September, 2011

  Collin, Emmi, and Bine walked into the cafeteria. He had on sport shorts, a rock band graphic-t, a denim-hoodie jacket, Nike sneakers, and leather wristbands. It was Friday and that meant sloppy Joe day as they stood in line. Gncing at his phone he opened his social media and scrolled.

  Despite posting other pictures recently his thirst-trap photo had over 500 likes and 100 comments. It's only been a few weeks and Collin's 800 followers has skyrocketed to 1000, before hitting the hay st night he saw the 25 new friend requests. Collin's profile picture was him on his motorcycle and his username was B?b￥F?ce_€ollin.

  After getting their lunch they sat down at a table. He got a few phone calls from his family and a text from his dad saying he'll be back ter tonight. If Collin was back in D.C. he would be getting ready for his first football game of the season.

  Without a doubt his coach would ask his mom to oversee their training and give a speech. Honestly, he wasn't sure if he wanted all that pressure right now. Last night his mom told him that Inaya and Ezra's condition was still the same. But Collin's mental health and motivation was getting better.

  "You know Paranormal Activity 3 is coming out next month," Emmi suddenly said. "We should go see it."

  "Sounds dope," Bine yawned.

  Before Collin could say anything he noticed Helena walking away from two people and waved. "Hey Helena!"

  Helena hesitated for a moment before giving him a warm smile and waving.

  "Dude," Bine's voice was full of disdain. "What are you doing? You don't wanna mess with her."

  "What do you mean?" Collin was confused.

  "She's cold towards everyone and somehow she's still super popur," Emmi expined. "Helena will string you along, stab you in the back, and throw you away when she gets bored."

  "Seriously?" Collin was caught off guard.

  "Yes!" Emmi and Bine shouted at the same time.

  "But," Collin tried to expin. "I've talked with her before and we're childhood friends."

  "People change," Bine shrugged.

  "Just be careful," Emmi frowned. "You're a giant teddy bear, Collin."

  Bine looked at him and spoke. "Did you know Helena's older brother murdered 4 people."

  "No way?" Collin scowled at the accusation.

  After lunch and calculus Collin headed over to history. In his st css he saw Helena and it was kinda awkward. This rumor was pretty crazy and Collin didn't like it, if that were true why isn't Helena's brother behind bars? How many years ago was that? Collin sat down in his seat as their history teacher Mrs. Roth wrote on the dry-erase board.

  "The Great Serum Run," Mrs. Roth expined. "A team of sled dogs led by a Siberian Husky named Balto, delivered life-saving medicine to a town in Aska during an emergency in 1925. We're gonna watch Balto the movie inspired by the events. After that I want you to write a one page paper about what you thought."

  When school was over Collin and his friends went to the arcade. He smiled and gazed around the room, it was a little busy as other kids ran past them. Emmi pointed at a basketball game while Bine went to get tokens.

  A few minutes ter they were throwing basketballs and Collin was in the lead, when the countdown buzzed the score was 35 to 20. Next was Street Fighter and Collin lost to Bine and Emmi because his combos were cking. After that they pyed air hockey, Donkey Kong, pinball, Alien Invaders, skee ball, Pac-Man, and other games.

  3 hours ter, Collin did the bench press at home while his dad spotted him. He lifted the weights a few more times before his dad grabbed it and put it back on the rack. Sitting up Collin took deep breaths and snatched up his water bottle.

  "Nice rep," his dad patted his back. "I hope you weren't too lonely, son. Whatcha do while I was gone?"

  "Just hung out with my friends Emmi & Bine," Collin answered. "How's the project going?"

  "We're almost done," his dad expined. "But they want me to redesign the second main character."

  He stood up. "Cool, what's the name of this Indie film?"

  "The Social Butterfly Effect," Collin's dad smiled. "Okay, let's have supper and then we can toss around the old pig skin."

  30 minutes ter Collin and his dad stood outside their house, the sky was a beautiful purple as insects chirped. Following their pybook he started to run around the yard as his dad threw the football.

  Collin twisted and caught the ball easily. "Yo, dad! I actually met an old friend at school. Her name is Helena Jeager, do you remember her?"

  There was a moment of silence before his dad spoke. "Her name sounds familiar, but you had a lot of friends growing up."

  "Well," he tossed the ball back. "I heard some bad things, mostly rumors about Helena's family."

  "Like what?" Collin's dad jogged and caught the ball. "Go long!"

  Collin ran around again as his dad threw the football, he jumped in the air and caught it. "I don't know if it's true or not. But her older brother might have a criminal record."

  "Where's her brother now?" his dad asked.

  "As far as I know not arrested," Collin admitted as he tossed the ball in his hand. "People also think Helena is a stuck-up brat, I just don't know who to believe."

  His dad frowned. "That's the tricky part."

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