The ride to Rain's house was silent. It was quiet, it was awkward, but Stephen didn't mind at all.

"Stop at McDonald's." Stephen commanded.

"No." Rain said emotionlessly.

"I'm hungry. Stop at McDonald's." Stephen ordered again.

"I'm not your slave."

"Stop at McDonald's, before I pound your face in." Stephen said through gritted teeth.

"You could die from eating that stuff." Rain said. He paused for a moment, but then pulled into the parking lot. "Eat up, fucker."

*******

As Stephen walked through the door, he was surprised to be met with a familiar face at the cashier.

"Aaron what the hell are you doing here?" Stephen asked in shock.

"Got fired from Starbucks." He said with a grin.

"Why?" Asked Stephen.

"I put up a sign that said the drive-through was closed because I didn't want to have to repeat the deals we had going on every single time someone drove up," Aaron said with a shrug. "but whatever. The guy who replaced me is pretty cool. He's cute too."

"Bleh. He is most definitely not cute." Stephen disagreed with a look of disgust on his face.

"Oh, you've seen Rain? He's funny too. Yesterday he told me someone jerk poured coffee on him, first day on the job." Aaron said with a laugh.

"Hilarious." Stephen agreed, angry with Rain. Well, more angry than usual.

"He said it was fine though cause the guy who did it was a total smoke." Aaron laughed again.

Stephen's ears turned bright red.

"Are you okay man? You just got really red." Aaron asked, concerned.

"Yeah, just hot. Can I have a McChicken sandwich, a medium fry, and a fountain soda to go?" Stephen asked, dying to get out of the store.

"Yeah, sure. That's $7.50."

Stephen nodded his head and sat down at a booth, confused.

Maybe Aaron just mixed it up. Maybe there was another barista who got coffee poured on him, his first day on the job. Named Rain.

"Stephen, here you go man. See ya later." Aaron called from behind the counter.

"See ya." Stephen said as he grabbed his food and stalked out of the restaurant.

*******

"Mom, I'm home!" Rain called as they walked through the door.

"Hello Rain." A woman said as she walked out of the living room to greet the two. She was short and pretty thin, with good looks and long blonde hair.

"Are you going to introduce me to your friend?" She asked expectantly.

Rain looked around curiously. "Do you see any of my friends here? Where?"

Stephen rolled his eyes to the ceiling.

"Rain, who is the boy next to you?

"Oh, him? Stephen." He said bluntly.

She waited for him to elaborate, but realizing he wasn't going to, introduced herself.

"My name is Andrea," She said with a smile.

"We have a school project." Stephen said.

"Well, have f-" she tried, but both boys shook there heads.

"Try to be nic-" they shook their heads once more.

"Don't kill each other...?" She completed successfully.

Rain shrugged.

"No promises."

Andrea walked out of the room, with a slightly concerned look on her face.

Rain walked into the living room and flopped onto the couch, grabbing the TV remote and turning to AMC.

"I hope you hate The Walking Dead." He said.

Stephen walked into the room and sat on the other end of the couch.

"Nope. Love it." He grunted.

Rain changed the channel to reruns of 'Gilmore Girls.'

Stephen sighed and pulled Dumbfuck out of his bag, examining it.

"Do you guys want anything to eat?" Rain's mom asked, entering the room.

"Lemonade please. Stephen's not hungry, he forced me into stopping at McDonald's." Rain answered.

"Got it." She said with a laugh and walked to the kitchen.

"Listen," Rain said turning to Stephen with a serious tone. "I'm obviously not happy with having to spend time with you, or having a doll, or the stupid project. But I could actually use the bonus points. So can we just agree to protect Dumbfuck, for the sake of the grade?" Rain asked.

Stephen sighed. "Fine. But we're not friends."

"You think I care at all about being your friend? Or about you?" Rain asked.

"Okay, lemonade. Are you boys good for now?" Andrea asked as she placed lemonade on the coffee table in front of Rain.

"Yeah thanks mom." He said as she walked out of the room.

"Give me the remote. I wanna see what else is on." Stephen commanded.

"Fuck you." Rain answered carelessly.

"Gilmore Girls sucks. Give it." He said again, more forcefully.

"No. Stop being a baby bitch." Rain said, clearly annoyed.

Stephen faced Rain and lunged for the remote.

"Cut it out!" Rain shouted.

Stephen got a grip on it and tried to pull it from Rain's hand.

"Give it to me!" Stephen shouted.

"Stop! We're watching Gilmore Girls!"

Stephen finally ripped the remote from Rain, only to have it fling out of his grip and right into Rain's lemonade.

The event happened in slow motion. The remote flew towards the glass and tipped it over, right onto poor Dumbfuck. The doll made a crackling sound and sparks flew from around its neck, probably where the lemonade got into it's wiring.

Both boys were silent for a moment.

"What the fuck is your problem?" Rain shouted.

"My problem? How is this my fault?" Stephen said defensively.

"If you hadn't tried to get the remote this wouldn't have happened!" Rain cried, hands waving violently.

"Well you should've just given me the remote and I wouldn't have tried to grab it!" Stephen shouted.

"Whatever. It doesn't matter. Dumbfuck is dead. Goodbye, extra credit." Rain said, slouching against the couch.

"Don't be a wimp. Let's just dry it out and see if it still works."

*******
(One hour later)

The boys were sitting on the couch on their phones, when all of a sudden they heard a terrifying sound. It was as if a cat was being strangled, electrocuted, and dragged behind a car all at once.

"C'mon Dumbfuck. Don't die on us." Rain said, clearly upset as he stared at the baby with a distraught expression.

What should have been a baby's cry had turned into a deep, maniacal, slow gurgle. And it was definitely coming from the baby.

"You broke it." Stephen said, annoyed.

"We both know it was your fault." Rain said, turning to Stephen and glaring. "Either way, it's creeping me out."

"Too bad. It wouldn't be laughing like a demon if you hadn't fought me for the remote."

"I may as well say goodby to extra-credit." Rain said with a sigh.

"No. I'm not losing." Stephen muttered under his breath.

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Losing makes me angrier than you do. That says something. So I'm. Not. Losing."

"It's not a fucking game. We're out." Rain grunted. "God, you're so stupid. You can't even take the blame for this whole thing."

"I'm leaving." Stephen said as he stood up and grabbed his bag.

"Great." Rain muttered. "Look on the bright side. Now I never have to willingly talk to you."

"Meet me in the bathroom 10 minutes into lunch." Stephen said as he backed out of the room.

"No. Why should I?" Rain questioned angrily.

"Because you're curious. Trust me, you'll be there." Stephen bluffed. In reality, he had no idea whether or not Rain would go or not. Maybe he just looked like an idiot. But if Rain did go, maybe he would see they hadn't lost yet.

On the bright side, Stephen's heartbeat had slowed down.