Chapter 4

• You're like oxygen to me, Ky. Not drugs or water or alcohol, but oxygen. You know why? Because drugs have all kinds of substitutes and water has different kinds of variations to heal the dying thirst. But Oxygen? No. Everyone lives and dies just to have even an ounce of O2. And Ky, I need you.
• I don't know if you'd like me as someone more than just a friend, and I'll accept that whole-heartedly. I'll wait for you if you're still not sure about me. If I've been patient ever since eight grade, what's more a few more years?
• Kylie. I would never get tired of you or even drop you when you don't give me what I want.
• You're my best friend, teacher, adviser, guide, and my ever-so-patient therapist whenever I need someone to rant to. You hold so many titles in my heart and mind that it would be impossible for me to let you go just because I couldn't call you mine.
• I love you.
• 888888
• October 31, 2005. 8-Years-Old
• The doorbell rang.
• They're here!
• "Mom!" Kylie called, feet padding down the wooden stairs as she headed straight to the door. A small hand clasped the handle, and there were Mrs. Kallis and Sam standing on the doorway. "Hello Mrs. Kallis! Sam!"
• She greeted them with a grin of her own, matching ones of a Cheshire Cat's. Though her mother was elegant and petite, Mrs. Kallis looked the complete opposite-tall and dominant. With dark red hair already streaked with a mix of white and grey, with bright grey eyes dashed with a set of permanent crinkles around it, she still looked pretty even if she was forty-five (Sam had uttered that very loudly when they first met, and in Kylie's perspective, that was very disrespectful of him). "Hello, Kylie. Is your mother ready?"
• A head popped out from the small opening in the kitchen, her messy dirty blonde hair tied in a knot. "In here, Eve! Just getting the sweets ready for Landon to give out."
• "I'll help you. Ugh, I have just got to tell you what happened in court the other day." Mrs Kallis shook her head in retribution, a scowl marring her face before glancing at the two. "You can go to the living room. This could take a while, alright?"
• "Okay, Mrs. Kallis!"
• The said lady chuckled as the two ran straight through the corridor. Kylie could faintly hear her saying, "Why can't my son be as respectful as your daughter?" A smile played on her lips when she tugged on Sam's arm. "Do you like some water?"
• "Nope," he shrugged and observed her costume once they were already in the living room. "Cool costume! You look like an alien from Jupiter!" He threw his hands wide in the air almost falling when he heel bumped against the sofa, stumbling onto her father's knees.
• Sam backed up, giving a sheepish smile. "Sorry, Mr. Darthrow."
• He chuckled, a hand stroking his short beard. "It's fine. I'll just go up and see what your mothers are up to, wouldn't want to disturb you," he ruffled Sam's hair and retreated not before yelling. "Do take care of the vase there! That's supposed to be a gift."
• "Okay!" they resounded before looking each other up and down as they scrutinized each other's outfits.
• "You look awesome!" Kylie muttered grudgingly, noticing how cool the astronaut suit was with an American flag stuck on his bag with a stick. There was also a large helmet that could be opened and closed at his will. Her green face paint and ripped clothing were nothing compared to his.
• Sam beamed, "Yours is cool too."
• A sneaky smile appeared in her lips. "Cooler than yours?"
• He copied her expression, eyebrows raising as bright grey eyes stared back at her. "Wanna bet?"
• Ever since they learned what 'bet' meant, they decided to make everything a bet whether it be what they'd have for lunch the next day, or something like if they'd have no school the next day.
• "Winner gets the candy-all the candy."
• There was a pause as the two leveled their opponents, as if they were boxers sizing each other up. I can win this. Kylie smirked before bringing a hand out for him to shake. "Deal?"
• He was silent for a moment before he shook her hand. "Deal."
• And they ran straight to the kitchen, determined looks written all over their faces.
• º º º º º
• "Faster, mom!" Kylie squeaked, hand wiggling out of her mother's grip before sprinting to the next house. Sam was also dragging his mom, oblivious to her complaints and orders to stop. She groaned when he reached the doorbell. The rule was simple, and it was for neither of them to reach the same house. If it was Sam who had reached the house first, she was off limits to it.
• The young girl stomped her foot, a pout sneaking into her dark green lips. "Mom," she whined. "My candies will be gone."
• Her mother rolled her eyes, "Dear, candy doesn't mean the world."
• "It does to me!"
• This was the last house they'd reach in the street, and at this rate, Sam would win...and I'll lose my candies! The thought caused Kylie's eyes to widen immediately, the grip on her pumpkin bag tightening. A plan. There needs to be a plan...She scanned her surroundings, seeing a red haired teenager laughing with her friends.
• The woman had a piercing on her bottom lip and her hair had this weird bandanna around it but it was evident that there were little red strands left on her head. She was also abnormally thin as if the wind could blow her apart. By Kylie's standards, however, she looked awesome. The best thing was, the teenager had more candy than her.
• I might have a chance of winning!
• "Mommy! I'll be back!" Kylie said, smiling as sweetly as she could before sprinting across the street, pushing past the little kids who were on their way to the next house. She halted, her bag bumping onto the teen's leg causing the red haired girl to turn around. "Hello. I'm Kylie! What's your name?"
• She waved, "Hi! I'm Charlotte." Her loud friends quieted down, all looking at her curiously. One of them, to Kylie's adoration, had a head shaped like a pineapple. And she loved pineapples. "Are you lost?"
• A light blush seared through the seven-year-old's cheeks and she shook her head rapidly. "Nope. I came here to ask for your candy."
• "Why? You seem to have a lot." Charlotte cocked her head at Kylie's basket.
• Kylie looked down.
• "Well...I want to win a bet!"
• "Ah," Charlotte nodded, and her friends behind her snickered. The redhead tightened her hold around her leather jacket before bending down, bright brown eyes twinkling. "What's the bet about?"
• "I want to win against Sam." She pointed at the said boy who was triumphantly counting all his candies in the basket. "So I can get his candy and eat them all!"
• "I like this kid." The pineapple head announced and Kylie beamed.
• Sounds of footsteps neared towards them and Kylie's mother clasped her hand into hers once again, giving the seven-year-old a glare. She cowered. "I'm so sorry for my daughter...she's been pretty...determined lately."
• Charlotte waved her hand before grabbing a half of her sweets from a small paper bag. "No need. You've raised a really good kid, miss-made all of our days, that's what." She ruffled Kylie's hair before placing the candies into her pumpkin basket. "Here you go, Kylie. You better win the bet and spare me some, got it? I'll remember you." She winked and Kylie giggled.
• "Okay! Thank you."
• Kylie obviously won that bet and grabbed all the candy.
• However, no matter where she looked a week after, Charlotte was nowhere to be found.
• October 8, 2009. Twelve-Years-Old.
• "The answer is twelve." Kylie pointed at the paper with weird little scribbles on it. If Sam ever dreamt to be a doctor, he would have no problem. His writing would pass doctor's standards. "It's divisible by twelve."
• Sam groaned, "Great. I can fail another subject. How do you know if it's divisible by three?"
• They were in Sam's living room. Papers looked like they had been hit by a tornado. Since his mother was out to handle a court case that would take hours in the office, she was here trying to avoid the chaos in her household as well. Kylie glanced back at the paper then at Sam.
• "Well you add the numbers. Like here 414, right? You add them then it equals to nine so there. It's divisible by three." The fifth grader wrote the answer in front of her, strands of hair falling from the tight bun she had on. "You see? It's really that easy."
• He blinked, "I may have understood."
• "You don't, do you?"
• "You're a really cool best friend?" The supposed statement came out as a question and Kylie sighed, slamming the pen down on the ceramic table. "Okay, fine. I don't. Just explain it again, please?"
• "I don't know why you don't just call Mona for help."
• Mona had been their friend since fourth grade, and she was way better at explaining these things than anyone else. Kylie glanced back at him, but Sam gave her an easygoing smile, showing a bit of his dimples. "I'd rather you teach me."
• "Because I'm a great tutor?"
• "Nope." He shook his head. "It's because you teach for free. I'm broke."
• Kylie rolled her eyes and pushed him off the couch, laughing. "Ass."
• 888888
• They used to be so carefree.
• But life decided to fuck that up too.
• April 26, 2013. Fifteen-Years-old
• "I hate school," Mona announced, pushing her bag to the table beside her. "I mean. C'mon, who the hell decided on six tests in one day? I haven't even studied." She groaned. Eyes drooping, she gritted her teeth.
• Jenny pushed her, slipping between them with a tray of food in her hands. "Shut it, Mona. We both know you aced them all. Now, let's go to more important things-what's your answer in number 1? A or B?"
• "C."
• "Fuck," the redhead breathed out and glared at her. "Why couldn't you just make me feel better and tell me A?"
• Mona smirked, grabbing the cupcake she had on the tray. "Well obviously so you'd feel bad and allow me to eat this little thing here," she waved the pink frosted cupcake on Jenny's face before taking a bite, moaning at the sweet taste.
• Kylie laughed, nudging Jenny beside her. "Want to spend Halloween with me? We could go down the village and ask for candy." They nodded before another round of chatter continued, this time, Kylie just slipped back into the sidelines.
• After five quizzes, she wasn't in the mood to talk. Nobody could blame her-what kind of bastard decided to surprise them with a pop quiz? She twirled the fork in her fingertips, sighing. At this rate, trying to decide what costume to wear was the least of her problems. She smiled once or twice, but the rest of her time was spent in eating and grabbing one of Mona's books to study on her own too.
• A few minutes later, the canteen was already jam packed with people from different sections. She could already hear them discussing what answer they put in this Math quiz or the essay they wrote in that English quiz. And as the answers were exchanged, Kylie sank deeper into her seat.
• Oh God, my mom's going to kill me.
• She could already imagine her mother booting her out of the house with no gadgets in hand. She'd have to create a new name-a different identity. Was plastic surgery legal for a fifteen-year-old? No. Probably not. What about heading to Africa and just live there? Or maybe just go to Mexico where she could hide with Mona's relatives?
• "Hey!" Jenny clicked her fingers in front of Kylie's face, jerking her out of her reverie. "You alright? Do you need to head to the clinic?"
• "Can I move to Mexico?" Those were the first words that came out of her mouth, blinking.
• Mona clucked her tongue, giving a sympathetic look. "Sorry, doesn't work that way, love. But, my home's open for you...just don't raid the fridge."
• "Speaking of food, where the hell is Sam?" She peered. "He's supposed to be here giving us those popcorn that we asked him."
• "Oh yeah! About that, he won't be coming," Mona stood up abruptly, tucking her polo into her skirt, glancing at the teachers. The uniform policy had always been a reason for the supervisors to badger them. Her hair looked frizzy, but she didn't seem to care. "I need to go-stupid English wouldn't let me off without getting the right number of bibliography cards. See you guys back at the classroom?"
• The restless teenager jumped to her feet and sprinted out of the canteen, pushing some students out of her way. Jenny raised an eyebrow, propping an elbow on the table." She's a really, really bad liar."
• Kylie snorted in her soup, earning a disgusted look from Jenny. "She does know that we already passed those cards, right?"
• "If we ever go on a killing spree, don't let her come. We'll be in prison before we know it."
• The two laughed before Jenny stopped, eyes glinting with mischief.
• "Cute guy, four 'o clock."
• Kylie craned her head to where the guy was before a grin bloomed into her lips. Jason Starker, for her, was the hottest guy this school could've ever produced. Mona didn't think he was too hot-but what did she know? All she had were Paul Wesley posters in the corner of her room. The girl's standards were too high for her own good.
• "Amazing taste."
• "Obviously."
• When Jason saw them, he grinned. His blonde hair was messy, in the I-try-to-look-as-if-I-don't-care-about-my-hair-but-I-really-do style. Kylie sighed, the worries of her upcoming quizzes fading away. She waved at him, to which he copied, showing more of his muscled arms.
• Well, the guy really looked like he played football a lot.
• "You know, I heard that he's interested," Jenny whispered, grabbing a spoonful of mashed potatoes.
• "Ha-ha."
• "He's making his way over!"
• "Shut it, Jen."
• "Smile! He's not a freaking photographer. Act normal!"
• Kylie almost wanted to face palm herself. Technically, Jenny's understanding of 'act normal' was to shove all the food in the world down her throat, looking like a squirrel gathering its acorn. "Hey," Jason's baritone voice uttered, and if there were a time her knees ever felt like jiggling jelly, it had to be this.
• Blue-green eyes stared back at her and his red lips (was he putting on lipstick?) widened. "Uh...hi," she answered back, cursing herself for the stuttering. He's just a guy, who's hot-besides as Mona had said millions of times, this guy couldn't even beat Francisco Lachowski. But then again, it wasn't as if she'd plan to meet those stars someday. Jason Starker had to be the next best thing. "Could I have that cupcake?"
• What the hell am I doing?
• It was as if her mouth had a mind of its own and it decided to embarrass her in every way possible!
• However, Jason didn't think so. He chuckled, picking the cupcake from his tray and placing it in front of Kylie. "Here you go. But of course, there's something you have to do for me," he smiled, a hand placed on the table. They were rough, Kylie could tell. His hands were calloused also scattered with little cuts probably from falling in practice a lot.
• Stop looking at his hands!
• Kylie looked up. She could feel her hands sweating slightly. "What is that?"
• "My uncle just opened a new restaurant, and I need an open mind to try some of his stuff. You want to join me?"
• Oh damn.
• "When is that?"
• "Next week, Saturday?" He smiled again. "Will you come with me?"
• "I'll think about it?"
• Her supposedly sweet smile turned out to be an awkward twitching one. Jason laughed, nodding at her. "Sure. You got my number right? Text me when you're going. See ya, Kylie. Jenny." And he strode out of sight.
• "I'll think about it?" Jenny rolled her eyes. "Bull. We both know you're going."
• Kylie was going to say something else when Sam came into view followed by a guy she didn't recognize. "Hey Ky!" He called, dark eyes gazing at her. Unlike Jason's messy but cute hair, Sam's was messy. There were spikes of hair all over the place. "I have a question for-"
• "Do you think she should go with Jason to his uncle's restaurant?" Jenny cut him off. "She should, right? It's next week."
• He suddenly frowned. A few tables turned to their direction, but they didn't seem to notice. Sam's head snapped up, an emotion unreadable in his eyes. "I don't know."
• "Seriously? What is wrong with you people?" The redhead sighed exasperatedly, eyes rolling.
• "Uh-Ky? Do you want to go to the movies? Heard there's a really good movie playing," Sam started, but it wavered at the end. A few gasps were heard from the table beside them, and Kylie couldn't blame them. Her jaw dropped, and if she could look at the mirror at the moment, she'd look like a stupid blubbering fish.
• "Um, sure who else are going?"
• "Just you and me."
• It was the first time the group quieted down. Kylie stood up immediately, couldn't stand to see the stare Sam had been giving her. "No, sorry." she said softly before walking away, refusing to look at anyone as she strode off, out of the canteen.
• Kylie texted Jason about their date a few hours later, only after she had received a small sticky note from Sam saying-I really, really like you.
• Because he didn't seem to get that, no matter what happen, she only did like him as a friend.
• At least, that was what she wanted to think.