After school ended, you packed everything that you needed into your backpack before zipping it closed and closing your locker. You put your backpack over your shoulders and started to head to the library, the place where you always went after school.

As you were walking to the library, you looked around and noticed a familiar pink haired, glasses and flower crown wearing figure right next to you.
"Oh, hi Mark. I didn't see you there."
He seemed startled when you spoke to him and he hurriedly pulled out his dry erase marker from his pocket.
Yeah, I've been walking with you for a little bit. I'm going to the library.
"Really? That's where I'm going too."
Cool. Hey, do you mind if I sit with you? I'm usually lonely whenever I go to the library and it'd be nice to actually have some company for once.
"No, I don't mind at all. I'm usually lonely too."
Do you go to the library often?
"Yeah, I go there every single day after school for the most part."
I do too. I wonder why I've never seen you there.
You shrugged. "Maybe we just sit in different places."
That could be it.

*****

"I'm going to fail the Chemistry test I have tomorrow." You pulled your Chemistry textbook from your backpack and placed it down on the table. "I really don't even know why I'm even attempting to study for it."
I have a Chemistry test tomorrow too. Maybe we could study together?
"Yeah, maybe we'll actually end up helping each other out." You sighed as you opened the textbook and began flipping through the pages in an attempt to find the chapter you were looking for. "After this year's over, it'll be senior year and then I'll be able to graduate and get the hell out of this place."
You're a junior too?
You nodded.
You seem so eager to graduate.
"I am." You found the chapter you were looking for and stopped flipping the pages. "I won't have to deal with my parents anymore."
What about your siblings?
"Oh, I'm an only child."
I have an older brother.
"Lucky you. Being an only child sucks."
Yeah, lucky me...
Mark hid his dry erase board quickly after he wrote that but he hadn't hid it quick enough so that you couldn't see.
"When am I ever going to use any of this information?" You asked as you started reading over the chapter. You had also wanted to change the subject.
Well, maybe you'll use it in whatever you want to do when you graduate.
You sighed. "I don't know what I want to do after I graduate. All I know is that I want to go to college. I have no idea where the hell I want to go to college, but I really want to go."
I'm sure you'll figure it out.
"I have to figure it out before I graduate because my parents want me to move out when that time comes around."
That seems a little unfair. My parents said that I can stay until I'm twenty-one as long as I'm going to college. That's what my brother's doing right now. He's in his senior year of college and after he graduates, he's going to move to a place out of state.
"Are you going to miss him?"
As Mark was erasing what he had previously written on his dry erase board, he adjusted his flower crown, which had started to fall off his head. His flower crown had white lilacs on it and you knew that they were fake the moment you looked at them. When Mark turned his head for a moment, you noticed that there was a single red daisy. You wondered why it was there when every other flower was a white lilac. It just seemed so odd and out of place.
Oh, of course I'm going to miss him. He's my older brother. Why wouldn't I miss him?
"I don't know." You shrugged. "Sometimes people really aren't close with their siblings."
Well, Tom, that's my older brother's name, and I are really close. We've been close for as long as I can remember. When we were younger, we used to go exploring out in the woods that were behind my house and when we weren't out in the woods, we were inside playing video games together. It was really fun.
Mark had written smaller so that he could fit everything he wanted to say without having to erase everything and start writing again.
You smiled as you read everything Mark had written. "That's really awesome. But didn't you say earlier that you weren't that lucky to have a sibling." You frowned after you had realized that.
A nervous look fell on his face as he quickly erased everything. He placed his dry erase marker down on his dry erase board but quickly took it off, leaving behind a tiny purple dot. He put the marker down on the board and reached into his pocket. A moment later, he pulled out his phone and you watched as his eyes moved across the screen as if he were reading something. After a few moments passed of him doing that, he started typing really fast. It blew you away just how fast he could type. Then again, he had long fingers while you had short fingers. It didn't help that you also had tiny hands. Short fingers and tiny hands weren't exactly a good combination for typing fast. Well, in your case at least.
I gotta go. My dad's here to pick me up.
"Oh." You felt a bit sad that he had to go. "Okay. Well, I'll see you tomorrow right?"
Mark nodded as he erased what he had previously written with his hand. He then packed his Chemistry textbook in his backpack and zipped his backpack closed once he had placed it in there. He then put his backpack over both of his shoulders and put the cap over his dry erase marker as he grabbed his dry erase board.
"We didn't even study for our Chemistry test." You joked, laughing a little.
Mark smiled and gave you a small wave with his free hand before he walked out of the library. You watched him leave until he got into a white car and disappeared from your sight. You sighed and looked back down at your Chemistry book. You had enjoyed getting to learn some things about Mark. He seemed like he was a really interesting person. You didn't think he was strange like many others seemed to. Sure, was it a bit odd that he wore a flower crown? Well, of course it was. That's not something you typically see a guy wearing. But you thought the fact that Mark wore a flower crown to be odd and different, but in a good way of course.
After all, being normal is boring.

Yo (Y/N), there's going to be this sick party at Troy's place tonight! You should totally come! Your phone buzzed with a text from Derek.
I don't know... I've got this Chemistry test tomorrow that I should be studying for. Besides, I don't even know who Troy even is.
Chemistry's a piece of cake. You'll be fine. Also, Troy's a really good friend of mine. He's a year older than me.
Coming from the guy who failed the class.
Hey, I passed it the second time didn't I?
I suppose...
Come on (Y/N)! You haven't gone to a party with the guys and me for a while! We've been really missing you!
You sighed, knowing that he was right. You could probably get away with at least a C if you chose to not study. Besides, you liked hanging out with Derek and his friends because you thought that they were all pretty cool.
My parents are working late tonight. If you pick me up now, I'll be able to hang out for a while.
When do your parents get off work?
Midnight.
I can get you home by then. Are you at your house?
No, I'm at the library.
Okay, I'll be there in five minutes.
Can we go to my house really quick? I wanna get changed into something that's more fitted to be party attire than school attire.
Yeah, of course we can.
Cool. See you in five minutes then.
After sending the text, you put your phone into your pocket.
"Please let me get a C on that test tomorrow." You whispered as you closed your Chemistry book and put it into your backpack. "I haven't hung out with Derek and the guys for a while."

*****

When Derek dropped you off at your house, you hurried over to the front door with your house key in your hand and unlocked the door. You closed the door behind you with your foot as you ran upstairs to your room. You tossed your backpack onto your bed and went over to your closet, knowing exactly what you wanted to wear. You grabbed your black tank top, red flannel jacket, ripped jeans, and black boots before you took off what you had worn to school and threw all of it into your laundry hamper.

After you changed into the outfit that you had picked out, you went into the bathroom and got out your makeup bag. You started redoing the makeup that you had worn today, finding yourself to be paying much closer attention than you usually did to how you did it and how you looked. You even decided to put on the red lipstick that you had gotten months ago from your mother but had never worn before putting everything that you had used back into your makeup bag. You were just about to head back out to Derek's car when you decided to redo your hair as well.

"Sheesh, you took forever." Derek turned down the music he had blasting from his radio when you got back into his car. "I was about ready to just get out of my car and come see what the hell was taking you so long."
You laughed as you put your seat belt and rested your legs up on the dashboard.
"(Y/N), you little rebel." Derek smiled as he backed out of your driveway.
"That's me." You smiled back at him. "You know, you should consider yourself lucky that you're in college. You actually get to do whatever you want without having to deal with your parents all the time."
"Are you kidding me? College sucks! There's so much homework and studying that I get so overwhelmed sometimes. I don't know how I'm going to handle two more years of this shit."
You shrugged. "I'm sure you'll find a way."
"God, I hope so."
"But tonight's not about school. Tonight's about us going to a really fun party."
A few moments passed and Derek still hadn't responded. You glanced over at him and saw that he was staring at you. Luckily for the both of you, there had been a red light Derek had to stop for so he hadn't stared at you while he was in the middle of driving.
He suddenly blinked. "Huh? What?"
"Were you just staring at me?" You asked this despite knowing that the answer was that yes, he was indeed staring at you. You had just wanted to see what he would say.
"What? No way!" Derek looked up and saw that the light was green and began driving again after checking to make sure that there weren't any cars coming. "I was thinking about something, that's all."
You laughed a little and rolled your eyes. "Yeah, okay. Whatever you say Derek."

*****

"Damn, who's that hottie with you?" A guy who looked to be exactly the same height as Derek stood at the doorway when you arrived at Troy's house. This guy looked exactly like Julian except he didn't nearly as much muscle as Julian did and was nowhere as tall as Julian was.
Derek's brown eyes briefly met your (E/C) eyes when the guy had asked the question. "This is (Y/N). She's a friend of mine." He seemed to be a little bit protective over you when he spoke.
"I see." The guy smiled and extended his hand out towards you. "It's nice to meet you (Y/N). I'm Troy."
You smiled a bit as you took Troy's hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you too Troy."
"Are we the only ones here? I don't see anyone else inside." Derek asked as he peeked inside of Troy's house.
"Yeah, you guys were the first to arrive." Troy replied as he took a step away from the doorway and motioned for both you and Derek to come inside. "There's going to be more people arriving shortly."
"Ladies first."
"Look at you, Derek. You're such a gentleman." You teased and shoved him lightly as you stepped inside of Troy's house. Looking around, it didn't even look as if he had prepared at all to have a party. Everything looked how it would if you were visiting his house on a normal day instead of a special occasion.
"What's up (Y/N)? You look confused."
You looked over at Derek. "It doesn't even look like we're having a party. Where's the snack table? Where are the drinks? I see that there are speakers but that's it. What kind of party is this going to be if we don't have snacks and drinks, the most important things to have a party besides people."
"Oh, I guess I didn't tell you." Derek nervously ran his hands through his hair. "We're having a party but it's not your typical party. It's a drug party."
"What exactly is a drug party?" You asked while you crossed your arms.
"It's, well, you know..." Derek sounded incredibly nervous. "It's a party where you get a bunch of people together and you do drugs."
"Why didn't you tell me that you were taking me to a drug party?"
"I'm sorry! I didn't think you'd actually go with me if I told you we were going to a drug party."
"Oh, you think I'm mad?" You felt a smile forming on your face.
A confused look fell on Derek's face. "Wait, you're not mad?"
"Are you kidding? I'm thrilled!"
"W-what? But you don't even look like the-"
"Remember what you said when I put my legs up on the dashboard?"
Derek's confused look faded and he smiled. "You really are a rebel (Y/N)."
"This sucks!" Troy suddenly yelled from the kitchen.
"What are you yelling about?" Derek yelled back to Troy.
"Tom's not coming! He said he has something to do with his dad and brother. He says that he won't be able to hang out on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays."
"Aw, dude, are you serious?"
"When have I ever lied to you Derek?"
"Fair enough."
"Who's Tom?" You sat down on the couch and Derek sat down next to you a moment later.
"He's one of Troy's friends. He's a senior."
Wait, didn't Mark say that he had a brother named Tom?
"Do you happen to know who his brother is?"
"Not really. Tom doesn't really talk about his family all that much. That's really the only thing he's ever said in terms of what his family is like."
"Hm, that's a bit strange."
"Well, you don't really talk about your family."
"That's because there's really nothing interesting to talk about when it comes to my family. I hardly see anyone outside of my immediate family, which is only my parents because I'm an only child. And my parents are always working late on weekdays and on weekends, they're too busy cleaning the house or doing stuff for their jobs to really pay attention to me except for when they want me to do some chores."
"Do they pay you for doing chores?"
"Yeah."
"You lucky asshole. My parents made me do a bunch of shit but they never paid me for it."
You were about to respond when there was a knock on the door.
"Hey, can one of you get that? I'm kinda in the middle of something!" Troy called from the kitchen.
"I got it!" Derek called as he stood up and walked towards the door. A huge smile formed across his face once he opened the door. "Tom! You said that you weren't going to be here!"
"Yeah, well, I really couldn't stand being around my brother and my dad anymore. Don't ask why. I just couldn't." Tom seemed to be holding back tears as he stepped inside and added, "Tell Troy the other guys he invited aren't coming."
Seriously? The other guys aren't even showing up. I come back after being gone for a while and they don't even come to this little party, if it's even worthy of being called a party at this point.
"You don't need to tell Troy anything because Troy just heard you say that."
"Why are you talking in third person?" Tom asked him as he sat down on the floor despite there being an open seat on the couch.
"Why not?" Troy shrugged. "Well, I guess since the other guys aren't showing up, I can bring all the stuff in and we can get this party started."
"Are we sitting on the floor or on the couch?"
"Sit in the floor. The four of us will make a nice circle."
Troy went back into the kitchen and you sat down next to Tom and Derek sat down next to you. While you were waiting for Troy to come back, you glanced around and noticed that Tom had a lilac in his hand and was moving it around in his hands.
"That's a nice lilac you've got there."
"Hm? Oh, thanks. My little brother has a bunch of them. They're his second favorite flower."
"What's his absolute favorite?"
"Rosemaries." Tom put the daisy in his hoodie pocket. "His favorite used to be red carnations but after-" He cut himself off. "Never mind. I shouldn't say anything and just leave it at that. He'd get mad if I told anyone."
"Oh, um, okay." You muttered, not really knowing what else to say.

When Troy came back into the living room, he had quite a few things. First off, he had a bunch of weed. He had so much that you wondered just how he was able to obtain that much when it was considered illegal. Second of all, he had four pipes with him and you assumed that there was one for the each of you.
"Who's ready?" Troy asked excitedly as he sat down and put everything he had in his arms down on the floor.
Now that you were actually looking at the weed in front of you, you felt yourself becoming filled with doubt. Did you actually want to do this? This was your last chance to back out and you were unsure if you wanted to take that last chance.
"What's the matter (Y/N)? You look unsure of yourself."
Derek's voice startled you out of your thoughts and you looked over at him. "Oh, um..." You thought that there was no use in lying because you were a terrible liar anyways. "Yeah, I am. But can you blame me? I've never even so much as touched any sort of drug in my life."
"Seriously? You're a junior in college and you're saying this?" Troy seemed shocked when he heard this.
"I'm not a junior in college. I'm a junior in high school."
"Well, Derek said that he was bringing over a girl and that she was a junior in college."
You glanced over at Derek, who had a nervous look on his face.
You stood up. "Derek, can I talk to you outside? Alone?" You emphasized the last part because you didn't really want Troy or Tom to hear any of what you planned on saying to Derek.
"Oh, yeah, sure, of course (Y/N)." Derek spoke and stood up nervously. "Whatever you say."

"Why the hell did you tell him that I was a junior in college?!" You practically yelled once Derek and you had stepped outside and he had closed the door behind him.
"I didn't want to lie! But there was no way that he would've allowed you to come over if I said that you were still in high school!"
"You shouldn't have to lie to your friends about me."
Derek sighed and looked down at the ground. "I know and I'm really sorry. I won't lie like that ever again, I promise."
You placed your hands into the pockets of your red flannel jacket and stared down at your boots. "It's clear that I'm not wanted here. I'll just go home." You turned around and started to walk away.
"No! Please, don't go!" Derek called. "If Troy or Tom say anything, I'll defend you! Please come back inside with me! I... I want you there with me." He sighed and spoke quietly, "I've never done any of this before either and I want you to be there to support me. Troy has been doing this for years and Tom just started not that long ago."
You sighed as well. "Fine. I'll go."
Derek smiled a bit. "Thanks (Y/N). You're the best."
You couldn't help but smile a bit as well as you pulled him in for a hug. "I know." You laughed a little.

*****

You didn't want to admit it to yourself when it was all over and you were laying in bed with your alarm clock showing that the time was just after midnight that you had a really fun time.
You didn't back out like you could've. You went through with smoking the weed that Troy had offered you.
And you had liked the high it had given you.
You felt bad for liking it but you just couldn't help but loving it.
It helped you forget about things you just wanted to forget about for a while, such as the lack of ever seeing your parents and your friends at school abandoning you out of absolutely nowhere.
Don't let me fall.