Hiya, mangareader90 here. What's up? Lately school has been kicking my butt with the loads of homework, tests, and quizzes it gives me, but if I jut keep my nose to the grindstone I am sure I will be able to achieve my goal of getting straight As' NEXT nine weeks...stupid 89%. Anyway, without further ado, the next chapter!

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4:30 a.m.

I wake up, my eyes stinging with the want of sleep. Nonetheless, I convince my legs to touch the ground, and I immediately start heading towards the shower. Once I make it there I let the hot water become my replacement for caffeine. It takes me about twenty-five minutes to leave its embrace, and once I do, I begin to get dressed, put my earrings on, brush my teeth, and then brush my hair.

By the time I do all of this it is 5:20 and I still need to grab something to eat. I saunter to the kitchen where I grab an apple and chop it into slices, placing the slices onto a napkin. I make my way back upstairs and head towards my room, quietly so as not to wake anyone up. I place all of my books, folders, pencil cases, and other various items back where they belong before zipping them up and placing my bag onto my back. I then grab the binders and books that I would not be able to stuff into my bag before I begin to once again make my way downstairs.

While I had expected to be the only one still up, I became surprised when Sam and Shiro were sitting in the living room, talking to each other, with Sam holding a cup of coffee. At least, I'm assuming it's coffee. It could be an energy drink. Sam seemed to catch me because she began to ask me questions.

"Why are you up this early? Are you going to school? It's, like 5:48 or whatever," Sam looked suspiciously at me and I tried to look nonchalant.

"I couldn't sleep. So I thought I might as well just leave early or whatever," I answered. Now it was Shiro's turn to look suspicious.

"Come to think of it, you skipped out on watching movies with us yesterday night...actually, I didn't even see you yesterday. You missed out on a Sachi moment," Shiro told me.

"Oh, well, um, sorry about that. I just...wait. So are you and Itachi dating now Sam?" I turned all the attention towards Sam, hoping they wouldn't notice. It seemed to somewhat work because Sam's face now was crimson red and took on an expression of embarrassment rather than suspicion.

"N-No! I just admitted I liked him is all!" Sam hissed. Shiro started messing with her, and while he was making her even more embarrassed I decided this would be the best time to make my escape.

"I'm leaving," I blurted, heading towards the door.

"Wait a sec-" Sam began to speak, but I interrupted her when I remembered something.

"Shiro, is it possible you ca-" I began to ask, but it was Shiro's turn to interrupt me.

"I'm grabbing a ride with Matsuri," Shiro told me. I nodded, my hand on the door knob, when I heard Sam begin to talk.

"Why are you leaving so early anyways?" Sam asked, still suspicious. It was a few hours until school began. I shrugged, pretending that there was no real reason I decided to leave early.

"Just because, I guess," I lied. Before anything else could be asked, or said, I left.

I briskly walked towards my car, unlocking it when I was ten feet away. I glanced around, I was autumn now. Cold. I shivered as a gust of wind caressed my bare face, and hurried my pace towards the vehicle I had my sights on. Grabbing the door handle to the backseat, I quickly tossed my bags and books in before slamming the door shut once more.

I then opened the driver's side door and made the adjustments that needed to be made after I let Deidara drive. After everything was in order, I placed my seatbelt on and started the engine. Before I could take off for good, I texted the person I was meeting up with to see if he was still okay with me going to see him this early in the morning. His response was immediate, and I headed off before I could decided against it.

Since it was foggy this morning, my headlights were on and I drove especially carefully, scared that I would run into someone if didn't pay attention to the fullest. Of course, that didn't mean that I was going to drive without music. This time the song that began to play was only a little familiar to me, so I wasn't able to sig along. E for Extinction from Thousand Foot Krutch...I believe that's the name of the song, a least.

I came upon the college campus, and, turning on my right turn single, I turned into the college, before parking into the visitor's parking place. I turned the engine off in the car, whipping out my phone, and dialing the numbers needed to contact him. On the fourth ring he picked up, and he talked as if he had been awake for hours.

"You here?" His question was short enough, and so was my answer.

"Yup."

"Cool."

A moment of silence, none of us talking. I began to hear noise in the background and I decided to ask about it.

"Hey, what am I hearing?" I asked, expecting a smart a** comment.

"What do you mean? Wait, never mind, some of the teachers get up this early and converse with each other even though they'll just forget what they talked about in, like, an hour. I'm about three minutes away...make that two. You park in the usual spot?" the background noise got quieter, which led me to believe that he had made it outside of the building now.

"Yeah. You want me to hang up or do you still want to talk?" I asked him. Another hesitant moment before his voice resounded.

"Don't hang up. I should be there in about a second, but just in case, don't hang up. If you do and you get robbed or whatever, I wouldn't be able to know," he yawned.

"You tired? I asked, the answer being obvious.

"It's 6:25 in the morning. What do you What do you think?" his answer was rhetorical, yet I chose to treat it as an actual question.

"I think you need a cup of coffee," I answered.

"Smart a**," he retorted. I smiled.

"Better than being a dumb one," I responded.

"Oh, hey, I see your car. I'll hang up now," before I could even say a single word, he hung up on me. I chose to put my phone into my pocket, and opened up my door, stepping out so that I could meet him.

He came into view with a blanket in his hands and a grin placed upon his face. He looked tired, as if he needed the sleep I was keeping him from. I felt guilt swell inside my chest, but it vanished when he greeted me.

"Hello little sissy. I believe we have a lot to talk about."

And with that I began to cry.

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*twenty minutes later*

"Hm. Well, I'm not exactly a therapist, but I think you need to do something about it," Tyler sighed. We were both sitting on the hood of my car, with the blanket hugging our shoulders.

"But...I just, it's all my fault," I muttered, wiping my eyes.

"No. You can't help it that you're scared of growing up little sis. But, I also can't help that I want to grow up. However, you can start being more sociable with others," Tyler played the roll of big brother and I began to listen.

"I just want it to be how it was before, when all of us were kids and we had fun. Before you went to college, before I began to feel worthless, before all of this crap ever happened," I sighed.

"I don't. Listen, there's something you need to learn, and I doubt you are going to be able to without my help," Tyler sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Oh, what do I need to learn oh-so-intelligent big brother of mine?" I mocked. I didn't even have the chance to snicker before he looked at me with a look of seriousness.

"There's a reason you only remember the good times of childhood, and rarely remember the bad times," Tyler's eyes looked blank and I wondered what he meant.

"What-"

"Don't interrupt. I wasn't done. Another thing: If you hang onto your past, you will never be able to grasp your present, and that will be something you will regret for the rest of your life. That's why you can't be hung up on what's good or not right now. You are trying so hard to be this perfect little teenager, thinking that everyone will be your friend if you are. But, there's one problem with that. Do you know it?" Tyler looked expectantly at me and I felt uncomfortable.

"Um...because I'm too unintelligent and childish?" I asked.

"No. It's because you bottle up your real feelings and when you let them show you apologize for them. That's why you feel so bad when something isn't even your fault. You have a backbone. H***, I've see how scary you can be. When you were a kid, you had confidence in what you did and that's what made others so jealous of you, so they stole it. Your problem? You let them," Tyler explained, little puffs of cold air leaving his mouth when he spoke.

"So what am I supposed to do?" I inquired.

"Simple. You steal it back," Tyler looked at his phone, narrowed his eyes, and hopped off the hood, taking the blanket with him.

"You have and early class right now?" I asked to which he nodded.

"Yeah, starts at 7:30. It's 7:15 now. You better get going soon," Tyler reached into his pocket, tossing something at me. I caught it and glanced at it,seeing that it was a pair of tickets balled up together.

"Um, what am I supposed to do with these?" I asked hesitantly.

"Uh, you ask someone to go with you? Geez, thought that was easy enough to figure out," Tyler rolled his eyes.

"Who?" I asked again. He stared at me as if I asked the stupidest question ever.

"A boy?

"Why?!" I hissed.

"Because as much as I love you, I won't always be there for you sissy," Tyler smiled sadly at me and I was filled with rage.

"I don't need someone looking after me! I'm perfectly capable of-"

"No you aren't. I'm not either. Just accept that you need someone to care for, and someone to care for you," Tyler cut me off and now it was my turn to be sad.

"I don't want to be dependent on someone who will end up leaving me," I whispered, hopping off the hood.

Tyler wrapped an arm around me and kissed my forehead, something he used to do when we were kids.

"It'll be okay sissy. I have to go now, tell Sam that there's a party going on next week at Naruto's place," Tyler waved before stalking off back to college, and I realized it was now time to go back to m school before Sam or Shiro got suspicious.

I felt a ringing going off inside my pocket and I checked it out, seeing it was from Sam.

Manga,

I swear if you don't tell me where you are right now I'm gonna kick your a**. And don't say the school because Shiro is there and he says that neither him or Matsuri know where you're at.

-Sam

I didn't hesitate in responding.

Sam,

I need advice.

-Manga

She didn't hesitate either.

Manga,

Who do I need to kill?

-Sam

Sam,

Not that kind of advice...I need to ask you a question. If you wanted to do something, but you were scared of it, would you still do it?

-Manga

Manga,

Of course. You only have once chance to truly live your life. So do it.

-Sam

I took a deep breath before texting again.

Sam,

Thanks.

-Manga

I sent another text to Shiro.

Shiro,

Sorry I'm not there yet, I had to see someone. Hope I didn't worry you too much.

-Manga

Finally, I sent my final text, my breath hitched as I wrote it out.

Sasori,

I have tickets to go see some movie tonight...want to go with me?

-Manga

It seemed like an eternity before he responded, and I kept my fingers crossed when I looked at his answer.

Manga,

I don't have anything better to do.

-Sasori

I felt my face flush, but I smiled instead of becoming embarrassed. I'm slowly becoming my old self again. I got into the driver's seat of my car and turned on the engine of my car. I made my way out of the parking lot, out of the campus, and out of my bottle that trapped me.

I hope Sam and Shiro were off to as great a beginning today as I was.