Alright, since people have raised the issue, yes, I wrote this and published it before. I deleted it because I felt it was too emotionally driven by my own life, so I'm making edits and publishing it again. I have not stolen this, and I would NEVER steal anyone else's work. That said, back to the story.

"Welcome, everyone, to the first game of the 2017 season between the Hazeltucky Hockers and YOUR Royal Woods High School Squirrels! I'm here with my partner, Pep-"

"-sigh- Unfortunately…"

"And tonight we are going to have a good time cheering for our hometown team! Everyone in Royal Woods,let's give it up for the SQUIRRELS!"

The crowd roared its approval as the team rushed onto the field like a stampeding herd of bulls. The Hockers took the field as well, to much milder hooplah. A quick rendition of the national anthem, and the game was off and running.

"Hmm…" I.K thought to himself. He didn't know much about American Football, but SOMETHING told him it was best to root for the Squirrels… after all, there WAS A bunch of people behind him wearing R.W.H.S hoodies and hats. I.K wasn't an idiot; he was in front of their fan section. And he'd seen enough hockey games on TV to know fans could get WILD.

"Damn, these people don't shut up, do they?" his dad leaned over and asked. He was now wearing a maroon and yellow hat with a cartoonish squirrel emblazoned onto it. They had stopped by the souvenir stand before the game, and I.K had gotten the pretty decent maroon hoodie he now wore for fifteen dollars. Talk about a steal…

"Yeah, really…" he mumbled, not paying much attention to his dad. The Hockers had taken the ball down to the other side of the field, and they were lining up to go for a point or two… or was it three? He didn't know. Football wasn't his sport. To be honest, he barely understood HOCKEY lingo. If someone told him his team had a power play, he would have stared blankly at them and smiled, hoping they'd go away…

Speaking of going away, I.K really needed to stand up. The crowd behind him was giving him a headache.

"Hey, Dad, I'm gonna go to the bathroom, OK?"

"Seriously? And miss the touchdown?" his dad asked, not looking at his son. He was engrossed in the game; unlike I.K, he actually knew what was going on.

"Yeah, I mean, I REALLY gotta go… the game is cool and all, but…"

"-sigh- Alright… just be back by halftime…"

Before his dad could change his mind, he stood up and began to walk towards the concession stand, passing by the throng of Squirrels fans. He pulled up his hoodie in a vain attempt to drown the sound, which didn't work at all.

To be honest, I.K really didn't like this game. It looked… STUPID, to be honest. What was the point? There was hitting, which was always fun, but that looked about it… how did people even-

THUD!

He was too engrossed in his own thoughts to even realize he'd bumped someone over until he heard the yelling.

"Hey, buddy, watch where you're going!"

He turned around, pulling his hoodie back. A girl about his age was walking over to him, wearing a light blue sweater and a pair of jeans.

"You knocked my sister over! And you didn't even say sorry!"

"What?" he asked, looking over the girls shoulders. Another girl was helping the sister up. She had brown hair worn up in a ponytail, and she wore a yellow hoodie and jeans.

"Oh, uhh… sorry, I guess…" he said and turned, but the girl wasn't about to let him go that easily. She grabbed his shoulder before he could weasel out into the crowd.

"Well, don't apologize to ME! Apologize to her!"

"Well, uh, I actually kinda have to-"

He stopped talking when the girl spun him around, grabbed him by his shirt collar, and pulled him down to be level with her.

"Listen, buddy, if YOU don't say sorry to MY sister, then I will LITERALLY turn you into a HUMAN PRETZEL!"

"Woah, woah, woah, OK, OK!" he shouted, trying to cover his face with his hands. "Whatever you want! Just, PLEASE don't hurt me!"

The girl immediately lightened up as he pleaded with her. With a smirk, she let him go, causing him to take a step back in both fear and awe.

"Good. Now go over and apologize. Her name is Luan, by the way."

He forced himself to meekly walk over to Luan, who was still dusting herself off, and the other girl.

"Hey, uhh, sorry for running into you…" he said, not making eye contact. "I guess...

"Oh, no problem!" she said, smiling. "Have we met before? Because I think I'm FALLING for you! Ha ha ha! Get it?"

He felt his cheeks flush as the girl laughed. Was she… making fun of him? He stuttered, trying to make a witty comeback on the spot.

"Well, I mean, I didn't, well, do it on purpose, you know? I just, uhh, kinda wasn't paying-"

"Dude, chill. She always does this to people," the other girl said. She was wearing a purple jacket and a plaid skirt, an odd choice considering the weather.

"Seriously?" he asked, looking back over to the girl, who was still laughing. "Do you know her?"

"Know her?" she said, smiling. "Of course I know her, dude! I'm her sister!"

"Huh?" he said out loud, looking back to where the blond girl was. "Then, who was…"

"Sister. Our OTHER sister. We have a few of them."

"You two don't seem to be like her… I mean, at ALL…"

"Oh yeah, she can get a bit heated sometimes," Luan said, recovering from her laughing fit. "Did she use the human pretzel bit?"

"Yeah… uhh, does she do that a lot to you?"

"Oh, yeah…" Luna muttered, rubbing her shoulder. "She never follows through, though, thank God…"

"Never underestimate the top golfer on Varsity Golf!"

I.K couldn't help but laugh along with the girl. Feeling a lot better about the situation, he gave his name.

"My name is I.K. You can call me I, though. Or K. Or, you know, whatever you want to…"

"Sick, dude… I'm Luna. That's Luan. And I know you already met Lori, from the looks of it..."

"What about me?" the girl asked, carrying four cans of Coke. She gave one to each of her sisters, holding on to the last one. She narrowed her eyes at I.K as soon as she saw him.

"What does HE want?"

"Lori, this is I.K. I think you two already met, though…"

"Uh, yeah! He literally ran into Luan!"

"Uhh, yeah? I saw the whole thing. He apologized."

"Well…" she stuttered. "Well, good. He should have as soon as he knocked her over."

She tossed the can to I.K, who reached out and grabbed it in the nick of time.

"Thanks!"

"No problem. It WAS for my sister, but i forgot she doesnt like… uhh, guys…"

"Oh, no…" Luan said, trading her smile for a dead serious frown. "Did we seriously lose Leni again?!"

"Well, don't just stand there, LOOK FOR HER!" Lori sort of shouted to the girls. The three sisters split up in different ways, leaving I.K behind in the dust.

"Well, THAT was weird…" he thought, walking towards the bathroom. Unfortunately, he only managed to turn around before running into someone head on.

"Ow!" he yelped, stumbling back. The person he'd run into, a girl, regained her footing and walked - err, RAN over to him.

"O. ! I am SO sorry! Are you alright?"

"Huh?" he asked, looking up. "Yeah, I'm…"

I.K. couldn't say more. The girl he had just run into… she was STUNNING. Perfect blonde hair that was capped by a pair of sunglasses, perfect nose, eyes, and a nice voice to match...

"You're what? -gasp- OH MY GOSH! YOU'RE HURT!"

"What?" he asked as she began to panic. "No, I'm not-"

"Hold still!" she said, reaching into the pocket of her shirt. She pulled out a band-aid and placed it flat above his nose, right between his eyes.

"There! Now you're all better!"

The look on face was equivalent to that of seeing a pig fly over the stadium… wearing roller skates… waving the Canadien flag out of its nose.

"Uhhhh…" he groaned, not exactly sure what to say. "WHAT was that?"

"Well, I gave you a boo boo, didn't I? So I put a band-aid on it! Now it won't hurt!"

"But… but I wasn't hurt. You just..."

"Oh! Did I scare you? I do that all the time! Sorry!"

"Oh, no, you're fine…" he said, rubbing his head. "You just came out of nowhere. I, uhh, didn't expect to run into anyone else."

"Well, you ran into me, though! It's nice to meet you… uhh…"

"Oh! It's, uh, Iquiak. But you can call me-"

"Sticky Tack?" she asked, tilting her head in confusion. "What kind of name is THAT?"

"-pfft- Don't ask me… It's, well, it means something in Inuit, I think…"

He ran out of words to say. The two stood in silence for a moment before the girl spoke again.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Sticky Tack! I'm Leni!"

"Uhhm.. first off, you can just call me I.K, got it? And second, you said your name was Leni?"

"Yep! Leni Loud! And I think I like your SECOND name even more than the thurd! Wait, no, first!"

"Really?" He asked, eyebrows raised. "You don't think Iquiak is 'cute' or 'endearing?'"

"... Uhh, what does 'End Deering' mean?"

"What? No, no, no, not 'End Deering,' endearing!"

"What's the difference?"

"Seriously? You don't know what endearing means?"

"Well…" she began to say, trying to put on a sad face. "I'm not really that smart, so… maybe that's why I don't understand."

"Huh... you seem pretty smart to me…" he mumbled, but (unfortunately) she heard.

"You think I look smart?!" she asked with glee, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him with happiness

"Y-Y-Yeah, yeah, definitely!" he said as he was shook around like a ragdoll. "Well, I-I mean, you look-"

"LENI!" A harsh voice rose above the crowd. I.K looked over to see none other than Lori walking towards them, her sisters in tow.

"Oh, h-hey, Lori! Is this your-"

He was pulled off and shoved out of the way before he could finish. Lori stood over Leni, like an hungry lion on a rock over a gazelle.

"Where were you?! We LITERALLY spent TEN MINUTES looking for you!"

Leni looked absolutely terrified.

"I-I went to go look at-"

"I had to call Mom and Dad, Leni!" she complained, exasperated. "They want us to go home now!"

"I'm, I'm sorry…" she tried saying, but Lori either ignored her or refused to accept it.

"You're going to go to the car and STAY THERE with Luna and Luan! Got it?!"

"Y-Yes…" she said meekly, tears beginning to well up. She suddenly stood up and began to run, sending Luna and Luan after her.

Lori shook her head and turned to I.K, who looked dumbstruck at what he just witnessed.

"Sorry you has to see that, I.K. Leni can get... confused a lot, you know?"

"Dude…' he said, looking at her with slanted eyes. "You just made her cry for something like that?"

Her face went from friendly to cold in a heartbeat.

"No, I made her cry because she's in trouble. That's the only way she listens to us. You need to pretty much yell at her to get her to do what you want."

"Wha… that's horrible!" he said, raising his voice ever so slightly at her. "She's your sister! You shouldn't yell at her like that!"

"Yeah, well, it works. It works and that's that. I'll see you around school."

She turned and walked our the gate, leaving the boy standing dumbstruck, his hands buried in his hoodie.

Great… he had the perfect chance to hit it off with someone and that Lori girl RUINED it. So much for making friends… not to mention she was being horrible to her sister… he was an only child at the moment, but even the THOUGHT of doing that to a sibling made him feel queasy inside.

"Dude… that was terrible…" he said, walking back to his seat. It was 30 seconds to go until halftime when he got back to his seat.

"HRY, SON! HOW WAS THE BATHROOM?!" his dad yelled, obviously caught up in the hype of the crowd.

"Uhh… it was good, I think…"

"THAT'S AWESOME! THIS GAME IS AMAZING, I.K! YOU HAVE TO- AWW. BULLSH*T, REF! CALL THAT!"

As his father yelled at the top of his lungs, I.K sat down and began to think. He thought during the halftime show, he thought during the rest of the game (which the Hockers won 34-14, to his dad's great disappointment,) and he thought on the drive home. Through all of it, he thought of the same, singular name each time.

"Leni…"