"You have to be kidding me." Vance spoke to himself in disbelief, staring up at the house Sarah wrote down. It was large, clean, and painted a white shade. I mean, there was even little balcony's on the windows, how could Vance not roll his eyes? His eyes shifted to the door when it opened up, shaking his head at the familiar girl. "You're making it too easy, Sheeps."

"What's so easy?" she opened up the door wider for him to walk in, not before he made it a point to stare at the flower beds in disbelief. "My Mom likes to garden."

"A bed time, a fancy rich girl house, flowers that aren't dead, perfect grades, and-" Vance paused as he looked down at the golden retriever in her living room. "-a fucking dog."

"Well, he's not mine." Sarah offered a minor smile as she shut the door, getting the dog's attention now as he came to smell Vance's boots. "I'm just watching him until my friend gets back."

"Same difference." Vance rubbed the dogs head when Sarah's back was turned, watching the golden retriever run after her. "You get massive dog beds and a bunch of annoying ass squeak toys for all the dogs you just watch?"

"Well, he's been here a while." Sarah shrugged. "I don't really know when his owners coming back."

It took Vance just two seconds to figure it out. The way she reacted to his comment the day prior, the way she was talking about the dog now, how many's times he'd seen the same one running after a kid on a bike. He was the paper boys dog, and Sarah was watching him until the missing kid was found. Vance was looking for something to say about it, but he wasn't the best with small talk. "He was your friend, right?"

Sarah's back was turned, but her entire body froze. She turned around to face him from the counter, giving a nod. "He was my friend."

Vance refused to make eye contact with her. "I acted like a dick yesterday. It came out wrong."

"It's okay." Sarah brought the books toward the table. "After Billy went missing, Bingo came to the store. That was always their first stop on Sundays, to deliver news papers. Only because i'd give them a bunch of snacks for the ride."

Vance looked over at Bingo as he went to his bed, no longer interested in his boots or what Sarah was doing with her books. "Your parents were cool with that?"

"Not at first. Not until the police report was filled and the missing papers went up." she admitted to him, flipping the history book around. "Billys parents didn't like looking at Bingo without him, so they let him stay until he gets back."

Vance couldn't help it. "Where exactly do you think he went to, Sarah?"

Deep down he wasn't trying to come off so harsh, but the way she kept talking concerned him. Everyone knew that Billy and Griffin were dead. One had been gone over a year and the other nearly seven months. But, Sarah seemed to think they were just away. He knew that if she held onto this hope, it would just end up being worse on her as she got older.

"If I knew do you honestly think i'd just be sitting here?" it was her turn to snap at him. Unlike Vance, she meant the venom behind her words. "How can you be so rude? Seriously? Can you not picture what it would be like for these families? These friends?"

"I can. And if I were them, i'd accept what we all know instead of hurting myself believing in things that don't exist." that time, he did mean to snap as her so harshly. He got defensive, putting up a barrier when she rose her voice at him. If she'd have stayed calm, maybe he could have too. But, she didn't, and he didn't know how to deal with it.

"Did you not hear about that story? The one up in Chicago?" Sarah walked toward her kitchen to open a drawer. "Three kids went missing. No one knew where they were or who had taken them."

She walked back over with a newspaper. "Three years later, they were found. They were alive, still are. How can you sit here and tell me to accept what everyone else thinks when stories like this exist?"

He didn't have an answer for that one. There as a slim chance, but Griffin and Billy could be like the three missing kids. In a couple years, maybe they'd just pop out of no where, ready to live their lives. Billy would come back to Bingo, come back to Sarah. That's another thing she could picture, looking forward to Sundays just so they could talk. Vance put the paper down. "Look, Sarah. It sucks about your friend. And i'm....sorry."

It was weird saying sorry to anyone. He'd never actually done it unless he accidentally did something, which wasn't very common. But, he never said sorry for something that didn't affect him. It was weird, but he felt like he needed to tell her that. "I didn't even know you had friends."

"Ouch." she was fighting a half smile at his words, taking a seat as he followed her actions. "You didn't even know me before."

"I did know you, I just didn't know you." he pointed out, which shockingly made sense to her. "But, I never saw you with anyone at school. You always just hung out with teachers."

"Did you know me when we were in middle school?" she offered the explanation.

"We were in middle school together?" Vance seemed genuinely surprised by her words. "I thought you moved here."

"No, I sat two rows down from you in Mrs.Fishers homeroom." Mrs.Fisher was one of the only teachers Vance tolerated. He couldn't picture Sarah though, couldn't even imagine looking over his shoulder to find her a few rows down from him. "I got to hang out with Billy in middle school. Since he was just a year younger then us."

When Sarah said he was her friend, Vance imagined it was the type of friend she only saw on Sundays. He didn't stop to think that just because he never saw them together didn't mean that they weren't close. "You've known him long?"

"Not too long." she offered the information with a shrug. "When I was in seventh grade and he was in sixth, I was washing my Moms car and him and Bingo were out delivering news papers. I guess he didn't see me because he threw it right at my face, I tripped on the water hose and fell right into the bucket."

Vance winced but had to chuckle, nodding his head. "You know, I can see that in my head right now."

"It was bad, like, really bad." Sarah was laughing. Vance wished he hadn't said what he said now. If Sarah never accepted that Billy was dead, then she'd always be able to smile and laugh at their memories together. The second she came to terms with the facts, every thought of him would lead her down the road of death. "After that, I don't know, we just started meeting up for lunch and walking to school together. He's the only real friend I would say I have."

"What's the difference between real friends and friends?" Vance hadn't heard that term used before, his dark eyebrows coming close together when he frowned them in confusion. "It's not the same?"

"Well, i'd consider Mr.Yamaha my friend. That doesn't mean it's necessary a normal friendship to have." she explained it a little better. "Same with his son. Bruce is my friend, but we only talked when we ran into each other or I was at his house. Friends can be anyone. But a real friend is deeper then that. They're the people you would invite over without it seeming weird, or when you didn't need them for something."

Vance had to think about it, and maybe he was just like Sarah. He had friends, a couple boys that would sit with him at lunch and go to Grab N Go after school. But he'd never think to invite them somewhere unless he needed them in some way. He definitely couldn't imagine hanging out with any of them just for the hell of it. He didn't have a Billy, but then again, neither did Sarah anymore.

The phone rang before he could linger on the topic. Sarah left him at the table to walk to the wall, pulling it off and twisting the cord. "Barns residents."

"Sheeps!" Vance hollered out, making her shh him quickly and throwing an apple his way.

"Now?" Sarah asked as she listened to the other line. Vance frowned his eyebrows at her distressed tone. "No! No! I'll come, I just need a few minutes and i'll be there."

Vance nodded as she hung up the school. "Thank, fuck. Didn't want to study anyways."

"We'll just hit the books extra hard tomorrow." Sarah hurried around the kitchen to fill up Bingos bowl as much as she could, shoving all her things into her bag. "What's tomorrow? Saturday? You don't do anything on Saturdays?"

"I mean, I go to Grab N Go." he shrugged, watching her hurry around. "Would you chill out? You're freaking me out."

"Sorry." she hurried into the laundry room. "Mr.Blake doesn't have much patience and last time I took more the five minutes, he left before I could get there."

"You've got a boyfriend?" he rose his eyebrows.

Sarah froze completely as she was coming out of the laundry room, her face reading nothing but disgust. "I would rather scoop my own eyes out and let Bingo eat them."

"Okay." Vance laughed at her words, taken back by them more then anything. "Who's Mr.Blake?"

"He's this guy, he's got two kids that I babysit when he has to leave overnight." Sarah zipped up her bag and found her shoes.

"How much do you get paid?" Vance couldn't imagine himself babysitting kids but he was curious about how much parents were willing to give Denvers golden girl.

"Nothing." Sarah tied her laces. "I do it for free so they aren't home alone all night."

"You watch annoying ass kids for free?" now it was Vance's turn to look at her in disgust.

"They're sweet." she shrugged her shoulders. "Plus, I don't want them to be alone. I'm shocked he actually even called me this time."

"Mm, you have fun." Vance mocked her, walking out of the door as Sarah quickly kissed Bingo on the head and was right behind him.

"I'll see you." she waved, walking down the sidewalk. After a few seconds, she realized he was following her. "Are we going in the same direction?"

"Think so." he answered, Sarah slowed down so they could walk side by side. "Where's this Blake house?"

"About four blocks down." Sarah shrugged, pushing some of her curls out of her eyes. "Yours?"

"Six blocks down." he exhaled, raising his eyebrows as her. "Looks like i'm dropping you off, Sheeps."

•

kylie speaks

let y'all in on a little secret....
robins gonna be there too so
this should be fun!