As soon as I stepped out of the principal's office, the first thing my eyes landed on, was Joy's sobbing self, sitting on a bench beside the door.

"Joy!!!" I happily screamed. "Why do you cry so much?"

Hearing my voice, she jumped up and engulfed me in a bear hug that carried my noodle body to the ground.

"You stupid, stupid, moron. Why would you do that?" She said between sobs.

I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly. "Cuz he was being an ass."

She sighed softly. "I am glad you're my best friend."

Lying on the floor, with my best friend on top of me and hugging me tight, while I patted her braids to calm her down, any rational person would have given us strange looks, and I, on a normal day would curl up in a corner in shame. But today wasn't a normal day and I didn't care because the person I got suspended for, was for the most part okay.

My dad, who had been standing by the side, finally said in a quiet voice. "Let's go Astro."

Before I could even respond, Joy already jumped off me and went straight to my dad.

"Mr. Winston, please don't be mad at Astro, he didn't really mean to. It was all..."

My dad sighed deeply and gently put his hand on her shoulder. "I know Astro wasn't completely at fault and I am glad he stood up for himself," He cocked his head to face me."But, there are better ways to do it, without putting yourself in harm's way. I was really worried you know."

Ah, My dad's the best

He removed his hand and signaled me to meet him at the car. I got up and waved at Joy as I ran towards the car.

"Bye," I shouted "And clean your mascara, your face is a mess."

She gave me the middle finger. "Still a jackass I see."

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The drive home was quiet. Dad concentrated on the road and I stared out the window. I was worried that I would go home to a fight, but when I heard his words to Joy, I wasn't really worried anymore.

"Astro" My dad said, breaking the silence.

I turned to face him and immediately I did, my heart dropped again. He was still wearing his lab coat and looked stressed already from the hospital. I felt sorry for causing him trouble.

"Yes, Dad" My voice came out nervously in anticipation of the rebuke to come.

"Please don't do that again. I-I-I thought the worst had happened when I got the call."

His grip on the steering wheel increased until his knuckles went white.
"I don't know what I'd do if I lost anyone else." He whispered, but I still heard him.

Now my heart sunk even lower. He was thinking of mom.

"Hey buddy, I am sorry. I shouldn't have said that." He said, seeing my downcast face.

I managed a small smile and waved my hand dismissively. "It's no problem. I'll behave better now."

I will just avoid the person who brings drama into my life

After we arrived home, Dad didn't even get to rest for ten minutes before his pager started going crazy, since he left in the middle of his shift. But before he left, he laid out the rules. I was grounded, with no access to TV or my phone and I couldn't have friends over. The only thing to be even slightly happy about was the drawing tablet he still allowed me to use.

-----------

You can do this Astro. It's Friday already

That's right people, my little vacation, as I liked to call it, was halfway done. I was almost bored to death, as my only source of entertainment was my art and my dad's medical journals.

And that is exactly what I was doing when I heard someone curse outside my bedroom window.

I dropped the book I was reading on the bed and looked down the window.

"What the fuck you doing?" I said

"Coming to save your sorry ass." Joy heaved out.

Joy was climbing the side of my house and was halfway to my room, as she held two tubs of ice cream and three pizzas. I rolled on my bed laughing as Joy came through the window huffing and puffing.

"T-T-The front door was open," I said while rolling on the bed with laughter.

Joy was still trying to get herself and was taking deep breaths. "What! I thought you were grounded."

I looked up to face her and I laughed even more. She was dressed in a black hoodie and joggers, with dark sunglasses to top off the undercover celebrity look.

"M-m-my dads a pedi-p-pediatrist, do you think he'd leave his son locked up with the possibility of a fire."

She pouted and when I continued laughing she hit me on the back.

"Your room is tidy for once."

I glanced around my room which was painted sky blue on the walls with clouds and trees to give the illusion of a peaceful landscape and the ceiling was dark and painted with stars. It was the summer project my dad and I took upon ourselves. But now half the wall was covered with my various artworks, to the right of my bed a huge Alan Walker poster was pasted and beside it, was a shelf with various mystery and thriller books and my dirty laundry was empty and beside my wardrobe.

She was right, it was cleaner than usual. But with the one week I was home, if it wasn't clean then I needed to be jailed.

I got up and walked towards my reading table.

"Why are you here? You could get in trouble."

She picked up the ice cream and waved it in my face. "I am here to cheer you up. We will eat ice cream and binge-watch the entire season of Wednesday on my phone."

I have the best friends

We sat down and binge-watched the entire season. Don't worry I won't spoil it. Liam called but seemed in a rush to go somewhere and when I offered to chat again another time, he happily took the offer.

After a while, Joy left and I cleaned up any evidence of the meeting Joy and I had.

----------------

It was Saturday, and at last I had my precious phone back. My dad had given it to me to catch up with schoolwork before I went back. I was busy trying to figure out a particular question when a reminder popped up on my phone. I picked it up and looked at it - I was supposed to teach Karla to swim today. I tossed the phone back to the side, I might not have been as angry as I was on that day, but I was still pretty angry.

A few hours later of sitting at my desk, I heard some stones being thrown against the glass.

I rolled my eyes, thinking Joy wanted to climb the house again. I got up and opened the window.

"Joy...."

I froze mid-sentence, my heart boiling and skipping a beat at the same time. Flaming red hair and blue eyes looked up at me.

Karla

"Hey" She said awkwardly, drawing figures on the sand.

"Karla Johnson, We. Need. To. Talk." I snarled out.

Although my heart was beating fast and I couldn't stop thinking about how beautiful she looked even jeans and a baggy T-shirt, I had to end things.

She froze, she seemed to stop functioning for a few minutes, and then she turned, took a few deep breaths, and ran.

What... Just happened?"

******
AN
Hi guys! So I decided to update early since I finished the chapter early.

One of my friends, who is reading Cliche Romance told me her favourite character was Astro. So I'd like to know your favorite character(s) in the comments.

Please don't forget to vote and comment if you enjoyed this chapter.

Thanks