{Jeremy's POV}

It was almost halftime in our game against Ardent, which meant that I would get to talk to Mike soon. I was sitting on the bleachers, watching the clock and knowing that the coach wasn't going to put me in.

2:00. Will he really want to be my friend? I thought.

1:30. What if it turns out he hates me?

1:00. What will he think when I tell him...?

0:30. Oh, well. I've just gotta do it. I got ready to get up and quickly leave, knowing that no one would care about of notice when I did.

0:00. I quickly stood up and fast-walked toward the door, noticing Mike do the same. I knew it was him because I could see his gray beanie. I noticed a ginger kid get up from the bleachers and follow Mike. Fritz. I continued walking, waving at the two after I got into the hall and saw them. "H-hi guys." Why did I just stutter? Oh, well. They waved back, and fritz was the first one to reply.

"Jeremy? Man, it's been so long!" He practically ran up to me, getting there before Mike did. I smiled and nodded, and he continued. "Yeah, I heard about you when Mike burst through the door of my house last night, telling me I had to come with him to Alexandria to meet some long-lost friend of his. He sounded so excited, you'd think he had a crush or something!" He laughed, and I blushed a little as Mike caught up to Fritz.

"Hey, Jeremy! This is Fritz! He's been my friend for as long as I remember!" Mike came up to stand next to Fritz.

"Yeah, I remember him." I told Mike.

"Wait, you two know each other?"

"Yeah! We met before... um... the accident." Fritz turned to me with a look that practically screamed 'don't talk about it', and I got the point.

"Mmhmm," I confirmed. "So, what have you been doing for the past four years?" I asked. It really had been a long time... I was 14 now, a freshman.

"Nothing much," Mike answered. "I'm actually surprised I didn't get held back in fifth grade, considering how much school I missed." Oh, yeah. We would have all been in fifth grade when Mike... He continued. "I only barely kept my grades at a passing level." He laughed, and so did Fritz and I.

Fritz spoke next. "Yeah, you worked really hard. It's no wonder your were so good every year after!" We all laughed a little again. We laughed more when he said, "I barely made it through any grade, but that's just because I'm dumb!"

I scratched the back of my head and spoke after Fritz. "I haven't really done anything interesting... I don't have a lot of friends. Or any friends, for that matter." I blushed a little bit and directed my eyes toward the floor.

Fritz and Mike both looked at me with surprise in their eyes, and Mike spoke. "Really?" He sounded as surprised as he looked. "You haven't had any friends for four years?"

I blushed and nodded. "Y-yeah. Before I met you guys, I didn't have any friends either."

"Wow," Fritz whispered. "I feel honored." That get me happier again, and I looked up and laughed. Mike lightly elbowed fritz in the side and then spoke.

"We should probably start heading back, guys." He looked towards the gym doors.

"Yeah, okay." I answered. "See you guys after the game!"

"Yeah, sounds cool." Fritz said. Then, he and Mike turned and started walking back to one set of double doors to the gym, and I went to the other. I got back to the bench right before halftime ended and the game started again. Now, I just had to wait until the game ended.

~//~

{Mike's POV}

After the game ended, I went to get Fritz and we went back into the hallways to talk to Jeremy again. We made it into the hall and saw him almost immediately. I waved at him, and returned the gesture. "Hey, Jeremy!"

"Hey guys!" He walked over. I could've sworn he seemed nervous, as if he needed to tell us something, but all he did was start asking questions. "So, what's it like at your school? It's kind of bring here, but that might be because I don't have any friends..."

Fritz answered him. "It's pretty cool, if I do say so myself. Sure, there's a couple of teachers who are complete asses, but most of them are pretty nice... Oh, and the food is surprisingly good."

I nudged Fritz with my elbow. "Well, of course you'd think the food is good! You do nothing but eat!" We all laughed, and Fritz blushed a little.

Jeremy asked another question. "What do you do at school?"

This time, I was the one to answer. "Well, that depends on what you mean. At school in general? In class? At lunch? After school?"

"Oh, well, um..." Jeremy thought for a moment. "At school in general."

"Okay. Well, we have classes, of course... and in class, you either get to choose where you sit, or there's a seating chart. Depends on the teacher, really." I paused to think, and Fritz took over.

"At lunch, you get to choose where you sit, and Mike and I always sit at a table with our other friend, Scott."

"Cool. What's Scott like?"

I answered. "He's an ass." I said it with a straight face, but cracked a smile when the other two started laughing.

"Yeah, unfortunately, that's true." Fritz added.

We kept talking for about ten minutes, with Jeremy still asking questions every so often. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore, and I had to know why he wanted to know all that stuff. "Why do you wanna know so much about our school?"

Jeremy looked at me. "Oh, sorry... I probably should have told you this earlier, but... My dad got a new job, and we have to move... I'm gonna go to your school next year..."

That took me by surprise. "What?"

"Oh, um... I'm sorry if you don't-"

I cut him off. "That's great!"

"Really?"

Fritz replied this time. "Yeah! That's fantastic! Dude, we'll get to hang out so much more often now!"

Jeremy smiled widely. "Great! I can't wait to actually have some friends for the first time in my life!"

Jeremy's smile was so contagious that Fritz and I couldn't help but grin as well. We talked for a while longer until my mom came over and told us that Fritz and I needed to start heading home. We exchanged phone numbers, said goodbye, and parted ways. Fritz and I were in the car getting ready to leave the school and we saw Jeremy walking home. He saw us and waved again. We waved back, and then my mom pulled out of the lot and we were gone.

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A/N

Again, sorry this chapter took so long to go up... It was a bit hard to try and figure out where I wanted the story to go. Even so, I don't really like how this chapter turned out.

Sorry about that.

Even though I don't really like this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading!