Hi all! Thank you for all for the support, much appreciated! There are a few easter eggs dropped in this chapter that will come up later in the story. Additionally, I promise that Angel will become a regular part of the story starting next chapter. Feedback and Reviews are life! XO

X

Her first full week of classes had flown by and before she knew it, it was Friday afternoon. Nana had agreed to let her spend the night at Emily's as long as her parents would be there. Amalia had assured her that they would and so Friday afternoon after school found her over at Emily's getting ready. They had a few hours to kill until the other girls came over and the two watched movies and chatted until 7 pm.

"So how long has your family lived in the area?" Amalia asked looking around her room.

"Pft, forever," she said with a grimace. "Sorry, TMI, but I'm pretty sure I was conceived in this house," she said with a laugh.

"Eww! Way more information about your parents than I need to know!" Shrieked Amalia covering her ears.

"What?" Emily looked at her straight-faced, "maybe I shouldn't tell you but I'm pretty sure that they have a better sex life than I will ever will."

"LALALALA" I can't hear you! Amalia pretended to retch.

"Like rabbits those two!" Emily was straight out cackling now, clearly enjoying Amalia's discomfort.

"OMG! Emily! How am I ever supposed to look your parents in the eyes again!" Amalia rubbed her hands over her eyes like she was physically trying to scrub the images from her brain. Seriously, though, how was she supposed to look at the demure Ms. Thomas and the jovial Mr. Thomas the same way? "Ugh gross!"

"That's what I want someday," Emily said suddenly. Her giggles having subsided.

"Ugh no please, I can't take anymore." Amalia pleaded.

"No, I mean, joking aside," Emily looked pensive. "I mean yea, it's freaking gross to think about, but I'd rather have my parents doing that than just existing together you know? Or worse, hating each other's guts."

"I guess…" Amalia still looked skeptical.

"I mean," Emily bit her lip continuing, "They're still in love after all this time...It's kinda cute and weird because they're my parents but they still have fun together. They do date night every week and every couple of months they go on weekend trips together. And they're not afraid to say 'I love you'."

Amalia looked at her thoughtfully, quirking her head to the side thinking.

Emily grinned suddenly, "you know you kind of look like a confused owl when you do that." She laughed.

"Seriously?" Amalia asked annoyed, her serious train of thought completely getting derailed by the comment. "Ya, it's kind of funny, your eyes get all big and you purse your lips like this," she proceeded to demonstrate her best quizzical impression.

"If I look anything like that," I seriously need to practice my facial motions.

"Rude." Emily chucked a pillow at her, which thankfully missed.

The two both laughed before Amalia got thoughtful again, "seriously though, about what you said before, about your parents. I get it; I'd like that too, someday too."

"I know, it's weird." Replied Emily after a second.

"No, it's not. I think it's important to know what you are looking for and realize the value you in it. There's a lot of bad things that can happen and keeping things in perspective is always good." Amalia offered her a smile that, if Emily had looked hard enough, would see did not quite reach her eyes.

"Hey, that reminds me, you never told me about your parents," thankfully Emily was distracted climbing to her feet and did not notice Amalia's face go slightly ashen.

However before she could respond with some evasive comment, they both heard the doorbell ring. "I'll get it!" Emily yelled at the top of her lungs dashing towards the door.

Saved by the bell, thought Amalia gratefully making her way downstairs.

X

An hour later, she was standing in front of Emily's bathroom mirror looking at herself, she felt ridiculous.

By the time that Letty and Sarah had arrived, she thought that they would be heading out the door. Star Wars Episode III had just come out and she thought that they would be in a hurry to catch the 7:30 showing. "It just came out," stated Emily matter-a-factly. "We'll see the 8:30 one; it's basically playing every hour. So what are you going to wear?"

"Uh," Amalia said looking down at the converse, jean shorts, and black tank top she was wearing. "This?" She said confused.

"You're not serious," said Letty smiling at her.

"What?" Amalia asked, truly confused.

"It's Friday night!" Said Sarah, as if she was supposed to suddenly understand its reverence.

"Yea, and we're going to the movies," she looked at them. "Where it's going to be dark," she looked at them again, faces still uncomprehending. "Where no one will see what we're wearing," she really tried hard to keep the 'duh' look off her face.

"Jeez, not for the movie genius," Emily said rolling her eyes. "For after!"

"Huh?" Amalia replied.

"My mom and dad go to bed early, and I told them that Letty's brother was going to give us a ride home." Emily looked positively devious.

"Thomas if you get me grounded so help me I will make your life difficult," replied Amalia looking her dead in the eye.

"Relax," Emily waved her off. "Now, what are you going to wear?"

"I'm guessing this is out?"

"Yea-huh", Emily responded turning towards her closet.

And that was how, approximately sixty minutes later Amalia found herself standing in front of Emily's mirror dressed in tight black skinny jeans, one of the clingy black tops that Sarah had brought over as an option, and thankfully her converse. Emily had insisted on ballet flats, but Amalia had refused stating that they pinched her feet and there was no way she was going to suffer stuffing both her ass and her feet into something that was two sizes too small. Emily had finally relented after she had forced Amalia to wear her hair down and put on some black eyeliner.

"Wow," Emily said looking at their combined handiwork. "I never realized how long your hair was," she said reaching out to finger comb a few curling strands that almost to the top of Amalia's jeans. "Kinda wish I hadn't cut mine before the start of the year."

"I guess, I don't really think about it all that much," replied Amalia assessing herself with a critical eye. Usually, she wore her long, red, hair in a thick braid down the back of her neck or up in a high bun.

"Is it naturally dark red like that?" Letty asked standing in front of the bathroom mirror putting on some mascara. "Or do you dye it?"

"All mine, courtesy of my mama's Russian/Irish heritage. I hated it when I was little, I got called carrot top for a few years in preschool," But after Kate Winslet in Titanic, no one gave me too crap."

"Huh," Sarah said, I can see that a bit. "Though, you are most definitely missing her boobs."

"Ha! None taken," replied Amalia. Contrary to what the ideal body type of the moment was, she was fine with her 34B chest. She was used to playing sports and the idea of having to wear two sports bras for any type of practice sounded miserable. "Ok," Amalia said glancing at the clock, "it's 8:15, can we at least try to see this movie?"

"I think we're good," Letty said stuffing some lip-gloss and mascara into her purse.

"Great!" Emily exclaimed heading for her bedroom door. "Mom!" She yelled as the girls proceeded to walk down the stairs, "We're going to head out!" As they gathered by the door, Ms. Thomas walked through from the kitchen to the foyer.

"You girls have fun," she said. "And Em, let me know when you get to the theater okay?"

"Fine," Emily said rolling her eyes.

"Hey," said Ms. Thomas with a frown, "I'm mom, I worry."

"Ok, ok," Emily said leaning forward to give her mom a quick peck on the cheek.

As the girls left the house, they turned down Emily's street and headed for Main Avenue. The movie theater was only a half mile from Emily's house and though it was the first week of September, the earlier scorching heat of the day and cooled a bit, leaving it balmy and warm outside. As they crossed the street, Amalia fell into step next to Letty.

"So did you decide whether or not you are going to go out for the volleyball team this year?" Letty inquired. She had been on the team last year as the team's libero and was hoping to get onto high school varsity next fall.

"Probably not," Amalia said after a minute. "I really want to go for soccer and I don't think that I'll be able to do both. Besides, I hear they run you like crazy during tryouts and I have to work on getting my endurance up."

"Girl," Letty said giving her side eye, "I've seen you in P.E., what the hell are you talking about."

Amalia laughed, "Ya, for a mile it's not a big deal, but I can't keep that up for two hours straight."

"Ya, ya, whatever," Letty smiled.

The group slowed as they waited on the corner of the street to cross onto Main, which would take them to the theater.

As they crossed from the relatively quiet side street onto Main, Amalia observed the groups of people milling about and the music blaring from the restaurants, bars, and shops that during the week was relatively quiet. The street came alive in a way that was completely different than what she had previously observed. The few outside patios were full and people were spilling out onto the sidewalks talking and smiling. A few even had drinks in their hands. It seemed like no one was in any particular hurry to get anywhere. "Is it always this crazy on Friday nights?" She asked falling into step beside Letty again.

"Huh," Letty said looking around. "Oh ya, I mean there's not much to do around here so people generally come out to Main and hang around for most of the night."

"Cool."

"So," Letty said looking at her slyly, "Tell me more about that cute Reyes kid you've been hanging out with."

"Omg stop," Amalia groaned. "Seriously, we're just friends," She said, placing emphasis on the word friends.

"Oh ya," Letty cocked an eyebrow "then why do you always catch a ride with him to school every morning huh?"

Rolling her eyes Amalia laughed, "Because his dad and my Nana are friends and it means I don't have to take the bus."

"Ya, whatever chica, I see you." Letty smirked.

Dodging around a few people, the girls stopped on the sidewalk a few blocks before the theater up ahead. As they waited to cross, Amalia heard a whistle. She was still talking to Letty and had not paid it any particular mind, however after a second; Letty nudged her lightly in ribs, "Hey girl, how do you know Coco?"

"What?" Following Letty's gaze, Amalia looked over at the crowded restaurant they were passing. The railing patio jutted out onto the sidewalk and leaning on it with a beer in his hands was the lanky guy known as Coco from earlier in the week.

"Ay, girl scout," he said with a smile tipping his beer at her "looking good."

"Coco, leave her alone," Letty said rolling her eyes.

"Eh sis, how's it?" He asked clearly indicating Letty.

"Good, you see Frankie yet?" Letty asked clearly comfortable with the guy.

"Got off late, he's inside with Angel grabbing another round," he said, tipping the Corona towards the bar.

"Tell him to call me. My friend's mom thinks he's taking us home later. I don't want him to screw it up."

"Stayin out of trouble?" he asked with a smirk.

"You know," Letty said rolling her eyes.

Just then, Amalia saw two guys and a woman separate themselves from the crush inside and make their way towards Coco. "Great," thought Amalia seeing the taller one. It was the asshole from earlier in the week at school. She saw them walking up before they saw the group of girls. The tall one was laughing jovially with another shorter dark-haired guy who Amalia did not recognize. As the two-edged closer, she saw that the tall one had his arm slung around the waist of a dark-haired brunette who might as well be attached to him with the way she clung on as they moved.

Glancing up at the approaching trio, Coco acknowledged Letty, "ask him yourself."

Letty rolled her eyes as Coco grinned.

"Hey, Frankie," Letty yelled trying to get his attention. "Frankie! Jesus, hey asshole!"

"What?" The guy named Frankie whipped his head in his sister's direction. "Oh, hey sis."

"You answer to that now eh?" Letty smirked raising an eyebrow.

Amalia bit back a snort, which caused the tall one with the permanently attached female to glance in her direction.

"Ey, gringa, you still lost or something? School's back that way," he casually gestured with his thumb indicating up the street. The brunette at his side scowled, clearly annoyed at not be the center of attention for the moment. Giving the girls a final once over, she began to nuzzle his neck, the words she whispered lost to the loud music.

Whatever she said certainly seemed to catch his attention, Amalia thought. She watched as he quirked his thick eyebrows at her and licked his lips.

Amalia rolled her eyes, a move not lost on the tall one. "Jealous gringa?" He smirked.

She could not help herself, "you learn how to count yet?" she asked sweetly.

Coco barked out a laugh as the tall one's eyes narrowed.

"Eh, yo Frankie," Letty spoke up again. "I told mama you're picking us up after the movie, don't screw this up!" She said pointing a finger in his direction.

He waved dismissively at her, "Stay out of trouble sis."

"Whatever," Letty said pulling Amalia along.

"See ya around girl scout!" Coco called as they retreated down the street.

Once they were out of earshot, Letty turned towards her. "How do you know Coco and Angel?"

"Huh?" Amalia queried looking at her.

"The guys back there."

"I don't," Amalia said honestly. "They gave me crap the first day of school because I got lost. Apparently, it's a pastime now." She frowned.

"Ha! Don't mind them," Letty said as they walked along.

"You guys seemed friendly," Amalia said curiously.

"The guy that's not tall and not Coco," Letty said, "That's my brother Frankie; he graduated a few years ago and works in a garage across town. The other guy with the chick basically on his dick is one of his buddies, Angel."

"Gotcha," Amalia said. I guess the asshole has a name she thought to herself. They were both silent for a moment before Amalia continued, "Question though…"

Letty looked at her expectantly.

"Emily said those guys were juniors, how the hell are they in bar?"

Letty laughed at her puzzled expression, "Girl, you got a lot to learn about this town."

Amalia raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue.

Letty just rolled her eyes as the two caught up with Emily and Sarah who were already in line to buy tickets. "Frankie works security for the owner sometimes and he lets them in. No one really gives a shit."

"Hey guys!" Emily said over her should, "I'm going to go ahead and get four, just pay me back okay?"

"Great thanks!" Amalia said as she waited for Emily to finish up with Sarah.

After they reunited, they had just enough time to grab soda and popcorn and find their seats. The exchange outside the bar soon forgotten as they all settled in to watch the final saga taking place in a galaxy far, far, away…

X

"Meh," Emily said as the group left the theater. "I liked the second one better. This one was just sad."

"The story was pretty good," said Amalia, "But Hayden Christensen can't act to save his life."

The girls all snickered.

"At least he's hot!" Said Sarah. That garnered a round of agreement from all the girls except Amalia.

"What" asked Letty "you don't think so?"

"Eh, he's okay I guess," She responded non-committedly. "But his character, pft, way too much emotional baggage, nooooo thank you!"

"That's fixable," argued Sarah.

"Please," Amalia countered "yea right." She grinned. The conversation continued around the general notion of what constituted too much emotional baggage for a few minutes before Letty broke in, "So what exactly is the plan?" she asked looking expectantly at Emily. Three sets of eyes turned in her direction.

"Ok, so apparently there's this high school party across town?" Emily said looking at her phone. "I got a text about it halfway through the movie." Emily looked up with a wicked grin on her face, "down?" A chorus of enthusiastic 'yeahs!' immediately followed.

Amalia frowned.

"Oh come on," Emily said looking at her, "don't be such a buzz kill."

"I'm in," Amalia said after a moment, "just don't get me grounded."

"Deal." Emily replied slinging her arm around Amalia's shoulders.

X

A friend of Letty's had picked them up and driven them across town. As they pulled up, she could hear the music pounding from inside the house. As they opened the door, the smell of booze, sweat, and smoke immediately assailed their senses. Noticing Amalia's hesitation, Emily grabbed her arm and yanked her through the crush of people, "come on lighten up!" she said pulling her in the direction of the kitchen towards a large stockpile of booze.

"Shots!" Sarah yelled enthusiastically.

Letty looked at her friend doubtfully, "take it slow girlfriend," she responded, "you're a lightweight."

"Whatever," Sarah grumbled rolling her eyes and whipping her platinum hair over her shoulder.

As Emily passed out cups, Amalia glanced around, noticing a few familiar faces from some of her high school classes. She locked eyes with a tall blonde guy in the corner for a moment before smiling and glancing back to Emily. "To a great night!" Emily said lifting her cup with a wide grin. The girls all clanked cups and then threw the liquid back. Amalia was not sure what exactly Emily had poured, but as soon as it hit her tongue, she had to resist the urge to hurl. "Blah," she said shaking her head trying to get the taste of tequila out of her mouth.

"Letty!" she heard someone call over her shoulder. She watched as a stout guy pushed his way towards her friend. "Eh, Tommy, how's it?" Letty asked turning to give him a quick hug.

"Eh, sis isn't it past your bedtime?" He asked with a joking grin.

"Fuck you," she responded playfully.

"Who are your friends?" he asked tipping his chin to indicate the other girls.

"Sarah, Em, and this is Amalia," Letty said, naming them off one by one.

"Ey, ginger, I recognize you," he said looking at Amalia. "You're in Lit sixth period ya?" he asked.

"Tommy's dumbass failed Freshman lit, so he's retaking," Letty said with a smirk.

"Yea, with Haley," Amalia replied.

"Cool," he said taking a swig from his drink. "I get you some refills?"

"Sure!" Sarah giggled.

"Watch that one," Letty murmured eyeing Sarah.

"You let me know if you need anything," Tommy winked handing out four bottles of corona.

"Ya, ya, will do Tommy," Letty replied waving him off.

"Let's dance!" Emily yelled

X

That had been three hours earlier.

Eventually, Amalia had loosened up and after dancing and a few more drinks, she had really started to enjoy herself. She'd found her way over to a game of flip up and with her new found liquid courage had pushed her way in. She had lost track of Sarah and Letty, however, Emily had stayed in the living room and she could still see her every now and then in between the crush of people. During her second round of flip cup, she noticed that the blonde guy from earlier had sidled up next to her. "Hey!" he said after her team had lost its second game, "can I get you another drink?"

He's cute, she thought glancing up at him through lowered eyelashes. "Sure," she said with an overly enthusiastic grin.

Following him into the kitchen she leaned up against the counter as he poured, realizing distractedly that she needed a bit more support than she thought.

"You go to SPR too right?" He asked flashing her a lazy smile.

"Uh, yea."

"Thought I'd seen you around."

"Oh have you," she said flirtatiously. Where had that come from, she thought, embarrassed by the flirty tone.

"Ha," he grinned. "Guilty." He moved to position himself leaning against the counter opposite. "Your friends with EZ right?"

"Geez, you seem to know an awful lot about me," she said arching an eyebrow.

"Whoa, I'm not stalking you or anything," he laughed putting his hands up "we're on the football team together and I saw his dad pick you up a few times after practice."

"Ha," Amalia grinned "and here I thought I should be worried."

The two entered up talking for a while. She learned that his name was Davey and that he was a sophomore at Santo Padre Regional. When he asked what grade she was in, she had hedged. After some prodding, she had finally let slip that, she was still in 8th grade afraid that it would end the conversation right then and there, and for some reason, she was really hoping that it would not. At first, he had been a little shocked but they had continued talking and laughing and eventually she had lost track of time.

"You know," she said after a minute, "you really remind me of someone…," she said scrunching up her eyes.

"Ya, who?" he asked puffing out his chest.

"Hm," she tapped her chin pretending to look deep in thought.

With a grin, Davey put his arms out and spun in a circle, slightly losing his balance on the turn and knocking over a forgotten red cup on the counter.

"Well, frown really hard." She said trying not to giggle.

Davey complied, scrunching up his face.

"Yea," she continued with a smile. "And look really angst-y," she was working hard to hold in her laughter.

He tried to effectuate a pained expression with little success.

She continued to stare pretending to think really hard before her eyes got huge and she started laughing.

"What?" he asked losing the suave air he had tried to put on.

"Oh my god, you totally look like a blonde Hayden Christensen!" She said busting up.

"Hey, what's so funny about that?" He asked deflating slightly.

"Ha, no it's just, something from earlier." He did not seem to be buying it and she felt kind of bad.

Amalia pushed her self off the counter and walked the few steps over to him, "we saw Star Wars earlier and I was giving Hayden Christensen shit." Casually she reached her arm up and placed a hand on his arm for reassurance. Wow, that's nice, she thought absently.

"Yea, well…he's not so bad" Davey grumbled.

"Ha! Come on don't be upset" she offered a smile.

Suddenly, the mood shifted, as she became very aware of how close she was to him. Self-consciously she licked her lips. His eyes followed the movement.

"Hey, I…" he breathed leaning a bit closer.

She had just positioned her body facing him when a whoop and holler from the living room caught her attention. The mood broke and she pushed herself back from Davey embarrassed. He shook his head and grinned, the two smiled at each other stupidly before a loud round of cheers drew her attention. "What the?" Amalia glanced around him as she peered into the living room. There was a girl standing on top of the coffee table in the center of the room shaking everything that her mama had given her. A group of mostly males who were whooping and hollering egging her on surrounded her.

"Shit!" Amalia said. The platinum hair whipping from side to side and the short black skirt left no doubt in her mind; it was Sarah, clearly drunk and shaking it for all to see. Pushing past Davey, Amalia made her way into the living room seeing Emily trying to push her way through the group. Reaching her first Amalia turned her around. "Em, what the hell is she doing?"

"I don't know!" Emily screeched over the noise, "I swear to god I just turned my back for a second!"

"We need to get her down!"

"I know!" Emily yelled.

Glancing back to her friend Amalia muttered, "Shit." She was stilling trying to assess the best way to reach her when a male voice from the crowd yelled 'take it off!'

Sarah grinned drunkenly before reaching for the hem of her top, "no!" both Emily and Amalia yelled in unison. As a group, the two started shoving people out of the way. It was difficult to get to their friend but they resorted to kicking and elbowing and were eventually able to get in front of the table just as Sarah had her shirt up baring her midriff.

"Sarah, what the fuck!" Emily yelled.

"Oh hey, guys!" The clearly drunk blonde replied. "Isn't this fun!" She said her eyes glassy.

"Get down!" Amalia yelled.

"Hey," Sarah said after a second, the expression on her face changing suddenly. "I don't feel too good."

"Oh no," Emily said.

Reaching up the girls grabbed Sarah and yanked her down. "Hey," a male arm reached out drunkenly, "where are you going?" he asked, his glassy eyes having trouble focusing.

"Back the fuck up," a distinctly female voice yelled. "She's in eighth-grade, pervert!" The voice said shoving the arm back into the crowd. Amalia looked over her shoulder, grateful that Letty had finally made an appearance.

"Sorry," she said with a shrug. "I got distracted."

Emily noticed the hickey on her neck, "uh huh."

"Guys, I think I'm going to be sick." Sarah cried.

"Crap," Amalia yelled.

As one, the three dragged their friend out of the living and down the hall, making it to the bathroom just as Sarah hurled the liquid contents of her stomach into the toilet. "Aw, girl it's ok, let it out," Letty soothed crouching down to rub her back.

"We need to get her home," Amalia said after watching her retch.

"Uh, ya, about that, we may have a problem," Emily said looking sheepish.

"What?" Amalia deadpanned.

"I lost track of time and our ride may or may not have left an hour ago."

"What?" Amalia asked again.

"I'm sorry! He texted me like an hour and a half ago and I didn't notice." Emily said, "plus it's later than I realized."

"What time is it?" Amalia said reaching into her pocket to pick up her phone. Glancing at the screen, she saw that it was just after 3 AM. "Perfect," she said sarcastically, "now what?"

"Ugh," they heard from the toilet, "my mom's going to kill me," Sarah said moaning.

"Let me see if I can get ahold of Frankie," Letty said pulling out her phone.

After several minutes and multiple calls, she had no luck. "Are the buses still running?" Amalia asked.

"No," Emily grimaced, "they stop at midnight. Is there anyone else that could give us a ride?"

Amalia thought for a second, there was ONE person that she could call that would not result in her being grounded for a year. She was not sure what he could do but…"Ya, I might have something." Reaching into her pocket Amalia pulled out her phone and punched in the numbers.

After ringing for a few seconds a clearly sleepy voice mumbled something incoherent.

Cringing, Amalia ventured, "Uh, EZ?"

"Amalia?" The sleepy voice questioned. "What the…it's 3 in the morning?"

She let out a sigh, "ok, please don't hate me…"

"What?" he said, clearly more awake.

"I really need your help."

"Are you ok?" he asked, his voice sounding worried.

"Um, I'm fine, but um, well some friends and I are at…" she looked at Letty and mouthed 'whose house?' "Tommy Cardozo's," she whispered back before turning her attention back to Sarah.

"Uh, Tommy Cardozo's, and well, you see, the problem is that," The other end of the phone was silent.

"Look, my friend, Sarah is shit faced, our ride bailed, and I could really really use your help," she blurted out.

She did not hear anything for a few minutes.

"You. Owe. Me. Big. Time." Was all EZ said.

"Oh my god, you'll come?" She asked momentarily ecstatic.

"Big time." He said. After a moment, EZ spoke again, "I'll figure it out. Give me the address." She heard rustling over the phone as she passed it off to Letty to give him the address.

"You got us a ride!?" Emily asked.

"Ya, my friend EZ said he'd take care of it."

"What the cute Freshman?" Emily exclaimed looking worried.

"You got a better idea?" Amalia glared.

"No," she muttered. "Just not necessarily the best circumstances to meet under…"

After a second, Letty returned the phone back to Amalia. "You came in clutch girlfriend," Letty said from her position sitting on the edge of the tub.

Amalia grimaced.

Just then, a loud banging sounded on the other side of the door. "Fuck off! It's occupied," Letty yelled. "How long he say he'd be?" She asked as Sarah moaned again.

"Uh, not sure." Amalia said glancing down at her phone.

"Look, we need to move her outside ya?" Letty said "I think she's mostly done. Em, see if there are any trash bags under the sink."

"Yep," Emily said crouching down.

After fifteen minutes of wrangling and a concerted team effort, the girls managed to navigate the near passed out Sarah outside of the house just as her phone began to ring. "Hey, I'm just pulling up," EZ said over the line.

Looking down the street Amalia saw Felipe Reyes' brown truck heading toward the house."Yo is that him?" Letty asked hefting Sarah up.

"Yep," Amalia said, silently praying that he'd managed to figure out a ride that did not involve his dad or mom.

The trio moved Sarah down the sidewalk. As they approached the car EZ got out, "You owe me Kane."

"Wha.." she stopped after a moment. Staring between EZ and the clearly empty truck cab. "Did you drive here by yourself?" She yelled.

"Ya," he said with a scowl.

"Do you even have your learners permit yet?" She asked in disbelief.

"No," he grumbled.

She just stared at him. "What the hell EZ! You're going to get us arrested!"

"Like I said, I figured it out. Besides," he muttered, "getting arrested is nowhere near as bad as the whooping my dad will give me if he finds out."

"I thought that you were going to get a friend or your brother…or...or your dad to come!" She shriek.

"It's 3 o'clock in the freaking, my asshole of an older brother is probably passed out with a chick somewhere, and are you seriously going to tell me you want my dad finding out that you got drunk at a high school party?" He yelled back.

Blowing a strand of hair out of her face, she scowled "No."

"That's what I thought."

"Just help me get her into the car," he said moving to open the passenger side door. With Letty's help, he managed to get her inside the cab, and with a bit of wrangling they all squished in. EZ was silent for a few minutes, after Emily gave him her address, still clearly pissed.

"I'm sorry," Amalia whined after the silence had stretched on for ten minutes. "Please don't hate me."

Sighing EZ looked at her, "I don't hate you," he said after a minute. "I'm glad you called me rather than having some drunk ass from the party take you." he offered her a tight smile.

"I'm not stupid," Amalia, said frowning at him.

He cocked an eyebrow at her in response.

"Cute." She said.

"I'm just thinking of the most excruciating way that I can make you suffer."

"Great."

"So," he asked, "these your partners in crime?"

"Ha," she said sarcastically. "The one that's passed out is Sarah, this is Letty, and that's Em," she said indicating the girl squished next to him.

"Hi," he said not looking in their direction.

"Thanks," Emily said after a moment, "I really appreciate it."

"Yea, no problem," he said, his tone lightening up a bit as he responded to Emily.

"So," Emily said after a few minutes, "Amalia said you play football?"

Amalia rolled her eyes at her friend's blatant attempt to make conversation. She was WELL aware of the fact that he played football.

"Yea," he said checking the rearview mirror before glancing in her direction.

"Do you play any other sports?" She asked. "Amalia was just talking about going out for soccer," she continued."The conditioning sounds like torture though."

"Not going to lie, it's pretty terrible," he replied. "A lot more running than what they make us do in football, but pretty similar…" he stopped for a moment looking pensive before glancing in Amalia's direction.

"Hey Emily," he said after a moment, a grin spreading across his features. "You just gave me a great idea."

"Oh Jesus," Amalia muttered. "What?"

"So you guys have to do a lot of running right? Conditioning and season prep yea?" He asked innocently.

She did not like the look on his face one bit. "Yes, assuming that I even make the team."

"They must drill you guys pretty hard in tryouts right?" He said chuckling to himself.

Amalia narrowed her eyes. He was definitely going somewhere with this line of questioning and it was making her nervous.

"And tryouts are right after Thanksgiving right?"

"You know this, right after football season. Geez EZ what?" She asked annoyed.

"Emily here just helped me figure out how you can pay me back."

"What?" She asked glaring at Emily.

"You're going to do conditioning with me every week until your tryouts," he said grinning at her from ear to ear.

"What? Hell no!" She objected, "You have to run like twelve miles every Sunday, no freaking way!"

"You owe me big time. Plus I'd like the company."

"But…but Thanksgiving isn't for eight more weeks!" she whined, mentally calculating the number of days.

"I'm basically committing a felony to save your ass, and besides," he smirked "this way you'll be all set to kick ass at tryouts. So really I'm just looking out for you."

"EZ, come on," she tried one more time. "I'll do your homework for two weeks and write that Shakespeare analysis for lit.

"Nope," he said, "I think I like my idea better.

"Nooo," Amalia groaned.

"You say no again and I'll pull this car over."

"Ha, you won't actually make us walk home." She smirked. He was too nice, there was absolutely no way.

He just grinned and slammed on the breaks, sending all of them slamming against their seatbelts. "Eh, drunk chick back here!" Letty yelled as Sarah moaned.

"Jesus! Ok, Ok, fine! You win." Amalia yelped.

"Like you mean it," EZ smiled sweetly.

"I will condition with you every week until Thanksgiving." She muttered.

"Now promise, like you really mean it," he said as he checked his mirrors and merged back into traffic.

"I promise I will condition with you every week until Thanksgiving," she grumbled, already imagining the ensuing torture.

"Great! Thanks, Emily," EZ said flashing her friend a winning smile.

Emily just grinned back. "No problem."

Amalia's head whipped around to look at Emily.

"Oh," EZ added after a moment, "and you get to dissect the frog in bio next month."

Amalia's mouth fell open. "Like hell!"

"You owe me Kane," EZ smiled.

Emily snorted.

"Emily Thomas, so help me," she muttered glaring at her friend.

"Hey, you said not to get you grounded and I didn't!" Emily protested.

"This is worse!" Amalia yelled.

"Aw, come on," EZ said, "just think, you'll get to hang out with this pretty boy seven days a week."

"Bite me," Amalia grumbled slumping back into her seat.

She was not sure who she was more pissed at, EZ or Emily. So far, it was a tie.