.

“I’m Hector.” The heavyset guy with spiky black hair and thick eyebrows shook my hand next. “And that’s Eddie.” He pointed to the third one, who awkwardly waved from the living room. He was a bit shorter than Tommy, almost my height, and had shoulder-length brown hair.

“And I don’t know if you’ve seen Lucas and Rick at school.” Harry jerked his head at the other two.

The creepy guy kept his unnerving smile on his face as he approached me and shook my hand. “About time we finally met.”

I gently snatched my hand away. This only made him smile more. He was literally giving me goosebumps. I did not like him at all.

Rick, on the other hand, was more familiar. I couldn’t remember where I’d seen him…

His eyes were familiar. Hazel eyes.

He stood farther away from me, his arms crossed over his chest. He greeted me with a curt nod, not saying anything. “I’m going to the bathroom.” He left, leaving everyone staring after him.

“So…” Sam swung his arms back and forth. “Diana. Um… how long are you staying here?”

“Just a few months.” I stared in the direction Rick had gone.

“I heard you were planning on joining the track team,” said Lucas. “That true?”

“Who said?”

“Heard it through the grapevine.” He looked at Harry.

Ah. Well, that wasn’t a big deal. “Okay. Yeah, I thought about it. So?”

“Thought you should know I’m trying out, too. For the men’s team.” He smirked. “It’ll be nice to have someone you know at tryouts, right? Rick’s trying out, too.”

“I didn’t know that.” Tommy frowned at him suspiciously.

“What? Rick didn’t tell you?”

“He said he was trying out, not that you’re trying out.”

“Oh, yeah.” Lucas shrugged. “I just thought it’d be cool.”

“Since when do you do track?” Harry asked. “That’s two seasons in a row, with football.”

“I like a good challenge.”

Rick returned from the bathroom with his phone in hand. “Sorry, guys, I gotta go. My, uh… dad wants me to run some errands. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He beelined past me to the door.

“So fast?” Lucas smiled widely.

“Yeah, it suddenly came up.”

“Hey, did you know Diana was trying out for track, too?”

He stopped, looking at him. “What?”

“Yeah. Tommy and Harry didn’t mention it to you?”

He stood frozen, his reaction delayed. “No…” He looked at Tommy, his eyes blazing. “No. They didn’t.” He turned his gaze onto Harry, who avoided it.

“Now you know. Isn’t it great? We can all help each other out at tryouts.” Lucas’s grin nauseated me.

“Awesome.” Rick’s eyes flickered to mine. I knew those eyes. Where had I seen them?

“A-actually…” My voice stuck in my throat. “Um… I might not try out.”

“Aw. Why not?” Lucas approached me again.

“I’m thinking of going to online school.”

His brows raised. “You are?”

“You are?” Harry frowned at me. His brothers all looked at me with question.

“Yeah, yeah, I… I might. Um… I don’t know yet, though.”

A few heartbeats of silence passed. “I gotta go.” Rick hastily made his way out. “Bye, guys.”

Harry gently pushed the door closed. “See you, Rick.”

I swallowed. I didn’t know what to feel; it felt like there was a boa constrictor wrapped around me, tightening around my throat, leaving just an inch of space for air to pass through.

Lucas was still grinning at me. He was creepier than a spider crawling up my arm.

“I’ve got… homework to do. Nice meeting you all.” I went to the stairs. Hearing footsteps behind me, I saw Harry following me. “What?”

“Nothing. Just… how was it? With Tony?” he asked. The brothers seemed to hear this, turning to listen.

“Um… it was great. The movie was great. His friends were really nice and fun. After the movie, we went out for dinner and ice cream.”

“That sounds fun.”

“Yeah. Randy gave me some advice for the track tryouts. And Kansas gave me tips to make the Cooking teacher like me more.”

Harry chuckled. “Yeah, the Cookie Monster.”

I quirked a brow. “You guys actually call her that?”

“It’s stupid, I know. Did you take any pictures?”

I took out my phone and showed him a selfie we took. He smiled. “I’m glad you had a good time.”

“Thanks, Harry.” I turned, going upstairs. That Lucas guy was still looking at me. There was something about him that really set me on edge. I didn’t know what it was, but…

The look in his eyes… it was familiar. Painfully familiar.