The pair, a tangled mess on the floor, freeze in place. Their bodies tense as Howard's words register. In the blink of an eye, Randy shoots up, spluttering as if he had resurfaced from water. His face burns bright with several hues of red as he pulls away from (name); as if to distance himself from the statement physically. "I'm—we're," his face grew hotter, as he averted his gaze, "she's—we're not dating!" (Name), whilst still flustered, was less so than Randy. "I'm the exchange student," she begins to explain, getting up and brushing off her pants, "you know, the kid coming to study in place of another student from your school?"

The look on his face seemed like he was processing the statement before his face lit up in recognition. "Oh, right." He says, nodding his head as if he understood. "Honestly, I thought you were gonna be a boy since you're staying here with this schoob." He jabs his thumb over to Randy, who was still incredibly flustered from the comment beforehand. After hearing 'schoob' he lets out a protesting, "Hey!", but his friend doesn't seem to take any notice. "The name's Weinerman, by the way," Randy's friend says, holding out a hand for (name), "Howard Weinerman."

"(Name) Russey," (name) beams, shaking his hand politely. "Whoa, like Mr Russey, the town creep?" Howard asks, eyes wide. Randy gives a confused look toward (name), too. "Heh, yeah," she chuckles nervously, scratching the back of her neck, "he's my uncle." The two boys share a shocked look, making (name) feel a little uncomfortable. She forgot that while not everyone would know of or remember her father, they sure as hell would know her uncle. "That's—that's not a bad thing, right?" She asks, a feeling of unease washing over her. The boys look back at her, noticing how uncomfortable she now looks and felt a little inkling of regret for even asking. Well, Randy felt remorseful; Howard didn't care all that much.

"Hey, no," Randy soothes, making his way over to her and pulling her into a sort of side-hug, "it's not a bad thing! Right, Howard?" He glares at Howard, trying to get him to agree that having the town weirdo for an uncle wasn't a bad thing, but Howard simply shrugs in response. "Eh, sure. Could be worse, I guess." Smiling softly at the attempt, (name) feels a little better. "I'll probably have to go visit him and my grandparents at some point," she fidgets with the sleeves of her trench coat, "but it can wait a while. How's about we go have some fun instead?" She beams, though a glance at her could tell you that she was just wanting to change the topic due to her unease with the topic.

"Good idea, we should go to the 'Hole," Howard chimes, looking excited, "really feel like some 'chos right now." It was (name)'s turn to look confused, furrowing her eyebrows. "What's the 'hole'? Is there some pit someone dug up?" Howard comes over to Randy and (name), cackling as he claps her shoulder. "Hilarious, Russey. 'Some pit', that's funny." He wipes away imaginary tears at the thought. "The 'Hole is just short for the Game Hole," he explains. "It's the town arcade," Randy adds on, a smug look on his face. "I'll have you know I have all the high scores." Hearing Randy's statement, Howard groans. "Can it, Cunningham. You don't have to rub it in." Grinning, Randy ruffles Howard's hair. "Oh, but I do, Howard. I do." (Name) giggles, amused by their sense of competition. "Any karaoke or D.D.R machines?" She asks hopefully, earning a confused look from the boys. "A what machine?"

"Dance Dance Revolution," she clarifies, "it's a rhythm game." She heads for the guest room, gesturing to the boys for them to follow her. "I love it a lot, but there's no way I can play in boots like these." She opens the door to the guest room—to her room and makes her way over to one of the suitcases, opening it to reveal a ton of shoes. "Oh right, I think we have one," Randy muses, tapping his chin as if in deep thought, "no one's been able to do well on it. Well, of course, except for me." He flashes a grin, (name) catching it in the corner of her eye as she grabs a pair of studded sneakers, rolling her eyes. "Just you wait, Randy, just you wait." After kicking off her boots and putting them to the side, she tugs on the sneakers, lacing them up quickly.

"And what about a karaoke game?" The boys glance at each other, before looking back to the girl before them, who had stood and headed to her backpack. "Uh, yeah, there is one. Randy schoobed up the game, though," Howard says, tapping his forefingers together nervously, "no one wants to play it 'cause of what happened last time." Turning around, wallet in hand, (name) gives a curious look. "Oh? Do tell." She stuffs the wallet in her trench coat pocket, shooing the boys out of her room and shutting the door. "Uh, maybe another time." Randy cuts in, remembering when they hacked into the machine to record a song.

Hopefully, he thinks to himself, it's fixed by now.

It's not like he wanted to hear her sing. Well, he did, but not in a creepy way? Listening to her belt out the lyrics to Rock The House wasn't the same as her singing, and he was kind of curious as to how good she was. "Anyways," (name) says, looking at her phone, "let's head off. It's nearing twelve-thirty, and—-" she cuts herself off and looks at Howard, "-—wait a minute, shouldn't you be in school?" Howard gives a complacent shrug. "Eh, I dipped. School's no fun when this schoob," he gestures to Randy, "isn't around." (Name) sighs and runs her hands down her face.

"You two are going to be horrible for my work ethic, aren't you?" The boys simply give her what they would call 'reassuring' smiles, but they were—in fact—just giant, shit-eating grins; as each slings an arms over her shoulders.

"Oh, (name)," Howard muses, "don't you trust us?" Randy leans in close, being the tallest of the three, his grin wide and just as shit-eating as Howard's, "Yeah, (name), don't you trust us?"

She ducks away quickly, the two boys knocking their heads together and groaning, the grins wiped from their faces in an instant. "Not in the slightest," she hums, doing her best to masque the smirk on her lips by turning her face away from the duo, "but you have time to prove yourself."

She held back a giggle as she eyed off the pair, who gave each other confused looks. "How?"

"You'll see," she answers, turning on her heel as she headed for the front door. "Now, are we leaving, or are we going to stand around here all day?" And with that Randy shooed his new roommate and his best friend out of his house, making sure the door was locked and he had his wallet and house keys on him before doing so. (Name) shivers as the temperature changed again, exhaling a shaky breath that billowed out from her mouth. "I keep forgetting its winter," she mutters to herself, crossing her arms as her shoulders hike up to her ears; as if to provide warmth despite the thick, black, woollen interior of her trench coat.

"What do you mean, Russey?" Howard asked, letting go of his earmuffs as they softly clapped over his ears. "Where I came from," (name) replies, teeth chattering slightly, "it was summer-time. I keep thinking it's going to be warm every time I step out of the door." Randy comes up to her side, the flushed look on his face deepening as he tries to casually sling an arm over her shoulder. "If we get there quick enough," he says with a gentle squeeze of her shoulder, bringing her body closer to his, "you'll forget all about the cold. Besides, if we stay out long enough we might be able to get a lift home if I convince my moms' that you're freezing." (Name) chuckles, pressing herself into Randy's side to try and preserve some form of body heat. "Sounds like a plan to me."

The trio set off, with Howard occasionally throwing jokes about the 'new couple' in town. (Name) found it easy to laugh off, but Randy continued to get more flustered by the minute. By the time they arrived at the Game Hole, (name) was sufficiently warm and didn't want to separate her body from Randy's; though the taller teen was hastily making his way inside, leaving her standing outside with an amused Howard. "What's his problem?" She asks, raising an eyebrow at the ginger beside her.

"Cute girls," Howard explains casually, tossing a satisfied grin her way, "he gets too easily embarrassed around them." (Name) looks on in confusion as Howard follows suit of his taller friend into the Game Hole. Cute girls? She asks herself, eyebrows furrowing. But there's been no cute girls around at all. (Name) shrugs and hesitantly follows suit, walking into the building her new roommate and his friend went into.

"Whoa," (Name) breathes out as she enters, "look at some of these arcade games!" She runs to the closest machine—an old, retro Centipede game—and stares at it in complete awe. She looks around again, spotting some titles she didn't recognise, but several that she definitely did. "I love whoever owns this place!" She beams, walking over to the Pac-man arcade machine across from the Centipede one, "There are so many old titles here, dad would be over the moon to know they're still here!" The boys stopp chatting and watch as (name) briefly explores more vintage titles, looks of amusement crossing their faces.

"Having fun, grandma?" Howard teases, and (name) bites back a teasing insult, instead deciding to resort to rolling her eyes at him. "Alright," she muses, clasping her hands together, "does this place have an ATM? Because I need to withdraw some funds, otherwise we're playing nothing." Randy heads for the ATM, gesturing for (name) and Howard to follow him. Upon arriving at the machine, she pulls out a blue, plastic bank card from her wallet and puts it in the machine. Both boys attempt to look over her shoulders as she cups her hand to enter the pin, but she's quick to shoo them away. She had quite a fair bit saved up, mostly for something like moving out or getting a car, that she had compiled from summer jobs, part-time work and the allowance her parents gave her.

It wasn't a lot, but she at least had something to fall back on, in case something was to ever go wrong. After the machine dumps out her funds, which she very quickly grabs before the boys get the chance to, she takes her card and stuffs it and half of the cash back into her wallet. She looks up, and spots what she was looking for; a cash converter. She inserts twenty-five dollars worth of notes into the machine and watches as it deposits the converted money; the coins dropping into the coin bay below. She also scoops up these coins quickly, hissing and slapping Howard's wrist as he tries to pinch a few.

"Wait just a moment there, Weinerman," (Name) tuts, splitting the coins into two handfuls and putting each in the pockets of her trench coat. "We'll get to spending these in a few. I just want to scope the scene and see what kind of games there are. Plus, I'm kinda hungry. Last I ate was a little over nineteen hours ago." Randy and Howard exchange a knowing glance, and link arms with (Name) on either side of her, dragging her off despite her protests. "It's 'cho time, bro," Howard grins. "Indeed it is, bro. Indeed it is." Randy replies, a grin also present on his face. (Name) stops struggling when they got to the top of the stairs, eyes immediately falling on the counter that had slush machines and fridges lined up behind it.

The thought of food made her stomach grumble, causing the boys to laugh at her. She narrows her eyes and swats at them. "Oh hush! Now, I'm ordering food, what do you two want?" They stopped their laughter, sharing a shocked look before giving her the biggest, fakest puppy dog eyes she had ever seen in her entire life. "You're a keeper," Howard beams, clinging to her body, "now get us some 'chos. And sodas!" She turned to Randy, who nods in agreement. So as they sat down and chose a booth, (name) made her way over to the counter, looking at the menu set near the cash register. "Anything in particular you want, missy?" The man at the counter asks, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"Uh, the large nachos, three sodas, and, uh..." she trails off, looking at the menu again, "a slice of pepperoni pizza? Oh, and some churros," she looks back over to the boys, who were aimlessly chatting whilst looking down at their phones, "but uh, maybe bring those over after we've finished eating the nachos?" He gives her a soft smile, nodding in agreement as he tells her the total; which she paid for with some of the cash she had taken out beforehand and stuffed into her wallet.

After she had paid the total, she saunters her way over to Randy and Howard, sliding into the seat next to the tall, purple-haired teen as Howard chose to sit directly in the middle of the seat on the opposite side. "Alright, the food is on its way!" She cheers with slight enthusiasm. Howard perks up, looking away from the phone in his hand to give (name) a large, happy grin.

The trio chats away, eyes wide with hunger as their nachos and sodas were brought over. "Hey, why didn't you get us any pizza?" Randy asks, as (name) had takes a massive bite of the fat slice. She awkwardly tries to chew and swallow quickly, before giving the two a sheepish grin. "You guys would have eaten ages ago. It's almost been an entire day since I've eaten." Randy gives her a worried look, clasping a hand gingerly on her shoulder as he (tried to casually) sling his arm over her shoulders. "How are you not tired?" (Name) recalls the naps she had taken on her flight, and the imaginary training session she had with Orla.

"Oh, well," she rubs the back of her neck awkwardly, "I slept a lot on the plane." The boys chuckle and (name) finishes her pizza slice, quickly digging into the nachos before Howard got the chance to eat them all. As she took a sip of her soda, she noticed the guy at the counter bringing over a tray of churros, with three different little pots of dipping sauce coming over to the table.

The boys glanced at each other curiously as the tray was set down, before looking at (name) with confusion. "Thank you so much," she says with a sweet smile, as the man waves her off and returns to his work. She looks between the boys and shared the confused look. "What? Can't I treat my two new friends?"

"Aww, Russey," Howard cooes, wiping a fake tear from his eye, "are we your friends?" She rolls her eyes and grabs a churro, dipping it into one of the sauces and taking a bite. "Of courshe," she replies around her food, before swallowing the mouthful, "now dig in, I don't wanna eat this whole tray on my own." Randy and Howard fist-bump each other from across the table, before having at it with the churros.

(Name) couldn't stop smiling whilst eating the churros or drinking the last of her soda, as she chatted more with these two dorks. She knew it was the start of something great, and that this was solidyfying their friendship; but not once did it cross her mind that, at the end of the semester, she would be gone.

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Hey all!! I am working on Chapter Seven (after several months on and off trying to continue this story, as well as making scenes & conversations for later chapters!) but in the meantime I figured I'd update the book! There's a major inconsistency of past & present tense being muddled in the writing itself, so I'm going through it now and fixing it! Yes, I am doing this out of order, and yes, I'm doing this instead of sleeping, but hey! You gotta start somewhere! Even if it's at 2A.M.!

This will be the only chapter with a little A/N on why the book is getting notifications, just so you know. Seven will come out (eventually, there's no rush on my end) when I'm ready to post it, I've recently gotten a job & it's reminded me of why I wrote so much & so easily in highschool; it was my break from reality & my way of destressing.

I have a few other works I'll be working on in the meantime, some unpublished works that won't get uploaded until I've finished the story (to prevent major gaps in uploads like this one!! 👀) and other on other sites. I can't make any promises that Chapter Seven will be out immediately, but it should be relatively soon.

Until then, live laugh love. Or some shit, I dunno.

- Ryan <3