Simon's pov

"Simon, wake up, time to get ready for school." Charlie said, poking my face. I mumbled something about being awake, sleepily rubbing my eyes with my sleeve as I slowly sat up. Charlie was already dressed for the day, his stuff sitting next to my door.

"What time is it?" I yawned, trying to find my phone.

"It's 4:45am, we're getting breakfast and coffee before we go to school so get rollin'." Charlie chuckled, getting my backpack out from under a blanket.

I yawned and got out of bed, getting some cloths from inside my closet. Charlie was making my bed for some reason but I don't question him and was about to leave the room to get dressed before he stopped me.

"Why don't you wear these?" He asked, holding up a pair of purple skinny jeans I've had for years but never wore them out of the house. I got them for free from a donation basket at a store. I wore them a few time only at home and I was too scared to wear them to school because I didn't want people making fun of me for them. "Mix it up a bit." He chuckled, tossing them at me. I caught them and went with it. Getting dressed in the purple skinny jeans, black hoody, and my grey socks.

"I normally wake up in an hour." I yawned, grabbing my backpack off the floor. Charlie had all of his stuff already.

"Early bird gets the worm... well, that's what my mom says." Charlie said, getting into his truck. I climbed into the passenger seat, running my numb hands together for warmth. He cranked the heat up and we were off down the road and in no time. "What do you want to eat?"

"Anything is fine." I said, still trying to wake up as Charlie drove us to a little diner.

"My mom's friend owns this place, she gives me free breakfast whenever I come here." He said and got out. I followed him into the diner, thankful for the warmth in there too.

"Charlie! You made it just in time." Someone said from the breakfast counter as we sat down on the bright red seats. "Mario has been going on and on about the menu and how we should change it up but Dianna said she likes the menu the way it is. They've been fighting all morning." The man said and right then there was yelling in the kitchen. Charlie and I were the only ones in the diner at this time besides the employees.

"You should shut your mouth if you know what's good for you."

"All I do is make the same things over and over again and it never changes, women." The people in the kitchen argued. Charlie was smiling in amusement as a man with black hair and a mustache came out. "That women is going to kill me one day. Charlie, you're here and you brought a friend."

"Hi, Mario, this is Simon." Charlie said, Mario shook my hand with a smile.

"Dianna doesn't know what she's talking about. She needs to spice it up in here. We get kids coming in and making fun of this menu. Liver and onions, who eats liver and onions anymore or steak and eggs?" Mario said, throwing his hands in the air as Dianna came out of the kitchen.

"Good morning, boys. Mario, we have customers, get in the kitchen." Dianna snapped at Mario who went back into the kitchen grumbling under his breath.

"We'll get the special." Charlie called, Mario giving a thumbs up from the window leading into the kitchen.

"You boys want a latte? My daughter found this recipe online and it's just amazing." Dianna said, her southern accent was just barely there.

"That would be great, Dianna." Charlie said, nudging me. I nodded too, smiling as Charlie began telling me stories about all the times he's been here or when the place was almost robbed but Mario beat the guy up with a rolling pin. I giggled and soon we had a huge stack of pancakes with eggs and bacon in front is us with lattes. It was the best thing I've ever had to eat and I ended up giving the rest of what I couldn't eat to Charlie who finished it up fast.

"It was nice meeting all of you." I said.

"Come back anytime, boys." Dianna called and gave us to go cups of coffee. Mario waved at us as we left and headed off to school.

"What do you think?" Charlie asked as we drove.

"They were nice and the food was really good." I said, Charlie nodded his head in agreement, pulling into his normal spot next to a motorcycle.

"Rem is always here early too." Charlie said, pointing to the motorcycle next to us as we got our things.

"Class starts in 20 minutes." I said mostly to myself. I'm never here this early but it was nice going out to breakfast, I've never done that before.

"The gang's all here already, I'll introduce you to them." Charlie said, leading me to the back of the school where I've been beat up there too many times to count. I was anxious to say the least. My heart was racing and I didn't want to mess any of this up. There's been too many times I've been here and I've gotten hurt, broke bones and all. I also didn't want Charlie to hate me if his friends didn't like me. I was scared of losing my first and only friend.

"They hang out back here?" I asked softly, Charlie nodding as he sipped his drink. I did the same to keep warm and it tasted really good.

"Charlie, you made it, who's the kid?" Someone said making me shrink back already.

"Hey, Ezra, this is Simon, he's in the same grade as me. Be nice." Charlie said, hugging the guy called Ezra who eyed me with a smile.

"Hi, Simon, nice to meet you." He said, holding his hand out. I shook it with a shy smile.

"Nice to meet you too."

"This is Forest and Chris, where's Rem?" Charlie said, Forest and Chris waved at me, they were smoking cigarettes, putting them out against the wall they were leaning against.

"He's with the counselors or something." Ezra said with a shrug.

"Oh, well, you'll meet him later then, we should all get going, don't wanna be late." Charlie announced as everyone began talking about what teachers they hated or what project they needed to get done soon.

"Charlie Miller being on time to class? Are you high?" Ezra teased, wrapping his arm around Charlie's shoulders.

"Dude, are you high?" Charlie laughed as Ezra hugged him tightly.

"Maybe." Ezra giggled, Charlie rolling his eyes as he pushed Ezra away.

"Let's go." Charlie said, getting everyone up and into the building. People got out of our way, going around us. It felt so weird to not be pushed into lockers or threatened. People were giving me odd looks but I tried to ignore them. Henry, Jake, and Kevin even kept their distance, glaring at me as we passed. They didn't even try to talk to me or do anything.

"Rem, there you are." Ezra said with a smile as Rem walked up to all of us. Charlie was getting stuff out of his locker so we were waiting for him.

"Had to talk to the school board, said something about how I can't miss anymore class." Rem said, eyes landed on me making me look down and blush. I was caught staring.

"I told you they'd talk to you about that." Charlie said, shutting his locker. "This is Simon, you have a few classes with him." Charlie said, nudging me. I looked up wide eyed as Rem looking me up and down for a moment before looking me in the eyes.

"I've seen you around." Rem said, I nodded, not knowing what to say, my mouth and throat were dry and I felt a lump in my throat. Rem just stared at me, his face completely expressionless. Charlie got us all moving again, Forest and Chris went to their classes, Ezra event to his, Charlie and I went to our class and Rem was gone when we got into class. I didn't even see him leave.

"I'll sit next to you now, we can work on projects together. Darn it, Rem needs to stop skipping." Charlie said, noticing that Rem was gone.

"Take your seats." The teacher said and began the lesson once everyone was ready.

"Wanna hang out at my place this weekend?" Charlie whispered. "We can order pizza and stay up all night."

I nodded with a smile, Charlie grinning back at me and then we wrote notes to each other for the rest of the hour. I bit my tongue so I wouldn't laugh out loud at some of the stuff he said. I've never had this much fun in a class before. The hour went by faster than normally as well.

I can't wait for this weekend. My first time sleeping over at someone's house. It'll be so much fun. I've never stayed up all night either.

||-//

Rem zoomed away