As if people weren't staring at me enough for being kicked out of my own home, the stomach pain had to make it worst. Walking through East Bridge High's hallways, waddling like I was constipated was earning me many strange glances.

     "Why are you walking like that? You're embarrassing me," Andrews complained. If I was so embarrassing, he could just leave. I hadn't asked him to walk me to class.

     "My stomach hurts," I returned. "And if you really want to talk about embarrassing, one; batman underwear, and two; I eat lunch with you every day."

     Mouth agape, Andrews looked offend, and a tad bit confused.

     "What's wrong with your stomach?"

     Damn, he evaded the subject change. He was getting used to my tricks, I've had him around for too long.

     "Cramps."

     "But your period was last week."

     Why had he mesmerized my menstrual cycle? "How, and why do you know that?"

    "I can kind of just tell, by your mood. And I like to know when to expect an extra cranky Clara."

    "You need to pay less attention to my life. Your behaviour is getting stalkerish," I barely had time to finish my sentence.

    "Is it from falling last night? If it's still hurting—"

    "Please shut up. I may be mother-less at the moment, but I definitely don't need you as replacement. I can take care of myself."

     Bell about to ring, he didn't have time to answer. He had less than thirty seconds to get to class, so he settled for sticking his tongue out at me and running off to the class he'd most likely be late to. I've never understood why he's done that. We spend all our free time together. Why did he feel the need to walk me to every single class? It used to make me angry, I felt like he didn't trust me to not get in trouble without him. But after a couple years you get used to Andrews' shit. He was like toe fungus; unpleasant at times, but he grew on you.

     Speaking of stupid things Andrews has done, he decided to text me ten minutes before the last bell, that he had a dentist appointment, and therefore couldn't drive me home. I had ten minutes to find a ride or walk forty minutes. Last minute, my only option was Jason Bradford. A.K.A captain of the football team, man of my nightmares, and my ex-boyfriend. If you could even call him that, we dated for barely three weeks, two weeks of which I spent avoiding him. I don't know why I wanted a boyfriend so badly, nor why I had chosen him. I was still extremely embarrassed that I had gone through that stage, the stage of believing having a boyfriend was a necessity. I grew out of that stage pretty damn quick, but still it had happened and as much as I tried, I couldn't forget it. The tickling fuzz over his lip that he used to call a moustache still made me shiver with discomfort. You would think at seventeen years old; I'd be out of the boys are gross phase.

     We hadn't talked in a year, and I was certain the only reason Jason agreed to bring me home was out of pity. Maybe a little bit of fear too. I was still being avoided like the plague through the school halls.

     "You're living with the Andrews?" he asked, wide eyed, after I gave him directions. Of course, he knew where they lived, Colton was probably his idol. I was surprised he hadn't already heard the rumors; most of everyone at school was talking about it.

    I shrugged. "I assume you heard about my mother kicking me out. The Andrews made the most sense."

     He nodded. "Makes sense, but I didn't know you guys were that serious." Serious? About what? I knew Jason was on drugs, but I wouldn't have expected him to drive high.

    "What's that got to do with anything?"

    "Your relationship is obviously serious, if you guys moved in together," he elucidated, which to me wasn't much of an explanation.

    "Well... yeah. We've been friends since kindergarten. Obviously, Andrews takes my problems seriously, it's not like he would have found my being homeless funny."

     "What?" He frowned like I was the one not making any sense.

     "What do you mean what?"

     "I don't know— you just..." he paused again, thinking.

     "Are you high? I'd rather walk, if you are."

     I didn't want to die in a car crash, I still had a week left to live. People were expecting my death next Wednesday, it'd be rude of Jason to kill me beforehand. He couldn't disappoint my future murderers. They had spent years training to kill me. It would be a real piss off if someone stole their glory.

    "I'm not!" he defended. "Are you?"

     "Me?" I asked incredulously. "I don't do that shit."

    "And what makes you think I do?"

     I perked a brow. He couldn't lie to me, his resolve broke. Drowning in pressure from his parents, the school's reputation, and scholarships, he had found solace in the wrong things. I truly felt for him. With a promise that he wasn't high, he drove me home without another word on his strange view of Andrews and I's platonic relationship.

     Andrews wouldn't be back for another half hour, so I figured it'd be a good time to make another attempt at destroying the Sphere. I searched the room for the perfect weapon, finding a metallic baseball bat beneath Colton's bed. Bat in hand, I started swinging.

     I half expected the Sphere to disappear before I could hit it. The fact that it didn't, made me a little suspicious. It just waited for the blow. The Sphere wasn't the least bit affected by the impact. There wasn't even a small dent, nor scratch. I swung harder. Still nothing. Mimpi showed up for a brief second, but the second the bat passed through her head, she sighed, shook her head, and disappeared. With newfound anger, I kept swinging. Eyes clamped shut in effort, I swung with all my force until I heard a sound that could only be associated with the sound of something breaking. I smiled for half a second, until I opened my eyes. The Sphere remained untouched; perfectly smooth and shiny. Bent into the shape of a U, Colton's bat was a different story. With a grimace, I searched the room, in pursuit of a solution. I could fix this. No need to panic. Hoping to straighten it out, I flipped the bat and swung again. That didn't work. I had managed to get it straight again, but not without breaking it in half. Nothing good ever happens when I try to fix something. This is why I usually run from my problems.

     I searched every drawer in the home, but for some reason the Andrews didn't have glue. Who doesn't own glue? Have Anna and Jim never needed to fix the countless objects their kids broke on a daily basis? Glue was a survival necessity in the Molino house, especially with the twins' experiments.

     "What are you looking for?"

    Frightened, I jumped two feet in the air, hitting my head on an open cabinet door in the process.

     "You're early," I noted, turning to face a suspicious Andrews.

     "I am. Being home alone, I had hoped you'd have taken the opportunity to walk around in your underwear."

      Was he hoping I'd have embarrassing superman underwear? I definitely did not. I preferred spider-man.

     "I don't wear underwear." I blinked, holding his gaze firmly.

     Andrews' face was priceless. His eyes turned wide, and his ears turned pink. Andrews blushing was the funniest thing ever. While I couldn't control my laughter, he flipped me off and headed towards his room.

     "Wait!" I called after him. "How much importance does your brother put in the old metal bat under his bed?"

     I was really hoping he'd have no idea what I was talking about. I mean you wouldn't throw something important under your bed, right? Andrews frowned as if to imagine the mentioned bat, and then nodded to himself in realisation. Damn.

     "It used to be his grandfathers and then his dads until it was finally passed down to Colton. It's the first bat he used, brought it to every game. Claimed it was his good luck charm."

     Immediately I planned my escape, contemplating running as far away as could from this town. Aunt Diana would take me in. Surely being the new kid couldn't be so bad. Who cares if I had no school friends? It was better than facing Colton. I destroyed his ancestors' bat. I ruined his future child's baseball career. Then again, this wasn't just my fault. Mimpi, and Colton were just as responsible. Colton was an idiot. You don't keep a family heirloom under your bed, it's practically begging strangers to take it.

     "What'd you do?" Andrews asked, lips twitching as he noticed the oh shit look on my face. Instead of verbally answering him, I grabbed the two halves of the baseball bat and handed it to him. His eyes grew wide again, likely trying to imagine ways I managed to accidentally break a metal bat.

     "Would he really know the difference if I bought an exact replica?" I asked.

     "Probably not. Honestly, I don't even think it's his bat."

     My heart stopped and restarted again. "What?!"

     "The whole grandfather thing? Ya, that was a lie."

     As much as his words relieved me, I wanted to kick his ass. "Andrews!" I complained, shoving him. I shoved him a little harder than I meant too. Loosing balance, bat pieces tumbled out of his arms. "That wasn't funny. You had me ready to move in with my Aunt Diana."

     "Nothing you don't deserve." He threw the metal in the trash. "How did you even manage to break it?" He asked the one question I hoped he wouldn't. He was the one person I wasn't supposed to lie to.

    "Long story."

     "I have time," he said, knowing very well that I hated the saying. Who cares if he had time? What if I didn't have the time? If I claim it's a long story, that is a silent code for I don't want to explain it. But Andrews was too stubborn to let it go.

     "I tried to use it to break something, but it broke instead. The rest you truly don't want to know."

    He squinted his eyes my way, thinking about it. He took my word for it and dropped the subject.