History class. Is. So. BOOORIIIIING.

Last class of the day and of course it's one of the least interesting units left in the year. Sure, earlier it had some pretty cool stuff like The First War and The Age of Creators, but now it's just stuff that happened like 20 years ago and we already know about. At least History is being taught by that really nice new hire teacher, Mr. Cider. He's cool.

"The Kaleidoscope Event, as most of you know, was caused by an unfortunate accident in a lab upstate about 15 years ago." Mr. Cider drones on. "It caused mass changes in everything around it, affecting pretty much the entire world. There were many casualties, and everyone that survived joined the numbers of those who were altered. Anyone who was unaffected has either died or slowly was exposed to the point of also being changed by now. The lab, having been the epicenter of the strange blast, was built near a number of towns that held other species of Steves and otherwise. However, because of those towns being the only places those species lived because of its weather phenomenons only suiting them, all of those other species went extinct in moments. There was nothing let of those towns after the blast, yet the lab was still left standing. Nobody knows why that was, and the survivors of the event never usually want to talk about it, so we don't know much about what really went on within those walls. Nowadays, the survivors almost completely blend in with everyone else, excluding some of them that couldn't hide their afflictions caused by the incident. They have seemingly disappeared into society, all knowing each other still, but wanting to leave behind all that happened those years ago."

The bells rings, and everyone excitedly rushes out of the room.

"Goodbye, everyone! See you tomorrow!" Mr. Cider calls after us with a smile.

Happy and Jade, having been in the same class, catch up to me as we run to the usual meeting spot for all of us.

LC, Funny, Shy, Nerdy, and Loud smile at us as we join with them on the sidewalk in front of the school. We all start walking towards town, that being where most of our homes are. Jade and I are the only ones that live on the seaside near the beach.

"Hey Orange, did you actually have to fight somebody?" LC asks me as we walk.

"No, I didn't fight him. You know I hate fights." I sigh. "Some Yellow Steve was picking on Shy for no reason."

"Y-Yeah, I dunno w-what his issue was..." Shy adds. "I-I was just walking to c-class, and he s-shoved me over."

"What a JERK." Loud says, forgetting his volume control now that we're out of the school building.

"Geez, you okay man?" Funny asks.

"Y-Yeah, I'm good." Shy smiles. "Orange got t-there just in time."

"He ran away like a scared cat once he recognized me." I chuckle.

"You've gotten quite the reputation at school in the past two years..." Jade says. "I mean, I've never seen someone like that soccer jock run so quickly. What was his name again?"

"Sienna. His name is Sienna." I groan. "And he's a dipstick."

"Wait, isn't that the same guy you knocked flat at the beginning of the year?" LC says excitedly.

"Yeah, why?" I ask.

"DUDE, HOW DID YOU NOT DIE?!" Loud exclaims. "THAT GUY IS BUILT LIKE A BRICK WALL!"

"Uh, yeah, ditto." Nerdy says. "Pretty sure I saw him put a dent in the school wall once. With his fist."

"Eh, bigger they are, the harder they fall." I shrug. "He's not so tough once someone knocks him down a peg or two. Still tries to mess with me with his scrawny buddy Ember, though."

"Don't do something stupid..." Nerdy sighs.

"Hey, he only ticks me off when he messes with you guys." I laugh. "I really don't give a darn what he does to me."

We're about to turn the corner to go to that gas station we always go to on Mondays, but I keep going.

"You guys go without me, I've got something I need to take care of." I call out.

"What? C'mon man, you always come with us though!" Funny says.

"I'll be able to next week, okay? I have something I need to do!"

"Is it that thing that made it so you couldn't go to the arcade the other day?" LC asks.

"Yeahhhh, I gotta take care of this. Still, next week though!" I reply.

"Okay dude, I'll still get you something and drop it off at your house for you." Jade chuckles.

"Oh, it's fine Jade, you don't have to-"

"No buts, it's happening, too bad." Jade says, sticking his tongue out.

"Whatever." I sigh with a smile, and turn to go home.

—————————————————————————————————————

It takes a while of walking, but eventually I get home.

Just as I close the door, Gerald runs up to me with an apple in his mouth.

"Gerald! Hey buddy!" I say, putting down my backpack and petting him. "Did you get into the fruit bowl again? You know Red doesn't like it when you climb on the counters."

I look up when I hear footsteps in the hall, and I see Sabre peeking around the corner.

"Hey Sabre." I smile, getting up. "You can come in here now, I'm home so don't worry about people seeing you."

Sabre smiles and runs into the room to give me a hug. O-Kay, not what I expected since we only met, like, the other day... but maybe his customs are different or something.

"Hi Orange!" Sabre says happily.

"How'd your day here go?" I ask as he lets go of me.

"Oh, it was okay. I got kinda bored just being alone." Sabre says. "By the way, uh, thanks for putting on those... 'videos' on the 'tv' earlier. That was fun!"

"No problem! Maybe I should teach you how to play video games so you won't be so bored when I'm at school and Red's at work." I smile.

"Video... games?" Sabre says, confused.

"You want to learn now?" I ask.

"Sure!" Sabre exclaims.

"Alright, lemme put my school stuff away." I say as I walk into the hall, Sabre and Gerald following behind me.

I place my backpack down next to my door and switch the TV from YouTube to the HDMI channel, then plug in my Zbox. It's a popular games console, I was so lucky that Red got me one for Christmas last year. I take out two controllers and connect them to the console, sitting down on one of the cushions and motion for Sabre to sit down on the other one to my left. He's been standing in the doorway while I was setting up. He comes in and Gerald pushes past his legs, almost making Sabre stumble, while he goes over to my bed and jumps up to his usual spot.

"Gerald, don't be mean." I say to my little pig buddy, who gives a grumpy-sounding oink.

"So... how does this work?" Sabre asks, curiously inspecting the controller in his hands.

"That'll control the character in the game we pick. By the way, which one do you want to play?" I ask, showing him three game disc cases that I think he would like. One's a sandbox game, one's a two-player adventure game, and one's a puzzle game.

"Uuhhhhh..." Sabre mumbles, looking at the box art for a while. He then points at the sandbox game. "That one?"

"Alright." I say, putting down the other two disc cases and opening the sandbox game's case.

I carefully put the disc in the slot on the console, and it disappears into the mechanisms after a second.

"Where'd it go?" Sabre asks, leaning forward to try and get a better look at the disc slot.

"It went into the disc slot, where the console scans it and gets the data on it so we can play the game." I explain. "All of the data and information for the whole game is stored in the disc, and it's saved there, even when I take the disc out."

Sabre stares blankly for a bit.

"...Maybe I should teach you more about computers first to understand that." I laugh.

"A what?" Sabre asks with the same blank stare.

"Let's just play." I say, giggling.

I open a new world in the sandbox game, and Sabre joins shortly after. I teach him the controls and the game basics, and soon I'm adventuring with him as he learns about the game.

"Hey Orange?" Sabre asks while we play. "How come you already have two 'controllers'? Do you friends from school come over and play with you?"

"Oh, sometimes that happens, but usually it's me and Red playing together." I reply. "That's why there was already a few worlds in the game menu. Speaking of Red, he's going to come home late again."

"What? Why?" Sabre asks. "Did he... 'text' you again?"

"No, it's just this thing he does every Monday." I say. "He goes over to the city and visits a friend he has that's stuck at home. Apparently he was caught in a really bad accident, and it hurt him so badly he struggles to live on his own, and now both Red and one of his other friends help that friend. The other friend has to live with the hurt friend."

"Oh... that's... really sad." Sabre mumbles.

"Kind of... but life's unfair like that." I sigh. "At least they have each other."

"Yeah..." Sabre says. "At least they have each other."

—————————————————————————————————————

Driving up to their house took a bit longer because of traffic, but I'm here now.

As soon as I knock on the door, he greets me with a smile.

"Hey, you're here! I thought your new job would keep you back." He says as he lets me in.

"Eh, it's actually not too bad so far, Sharp." I reply. "The new boss is actually a decent guy, lets me leave at normal hours for a job."

I put my keys on the key hanger and follow Sharp to the room.

"How's he doing this week?" I ask. "By the way, sorry I can only visit on Mondays. I got a lot to do the rest of the week."

"It's alright, old friend." Sharp smiles. "He's doing better, the warmer weather is cheering him up a bit. Although... it's kind of hard not to be down with how he ended up. Not that I mean anything by that, of course... I'm just... I feel bad for him."

"Not like we ended up unscathed, buddy." I say, rolling up my sleeve to show my own terrible scars. "It just shows that the five of us made it out alive."

Sharp smiles and rolls up his long sleeve, showing the scars on his forearm.

"That's how we'll always find each other, right?" He chuckles. "With the scars that show we survived."

"You bet."

We reach the door to the room, and Sharp opens it.

He's sitting in his wheelchair in front of the window next to his bed like always, staring out to the sunlit, sparse forest outside. The space between Sunset Shores and Rose Hills have always been beautiful, but ever since the Event the forests have been more sporadic. He's still connected to the oxygen canister which has its tube leading under the veil he has over his face... at least he's not bedridden anymore. Bandages cover his arms. He notices us and carefully turns his wheelchair to face us. His legs are also bandaged, but clearly withered under the wrappings.

"Hey, guys." He greets us with his broken, scratchy voice. Although... It's still the voice of my friend.

"Hey there, Beef. Missed you." I greet him back with a wave.

Sharp and I walk in, and I go over and give Beef a hug, him returning it with shaking arms. Sharp and I sit on the bed next to Beef as we begin to talk.

"How's your 'new life' with the kid of yours going, bud?" Beef asks me, his voice cracking sometimes.

"It's going good." I say. "I... he looks more like his actual dad every day. I still find it hard to believe that he trusted me with his kid... I miss him. And the others. Especially... the 'lost member' of the group, I guess."

"We all do, but not really anything we can do about it now, can we?" Beef chuckles. "All we can do now is keep living and try to make sure it doesn't happen again. By the way, when will you bring that little goober over here again? He's just like you when we were his age."

"Yeah, young and stupid." Sharp laughs. "Especially you, Beef."

"Excuuuuse you, mister smarty." Beef laughs, and it gets a laugh out of me too.

"Oh come on, 'Wizard Fights' was your idea."

"Was not, it was yours!"

"Actually, I think it was my idea." I giggle.

"Of course you take credit for it..." Sharp smiles, facepalming.

"Hey, now we have someone to blame for Goggles' burn scar." Beef says, still laughing.

"Hey, I'm just glad I was the one that came up with the chaotic genius of it." I say, grinning.

Sharp shoves us both while we laugh again.

"You're both imbeciles, how about that?" Spark says.

"Shush, ya goof." Beef says with a wheezing laugh.

We keep talking for a while, but eventually I have to go back home. On our way out, Sharp stops me outside of Beef's room.

"Hey, there's something I gotta tell you." He says, with a nervous look.

"What is it?" I ask.

"I can't work from home anymore, I have to actually move my job to the building." Sharp sighs. "I can't just get a new job because I climbed up to such a high position it would be a waste. But I'm still worried about Beef..."

"I CAN HEAR YOU, YA KNOW!" Beef shouts from inside the room. "WHY DON'T YOU GIVE THAT STUPID BOSS OF YOURS SOME HECK ABOUT IT? IT'D SET HIM STRAIGHT!"

I laugh while Sharp peeks into the room.

"Beef, don't strain your voice! You might lose it again!" Sharp says.

"OH, DON'T BE SUCH A WORRYWART!" Beef laughs. "I'M FINE!"

Sharp sighs and turns back to me.

"As I was saying... I was wondering if you could be an emergency contact just in case." Sharp says. "I know you've already busy, with your kid and all-"

"Sharp, don't worry. It's fine." I say. "Go ahead and put me down as one. If anything does happen, I'd be here faster than any EMTs. And you can bet money on that."

Sharp chuckles.

"Alright, thanks buddy." Sharp says. "See you next week."

"Seeya, Sharp." I say as I head to the front door.

I grab my keys again and head back out to the car. As I start driving, I remember how all of this even had to happen.

Hopefully the last stays in the past, and doesn't haunt this generation too.