(song: "Change Me" - Fytch)

"Ugh, I'm sick of this town!" Peter groans. "Nothing new ever happens here. Look at this place!"

      Peter and I stand in front of the Fullerton local cinema. Peter's hand extends out to gesture to the theater in front of us. The exterior and interior have stayed the same since 1985, the town even raised money to ensure the theater wouldn't change.

      "Would it really kill them to bring in an IMAX?" he continues.

      "Yes, it would. Seeing as a majority of the people who live in this town are over 60, it'd literally kill them," I say flatly and nudge my shoulder against Peter's. "Could be worse for you—my great-grandfather is archived in the town's history for being the architect of the local courthouse. That means I'm the fourth generation of James to be stuck here."

      "Ah yes, the sadness of your life always makes me feel better about mine." Peter gives me a bratty expression. "So . . . where's your girlfriend?"

      I shake my head and few times and dig my hands deep into the pockets of my hoodie until I can feel small balls of laundry lint. It's summer, and yet, I still wear my favorite gray hoodie. "Kaylee is not my girlfriend. Well . . . not yet."

      Peter stares at me blankly. "Exactly, what's the deal with that? You've liked her since middle school and finally, you asked her out and she said yes."

      "Yeah, but . . . " I liked her since middle school because she was the only girl who talked to me. Now that she actually seems interested in me, I have no idea what to say to her.

      "But what?"

      I sigh. "It's nothing." It's not like I expect Peter—Fullerton High's most desirable male student—to understand where I am coming from. He already had three girlfriends in the past year, Kaylee would be my first.

      Peter snorts at me."That's right, it'd better be nothing. There's a lot of guys who'd want to take Kaylee from you. For some ungodly reason, she's picked you."

      I narrow my gaze. "What's that supposed to mean?"

      Peter gives me the look he always does when he is about to explain something to me. It's the same look my Dad gave me when he wanted to give me the whole birds-and-the-bees talk. "Man, look. We've been friends for how long now?"

      "Since we were five . . . "

      "Right, and we're seventeen now. That's twelve years of honest-to-goodness buddery. So don't take offense when I say this, but Kaylee is way out of your league."

      "Implying what? That she's more in your league?" I say, completely offended.

      Peter raises up his arms in defense. "I'm not saying that! No need to tighten up your non-existent muscles over it."

      But Peter isn't wrong. I might have a long family history of being in Fullerton, but that doesn't mean that I belong here. I don't fit in with any of the kids my age; a girl in middle school had once called me "a gray spot". I'm an awkward, messy-haired, sleepy-eyed, pale introvert. Hardly the qualities most teenage girls look for. If Peter and I were in the world of comics, Peter would be Thor and I would be Loki.

      Every girl in town wants to date Peter—except for Kaylee. Maybe that's another reason why I like her. She somehow found my brooding self more attractive than Peter with his muscles, perfectly unblemished skin, and great teeth.

      "Logan!" Kaylee's excited voice calls out to me.

      She crosses the street with a smile that lights up the darkness inside me. Her cheeks have two small dimples and her hair sways in golden waves around her shoulders. It feels pretty good to know that she is genuinely happy to see me.

      Kaylee reaches the sidewalk to join us, but she isn't alone. Another girl crosses the road alongside her. The girl has a warm expression, curly dark hair, and beautiful brown skin. She looks like she comes from a place where there are hot summers and crystal beaches. Somewhere the opposite of Fullerton where it usually stays overcast if not straight-up cold.

      Kaylee links her left arm with the girl's right arm. "I hope it's okay that I brought Serena with me too. She's new in town, but our parents have known each other for years. She's pretty much my best friend."

      Peter glances at me and only half of his mouth manages a smile. I know what that smirk means; he's attracted to the new girl.

      I am—and always have been—awkward around girls. I mean, how do you introduce yourself to one and not sound like an idiot? I opt for a handshake and extend out my hand to Serena. "Logan James. Nice to meet you, Serena."

      She is a little taken aback by my gesture, but after a second she shakes my hand. "Wow, old-fashioned. I didn't realize handshaking in non-business-related scenarios was still a thing."

      It isn't a thing. I don't know what I'm doing.

      Peter lifts up his hand to offer Serena a brief cool-guy wave and one of his lady-killer grins. "Hey Serena, I'm Peter."

      Serena nods her head. "Cool. Nice to meet you both."

      "Cool, " I say. And then we all fall into an awkward silence.

      "So, " Kaylee tries to stand beside me and encourage out words from my mouth. "Should we go inside and get some tickets?"

      "Oh, yeah, right!" I fumble over my words and my own feet in an attempt to go to the ticket window. The only thing that keeps me from falling flat on my own face is gripping onto the backside of the large senior man standing in front of us.

      "HEY!" The man shouts out in a rough, cigarette-burnt voice.

      I leap back from the elder like a cat touching water. "I am so sorry!"

      I can hear some muffled laughter from Peter and Serena. Kaylee just looks at me a little sympathetically. It makes me want to disappear into my hoodie. At least Kaylee is used to my clumsiness—she doesn't seem very amused by it, but she isn't running away from it either. So that has to be a plus.

      I try to redeem myself and approach the silver-haired woman behind the glass ticket window. She holds up one of those Christian self-help books and lifts up a pair of red-framed reading glasses to try and read the text on the pages.

      I clear my throat to get her attention. "Excuse me?"

      The woman turns her head away from her reading material to size me up. "Oh, it's you! Lila and Eddie's boy. Haven't seen you at church in years. Think your family has any plans to come back?"

      That's another thing I hated about living in Fullerton; everyone knows everyone. My grandmother had been a big financial patron at our local church, after she passed we stopped going.

      "I don't think so Mrs. Graham," I say and just hope she won't go into a mini-sermon. "And can I have four tickets for . . . Blood and Guts 3?"

      Mrs. Graham looks at me like I've requested a plane trip directly to Hell. She tightens her lips and prints out a few tickets. We wordlessly exchange money and she doesn't even say goodbye after we're done.

      The four of us go inside the tacky 80's style theater and Kaylee immediately is drawn to the smell of buttery popcorn and sounds of the sugary sweet soda machine.

      "I'd love some popcorn and a drink," Kaylee says in a way that isn't asking for it, more so wishing for it.

      Is she trying to give me a clue to pay for her?

      "Sure, I'll get you some. . ." I then look at Serena. She stares at a box of candy through the glass display, but she isn't asking for it. It's a box of Mike and Ike's. That's always been my favorite candy, but I haven't eaten it since Halloween when I was ten.

      "Great, we'll go get seats," Kaylee chirps happily.

      She wraps an arm around Serena and pulls her away from gazing at the colorful boxes of candies. The two of them walk down a hall lit by pink and blue neon squiggle lights and black carpeting with hot pink triangles. God, the 80's really had horrible decorating.

      "Serena is hot," Peter's words disrupt my thoughts. "She looks like one of those California girls. Do you think she's from California?"

      I hand the concession stand attendant a twenty-dollar bill and shake my head. "I don't know, why don't you ask her?"

      Peter grabs my shoulders from behind and shakes them lightly. "No one new ever moves here. Do you understand that? There is a new girl in Fullerton. Soak that information in."

      I continue to place my order, totally unfazed by Peter. "Can I have a medium-sized popcorn, two colas and . . . a box of Mike and Ike's, please?"

      "I wonder what kind of guys she likes. I mean—a girl like her probably has some pretty high standards, you know?" Peter checks himself out in the mirror in the back of the candy display window.

      I roll my eyes, collect the food and go to find our theater. Peter follows behind me and continues to talk about Serena's fictional likes and dislikes. I try to tune it out and focus on the fact that I have to somehow impress Kaylee during an activity where we can't really talk.

      The screening room is already dark and shows previews when we step inside. Kaylee waves towards us to get our attention. The two of them have chosen a row all the way in the very back. I'm more of a middle-row kind of guy, but I guess Kaylee isn't a middle-row kind of girl.

      I squeeze my way through the row until I find myself sitting in between Kaylee and Serena. Peter happily finds himself a seat at Serena's other side.

      "Oh, I can switch seats if you want to be beside Serena?" I offer to Kaylee.

      Kaylee takes the popcorn and soda from my hands quickly and pours a handful of buttery corn into her mouth. "No, that's fine. I want to get Serena's seal of approval, you two should talk."

      Seal of approval? Does that mean Serena is here to be a judge on whether or not I become Kaylee's boyfriend? Hello, crippling anxiety, my old friend.

      "Talk about what?" I whisper out of panic.

      Kaylee shrugs her shoulders, "You know, whatever. What do you and Peter normally talk about?"

      Girls and video games.

      "I don't think that's a good idea . . . " my voice trails off and I turn to look at Serena. She probably heard everything, but she politely pretends that she didn't.

      A lump forms in my throat. How do people start conversations with strangers? And what's appropriate to ask during a slasher horror flick?

      Serena turns her head and our gazes meet. Her eyes don't look like they're judging me, and for some reason I don't feel like shrinking away from her. Without a word I hand her the box of Mike and Ike's. She smiles at me beautifully, her eyes seem to wordlessly ask me how I knew that's what she wanted.

      I shrug my shoulders a little and smile clumsily.

      "Thanks, Logan," she says quiet enough for only me to hear.

      I nod.

      The movie starts. It's over an hour of cheesy acting, youthful stupidity and serious carnage. I've seen enough horror movies to spot all the industry tricks. Nothing really catches me off guard anymore, but I love these kinds of films. Whenever there's a jump-scare, Kaylee screams and drives her face into me. Man, she looks completely miserable. I wish she'd have told me that she hates horror movies.

      I check on Serena to see if she's nose-diving into Peter's shoulder. She isn't. She stares at the screen like she's watching a documentary on television.

      "This is definitely not this director's best work. Death of a Dirty Mailman was a much better movie than this," Serena whispers to me.

      "Definitely. This has a more House of 1000 Corpses kind of vibe," I say without even needing to think about it.

      Serena bobs her head. "God, that was a horrible movie. The Devil's Rejects was kind of more palatable, but barely."

      She'd used the word "palatable". Girls in Fullerton didn't talk like that. Not to mention she is a fountain of horror trivia knowledge. I like this girl.

      "There's something missing from today's horror movies. You should see Army of Darkness—actually, you should see all the Evil Dead movies," I say easily. At least we have this one thing in common enough for me to have some kind of conversation. "I have them if you want to borrow them."

      Serena's eyes twinkle even in the screen-lit dimness. "I've seen Army of Darkness, but not the others."

      "You have to see them." Is my voice a little too excited? Probably.

      She laughs quietly. "I don't have a DVD player."

      "You can borrow mine or. . . watch them at my place. Whatever works." I really hope she doesn't take my offer the wrong way. I'm really not trying to be shady here.

      "Sure," she says with a bright smile.

      I smile back. "Cool."

      "Cool," she pauses thoughtfully after. "And . . . Logan?"

      "Yeah?"

      "Don't sweat about my seal of approval, I think you'd be good for Kaylee. I hope you both are happy together."

      The two of us share a secret smile.

      Maybe my life is finally taking a turn for the better. I'm pretty confident that Kaylee will say yes if I ask her to be my girlfriend and I could really get used to doing more of these group outings.

      I don't want anything to change.

3 MONTHS LATER . . .

"According to researchers from NASA their early-detection systems have discovered a series of meteoroids that will be approaching earth over the next few months. Now don't be alarmed, we're told that most meteoroids burn up in earths atmosphere so if you look outside we will actually be able to enjoy viewing a nice little meteor shower," says Jenny, the local newscaster for our county.

      "NASA will continue to monitor these meteoroids and give us any updates on them, but for now all you doomsday preppers can calm down and plan out cute Halloween costumes for your little ones this fall."

      Jeb, her male co-anchor laughs. "It's always a good thing when we don't have to worry about the end of the world."

      I look away from the television to see outside my kitchen window. All my neighbors are standing in the middle of the street and pointing upward. I can see small, faint streams of light blast across the blue sky . . .