Louis walked down the seemingly never-ending hallway of his high school. For the first time in his life he felt shut out from the world. He felt alone and he felt as though his family were deserting him, one by one. He just wondered, 'Who's next?'

Louis stopped in front of his locker, struggling it seemed with the combination.

"Hey man." Louis recognized the gentle tone of his best friend.

"Hey, Twitty." Louis acknowledged.

Twitty glanced around the hallway; eyes squinted, as though he were purposely avoiding any further conversation with Louis.

He cleared his throat. "So, any word on Ren?"

Louis met Twitty's eyes for a moment before he resumed pulling and putting things in and out of his locker, looking for nothing in particular but rather an excuse not to face the looks of pity he received from fellow classmates.

"She's still not awake yet."

Twitty could hear the crack in Louis' voice and decided not to press him any farther.

"Hey, Twitty." Tawny greeted.

Twitty nodded his head slightly in acknowledgement. "Hey."

"Um…mind if I have a word alone with Louis?"

Twitty shook his head vigorously. "Not at all. See you guys later."

"Um…Louis, I wanted to talk to you about something…"

……………………………………………………………………………………….

Twitty had a difficult time concentrating during his classes. His mind was wandering and he often found himself thinking about Ren one way or another. Whether he was reminiscing about the short period of time they were able to spend together when she was tutoring him, or if he found himself thinking about how she was doing in the hospital. Either way, his day was pretty much full with thoughts of Ren.

"Mr. Twitty…" His southern-accented English teacher drawled. "Could you please repeat to the class the significance of the theme in "Catcher in the Rye"?"

Twitty shook himself out of his fantasy world, not hesitating to think about the question.

"Pookie?"

The class burst with laughter before quickly shushed by the teacher.

"Excuse me, Alan? Did I perhaps hear you wrong?"

Twitty slumped in his seat and blushed furiously. His teacher, thankfully, left his desk and went on with the lesson, however not without reprimanding Twitty about his lack of attention and coordination.

Twitty couldn't get himself to understand what made him answer with "Pookie". He remembered he was thinking about Ren and found himself thinking about when Louis had accidentally thrown Ren's favorite stuffed animal, 'Pookie', in with the items being sold for the garage sale he was holding. That must have been it. He was just too concerned for Ren. Most likely for no reason at all, nonetheless. Ren was tough. She was perfect. She'd be able to pull through this. What makes this so different from anything else she's been through? Twitty swallowed hard.

'The difference…" He told himself, "Is Ren might not wake up."

…………………………………………………………………………..

"Hey." Twitty greeted his friends as he joined them at the table in the cafeteria.

"What's the matter, Twitty? Life got you down?" Tom inquired. Twitty and Louis shot him a glare while Tawny looked at him sympathetically.

"Whoa, there! Why so glum chums? What's up with-"

Louis grabbed Tom by the collar of his shirt fiercely, causing Tom to drop his sandwich.

"What's your problem? Huh, buddy? Do you find some kind of sick pleasure out of tormenting other people?"

"You know, it's ironic how you bring that up-"

"Look, buddy, maybe it's a joke to you, but my grandfather just died and my sister's lying in a hospital bed, unconscious. I don't know what you're problem is, but-"

Tom placed his hand on Louis' shoulder, gaping at him.

"Louis…I-I had no idea. I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, to bring that up-"

Louis stole a glance at Tawny before nodding his head.

"It's alright man. You didn't know."

The four kids spent the rest of their lunch period eating in silence, not knowing what to say or even if they should say anything.

…………………………………………………………………………..

"Dude, are you going to see Ren today?" Twitty asked his best friend as they walked their way home after school that day.

Louis nodded, squinting in the direction of the sun. "Yeah."

"Well, do you think it would be alright if I came with you? You know, just to pay my respects."

Louis stopped and looked at Twitty. It was just the two of them out there.

"Dude, she's not dead. Don't talk about her like that."

Twitty nodded. "Sorry man. I didn't mean it like that. But do you think that would be alright if I came?"

Louis thought about it for a minute before responding.

"Sure. Why not?"

Twitty smiled. "Oh! You know what I was thinking? We should write her a song! You know, for when she's out of the hospital."

Louis nodded, his eyebrows furrowed. "That's a good idea, Twitty. Yeah, we should do that!"

"Well, I don't know how good it is, but I started to write down some stuff. You can take a look at it and tell me what you think when we meet up later."

Louis nodded again. "Sure. Alright. Catch you later."

"See ya, man!"

…………………………………………………………………………..

Louis sighed as he flopped backwards on his bed, staring at his ceiling.

He rolled over and looked at his clock as he answered the phone on his nightstand.

"Hello?" He greeted, wondering who could be calling at two-thirty in the afternoon.

"Hey, Lou." Louis recognized his father's voice on the other end of the phone almost immediately.

"Hey dad. What's up?"

"Uh…Louis you're going to be home alone for a little bit while I'm at work and you're mother's flying back home. I'm letting you know now, I'm getting off work early so I can stop at the hospital and see Ren. Did you want to come?"

"Yeah! Definitely. Oh, and dad? Twitty wants to come too. Can he?"

There was a hesitation on the other end of the phone before Steve responded.

"Yeah, sure. Just make sure you're both ready at about five-thirty."

"Dad?"

"Yes, son?"

"Any word on her yet?"

Louis could hear his father sigh deeply.

"Not so much, sport. The doctor's say she's looking better than she did yesterday. There's a big chance that she could wake up within the next week."

Louis exhaled the breath he took in while awaiting his father's answer.

"Great. Alright. I'll see you in a little while. Thanks dad."

"No problem. See you later, kiddo."

Louis hung up the phone and stood up. He paused before the he picked it back up and dialed a number.

"Hey, Twitty, it's Louis…Yeah, hey man, I just wanted to let you know that my dad called and he's going to pick us up in about three hours…Yeah, listen, did you want to go over that song for her now? So it could be ready for her when she wakes up…Yeah. My dad said there's a big chance that she could wake up before the week is up…Yup…I know…Alright…See ya in five…Yup…Later."

Louis laid back on his bed and sighed before hoisting himself up and running down the stairs.

He unlocked the door and made his way to the kitchen to fix himself a sandwich. He snatched the peanut butter from the cupboard, grabbed the strawberry jam from the refrigerator, pulled the bread out of the breadbox, and poured himself a glass of cold milk.

The doorbell rang just as Louis took a bite out of his sandwich.

"Cub int!" Louis yelled through a mouthful of chewy peanut butter.

"Hey, Lou." Twitty greeted as he shut the door.

Louis nodded in acknowledgement as he leant over the counter to focus on swallowing.

"Hey."

"So…"

"So…" Louis took a swallow of his cold milk before continuing. "So, I thought we could work on that song for Ren. You know, if you still wanted to. 'Cuz if you don't, I'll und-"

"Yeah! No, yeah, sure, let's go work on it." Twitty almost beamed with enthusiasm and Louis couldn't help but smile.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were crushing on my sister." With that said, Louis took one last bite of his sandwich before tossing it in the garbage.

"Dude! It's, like, Ren. I can't have a crush on Ren!"

"Yeah, whaheber mawn."

"Dude, I can't understand you. You've got, like, peanut butter or something sticking to the roof of your mouth."

Louis rolled his eyes and motioned for Twitty to follow him to the basement. Twitty grabbed his guitar (in case) and his folder, trailing behind his best friend.

"Okay, buddy." Louis started as he helped Twitty set down his things. "Do you know what time it is, first of all?"

Twitty stretched out his arm and glanced at the black, digital watch fitted around his wrist.

"About a three-o-clock."

"Great." Louis bit his bottom lip and rubbed his hands together. "That gives us near two and a half hours to work on it. Plus, we don't even have to finish the song today. It's not like she's…" Louis' voice trailed off and he looked over to Twitty. "So, what have ya got down so far?"

"Well, see this is what I have, but I don't know how good it-"

"Hiddy- ho, neighbor-o!" A strangely familiar voice echoed through the basement.

"Twitty, is that-"

"Yeah, yeah I think it is, Lou."

The two boys turned around slowly and cautiously to face the small, levitated basement window. There they laid eyes upon a grinning, blond- haired boy, maybe about eight years old.

"Beans!" The two boys shouted in unison.

"That's me name, don't wear it-"

"Beans! What are you doing here!" Louis shouted in aggravation and impatience.

Beans looked at Louis thoughtfully and smirked. "Did you know that if you fart more than thirt-"

"Beans!" Louis shouted once more, this time louder and more forcefully than before.

"Geesh! What crawled up your butt and died?"

"Beans, why don't you be a nice little mutant and go bother Tom? Okay? That's a good boy. Go on!" Twitty urged the young boy.

"You can't get rid of me that easily."

"Beans, what will it take for you to just leave?" Louis begged.

"Hmm…" Beans pondered a second or two before answering. "Three plates of your finest bacon."

Louis glanced at Twitty before averting his attention back to Beans.

"Bacon? Three plates of bacon and you're out of here?"

Beans furrowed his eyebrows and stroked his chin with his fingers.

"Yes. Yes, three plates of bacon and I won't bother you for…the next five hours."

"I'll make it four packages of bacon if you'll leave us alone for the next two days."

Beans took a moment to think about this new offer. "Make it-"

"Take it or leave it, kid."

"Done."

Louis held out his hand and Beans grabbed it, shaking it violently, sealing the deal.

Just as Beans started up the stairwell, Louis not too far behind, Twitty grabbed Louis' arm.

"Hey, Louis, I have an idea." Twitty almost whispered, as not to attract attention from Beans.

Louis turned his head slightly, to make sure Beans wasn't listening, and proceeded back down the stairs to listen to Twitty's proposition.

When Twitty had finished telling his friend his thoughts, Louis couldn't help but smile.

"Twitty, that's ingenious!" Twitty smiled and shrugged.

Louis ran up the stairs and into the kitchen, just in time to see Beans tearing apart his freezer, no doubt looking for bacon.

"Hey, Beansie. How's about another arrangement? One that doesn't require you going home."

Beans looked away momentarily from his raid of the freezer.

"What did you have in mind?"

Louis grinned and shut the freezer door, before leading his young neighbor back downstairs.

…………………………………………………………….

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess I can do that. Only for Ren, though. She's the only one who's ever really been nice to me all the time. And Tawny."

"What do you mean, Beans? We're nice to you." Louis replied, shocked that little Beans would say such a thing.

"Humph! Yeah, only when you want something!"

"Hey, that's not true! I've been-"

Twitty placed a hand on Louis' shoulder and shook his head.

"Dude, if we're going to go through with this, we have to get a move on. Your dad is going to pick us up at five-thirty and it's already a quarter of four. We have to call Tawny."

Louis nodded. "You go into the living room and call Tom, and I'll go into Ren's room and call Tawny, since Ren's got her own phone line."

Twitty nodded and cocked his head in Beans' direction. "What about the squirt? What're we going to do with him?"

Louis sighed. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm not in the mood for babysitting."

…………………………………………………………………………………….

"Hey! That's not fair! You can't do this to me! I have friends in high places! Let me in!" Louis locked the door and sighed, glancing out the window at his little friend. He hated to do this to him, he really did. But sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. Even if it means shoving three packages of bacon into you eight year old neighbor's hands before kicking him out the door.

Louis heard the hard footsteps of his best friend coming upstairs from down in the basement.

"Did you board up that old window downstairs?" Louis asked in exasperation.

Twitty nodded. "Ain't no way that little beast is finding his way into this house, aye matey."

Louis nodded. "Did you lock the porch door? And the side door? And the hatchway leading to the basement? What about all the windows?"

Twitty sighed. "Yes. Yes. Yes. And yes. There's nothing to worry about."

Louis nodded and glanced at the clock in the kitchen.

"Crap! It's already twenty after four. Who knew getting rid of Beansie would take so long? Go call Tom. I'll do Tawny."

Twitty grinned at Louis. "That's not what I meant!"

Twitty was still smiling as he made his way into the living room to the phone.

"Hello. Is Tom there…? Yes. Alan Twitty…Uh huh…Hi, Tom, it's Twitty…Yeah, yeah, good. Um, Louis and I were wondering, well, you know about Ren…yeah, well, we were thinkin' that it might be kind of cool if we got the band back together, you know…yeah! And when she wakes up, we can play her a little song. Ya know?…Yeah. Louis says that she's due to wake up sometime at the end of the week or something, which doesn't give us much time…Don't say that Tom, Louis and his whole family have their heart set on a miracle and to hear you say that there might be a chance…yeah, okay…no…I was thinkin' that, maybe we could do a whole string of songs, you know?…I know she might not be up for it when she first wakes up, so I think three would be suitable…Yeah, well, definitely Sacramento Girl. That was the first one we played as a band. Well, Louis and I were planning on writing a song for her ourselves, but…yeah, I jut thought of something! Why don't you, Tawny, and Beans, well, maybe not Beans, but you and Tawny help us write it? Then it would be by the whole band?…Yeah…Alright…I'll just have to run it by Louis, but it should be fine…Yeah…But, you're in, right? Okay, great…Yup…of course…Yeah…Talk to you later…Kay…Bye…"

Twitty hung up the phone and glanced around the living room, scanning the pictures along the wall. He saw a picture of Mr. And Mrs. Stevens when they were at their high school prom. A long time ago. There was a picture of Mr. and Mrs. Stevens at the hospital, Mr. Stevens leaning over his wife who was holding a newborn baby. Probably Donnie Twitty thought, judging by how young the two new parents looked in the picture. The next picture consisted of Donnie, Ren, and Louis. Twitty could tell it was professionally taken by the lighting and the position the three siblings were in. As Twitty went down the wall, he came across several more photographs of the family, including two more birth pictures and a couple more visibly taken with a photographer.

"Hey, man."

Twitty jumped and turned around.

"Hey. So, what's up with Tawny?"

Louis smiled. "She's definitely up for it."

Twitty nodded and smiled back.

"What about Tom?"

"He's in."

Louis clapped his hands together. "Great! Now we have to schedule practices and such."

"One thing at a time, Lou. Besides, you're dad will be here in…" Twitty glanced at his watch. "Forty-five minutes."

Louis nodded and sighed. He flopped himself on the couch, Twitty sitting down next to him, flipping on the television.

Louis brought his hands to his own face and stroked it. "I don't know what I'm going to do, Twitty. If I lose my family, then…"

"Hey, don't say that, Lou. That's not going to happen. Okay, your grandfather died. Ren's in the hospital in critical condition. Who's to say that she's not going to come out of it? Louis, I hate to tell you this, I really do, but old people die all the time. My grandfather died when I was seven, so far no one else I care about has had any brush with death. And don't take it the wrong way, I'm not telling you to get over your grandfather's death, I'm not saying that at all. I'm just saying, the fact that your grandfather died doesn't necessarily mean that you're on a bad luck streak. It happens, Lou, sometimes to the best of us."

Twitty looked at Louis sympathetically and Louis smiled.

"Thanks man."

"No problem. Hey, what are friends for?"

Louis grinned and averted his attention to the televion.

Near twenty minutes later, a noise interrupted their television show.

"Dude, my dad's beeping the car horn. Grab your stuff and let's go."

Twitty nodded and ran into the basement to retrieve his backpack and guitar case.

The ride to the hospital was quiet. Louis switched the radio on and the three men sat in silence the rest of the way there.

"Ren Stevens." Steve told the secretary working the front desk. The woman nodded and began to tell him the room number before she realized he had already left.

"Dad?" Louis asked his father in the elevator. Steve acknowledged his son with a swift grunt. "Um, does Donnie know? A-About Ren?"

Steve looked at his son with sad eyes. "No. But, the doctor's told us that she should be waking up soon, so why worry Donnie with something that'll make him worry for nothing?"

"Yeah, but what if it's-"

The elevator door opened, preventing Louis from completing his sentence.

"Not nothing." He mumbled to himself, sighing.

"C'mon, man." Twitty tugged at his friend's arm, dragging him along to keep up with his father.

The three men stood outside the hospital room, contemplating silently to themselves whether or not they really wanted to go in there. Of course they didn't want to go in there. Who would want to walk into a hospital room and see someone they loved in that condition? No one would want to. They had to. It was their obligation and they couldn't abandon Ren now. No, not now.

Louis cleared his throat, easing the tension slightly. "So, are we going to go in there at the same time…or do we want to-"

"Um, I think it would be easier if we went by ourselves." Steve stated. "Atleast, I would like to have some time alone with her."

Louis and Twitty nodded in agreement.

"So, do you want to go first?" Louis asked his father.

Steve inhaled a breath and nodded. "Yeah. I'll go first."

Steve gave the two boys a weak smile and headed into Ren's hospital room.

Louis and Twitty sat in the hallway, on the strip of chairs along the wall. Like the car ride, they sat in unspoken silence.

"Oh, Louis!"

Louis looked in surprise as his frantic mother came running out of the elevator, open arms, toward him. Louis stood up automatically and embraced her.

"Oh…I can't believe this is happening!" Eileen sobbed into her youngest son's shoulder. "I was halfway to Chicago when your father called me on the plane…saying that…Ren was in the hospital…in critical condition." Mrs. Steven's sobs increased and Louis gently stroked her back in a comforting motion.

A moment later, the sound of a door opening caught their attention and Louis saw as his father came walking out of the room. He made their way to their embrace, taking over Louis' position, silently telling him to go ahead and see his sister. Louis nodded in appreciation and paused before opening the door. No, wait. He had to do this. He almost laughed at how absurd he was acting. This is Ren. He reminded himself. Of course she's going to get through this.

He resumed his attempt at opening the door, this time succeeding in the task. He shut the door gently behind him and took a seat beside her bed. He sat there for a minute, silence seeming to be the theme of the night.

He cleared his throat. "So, you've set a record already. Only in the hospital for a night and already people are talking. Probably because this is the first time Ren Stevens has ever missed a day of school. Well, with the exception of when you had the flu." Louis chuckled lightly as the thought of Ren begging to go to school entered his mind. Ren is probably, scratch that, is the only person he knows who would do anything in her power to not miss school. Any normal person would try their best to miss school. But, Ren wasn't normal. And that's what made Ren…well…Ren. And, no matter what kind of fights or disagreement may have befallen the young siblings, he loved that about her and wouldn't change it for the world.

Louis sighed. "You know, it's weird. I mean, you've gone to sleepovers before. And I've been trying to look at it like that. It's only been one night, right? But, no matter how much I try to convince myself that you're just sleeping over Ruby's house or something, it just doesn't feel right. Maybe I'm just growing up. Finding out that…there's always a truth behind some things." Louis shook himself out of his apparent daze and smiled at Ren, though he knew somewhat that she wasn't able to see him. He stood up. "Just wake up soon. It's too quiet with only one of us in the house."

Louis leant over her bed and kissed her quickly on the cheek before going for the door. He glance once more at his older sister before opening the door and motioning for Twitty to go in.

Twitty patted his best friend on the back and gave him a weak smile before imitating the process Louis had initiated previously. After taking a seat in the same chair the two Stevens' men had presumably sat in while visiting with Ren, Twitty was at a loss for words; which was ironic, since he had a whole speech made in his mind before he got there. He wasn't surprised though; he found it continuously difficult to talk to Ren whenever they were in the same room together. Even when he called for Louis and Ren answered the phone, he felt as though he'd swallow his tongue or he'll throw up if he talked to her any longer. Even if it was just 'Hey Ren, is Louis there?' and Ren would say 'Sure, Twitty, hold on. Let me get him.' The butterflies he'd been trying to keep locked up for the last year and a half would be released involuntarily at the very sight of his best friend's sister walking down the high school hallway everyday, or the simple 'hello' she'd greet him everytime he'd go over and ask for Louis. At night he would lay in bed and wonder. He would wonder if his part in harassing and pulling pranks on Ren, of course by the urging of Louis, had anything to do with his growing affections towards the older girl. He would wonder when this little 'crush' had formed, and if he could even call it that. Soon enough, the thoughts of denial had vanished and he knew that it was, indeed,a crush. He in no means was naïve enough to think that it was love, but thought it better if he were to ask for a second opinion of the situation. Sure, he's had crushes before, even girlfriends, but having feelings for someone he's known his whole life was new to him.

Tawny was the one person he knew he could count on not to tell Louis, or Ren for that matter. The thought of confiding in Beans was immediately shot down. He thought that Tom wouldn't be a bad choice, but Tawny just seemed better, more practical. Besides, she was a girl. She knows more about these issues.

Twitty was sitting in the chair, absent-mindedly holding Ren's limp hand in his own. He suddenly found it difficult to talk to her, even in her present condition, but felt as though he should say something. After all, Tawny did advise him to tell her how he feels, and what better time to express his feelings than right now?

Twitty's throat was suddenly dry. He cleared it before speaking. "Um, Ren…" He began, suddenly at a loss for words.

This is ridiculous. She's not even awake and I'm nervous about being around her.

"Ren, I know you can't hear me, but I think this is the best time to tell you that-"

There was a sudden tap at the door and Louis' head peeked in through the crack.

"Hey, not to rush you or anything, but we have to get going pretty soon and my mom wants to visit before we leave."

Twitty nodded. "I'll be right out."

"Okay." Louis gave a small smile before shutting the door.

Twitty sighed and stood up. "I guess I'll be seeing you."

He walked over to the door and paused, looking as though he was contemplating turning around for one last glance, but instead opened the door and walked out.