> Street Dreams: Between the Streets and the Sky
>  by DJDJ
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue: Unpacking Old Friends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Hey Sunset?" Twilight broke the stillness in Sapphire tent, as she and Sunset Shimmer unpacked for their week at Camp Everfree.

"Hm?" Sunset answered disinterestedly as the girls continued to unpack.

Twilight paused in the middle of making her bed to ask Sunset. "You remember the friendship games?"

This gave Sunset Shimmer pause as she was overcome with memories of the world being nearly torn to ribbons. "Yeah, how could I forget." She spouted playfully, only just realizing the implications as the last syllable left her lips. Sunset couldn't stop herself from smacking her own face as punishment for her insensitivity. "OH. My gosh, I didn't mean...like that. Uhg, sorry just...what about it? Sorry." She apologized smoothly.

Twilight turned around to face Sunset, "You remember when you caught me sneaking around campus before the games?" Twilight asked sheepishly averting her gaze from Sunset.

Sunset cocked her head curiously, "Yeaaaah." She recalled.

At this point, Twilight began playing with her ponytail nervously. "Well...magic wasn't the only thing I found there..."

Sunset rested her hands on her hips and looked at Twilight with cautious interest. "Is that right?"

Twilight bit her lower lip, unsure if she should even proceed with the conversation or try to drop it. Until Spike stood up leaning his front paws on Twilight's ankles. "It's okay Twilight, maybe it's a different guy completely." The purple puppy postulated positively. She picked him up and hugged him like a small child would hold a stuffed animal when describing her nightmares to her parents.

"I saw those pictures all over campus, of that boy." Twilight paused, Sunset folded her arms and shrugged lightly. "White skin, grey eyes, white and grey hair? His name was-" Twilight pressed.

"OH!" Sunset interrupted Twilight. Once again she was overcome with strong memories. "Oh..." She unfolded her arms, her jaw slacked and her eyes widened in a start. "Oooooohhhh. That boy." Twilight appeared to squeeze Spike even tighter and cast her gaze down to the ground. Sunset placed a hand over her mouth as if to hold in a gasp. "You knew him didn't you?" She asked sympathetically. Without looking up, Twilight slowly nodded her head. Sunset approached Twilight, resting one hand on her back and holding the crook of Twilight's elbow with the other. As she did so, Sunset heard faint mumbling but dismissed it as the other campers outside and focused on consoling her newest friend. "I'm so sorry Twilight."

Twilight hitched a breath and shut her eyes tight. "So it's true." She croaked trying to hold back tears. Sunset sat them both down on Twilight's bed. Spike tried to lick Twilight's face to cheer her up but it was no use. Now knowing the fate of her only friend from Crystal Prep, Twilight was inconsolable.

Obviously I had to come from SOMEWHERE and obviously no one bothered to ask. Don't be mad at Sunset, not even YOU ever asked me where I was from. Anyway, Sunset decided to ask the only logical question, "How did you know him?"

Twilight had been sobbing quietly but after a deep breath, she wiped the tears from her eyes and elaborated, "He was my best friend. Like, ever." She began, still disturbed by the news, as she continued, she started to calm down, idly petting Spike as he lay in her lap. "I guess he was competitive like everyone else at Crystal Prep..."

Sunset muffled a chortle and mumbled to no one in particular "That I can believe." Again, suddenly remembering the mood in the tent, Sunset shook her head, "Sorry, go on."

Twilight took in another deep breath and did so, "But he..." Twilight shrugged, "I don't know, he wasn't selfish like everyone else, and I don't think I'd be the person I am now if we weren't friends." She recalled longingly.

Sunset rested her hand on Twilight's shoulder, causing Twilight to look up at her, "I can believe that too." She started encouragingly. "Trust me, none of us are the same after getting to know him."

This put a smile on Twilight's face. "So, you all knew him too? Really knew him?" She asked hopefully.

Sunset nodded smiling back at Twilight. "Some of us knew him better than others but...yeah, we really did all know him." She said cheerfully. Deciding that Twilight was feeling a little better considering the news she just got, Sunset stood up and went back to unpacking. "You know, maybe we should all tell you our best stories about him while we're here at camp." She suggested.

Twilight put Spike back on the ground and he settled down in his bed. "Yeah, and I can tell you all how I met him!" Twilight suggested eagerly, feeling less lonely in grieving her old friend.

Sunset smiled back at Twilight, "Sounds like a great idea." She affirmed. Returning to the responsibility of unpacking for the trip, Sunset grabbed a flashlight out of her bag, shining it on her face she made a sarcastic ghostly "WoooooOOOoooo" sound.




Not that I don't have total faith in Twilight's ability to tell Sunset our story, but shes just not me so, I'll take over for now and fill in a few details she would've missed. Don't worry, we'll get back to Camp Everfree after I tell you the story of Twilight and me at Crystal Prep. This one goes way back...
> Chapter 1: History Lessons
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Class was in session, I sat silently pondering my future. Specifically, how my life would change after my driving test next week. Since my dad was planning on getting himself a new car, my mom had offered me her old one. Fine, it was a 4 banger compact sedan, but it was turbo and had a manual, and at the very least, it was a good start for me. When my ponderings led me to my future car, my train of thought sort of stopped at that station for a while. All I could think of was ways to make that car mine; a vinyl wrap to match my t-shirt, DEFINITELY bigger pipes, probably tweak the ECU for more turbo pressure, gonna need a new intake to go with that. You know, just to name a few things.

Of course, I was still in class so inevitably, my fantasies were shattered when I heard my name. I looked up to see the teacher and most of the class staring at me. “Well…?” He coaxed. In my peripheral vision I saw my classmate, Sour Sweets holding up four fingers.

I held my chin up and answered confidently, “Four.” After which the teacher grimaced at me and the other students fought back fits of laughter with varying degrees of success.

The teacher’s grimace disappeared long enough to smarm at me. “An appropriate answer for your math studies I’m sure however, the name of the protein with which cells share information between one another is not ‘Four’.” And with just enough time to flash me one more condescending grimace before turning back to his board and continuing his lecture. I sighed and shot Sour a bitter glare as she high-fived her friend Indigo Zap under their desks. Mercifully, it wasn’t long before the lunch bell rang and I could attend to other more important matters.

I opened the door to the library cautiously and as it creaked the librarian greeted me with a viscous shushing which made me recoil slightly. I tip-toed around the library with a delicate footfall in fear of more wrathful shushings from the librarian. It was easy to search since most students were out to lunch instead of studying. I figured there was no one in here until I eventually found Twilight nose deep in books.

I carefully sat down next to Twilight and waited a moment to see if she would notice me. Realizing I had no chance in a competition for her attention against books, I tried to clear my throat. Twilight flinched and turned to me, simultaneously, I could hear a distant shush. I whispered as softly as I could to avoid more of the librarian’s wrath, “Twilight, what’s up?”

Twilight looked at me curiously and shrugged cautiously. I noticed she had no lunch, despite our break only having started minutes ago. “Hungry?" I inquired apathetically.

Twilight shook her head and turned back to the book on the desk in front of her. “I already finished and cleaned up."

I nodded then got into the reason for my surprise visit. “So…” I began quietly. Not having totally thought this out, I continued bluntly. “I gotta ask…would you mind terribly, uhm…helping me with my homework?”

Twilight’s gaze snapped back to me in disbelief. “Me?” She asked quietly, as if she was the least qualified person in school to help me. I nodded. She looked down in contemplation for a moment before asking me, “What subjects do you want help with?”

“All of them.” I quickly answered, smiling meekly. Again, Twilight looked away from me in thought.

I sat for a few tense moments wondering what she could possibly be thinking until she spoke up. “Okay.” She answered indifferently.

Her bluntness made me double-take and almost raise my voice when I asked her, “For real? Just like that?”

She shrugged, “As long as you’re serious…I guess I can help you.” She replied, looking at me indifferently, as if I was some kind of research project. Before she could follow up, the bell rang warning us to make our way to our next classes.

Twilight started to pack up her things and I headed for the door, but while I was still in ear shot, I clarified, “So we’ll pick this up tomorrow? At lunch?” I know she said something in reply but I couldn’t quite hear, I did see that she nodded her head, which was confirmation enough for me. With our rendezvous set, I headed to my next class.

Having coasted through my remaining classes for the day, it was time to go home. I made my way across the courtyard with the herd of students and boarded my bus. Twilight and I both took the same bus so when I saw her get on I motioned for her to sit next to me. I thought we could hang out and chat a bit before we got down to business tomorrow. Instead, she decided to take a seat on her own and bury her face in a book as usual. Sugar Coat on the other hand had no issue filling the seat next to me.

Sugar Coat smiled at me warmly. “Hey.” She greeted as she nudged my shoulder. I smiled politely and greeted her likewise. She looked down into her lap for a moment before looking up at me. “So, what are you up to later this week?” She asked cheerfully, leaning into me slightly.

I shrugged indifferently, “Not much,” I paused, “be studying with Twilight starting tomorrow.”

Sugar Coat smiled half-heartedly. “Right, Twilight.” She looked to the back of the bus where Twilight had sat herself to read on her own. “You know, I bet I could help you if you want.” She offered eagerly, scooting closer to me.	

I hadn’t noticed her getting extra comfortable around me at that time, so I shrugged her off disinterestedly. “That’s cool, Twilight already agreed to help me.”

Sugar Coat sat back in her seat, “Well…” she offered, “…I’m pretty smart too you know.” She insisted, folding her arms and casting her gaze on me.

I turned to see her glaring at me and tried to reassure her. “For sure, it’s just…the class I need help with, Twilight is in that class with me.” I tried.

She sighed and exhaled the word, “Okay.”

For the remainder of the bus ride, Sugar Coat and me sat in silence. I felt like I had hurt her feelings but being a guy, I’m not actually sure how. When the bus came to a creaking halt at my house, I bid Sugar Coat goodbye and disembarked. I sighed and smiled contently seeing my dad’s station wagon in the driveway. As I reached for the handle on the front door, I heard another car pull into the driveway. I looked behind me to see it was my mom in her sporty compact sedan.

My mom emerged from her car smiling as I waited for her at the door. "Hey Mom." I greeted her eagerly as she approached the house. When she got close enough, we pulled each other into an affectionate embrace. “Welcome home.” I said. I was especially happy to see her after she had been away for the better part of a week because of work.

"Hi Son, welcome home from school." She greeted me enthusiastically. “How was your weekend? How was school?” She asked as we released each other.

I shrugged and answered as any typical teenage boy would. “Was arite.” I smiled warmly. My mom smiled at my bluntness and I let us inside. “Hey Pop,” I called out, “come see who I brought home.” I joked.

Dad came downstairs with his typical scowl on his face. As soon as he saw Mom was home, he lit up like a camp fire. They embraced each other passionately and as they started to get even more affectionate, I made my way upstairs to my room. I set down my backpack by my bed then fell flat on my mattress. As I rested my black and white baseball cap over my face, I let out a yawn and shut my eyes. Moments later, I tossed my hat across the room and sat up, deciding I should do at least some of my homework.

Having sat down and completed all of the work due the next day, I concluded I could save the rest for tomorrow when Twilight could help me. When I went back downstairs, my dad was getting ready to make us dinner. Lumpia, my favorite. My mom called out to me from the other room, asking if I wanted to catch up on our TV watching. Ever since I was little we would watch all manner of detective shows together. Lately though, I’ve been getting into a lot of car shows. I could tell she wasn’t quite as into it as me, but all the same she was happy to spend the time to watch with me. Still, our favorite to watch together was a show called Skeletons. It was about a forensic anthropologist who partners up with a government agent to solve crimes.

We didn’t get too caught up before Dad called us to dinner. Mom and I put our show on hold to join him. As we ate together as a family, my dad and I asked my mom all about her trip. Predictably there was nothing too exciting, but we wanted to hear about it regardless.

When Mom had finished outlining her weekend to us, attention was turned back to me. “So, hows school going?” My dad asked.

I looked down at my plate and shrugged, “Okay I guess.”

“You guess?” He followed up suspiciously. I didn’t really want to talk about my grades…or my work, so I tried shrugging innocently.

Thankfully, Mom picked up on my discomfort and steered the conversation to a less sensitive topic. “Have you been making friends?” She asked enthusiastically.

I looked up at her and Dad and shrugged again. “Not really.” I looked back down at my food for a moment and sighed, then looked back up to my parents and continued. “One of the girls at school said she’d help me with my class work.”

My parents looked at each other and I instantly regretted dropping the G word. “That’s a good start.” My mom reassured me.

“She cute?” My dad added playfully.

I smiled slightly and went back to eating. After a moment of comfortable silence my mom spoke up, “You know, you can go to a different school if you want.” She offered sympathetically.

I shook my head, “Naw, I kinda like it at Crystal Prep.” I turned back down to my food and mumbled. “I can’t imagine any other school being any better anyway.” Mom nodded and dropped the subject. I didn't really eat after that.

After dinner, my mom asked if I wanted to go back and finish some more of our shows but instead, I decided to go back up to my room and relax. Since it was getting late and I likely wouldn’t be out of my room for the rest of the night, I gave my mom a hug and kiss good night and retreated to my own domain.

I took off my shirt and changed into some gym shorts before laying down on my bed. I launched the FaceTube app on my phone and searched for “Fairgrounds Ave racing” videos. What I found was exactly what I was expecting, amateur footage of amateur racing taking place on the street near where the Crystal Prep fair was held every year, at least until Superinten-dumb Sombra put Principal Cinch in charge. By amateur racing, of course I mean street racing, by street racing of course I mean, “illegal” street racing. I lay back and watched all manner of highly modified cars racing head to head in quarter mile drag races. Some cars were all about performance; others were built for style over speed. 

The star of almost all of these videos was a full size sedan called "Windigo". I saw a video all about that beast. It started with expositional shots of the Windigo rolling around the crowd or creeping up to the start. Windigo was clearly the crowd favorite and definitely something for me to aspire to with my own car. The ice white muscle car sat on white walled tires which were wrapped around blue plastidipped wheels. Whenever the driver would rev up the feral V8, the exhaust would pop and crack and a steady blue flame would stream out of the twin pipes. 

The driver's identity was a total mystery to anyone who wasn't connected to Empire's underground racing scene. He (or she for that matter) hid behind fully blue tinted windows, the color of which, matched the blue rims. As it lined up for a race, the cameraman got a great view of the front, centering the cross hair grille in the frame, with the headlights encircled by blue light rings. Between the two cars, a girl I vaguely recognized from school dropped both her arms and when Windigo was away, the rings around it's lights turned red and absolutely demolished the mid-engined car it was right next to just a blink ago. It. Was. Legend.

Between videos, I imagined myself in their places, thinking I’d want to find a middle ground between outlandish looks and pin you to your seat speed that is when I inevitably got my own car. Having satisfied my rebellious fantasy for the time being, I set my phone aside and settled in to go to sleep. The next day, Twilight Sparkle would tutor me and help me improve my schoolwork and things would be going my way. I got a contented night’s rest knowing things would be better tomorrow.

> Chapter 2: Intense Training
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	After a shower first thing when I woke up, I stared into my reflection in the bathroom mirror. My parents recently got my quarterly report card and it was not flattering. My dad had been getting pretty draconian about me doing my homework lately.

When I got downstairs, my mom and dad were already starting breakfast. I grabbed some orange juice, poured a bowl of cereal and joined them. “Morning Son.” My dad greeted me as I sat down.

“Hey Dad.” I yawned. “Hi Mom.” They both smiled at me and we sat quietly eating until my dad spoke up.

“Hows your school work?” He asked cautiously. I looked up at him and he followed up, “You get all your work done?”

I shrugged, “Yeah.” I answered unconvincingly, going back to my breakfast.

My dad cocked an eyebrow at me, “You sure?”

Again, I shrugged, without looking up from the table, “Did what I could.” I admitted meekly.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see my dad nod, then my mom spoke up, “You know you’re smarter than you think you are.” She tried to reassure me. I didn't bother to acknowledge her, seeing that I didn't believe it myself. I hadn't gotten good grades since 2nd grade. Even at Crystal Prep I always squeaked by with only barely passing grades.

"Hey." My dad snapped. I looked up at him with a long face. "Shes right." He paused expectantly. When I looked back down at my cereal he continued, "You need to take yourself seriously."

Again, I just sat absently running my spoon through my bowl. "We're trying to help." My mom pleaded.

"Hes not..." I spat under my breath, nodding in my dad's direction.

He responded by standing up and raising his voice, "You watch your mouth Kid." He snapped.

I  got to my feet as well, ready to square up, my mom however wouldn't have it. "Enough!" She yelled over us, getting to her feet as well. "Sit down." She demanded, pointing at me. Reluctantly, I obliged. "Whats the matter with you two?" She spat.

After a long empty pause, my dad was about to say something but I decided I'd had enough. "I'm going to school." I sighed under my breath, leaving my chow not even half finished. The bus would still be a while but sitting on the curb out in the cold would be more bearable than my parents lying to me about how great I am.

The school day unfolded slowly and uneventfully, although, during my history class, I couldn’t get my eyes off Twilight. I was fascinated by the way she so diligently paid attention to the lecture, following along in the book and taking meticulous notes. Silently, I wished I could be so smart and studious, but in order to do that, I would first have to stop staring at girls.

Lunchtime eventually rolled around and I waited in line for a light lunch at the cafeteria. When I had my food, I searched for someone to sit with. Sugar Coat found me and invited me to sit with her and I obliged. “So, whats new?” She asked me, as we sat down across from each other. I smiled lightly at her general enthusiasm.

I shrugged and looked down at the table, “I mean, not a lot. You didn’t miss much when I got off the bus.” I looked back up at her and smiled. “Whats up with you?” I asked.

She shrugged back wistfully “Did a LOT of studying last night.” She boasted.

I nodded slowly in acknowledgement “That’s good, keeping up with your work…” I trailed off looking down at the table, my smile seemed much more hollow now.

Sugar Coat caught on to this and leaned in closer to me asking, “Whats wrong?”

Her question snapped me out of some kind of trance and I looked back up at her, “Hm? Nothing.” I answered lethargically.

Sugar Coat cocked an eyebrow and gazed at me disbelievingly, “Are you sure? Because…” I locked my gaze with hers. She sighed and conceded, “Okay.” She turned her gaze down to the table and got to work on her lunch.

I figured hanging around such smart people like Sugar Coat and Twilight, some of it might rub off on me. After a brief uncomfortable silence, I remembered that I was supposed to be studying with Twilight about now. I wolfed down the rest of my lunch and excused myself to make for the library.

There, I found Twilight the same place I had yesterday. “Twilight,” I called to her under my breath, earning me another viscous shush from the zealous librarian, but still got Twilight’s attention. She looked up at me and waved, giving me a timid smile. I set down my bag next to me as I took a seat across from her.

“Did you bring all your books and notes?” She asked in a low whisper, leaning across the table to be sure her voice carried only just far enough to reach me.

I looked away sheepishly and droned, “Uhhhh…” When Twilight rolled her eyes at me, I reached into my bag saying, “I’m just playin Twilight, I’m not THAT stupid.” Again, Twilight rolled her eyes and even added an irritated sigh.

With Twilight Sparkle sitting to my right, she lectured on and on about derivatives and planes. Obviously, as Crystal Prep students, Twilight and I both understood the basics of calculus and trigonometry, but it looked like it would take an academic force more powerful than Twilight’s tutelage for me to understand linear algebra. Not that I wasn’t grateful of course, however, I just couldn’t seem to help but occupy my mind with other concerns.

“Hey!” She snapped, waving her hand in front of my face. When my attention had returned to the room, I glanced at Twilight. “Did you get all that?” She asked.

I began to try to stammer out an answer, “Uh, yeah you just…and then…” I tried to follow the process Twilight was trying to show me. “Um…and here you…hm…” Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes at me. “I’m sorry Twilight, I really am trying.” I pleaded in an effort to convince her she wasn’t wasting her time.

Twilight sighed apathetically, “Okay,” she started as she turned back the pages of her book. “Let’s try again, from the beginning of the chapter.”

Before I could waste any more of Twilight’s time, we were interrupted by a kindly voice, “Hey you two.” I looked up to see it was Dean Cadence. Immediately I suspected I was in trouble for something and about to be summoned to Principle Cinch’s office. Just thinking of that dusty old dungeon made my skin crawl. “Nice to see you two find friends in each other.” She charmed standing behind us looking down on our table. She was building up to it I knew it.

“A relationship of convenience if anything.“ Twilight protested, foolishly engaging the architect of our demise. Demise in this case being delivered to the clammy old hands of Principle Cinch. 

Dean Cadence leaned in between us to examine the books on our table. “Oh I see. He’s helping you study isn’t he Twilight?” She winked at her mischievously.

“What? No he-“ Twilight contested, stopping herself mid thought when she realized, “Oh I see. You’re being amusing! I understand because he doesn’t get very good grades, and I do so the idea that he would be helping me is so unlikely!” She exclaimed proudly.

I knew she didn’t really mean anything by it but the sentiment still tasted a little sour. Before I had time to actually get mad at Twilight though, Dean Cadence ruffled my hair, which I never bothered to do up for school anyway. “Don’t be so sure Twilight. I’m sure this ones a lot smarter than you think.” She assured coyly. “Well, lunch is almost over and it looks like you’ve still got a lot left to cover so I’ll leave you to it. Good luck with your studies you two.” She waved before leaving the library to strike fear into the heart of another unsuspecting student…or at least that was my best guess.

We didn’t get much more studying done before the bell rang, sending us back to class. It was a productive afternoon but I had a feeling all the lunch periods in my high school career wouldn’t be enough to get me through just this semester. I decided to put that thought at the back of my mind and coast through the rest of my classes.

Since we have the same class at the end of the day, Sugar Coat and I would always walk out together. Usually there was just a lot of polite conversation the whole bus ride home but happily that day turned out more interesting. “You get all your homework done already?” She deadpanned. I shook my head, looking at the ground. “Oh.” She uttered, casting her own gaze down to the ground.

I picked up on her disappointed and glanced sidelong at her. “Why?”

She shrugged her shoulders and pressed her textbook up against her chest. “I don’t know. I sorta just wanted to go…do something you know?”

I wished she lead on with that, homework or no, I was down to help her with that. “Yeah, you know I’m not trippin on finishing all my homework. We can skip the bus and do something here in the city if you want.”

Sugar Coat’s posture perked up, “Yeah, we could get smoothies and…see what there is to do from there.” She suggested with a hint of excitement.

For once, it seemed like Sugar Coat was excited about something. I gave her a meek smile and agreed. “For sure, anything to put off homework.”

We did exactly as she suggested and the first part of our afternoon was spent exploring the city on our own, smoothies in hand. After that, our first stop was a bookstore where Sugar Coat was really in her element. She showed me the Medical textbook she’d been wanting, Brown’s Anatomy. She told me it was the definitive A to Z of anatomical science. She also tried to sell me on a thriller called Rainbow Seven. Of course I had to stifle my laughter until she told me it was all about espionage. To her credit, she did convince me that I might want to pick up a copy one day.

As the sun started to set over the city, we decided to get something to eat at a diner. From our booth, we recapped our day out until our food arrived at which point the conversation died down. “This was fun.” She stated steadily. “Glad I didn’t lock myself in my room to study for once.” She flashed me a small smile as she dug into her mashed potatoes.

I smiled back at her, “Yeah, wish I could do this kind of thing more.”

She cocked her head at me curiously, “But you’re getting your license next week right?”

“Yeah but I wont have my own car until my dad buys a new one.”

“Well we can still hang out like this once in a while until then.” She offered.

“Just wish we had a chance to change out of our unis first.” I joked, tugging at the neck tie my mom insisted I wear. “I feel like a total nerd walking around town dressed like this.” Sugar crossed her arms and glared at me over the rim of her glasses. My face turned SO RED. It was pretty embarrassing. “My bad, I didn’t mean t-“

“Really, don’t worry about it. That’s just what I get for being smarter than you.” She interrupted, uncrossing her arms and softening her gaze.

I started chuckling, relaxing my posture. “You’re too good.”

She cracked a small mischievous smile. When we were finally ready to go she asked politely, “Walk me home?”

“For sure.” I agreed. When we stepped outside, it was a little darker and much colder than before we sat down for chow and a long way to home. Fortunately Sugar Coat and I lived in the same neighborhood so walking her home wouldn’t really be an inconvenience.

“It’s pretty cold out.” She observed, rubbing her arms. Of course, me being myself, I really didn’t know what she was actually up to.

Obviously, I thought she was just making friendly small talk, so that’s what I played along with. “Yeah, I guess winters coming up huh?”

“Yeah.” She deadpanned. I missed the hint of disappointment in her voice.

The trip home went much the same way, lots of inconsequential small talk. We didn’t really talk about anything deep or meaningful until we got to Sugar Coat’s house. “Well, here’s my place.” She reminded me. Growing up going to the same school, I did know where she lived of course. I awkwardly followed her up to her doorstep. I stood and waited as she searched her purse for her keys. Before she unlocked the door, she wheeled around to face me. “Thanks for walking me home…it got pretty late huh?” She paused, eventually finishing with an awkward “See you.”

“Alright, Deuces.” I replied dismissively, throwing up the appropriate two fingered gesture. I was pretty tired and eager to go home as well.

Just before Sugar Coat opened the door, she turned around again and called out to me. “Hey…” I stopped and turned back to her, only having made it off her porch. She waved for me to come back and so I did, stopping just in front of her. “Thanks for hanging out with me.” She smiled much more noticeably than before.

I couldn’t help but smile back at her and answer “Any time.” We stood awkwardly smiling at each other until Sugar spoke up again.

“I really should go.“ She gestured to her house, “You should too actually. It’s really late.”

“Yeah.” I reluctantly agreed. I didn’t live very far from Sugar Coat but it was really late. If  I made a habit of being out so late all the time, my dad would tear me apart. I hoped him and mom weren’t worried about me.