(sorry this sucks and it's basically unedited lol -becca)

"Michael, what're we doing outside of play rehearsal?"

"We're meeting up with Christine, silly." Michael bumped his shoulder against Jeremy's, causing the shorter boy to smile.

"Christine? Isn't she one of your popular friends?"

"I guess you could say that. I wouldn't focus on that though," He said with a laugh. "Also, a fair warning, she has ADD."

"O-Oh," Jeremy did his best not to sound worried. But he could barely talk to people normally, how would he be able to talk to someone with ADD?

Thankfully, it seemed like Michael had already thought this through, "Jere, look at the bright side! She's too scatter minded to remember anything awkward you say!"

Jeremy laughed at his best friend, enjoying the time they had on their own before the doors swung open. A group of around ten students filed out loudly, a short girl with black hair skipped up to them.

"Hi, Michael!" She chirped.

"Hey, Christine!" He replied before she turned to Jeremy.

"And you must be Jeremy!" She held out her hand, "I've heard so much about you, it's nice to meet you!"

He lightly shook her hand, "Y-you have? I mean uh- it's nice to meet you too!"

She giggled, "Michael talks about you like, all the time!"

Jeremy could feel his heart pounding in his chest as Christine dropped his hand, and Michael threw an arm around his shoulders.

"Well, how could I not talk about the coolest person I know."

"I- I'm n-not that cool." Jeremy stuttered out a reply, feeling his face heat up. Did Michael really talk about him? He looked down at his feet, praying Michael wasn't looking at him.

"Oh please, you are too."

"Yeah yeah, Jeremy's cool. But let's hurry to the park, I want to swing!" Christine bounced on her toes, waiting for Michael and Jeremy to follow her to the park.

***

Michael was sitting next to Jeremy (who was across from Christine) at a picnic table at the park. Jeremy and Christine got along really well, better than Michael first assumed. Christine seemed to understand Jeremy was uncomfortable meeting new people and did her best to show Jeremy he didn't have to be nervous. She babbled on about different topics, and Michael would see Jeremy relaxing as he didn't have to contribute much to keep the conversation going. Michael found he didn't either and spend much of the conversation watching Jeremy's expressions and making sure everything was going well.

He watched at Jeremy brushed his hair back and out of his face. However, as soon as he let it go, it fell right back into his eyes. He frowned innocently as he brushed it back again, keep his hand in his hair and leaning his elbow on the table in front of them.

Michael laughed, cutting off something Christine was going on about. "Jere, you need a haircut." Jeremy looked up, his face brightening seeing Michael smiling at him.

"Whatever, I like my hair!"

"Yeah, yeah. Tell that to your eyes."

"I can see fine, thank you very much."

"Yeah, sure you can." Michael rolled his eyes and turned his head to Christine. "When is Jenna gonna get here?"

"She should be here soon!" Christine grinned.

"W-wait, I'm meeting two people today?"

"Well," Michael started, "I was going to introduce you to Jenna another time but she wanted to hang out with Christine. So I thought, 'well if there's trouble with Christine, we can just head out before meeting Jenna.' But, I think everything should be fine."

"You do?"

"Of course! You're better at talking to people than you think, Jere."

"Well, I haven't really done much talking, have I?"

"Shush and let me compliment you, you nerd."

"Excuse me, I prefer geek." Jeremy retorted, his face heating up at Michael's word choice.

Christine huffed. "You're both nerds. And Jenna is here."

"Oh great! By the way, Jeremy, make sure you take whatever she says with a grain of salt. Or two. Maybe three?"

"Um- okay?"

Jenna slid into the bench next to Christine, a wide smile on her face. "Hey Christine, Michael, and, Jeremy, right?"

"Uh, yeah. Nice to meet you."

"Same to you! So did you guys here about Dustin and Madeline?"

Jenna began to animatedly chatter about whatever drama went down with Dustin and Madeline while Christine listened intently, reacting dramatically to every bit. Michael and Jeremy listened silently, waiting for her story to end. When it finally did, however, she launched right into another. Michael puffed his cheeks and pulled out his phone, opening the memo app. He typed a quick note and held his phone in front of Jeremy.

I'm actually kinda bored, you wanna bounce?

Jeremy nodded quickly, and Michael pulled back his phone looking over at Christine and Jenna.

"Hey guys, we're gonna head out. You know, homework and shit."

Jenna snorted. "Since when do you do homework?"

"Jenna! Be nice!" Christine nearly shouted. "Bye guys good luck!"

Michael and Jeremy waved as they walked off.

"They were... nice." Jeremy said once they were far enough away.

"Yeah, I figured they'd be the easiest to meet."

"The easiest? How crazy are your friends?"

"Crazier than me when I get drunk."

"That's... really crazy." Jeremy laughed, looking ahead of them. Michael felt his heart speed up, yet he couldn't quite pinpoint why.

"Hell yeah. Now, why don't we go play video games or something." Michael offered, ignoring his heart rate.

"Sounds like a plan," Jeremy replied with a smile.

___

alright so, good news and bad news. 

good news: we created this epic new au! we're goiong to focus on this story (only two more chapters bc this is short smh) and then start writing the new au. according to skype, we've been talking about this au for four days now and we already have the first three chapters planned and most of the plot line.

bad news: "family upgrade" is going to get kinda pushed to the side a bit. we won't forget about, we'll probably just work on it after we finish the new au.

anyway, that's it. and here (heere) are the only hints you're getting about the new au:

-becca