[finally figured out the dates and everything is back on track woohoo]

December 21st was the day Pete packed up and left to go back home for the few weeks and 4 days of winter break. It was also the day Brendon barged into my room, holding a piece of paper scribbled with pen down to the middle-ish line. I was right in the middle of packing up my laptop into one of my boxes marked "Christmas break things" that would be carried back home to my parents while I spent the break to catch up with them.

"Here," he said, slightly out of breath "it's for you."

I took the piece of paper from him and read the top line out loud.

"Reasons why Dallon Weekes should stay at Seacoast for winter break?"

I glanced back up at him with a laugh over the top of the paper and he nodded proudly, crossed his arms, and told me to keep reading. He grinned as I continued.

"Reason 1- if Dallon doesn't stay he will be denied the well deserved and much anticipated experience of running around campus with me at like 3 am because
A- the teachers stop caring
B- there's literally like 3 kids on campus during winter break
Also I can guarantee it's more fun than it sounds.

"Reason 2- my English teacher makes really good pudding for Christmas dinner that would be a cruel deprivation of the best food in the world if Dallon didn't stay to have the other half of the bowl. It goes bad after a couple days so I couldn't save any for him, so if he's not there it's his own fault.

"Reason 3- there's like nobody else here over break and I don't want to be alone.

"Reason 4- I'm running out of reasons but the first 3 were awfully good."

Brendon smiled cheekily, stuffing his hands in his jacket pockets and slightly wincing when his left hand settled down.

"Can I call my parents first and tell them I'll stay?"

I never would've thought his smile could've grown anymore but it did, and he nodded, leaving the room and heading back to his.

The only working phone to use on campus was the red and green rusty pay phone next to the front dorm building. I would've called my mom and dad on my own phone, but the other day Pete and I were seeing how far we could toss a water balloon full of 3 day old flat Dr Pepper across the room, and it missed my hands and exploded over my phone in my front pocket. There was nothing I could've done to save it. According to Patrick, I was lucky I hadn't gotten electrocuted. Although the Internet said it was near impossible to have gotten electrocuted. I couldn't trust anyone any more, not even google.

I took the walk of shame down to the pay phone, squeezing myself inside the booth that was a couple inches too short for me, but somehow I fit inside and dialed home. The phone vibrated worryingly like if it moved at all it would disintegrate in my hands. Although the booth could've done that first, seeing as the countless designs etched into the sides seemed like they'd thinned the walls out so much it would collapse in on itself at any moment.

On the third ring, my mom picked up.

"Is this Dallon!" She cheered happily in the other end. She sounded so excited I hoped the news that I was staying wouldn't disappoint her.

"Yeah, it's me."

"How are you! How's Seacoast! Did you make any friends! Why didn't you call us yesterday!" She shot rapid fire questions, and I heard my dad in the background scrambling to put their phone on speaker. As soon as he did, we said hello and waiting until my mom stopped speaking nonstop.

"Did you call because you need us to come pick you up? Did you miss the bus?" My dad asked, his voice warped through the shitty line. I shook my head no and had to tell them I hadn't missed the bus out loud once I realized they couldn't see me. But if I had missed the bus, if they'd just give in and get me a car I wouldn't have to call them if I was planning to take it and go home.

"I think I'm going to stay here for winter break." I told them, the words freezing in the air, hanging over my head like a rain cloud. I felt awful immediately; I knew they were excited about seeing me again, and I tried to make the situation hurt less. "I've got a lot of work I need to catch up on,"
Lie. I finished it all. Spare the thesis, because I still had no idea what to do.
"And classes were harder than I'd expected,"
Lie. Either everything was really simple or I'd gotten a head start at my old school, because I was covering old material.
"Plus one of my friends is staying."
At the lone truth, my parents both gasped in surprise.

"You made a friend?"

"He made more than one friend, he said one of my friends."

I guess this was some sort of shock to them, like they hadn't heard me telling them about my roommate before or yelling at Pete to shut up while they asked about my day.

"Yeah, I made friends. 4 friends, actually."

The almost nonexistent disappointment in their tones was replaced with the utter joy that I'd started talking to people for once. They started asking me who they were, what they liked, what classes they were taking, their hair color, interests, everything. I cut them off by telling them just their names and a quick sentence about each of them, careful to avoid any topics that would make them want to have me home for Christmas break. The person they seemed most impressed by was Ryan, who I told them was planning on becoming a doctor since his parents are both involved in the medical field.

"So you're not mad I want to stay here?"

"No, no, of course not! We're happy for you!" They reassured me, but it sounded like they were secretly disappointed that I'd be missing the traditional shitty cranberry sauce from a scratchy can and the corn that had gone bad a week before. It seemed rotten and spoiled to even think it, but I didn't really love my moms food. Thankfully the pay phone cut off the call and demanded another 58 cents before they could keep rambling after I said the first goodbye of an anticipated many that never happened.

Trudging back up to my room in my falling apart $1 Target flip flops, I watched people carry out boxes packed to the brim and head to the parking lot. I didn't think so many people would be leaving so late at night - Joe and Andy from Patrick's dorm room, the Way brothers and their two friends from the floor below us; everyone was heading out for the holidays. I wonder why Brendon wasn't going home for break. Surely if he hated Seacoast as much as he said he does, he'd be more than willing to pack up and leave as often as he'd be able to.

He was standing in the middle of the hallway, waiting for me as I crawled up the 2nd flight of stairs, my legs burning already.

"What'd they say?"

"They're fine with it." I told him and he threw his arms in the air like goalposts, smile wide and eyes sparkling.

He buzzed with happiness and dragged me to his dorm room, sitting me down on his couch and grabbing something from his cabinets. Either I was about to get murdered or he had something planned.

"Now since Petes not here for break and I live alone, you can stay here if you'd like," he said "but I've got a lot of stuff planned that includes gathering everyone up to surprise visit Pete and his mom, but not his dad since he's usually out working but you didn't need to know that. Also, we should totally screw around with people's stuff that I have a personal enmity against."

I nodded and watched as he pulled out a pair of keys from an empty country time lemonade powder can. He twirled it around his finger a couple times before shoving them in his back pocket and grabbing 2 helmets from another cabinet. One had a long skid mark down the side a lighter shade than the deep blue, the other perfectly intact unless you took the large exclamation point drawn in sharpie on the side into consideration.

"I'll take the one that has the remnants of Petes last collision, and you can have the one Ryan scribbled all over when he came into my room one night last year so tired, we all thought he was high." He sighed and smirked at the sharpie mark "fun times, fun times." He tossed it over to me, and waited until I strapped the plastic lock under my chin like he had done before flinging open the door and wandering down the stairs.

We sprinted like cheetahs across the yard to the parking lot, and as soon as we hopped through the security guards unattended post, he threw me the keys over his shoulder and made his way over to a white electric scooter with black and blue stripes down the sides of the double seat. I'd never thought he would own something like that, especially when I heard he owned a car too. Usually these scooters were associated with rich people who were too 'sophisticated' for segways and normal standing electric scooters that kids got for Christmas.

"Do you know how to drive motorcycles?" Brendon asked, a proud smile on his face and hands hanging loosely in his pockets.

I nodded. I'd driven one when my dad was convinced I was going to be a kid that loved motorcycles more than cars. While I did prefer 2 wheeled vehicles, they terrified me once I'd searched up some videos and seen people wipe out and get smashed into by huge cars. But yeah, I knew how to drive a motorcycle so these shouldn't be too different.

"Great. Could you drive then?"

"Why don't you?"

"I don't think you'd like to be hanging on to the waist of a reckless driver." He bit the inside of his cheek and grinned when I grabbed hold of the steering handles. His arms wrapped around my middle and his chin rested on the curve of my back up near my neck, sharp and slightly painful but tolerable. He kicked up the stand and the tips of his shoes rested on the backs of the only other shoes I had, coincidentally the broken rain boots I owned. The watch on my wrist read 10:47 pm, and it didn't seem like such a big deal until then to be piloting at night.

"Take me to Walmart," he yelled as I fired up the roaring engine, which was much louder than I'd anticipated. I felt like I was driving a motorcycle again. "I've got coupons."

[1893 words, 9/9/16, I'm actually really happy with this chapter]