"But life has a habit of taking those you want closest and throwing them across oceans."

.

"House plants?"

"House plants."

"This isn't a house."Skye simply replies making both Dan and Charlie frown. Both of them had the absurd idea, according to Skye at least, to add two house plants in their tree-house. A crazy idea not only because the place was already small enough, yet comfortable for like a company of ten, but also due to house plants being for houses. Not trees. What kind of weird argument could that begin? Could this be similar to a human wearing smaller humans? Or since they were simple decorations it could be similar to a human wearing accessories made of human skin? Brendon tried to not search any further and just accept that it was odd.

Pretty odd.

"And it's a tree too. We're already in nature, what's the need for more green?"

"Yes, but house plants are great and perhaps if we were to put a small one near the window, this place will feel more homey. Isn't that the reason why we built it in the first place? To find a home."Charlie explained looking back at Dan for support. The older boy, who was ironically shorter than Charlie himself, nodded and placed a hand on Skye's back.

"He's right. This place needs to become our space, a place for us and us only. A home."Dan added the last word with clear adoration"Plus I love house plants!"

"Is anyone going to back me up on this?"Skye questioned looking at the rest of the gang. Newt shook his head and titled to the side making his flower crown almost fall off whereas Quinn shrugged in return not really paying attention to whether the house plants would stay or not. Finally, Skye sent Brendon a pleading look.

"House plants are okay, I guess."

"Yes!"both Dan and Charlie exclaimed happily. Skye threw her hands up and cursed under her breath about how she needed new friends. Like she could find new ones, it was their last year of elementary and they had already grown attached to each other's hips since the very start of it. That aside, they had earned quite the reputation as the weirdest group in the entire town.

"Oh! I almost forgot!"Brendon shout excitedly before pulling a wooden sign from his backpack. The sign wasn't fancy and the wood appeared moist in some parts of it, but everyone just paid attention on the big black letters in the middle. Cool kids only was written in cursive letter and had the 'i' replaced  with an exclamation mark. Quinn squealed and grabbed it taking a good look at it.

"As if we could ever be part of the cool kids."Dan mumbled to himself causing Brendon's smile to drop.

"To me you are. All of you. Isn't that what matter?"Dan looked back at Brendon and smiled at how sincere his voice sound. The boy eventually laughed and gave Brendon a hug. Charlie smiled and hugged them both, the goofy smile never leaving his face as Skye and Quinn chuckled before joining the group. At that moment Newt took the sign that Quinn had placed on the floor and a marker from inside Brendon's backpack.

"And there!"he announced shortly after adding something to the sign. Brendon raised an eyebrow as the group of friends turned their attention to the sign which had now a new phrase written with bright pink marker beneath the Cool k!ds only. Newt had make a nice smiling face and had added the sentence 'House plants are welcomed too.' making Dan and Charlie both start laughing.

"Look at the time!"Quinn suddenly yelled grabbing Brendon's arm"We must be going. Father will kill me and I assume your parents will do the same."

"Right, no one wants to see mum angry!"

"Come on gang! Lets leave our tree-house of solitude before our parents ground us for eternity."Skye mocked and made her way to the staircase. Brendon followed by jumping straight down as Quinn mimicked Skye and used the stairs like a normal person. Dan put the wooden sign next to the house plant and got town with Newt and Charlie behind him.

.

The next day, Brendon woke up early and run off to Quinn's house two blocks away from his own. He began singing familiar songs as he rode his red bike to the Fabray residence, or mansion as his parents always called it. He reached the house extremely quick and found Quinn sitting on a bench in the porch. She wore a pink dress and had her hair up in a ponytail letting her golden earrings sparkle.

"Morning!"

"You're here early enough."Quinn told him dryly before lifting her gaze. Brendon looked at her puzzled and sat next to her. She hadn't even greeted him which was a very odd behavior for Quinn. That could only mean trouble, and since it was Quinn's trouble, it would be everyone's.

"What's the matter, ballerina?"

"Brittany saw a moving truck earlier this morning."

"And?"

"Near school."

"You don't think that,"Brendon didn't bother finishing his sentence. It could have been anyone that had moved away. Although, rumor had it, that Newt's parents were getting a divorce and that his dad would probably move away. Newt also happened to live very close to their school, but it couldn't have been his dad moving. He would have told them."how long ago?"

"An hour or so."

"Do you want to,"

"Yes, please."

.

Charlie didn't sleep well the previous night.

He always had a tendency to dream, nice dreams usually or maybe weird ones, sometimes he dreamed of his friends, family or future. Within time-and since he dreamed of something everyday-he had experienced many weird scenarios. There was a time when he had dreamed of Brendon being in a band called Panic at the party and him arguing with his manager about putting an exclamation mark on the name, between the words 'panic' and 'at'. One other time, his dream consisted of both Skye and Dan being insanely good with computer skills but while Dan would just made funny videos on YouTube, Skye had been recruited by a secret organization called H.A.M.M.E.R to hack some FBI files.

Other times, his dreams would be simply weird and impossible like one time when he dreamed that Quinn got pregnant after kissing a pug. There was also that time when he dreamed that he was half alien with his dad being human-like alien and his mum being normal. Those dreams were his favorite. If only he could really travel in space and time by using a red phone-booth called T.A.R.D.I.S. But anyway, that night he dreamed once more as per usual, only it wasn't a dream but a nightmare.

He saw Newt trying to kill himself.

And for the first time in forever, Charlie was scared. Mostly because this wasn't an unlike scenario. Some months ago when a tall boy from his school tried to shove him in a locker("I'll shove, Finnkenstein in a dumpster next time."Dan had threatened after hearing what had happened.)and he didn't tell his parents until a week later, they had a big talk. His mum encouraged him to talk to them about everything and how keeping secrets would be bad for him and then went on to explain as simply as she could depression and suicide to him.

"You see, if you keep everything inside, you'll be sad."his mother had explained sweetly"And sometimes, when kids are sad for a long period of time, they become sick."

"I don't want to be sick."

"And you won't. Because that will happen only, if you don't smile, and we promise you honey"she whispered and held his hand as her husband smiled"we'll always protect you and make you smile. That's what families are for."

"What happens if you get sick?"

His mom's smile dropped while his father sat closer to him"Sometimes, if you don't heal it in time, kids decide to sleep. A different kind of sleep, a peaceful one to find clarity."

"But how?"

"Well, think of it like that; this kind of sleep works like a spaceship. It takes sad kids closer to the stars, but they can never return back."

"So in order to not go to the stars you need to smile and a good family?"Charlie asked curiosity getting the best of him. For a moment, he liked the idea of traveling to the stars but he wouldn't want to abandon Earth forever. His parents nodded."Will Newt go to the stars?"

Charlie got up from his bed and rushed to the kitchen to get breakfast. He muttered his good mornings and grabbed a plate full of pumpkin pancakes. He had already lost his sleep, the least he deserved was a full stomach."Mum?"

"Hm?"

"Can you call uncle Harold and ask him to bring over Newt? We could go for ice cream."Mrs Smith let down another plate next to him and smiled sympathetically before kneeling next to her son. She pulled his hair away from his eyes and took both of his hands into hers.

"Baby, there's something I need to tell you."