"My feet are way too heavy!" I cry out, gripping the edge of the seat.

Lynn looks at me with a laugh. "Yeah, but you get used to it." Jenna and Cody stand next to her perfectly balanced. Hayley is sitting a down next to me a few feet over. Brendon is sprawled on the floor and Sarah kneeling in front of him while Patrick is slowly standing up. "So who hasn't done this before?" I ask everyone.

Patrick, Hayley, and Brendon all raise their hands. Patrick raises his hand overly enthusiastic and shifts his balance. Fear emerges in his face and he lets out a small yelp before slipping.

Sarah barrel rolls out of the way, leaving Brendon out in the open. Patrick collapses on Brendon and the rest of us burst out laughing. Hayley leans back while covering her mouth but she slips off the seat and her feet roll underneath her. "Hayley!" I cry out, reaching for her as she slumps to the floor. My feet drag me down so I don't make it to her as she ends up joining them. She huffs out, still laughing from Brendon and probably from herself too. "Ugh, Lynn, next year, you're picking bowling, okay?"

Lynn roller skates over to her, holding her hands down while shaking her head and chuckling. "Come on, up."

Hayley blows her bangs out of her face and glances up at her. "That's not a good idea. I'll end up bringing you down with me," she says.

Lynn shakes her head. "No, up." Hayley reaches up, grasping her hands and repositioning her feet. Lynn strains her arms as she hauls Hayley up, maintaining balance for both of them. Hayley wobbles around. "See, got it," she says as she stabilizes Hayley.

"Yeah, I still don't understand why you wouldn't let any of us get skates. Rollerblades seem a lot harder."

Cody shakes his head. "No," he starts. "Skates are like four corners so your center balance becomes a single point in the center of the square the four wheels create. The blade has their wheels in a line and you have the entire line as the center of balance."

"Okay, Mr. Physics," Brendon says, still trying to get Patrick off of him. "Can you move?"

"To tell you the truth, I don't think I can," Patrick says, fear still in his eyes.

"It's not physics, it's like...I don't know, it just makes sense," Cody says.

"I think physics has to do with it," Sarah says.

"I'm not good at physics," he says.

"Don't you like science?" I point out.

Cody whips around, his skates turning but they don't waver from his movement. "I am good at science. Biology was fun. Chemistry? WACK! I'm in forensics now and I actually am one of the few students who've been accepting into the next level of forensics-"

"Wait!" Patrick snaps, sliding off of Brendon and melting on the floor. "You got in?"

Cody smiles with excitement. "Yeah, my teacher said that I was eligible to continue."

"Yo, that's awesome!" he says.

"I know, I'm really excited. Now what was I talking about?" he asks. Patrick opens his mouth but Cody beats him to it. "Ah! Physics, thank you!" he says, snapping at Patrick. Patrick looks at him slightly confused but lets him continued. "But physics is all math and equations. Like you have to calculation velocity and time and as you know me, time isn't real. How am I supposed to figure out something that isn't real? I just can't with numbers."

"You know, maybe I'd like physics," I end up saying.

"Hey!" Lynn calls out. "Let's not talk about numbers on my birthday. I don't want to have to think more than I already have to."

"Agreed!" Brendon says.

Sarah laughs at him. "You hardly do as is," she says, trying to pull him up to his feet but he's a lot harder to handle than the average person. Brendon doesn't reply back, just nods in acceptance.

"You guys ready?" Lynn says, skating backward off the carpet and onto the rink with Cody. "They'll catch up to us," he says. "Let's go." The two of them start skating off, gliding over the varnished wood.

Jenna looks at me. "You think you can handle standing?" she asks.

"We'll find out?" I slowly lift myself up, my feet sliding around. I swear, I'm going to break an ankle by the end of the night. If I just break an ankle, I'll be lucky. I start teetering to the side but Jenna catches me, straightening me up. "Ah, thanks," I say nervously, my legs shaking as they try to find traction.

"Baby steps," she says. There is a groan and Brendon falls again and Sarah bursting out laughing. "Well, better off than some." I snicker as I stand a bit taller, slowly shuffling along the carpet. "Want me to let go?" she asks, keeping her grip at my side.

I stare at the retro carpet, watching my feet. "Yeah, I think I got this," I say. Jenna gives me a moment, slowly loosening her grasp on me. My knees waver as she lets go but I strain to hold myself up. "Hey, look at that," I say.

"Hell yeah, my man," she says, skating backward at a quicker pace now that she isn't holding me. I continue shuffling along. Lynn and Cody are almost coming around as they've already lapped us. I can maybe join them this time. I shuffle over to the rink, swaying my arms. "Frank, no!" Jenna calls out.

"It's oka-" As soon as my footsteps on the varnish tiles, my other leg goes under me and I scream out. I crash to the floor, one leg bent backward and the other sprawled forward. I stare up at the ceiling, the flashing lights changing colors.

Jenna tries her best to refrain from laughing as she comes over to me. "The rink is very slick," she says.

"Duly noted," I groan. I slowly sit up, using the half-wall next to me for support as I drag my body up. I start chuckling and my feet shift under me as straighten myself again. "This will take a while to get used to, won't it?"

Jenna smiles at me. "Probably but it'll be fun."

Eventually, I start getting the hang of it. Of course, that doesn't mean I don't fall the entire time we're there. And it's also not like I started falling less. I was falling just as much as the others who didn't know how to skate. But in between falls, I was able to get some distance. Taking off the skates, we roll up our pant legs to see how many bruises we have on our shins. They're definitely going to only get darker by tomorrow but it was worth it.

We head back to Lynn's house and her parents have pizza and salad for us. We sprawl around in her room eating it. We were in a circle but it got a little out of shape with Brendon laying face down on the floor. "You good?" Patrick asks.

"Mushuffelesss-" Brendon mutters.

"McCuse me?" Patrick says.

Hayley narrows her eyes at him. "Don't ever say that again." Patrick snickers and Hayley rolls her eyes. "But seriously, what'd you say?"

Brendon lifts his face up from the carpet. "I said ahh! Pffft!" he sticks his tongue out and wipes it with his other hand frantically.

"Ew," I mutter while laughing.

Brendon sits up and wipes his tongue again. "Ah, lint!"

"Well, that's what you get for sucking on the rug," Lynn says taking a bite. The cheese slides off her slice and them splats on her chin. "AH!" She squeals, pulling it off her face, leaving sauce everywhere on her face. Jenna tosses her a napkin and she wipes her face. "Damn, that was hot."

"Oh, yeah it was," Jenna says winking. Lynn huffs at her. "What?" she smirks.

"You know what."

​​​​​​ "As I was saying," Brendon says. "My shins still hurt."

"Well, what do you expect with how much you've fallen down?" Patrick says.

"Oh, you're one to talk. How're your knees doing?" he grabs his plat of pizza.

"Leave my knees out of-What is name's name are you doing?" Patrick asks.

"Names of name?" I ask.

"Don't question me, question him!" Patrick says.

"What?" Brendon asks, who has folded his pizza slice in half and started eating it like a taco.

"You freak!" Hayley cries out.

"Wh-me? Oh, but you let him eat it like that?" Brendon says gesturing over.

We look at Cody, sitting off to the side cutting his pizza slice with a fork and knife like a steak. "Dude. What?" I ask.

"Ugh, yeah, he does that sometimes," Jenna mutters.

"What?" Cody says, taking a bit off his small cut piece off his fork. "When the pizza it hot and greasy, maybe I don't want to get my hands all messy?"

"You freak!" Hayley says again.

"Is this going to be a thing with you now?" he asks.

"As long as you are acting like one, absolutely."

"So I'm a little orderly, that makes me a savage now?"

"No, you're a freak for how you eat your pizza and a savage for how you cut your nails with scissors."

Cody's face drops. "Hey, now-"

"You're an all-star!" Jenna and Brendon sing out in unison.

"I swear to Lucifer-" Cody says, closing his eyes.

"Do not," Lynn says. "Not in my Christian suburbs." Jenna starts giggling getting more salad.

"Wait, did you say he cuts his nails with scissors?" Sarah says.

"Um yeah," Brendon says. She looks at him concerned. "It was a thing," he mutters.

"It really doesn't have to be," he says.

"But it is," I say. Cody groans and then lies face down on the carpet. "Oh, not he's huffing the rug."

"Ew, no, I'm not Brendon," he says, sitting back up.

"What? I don't huff the rug."

"Oh, my bad, you suck on the rug," I say.

"You know what? I take it back. Huffing the rug is more dignified," Brendon says.

"Babe, no, neither are dignified," Sarah says.

Brendon looks at her defeated and then sighs. "We should play a game."

"What game?"

"I don't know, truth or dare?"

"Yeah, but we play that a lot," Jenna says.

"Oh, I have an idea," Lynn says, grabbing her phone and turning it on. "Ugh, take my fingerprint, can't you tell by my greasy hands?"

"Mood," Hayley says.

"Okay, got it, I saved this on Pinterest," Lynn says. "It's this game called paranoia. So we need to get in a circle."

"We are in a circle," Brendon says.

"A better one. And then basically the person on the right whispers a question and the person has to answer out loud with a name of someone in the group. Then we flip a coin and if it's heads, we say what the question is and if it's tails, we don't."

"Then what?" Cody asks.

"Then we move on, that's why it's called paranoia, you don't get to know."

"That's horrible. I love it, let's play."

"Does anyone have a coin?" Lynn asks.

"In this economy?" Cody cries out.

Lynn shrugs. "Okay, valid."

After we get organized in a proper circle and find a coin, we start playing. "Okay, Lynn, uh, you want to go first then?"

She puffs out her cheeks and sighs. She leans over and whispers something in Patrick's ear. He gets a weird grin on his face and then looks at her. "What? I didn't hear you."

"Oh my god," she sighs and whispers again.

Patrick sits back and glances around. "I think Jenna."

We glance at Jenna and her eyes get wide. "Oh no," she mutters.

"So then we flip a coin," Lynn says. Patrick flips the quarter in the air and it lands in the spot between us all on tails. It gets quiet for a moment. "So then it's Patrick's turn now."

"Oh my god, what was it?" Jenna asks giggling.

"Nope, can't say," Cody says as Patrick leans over to him. "Oh, definitely Hayley."

"Oh boy," Hayley mutters next to him.

"Really? You think?" Patrick asks. Cody gives him a look and Patrick nods. "Yeah, you're right."

"Cody, flip," Hayley says.

He grabs the coin and tosses it up. It lands down on heads. "Aw, nuts," he says.

"What? What was it?"

"Um, who's most likely to kill a bitch," he says.

"What? Are... actually, I'm flattered, thank you," Hayley says.

"You're welcome," he laughs then pauses to think. "Hold on um... okay, got... alright, hear me out first." Hayley gives him a weird look and he leans over and cups around her ear then talks.

She lunges back from him. "Oh my god, you are so loud dude, whisper," she says. He starts laughing and tries again. I can kind of hear what he's saying but it's very messy. Something involving a banana and that's when Hayley makes a disgusted face.

"I'm really scared for this," Brendon says.

When Cody's done, Hayley looks at him oddly. "How do you come up with these things?" she asks.

"Whomst you pick?" He asks.

"Okay, can I say you?" she says.

He narrows his eyes at her. "No. And I wouldn't."

"Well, that's my opinion," she says glancing around at us all. "Um. Okay, maybe. Uh, Pat-no..." Patrick's eyes widen. "Sarah."

"What!" Cody cries out. "Really?"

"AH! I don't know, but that's my answer."

Sarah and Patrick exchange looks. "Dear god, do we want to know?" Sarah asks.

"Flip the coin," Lynn says.

Hayley grabs it and tosses it up in the air. "Please be heads, please be heads," Patrick mutters.

"Tails."

"FUCK!"

Hayley has an awkward smile on her face and looks at me. "Ready, Frank?"

"Nope, ask away," I say.

She leans close and whispers gently in my ear. "Who's most likely to set the house on fire?" she asks.

I sit back and start smirking. "Um, stuck between the duo," I say. She raises an eyebrow. "Cody or Brendon."

She bursts laughing and nods. "Okay, that's fair."

"But I'm going to have to go with Brendon on that. More likely."

"That.. that could be so many things," Brendon says.

Hayley passes me the coin and I flip it in the air. It lands on tails and I chuckle. "Yes, yes it could be." I glance at Sarah and awkwardly smile. I lean over and whisper in her ear. "Who would be the first to die in the zombie apocalypse?"

She sits back and smiles mischievously. "The way you say that sounds like it's inevitable."

"You know it," I say.

She glances around and then stops when she looks at Lynn and Lynn shrinks down. "Lynn." I pass the coin to her and she flips it. "Oh snaps," she says as it lands on heads. "Well, you're the first to die in a zombie apocalypse."

Lynn looks at her dramatically. "What? No, I disagree."

"Dude, you got scared of your own reflection," Cody says to her.

"Hey," she says.

"How? Seriously?" I ask.

Lynn looks at me and brushes her hair out of her face. "Okay, in my defense! So I was sleeping over at their house and it was pitch black because you know, it was well after midnight. And I didn't want to turn on the whole light so I was using my dim phone screen brightness to navigate and not bump into the walls when I went to the bathroom. Well. I was also a bit disorientated when coming back because it was very late so I miscalculated when going back to Jenna's room and accidentally wandered into Cody's room." Cody plants his face in his head and groans out. "Well, Jenna does not have a full body mirror hanging on her door like this diva. does-"

"What? Hey, no-"

"You're an all-star," Jenna and Hayley hum again.

Cody's eye twitches in their direction. "Carry on," he grumbles.

Lynn has a guilty grin on her face. "So when I got into his room, my phone is like in my hand kinda underneath my face so it's creating these really dramatic cast shadows, right? So I pass a mirror, which I did not think would be there, and I see this thing move in the corner of my eye. Lord and behold, I turn and there's another face staring me down 4 inches away..." I start laughing along with the others and Lynn sighs. "Yeah, needless to say, I freaked out so I screamed. And then this thing... my reflection, opened their mouth too and it was this scary face and then I heard another inhuman sound."

"AKA, me being woken up in the dead of night to this banshee shrieking a few feet away from me," Cody says. He shakes his head. "I swear, you took years off my life right then and there." Lynn sighs. "Yeah, but anyway, fine, I die in the apocalypse. Who's next?"