Author's note: In this chapter, I am glad to introduce a few new characters to the story, along with my original character, Bonnie! You can read more about her information in my story "Rugrats: Original Characters."

This chapter will also be my belated Fourth of July special made for this story. We do not see much of a few characters in this chapter, and things finally begin progressing more.

Never mind, I had to move Rosie's birthday to chapter eighteen or nineteen. It'll have to be a flashback one, since I don't want you guys to get the wrong impression that her birthday takes place in the winter, when it takes place in later spring.

We meet Randy Bouchie, lilnate03's OC, in this chapter! By the way, if you haven't read RGU 2, I, once again, suggest that you do, even at its first chapter, it still has some pretty interesting plot twists and keeps up on current events!

The plot point with Maryse, Cree, and Ace might be continued in this chapter, or in future chapters, as I'm not just going to drop a perfectly good plot that I've already written in, if some of you remember.

Sorry for lying about the Zarr moment in the last chapter It didn't end up as planned. In this chapter, hopefully I can get the Zarr moment in.

I've officially decided that after I upload chapter twenty, whenever, that is, I'm going to take a one week's break from this site, spending more time with my family, going to see a few movies, and studying. Once I return, I hope that you'll see that my writing will have improved.

It seems that not as many of you reviewed the last chapter as you did before, though I've only seen Lilnate03, Jose-Ramiro, and celrock on here lately, which explains a lot. It seems as if you others have been taking a mini break from this site yourselves, since I haven't seen many stories from anyone lately, though, I hope that if this is a really serious issue, that you're okay. However, I am perfectly fine with this as long as you actually gave chapter sixteen a read.

For now, that happens to be all that I have to say, and remember, for those of you who haven't been on lately, I sure hope that you're okay! Ooh, that rhymed.

Responses to chapter sixteen (I replied to a few of these through messaging):

celrock: Thank you! Yes, I've always thought that they would get along pretty well myself. Yep, this is where it all starts

Jose-Ramiro: Thanks, and, being a Chuckie/Angelica shipper yourself, I also assume that you liked the idea of him proposing to her

Lilnate03: Yeah, I need to work on time management! I mean, this story hasn't been updated for nearly a year! I do think that you guys deserve it, and I am a fast enough writer. Yeah, Zack seems like he really needs advice with the girls right now, since he's stuck in more than a love triangle – since it's Starr/Zack/Kimi/Peter/Phil all with these romance issues, it seems as if he's stuck in a love pentagon… and it's not going to get smaller. No, it's going to get bigger! Yeah, she's been sent mixed signals, which just results in the both of them being confused. Yep, and (spoiler alert: Starr will spill the beans to Tommy in this chapter.) We'll find out soon enough Yep, it'll be the first marriage in this story. Yeah, it's not exactly evil, but it isn't good, either. Lol yeah I found that funny, too!

fanficchick122: Nah, that's alright, I should've known that not a lot of people would vote, I should've made a poll. Yes, the ending was rather interesting, and I personally think it was one of the best parts of this chapter. The idea came to me since they're either pretty much out of college, or at least near it, and they are pretty sure that they love each other, so why not marry? Besides, if they marry in a year, then the idea is, just, perfect.

Sean-Darren: Thank you, I'll introduce him in chapter twenty-two, which is five (once I finish this, four,) chapters away from now.

Disclaimer: The only characters that I own are the ones who are not a part of the original Rugrats series, and whom you recognize from my other stories. Zack is owned by celrock, Randy, Summer, Cree, and Starr by Lilnate03, Jesse is owned by JesseBarrowStories, Peter, George, and Abigail belong to PatchythePirate1999, Hazel and Hannah belong to Hazelnut Swirl, Hunter by Sean-Darren, Dove by Jessica-Senpai, and… woo, that was so long. I apologize if I forgot your OC on here.

Dil's College Years

Part One – The Fourth of July

Dove's POV

I swear, the Fourth of July is one of the strangest holidays that I've ever experienced.

It did begin normally, though, so I can give it that.

My definition of 'normal' in this case, would usually translate to 'my boring morning routine.' It's called 'Operation wake up, brush your teeth, wash your face, comb your hair, and have mom drive you to school while she's on her way to work.'

This morning, however, because it was July fourth, and therefore both a holiday and the summer, I had plans to sleep in. Cool, right? My plans were quickly ruined by Didi Pickles, my adoptive mom.

Every holiday, she insists that we're all (this year, since everyone except for me had moved out of the house and was old enough to move out of the house, just us three,) wide awake by eight in the morning. Well, at least I got two hours of extra sleep.

"Dove, sweetie, wake up, it's the Fourth of July!" she exclaimed… or, should I say, yelled.

I nearly flinched at her very loud voice.

"Ugh, mom, can't I sleep in?" I asked.

She frowned at this, though regained her smile rather quickly. It's just like her. Even though I was lucky enough not to be adopted by an evil woman such as Cinderella's mother and her evil stepsisters, I did end up getting an optimistic mother who has a smile on her face 24/7. It gets annoying sometimes, but to avoid hurting her feelings, I don't tell her that.

"Oh now, Dove, do you think our founding fathers would like to see you in the bed on this special day?" she asked.

I groaned. I know that my friends' moms were probably letting them sleep in. They were chill and cool like that. My mom isn't.

"No, Mom, I don't, but, it'd be creepy for them to be looking here, anyway," I insisted. "Now can I go back to bed?"

Before she could answer, I said, "Wake me up when dad's done with the barbecue, Mom."

I buried my head back into my pillow, and was just about to fall back asleep. Turns out that for an optimist, she also doesn't know when to give up. She actually insisted on picking me up off the bed. In fact, she actually held onto my feet with a rather strong grip, while I held onto the bed, trying not to let her drag me away from it. My bed is wonderful!

"Mom… let… go," I said, gritting my teeth as I held with all my strength. My hands were becoming sweaty.

"Dove, sweetie," Mom said, gritting her teeth as well. "It's the Fourth of – nngh – July. Don't be a party pooper!"

Just as I began losing strength, I asked, "What's so important that's going on down there, anyway?"

"Well, I didn't want to spoil the fun, but since you're so keen on going back to sleep, I guess I'll tell you," she said, now grinding her teeth. "Your father and I are taking you to the carnival, Dovie!"

I dropped back onto the bed at this, and Mom dropped to the floor, her hands apparently sweating, too.

"What?" I practically screamed. "Mom, no!"

Let me tell you, I did not want to go to the dumb old carnival. Not only have I never seen a teenager there, but I was also planning on hanging out with my friends. They actually got tickets to see this movie called "Inside Out." Yes, it's made by Pixar, and yes, it's totally a movie for five-year olds, but not only is it a box office hit, but everyone is talking about it! When I go back to school, I don't want to be the only one who's never seen it! I'm definitely old enough for it, too. I've never heard of Pixar having an R-rated movie (I'm over thirteen so PG13 ain't a problem!,) and last I heard, it's rated PG. Eh, good enough for me!

"What do you mean 'no'?" Mom asked, clearly hurt.

"Mom, me and my friends are going somewhere today," I told her, trying to ignore that she was hurt, and I knew it.

"Oh, no, Dove, it's the Fourth of July, which means that it's a holiday, which also means that you have to stay inside," Mom ordered in a voice.

This was voice that I hadn't heard since I was about ten or eleven, and it scared me. Sometimes, though, when you're afraid of something, you show anger instead, and that's what I did. What right did she have to tell me that I couldn't go out with my friends, in such a gruff, non-ladylike voice? How dare she use such a tone on me? There's a good chance that I sound like a bratty teenage daughter, but really, it is a hard time for me, going through puberty and all.

"You can't tell me what to do!" I shouted. "I'm going with my friends, and that's final."

"Dove Pickles, sit back down!" Mom shouted right back at me.

Her tone was so… harsh, that I actually did sit back on my bed. I thought that she was going to give me a long lecture or a pep talk about not talking back to her, but to my surprise, she just sighed, lifted up her light green glasses for a moment to rub her eyes, and left the room, slamming the door.

Usually, Mom tries to solve things after an argument, but this time, she just left me hanging there. It was so confusing, but I decided to keep hold of my argument, and that was that as a fifteen-year old girl, I should be able to go wherever I want!

Angry and confused, I grabbed my cellphone and dialed one of my friends' numbers. After a few rings, she finally picked up.

"Hey, Dove, is this you?" she asked.

"Yep!" I answered unenthusiastically.

"So, are your parents letting you go to see 'Inside Out?'?"

"Uh, yeah," I lied, a bit nervous, since I truthfully don't lie that much.

It turns out that not even my own friend knows me that well, but, I guess I can't blame her, since we met earlier this summer. I don't truthfully know her that well myself. The most I know about her is that she's one of the 'cool kids,' and that she has daddy issues, but that's all. The rest are just rumors, such as that she's emo, which I wouldn't be too surprised at considering her style.

"Sweet," she mumbled in her deadpan-like voice. "Meet me at my house down central street and all that crap."

Seriously, though, that voice gives me the creeps. Overall, despite her really creepy voice and her fashion style, which consists of mostly black with blue highlights, something that's 'in' at school right now, she's a nice girl. I don't even know her name, though. Every time I ask she denies the question. It's almost as if she's hiding something from me. Right then I didn't care though, I was just so angry that I put on some black boots, opened my window, climbed out, and snuck behind the bushes, before running for central street to meet her, my platinum blonde hair flowing in the wind. I can't imagine how odd boots must be in the summer, but I've never been such a fashion queen myself. I don't recall ever following a trend in my life.

At the moment, I was wearing black boots, shorts, and a white button up shirt, though I went without a sweater, as even though I'm not all that fashionable or trendy, even I'm not willing to sweat just to be 'different.' I'm not even like that.

I met up with her outside of her house. What's weird is that she actually has a really big house, even bigger than ours, and from what I've noticed, she might even be rich. I'd say that it's odd that she has no friends with that type of money, but her family did just move here this summer, and even I thought she was creepy before I met her.

You see, the thing about her is that even though she's short and basically has the physical features of being non-intimidating, the faces that she can make and all that black clothing makes everyone, with a few exceptions, fear her. They've even made up a nickname for her, from what one of my other friends referred to her as.

"No one except for the teachers knows her real name, which they always refuse to say, which is also really creepy, so we all just call her 'The Lord of Darkness,' or 'Goth Girl,'" she once explained to me.

"That's rude," Bonnie, who's a senior, said shyly.

As to which my friend just rolled her eyes.

"Whatever."

Bonnie really is a nice girl, which is shown by her staying away from bullying us freshmen, sophomores, and juniors even though she's a senior and totally has the power to. Since she doesn't make fun of us though, at least not in front of us, she's always walked on and I can tell that even though she doesn't show it, it annoys the living hell (I mean heck,) out of her and she wants to tell off people walking over her. I guess she has it in her mind that life is being nice, though, and that you shouldn't give people the satisfaction or whatever. I used to think that when I was about five. I don't follow her idea. If someone is rude to me, I'm rude to them. That's my rule.

Anyway, now that I was at her house, I rung on their fancy doorbell. Her surprisingly normal and fun loving cheery mother answered the door. The first time I met her, which was not long after I met her daughter.

Yes, her parents are normal people. I can't even imagine where their kid got that goth-like attitude from.

"Hello, Dove, dear, I assume that you're here to pick up our wonderful daughter," she said with a smile.

Yeah, her mother reminds me quite a bit of mine. That cheery and fun loving attitude, you know, and that 'my child can't do wrong' thing even though parents do know that their children can do wrong, and do punish us for it.

"That's right, thank you," I said, attempting to act polite.

The woman seemed to be buying it, because she just smiled wider, her light brown eyes (in contrast to her daughter's hazel eyes, which I assume she got from her father,) lighting up.

"Oh, Dove, dear, you are so very polite, why don't you sit in the dining room until we've told our dearest daughter of your presence?" she requested.

"Um… sure," I awkwardly agreed as she led me into their huge dining room.

"Stay comfy, Dovie," she said with a giggle, pleased to see that her words had rhymed.

Their dining room looked so alive, you know. It looked quite familiar put I can't put a finger on it! Before I could really study it anymore their daughter ran from downstairs, no apparent smile on her face, while her mother just continued smiling like some stupid Stepford Wife. Hey, that'd be the perfect way to describe both my mother's personality and this lady's personality. They're Stepford Wives. I bet that if they ever met they'd get along just great!

"Dove, dear, our fascinating daughter is here," she said, her high tone of voice nearly making my ears bleed.

Don't get me wrong, I kinda like 'Goth Girl's' mother. While she gives off that 'I'm super nice' vibe that I just hate, she at least tries her best and has never yelled at me like my mom has. I've never heard her yell at her daughter, either.

"Mom, don't call me that," her daughter, who I will just refer to as GG, from now on, responded in that deadpan tone of hers.

No offense to GG, but I hate her tone even more than I hate her mother's. They're both just so annoying.

"Awe, sweetie, it's just a little affection," her mother, who I will now on refer to as… M replied with a half-smile. "Now, you be good with your friend, and keep those wonderful bangs out of your face if you can!"

GG seemed to be just as annoyed as I was with her mother's voice, so she rolled her eyes and tried to blow her turquoise bang out of her face, but only succeeded in putting it back on one of her eyes.

"Awe, sweetie, now let me" –

"No, Mom, maybe I like it that way!" GG yelled. "Ever think of that?"

I thought for a second that maybe I saw M frown, but if she did, it quickly returned to another half-smile.

"Oh, no, daughter dearest, I just thought that all mothers are supposed to do that sort of thing, like bonding."

I could tell by her voice that she was at least a little hurt, but GG either didn't notice or didn't care.

"Whatever, Mom, Blondie and I are going to see that kiddy movie 'Inside Out,'" GG explained.

I never mentioned that GG refers to me as 'Blondie' because of my platinum blonde hair, did I? Well, she does, and she often tells me that I remind her of the singer, Blondie, or something, from one of those eighties groups.

"Ooh, 'Inside Out?'" M said with the largest smile. "Oh, dear daughter, I hope you have fun there! When are you coming home?"

GG shrugged. After only two months of hanging out with her, I can already tell that she has no respect for her parents. I know they care, but they pretend not to, just not to deal with her crap and arguments, I guess.

"I dunno, twelve am or something?" GG suggested.

"Oh, now, daughter dearest, can't we reschedule that, perhaps by an hour or two?"

I just stood there watching in horror as GG looked as if that was the stupidest thing her mother had ever said to her.

"Mom, what the hell?" GG shouted. "I'm f***king almost sixteen! I don't need a goddam curfew! That's for whiny little eleven-year old brats!"

"Oh, but, dear, when you were eleven" –

"When you were eleven," GG mimicked. "Mom, just shut the hell up! I'll come home with Blondie here whenever I want to! Just don't embarrass me in front of her! Do you know that my popularity depends on this, Mom?"

I was secretly glad to see that GG cared about me being there enough to actually yell at her mother, but I did feel really bad for her mother, and for a second I actually considered doing something, perhaps finally telling GG that she's a brat. I'm not going to lie, she is. Because she's rich she thinks it's an excuse to buy blue highlights, go emo or some crap, and never have a curfew. Even I understand why teens have curfews, and keep in mind that this is the girl who briefly ran away from home just to see a movie that her mom didn't' even want her going to.

Her mother actually looked as if she were near crying, and seeing this, GG did calm down a little.

"Fine, d-daughter dearest," she said, shaking, "Have it your way. D-Dovie, I'm sorry that you had to see this. Y-You girls can go to the movies n-now… I'll even pay for your tickets…"

"No, miss, that's alright," I insisted.

"No!" she shouted, scaring me, grabbing her purse off the table and giving us each twenty dollars. "Just take it! Take everything that makes me joyous in life and go! Go!"

GG actually looked like she regretted everything, and was obliviously embarrassed by this exchange between she and her mother.

"O-okay mom, I'm sorry…"

"JUST TAKE IT AND GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"

Afraid of what would happen if we didn't, we both ran out of the house until we were far away from it, to which we began walking to the movie theater.

I must say that the exchange was really interesting for me.

GG and I didn't talk on the way there. I could tell by occasionally glancing at her that she was still a bit embarrassed and upset about the situation with her mom.

Once we had finally gotten to the theater, we paid for our tickets and walked inside, still without speaking.

As these events took place, it gave me some time to think. I eventually theorized that GG's mother holds in her anger, and that moment when GG went off on her just really set her off, and even if it was momentarily, she finally yelled at GG.

GG finally spoke, breaking the long silence.

"I'll go and pay for the popcorn," GG mumbled. "My mom gave me enough money."

Truthfully, considering that she's rich, I wondered why she couldn't have just paid for it herself, but I didn't question it for the fear of angering GG.

"Okay," I said. "I'll find us seats, and I'll wave my hand to you once you come in with the popcorn."

Since I was getting thirsty, I would've asked her if she could buy us some sodas, which mom would've hated to hear from my mouth, but, I knew that she was stressed anyway, and if you're a true friend, you just, don't stress your friend out more. Instead, I walked inside of the huge room where 'Inside Out' would play in about three minutes, searching for seats for two.

Eventually, I found two large seats that were close enough to the big screen. I watched the Pixar short, which, even before the movie begun, nearly made me cry.

'I lava you,' I thought. 'That's…that's… beautiful.'

The short had been odd, though so very wonderful and inspiring, in my opinion. I didn't and still don't know how even after fifteen years of being in the business, Pixar can do this to me.

GG saw me before I even waved my hand to her – I was too busy admiring Pixar to remember that she even existed. Once she got to her seat next to me, she rolled her eyes at me, waving her hand with her nails painted purple in my face.

"Ugh, Dove, you were supposed to wave your hand at me to tell me that you were there, remember?" GG asked, clearly annoyed with me.

I barely paid any attention to her.

"I'm sorry," I apologized. "Pixar just had another beautiful short" –

"I know, I know, you're obsessed with Pixar. I think I figured that out a long time ago."

GG hates to admit it, but a part of her likes Pixar just as much as I do. For the sake of saving my very life, I never told her that when I first met her, I peeked under her bed and found a collection of Disney movies along with every Toy Story movie that was ever made and a few others, such as 'Finding Nemo.' It was no wonder as to why she didn't fret about coming to see 'Inside Out' with me. She, too, probably wanted to see if Pixar still had it in them to make heartwarming, tearjerking, excellent, movies.

Because I knew of this, this time I smiled and rolled my eyes.

Lucky me, GG didn't catch this. Instead, she turned her head to the screen, like me, as the movie began.

I recognized the woman's voice as Amy Poehler's, and I've got to say that she was perfect for the role!

The movie was about an eleven-year old girl with depression, more or less, but it was still quite amazing! I really enjoyed it! I told GG the exact same thing once the credits were over.

"That movie was awesome," I stated.

She didn't disagree, nor did she agree.

"Sure," she said, shrugging her shoulders.

I could, once again, tell that she loved it just as much as I did. As we walked out of the theater together, I felt somewhat fearful as I thought about what my parents might do if they had realized that I was no longer at home.

"I'm going to get in so much trouble," I thought. "What are they going to do?"

Another part of me said that I shouldn't worry.

"Don't worry, Dove," I thought at the same time. "No matter what they do, keep in mind that you'll probably be fifty someday, and the memory won't be clear. Plus, they've never gotten physical or anything, so it's all fine."

"Anyway, I've got some stuff to do at home, so you ought to go home now, Dove," GG told me.

I gulped, but I didn't argue. As much as I didn't want to go home, at the same time, I didn't want for GG to be distracted from doing the stuff that she had to.

"Okay, GG," I said. "I'll see you soon."

My voice wavered a bit as I said this. I turned around and walked on home.

Obviously, I couldn't knock on the door once I'd arrived at home, so I climbed up to my window. I'd kept it open the whole time.

I made sure that my steps were quiet as I stepped carefully into the room. I closed my window and hopped under the covers.

"At least if mom or dad come in they'll think that I was sleeping or something," I thought.

My parents knew much better. Apparently, I didn't close the window quietly enough, because my mother came running in nearly as soon as I'd gotten in bed.

"Dove!" she shouted. "Is that you?"

I was scared, but I didn't want to worry her.

"Yes, mom," I said.

"Oh, I'm really going to get it now," I thought.

I was surprised when I actually didn't "get it." Mom ran over to me, hugging me as tightly as she could.

"Dove, your father and I didn't know what happened!" she exclaimed. "Why would you ever leave us like that?"

I rarely express my feelings in the way that I was about to, but this time, I couldn't help it.

"I feel like I don't get enough freedom," I explained, "and I feel like it's really unfair. If Tommy wanted to go out with his friends, he got to go out with his friends. That wasn't really the case with Dil, but Dil actually kind of wanted the attention that you guys gave him. As for Starr, you got her a car, you made sure that we all knew when she had an A – sometimes it felt like you favored her over all of us. You only know a little bit about my grades because you make sure that you see my grades, and I don't like that. You don't ask me stuff because you don't trust me, even if you don't want to admit that. You don't let me be myself, mom. You're trying to turn me into another version of Starr or Tommy or Dil, but that's not who I am. I'm Dove. I'm Dove Pickles, and I am who I am, not whatever you say I am."

I could see that my Mom was almost crying as I said this. The tears were filling up her glasses. She knew that I wasn't lying. Every single word that I said was the truth, and nothing but the truth.

"Oh, Dove," she whispered as she hugged me. "I am so sorry."

"It's okay Mom," I whispered as I hugged her back.

"I will try," she continued, "to be the best mother that I can from now on. I will give you more freedom and I'm going to start trusting you more. I just… I wish that I could've been a better mom earlier. I'm just such a bad mom."

"No, you're not."

"Dove, sweetie, don't try to say that I'm not, because I know I am. It's my fault that Tommy stole from a drugstore in tenth-grade. It's my fault that I couldn't keep Dil motivated in school. It's my fault that I spent so much time on Starr instead of you."

I didn't completely disagree with the last one, but I definitely disagreed with the first two.

"No it's not Mom. That was a mistake. You corrected that mistake and look at who Tommy is now! He's not perfect and he's not at a university like you want for him to be, and it's the same with Dil, but they're still surviving, and isn't that good?"

She sniffled.

"I guess."

"It's the same with Dil, mom. Most parents have trouble keeping their kids motivated with school."

"But I don't want to be like most parents!" Mom exclaimed. "I want to be your wonderful mother who can help you with your homework and I just want to have everything perfect, everything together, and" –

"Mom, please," I interrupted. "This isn't a sitcom. We're family, mom. It's okay to make mistakes sometimes. You're a mom, but you're still human. We get that."

"But I want to be so much more than mom," she whispered. "I want to be your idol, someone you feel like you can trust."

"And you can be that someone, mom, but you just need to give me more space, more freedom," I explained.

"Alright, Dove," she whispered. "Alright."

It was honestly one of the best moments of my life, my mom wanting to change. She had finally realized that what she was trying to give me was what I didn't want, and I was proud of her for that.

So far, this is how my Fourth of July has went, and it actually seems like things are turning out to be alright.

Susie's POV

I, Susie Carmichael, never thought I'd be saying this, but so far my Fourth of July has been horrid. There's not much of another word for it – it's just been really bad. Let me explain how it all started.

It started at around seven-thirty in the morning, when I was supposed to pick up our son, Pat, from Harold's place. I planned on taking Pat to Tommy's parents' annual barbecue, and, for once, was actually getting along with Harold! We still weren't talking much about the whole divorce thing, and we are, in fact, still in the stages of finalizing it, but I can genuinely say that we were making small talk, having normal discussions with little to no awkwardness, and even sometimes joking around with each other! At this point, I even felt comfortable enough to go pick up Pat all by myself without my boyfriend, Gerald, accompanying me, but when I told Gerald that it was time for me to pick up Patrick, he offered to come so quickly that it almost made me suspicious of something.

"Oh, I'll come too, baby," Gerald said. I raised an eyebrow, but still nodded.

We ended up walking to Harold's apartment, which is, luckily, in the same complex as ours, or, should I say, mine. I knocked on Harold's apartment door – he lives in apartment A on the downstairs floor.

"Hi Susie," he said to me. I gave him a true smile for the first time in months; things really had been going better between us lately, and I was actually glad to see not just him, but also Pat. He's been getting so big lately, and has really been learning new things well! Harold turned to my boyfriend with a bit of a faked smile. "Hey, Gerald."

"Sup, man," Gerald said with gritted teeth.

"Come on in, you two," Harold invited. I could tell that he was really telling me, but just inviting Gerald in because he has manners.

Sitting inside of his crib, I saw our wonderful son, Patrick. He had just woken up, and was giggling. I smiled as I picked him up.

"Awe, aren't you just such a big boy, Pat?" I asked him, tickling his belly a bit. Pat always makes me happy no matter what. "Such a big boy!" I loved seeing Pat giggle, but I knew that this must've been getting uncomfortable for Gerald and Harold, so I stopped, holding Patrick with a smile. "Thanks for watching him again, Harold. I think that Pat really enjoyed his time here, based on how happy he is right now."

"Or maybe you tickling him just made him happy," Gerald suggested; I elbowed him not hard enough for it to actually be abusive, but hard enough for him to scowl a bit and know to be quiet.

"Heh, yeah, I told Pat the story of Independence Day," Harold explained. He chuckled. "He seemed really into it."

I smiled. Apparently, Harold had been teaching Pat some history; maybe he wasn't as bad of a father as I thought after all, assuming that he was telling the truth (which, knowing Harold, despite our argument, I think that he was telling the truth.)

I was just about to get going with Pat when Harold said something.

"Hey, Susie, before you go, I have a question for you," he told me. He seemed a little bit hesitant to ask me; it was because of this that I felt a little uncomfortable, but I still nodded nonetheless.

You can trust me when I say that I didn't think his question would be as harmful or offensive as it ended up being.

"Do you think that maybe, for once, we could all just celebrate together?" he asked. Nearly as soon as the words had come out of his mouth, he looked guilty. I, on the other hand, was furious.

"What!?" I yelled. I barely even realized that I had screamed at Harold until Pat started screeching in Gerald's arms. I turned to Gerald, scowling. "Gerald, baby, please take Pat outside." Gerald seemed like he wanted to stay, and even seemed kind of exasperated, though he still followed my order. I think he said something along the lines of "anything for you, babe," somewhat sarcastically, but I was so engulfed with rage that I didn't even bother listening. In fact, the only thing that I really heard was Gerald close the door behind us, and as soon as he had, I started asking Harold questions. "What the hell do you mean 'can we celebrate this holiday as a family?'?" By now, I felt like punching him. "I don't seem to remember you asking me that when you were taking all those business trips around the world while I had to sit here and take care of Pat all by myself!" I threw my hands up in the air. "I might as well have dropped out of college then considering just how much time I had to study in school!" Of course, now Harold was trying to take everything he'd just said back.

"Susie, that's not what I meant, I was just saying that" –

"Bullsh#t!" I interrupted. He looked at me as if I were an alien. I'm not really one who likes to curse much, but when I'm angry… well, I become a bit of a potty mouth. "The only reason why we're not celebrating this holiday as a family is because of you, but you're too much of a coward to admit that!" I was seething with anger, and still trying my best not to sock him. Not only are we in the middle of a divorce, which wouldn't make me look good in court, but I also don't like having fights, and would hate to get physical with Harold no matter how angry I was with him.

"I am not a coward!" Harold argued back. He looked like he was desperately trying to find an answer. "It's just… I just…" He put his hand on his head. "Susie… I love you and Pat, really…" My eyes widened, and he immediately got an 'oops I shouldn't have said that' look on his face.

'Harold loves me?' I thought to myself. I was angry, surprised, and… well, don't tell him I said this, but somewhat flattered. Of course, I just stared at Harold, feeling a mixture of anger and shock.

"You still love me?" I asked him. I was so angry that I was actually shaking. I wasn't feeling as flattered any more. I scowled. "How dare you." He didn't respond; I could tell that he was far too scared. "How dare you do this to me, Harold?" I started to raise my voice. "How dare you do this to us?" He continued staring at me with a look of fear. It was right at that moment when I can say that I lost most of my sanity, and started full-on yelling. "How dare you decide to come right back into my life – our lives – with this bullshit, Harold!" As I spoke, tears began to run down my cheeks, but I was too furious to care. I stared at him with a sad look. "Do you even know what you did to me, Harold?" I started to sob. "Do you even know how hard it was without you there?" I think that, by then, I was screaming loudly enough so that the whole neighborhood could hear me. "Do you know who sat up with Pat when he was crying?" I pointed to myself. "Me!" I continued on. "Do you know who was there when Pat got a bad fever?" I pointed to myself again. "Me!" I came up with my last point. "And do you know who was there for him when he said his first word, which, shall I remind you, was 'Mommy?'" He stared at me, frowning as I pointed at myself for one last time. "It was me, Harold! I was the one who stayed with Pat while you were out doing God knows what!" He really got defensive when it came to the last statement.

"Susie, I wasn't cheating on you, I would never cheat," he tried to assure me. I laughed maniacally, which is something that I can say I've never done before.

"And why am I supposed to believe you?" I asked him. "Aren't you the same man who only saw Pat four times a month?" I laughed again. "The same man who rarely, if ever, answered my phone calls or even tried to call me on Skype?"

"Susie," he began, but once again, I interrupted him.

"Really, Harold, if you ever wanted to change, I don't see why you think that now is such a good damn time," I told him. That was when I started crying again. "Why are you trying to come in at the best point in my life, Harold?" I sniffled. "Why are you trying to come in when I'm happy again? Why are you trying to come in and try and get back together with me when I'm happy with somebody else?" He was silent for a moment, staring at me with guilt and what I believe was sympathy as I wiped my tears away with my arm. I was already upset enough, but what he said next really made me blow up.

"Susie, you don't love Gerald," he stated. It was right then, right there, that I was finally at my limits. It was right then that I actually slapped him. It wasn't hard enough to leave a mark, but he still looked shocked after I'd done it.

"Harold Frumkin, I don't care how miserable your life is right now, but you are not going to use it as an opportunity to get back together with me," I told him matter-of-factly. I stood straight and tall, staring him right in the eyes. "I don't know if you understand this, but ever since I've gotten together with Gerald, I've been genuinely happy, no matter what you think." I could tell that he was hurt, and still wanted to prove something about Gerald to me, but what was it? Why did he have any reason to hate Gerald so much aside from the fact that we're dating? I just really didn't understand. "Harold, when you chose to not be there for me and Pat, you decided right then that you didn't want to take responsibility, and that you didn't want to be a good father." Feelings of fury started to swell up in me again, and I tried my best to keep myself composed. "And then you came back during November suddenly deciding that you were ready to start staying home with Pat more, that you were ready to be a dad, that you'd somehow treated me right during our marriage."

"Susie, I didn't think I treated you right during our marriage, I" –

"Then why would you ask me if we could be a family again?" I interrupted. I glared at him with intensity. "Huh? Why, Harold? Why do you just suddenly want to change?" Harold sighed.

"Susie, it's not that, I just" –

"No," I said, interrupting him for the final time. "I'm sick of arguing with you about this." I put my hands on my hips. "Long story short, no matter how much you try to sweet talk me into it, we are not getting back together, and I am not breaking up with him."

"But he's evil," Harold insisted like a child. At this point, I was too tired to argue with him anymore, so I just sighed.

"You know what, Harold?" I said, throwing my hands up in the air sarcastically. "Maybe you're right." His eyes widened.

"I am?" Harold asked.

"Well, of course," I claimed, continuing with the sarcasm. "Maybe, just maybe, Gerald really is evil, and maybe Pat and I would be doing better off if I got back together with you." His eyes seemed to brighten a bit.

"Really?" he asked. I shook my head.

"No," I stated, "because so far, you don't seem to have much of an argument, Harold, and this is getting tiring, so I'm just going back to Gerald." After I'd opened the door and left, I was, once again, surprised that he didn't follow me, and almost hurt that he wasn't following me.

'You know,' I thought as I walked out, 'Maybe I still am in love with Harold. Maybe I'm just in denial.' As soon as I'd unlocked the door to the small apartment that Gerald, Pat, and I lived in off campus and smelled the pancakes that Gerald was cooking for me, I knew that I was wrong.

"Hey, baby," he greeted, grinning at me. For a second, I thought he had an almost uneasy look in his eyes, but when he'd pulled me close for a hug, I was completely reassured that he was not evil.

"How did everything with your ex go?" he asked me, opening a can of soda. He must've seen how red my eyes were, because he then asked, "Did he hurt you?" Technically speaking, he hurt me emotionally, but I just shook my head in response to Gerald's question, and sighed.

"No," I said. "He sure did annoy me, though." I decided not to tell Gerald about the 'let's get re-married' part since I knew it'd just make him mad, instead telling him about something interesting that Harold had said. "He told me that you're evil." I laughed at that, because how funny, right? Gerald didn't seem to agree with me.

"That boy said what?" Gerald asked me. He looked so angry that he almost could've killed Harold; it was a bit unnerving, if I'm being honest. Gerald's usually so… well, y'know, chill about stuff, so I didn't really expect that he'd get angry.

"It's fine, baby," I tried to assure him. Even though Harold had really hurt me, I still didn't want to see Gerald hurt him. "I don't think he meant a word that he was saying." I laughed nervously. "You know how exes are… they're willing to say anything about anyone just to, heh…" Gerald wasn't even listening, though, and it was really obvious. He looked really threatening at that moment, like he could punch something. "Baby?" Gerald finally looked down at me, his eye twitching.

"Oh, sorry, babe," he said with gritted teeth. "You know how I get when people talk mess about me like that." He scowled. "Susie, promise me something." I nodded, confused. "Unless it's to bring Pat over to his place, don't talk with that Harold guy again. Got it?" My eyes widened. It wasn't that I wanted to really talk to Harold again after that whole ordeal, but I was still surprised that Gerald was actually demanding that I not do something like he was my parent! I'm no expert on my relationships, and I do love Gerald, but I'm pretty sure that that's not healthy in a relationship. I called him out on it.

"Wait, what?" I asked. "So, let me get this straight… what you're saying is that I can't even have a casual conversation with him?" Gerald shrugged.

"If you want me to get pissed off, then go ahead," he said. I scorned, before sighing.

"Look, Gerald, I understand why you're angry," I told him. "Harold said some nasty stuff about you that isn't true, and you want to beat him into the ground. I know that." I gave him a very serious look. "You can't force me to stop talking to him, or threaten to break up with me if I don't, though."

"If it's effecting our relationship, then yes, I can," Gerald told me. I was about to let my anger get the best of me like I had back at Harold's apartment, but then glanced down and saw Pat sleeping peacefully. It was because of this that I sighed.

"Look, Gerald, I have a two-year old son right here to raise," I said, pointing to Pat. "I don't want to argue with you, and I'm not going to argue with you." Much to my surprise as I walked out of the room, Gerald said something rude to me!

"You sure didn't seem to care when it was your ex!" he called back, though luckily not loudly enough to wake Pat… or, at least, not too much. I saw Pat squirming in his sleep, and instead of fighting, I shushed Gerald.

"Shut up!" I half-whispered to him, and left the room.

I'm honestly too tired now to describe the full argument, but so far, this Fourth of July is possibly the worst event that I've ever been through.

Harold's POV

So far, this Fourth of July is turning out to be really, really, bad. Let me start by explaining how.

So today, Susie came over to take Pat home for the Fourth of July. Since it was a Monday and she'd agreed to pick him up and take him to Tommy's parents' barbecue (which I, by the way, may or may not be coming to.) For the first time in a while, things were actually going better for us. We were talking casually again, making small talk, and even managed to discuss Pat's growth (he turned two a while ago, which we were both very happy about.) Then, I had to ruin it with my big fat mouth.

"Hey Susie, before you leave, can I ask you a question?" I hesitantly asked her. I wasn't sure if my question was going to sit well with her, but at the same time, we seemed to be getting along better lately, and I was just dying to ask it.

"What?" she screamed. It was right then, and right there, that I knew I had made a mistake. I really shouldn't have asked her that question.

In fact, I'm honestly cringing just thinking about it right now. You must be wondering how I could have been so stupid. Well, that's definitely not the stupidest thing that I did, either.

Susie's probably already told the story, but I told her a bunch of stupid sh!t, like that I was still in love with her – well, actually, I said that I still love her, but I don't see how anyone could take that as something mutually, especially considering that I'm her ex.

I'm actually really shaken up about the whole thing. I don't know why, but I feel like the words just all sort of came out wrong; you know, now that I think about it, maybe I did it too soon. Maybe I should have waited a little bit longer before I told Susie how I really felt. Maybe I should have…

Ugh, I'm thinking way too much, and I'm really just making myself feel worse about this whole thing.

All that I know is that I didn't mean to make Susie so angry, and I just wish that I could take all those words back.

Zack's POV

As of far, I've got to say that my Fourth of July started off well, though it doesn't seem like it's going to end that well, mainly because of some issues I've been having with one person: Tommy's little sister, Starr.

This morning, when I'd woken up, I was very excited about the holiday. My Aunt Celeste has always been good about making sure that my Fourth of July is enjoyable, and I remember that up until I moved out of the house, she'd barbecue me something every year, and sometimes when I got older she'd even read the story of Independence Day to me. It was because of that that I've grown up liking Independence Day very much, and I'd assumed that it would be the same this year – I'd wake up happy, talk to some friends, possibly go out to get a beverage, read a book, and then go to Tommy's parents' annual barbecue.

I knew that the barbecue would be even more exciting since my best friend, Jesse Barrow, would be visiting; as I mentioned earlier, he'd had to move away not long after I did, but we still keep in contact, and he always makes sure to come back and visit us during the holidays. It all seemed simple in my mind, and like the perfect plan for a pleasant Fourth of July.

So far, things had been going well. I had no school today, obviously, seeing as how summer was let out back in late May, and I'd been staying with my Aunt Celeste since then, trying to save up enough money to buy myself an apartment. She had offered to buy me one, but I've always liked to really sort of get things on my own, so I'd politely declined, telling her that I wanted to save up instead. I only had just fifty dollars left that I would need before I could finally buy an apartment of my own, and I'd been taught from a young age how to manage one, meaning that I knew I'd be quite well off.

Anyway, my Aunt Celeste had just gone out five minutes ago, telling me that she needed to pick up something from the 99 cent store that's right across the street from our house.

"I'll be back, Zack," she'd told me.

Once she'd left, I'd picked up a history book from the shelf in the middle of our house and started reading the chapter on Independence Day. I don't know why, but the tale of how America came to be has always fascinated me, and whenever I can, I like to read about it. Of course, the Fourth of July is the best time to do this, which is why I always tend to read about it around the holidays.

I'd gotten to the middle part of the story when I heard someone knocking on the door. I raised an eyebrow, putting my book down. Of course, I'd had it memorized since I was at least two that if a stranger knocks on your door, you don't answer it, so I knew to look through the peephole of our door before actually opening it for the person.

'Wonder who this could be, and why they're coming on the Fourth of July,' I thought to myself. It's really rare that people come over for us on the Fourth of July, and I honestly didn't know why anyone would be knocking on our door. I mean, logically speaking, wouldn't my Aunt Celeste and I be trying to enjoy our holiday? Why would we want a visitor over unless we'd invited them?

Eventually, I'd gotten myself downstairs, and walked over to our brownish door. When I looked through the peephole, I saw the one face I didn't expect to see: Starr's. I should mention that, from where I was standing, she didn't look angry, but rather furious.

Recently, I've been avoiding Starr. Yes, I admit it. I think that I only like her as a friend for now, and I've been planning for some time to break that news to her, but it's like at the same time another part of me doesn't actually want to. I didn't think it's specifically because it'd hurt her feelings if I did – I don't like to hurt people's feelings, as I'm no Cree Carmichael, but I can when I think that it's necessary, and I will if I have to. I actually think it might be because I'd been feeling a little bit confused on my stance with Starr.

That was the last thing that was on my mind at the moment, though. Rather, I was a little bit frustrated with Star for coming over on this exact day, a little bit nervous, and also curious as to why she'd come over.

'Shouldn't she be enjoying her holiday, too?' I thought to myself.

"Who is it?" I asked, just to double check.

"Me," Starr replied with gritted teeth. I knew that voice anywhere, and once I'd heard it, I had an argument with myself over whether to open it for her or not.

'She sounds angry,' I immediately thought to myself, 'and she probably wants to talk about how I've been avoiding her, too.' I know that Starr's not stupid – she could tell, and probably wanted answers. 'Maybe I shouldn't let her in… after all, she seems like she's about to break something.'

However, the thought then crossed me that this was Tommy's younger sister. I'm very good friends with Tommy – heck, I'd say that he's one of my best friends – and if he found out I hadn't opened the door for his little sister and that I'd been avoiding her, that would just become an even bigger mess. Along with that, I knew that Starr deserved her answers, as I had admittedly been treating her a bit unfairly in the past few months. It was because of this that, despite it being a decision that I seriously regret now, I opened the door for Starr.

"You can come in if you want to," I said awkwardly. This was somewhat out of character for me, as I'm hardly ever an awkward person, but I just knew almost as soon as I'd opened that door that Starr hadn't come over for a simple discussion on our friendship.

Nonetheless, she still stomped inside of the house, glaring at me all the way. I sighed.

"We can talk on the couch," I told her. Nearly as soon as we'd sat on the red couch, the drama began.

"Why have you been avoiding me?" she asked. Obviously, she didn't bother making small talk – she just got right to the point, and expected that I'd have answers for her.

"I can't give you an exact answer, Starr, but I think I've been feeling confused lately," I told her.

"Confused about what?" she shouted before I could continue. I've never liked having people yell at me, and I'd been trying to speak calmly with Starr, yet so far in the discussion, all she'd been doing was screaming, so I started to scream too.

"Our friendship!" I shouted back. I saw her eye twitching.

"What do you mean you're confused about our friendship?" she asked. She seemed livid. "I thought you didn't like me!"

"I do like you Starr, it's just that," I began, only to be interrupted.

"Platonically or romantically?" she asked. That was at the exact moment when things quieted down. She'd finally asked the one question I'd known she'd ask, and as much as I'd tried to think about it, I still, even after all these months, wasn't ready to give her a clear answer.

We continued to sit in silence for about another minute before I, knowing that she was getting worked up, finally gave a short answer.

"I don't know," I responded quietly. She looked like she was about to break out into tears, and in all honesty, even though I was angry with her, I still felt kind of bad for her.

"What do you mean that you don't know?" she asked me. I scorned.

"You didn't even let me finish, Starr!" I shouted at her. I sighed. "Look, I want to be friends with you, but at the same time, I'm honestly not that sure how I feel about the idea of dating you!"

"Oh, then what was that during the party a few months back?" Starr asked me, tapping her foot.

I cringed. That was a question that I, no matter how long I'd been thinking about it, was just plain not ready to answer for.

"I was under the influence of alcohol," I reminded her. I honestly was too drunk to even remember what exactly we did, but something that I do remember is making out with Starr. In fact, now that I think about it, I don't remember her being drunk herself… at all…

"Were you even drunk?" I asked her accusingly. She shrunk down a bit, as though she was guilty. I needed no further evidence from her that she'd been completely sober when we made out. "You weren't?"

Okay, now I was furious. Starr had been sober, or at least sober enough to have enough mind to know that making out with someone who's drunk is never a good idea, and yet here she was, blaming me for being so confused, and blaming me for avoiding her. How dare she?

"Starr, get out," I told her. I was one-hundred percent serious when I said this – I did not want to see her, and I did not want to talk to her.

"But Zack, it was really just a mistake," she started. I interrupted her.

"No, when you're sober and you make out with a drunk person, it's not 'just a mistake,'" I replied, making air quotes with my fingers. "So far as I'm concerned, Starr, I don't want to see you in this house anymore. You can let yourself out." Starr's mouth started to shake like she was about to cry, and I know this might sound heartless, but I could've cared less. She had, in my opinion, brought the whole thing on herself, and while I'm not suggesting that it was right for me to avoid her, I didn't appreciate how she was not only so immature about dealing with it, but also was so selfish and hypocritical.

However, it was just as Starr was getting ready to leave that my Aunt Celeste finally came back from the 99 cent store. I remember Starr was putting on her shoes when my Aunt Celeste suddenly opened the door. You can probably imagine how surprised she was to see a blonde twenty-something year old woman right next to the door, looking like she was about to cry.

"Starr?" my Aunt Celeste asked, shocked. As though on cue, Starr finally began crying – I just rolled my eyes. Maybe it's because I'm angry with her, but I almost feel like she did that just to get my aunt on her side; luckily, she didn't, though. My aunt turned to me, confused and angry. "Zack, what happened?"

As my aunt, she deserved to know, so I told her the story. She took my side, though still seemed somewhat upset about what had happened; I don't really blame her,

Right now I'm getting ready to go off to the barbecue,

Starr's POV

Right now, I feel terrible. I know that it's the Fourth of July, and I should feel happy and all, but I just got into the worst argument with Zack!

I'm honestly too upset to tell the full story, but, well, I'll tell a summary of the story from my point of view, and why I'm feeling so hurt right now.

For the past few months, Zack has been avoiding me. There's really no other way to put it – every time we see each other, he doesn't even want to exchange a glance with me! We used to be such great friends, and it's really been bugging me, especially since he won't actually talk about it! I didn't want to get my big brother Tommy involved in this, so instead, I just decided that I would go up to Zack and ask him about where we were in our friendship… relationship… whatever we had… myself! It obviously didn't work out exactly that way, though.

This morning, when I first decided to I know, I know, it's a cliché excuse, but I'm menstruating, I'd woken up with a headache, and I knew only one thing – that I wanted answers, and I wasn't going to wait for them, either. I'd grown tired of waiting for Zack to just get back to me with some sort of answer, so I decided I was going straight up there to ask him myself.

Almost as soon as I got there, I started yelling at him. He'd hurt me, I'd hurt him, and I just wanted everything between us to be resolved right at that second without even putting any actual work into it.

Since Zack's not the type of person that will just let you yell at him and leave it at that, it turned into a shouting match before I finally brought up our drunken night – or, rather, his drunken night – when we'd made out. I felt like I was actually getting close to getting some decent answers from him before he brought up a fact that he hadn't realized and that I didn't want to think about: the fact that I was sober.

I don't know why I did it, if I'm being honest, and I don't know why I'm such a hypocrite, either. I didn't even feel that bad about it until Zack even caught me, and now I just want to apologize to him and I want everything to automatically be better for us. I know it sounds selfish, but I'm just really such a mess right now, and my thoughts are all out of place, and…

You know what? I think a smoothie would be good for me right now. A strawberry one, specifically. Maybe the iciness of the smoothie will get my mind off the fact that I just got into my biggest argument with Zack yet.

I'm headed off to the Java Lava. They do have business today, but for half the time that they do on normal days. I think I really need some place to really get my mind off everything, and a smoothie will probably calm me down.

I sigh. This is going to be a long day.

Peter's POV

I must say that, as of far, this Fourth of July has turned out to be wonderful.

It was around 9:00 in the morning, and I'd been at the Java Lava for the past ten minutes or so; Kimi had invited me to come, and I'd known that it would be lovely, so I had taken up her offer.

I had just finished up telling Kimi a story about how I'd gone off and saved a team of refugees when Starr, Tommy's younger sister, came running in, crying.

"What is wrong, Starr?" I'd asked her. I was very concerned for her, as I'd never seen Tommy and Dil's younger sister in such a mess before. She sniffled.

"It's Zack," she replied. I scowled. Of course it would be Zack. Not sure if you can tell, but I still haven't gotten over my feud with Zack, and we are, in fact, still fighting over Kimi.

"Zack?" Kimi asked, overhearing us conversing. She seemed really surprised. I honestly don't know why. I find it probable that he's been treating her with respect and buying her things such as gifts in order to make her want to be his girlfriend. If that is what he's doing, then this will likely end up as tough luck for him, because I have no plans on giving up on Kimi anytime soon myself.

"Yes, it appears that Zack has upset Starr," I announced.

"Not exactly," Starr replied, sniffling. "It's…" She sniffled again. "It's kind of my fault, too, for being such a…" She took another deep breath. "Such a damn hypocrite."

I raised an eyebrow. In all the years that I'd known the Pickles family, specifically Starr, I'd never seen her being a hypocrite.

"A hypocrite?" I asked her. "Not to butt in too much, Starr, but what ever do you mean?"

"Well… I… I made out with Zack when he was drunk," Starr admitted.

"Wait, what?" Kimi and I asked in unison.

I could tell that Kimi was almost horrified – perhaps even somewhat jealous, now that I think about it. I, on the other hand, was shocked.

"Well, I have the biggest crush on him, and, well, he's kind of been avoiding me lately, so I confronted him about it, and…" Starr sighed. "Well, I came over shouting at him, and reminded him that we'd made out… but then he pointed out that I was the only one who was sober…" She rubbed her temples.

I'd always suspected that Starr had a crush on Zack, though had never really thought to ask. Now that I knew for certain, I could feel a plan forming in my head.

What if I were to set Zack and Starr up, perhaps get Zack to like Starr somehow? That would leave Kimi to me, considering that she's already broken up with Phil, meaning that I wouldn't be seeing any other competition.

I smiled. It was the perfect idea! I turned to Starr.

"I don't think you should give up, Starr," I told her. "I would suggest not going straight back to Zack, but rather giving him some time to sort out his own feelings."

I, for some reason, also suspect that Zack is confused about his own feelings now… he is admittedly intelligent, though even an intelligent person would be confused in this situation, and I think that perhaps I could, for once, possibly take advantage.

Don't deny that I do not feel sympathy for Starr – I do indeed, but it is just that this has given me an excellent idea.

If my plan goes well, then hopefully Zack and Starr might actually get together within time.

Summer's POV

I'm Summer Pickles, Angelica's twin sister, if you don't remember me. Today is the Fourth of July, and so far, I've been walking around trying to find a guy that will

It's been months since Cree went behind my back and started dating my boyfriend, Ace. From what I've heard, they broke up a while ago, but I still haven't forgiven Cree. Why should I forgive Cree, anyway? What she did was nothing but a b!tch move, and even though she keeps trying to get me to talk to her, I'm not going to do it.

In fact, if I'm really being honest, now I can see why that Lillian Deville b!tch wanted to get out of our group. I never really realized it before, but Cree is a terrible friend, and she's nothing but a brat, too. I can't believe that it took me until she started dating Ace behind my back to realize just how bad she really is; I mean, I thought that we were friends, and then she goes and starts trying to steal my boyfriend all for some super sh!tty, super stupid reason!

And then there's also the fact that I've just screwed up so much in life, and I have no friends now, and I need to find a way to get revenge on Cree…

I groaned.

'I need a drink,' I thought to myself.

And really, I did, because let's face it – it was the Fourth of July, and I honestly had pretty much no one to celebrate with. It's kind of obvious why I'm not celebrating with Cree, my sister Angelica is probably celebrating the day with that boyfriend of hers Chuckie (and I'm not going to be a third wheel, I tell you,) and I hardly realized it because for so long I just hung around Cree, but I'm on really bad terms with most of the gang nowadays, aren't I?

Anyway, I'm about to head off to the bar, so this is the end for now, I guess.

Randy Bouchie's POV

I'm Randy Bouchie. I haven't appeared in this story so far, but basically, here's everything that you need to know about me:

1 – I take sh!t from no one.

2 – My brother is named John Bouchie.

3 – One night stands are great.

4 – I'm a bartender.

5 – I work at this dumba$$ bar called "The Black Swan."

You'll find out a lot more about me, but that's just the jist of it.

It was the Fourth of July, and most people were busy at the park or some sh!t, but since apparently people like to buy drinks on the Fourth of July, I still had to work that day.

The bar isn't far from where I live, so I could just walk there, which was what I was doing. It's barely even three blocks away, anyway.

I was walking down the street when suddenly someone bumped into me.

"Ouch!" we said at the same time.

I stood up, looking down at them. The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was a blonde woman.

"You stupid blonde b!tch," I began, until she opened her eyes.

That was when I finally got a good look at her. She was far from the sexiest woman I'd ever seen – in fact, I'd say that she was only an 8 at most – but still attractive enough, I decided.

She had bright long blonde hair, blue eyes, a figure that was far from an hourglass but close enough, and almost the perfect amount of makeup.

"Hey, don't go bumping into me!" she started shouting, before she stopped in her tracks. She must've realized who she was talking to, I guess.

"Who are you?" I asked, flirting a bit. I decided that for a moment I could at least try to forget that I had just bumped into her.

The woman giggled a bit.

"Summer," she responded. "Summer Pickles." I raised an eyebrow, but still kept that same old smile on my face.

'Summer Pickles,' I thought to myself. 'That's the most retarded name that I've ever heard. I can't imagine the names of the other people in her family – I bet they're stupid, too. Heh, what if one was named Dill Pickles?' I tried not to break out into laughter at that thought, instead introducing myself.

"The name's Randy," I replied. "Randy Bouchie."

"So, where you off to Summer?" I asked her, still pretending that I was nothing but a nice, flirtatious, guy.

'Jesus, is that all that this girl ever does?' I wondered to myself. 'Just giggle? She's probably another stupid a$$ dumb blonde, but she's hot enough…'

"The bar," she responded. She sighed, glancing downwards. "My boyfriend Ace cheated on me a while back with my best friend."

I didn't really care that much, if I'm being honest – I was just there for another lay, after all – but I still feigned sympathy for the girl.

Something that really stuck out to me, though, was that she mentioned she was going to a bar. Like I said, I'm a bartender, so I was wondering if she was going to the one that I work at; that would definitely give me more time to flirt, and if she wasn't going to the bar where I work, then so what? I could give every sh!t less about missing work.

"That sounds rough," I told her. "Which bar you going to?"

"The Black Swan," she said. I grinned.

"Y'know, that's a coincidence," I noted. "I work at the Black Swan."

Her face lit up so much that I almost felt bad about what I was going to do to her; of course, she's nothing but another blonde sl*t in my mind, and I'm really just looking to get into the goods.

"So then, wanna walk there together?" Summer suggested.

Grinning, I nodded.

I am about to get my hands on the perfect lay.

End of Randy's POV

*note*

Hello, people of Fanfiction! Yes, it's been ages since I've last updated this story; yes, I need to get more material out this summer; and yes, this chapter was very lengthy. In fact, from my memory, it averaged out to about 12,000 words, actually, meaning that yes, I think it's one of the longest chapters that I've ever written for anything on this website. Most of my chapters average out to 4,000-5,000 words, but since it's been nearly a year since the last update, yes, I obviously had to make this one a little longer than the others.

If you're a bit confused about the timeline, here's how it works:

Even though it's been almost a year since I last updated this story, in this universe, it's only been three months. The last time you saw them, at least from my memory, it was either April first or April second. This time, it's July fourth, and a lot has changed. I believe they all filled you in on the details, and if not, then I'll go back and edit this chapter; in fact, I've been planning on editing the whole story for some time now, as I think some of the paragraph spacing is a bit off, making it hard to read, and I think I also might've gotten some things wrong about college. For example, considering how old Hazel is, she shouldn't be in medical school yet, instead taking a major and then getting prepared for medical school. I'll likely go back and edit it, but, yeah, those are some things I've noticed.

Along with that, the next chapter, which will be part two (and I hopefully won't take another year to update,) will deal with Chuckie and Angie's relationship finally going somewhere (you might want to re-read previous chapters to refresh your memory a bit with what Chuckie was planning on doing last time if you haven't already,) the barbecue party will finally start, and Tommy, Jesse, Cree, Jerry (new OC,) Phil, and Kimi (whew, I've missed out on a bunch of people,) might get a POV, but who knows? We'll just have to see in the next chapter.

Heck, if the POV's turn out to be too much for me, I might actually have to split this whole "Fourth of July" drama thing into three parts, which I personally think at this point would be best for me, seeing as how this whole chapter averaged out to 13,000 words, and my hand is exhausted from all this typing.

I've also decided that I think I'm going to change the plotline of Rosie's mother dying when she was five. I honestly don't know why I created it, but I have no interest in it anymore, so when I do eventually go back to edit, I'm just going to take that plotline out of the story; however, to keep things simple for possible new readers, I just said that it was Rosie's dad who was having troubles finding work, rather than both parents.

Additionally, I'd like to mention that it's recently been difficult to upload chapters and new stories; almost every time I think it's finally gotten up after going through the whole process, I find out that the story never actually showed up, even it's been a full day, so I'm hoping to dear goodness that it actually works this time.

Anyway, you all have a good day, and toodles!