Chapter (something) Debbie's POV

Debbie

“You shouldn’t have done that,” was all Katy said to me when I sat down at the edge of her bed. She was sitting at her desk doing her homework like any normal person would be doing on a typical Tuesday evening. Unlike me, she was always on the honor roll and I happened to be a typical C student.

“Oh come on, you’ve gotta be kidding. I did what every reasonable person would do,” I said knowing full and well she’d tell me that was by far the most unreasonable thing to do. But it had to be said, I had to defend myself, even though I knew my statements were invalid and would only help her cause.

When she didn’t say anything, I got up and went over to the window. I pulled back the bright pink cloth and stared down at the snow covered yard bellow. This place was so dull, absolutely nothing exciting, fun, or interesting. I sighed and was about to close the curtains, when I noticed a black figure slyly moving through the shadows toward the front of the house.

I grinned mischievously and half way closed the curtain so that I could still look out, but the stranger couldn’t look in. I wanted to see how far he’d get before getting caught by Betsy, Katy’s pet dog. Betsy, in my opinion, should have been named Jaws because of her highly aggressive behavior.

The man ducked behind the small plastic slide that belonged to Bruno and Staylo, Katy’s two younger brothers. The new moon didn’t help as I strained myself to see what the mysterious person looked like.  I squinted when he hopped out of the shadows and ran across the yard to hide again behind the super old oak tree. Just 200 meters and he would be at the porch. The real question now was; where was Betsy?  And that’s exactly what I asked Katy.

“I already told you, she’s at my grandmother’s house making sure the cat’s don’t bug her overly populated bunny farm. Man do you ever listen to anyone other than yourself?” She didn’t even turn to me when she said that.

I was about to tell her that there was a strange person outside, possibly a murderer or thief, but instead I had to defend my super huge ego. “No, I actually do listen to other people, but when I do, their usually full of s**t and I then zone out.”

“Are you saying that I’m full of s**t?” She said it with in mono tone and scribbled something down.

“Most of the time,” I said and went back to stranger watching, or how Donald called it, hobo tv.

The man, or woman, was now climbing the stairs of the porch. Once he was out of sight I jumped out of the window and landed on the roof. As quietly as I possibly could, I slid down and landed where the person was just a few seconds ago. He was wearing a black hoody that covered his face, black skinny jeans, and black converse. I grinned again seeing how he was failing at trying to pick the lock. I walked up the steps and grabbed the utensils out of his hands. Then I jabbed them into the lock, wiggled them a bit, and vola, the old wooden door swung open. The man fell backward onto his butt and his jaw hung open. His face was painted black probably because he was too poor to buy a ski mask.  Once his shock had passed, he reached into his hoody pocket and pulled out a revolver. I rolled my eyes. He slowly got up still point the gun at my chest.

“Um, get down on your hands and knees?” He screamed. His voice was thick and hoarse. I rolled my eyes again.

“So you could take advantage of me? I don’t think so,” I said using my sassy voice. I put my hand on my hip and raised my eyes daring him to pull the trigger.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” his hand was shaking.

“Then why do you have a gun?” I asked in my no duh voice.

“I’m just doing this for my family, we need the money.”

“Then where’s your duffle bag?”

“Duffle bag?”

“Yah, since you don’t want to hurt anyone then you are obviously here to steal some valuables. And to do that you need to put these so called valuables somewhere.” This was thievery 101 here, and anyone who watched even one CSI or detective show would know this.

“Ah s**t!”

“Yah, I know you’re a little piece of sh"“ but before I could finish my statement he shot me, or so he thought. I was quick enough to duck down and kick my leg out causing him to fall, which led to more bullets being fired. I was on top of him within seconds and had the gun pointed to his forehead. His eyes widened in horror and so did my grin.

“Ya know, I have a license for one of these babies. And unlike you I won’t miss.” I loved the feeling of power that boiled in my stomach. I wasn’t actually going to shoot him, but I did enjoy the look on his face when he thought otherwise.

“Debbie!” Katy screamed looking at the crime scene. She closed her eyes and massaged her temples. “I look away for one minute and the next thing I know you’re on top of some stranger threatening to take his life. And where did you get that gun from, I thought I told you not to bring any weapons to my house.”

“This is explainable,” was all I could say when suddenly the dude started bailing his eyes out. His whimpering was extremely annoying and loud.

“Look what you did; you made the poor guy cry! Shame on you,” she bent over and pushed me aside. She quickly helped him up which looked more like dragging him off the floor. “Is there anything I can get you sir?”

“Yes, I’m a little bit thirsty,” he squealed, as Katy helped him into the house. She let him sit on the sofa and turned on the TV.

“Make yourself at home and I’ll be back with some nice warm tea.”

“Katy?” I gaped at the two of them. Why was she willing to let a thief into her house, especially a bad one? Didn’t she know anything?

“Debbie, you need to stop being so rude to our guest and make him feel comfortable,” was all she said and went into the kitchen to brew some tea.

I sat down right next to him and could hear his heart beat quicken. I leaned over on my arm and stared at him. It felt nice to see him squirm under my death gaze, even if his eyes were glued to the TV. His breathing became heavier as if someone was suffocating him and his hands were shaking. Seconds before I thought he’d have a heart attack I laughed and got up.

“Hey, grow a pair before you start pointing this around,” I said and threw the gun onto his lap. I wasn’t stupid and had taken all the bullets out. And when I was on top of him I also grabbed the extras in his hoody pocket.

  The man quickly shoved it into his pocket and watched me with a little shimmer of hope in his eye. Too bad this guy was an idiot.

“Okay I’ve made the tea; I hope you don’t mind lemon tea.” She set down the tray that held two cups, one large kettle, the sugar bowl, and one tall glass of fresh water with eyes. I grinned and reached for the water. This woman knew me way too well. 

“You don’t like tea?” The stranger dared to ask.

I gave him the stink eye and sat down on the lazy boy. I sipped my water and savored the flavor, even though there wasn’t one.

“No, she just has an eating disorder. Anything below or about the pH of 7 she can’t handle,” Katy said flatly. My grin widened even more. I had no idea Katy could make up a lie like that, and the fact that he actually believed it almost made me laugh out loud.

“So mr. … what is your name?” Katy asked trying to direct the conversation to him. Sly way of getting his name so that we could call the police later to get him arrested.

“Call me Bat man, that’s all you need to know,” the confidence in his voice made me want to vomit. I was about to get up and punch it out of him, but Katy eyed me suspiciously.

“Fine, Bat man, do you like the tea?”

“Yes, it’s very good; my head feels so much better after getting beat up by your friend.”

“Good, now mind telling us your real name?”

“Yah my name is Johnathan Acromate,” he said with a foolish grin on his face.

“Great, now what is your purpose here?”

“I wanted to steal the prized golden necklace that costs over a million dollars.”

“And how did you we owned it?”

“The guy that hired me told me that if I retrieved this article, then my family members would be freed from his captivity.”

“Oh, and I was starting to think that the quality of thieves was going down,” I mumbled.

“What is your boss’s name?” Katy asked firing me a warning glance. It either meant that I needed to be quiet or this was some serious s**t. 

“I don’t know he rarely ever talks to me, and when he does it’s usually at a random pay phone.”

Katy looked over at me and raised one of her perfect eyebrows. I got up and sat right next to him, my turn for interrogating. Katy grabbed a note book and pencil that happened to be conveniently lying around.

“When exactly did you notice your family missing?” I asked.

“Two days ago.”

“Why didn’t you notify the police?”

“He said he’d murder them by cutting off their limbs from the knuckles,” he practically screamed. He was sobbing again and Katy handed him a handkerchief.

“What makes you think he wouldn’t do that even after you get him this golden necklace?”

He didn’t say anything and his body went limb. He was probably going through shock. Yes, reality can hurt. Katy threw the pencil at my face, but I caught it before it could stab me in the eye. She pursued her lips together and folded her arms across her chest.

“Look at what you’ve done,” she said.

“What I’ve done?” I stood up shocked that she would blame me for him being so weak. I was being honest. I told him the reality of the situation. And she has the nerve to blame me?

“Yes. Now I’ve got an unconscious man lying on my couch who was planning to take some ancient heirloom to save his family from some unknown mastermind. Thanks.” She got up and left, taking the tray with her.

“FINE!!!” I holler after her. “I’ll just call Alice and ask her to track down the guy’s boss.” I pulled out my phone and was about to dial one of my closest friend’s number. Just as I’m about to punch in the last digit, Katy comes from the kitchen and throws the hot kettle on my phone. It falls out of my hands, shatters on the tiled floor and shatters the screen. At first I was shocked but then that disbelieve turned into anger.

“If you call her you will be disqualified. Then you will probably get me disqualified because you’re a sore loser. And I don’t want to be disqualified before Gin is!!!” She threw a washcloth at me and marched up the stairs. She turned around right after she was on the last step. “And take care of the guest.”

I looked over at the sleeping man. There was no way in hell I was going to drag him through the house. I was surprised Katy’s parents and siblings haven’t woken up yet. Or wait, she probably used some special tea to knock them out as well. I sighed and grabbed one of his chubby legs and started to pull him toward the basement. It was easier to drag heavy items down rather than going upstairs.

I propped him up against a chair and tied him down. Next I tried stuffing him into one of the many closets that lined the concrete walls. That didn’t work so I put him next to the old furniture and placed a white cloth over him. I admired my handi work and right before I left I got this great idea. I ran over to the Halloween supplies and grabbed an old rubber monster mask. I took off the cloth and put the mask on him. I threw the cloth back on and went up stairs snickering.

Katy had resumed doing her homework and I was left to just sit there and be bored.

“Katy,” I said looking up at the multiple One Direction posters that littered the wall. “You owe me a new phone.”

“Deb, you’ve got hundreds in your house, just use one of those.”

“Yah, but the one you broke happened to be my favorite.”

“It was your fault I broke it so why do I have to get you a new one.”

“How was it my fault? You were the one who threw the boiling tea pot at me!”

“It was a reflex for threatening me.”

“I didn’t threaten you! I just said I’d call Alice and then you went all bezurk on me.”

“It was because you wanted to call her. I know this may all be some stupid game to you, but to me it isn’t. Ok maybe it is. But I want to win against my older brother and the only way that is even remotely possible will be if you don’t call her for help! We can figure this on our own. We’ve done that before. We’ve been independent before and we can do it again.”

“Sorry to pop your bubble and great speech by the way, but the last time we were really independent was like a looooong time ago. I think we just evolved to rely on her. It’s part of human nature, or that’s what I think.” I give her a weak smile and she throws a book at me. I dodge it easily.

“Who are you to claim to know anything about human nature?”

“It’s an instinct.”

“Oh God please help this child!”

“Too late for that, He’s never going to listen. He already knows how much mischief I’ve been into.”

“Probably.”

“By the way, Katy, I’ve been thinking about something.” I just remembered something I’ve been meaning to ask her. The idea had popped into my head during math class. Ah Algebra class, the best place to think about anything other than math.

“And that would be?” She turned to face me. Her chocolate brown eyes stared down at me and I tried my hardest not to flinch.

“Why don’t you ever have anyone over?”

“Because I don’t have any friends at school.”

“That’s not true. What about me and Donald and the rest of the people hanging out with us.”

“You aren’t my friend and neither are they.”

“Wha?” My heart just dropped onto the floor and shattered into a million little pieces. A tear was about to fall from my cheek when Katy started laughing.

“Stop being so over dramatic, you’re my partner you dumb dumb. I have to like you.” 

“But you just said we aren’t friends.”

“No I said I don’t consider you a friend. Well at school anyway. In that old building, nobody’s my friend.”

“Oh, ok. That does make sense,” I wink. “Pretending to be that unliked geek. I see what you did there. Can’t fool me.”

“You don’t make any sense.”

“So anyway, back to the subject I wanted to discuss with you.”

“Yes, just spit it out already.”

“Ok. I was wondering if you could have a party or social event here.”

“You mean like the one at Marry’s place last weekend?”

“No! Oh no nothing like that. That was awful! Please don’t remind me. I was blabbering on and on about… someone unimportant.”

“Oh really? I wasn’t there personally, but from what I heard you really have a thing for the army… some commander?” My face was probably bright red and my cheeks were burning. Did she know who I was talking about? But more importantly, who did she hear this from?

“I’m really stupid when I’m drunk,” I said trying to direct the conversation back to her. “We should have a small get together. Like a bond fire.”

“Like how witches scream and chant over bond fires?”

“No, well sure, I don’t know. I think that we should something. It’d be a waste to not enjoy our next three years of high school.”

“Or I could stay here doing my homework and hopefully get into the college of my dreams.”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t joke around like that. There is no way we are going to last till college. Someone is going to falter sooner or later and the rest will follow suit. Plus, there is no way that I’m to college, again.”

Her eyes narrowed. “When have you ever been to college? I didn’t think you were smart enough.”

“I’m smart, just not book wise. And yes I have been to multiple colleges though out my life time. There is no way I want to go back to them, but I have been.”

“Of course, but just in case, I want prepare myself for the worse.”

“Wow, you really want to beat Gin.”

“Yes, my ultimate life goal.”

“Okay, but I’m dropping out of this silly little contest once high school ends. So can we have the bond fire or not?”

“Sure, as long as you don’t get me disqualified.”

“Perfect, I’ll go message all my friends right now.” I take out her phone from my pocket and started to type on her kik account. I was surprised she even had a social media app on here. Fortunately I was able make a group chat remembering all their usernames. It was kinda hard to forget something since I have photographic memory.

Me: Hey everyone, it’s Debbie, I’m using Katy’s Kik account since she broke my phone. We are going to have a huge bond fire next weekend, it would be great if you all could make it.

Within seconds Henery replied.

Henery: Sure, I’ll bring marshmallows and Mr. Smith’s old hw. Can’t wait to watch it burn.

I smiled at the comment.

Me: Lol and same, I’ll bring his old hw as well. Thanks for bringing the marshmallows.

Henery: NP

“So what did they say?” Katy actually sounded curious or maybe it was just my imagination.

“Henery said he’d come and he’s bringing marshmallows.”

“Who is he?”

“He’s the guy with the lopsided grin and the hair that sticks out in every direction.”

“Oh, him. Isn’t he the guy that has this super huge crush on you?”

“Yes, it’s kinda cute, but also really annoying.”

“Plus you have your commander.” She smirked and this time I threw a pillow at her. She dodged it almost as easily as I did her book. “I’m just joking. From what I heard, he is really in love with you and you are making this girl named Crystal very jealous.”

“What do you mean?” This is the first time I’d ever heard about Crystal being jealous of me. Crystal. She had it all, everything from money to make up to good grades. The only thing she didn’t have was a best friend to rely on. I had one of those; Katy.

“’What do I mean?’ I mean that she has been in love with Henery ever since she was little. I can’t believe you didn’t notice.”

“No way. She’s not into that kind of person. Henery isn’t her type.”

“Apparently not yours either.”

“But she just recently started to date this super rich jock. What was his name again? Jake, Steve, Bob?”

“Are you just making up names? Those three names have nothing in common.”

“Yah I know, but she is definitely dating someone.”

“How do you know that?”

“Simple, I saw them kissing.”

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

“True, well, I’ve got to go, see you in school tomorrow. Oh, and remember to sit with us during lunch.”

“Why, lunch is my time.”

“Because I told you to. Bye!” I jumped out of the window and climbed off the roof of the patio. I skipped to my old beat up truck and got in. I turned on the engine and sang along to the static radio. The snow on the road caused my car to slip and slid and the darkness didn’t help either. I closed my eyes and thought about all the times I had spend in the dark while it was snowing. Most of the time I was with my family and remembering those times made me feel home sick.

Yes, I thought to myself, when I graduate I’m going to quit. I don’t care what the others may think. I’d much rather be a looser and spend my time doing the things I want with the people I care about. There is no way I’m going to college even if I’ll be giving up my status.

Just when I thought I’d start crying, my phone rang. Correction, it was actually Katy’s. I must have forgotten to give it back. I instantly picked up. It was Jonny. I frowned when I heard his voice. Just when I thought I was having a good moment he had to ruin it.

“What?” I asked. He had already begun talking, but I didn’t catch what he said.

“I said I need help!”

“Damn you need help and you’re calling me?”

“Yah I’m calling you because this is your problem!”

“What do you mean my problem? If it involves girls, cars, and money, then I think that’s something Leo can help you with.”

“Oh come on, stop it with the Leo, just because I kissed him one time. It was just a peck on the cheek. It didn’t mean a thing!”

“Sure, sure, that’s what they all say!” I was grinning now despite the fact I couldn’t see a thing and my car was acting up.

“Whatever, I’ll call Edgar, he’s anyway a better Zwei then you are!” He hung up. I winced. Was it really true that I was a bad Zwei? I guess if I don’t finish this dumb game then that would make me one.

I got another phone call, this time from Henry. “Hey Debbie, darling,” he sounded drunk and there was laughter behind him. I didn’t have to be some physic to know it was Sera and Michaela. What were those two idiots up to now!

“What?” I barked with less force than I had with Jonny.

“I just wanted to tell you how much I loved you,” ok now I was sure he was drunk and these girls had done something horrible to him. I took a deep breath and tried to figure out where they were. There were multiple places, but there was no way those two could bring Henry into one of those bars, discos, or clubs.

“Oh that’s-“ I couldn’t finish before Henry started to ramble on and on.

“Yes Debbie. I’m not going to hide it anymore.” You weren’t hiding it very good if staring at me and being awkward around me was hiding. “Yes, I just needed to tell you that whatever happens, I just wanted you to know that. I’ve had my eye on you since the first day of kindergarten. Remember the time I wanted to braid your hair, but Jonny spilt orange juice all over you? I was really pissed off at him for being such a jerk and even I for letting the opportunity pass by. I promised myself I wouldn’t do that again, but I did. It was second grade when the teacher told us to get into partners that would last until the end of the school year. This was supposed to help us get along with each other, but it didn’t exactly do that for me. I was about to ask you when Jerry came up and took you away from me. I was really sad and had to pair up with Jacob Black. You know the kid who constantly farted.

“I guess you could say that I was a hot mess back then, but it only got worse. Remember when the bullies in school were picking on me for my mom packing my lunch. Remember how they threw my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches into the toilets and ate my chocolate chip cookies. I starved for most of my elementary school years until one day you came by and stood up to them. Do you remember?” There was a long awkward pause and I cleared my throat.

“Yah, I remember. I also remember how they pulled me by the hair and thought they could beat me up. I also remember when Ace came to my rescue, because they weren’t really bullies, they were…” but I couldn’t get myself to say the words I just couldn’t. But I did remember.

It was during recess and all the teachers were on their coffee break not really paying any attention to us kids. In short, this was the time were kids like Henry had to fight their hardest to survive the playground tyrants. I was playing truth or dare with my group of friends, which consisted of Sera, Michaela, and a few other girls. Michaela had dared me to walk around and fight against one of the major bullies. At that time, Kris Smiley was the top dog and I was going to have to face him. I wasn’t nervous because I knew I could win a fist fight against an eleven year old in a matter of nanoseconds. I hadn’t paid much attention to him, but if I had, I would have noticed there was something off about him.  

Walking up to him in my bright pink cotton candy dress, I tapped him on the shoulder while he was busy pounding poor little Henry in the face. Henry looked up at me like I was some angel sent down from Heaven to save him, but I’d call myself the exact opposite. The fat boy named Kris turned around. He snarled when he looked down at me and cracked his sausage like fingers.

“Look what the cat dragged in,” his voice was almost as repulsive as his breath. I had to cover my nose with my index finger and thumb.

“Gosh, have you ever heard of a mint?” Wrong thing to say, but I said it anyway. Way to go little me. Poke the bear with a stick why don’t yah.

“What did you say?” He exhaled right into my face and I thought I’d faint from the stench. Instead, I stood my ground and looked him in his beady little eyes.

“Take a F*****G MINT!” I shouted and slapped his pig like face. I barely put any force to it, but even that should have caused him to flinch. He didn’t. He just stood there with an evil smile forming on his lips. The beady eyes dilated and before I knew what was happening, he punched me in the face. I flew backward from the force and landed on the concrete ground with my butt, closely followed by my head. I heard a horrible crack as my skull made contact. Damn gravity. I didn’t expect a little kid to have so much force behind his punch. He was fat and short, not a muscular tall Hercules for crying out loud.

“What a naughty mouth you have young lady! Didn’t your parents teach you any better?” He came closer and put his muddy shoe on my chest. I could barely breathe as he applied pressure to it. My legs wiggled around like worms laying in the street on a rainy day and my arms tried to reduce the weight on my ribs.

“My” gasp “Parents” gasp “Taught me” gasp, and bam I found the pressure point I was looking for and pinched the back of his ankle. He fell backward and within seconds I was on top of him pounding his face with a little more force than I had used earlier. Sadly his lackeys grabbed me by the collar of my dress and pulled me away. They beat the absolute s**t out of me with power a fourth grader shouldn’t even be able to have, even with the enhancement of steroids.

That’s when it hit me. These weren’t regular kids, they were…well, I can’t tell you that without losing the game, which I would have done if Ace hadn’t come to my rescue. Yes, that’s right Ace Fitzgerald, the strongest man I have ever met. He fought those intruders and decapitated them right before my eyes. The orange and purple that spattered onto my face was disgusting, but totally worth it to see him in action. I would be lying if I said I didn’t love the man.

He held out his gloved hand and helped me up. I blushed and looked the other way. That’s when I noticed Henry was out of sight. Apparently when I was dragged away, the thugs brought me to an isolated area of the school. It would have been perfect for them to finish me off, but he came along and the tide turned.

“Next time, warn me when you’re going to do something stupid,” he chuckled. “I’ve got better things to do than worry about you all the time.”

“Thanks Ace,” I whispered. I look up at him and notice he’s wearing that same mask he had on when we first met. I swear, if I could have a flash back in a flash back, this would be the time.

“I would say no problem, but you are most definitely a problem.”

“Shut up,” I said and stomped away from him toward my friends. I still had ‘paint’ spattered on me, but no one suspected a thing. No one except Henry, who came to my side when I emerged from the corner of the building. Ever since then, we were friends.

Now back to reality!

“Yah, I remember,” I said still a little zoned out.

“And then we were friends, all thanks to those dumb bullies. The thing was, you only ever saw me as a friend. But you see, I wanted, no I needed much more than that. I wanted to be your one and only, your true love.” I hate to say this, but I laughed. Yes, I know very cruel, but I couldn’t help it. I already had a true love, just I didn’t know who, where or how I’ll ever meet him again.

“Yah, I know, pretty funny,” the laughing stopped and there were shouts and screaming in the background. “You never loved me and you’ll never ever love me ever again. I totally understand that. I also understand that there is someone else out there for you, someone by the nick name of commander.”

“Wait- how do you know about him?”

“I know about him because of someone’s little video of you drunk at Marry’s party. And it wasn’t until recently that I realized that you and I don’t have the same feelings toward each other. It’s okay that you think I’m just some friend, and will be nothing but a friend.” Did I hear self pity? There is nothing worse than hearing someone talk about themselves that way. It made me angry. Henry had no right to even play the self pity card on me after all I’ve been through.

“Henry, shut the f**k up and listen to me!” I shouted into the phone. “You think your life sucks just because of some child hood bullies were picking on you or that this girl you thought you love doesn’t like you back. Well guess what? I have it much worse okay. Being bullied as a child was much better than what happened to me! Thinking that you love someone and they reject you is much better than what I went through to save the ones I loved and the ones who loved me. Okay I get you’re having a bad day. I understand that you’re drunk. But just think for once about maybe how other people are going. Most likely someone out there is having it worse than you, and that someone, dear Henry is me.” I felt the tears rushing down my cheeks as I remembered my childhood and all the sacrifices made for the people I loved and adored. I should probably take my own advice, but there is no one on this Earth who feels the way I do. I’m all alone.

“What are you talking about? You had a perfect childhood. Your family loves you. All the kids in our grade would swarm around you like bees to honey. You weren’t ever bullied. You had it all, everything that everyone ever wanted. You were Miss Perfect and that’s what everyone loved about you.”

“You’re wrong Henry, I’m not perfect. Pah, I’m the furthest thing from perfect. I’m a MISTAKE!!!” I closed my eyes and threw the phone onto the seat next to me. The water works wouldn’t stop and the hiccups soon followed. When I was born, everyone in my family wanted me dead, especially my grandfather. I was a mistake, a failure, nothing but a poor excuse for a living thing. I was better off dead. I felt the car drive over something large. I pulled over to what I thought was the edge of the road, but landed into a ditch. “Oh great, now this.”

I got out and inspected the road first. Thankfully I didn’t run over some forest creature, but I couldn’t find the thing I ran over. I walked back toward my truck. There was a man dressed in all black leaning against the hood. I quickly wiped away the tears and realized who it was. Of all people, why did he have to show up?

“Hey, sis,” he smiled and then before I knew it his arms were wrapped around me. I couldn’t control it, I just cried. He patted my back but not in an awkward way and told me everything was going to be fine. I wanted to believe him, but he and I both knew that my life was never fine. We ended the embrace and believe it or not, but I felt much better afterward. He handed me Katy’s cell phone and there was an image on the screen. “You might want to check this out. Lucky for you, you didn’t say anything too stupid.”

I grabbed the phone and watched the video. It was a video of me, drunk and insane at Marry’s party. I cringed.

“Oh hey,” it was my voice and I was waving at the camera.

“So this is Debbie, you said you had some secrets you wanted to tell us about?” The voice belonged to one of the football players that sat across from me in AP Calc. I didn’t remember his name, but remembering a voice was much easier, so that’s what I did. There was laughter and giggles as I grinned and started my long tale of secrets.

“I only have one,” I said. I almost dropped the phone to my surprise. Only had one! Nah ah, no way, I had millions!

“OOOhhh then tell,” some girl from my Human Anatomy class hissed. She sounded more wasted than I looked.

“Fine, there is this really hot guy, but I wouldn’t dare date him.”

“Who?” Football jock asked. I guess he wasn’t the one taking the video since he sat down on the sofa next to me. His arm over my shoulder and his eyes locked on my upper body.

“He’s a commander!”

“You mean captain?” His lips brushed my cheek and I swatted him away, giggling. It was clearly fake, mind you.

“No silly, a tall and handsome commander. He’s… well how should I describe him? He’s just perfection. Everything about him brings butterflies to my stomach. The times I think about him usually evolve around me confessing to him, but I know that would never work. He and I are just from two different worlds. He’s … my childhood sweetheart!” And that’s when I passed out in the football player’s arms. He laughed and picked me up.

“Where are you going with her?” The girl from my Government class asked. She had long blonde hair and looked ready to pass out as well.

“To a spare room, I think she needs her rest.” He looked down at me, not in a way some creep would, but in a way an older brother looked at their baby sister. He carried me away and the video moved on to two idiots, who were playing strip poker. I think you can guess who those two idiots were.

“Who was that?” I asked looking up at my younger brother. He wasn’t actually my brother, I just called him that.

“It was Jerry,” he smiled and winked. “Just not the drunk one, he’s more…”

“Sophisticated?” I winked back causing him to chuckle.

“Yes, you could say that. But the main this is, how did you get so drunk and who is this commander dude.”

“I don’t know…”

“Wait a minute,” he quickly grabbed both of my shoulders and pushed me against the vehicle. “That commander, it wasn’t Ace, was it?” Alarm and panic was well written in his voice and face.

I shrugged because I honestly had no idea what I meant when I said commander. I guess I did mean Ace. Hmmm weird. I barely remembered Ace’s status, but I’m pretty sure he wasn’t a commander. He was part of the royal guard that’s all.

“Are you sure it’s not Ace. If it is I’m going to have to pull you out of the game and make you have a come to Jesus talk.” And since I knew my brother that come to Jesus talk would literally involve me talking to Jesus. I didn’t want to leave the game just yet, so I shook my head and made a disgusted face.

“Gosh dude, I can’t believe you would ever say something that horrible, don’t you know he’s gay?”

“Wait what?”

“Yah, Ace is GAY!!!”

“Oh thank god, because Era was starting to have the hots for him a while ago. Or that’s what Azur said anyway.”

“Azur is also pretty gay, except he isn’t interested in guys, but interested in food only.”

“Ha yup that sums up my partner pretty well.”

Author's Note

Just a little something from Debbie's point of view. I'm not sure If I'm going to really add it into the book. Warning: has spoilers, many of them. Enjoy. :) Sorry about language, grammar, etc.