I closed the door behind me as I walked out of my house, I looked towards our driveway and spotted my mom putting her stuff in the trunk of her car, Avery was playing some game on her phone, and Jaedyn was what I would guess reflecting on what just happened, due to her face being so emotionless and empty, staring out the window to the sky in my mom's car. I walked over to the rear of the car, where my mom was.

"Do you need any help?" I asked just as she put her case in the trunk.

"No sweetie. I'm fine." My mom said as she closed it "Just finished up". She walked passed me and tussled my long brown shaggy hair as she did.

"Mom" I whined "Don't call me sweetie. It feels like a movie cliché" I said as I rolled eyes.

"I know. That's why I said it." I heard my mom chuckle as she got in the car.

I looked to my friends. They did their own sort off laughs; Avery gave out like a snorting, loud, relentless all-out chuckling laugh and Jaedyn made cute girly giggle. I found both chuckles cute in their own way.

"Alright, guys. I mean gals let's get this show on the road." I said as I opened the door "ladies first" I said as I gestured my hand.

"Haha! You should go in first then." Avery said as she grinned in joy.

"Nice one!" Jaedyn said as she curled her hand up for a fist bump which she got.

"Then Jaedyn, you come in last."

"U-Ugh." She sighed gasps of air with the look of her forfeit spread across her face. "Just get in." I ran around the front of my mom's car and seated myself in the front seat. I look back and see Avery and Jaedyn getting comfy in the backseats. The next 30 minutes to get from my house to the airport was a filled with awkward silence and my mom singing along to the radio. We drove up to the airport as my mom dropped us off to go park her car.

We walked in the rather average sized airport and easily spotted a restaurant with a large number of people sitting, chatting, on their phones and working on their laptops.

"Hey let's look over there." Avery said as she pointed towards the restaurant "Maybe Tuck landed already and is waiting at the restaurant." Avery didn't even wait for an answer as she briskly walked towards the café.

"If he isn't here then what?" Jaedyn asked as we stumbled upon the entryway.

"Then I'll buy you guys some drinks." I stated happily "Maybe we could sit down and talk? You know I introduce you to Ave and I at the same time catch up with her." I said as I sat down at the only vacant table.

"Sure." Avery said as she popped out of the crowd seemingly from nowhere, "Nothing intimate between you two though." Avery said as she gave me a wink and a not-so-subtle grin.

All I could do was avert my gaze and pretend I don't know who this girl with copper-colored hair is when she said that. I told Jaedyn to sit on the chair across from mine and Avery soon followed and sat down.

"So guys I'm going to order some drinks. What do you guys want?" I asked them. "I myself am going to have some nice cold coke. How 'bout you guys?"

"I'll take Fanta," Avery said without hesitation with her usual perky attitude.

I wasn't surprised by her answer. When we were kids she loved drinking Fanta and so did her Dad. I always saw them drinking it together. I even remembered she drank it, even more, when her dad died. "I guess she drank it in remembrance of her dad to recall those happy memories she had. God why am I thinking of such depressing stuff over her favorite soda"

"How about you Jaedyn?"

"I guess I'll take Dr. Pepper"

"Alright so if that's it I'm going to go order now." I smiled as I started to walk off toward the counter, but as I did I was grabbed on the shoulder.

"Hey how 'bout me?"

The person spun me around. And placed his alternate hand onto my other shoulder. Just by the voice, I knew who it was.

"Tucker! Holy hell dude it's been a while! I can still see that you're still taller than me."

"Yep and one of these girls has to be your girlfriend. Unless you've become a ladies man hmm?" He smirked while nudging me with his shoulder.

"Just friends."

"Yeah. Just friends. Jaedyn spoke, but I couldn't tell if she was in a good or bad mood. "You must be Bry's friend. It's a pleasure to meet you." She said as she stood up to shake his hand.

"What's up with these formalities? I hate being formal. Give me a fist bump!" Tucker said as he curled his hand up.

Jaedyn replied with a grin and a dist bump.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait who is this guy Bry? He seems to know who you are but I don't know him." Avery said as she got closer to inspect Tucker closely "Hmm... So who are you?" she said as she started to rub her chin but Tucker just smiled, clearly trying to hold off a laugh. Avery looked over to us to see the both of us with our palms to our foreheads. "What? You said still taller right? I don't know any of your friends that's taller than you. But I haven't seen any of them in years though."

"She wasn't paying attention again wasn't she?" I say as put my hand to my face.

Tucker finally broke out into a small laughing fit that lasted a few seconds. He slowly regained his composure "Wow Ave? You really don't remember me do ya?" He said as sat down on the last chair on our table and set his bag beside him. "I really don't know if I changed that much but it sure looks like you did. Well except for your energetic attitude that just increased." He said as he grinned and leaned back in his chair.

All the while Jaedyn was just staring at him while he was giving a big smile.

Avery's chestnut eyes widened as she came to a marvelous revelation or epiphany "No god damn way!" she said with a tone of disbelief "Tucker it's been so long!" Avery said as she nearly jumped across the table to hug him. She finally decided and ran around the table to lunge at him and hug him.

"Avery, you're still energetic! But please... I enjoy air!" Tucker said while he was trying to take Avery off of him. She finally got off of him as he started gasping for air. "Jesus Christ Ave! I feel like we could power our country with your energy."

"Haha! Yeah, great possibilities Tuck. So how was your flight?"

"Well I got stuck with a kid at my back that kept kicking my chair; so very shitty." He said with a smile "But hey at least I'm back home. So you guys were ordering drinks, right? I'll get them on me."

"Nah I'll get them and it's on me you sit down and rest you probably have jet lag," I said as I put my hand on his shoulder to sit him down.

"Fine." He said with a look of disappointment on his face "And also what a coincidence I was working on a project with the song Jet Lag by Simple Plan I'm almost done with it."

"Nice. Well, I'll go and get some drinks now."

As I was walking away I heard the scraping of the metal chair on the floor hinting at Tucker sitting down but I heard an out of place statement "And that ladies is how you manipulate somebody to do something you want."

"You smart bastard," I muttered to myself

I walked towards the register and got in line to look back and see Tucker getting along with everybody. Within a couple of minutes, I was back with everybody's drink and we all started talking to each other especially Tucker who somehow always got along with everyone he met. After a couple minutes of hearing Tucker scream because he was getting hit by Jaedyn after making so many jokes about her tomboy appearance and him laughing because of Avery bear hugging Jaedyn or bear hugging him.

I order the drinks for us a Fanta for Avery, Dr. Pepper for Jaedyn, and a Pepsi-Cola for me. I hand over the money and grab the drinks. I start walking towards our table to see Tuck hand his phone to Ave. As I did I heard my phone go off, my mom texted me.

"Bry I finally found a parking spot. I'm in the west side parking lot floor number 2. Would you mind if I headed to Starbucks first? I feel like I still need another cup of coffee."

Like any millennial teenager, I used my lighting fast thumbs to reply to my mom. "Sure mom go ahead you deserve it. Love you! Also, Tucker is here. Is it okay if I and my friends check out the mall nearby?"

"Sure. Stay safe, look on both sides when crossing the street."

"Thanks, mom. I will!"

I turn my cellphone off and take my eyes off my phone and see Avery swiping through something on his phone probably his search history but oddly enough he wasn't panicking like I was.

"Nerd." Was all Avery said as she put his phone on the table "It's full of World War II stuff."

"It's an interesting part of our history." he proudly proclaimed.

"Nerd."

"You called...?" He said as smiling as he picked his phone back up.

I look to Jaedyn and see her just staring down Tucker with glaring eyes. I look to Avery and see her doing the same.

"Alright... You girls can gawk at him later. My mom wants another cup of coffee so we got some time to hang out at the mall"

"Sure." Jaedyn got up and finished her drink. She was about to walk behind me when she jabbed me in the shoulder. "I wasn't gawking Bry."

"Ow fine." I rubbed my shoulder mockingly while I heard Tucker chuckle. "Where are your bags dude?"

"Right here" Tucker put his hand on a massive luggage case.

"I'll get it for you!" Avery ran over to his case and grabbed the handle "You need to rest, so I got this."

"Nah I'll take it. It's actually not that heavy."

"No, I'll carry it you need to rest so we can play some football tomorrow or something."

"Fine." He carried a face of defeat but had a small smirk like he knew something was going to happen and he mumbled something his breath "soccer"

She grabbed the handle of his bag and pulled, but his bag was too heavy and her grip gave out on her so she flew off the bag and onto the floor.

"Ugh." She rubbed her butt and stood up "You knew that was going to happen didn't you Tuck!"

"Yep," His small smirk grew into a smile that said, "I can't believe she fell for that."

She grabbed hold of the handle again but she once again landed on her butt. Jaedyn was laughing her ass off as Avery kept trying like in one of those cartoons.

"This is too funny! Maybe I should just carry it I'm fine with it anyways." Tucker said while wiping some tears from his eyes from all the laughter. He grabbed hold of the handle and easily lifted it with one arm effortlessly.

But Avery pushed it down "No! I wanna see why I can't lift this thing! It can't be that heavy!" Avery was acting like a child in the most hilarious way at this point pouting and the look of a kid that was about to throw a tantrum.

"Fine."

Tucker switched sides so we were a different angle to see the hilarious spectacle. As Avery grabbed the handle I saw Tuck's foot move to pin down the suitcase. "Tricky asshole"

So Avery yanked again but as before there was not even a sign of the bag moving. I walked over to Avery who was still yanking the bag like she was doing manual labor for a living and pulled her down. "Psst... Ave?"

"What Bryce?"

"His foot's on the legs of the bag"

I saw her face change. "I think I just killed Tuck". Without warning, she jumped on Tuck while he was laughing his shit out.

"Why did you do that Tuck?!" Ave was screaming while pinching cheeks so hard it seemed like they were going to rip off.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" He screamed and try to escape, Ave wouldn't shake off of him. She was too strong.

I looked at them and noticed people were staring at us with all of them have the same face "what the fuck are they doing?" I was about to ask the same thing.

Avery finally stopped pinching the life out of Tuck's cheeks but still remained clung onto him "For that, you'll carry me around!"

"Fine with me." Tuck let Ave climb onto his shoulders and he stood up grabbed his luggage "c'mon guys lets go" he said like nothing just happened and like there was no 14-year-old girl riding on his shoulders. He waited for us to move so I went ahead first. We walked through the airport briskly hoping nobody was staring at the kid-like pair behind us, I knew I was wrong. All I could do was pretend I didn't know who they were. We soon reached the airport exit. The guards by customs stared at us as we approached. "Tucker put Ave down for now."

"Fine" He grabbed Avery by the waist and lifted her up

"Stop it tickles"

"Nope" He lifted Avery over his head and put her down gently in front of her.

"Hahaha! Stop!" She started as Tucker tickled her at the waist. He relentlessly kept tickling Avery as she was having a spasm like laughing fit. "Please stop, I'm ticklish!" She said as she actually started to cry from laughter.

"Fi-f-fine." He finally stopped heaving heavily "Jesus Christ I'm out of breath. I laughed too hard at that."

"Yeah, you did dumbass." Jaedyn sighed.

"Okay ouch." Tucker grabbed his bags and walked towards customs and pulled out his passport.

"Welcome back to the U.S." The customs officer smiled at Tucker as we walked through customs and out the entrance.

"Finally I get to move my legs. I hate that I have to sit on a plane for about half a day just to get to other countries. So where we going? The mall?"

"Yeah actually. Anybody want to go to the arcade there?"

"Aren't you guys a bit too old for the arcade?" Jaedyn says as she takes her cap off and fixes her.

"Nah! I want a teddy bear!"

"Yay! Teddy Bears!" Tuck shouts out loud like a 5-year-old.

"You're embarrassing..." Jaedyn sighed.

"I don't care uhhmm... What was your name?" He scratched his head as if trying to remember something "Oh wait I didn't ask you your name yet! Sorry, I forgot. I was gonna ask after I was done before, but you already know what I'm going to ask so might as well just answer it."

"True. Name's Jaedyn" she smiles as she stuffed her hands in her pocket to give out a cool tomboy look.

"Well nice to meet you Jaedyn. Now let us march forth into the gates of the realm known as the mall!" He shouted as he jolted his finger in the air towards the mall.

I just did what felt natural and turned away from him and walked away. "I don't know this man! I don't know this man! I don't know this man! I don't know this man!" I turned around and saw J behind me. She had the same look on her face "I have no idea who the hell this guy is. I'm out!"

J and I turned around at the same time and started walking towards the mall with the two I guess slightly immature pair behind us. I briskly walked across as the light turned red as I felt somebody grabbed my hand, I look down and see Jaedyn's fingers wrapped in mine. I tried not to pay any attention to it "okay maybe she did just instinctively. Yeah, she did that instinctively" so I just let her hold my hand.

"Guys, wait up!" Avery shouted I turned around to see Avery on top of Tuck's shoulders as they briskly walked up behind us.

"I'm high up!" She gleefully shouted as she raised her arms in the air causing her to almost fall off, "Wait! Slow down!" She grabbed his hair as she started falling backward.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Paaaaiiiinnnn!" Tucker said as he steadied Avery stopping her from falling over.

She finally steadied as I faced forward again to look where I was going "uhh... Thanks, Tuck."

"No problem Ave"

We trotted along as we neared the mall "We're going to have a fun school year" I thought to myself. The idea of some of my best friends come and study in the same school as I made me so happy! Well... except for Ave, I had no idea where she was going to study. There were about 5 different schools near her house "Hey Ave where are you studying?"

"You know, our old school... well my old school, you still go there. I'm just going back. Didn't you check the class papers? We're classmates!"

"Really? What coincidence."

"Nah, not really. Mom played some cards and got me in the same class as one of my friends. And turns out she got the 3 of us in the same class not sure about your friend Jaedyn though."

"It's fine. Just had no idea you guys would be going to the same school Bry." Jaedyn said.

"Well yeah, J. You're going to Maxwell high right?"

"Yeah while you guys are going to Salk. I wish I could change schools but this was prearranged"

"You can!" Tucker said after being silent for a while "Law dictates that a school change with 100% refund last at least 4 days after school has started in the selected school 10 days at max. You can still switch"

"Wow, Tuck's so smart," Avery said with a playful mocking face and a sarcastic tone

"Hardy har har Ave." He said in response "can't help it if I'm a geek or nerd... whatever the difference is"

"Can we just get to the mall already?" Jaedyn sighed.

"Fine J." we walked faster and got on the other side of the street really quickly and we soon entered the mall "This is going to be a fucking crazy shit show with Tuck here."