"hey guys...what's your dad going to do with all of that stuff in the attic?" mouth asks, to no one in general.

i stand up with a grin and look up the stairs.

"no, no way," mikey says looking at me and reading my mind.

"c'mon mikey, in all my life knowing you, i've never been in your attic," i plead.

"uh-uh, that's the stuff my dad wants to give back to the museum, or whoever is going to be the new assistant curly, or ker-kerney,"

"curator," brand says walking upstairs.

"that's what i said," mikey replies following everyone else. i stay behind to scope out the room. it's quite peaceful when no one else is in it and something in me is making it hard to move.

"wait up," i call out running up. they already have the access door pulled down, with most of them already up.

"hey, look at this, i didn't know dad had all of this junk up here," brand says looking around at the ancient wonders mr. walsh hid away. what was with the man and hiding great things?

"just move, will ya you giant lug?" i ask him pushing onto his back. everyone's oohing and aahing, causing me to be very curious.

i poke my head into the room after brand and look around. it was a dusty room with interesting objects. paintings and figurines stand against desks and shelves, i'm starting to regret not coming up here earlier.

"hey, come on guys. this is my dad's place. he doesn't want us up here. you heard what my mom said to the housekeeper about not wanting anybody up here!" mikey called out not touching anything.

"hey loser, i didn't know your dad had cool stuff like this," i say to brand standing next to him.

"can it," he replies flipping through some papers.

"sassy!" i laugh walking away from him, over to mouth and mikey.

"...you actually have something cool like this in your house," i hear mouth say as i approach them.

"you guys, my mom said to- you guys put down the outfit, okay," mikey calls out trying to stop everybody from messing the room up.

"mikey, calm down,"

"hey, mikey, this is great. we only have old hanukkah decorations in our attic,"

"i don't care what you have in your attic," mikey replies trying to reach data and mouth as they play with small swords.

"chunk, i care," i tell him sarcastically, patting chunk on the shoulder.

chunk grins at me and nods his head.

"what do you have in your attic nicky?"

a large bang is suddenly heard so i look sharply to the three boys. mikey's reaching for his inhaler to take a puff while mouth laughs at data's reaction to the loud noise.

"okay guys, you saw it. now c'mon, can we go?" mikey pleads.

"i gotcha right here!" chunk yells while slightly poking mikey with a sword.

"woah, chunk," i say quietly as i watch him slowly lower the sword to the ground.

"ouch, guys. seriously. my hayfever is acting up and you guys always break something,"

i walk over to mouth and squat to where he is behind a painting.

"here nicky, i'll pretend to be you for a second," he tells me, poking a hole through the painting.

"mikey," mouth calls out.

"what?"

"mikey, come here and make me feel like a woman. come give me a nice, wet lickery kiss!"

"mouth," i say pushing him down and standing. i can't trust the kid with a secret ever. especially when he has a sick teenage boy mind. i hate the people of this generation.

i sit down in an old chair and watch the boys run around touching stuff as mikey tells them to knock it off. it's times like this that i wish i had girls for friends. i could be talking about the latest fashion trend or boys or wondering if we should go out for the night, rather than sitting in an attic looking at stuff.

"hey, are we going out for a movie or what?" i call out to mikey.

"yeah, yeah, i think so," he says not looking at me rather than trying to grab something from brand.

"hey mikey, what is all of this stuff?" chunk asks looking down at some papers.

"what? let me see,"

"oh, the museum did some kinda- where'd you get this?"

"right there!"

"they did a show, a retropackum, a-"

"retrospective," brand corrects him again.

"that's what i said! you always contradict me. i was right, i knew what... it was about astoria, and all of these rejects," mikey tells. everyone but me huddles around mikey to see what's going on.

"kinda like us, the goonies," chunk says.

brand and data look at a purple ball while everyone else is interested in what mikey has to say.

"how'd you turn that on? turn it off," brand says to data, who doesn't pay attention to him anyways.

"i'm not a reject," mouth tells them with a glare. mouth thinks that because he's always talking to the other kids in school, teasing them actually, that he's cool. mouth's future isn't going to be too great, i can tell you that much.

i zone back into the conversation as everyone's having a good time with the ball data found, putting there fingers onto it.

suddenly, mikey drops a huge frame, causing him to stop and look at it.

"hey, look at this!" he calls out, taking a paper out of the broken glass. i stand now, going to where everyone's looking at what he found. i've been lightheaded ever since i hit my head, so jumping out of the chair fast hurts my head.

"man," i say out loud, rubbing my temples. i'm done with all of their talking.

i walk back to the ladder that led downstairs and slowly crept down them. today's overwhelming antics are just now hitting me and suddenly i'm not in the mood for any wild times.

i walk to mikey's room and stand in the doorway, looking at the place he spends most of his 24-hour periods in. i walk into it and plop down on his neatly made bed, which smells like him, obviously. it's a sort of wood scent, which his entire house and family smells like, mixed with the fruity strawberry candy he always has with him. it's a nice smell.

he has stars on his ceiling, i remember putting them up there. mikey, mouth, and i spent the night here when we were just starting the 1st grade and mikey was scared to start elementary.

at the time, mikey had a huge fascination with space and wanted to be an astronaut one day. mouth and i begged his mom to go out and buy star stickers to place above his head.

we ran all the way to to store in our pajamas and bare feet, and bought them quickly. when we got back mouth told me that he wanted stickers on his wall as well, so he scheduled a sleepover at his house. the cycle went on and soon all three of us had glowing constellations on our ceilings.

i smile as i revisit the memory, only before i get interrupted.

"look, nicky's found her way into mikeys bed!" mouth laughs from the doorway with mikey standing next to him.

"shut up, i'm just tired," i groan sitting up. mikey looks at me with astonishment before smiling wide.

"c'mon nicole, we're going on an adventure,"