Fletcher woke the next day with a start and glanced over at his bedside table, where his alarm clock has previously been, then remembered that it was broken. He then regretted throwing it against the wall yesterday.

The door to his room opened and his mother stepped in. "Fletch, it's 6:30."

Fletcher's eyes widened and he arose from his bed quickly, angry with himself and his mother. "Why didn't you wake me sooner?"

"I didn't know you were still sleeping," she shrugged, then exited the room, shutting the door behind her.

Fletcher groaned and walked over to his dresser. He pulled out a pair of dark wash jeans and a band t-shirt he had gotten for Christmas last year. He quickly pulled the t-shirt over his head and shuffled into his jeans. Fletcher turned his phone on and saw that he still had some time left, and slowed down slightly. The boy then got the rest of his things ready, ate breakfast, and put on a pair of converse as he walked out the door, waving a small goodbye to his mother, who was apparently too busy to notice. He walked out to the the edge of the road, waiting for his ride to pull up, suddenly realizing that he didn't have to rush as much as he did. After a few moments had passed, the gray vehicle pulled into view. Fletcher opened the back door and set his bags on the seat next to him as he sat in his usual spot in the car.

After about five minutes of silence, Clayton spoke.

"Sleep well?" Clayton asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"You didn't respond to any of my texts," Clayton stated, like it was obvious.

Fletcher pulled out his phone and scrolled through all of Clayton's twenty-five text messages. He rolled his eyes and sent a quick text message in return to the dark haired boy, seated in the passengers side of the now moving vehicle.

Clayton looked down at his vibrating phone and narrowed his eyes at Fletcher. "Well played amigo, well played."

"Thanks," Fletcher grinned.

"So why didn't you respond to my texts?" He asked.

"I was sleeping," Fletcher responded easily.

"At four in the afternoon?"

"What, you've never done that before?"

"Not in the past week, wait no, on Sunday I-"

"Guys, we're here."

Both Clayton and Fletcher turned to see Jack getting out of the car, grabbed their belongings, then followed the 18 year old boy in front of them.

The two boys continued walking, until they were through the main doors, into their hallways, and at their lockers.

"Look, it's the month chick," Clayton said, pointing at something behind Fletchers area of view.

Fletcher turned to see April walking towards them.

"Hey," April smiled.

"Hey," Fletcher smiled back. They stood there for a few moments, awkwardly, until Clayton spoke up.

"Wow, you guys always have such interesting conversations," he spoke loudly.

Both April and Fletcher looked over at him, then back at each other. Clayton sighed and began walking forward.

"C'mon," he said, beckoning them towards him. "Let's go."

They both followed him towards their first period class, and continued following him into the classroom, until they reached their seats, at which time they sat down.

"Now, today I didn't assign you guys a journal entry because you will be taking a quiz on your previous knowledge of certain words and their meanings. Note, this quiz does not count as a grade, I'm just interested to see what you ready know," Mr.Graham's voice boomed from the front of the room. "You may begin as soon as I put a paper on your desk, no cheating, all the usual, and good luck."

Fletcher wrote his name across the top of his paper, then moved his gaze down to the word labeled with a number one directly before it. He scribbled down the answer easily, language arts had always been one of his better subjects, possibly even his best.

"Yo, what'd you get for number one?" A voice whispered in his year.

Fletcher looked up to see Clayton looking up at him with a hopeful look on his face.

"It doesn't count as a grade," Fletcher whispered back.

"I know, but I want to seem smart," Clayton stated.

Fletcher rolled his eyes, "He'll find out soon enough that you're not."

"I know but I wanna seem like a good student while I can, so he won't think I was completely bad. Like, 'oh, yeah, Clayton, I liked him for a week or so, he's a good kid. I mean it was only a week but hey, a minute seems like eternity in this place.'"

Fletcher raised his eyebrows and responded back quickly, "if he thinks a week is long, I wonder how long the rest of the year will seem."

"Didn't think of that," Clayton said wistfully. "You've found a loophole in my plan. But next time-"

"Ah, Mr.Abbott, I thought I mentioned in the directions not to cheat," Mr.Graham spoke.

"Ah, but sir, I wasn't cheating, I was merely having a friendly conversation with Mr.Greene over here, and this conversation coincidentally happened during this quiz that you assigned to us students." Clayton smiled cheekily.

"Ah, well Mr.Abbott, I wasn't aware that a conversation was allowed to be exchanged between students during a quiz or test."

"Well, I guess you're aware now."

"I was meaning to get the point across to you, Mr.Abbott, that a conversation between students during a quiz or test is not allowed here, most certainly not in this classroom."

"Ah, well how was I supposed to know? You've never mentioned it, and I haven't seen it on any of the papers you've handed out to us," Clayton said casually.

"Well, I didn't think I needed to tell you, I thought by now you would've known."

"Oh, I see. You weren't expecting someone like me. It's cool. Nobody's ever really prepared for me. I'm often quite unexpected, I'm the only one of my species, you see."

During the time this conversation was taking place, Fletcher was biting his tongue, fearing what would be awaiting for his friend. Clayton always seemed to find a way to get into trouble, then slither out of punishment at the last second, although he would occasionally not be quick and cunning enough for the great concept of punishment, and would get sucked into it. At times like those, Fletcher would pass by Clayton carrying out the assignment given to him, and would not even attempting to hold back his laughter. Although the majority of the time, if Clayton got punished, Fletcher seemed to get sucked into punishment with him.

"Well, I would love to do some research on this rare species of yours after school. During detention, perhaps. I'll see you after school, Mr.Abbott."

However, those weren't the exact words that came out of the English teachers mouth. Because somehow, as usual, Fletchers name got stuck into his last sentence as well.

'Time to add that one to the tally chart' Fletcher thought to himself. 'If there's any room left,' he added in at the end.

It was almost as if every teacher he had ever had considered it fair that if Clayton got in trouble, he should too. But Fletcher just sighed and continued working on his test, and when the period ended, he quickly exited the classroom, grateful to be out of the place.

"Hey, Fletcher," a voice spoke from behind him.

He turned to see April smiling at him. "Oh, hey."

"Nice shirt."

Fletcher looked down at the white t-shirt he was wearing that read 'The Beatles' across the top in large, black font.

"Thanks."

"Well, I have to go, but I'll see you later," April waved a small goodbye and walked to her next class. Fletcher attended his next two classes and then he finally got to attend his favorite class- well- if you would consider it a class.

Lunch.

Beside it being Fletcher's favorite time of day, while at school, it was also the next time that Fletcher saw April that day.

As he sat there at his usual lunch table, he heard someone set their tray down on the table beside his. He looked up to see one of his friends who typically sat at his table with him, when he was greeted by the familiar face of April Davis.

"Can I sit here?" She asked.

"Yeah, of course," Fletcher said.

She sat in the seat corresponding to where she had placed her lunch tray, right next to Fletcher.

"I don't remember approving of this," Clayton whispered in Fletchers ear.

Fletcher looked at his friend, wondering if he really did have a problem with April sitting there.

"I just don't think this relationship is going to work out Fletcher, with you going behind my back all the time, hanging out with other women- it just breaks my heart seeing you with her," Clayton said, a serious look plastered on his face. With that being said, Fletcher now knew that the dark haired boy was only joking about his previous statement.

Fletcher turned back to April, after rolling his eyes at Clayton.

She smiled at his slightly, then looked back down at her pasta.

"How were your classes," Fletcher asked nervously.

"Oh, good. And yours?"

"Well- as good as they'll get, I guess."

And with the rest of the half hour they were provided to eat their lunch with, they did exactly that. Just ate. Now, as much as Fletcher liked eating, he wished he would have plucked up the courage to talk to her more. He had talked to her all the time before she came to his school. Well- they didn't necessarily talk, they wrote, but still- Fletcher couldn't understand why he felt awkward talking to her.

The rest of the day carried on as any normal school day would. Classes, frantic scribbling of notes, and small conversations squeezed in during the short period of time students had in the hallway while traveling to their other classes.

When the bell finally rang, Fletcher made sure he had all of his books he needed to do his homework for the night, then met up with Clayton and began to walk outside.

"Fletcher."

Fletcher turned to see April walking toward them, then stopped and waited for her to catch up. Once she had reached them, the two boys continued walking.

"Is this going to become a regular thing now or..." Clayton spoke.

Fletcher shrugged.

"How was your day?" April inquired.

"Boring," Both boys spoke in unison.

April smiled, "mine was pretty boring too."

"Until you got to see me in Social Studies right," Clayton grinned.

"Oh yeah, that was fun," April said sarcastically.

Fletcher glanced over at Clayton. "What'd you do?"

"What makes you think I did anything?"

"I think you already know the answer to that," Fletcher said.

"Not really."

Fletcher yawned as they arrived at the parking lot.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow," Fletcher turned to look at April.

"Yeah, I'll see you then," she said.

He smiled at her one last time before he stepped into Jack's car, his head buzzing with thoughts, most all of them involving a girl with red hair and dark green eyes.

----------------------------------------------------------

Well, I hope this chapter didn't suck- thanks for reading!