Disclaimer I forgot to put at the start: All of the songs used in this are from their respective musicals. Heathers and Mean Girls unless I point out otherwise. Last chapter 'Popular' was featured from Wicked. Also TW: Some mild violence. Disclaimer over.

By the end of September, I hang out with the Light Sides every day. They're not all bad, but they're pretty annoying. Like the citizens of the Capitol in the Hunger Games. All their problems come from too much popularity. Like bruh.

I am careful with my every move, every word, with them. One wrong step and I'm back on the curb. I do spend any time I can with J-Dee and Remus, of course, they are way better. 

"Light's are in class right now, want to hang? There's a cool ditching spot in the woods I wanna show you," J-Dee says.

"Ditching?" I ask.

I'm a little unsure whether that's a good idea. It could impact my grade and then my parents might get involved and it'll be my last school all over again. 

"Yeah, it's fine. You have a free period right now, remember?" He says, seeing me tense up.

Oh yeah. But they don't. Well, it's their fault if they get into trouble.

"Sure, let's go," I say.

The 'ditching spot' as they like to call it, is just a small rocky area behind some bushes. Nothing too special, but it is pretty well hidden from the view of the school. I wonder how many people actually use it.

"So how's your double life going?" Remus, who was already there, asks.

"Eh. They complain a little too much. It's really boring. Logan's always like 'no Roman, you shouldn't do that, play it safe', and Patton just supports Roman whenever and Roman's always trying to do something dumb," I say, "And they still think my name is Anx. I might tell them it's just a nickname. Maybe at the end of the year,"

They both grin a bit at that.

"That would be kinda funny," J-Dee says.

We continue to chat, and I'm thankful to finally be able to talk with them. Life with the Lights is awful sometimes. 

I'm walking home, as my house isn't too far from school when I get a text from Roman.

Hey Anx, there's a new place at the mall. meet there after school tomorrow?

Sure

kk

---

I wait outside the pretzel place for Roman. Either he's really late, or I'm really early. Or I'm waiting at the wrong place. Or-

"Hey, Hot Topic, ready to see the new place?" Roman asks, coming up from behind me.

I nearly jump away from him. I regain myself quickly and say,

"Yeah,"

He excitedly leads me around the mall, to where I assume the store is. 

"Here it is!" He says.

I look at the store. It's just, well, a store. Nothing cool or exciting.

"Not that one, this one!" Roman says, pointing to the store next to it.

It's the Disney store. 

"What's so great about it?" I ask.

Don't get me wrong, I love Disney, but I don't let myself get excited about any stores after he bashed my love for Hot Topic.

"It's Dinsey, Virgil! I mean, it's just so amazing!" He squeals.

I wouldn't have taken Roman as this childish, but I suppose it makes sense. Him acting like a prince all the time and all.

"C'mon, let's go inside!" He says, grabbing my arm again.

I will never understand his love for going into stores. He's like a highschool girl sometimes. Mostly when we come here though, it's to get some food. Which I am fine with.

---

We're at the nearby park, Roman still raving about his love for Disney.

"Please don't tell the others," He says, "They'll think it's childish,"

"Why?" I ask.

"Because, well, they just will. I know Logan hates immature things and this is one of them. I don't like it when he's mad at me either,"

"Oh. Why are you telling me this?" I say.

"I know I can trust you. You have the least filter," He says.

Oh, if only he knew how much I actually did filter.

"Well, we should get heading home. It's getting dark out," I say.

"No, not yet. We hardly spent any time together," He says.

"Princey, I hate to break it to you, but we've been spending time together for the past three hours," I say.

"Ah. Well, at least let me walk you home," He says.

"Fine," I say.

We walk back to my house, about a half-hour walk. We're passing through part of town when someone jumps in front of us.

Everything after that is a blur. I remember grabbing onto Roman as the guy tries to attack us. At some point, I get hit and everything fades to black.

I wake up to five missed calls. Strange, I don't remember actually sleeping. I don't remember- wait, where am I? 

I scramble to sit up.

"Oh good, you're awake," Remus says.

"What happened?" I ask.

"As far as your parents know, a sleepover. As far as J-Dee and I know, something not good with the Lights. So what happened?" He asks.

"Um, I don't really know," I say.

"Well, what's the last thing you remember? Was it why Ro's shirt was off? Because I want the full story on that. We're you two-"

"No," I say, "We- we were coming back from the mall. We were walking. He wanted to take me there to show me around the new store and maybe pick out some clothes. We didn't but when we were walking back some guy jumped us and it all gets blurry from there," I say.

"Well, we found you in the park nearby, laying on top of him. We dragged you back here before anyone got any pictures," Remus says.

"One, who's we? And two, where is 'here'?" I ask.

"Me and J-Dee, his house,"

I'm scrolling some social media app Roman made me download when I come across something strange. A post from Logan and Patton.

"Hey, so this is going to sound weird, but has anyone seen Roman Prince at all tonight? He went out hours ago and hasn't returned. He also won't respond to any of our messages," The post reads.

"Remus," I say slowly, "Do you remember what happened to Roman after you left him?" 

"What? Oh sh- are you on your phone. God, J is going to kill me if you- did you see the post?" He asks.

"Is Roman missing?" I ask.

He looks hesitant. 

"Yes. We didn't actually find him with you. But you were holding his shirt," Remus says.

Well, knowing my luck I'm gonna get blamed for this. Time to start packing my bags and begging my parents to let me transfer schools before this escalates any further.

Now we're getting into the angst. Also, wow I went a whole chapter without a bunch of theater references. Maybe I should change that in the next. Well anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading, feel free to leave any thoughts or feedback in the comments, and have a fantastic day/night you magnificent peep!