Hey, y'all! I'm writing right now because I just found out I can't go over to my friend's house tomorrow. I haven't seen her for 3 months and she lives 40 minutes away from me. I can't go because we don't have the money to drive over there and I'm sick. I already knew I was going to write a chapter this weekend, but now I might write two because I planned to start on Sunday. 

On a happy note, I have to dedicate this chapter to a very kind person. @GarciaLeeph18 is so sweet. They said that they followed me because of this book. I kid you not, I almost cried. I had no idea that people actually liked this book. They also inspired me so much and that's why I decided to write this weekend. Anyway, I hope y'all like this chapter!

I rush downstairs, throwing the door open. Well, I didn't actually throw the door. That would be pretty hard. I might be able to do it though. I've always been pretty strong, but I don't know why. I remember how I used to ask boys to arm wrestle me in second grade. They would usually say no, and those who said yes, lost... miserably. In fact, I could wrestle two guys at on-

"Ahem," I hear from Caden. 

I realize I'm staring off into space and Caden looks at me weird. 

I'm about to invite him and his buddies, which I don't see yet, in when Caden responds, "Whatcha doing, G?"

"Oh, I was thinking about how I used to wrestle guys," I respond innocently. 

Caden looks at me, friggin baffled, "You lost your virginity?!"

"Where in the giggle hay bale did you hear that," I ask him, confused, and slightly disturbed. 

"You just said that," he says. 

I look at him before it slaps me in the face. Wait, someone actually just slapped me in the face. The only person that would do that is-

"MEADOW," I scream. 

She looks at me, her 4'11 stature causing me to tower over her, "GLORIA!!!"

Out of nowhere, we both run to opposite sides of the street, me going the further distance. 

We both begin to run toward each other in slow motion, meeting in the middle like in Madagascar. 

Considering I'm 5'10 and almost a foot taller than her, I tackle her and we fall in the street. 

We lay there hugging each other, until we hear a car horn honk. 

"HOLY SH**," Meadow screams as we quickly roll out of the way. 

I look at her, wondering if it's really her. I should know considering I almost died with her, but this was more for my amusement. 

I wait until she stands up, and slap her across the face. 

She stares blankly at me before walking ahead, saying nothing. 

We cautiously walk up to the front porch, me eyeing her. 

Remembering my previous conversation, I stare back at Caden incredulously before responding, "Ok. One, is it not your business whether or not I do THAT. Two, I meant ARM wrestle, you pervert. Three, how the ceiling fan on a tortilla do you know each other?"

I look away, wondering where the third person is. 

Caden chuckles, "Ok. One, it kind of is my business considering I'm your best friend. Two-"

Suddenly, I hear a scream come from Caden and turn back just in time to see Meadow tackling him. I burst out laughing, putting my hands on my knees and falling over in the grass. I continue to laugh as she gets on top of him, screaming in his ear, "YOU DUMB SON OF A MOTHERLESS GOAT!"

I calm down for a second to respond, "That's not even biologically possible!"

She falters for a moment, trying to remain mad, "I," she snorts and a chuckle escapes her lips as she continues, "am her best friend. NOT YOU!"

I continue to calm down while Caden gets up, shoving Meadow off in the process. If you can't already tell, she's small, but fierce. 

"As I was saying," he glares at Meadow who in return, chuckles, "Two, I'm sure that's what you meant. How old were you?"

I smirk at him, "8."

His eyes widen, "Oh."

"Yeah oh," I say, just like I did to Noah.

He recovers quickly, "And three, we dated for a while."

Meadow punches him in the face. He falls... again and Meadow crouches down beside him, "You wish."

I turn to look at Caden amusedly, "Wow. So, what really happened, Meadow?"

"You remember when I moved to Cali in the summer between 8th and freshman year," she asks. 

I nod, and she continues, "Well, we were headed to the airport after we shipped everything to my grandmother's house when we blew a tire. Caden, here, trotted over on his horse with a cowboy hat on his head and changed the tire. He also taught me how to do it. Now I work at Quintin's Mechanics after school and on weekends. It's small shop over in where I live that's giving me good experience for aerospace engineering."

Caden glares at her, "Shut up. I came over in my awesome green pick-up truck named Bertha."

Meadow shrugs, "You were still wearing a cowboy hat."

"T-that is out of c-context," he stutters. 

I chuckle, "Wait. You knew him for 3 YEARS and didn't tell me? Also, I feel like I'm missing a lot of stuff. What are you doing here?"

"Well, I wasn't exactly proud of knowing a buffoon, but we shared contact information and when he told me he was moving here, I asked if I could come visit to surprise you. BOW-CHICKA-WOW-WOW! I answered two questions in one," she throws her fist in the air, then squirting ketchup everywhere to make it look like her hand actually flew off. 

Caden and I stare at her. 

"That was so random," we both say at the same time, making us look at each other. 

We then thumb wrestle, try to do a cartwheel, and fist bump. So, when were in kindergarten, we used to say stuff at the same time a lot. Therefore, we came up with a "handshake" for whenever that happens. I can't believe we both remembered it. Also, when I was five, I could cartwheel. However, when I got involved with football when I was ten, I stop doing cartwheels and now I can't do them anymore. 

Meadow watches in amusement before walking inside the house, not even bothering. This is why she's one of my best friends. 

This was the problem, I had friends, but they all lived in different places. Mia lives in Indiana and Meadow lives in California. I would have other ones for a couple months or even years, but I wouldn't invite them over to my house because we weren't that close. 

I remember when Meadow moved to California. You see, Meadow was born in California. She was adopted at age 3 because her biological mom couldn't take care of her. Her mom and dad flew to California and brought her here. Everything was good for quite a while until her mom and dad started drinking. They would give her some, and eventually, her dad started physically abusing her mom. After a while, he left, cheated her on, then came back. He wanted to get clean and her mom did too. So, they started going to AA meetings. Unfortunately, her dad was living off of alcohol so much, that when he stopped, this liver gave out and he died when she was about 11. This was really hard for Meadow, but her mom was still clean and continued to be. Meadow's mother got close with her ex-husband's best friend, and eventually they got together. Then she met me in 8th grade and we hung out all the time. We met on the robotics team and she was one of my best friends. Her mother and the best friend got engaged, but he left before they got married. I remember a conversation she had when he left.

"I can't do it. She can't do it. It can't be just us again. He knew. HE KNEW how we felt and he left," she cried into camera over FaceTime. 

She started to hyperventilate when I responded, "Ok, remember my motto? Deep breath in, deep breath out, don't breathe into too much that you tend to pass out."

She gives me a sad smile as does what I tell her. 

"Ok, I know that I can't say anything to make you feel better. I know that saying "I understand that" won't help because I don't know what that is like. But you got through this once and you can do it again. You are too strong to give up now. Whatever happens next, God has a plan for you. It's going to be ok. It may take a week, a month, a year, but it will be ok. You've stay strong off to see the light at the end of the tunnel to know it exists. It's going to be ok one day. I promise," I tell her. 

She continues to take deep breaths and nods her head, "Thank you. I always know I can come to you whenever this happens, Gloria."

I offer her a sad smile, and she returns it. 

She starts to freak out a little more, and I respond, "Have you seen Sam and Cat?"

"Yes," she responds. 

I begin to sing, "If you're living a dream and you know what it means then you can't let them change your mind. It's the life that we choose, and we still break the cause we're all gonna be just fine. You and me, we're gonna be just fine. Yeah, you and me, we're gonna be just fine."

Tears stream down her face, "That was really cheesy."

"Well, it's your fault for making me be all sappy," I say playfully exasperated. 

She chuckles, "Thank you, Gloria."

"It's what I'm here for, Field," I respond. 

"Stop calling me Field," she says. 

I pretend to think, "Nah, Field suits you more than Meadow.

"Wow," she says. 

I smile cheekily, "You know you love me."

"Unfortunately," she rolls her eyes playfully. 

"HEY," I laugh. 

Then between the summer of 8th and 9th grade, she moved to California to be closer to her family. It was really hard for them, but we kept in touch and talked a lot. She told me she wouldn't be able to talk to much for the first few weeks of school because she had to get used to her ADD pills all over again. I remembered and kept my distance. I'm so happy to see her though. 

I remember I'm staring off into space again, and shake my head, ridding myself of those thoughts. 

I look around to see Lucas standing there smiling at me. 

He raises his eyebrows, "You done?"

I roll my eyes, "Yes. How long were you standing there?"

"About 5 minutes since Caden went inside," he chuckles. 

"Rude," I say with a Jack Black voice, making him roll his eyes. 

We wait in silence for a few moments before I talk, "So... did you need something?"

"Oh, right. I am the third person," he responds, looking anywhere but at me. 

I laugh, "Of course it's you."

He continues to look down. 

"Aww is little wucas shy," I ask, pinching his cheeks. 

He stares blankly at me for a few moments, "Just come on."

"Fine by me," we go to walk inside, when a voice stops us. 

"Are you just going to go inside without me," Noah asks. 

"Really, Noah? You too," I ask. 

"Aww, Nipples, I'm touched," he smiles. 

Lucas raises his eyebrows, "Nipples?"

I roll my eyes, "Come on."

_____

"I am going to kill you," I shout, running after Caden. 

"Phy," he asks, his mouth filled with food. 

"You darn well know why. You stole the last piece of pizza from me," I yell. 

He swallows, "You didn't call dibs."

I raise my eyebrows still running around the room in circles after him, "I did actually. Didn't I, Meadow?"

She nods her head, still playing the game, "Yep."

"Lucas," I ask staring into his soul. 

His eyes widen at my stare and he nods, "Yeah."

I smile in satisfaction, people always told me that my serious stare was kind of creepy. 

I stop for a second, calculating my next move. I time it just right, and jump over the coffee table, tackling Caden. 

"Oh, I forgot to mention, I'm a defensive lineman," I whisper in his ear. 

Caden groans and I laugh, stealing his piece of pizza and eating it. 

I look up to see a pair of shoes before someone responds, "Hey, can you tackle me next? Lowkey, that was kinda hot."

I look up to see Noah giving me a smirk, and I hear Meadow's distinct laughter from behind me. 

"Ok," I say standing up. 

His eyes light up, "Really?"

I say nothing as I go up behind him, grabbing this thumb with my right hand, before twisting it around this back, having the potential to break his arm if I pull hard enough. 

 I smile, "No." 

I let go, pushing him forward a little, causing him to fall forwards. 

With my left hand, that was free the entire time, I continue to eat my pizza and sit back down on the couch. 

I look to my left to see Lucas smiling at me, respect in his eyes. I smile back, winking at him before looking at COD displayed on the screen. 

"Where did you learn that," Lucas whispers to me after a while. 

I offer him a sad smile, "My dad."

He returns the smile and we continue to play. 

Hey y'all! How was life been?

I hope you guys liked chapter, it took be like 4 hours with breaks included. I know this one is a little short, but I think it's ok. 

Do guys have any suggestions for the next chapter or the book general? Are there certain scenes you want to see? 

I hope you guys comment. I don't even care about votes (even though I probably should), I just like hearing feedback. 

Alright, well... see you later dudes!

-AFatBurrito