~ONE MONTH LATER~

I fall down the stairs, tumbling to the bottom and slamming into the door.

It doesn't faze my mood however, and I jump back up, grinning as my head rushes. Steve shakes his head, laughing at my clumsiness as I grab my backpack from the ground. I trip over my foot and almost fall again before bounding back up the stairs and running into my room.

I skid to a stop, trying to remember where I last put my piggy bank. My head swivels around and I drop down to look under my bed. It's not in here.

"Shit." I mutter, running back out of the room and sliding down the railing. I land on the floor and stumble into the door before making eye contact with Steve, who's throwing something up and down.

"Where's my piggy bank?" I say, out of breath slightly. He shrugs and I sigh, going to run past him. I glance at the thing he's throwing and continue to run, only realizing what it is after I'm already in the other room.

I stop, beginning to walk backwards and returning to the living room. Steve's laughing, shaking his head at me as he holds my piggy bank in his hand.

I huff and grab it from him roughly, sticking my tongue out and turning as he continues to laugh.

I rush out of the room and shove my piggy bank into my bag along with the usual stuff.

I suddenly hear a buzz coming from my walkie talkie.

"Loud Mouth?" It's Dustin's voice coming from the speaker, and I place it to my ear, "Loud Mouth do you copy?"

I grin, pressing the button, "This is Loud Mouth, coming in from the hood. Over."

"Lucas and I have six bucks total. What do you have?"

I glance at my piggy bank, "Uh...lemme count."

I shake the contents onto the wood floor, separating them with my fingers. I mumble random numbers as I count, and come back to Dustin.

"I've got seven bucks and fifty cents." I say.

"Holy shit!" I hear him shout, forcing me to take the thing an inch from my ear, "Where'd you get all that?"

"I mean, I'm on the ground half the time, and most of the change people drop ends up there too. It's one of the advantages of being to clumsy." I shrug, "What's Mike got?"

"I dunno, he's still looking."

"What? But we're leaving like, right now."

"I dunno. I'm sure he'll come through." Dustin sighs, "Bet I'll beat you to the Arcade though."

"Oh you're on."

"Three two one go!" I laugh as Dustin races through the countdown and hangs up. I stuff everything in my bag and rush into the other room.

"Bye." I say shortly to Steve, shoving a ball cap on my head before opening the front door and swinging it closed behind me. I grab my bike and run it out into the road before hopping on.

It's dark out tonight, and usually I'm not allowed to ride when it's dark. Steve used to always drive me places. He'd constantly tell me I was not allowed to be outside alone after dark, and gave me a curfew. My father has been less intrusive lately because he is extremely busy with his job and is going on lots of conference trips. It's such a different life when he's not around, I feel free.

It's not like he's no longer an asshole, it's just I don't get hurt as much. Whenever my dad lashes out on me, Steve talks him out of it. Only a few times has Steve taken the hits for me, but I wouldn't let that go on for long before I would be screaming at them to stop fighting. It's scary sometimes, and I fear that Steve worries too much.

I told him when I'd had enough. I told him that I am old enough to ride my bike alone and don't need to be babysat all the time. He gave me space, and now I'm a little less home bound.

He still doesn't like it when I'm home after ten thirty, or at least wants me to phone him if I'll be late home. It's hard to do that though, because I don't have my own phone.

I understand why he's so frantic. He has definitely been a much better brother than before, and I know he's trying to make it up to me. I'm not one to dwell on the past, and don't hold many grudges. So I always tell him that I've forgiven and forgotten, but he doesn't feel like he'll ever be able to make it up to me.

I think he's done more than enough.

I race down the dark street, the passing lamps just a blur of light to me. It took be a while to get used to not worrying about what's out there anymore.

I still do. I still see things sometimes. I'll see a flash of grey, or a footprint. I'll slam on my breaks when I see them, and retract my steps to see that there was nothing really there.

I haven't told anyone about my hallucinations either. They were really bad for the first few months, and haven't gotten much better.

I'm sure they'll go away at some point, I'll just have to wait it out.

How hard can that be?

The sound of my bike chain spinning slows down as I reach the Arcade, pulling into the lot. I beat Dustin, though it's never a surprise when I do. The only times he's ever beat me is when my leg was still healing and I would be scared to ride too fast. Even then it's a close race.

I park my bike in one of the loops, seeing that I'm the first to arrive. It's dark, but the joint is brightly lit by the Arcade's neon lights. It draws people towards it with its luring nature, daring you to come in and play.

I unzip my bag and grab my piggy bank, pouring the contents into the palm of my slightly scarred hand. I have scars all over my arms and chest too, some worse than others. The doctor said they'll be here forever, and it doesn't bother me as much as it should. The boys help with my self consciousness by calling them my 'battle scars,' making me feel much better.

As I place the empty bank in my backpack, I hear the spinning of more bike gears, and watch as Mike and Lucas come riding into the parking lot, followed closely by Dustin, who's panting as he stares at me in disbelief.

As they near, I grin. They jump off their bikes and I pretend to act cool, leaning against mine.

"Hello boy—Agh!" My bike collapses and I go tumbling to the ground, gasping at the sudden drop. Lucas and Mike burst out into laughter as Dustin joins us, grinning at the scene.

"Nice one, Smooth Moves." Lucas laughs as Mike helps me up, still chuckling.

"I've got more game than you." I shoot back and he scoffs.

"Yeah but you're ten times as gullible." He retorts and I narrow my eyes.

"I am not gullibl—"

"Look out!" Lucas points behind me in terror and I duck, covering my head. I hear more laughing as I see that none of them are crouched down like me.

"Oh ha ha." I say dryly, standing up and crossing my arms. They continue to laugh as I walk past them and pick my bike up, shaking my head.

My friendship with the boys has grown immensely since I first met them. Going through everything I did with them bound us together like glue. We've grown in the past months as well, shared more laughs than ever now that all the dark stuff is over. I've bonded with Will as well, we like the same stuff, me and him. The same books, the same movies, we often talk about it. Will is different than the others, he's more easy to relate to. I don't find him just another stupid boy like Lucas and Dustin, he's smarter, more observant. And once you get to know him, he's not as shy as I thought he was. We laugh a lot too, and have many inside jokes that drive the rest of them crazy. It's funny when one of them will say something, and we'll burst out laughing. They get all frustrated, and sometimes Will and I will just burst out laughing for no other reason than to annoy them.

I hear the familiar honk of Joyce's car, and see her pull up, Will in the passenger side.

I watch as Will fidgets while his mother talks to him, no doubt going over the rules like she does every time.

He finally jumps out of the car, and I smile and wave at Joyce who smiles back, watching Will worriedly. I mouth 'he'll be fine' to her and she looks a little more relaxed, nodding her head before driving off.

"Looks like I grew." I say smugly, glancing at Will as we walk to the Arcade.

"No way." He says, standing on his tiptoes.

Me and him are about the same height, so it's always a competition to see who may have stretched out over night.

"You're right." I shrug, "Maybe you're just . . . shrinking."

I raise my eyebrows at him before running into the Arcade.

"You've lost your mind Liz." He mumbles and I laugh, rushing over to where the other boys stand at the Dragon's Lair.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

HEY GUYS LONG TIME NO SEE.

So the reason I didn't update nearly as soon as I said I would is because I started to fail math and my parents made sure I wasn't doing anything "not important" when I could be doing "important stuff" like "math."

So I've raised my grades and am back in the running so I've had more time to do the actual important stuff like making this sequel. I am really excited to make this and if you lot have any suggestions be sure to tell me because I have no plans woot woot.

Will be updated soon, glad to be back.