Oliver had always lived in my neighborhood so when I witnessed a white sedan pulling up followed by a police car, I realized that the rumors were true and they weren't just a string of gossip.

Oliver had been released from juvie early and was being brought back to civilization.

Squinting as the car parked on the curb beside his house, I heard the bouncing and pounding of a basketball, "Nothing like suburbia," I muttered under my breath as I saw a few people exiting the sedan and walking up the pathway.

"Emerson, the freak show is back," I heard my little brother, Jackson, say as he brought his 6'2 figure up closer to me bouncing his basketball beside me as we made our way to the court to meet up with Sidney.

I rolled my eyes as I stared at the pavement walking in a straight line, my arms spread out and one in front if the other, "I know, Jacky. I'm not blind, I just saw the cars pull up too."

Jackson bounced the ball once more before grabbing it and holding it steady as he peered over my head staring unnoticably at the two white vehicles glimmering in the sunlight. I pulled my hoodie off of my waist and onto my harms as I tried to get past the cold, frankly, I didn't want to go play basketball but ma insisted that I spend some time with my brother.

"You think the rumors are true?" he asked, creasing his forehead and licking his lips, his dimples appearing as he watched three figures exit the police car.

I snorted as I reached up and pulled my hair into a ponytail, "No," blinking a few times, I bit the inside of my cheeks, thinking.

"I mean, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't let him out if he'd committed murder?" I asked as I synced my steps with his, my Air Force 1s looking out of place next to his Adidas. Fiddling with the hem of my jacket and then stuffing my hands into my short's pockets, I blocked myself from the sun.

Jackson nodded as he bounced from one foot to another and continued his walk as I started to lag behind, leaving me to catch up with him as he dribbled the ball a few times, he was wearing a short sleeve shirt and a nike wrist band that did nothing but make him look stupid in the chilly October air.

It was silent and Jackson wasn't a fan of silence so it didn't surprise me when he started talking again, "It's just... weird, ain't it? The guy's been gone for months. You think he's coming back to school?"

I shrugged even though he didn't see me, "I guess, he doesn't really seem to care about the shit people have to say."

He seemed to think for a second before he nodded curtly, "I guess you're right, I mean... The nigga's crazy," he said as he chuckled slightly, shuffling from foot to foot as he passed the ball between his legs.

I scoffed, "I doubt that he's crazy, they would've put him in a mental hospital, then."

I looked up at his 6'2 figure when he went silent, his curly black hair casting a shadow over his face. Then he spoke, right when I was hoping he'd shut up. I didn't really like gossiping, especially when I knew nothing, "Yeah but isn't that why Jacie Morgan broke up with him? Because he's insane... She's fucking hot, if I were him, I'd be upset."

I just ignored my brother's hormonal thought train and continued to walk along the sidewalk, making sure not to step on cracks. My feet were twisting and turning at awkward angles as were my thoughts as I continued to process randomness in my mind.

It seemed as if all everyone ever cared about was drama. It just so happened that the source of drama was now Oliver.

I kept walking until I saw the white lines of the court and realized exactly where we were. I heard Sidney's brief greeting, her converse clad feet coming into my view. I smiled widely as she pulled me into a hug, her waist length hair tied into a bun behind her and her makeup free face leaning on my shoulder.

"Em?" I heard a voice say and as I turned, I was hit in the side with something. I glared at Jackson as he tried to hide the fact that he tossed his basketball at me. Reaching my hands out, I caught it before it hit the ground after a few stumbles, my palms stinging from the extra force he'd put into it.

I rolled my wrists around the ball, "Bi-"

"Gotta get ya, get ya head in the game." He sang, cutting me off, as he danced uncoordinatedly around the basketball court. His horrible dancing distracting me from my pointless seething as I threw the ball back at him will all my force, a shriek coming from the area in front of me.

It ended up hitting him the the crotch as my brother let out a shriek.

Jackson groaned crackly, clutching his private parts as he fell to his knees. And if looks could kill, I'd be six feet under, "You fucking bi-"

"Language!" Sidney scolded as she swooped in and stole the basketball, dribbling a couple times before it landed in the hoop perfectly.

⌄⌃⌄⌃⌄⌃⌄

After basketball in which Jackson had lost miserably to Sidney as usual, we headed out for a walk before going home. Mom didn't like us holed up in our rooms all day as we normally were, so she told us to stay out all day while her and dad had some 'alone time.'

I know that you're thinking negative but no.

Alone time between my parents was basically them talking about nothing but bills, bills, and more bills. Jackson was in some sports program every other weekend and I was in an advanced art class and neither of those activities were cheap. Of course all they talked about was bills, but they'd always refuse to take out our extra-curriculars.

"Why don't we go to Kat's?" I asked Sidney as we were already headed that way.

Sid shook her head before rolling her eyes in an annoyed way, "She hanging out with Phoenix today," she muttered and I could see the anger on her face.

Sure Phoenix was a nice guy but lately, he'd been taking up all of Katalina's time, leaving us friendless.

"What does she even see in him? Something's off about that guy." Jackson declared as he groaned, falling in step with us. "He doesn't even have abs!" He yelled, pointing to his bare torso in which I gagged.

Sid gave him a disbelieving look, "What abs do you have? Those photoshopped ones?"

"They're not photoshopped!" He defended, grabbing her wrist and placing it on himself.

I sped up my walking, letting the awkwardness prevail but they'd eventually caught back up.

Sid hissed as if he had burnt her, "Ew. Ew, ew, ew... What the hell is wrong with you? You're going to catch pneumonia!"

"Babe, I'm too hot for that-"

"Unlikely. And anyways, you do know that Kat sees you as a brother... Right?"

Jackson's eyes widened as his hands fell from gripping the shirt around his neck and he stopped walking for a second, causing her to flick the back of his head to get him to keep moving.

Sidney snorted at his dumbfounded look, whipping her head to her side, causing her waist length messy and wavy black hair to hit me in the face.

Whipping her hair out of my mouth, I coughed mockingly and excessively my hands coming up to push her away, "Sid! Control your beast!"

She just ignored me but I could hear the amusement in her voice as she spoke to Jackson, "And even if she didn't, don't you think she'd notice that you've been staring at her boyfriend's body? I always knew you were sleeping in the closet. That explains why you would always stare at Jan when you played video games!"

"I'm not gay! And I wasn't staring at either of them..."

"Sure..."

"I wasn't! Jan is like my brother, that's disgusting. And if you haven't noticed, I'm on the football team, we practice together sometimes and the guy is always whipping off his shirt!" Jackson defended and I, myself looked at him warily, pretending to question his sexuality.

Slowing down, I fell back into step with them.

"Says the shirtless freak!" Sid countered, her eyes rolling and her hands twirling the basketball she was holding. We'd passed her house and no doubt she was coming over to ours without asking.

"Are you sure you're not gay?" I asked slowly, "It's okay if you are... I mean we've all been shipping Jackuary for a while now."

Jackson groaned but cut himself off when I'd finished my statement, "Shipping? Jackuary? The fuck?"

I nodded, "To ship, the art of rooting for a couple. Every fangirl does it, my favorite would be Jackuary. Sid ships Zouis. It basically means, if you guys ended up together, your ship name would be..."

Sidney smiled, "Actually mine is Zidney. But anyways... Jackson and January... Jackuary!" She mocked placing her hands in front of her and spreading them out as if to show him the big picture.

Jackson sped up, grumling to himself. I could've sworn I barely heard him cursing and saying something along the lines of, 'I'll show you a ship. I ship my fist with your face, that's what I ship."