The hour went by faster than Troy had expected, but at the same time it had felt much longer than it was. Was it because he was actually having fun? Probably. He'd admit that even though they were a bunch of weirdos, he would call them his friends if someone had asked.

He wouldn't dare say anything out loud though otherwise.

Mike had called everyone around to do a head count before putting everyone into the van. Well, Sophie, Mark, and their brothers road home with their Dad. So it was just him, Tony, James, Scott, Brooke, Arron, and Haru.

Mike drove of course, and Arron took the passenger seat, talking about what was on the radio that he couldn't hear through the noise. Tony and James took the very back row, cracking up at something as the light of their phones revealed their faces in the dark van. The sun had set not too long ago and now it was getting pretty dark outside, being almost eight o'clock now. The next row sat Scott by the window and Brooke near the edge, close to the other window. Troy sat in front of her in the next row with Haru on his left by the window.

He heard Brooke talk and turned his head to see that she was giving her brother a look. "You're gonna shower after we get home, right? Because you smell Broskie." Troy raised a brow at the strange nickname, but decided not to question it.

Scott looked slightly offended, but seemed that he was faking it. "You make it sound like I don't ever shower."

She raised a brow teasingly. "I'm talking more than twice a week, bro."

"I do, thank you! It's my teeth I brush twice a week."

Brooke and Haru laughed at how proud he sounded, Brooke shaking her head. "Dude, that's even worse, but I guess twice a week is better than twice a month."

Troy winced and gave a disapproving look. Sure he may not do it twice a day like people should, but if he didn't brush his teeth at least several times a week, his gums would bleed. "Dude, gross."

His remark only made Brooke and Haru laugh harder and Scott sighed in defeat before looking at Troy, probably trying to change the subject. "By the way, I'm Scott, Brooke's brother."

Troy nodded, realizing that he hadn't actually introduced himself to the teen yet. "Yeah I know. I'm Troy."

Scott turned to Brooke with a bright smile. "You talked about me!?"

She stopped laughing to give him a thoughtful look. "Not that I remember." This seemed to depress the taller sibling somehow and he pretended to sulk by the window, circling his finger on the glass. She rolled her eyes. "Blondie probably figured it out."

Troy scrunched his face at her. "Blondie?"

She grinned. "It's a nickname, dweeb."

Haru giggled next to him, and Scott laughed, seeming to be glad that she had found a new target to tease. Haru's eyes landed on Brooke. "Then what's 'dweeb' for?"

Brooke continued to smirk. "That, my dear friend, is an insult."

They laughed and Troy decided to just ignore them, turning his attention to Scott, who had pulled out his phone to take a really bad selfie, his face twisted into some weird double-chin with his eyes wide open in a creepy way. Troy pointed to Brooke. "How can you live with that?"

Brooke interrupted before Scott could answer, poking her brother's twisted face as she spoke. "That should be directed towards me, don't you think? I mean, look at that. I feel bad for whoever you're sending that awful picture to."

Scott finished and sent the picture, saying nothing, but smirking all the same as there was a buzz from Brooke's pocket. Her eye twitched before she slowly pulled out her own phone, glaring at Scott after staring at it a few moments, who burst out laughing with Haru. "Somehow, I halfway expected this..."

"Isn't it beautiful!" Scott laughed.

"No, it's not!" The older sister quickly responded.

Troy wondered if this was common between the siblings. Scott seemed like a funny guy. At least, his dramatics were amusing.

By now, Tony and James had been dropped off at their homes and then Arron was the next to leave. Mike called over to her and said "Say hi to Mom and Pops for me!"

Troy raised a brow as he let Haru take the front seat next to Mike. "Are you two siblings too?"

Mike laughed. "Yup! She's my youngest sister. I have two more that are older than her. They couldn't make it tonight because of work, but you'll see them Sunday. Actually, Brooke and Scott are my in-laws, if you didn't know already. Anna is their oldest sister."

I blinked over at the two, who nodded back at him. "I wouldn't have guessed. You guys don't look very much alike, no offense."

"Non Taken" They spoke in unison and Brooke continued. "Out of the four of us, me and Scott are the only two that look anything alike. Anna is the oldest and then there is Ashton, also older than us. She'll be there Sunday too."

He nodded slowly as the van stopped again at a small house. "You guys have big families."

They nodded and Haru undid her seatbelt, seemed that this was her house. "I'll see you guys Sunday!" She waved before getting out of the car. Brooke yelled goodbye and Troy and Scott waved.

Brooke gestured to the front seat, looking at Troy. "You can have it, we're the next stop." He nodded and climbed up front next to Mike, who started singing along to the radio, which sadly started playing one of Taylor Swift's much too overplayed songs. He was obviously making fun of it as his tone was way off and as Scott joined in, sounding even worse, they started shouting the lyrics instead of singing them.

Troy was making an awful face and when he heard Brooke groan loudly over the two, he looked back behind his seat at her and understood that he wasn't the only one suffering. Scott was shouting straight into her ear while she was trying to push him as far away from her as possible. In fact, he almost felt bad for her that she probably dealt with this a lot.

The van pulled into a Marina as the song ended on incredibly obnoxious notes that lasted longer than needed, and Troy was a bit confused as to why they were there. He became even more confused as Brooke started dragging Scott out of the van, mumbling something about revenge.

Mike laughed before they exchanged goodbyes. Troy waved at them but as Mike started to pull out of the parking lot, he calmed down enough to answer Troy's unasked question. "Brooke and Scott live on a sailboat with their parents, my in-laws Rachel and David, Mr. and Mrs. Dillcaud. Ashton is moved out and married like Anna."

He raised a brow. "Their last name is Dillcaud?"

Mike laughed. "Out of everything I just said, that's what you ask about first?"

Troy shrugged. "It is kinda hard to think that they live on a boat, it's gotta be pretty big to fit four people."

Mike nodded. "It's about forty foot long. Like a mobile home, it seems bigger on the inside. By the way, I am going the right way to your house right? I think I know the address, but you need to make sure I'm going the right way."

Troy nodded and then blinked, looking ahead, looking at the street names. "Uh, yeah, I think that's it up ahead. It's on 4th Street."

Mike nodded and stopped at the next light. "Okay, I know where that is." A few seconds passed and Troy was finally asked the one question that he was expecting from the older man. "Did you enjoy the study?" He sounded eager to know, like a kid almost.

Troy nodded. "It was...a bit of an eye opener for me, but at the same time it confused me, but that's only because I don't think I understand it yet."

Mike smiled knowingly at the answer, the van rolling once again and turning on the correct street. "I see. And the youth? I hope none of them scared you." He laughed at his own joke.

Troy resisted the urge to roll his eyes and smile. "They're...interesting. At first, I thought they were all crazy. But they turned out fun to be around. They all seem really close. It was surprising."

Mike laughed a little longer at his explanation. "Yes, they all grew up together, so that's understandable. Most of them are home-schooled and have been for most of, or all of their lives, so they don't have many friends out of their circle at church."

Troy nodded. "That's makes a lot of sense." He noticed his new house coming into view and pointed out of the windshield. "It's the one with the blue truck and the red USV."

Mike pulled in front of the house on the side of the street. "Well, Troy, thanks for coming and I hope I'll see you Sunday?"

Troy nodded and took off his seatbelt. "Yeah..with my parents."

Mike smiled as he watched Troy get out of the van but called him before he could shut the door. "Oh, and Troy?"

Troy blinked. "Yeah?"

Mike reached inside of his book bag and pulled out a leather back book. "Take this with you, I noticed you didn't have one, so you can have one of my old ones. I brought it with me from my office and thought it would come in handy after meeting you today." His new youth pastor winked at him.

Troy took hold of the leatherback book and gazed at words 'Holy bible' inscripted in bold gold letters on the front. After a moment, Troy looked up at Mike and gave a mumbled. "Thanks...I'll uh, see you Sunday." Mumbled, but honest.

Mike nodded. "Alright. Goodnight Kiddo."

Raising a brow at the new nickname, Troy fought back a smile and shook his head. Sending a quick "Night." over his shoulder before shutting the door and heading inside, Bible in hand, thinking about the night's events.

He was surprisingly looking forward to Sunday for a different reason other than knowing his parents would act like normal human beings there.

Yes, a different reason entirely.