School had ended quickly as Joseph would have hoped, but when his mother's Beatle pulled into Montgomery High School's parking lot, with Tracy in the front seat, and Della in the back, he grimaced.

His elder sisters were ones to give him a hard time whenever it came to Joseph's liking of a girl.

He could even see the distinct smirk on Tracy's face through the rear view mirror. "Mom told me about your girlfriend, Joe. What was her name, Della—Betty Glee, Betty Reid?—"

"It's Betty Lee, you dill-hole—"

"Joseph! don't speak to your sister like that. What is the matter with you? And you, Tracy, taunting your little brother about Elizabeth's daughter. You should be ashamed of yourselves." Joseph could have sworn he saw his sister roll her eyes through the rear view mirror, and smirked to himself.

"Mom, Tracy rolled her eyes."

"Oh, for Goodness sake, Joseph."

Lark stood proudly beside Miss Linda, who had spent the last ten minutes giving Lark practice references, for when Lark was home alone, and felt a bit playful. She clapped both hands together, signaling Lark's attention once more.

"Larkin," her tongue rolled at Lark's name, as her Russian tone made Lark's back stature a bit taller. "I want noise, child—noise!"

"Yes, Miss Linda." Lark obeyed curtly, beginning his long, and swift strokes along the handmade crafted violin, which had been given to him by his great grandfather at a young age.

"Good, Larkin, good." Her praises weren't ignored by Lark, who stifled on a note at the appreciation.

Miss Linda took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of her nose. "That is enough, Larkin. It is time for you to leave."

"B-But, Miss Linda, I-I can do better—"

"No, you cannot," Miss Linda bellowed aloud, gripping onto her violin with a tight grip. "You will be leaving now. I suggest you let your mother know."

Lark gave up his begging stride, and sulked his way out of Miss Linda's elegant studio premises. He felt deluded of all he had worked so hard on. And his heart felt heavy.

He hadn't seen Joseph since the day before, and at the mere thought he almost cursed himself aloud.

He shouldn't miss Joseph, because Joseph sure as hell didn't miss him. The two weren't even friends—they just happened to share a tree stump, and they just happened to speak to one another on it from time to time.

When Lark finally began his walk home, his heart fasted its beat at how dark it had actually gotten. He'd been thinking it was seven, but one glance down at his watch, and he gasped at the big hand that pointed to the eight. Surely, his mother knew what time it had been?

So why didn't she pick him up?

Lark shook his head. He was just being ridiculous, wasn't he? Walking Montgomery's streets at night, meant nothing bad happening.

But there was a first time for everything, wasn't there?

Jospeh watched from just across from the street, beside Bobby Stinger, who laughed along with Troy as they both made jokes that were entirely irrelevant to Joseph.

It was dark—so, why was Lark still wandering?

But Joseph scoffed to himself, turning away. But he was already too late, Bobby and Troy had already spotted him.

"Hey, Joe, look. It's the guy who's obsessed with Philips." When Jospeh didn't laugh along, Bobby hooked a hand onto his shoulder, grasping tightly.

But before Bobby had the opportunity to speak more, Joseph beat him to it. "It's dark, I'm going home. Maybe you guys should, too."

Bobby smirked, ready to tease Joseph about being afraid of the dark, before he glanced down at his watch, and swore under his breath. Troy followed behind him, as the two left without another word.

Joseph knew that he shouldn't bother working his way over to Lark who was still walking closer and closer—without having a clue of Joseph's presence.

But he simply couldn't help himself.