As Shane and Mona walked past their neighbor, they heard a woman's voice from behind them.

  “Shane, Mona, wait up! I’m going to walk with you!”

  As they looked back, they saw a girl around Shane's age, alone in black jeans and a short-sleeved black t-shirt. She had short, light sky-blue hair, which made her beauty stand out even more among everyone who knew her. People who knew her would call her the class Angel because she was always there to help anyone who asked.

  As Shane saw the woman running toward him, he said, “Hey, Alicia. What are you doing here?”

  The woman running toward them was Alicia. She was also a senior in the same school as Shane. She is a couple of months younger than Shane. She was also one of the people at school whom Shane actually considered a friend, because they spent almost their entire lives growing up next to each other. Throughout their lives, they went to the same elementary school, middle school, and now high school. People even suspected they might attend the same college next year.

  “Oh come on, you know I always walk with you two because without me, you’ll probably get lost walking Mona to school again,” Alicia teased, looking directly at Shane.

  “Why do you have to keep bringing up one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. It happened a year ago when I was heavily sleep-deprived from reading all night because I completely lost track of time.”

  The moment Alicia brought up, which happened a year ago, when Shane was still tired from reading about how to take care of a younger sibling by yourself. Shane was not used to the sudden situation he was put in when his dad disappeared, so he had no idea what he was doing or even if he was doing a good job.

  So one day, when he was taking Mona to school, he was in such a state of drowsiness that he couldn’t tell where he was going, and at that point, Mona didn’t speak as much as she did now, so she couldn’t find a way to let Shane know he was going the wrong way.

  It probably would have been like that until Shane at the end of the day, if it wasn’t for Alicia going to find them when she noticed that Shane didn’t show up to their first class of the day. When she found Shane half-awake, she helped him take Mona to school very late and eventually brought him to their own school, too. They made it to school in time for their second. It didn’t matter in the end because Shane fell asleep and didn’t wake up until lunch. This was a moment Alicia decided to make Shane never forget.

  “You know why I keep on bringing it up. You always scold me for the mistakes that I make, so what’s the problem with teasing you about that incident? You better be glad I didn’t tell the rest of the group because if I did, they wouldn’t hesitate about teasing you, Mr. Perfect,” said Alicia as she finally caught up to them and started walking with them.

  “Alicia. What do you think about my brother and Elena? He definitely has a crush on her, right?” said Mona with a smile plastered all over her face as she stared at Shane.

  Shane, who was shocked by what he said, “Mona! What are you talking about?”

  “Of course, he does it super obvious that he does to be honest, I’m surprised that she hasn’t even figured it out already with how awkward he is when trying to hold a normal conversation with her,” said Alicia as a sinister smile grew on her face and she lifted her head. “Shane, you’ve always been obvious that most of us in the group have a bet on when you’re going to ask her out.”

  Shane's expression shifted from cool-headed to completely flustered as the girls tried to pry into his feelings.

  “Can we please stop talking about this and continue to walk normally to school?”

  “Ok, my dear older brother wouldn’t want to tuck your tail in.”

  “By the way, Alicia, what is it with the bet about me asking Elena out? Please explain?”

  Alicia, at the mention of Shane's question, had to take a step back as she just processed what she had admitted to in her state of teasing her childhood friend.

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  “Wh-Wh-What did I say? I don’t remember. Are you sure you didn’t hear things on your own?”

  “Oh come on, I’ve known you since we were children, I know when you’re lying, and the way you just reacted and the way your face has gotten beet red, it's pretty obvious that you're lying.”

  “Fine. How about this: you don’t mention that I let the fact that we made a bet on when you're going to ask out Elena, and I will stop bringing up the fact that you and Mona got lost because you were an idiot who decided it was a good idea to take your 7-year-old sister to school when you were half-asleep.”

  “Deal, now I don’t have to remember that event.”

  Mona looked up at the two teenagers in front of her, confused by how they were able to stay friends and why they bickered like this so often. Is this how adults handle problems with their friends? Will I be able to do the same with my friends? She thought to herself.

  “Hey Mona, what are you thinking?”

  “Oh, nothing. I was just looking at you two getting along even after your fight.”

  “You call that a fight? If that was a fight, then last time was a war when he yelled at me for failing my exam when he spent time trying to teach me.”

  “Oh, really, all you did that day was not pay attention while you asked me for help. Not to mention that you had the nerve to ask for even more help when they gave you a retake exam.”

  “But come on, at least I passed the second time, and I did apologize.”

  “Ok, I get it, my brother is an idiot, who is not good with other people.”

  “Hey, that hurts.”

  A few moments later, as they reached the entrance to Sunderland Elementary, they heard the laughter of young children playing nearby. This was the school Mona attended now, and it was the one Shane and Alicia went to when they were Mona's age.

  “Hey Mona, have a good day at school, and please try to make up with your friends.”

  “Why do you always have to worry about my brother. Don’t worry, I’m good, and I will apologize when I see them.”

  “Ok, I’ll pick you up around five or six, so be ready by that time so that we can go out to eat.”

  “Oh, you two are going out to eat dinner tonight, can I join?”

  “No, this is just for family, and I have to reward Mona for all the hard work she’s been putting into school. Plus, I’m already helping you study so you don’t fail our next physics exam next week.”

  “Oh, no fun. You don’t consider me family after we spent our entire lives together. Then what do you consider me?”

  As Shane let out a large sigh, he said, “I consider you an annoying childhood friend who is nothing but trouble.”

  “...”

  Alicia was left silent at Shane's description of him, and as a response to his, she slapped him in the back of the head.

  “Ouch, why the hell did you do that for?”

  “Because you're an idiot. Plus, you're not the only one who does well in physics. You know Elena is interested in space, and she always does well on our exams.”

  As Mona watched her brother react to a good whack to the back of the head, she laughed and started walking toward her school.

  “Shane, make sure you’re not late because if you are, I’ll make you spoil me even more.”

  “Oh, alright. I’ll see you later.”

  As Shane watched his little sister walk to class, a smile spread across his face as he thought he was doing a good job.

  “Hey, not to ruin this moment you're currently having, but we have 15 minutes until our first class starts, so we kinda have to hurry if we want to make it in time.”

  As Shane checked his watch on his right hand, he saw it was 8:15. If they wanted to make it to their first class at 8:30 with time to talk with their other friend, they would have to start walking again.

  “Alright, let's go. I know the rest will be there, waiting for us to make sure that we show up to our after-school study session later.

  “By the way, who else is studying with us today? I wasn’t paying attention when I made plans. I was too busy helping out the book club. By the way, why didn't you ever join that club? All you do in your free time is read and play video games.”

  “Sigh. Well, the people who are going to study with us are Elena, Everett, Nathan, Alexa, Franco, and Ivan. And for the second question, you already know I don’t have enough free time with school and going home to take care of Mona.”

  “Oh, ok, I hope we cover everything that's going to be on the exam, I can’t fail again, or my parents will kill me."`

  “Then you'd better make sure you pay attention to when Elena and I are talking about what's going to be on the exam.”

  “Fiiiiiiine.”