“A deaf fucking mute!” Kellin whisper-yelled once we had left the classroom. “Jesus you know how to pick them Cameron!”

                I smacked his arm and frowned. “Hey, come on. He’s still a person,” I said defensively.

                Kellin sighed. “Yea, you’re right. Sorry. It’s just so weird to think that he can’t hear us or talk to us,” he muttered.

                “Look, let’s go back in there and just be friends with the kid. I told him we would break him out of his shy shell, and we’re damn straight going to!” I said fiercely.

                Kellin smirked. “We turning another one rotten, Cam?”

                I smirked back. “I believe we are, Kellin.”

                We turned and hooked arms before skipping merrily back to class. Lopez watched us curiously as we entered the classroom and sat back down with him. He slid the notebook to me and I read the message on it.

                “Can you spell your name for me? Both of you. I want to make sure I can spell your names,” he had written.

                I nodded and scribbled my name on the notebook. I wrote Kellin’s name under it and gave the notebook back to Lopez.

                He scanned it before looking up at me with a little smile. He made a circle with his thumb and pointer finger. Okay.

                “Hey Cam, I have a plan for next period,” Kellin said, grinning widely.

                “Oh, care to inform me on this plan of yours?” I asked, liking the mischievous look in my best friend’s eyes.

                “Just distract the teacher for me, and I’ll handle the rest,” Kellin said smugly.

                I glanced at Lopez and smirked widely. “Lopez, today, we turn you into a badass. Welcome to the trouble making twins. Well, triplets now. If you’re in, that is,” I said.

                He wrote and handed me the notebook. “Just don’t get me in too much trouble on my first day. Ease me in ;)”

                I showed to it to Kellin and he fist pumped. “Yes! Cameron, we have a new member to our crew,” he said and slapped Lopez on the back with a grin. “Welcome aboard Lopez.”

                “Okay, so Lopez and I will distract the teacher, and you go through with your plan,” I said and Kellin nodded.

                “I hope you two aren’t dragging the new student into your craziness,” Ms. K said, glancing at us and raising an eyebrow. Another teacher that liked us for some reason. It was almost discouraging that all these teachers were starting to favor me and Kellin.

                I gave her a sweet smile. “Ms. K, we would never dream of doing something like that!” I said innocently.

                Lopez watched me in confusion, having missed Ms. K’s words. I shook my head at him slightly as Ms. K rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to her laptop.

                The bell rang and I stood up, waiting for Kellin and Lopez. They followed me out of the room and Kellin and I led Lopez to our last period study hall.

                “Distract the bitch,” Kellin hissed as the study hall teacher entered. I nodded and grabbed Lopez’s hand, winking at him and pulling him over to the teacher as Kellin began to creep towards the desk.

                “Ms. Kennedy, this is the new student Lopez,” I introduced.

                Ms. Kennedy glanced at Lopez with little interest. “Hello,” she said in her snobby voice. Psh. She was a teacher. The hell did she think she was, talking like a rich bitch? I could make more money picking up change in the Wal-Mart parking lot than she could make off her paycheck in a year.

                Lopez reached in his bag and produced the paper she needed to sign along with a pen. As Ms. Kennedy took the paper and began to read it, I risked a glance at Kellin.

                He was pouring two water bottles under the teacher’s chair. He looked up and winked at me as kids in the class watched him eagerly. They knew Kellin and I were the troublemakers, and they knew we liked to take it too far at times. This appeared to be one of those times.

                Kellin hurried away from the desk, shoving the empty water bottles in his book bag before taking his seat. He winked at me again.

                Ms. Kennedy signed Lopez’s paper and handed it to him before waving us away. I rolled my eyes and took Lopez’s hand, pulling him over to Kellin.

                “Now watch this,” Kellin whispered to us. I realized that all poor Lopez could do was watch. He wouldn’t be able to hear anything.

                We watched as Ms. Kennedy walked over to the desk. She sat down on the chair and faced the class. “Now, this a silent study hall so keep your mouths sh- AHHHH!”

                The chair snapped and spilled her onto his ass in the water. She slipped and fell on her back, kicking the desk where Kellin had set up another water bottle. It fell over and poured the water onto Ms. Kennedy.

                The class went deathly silent for a moment before exploding into screams of laughter. None of the kids liked Ms. Kennedy.

                She stared at us, her mouth open and moving but producing no words. My eyes flashed to Lopez, who was doing his silent chuckle.

                Ms. Kennedy stood up, her face bright red. Her finger shot out and pointed at me and Kellin. “YOU TWO TO THE OFFICE NOW!” she shrieked.

                Kellin and I gave her innocent looks. “I was talking with you the whole time!” I cried, realizing I hadn’t actually done anything to pin guilt on myself.

                “GO!” Ms. Kennedy shrieked. “IT’S ALWAYS YOU TWO! NOW GO YOU FILTHY WASTE OF SPACE BRATS!”

                Lopez stood up and pointed at me, shaking his head wildly. He held up the paper Ms. Kennedy had signed. He pointed at me, then himself. He pointed at Ms. Kennedy, pretended to write on the paper, then pointed at the spot we had been standing. He pointed at me and shook his head again.

                “See! Lopez is trying to say that I was with you and him the whole time,” I said in annoyance.

                “Fine! Cameron is off the hook this one time! Kellin, you go to the principal’s right now!” Ms. Kennedy snapped furiously.

                She turned to Lopez and narrowed her eyes as Kellin gathered his stuff, pouting. “You have associated yourself with the wrong crowd Mr. Richardson,” she hissed.

                Lopez sat down, slung an arm around me, and shrugged. He grinned as Ms. Kennedy’s face heated up again. She went back to the desk and began to clean up the water, shaking from anger.

                Kellin left the classroom, still laughing. I turned to Lopez and gave him a grateful look. “Thanks for sticking up for me Lopez. I really didn’t feel like having detention afterschool today,” I said.

                He made a circle with his thumb and pointer finger, smiling at me. And with that, I knew that a great friendship was in the making.