A/N: The only thing I have to say is that the story is set in their junior year of high-school and don’t worry, the Pretty Committee and the Briarwood Soccer Boys will be important.

McDaniel Household

McDaniel Kitchen

Friday, August 26th

4:13 PM

“TRISTAN!”

Tristan McDaniel’s head shot up when his sister screamed his name. He knew by the way she yelled that he was in deep trouble this time, for whatever it was that he did to upset her this time. He quickly shoved the rest of his sandwich in his mouth and tried to run out of the room but Krista blocked him in the doorway.

“Ah-ha!” She shouted, pointing an accusing finger in his face. He blinked, looked at the finger, and then looked up at her. “That’s where my makeup went! Trist, I told you, if you want to use this stuff buy it yourself.”

“Why? It’s easier just to get it off of you and I don’t have to pay for it,” he responded, after a large swallow.

“But I pay a lot of money for this makeup. It’s not cheap!” Krista replied with an eye roll and a cross of her arms.

“You don’t understand,” Tristan sighed. “If I bought the stuff myself–”

“Then you’d have to deal with another round of teasing and ignorance,” Krista interrupted him. “I know, lil bro, I know. This wouldn’t be a problem if you could just tell Kate and Dad and–”

“Stop right there, panda bear!” Tristan said as he held up her hand. “You know what Mom and Dad think of…’my kind’,” he said with finger quotes and an eye roll. “They’d disown me. I can’t support myself. At least, not yet.”

“Are you ever going to tell them?”

“I will.” Tristan nodded. The doorbell rang. “But not now. See ya sis, thanks!” he kissed her cheek and ran to the front door. He pulled the door open and placed his hand on the visitor’s chest, pushing him away from the door and down the porch. He closed the door behind himself and faced the visitor.

“You’re stronger than you look,” Eli McAllistar muttered as he rubbed his chest. “What’s with the urgency anyway?” He questioned as the two friends moved down the sidewalk and made their way to the blue Mazda 3 Hatchback that was sitting in the driveway, his mother behind the wheel.

“I wanted to leave before my parents came home and told me I had to do chores,” Tristan replied, sliding onto the buttery soft seats and buckled up. “How’re you today, Mrs. M?”

“I’m doing quite well, Tristan. Thank you for asking,” she replied with a gracious smile directed towards him in the rearview mirror. Eli rolled his eyes as a cheesy smile crossed Tristan’s features.

Eli and Tristan have been best friends since Kindergarten. They were seated by last name and that’s how they met. They’ve been friends the first day they met, bonding over simple appreciation towards the pink crayons they were given during art time. Tristan was there for Eli when his little sister died from cancer and Eli was there for Tristan when his parents got a divorce. The two were always seen with each other and it was rare to see them separately.

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Westchester Mall

Entrance

Friday, August 26th

4:33 PM

“What time do you want me to pick you guys up?” Mrs. McAllistar asked as the two boys got out of the car.

“About…six?” Eli glanced over at Tristan who nodded. “We’ll be right out front, Ok?” He leaned into the window and kissed her cheek. “Thanks mom!” He waved before the two boys walked into Westchester Mall. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I don’t know why I love this place so much, but I do.”

“It’s because you shop as much as…them,” Tristan replied as he pointed. Across the mall, coming out of Bergdorf was the Pretty Committee followed by their Briarwood boyfriends. Derrick, Cam, and Josh were carrying their respective girls’ bags and they looked like they wanted to commit suicide.

“Please, I’m not as bad as them,” Eli said in an offended tone as the two began to roam the mall, making sure to avoid the Pretty Committee like the plague. “Where do you want to go to first? Hot Topic or Spencer’s?”

“Spencer’s,” Tristan responded instantly. “They have a better selection of colors for hair dye and I want to see the perfect shade before I get it done.”

“Ok.”

The two jumped onto the nearest escalator and rode it to the next floor of the large mall. They weaved in and out of the shoppers that were moving in the other direction before finally making it to the large store.

Eli took a look at the band shirts that were on sale while Tristan went straight for the hair-dye corner. He stared at the rows of different shades of colors before resting his eyes on a hot pink hair dye. A grin crossed his face as he grabbed the bottle and rushed over to where Eli was standing. Tristan smirked, knowing that Eli wandered over to that section of the store because he was on autopilot, like he always was once he stepped foot into the store.

“You looking for something for your girlfriend?” Tristan asked with a laugh as he pulled the pink object that was in Eli’s hand away from him.

Eli blushed as he snatched it back and hung it back on the wall display. “I don’t have a girlfriend, remember?” he growled through clenched teeth.

Tristan’s eyes widened. “Oh, so that’s for you? My my, you’re a secretive one,” he said as he nudged his friend’s shoulder. Eli rolled his eyes as Tristan laughed. “I’m kidding you, just relax. Anyway, I think this is the perfect shade.”

“Do you really want you parents on you case? You’ve spent this whole time avoiding their questions, why mess it up now?” Eli asked with a sigh as he took the bottle from Tristan’s hand and looked it over.

“I’m sixteen. I think I can make my own decisions myself.” A thoughtful look crossed his face. “I should take it slow, though,” he said slowly, a distant look in his eye. Eli knew automatically that Tristan was coming up with a plan judging by the look in his friend’s bright blue eyes. He’s seen that look many times before and that was the look that he had before they got into trouble. “I want to get a lip ring,” he declared, smiling at Eli, waiting for his reaction.

Eli stayed silent, weighing his options in his head before speaking up. Eli had many piercings himself: a lip ring on either side of his bottom lip, his right eyebrow, and three in the cartilage of his left ear. He got them knowing that his parents wouldn’t care what he did to his body, as long as it didn’t harm him in the long run and that he actually wanted it. But Tristan was a different story. The only drastic thing he did was wear makeup on random days and his parents didn’t even know about that. There would be no way that his parents would let him dye his hair, especially his step-mom.

“I think…we should go to the Food Court and talk this over,” Eli finally spoke up, grabbing his friends’ arm and practically forced him to go to the Food Court. He shoved Tristan down in a seat before rushing off to find Auntie Anne’s, their favorite food shop.

“Eli! Hey!”

Eli looked around to find the source of the voice. He finally looked over a couple of heads and smiled when he saw Meena Smith and Heather Dupree rushing towards him, their hair flying behind them.

“Hey guys!” he greeted them with a warm smile and a big hug. “If I knew you were going to come I’d have picked you up.”

“Oh, we decided to come at the last minute. We were going to go to the movies but Layne said she wanted to come here instead so here we are,” Meena replied, her pink, orange, yellow, and purple braces flashing in the bright light.

“Where’s Tristan?” Heather asked, looking around.

“Sitting down over there,” he replied, pointing towards the tables. “He wants to get a tongue piercing. I’m trying to convince him not to do it. Maybe you’ll have better luck.”

“We accept this mission!” Meena said as she saluted, hooked arms with Heather, and raced over to Tristan.

Eli chuckled and turned around, stepping forward in line. He rocked on his heels, waiting for the four people in front of him to order their food. “Eli Eel!” He heard someone shout. Heads turned to find out who yelled but he didn’t have to turn his head to know who it was.

“Layne Crane!” Eli hugged her tight, easily lifting her off of the ground. Once he set her back down he took a look at her attire. She took a tip from the Harajuku style this time. Her brown hair was pulled into two pigtails on the side of her head, held there by a pink and black ribbon. She wore a black dress that went to her knees, with a white border at the bottom. Short pink sleeves had a black border on the edges. She wore black, knee high combat style boots with bright pink laces. On her arms were bright pink arm warmers that stopped at her wrist and laced up with black ribbon. “You look…very J-rock.”

“Really?” Layne grinned. “I took inspiration from Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku girls and modified it a bit.”

“Did Halloween come early?” Eli and Layne both rolled their eyes, knowing that the snarky remark came from Massie Block. It struck them both as odd that she was at an Auntie Anne’s but it was no surprise that the only reason she came over was to put them down.

“It must have. Can I use your face for my costume? It’s scary enough to make little kids die of fright,” Layne responded with a smirk. Massie’s amber eyes flashed as she glared at Layne. Her friends glared at Layne too, except for Claire. Claire and Kristen were the only ones that Eli liked. Claire because she was Layne’s best friend and Kristen because she was actually sensible and seemed to have a mind of her own.

“Layne, am I Avril Lavigne?”

Oh, here we go.

“No,” Layne said in a bored tone.

“Oh, really? ‘Cause ‘I don’t give a damn, I don’t give a shit what you say about that’!” Massie laughed as she got high fives from Alicia, Dylan, and Kristen.

Claire, Layne, and Eli exchanged a raised eyebrow look that said was that supposed to be funny?

“Block! Come on! My arms are starting to hurt!” Derrick shouted over the loud noise of the talking customers.

Massie rolled her eyes in a why did I get a weak boyfriend? way before walking off with her friends.

“I still don’t understand why Claire is her friend,” Eli muttered, stepping up another place in line, watching the girls walking away.

“I don’t understand either,” Layne replied a she shook her head. “As long as she doesn’t drop me like a Hot Pocket, I guess I can forgive her for that.”

“Claire doesn’t deserve that, though,” Eli continued. “I mean, look at what Massie has done to her: she made her life hell when she first came here, she tried to steal Cam away from her, and she made Claire go after Josh, which upset Alicia in the process. She tried to make Claire feel guilty for winning the lead role in Dial L for Loser, she blackmailed Claire into getting the key for that stupid Bomb Shelter, she made Claire act like an idiot and then eventually break up with Cam, and then she stopped Claire from liking any boy at all. What next? Is she going to make Claire give up her boyfriend so Massie is the only one in the group with one?” Eli shook his head. “We need to put a stop to this.”

“We need to save Claire!”