Noah was pissed off.  What else was new?  He sat on the curb outside of the school, his hands folded in his lap.  Naomi was in no mood to mess with him, and that was saying something.  She exchanged a look of worry with Paul.  He glanced at the seething boy next to him and sighed.  “Sorry, man,” he said.  And he meant it.  If he had been paying attention…

“It’s fine.  We’ll get them when we skip last period.  That is, if they’re not already leaving for the day.  You know, the concurrent enrollment thing.”

“I got rejected, so I don’t know how it works,” Paul said, taking a seat.

“Yeah, me too.  But fuck it.  We’ll get the guy soon enough.”

“Hey, Noah?”  He turned to look up at Naomi.  “Sorry for being a bitch earlier.  No, it’s not PMS or anything.  I’m just a bitch regularly, so I apologize.”  He waved it off and checked his cellphone.  Still no text back from Cole.

“It’s whatever.  I wasn’t nice either.  I’m never nice, actually,” he said, cracking a slight smile.  She too grinned and sat down next to the boys, drumming her fingers over her jeans.

“You don’t seem like it.  You attract more bees with honey than vinegar, my grandmother always says.”

“Tell your grandmother to stuff it,” Noah said sarcastically.

“Well, she’s stuffed in a coffin, so.”

“Shit, I’m sorry –,”

“I’m kidding,” Naomi laughed.  Noah sighed and shook his head, laughing at himself as well.  Today had already been stressful enough and it wasn’t even the second half of the day.  He really needed to let loose and laugh a little, even in his current situation.

“You’re a horrible person.  Do you guys want any chips?” he asked, digging around through his backpack.  A moment later, he removed five bags of various chips from the school vending machine.  He tossed a pack to each of them and opened his own.

“Five?” Paul asked with his mouth full.

“Cole.  He always got two bags of Cheetos whenever we ate at Subway, so I figured he might like them.”  Noah shrugged and turned his attention back to his phone.  The look Paul and Naomi shared proved they were thinking the same thing.  They didn’t bring it up though.  They’d learned that talking about Cole with Noah was something they shouldn’t do.  It might start off nice, but it seemed that he always ended up in a grumpy mood.

Quick as lightning, Naomi slapped Noah’s shoulder and he looked up.  “What?”

“There it is,” she said excitedly.  Pulling through the parking lot entrance was the silver Prius they’d lost twenty minutes ago.  This time, they were determined to snag the person before they escaped once more.  Noah slung his backpack over his shoulder and took off towards the car.  The other two trailed behind him, scrambling to catch up.  By the time the vehicle had parked, Noah was standing on the driver’s side, knocking on the window.

“What do you want?” the blonde asked, opening the door and stepping out.  Noah glanced at Cole before looking back at her.  Realizing who it was, he did a double take.

“Cole?”

“Hey, we need to talk,” he said, walking around to the other side of the car.  Laura looked between the two of them.

“What were you doing with her?” Noah asked, looking her up and down suspiciously.  She was the only student who drove a Prius other than the sophomore kid from earlier that morning.  “She’s the one that took our baby.”

“Give him back,” Naomi demanded, taking a step closer to Laura.  Paul took her hand and held her back.  He didn’t need any girl fights going on right now.

“Please, just give Robert back,” Paul said calmly.

“I don’t have your baby –,” Laura started before Noah cut her off.

“Bullshit.  My neighbor saw your car outside my house.  You took him, I know you did.”

“I never took –,”

“Why are you still lying?” Naomi exclaimed.  “He just said –,”

“Noah, Naomi, shut up!” Cole yelled.  They both turned to him and glared maliciously.  “Both of you shut up and let Laura talk, okay?  She didn’t take our baby.”

“Then who did?” Paul asked.  Laura sighed.  She was going to have to go over this all over again.

“Okay, I’ll start at the beginning.  Last week I saw Cole and Noah getting into that fight in the halls.  I was going to comfort Cole but he left before I could say anything.  I told my boyfriend Kendall about it when I was trying to get out of the parking lot.  It's always hectic after school.”

“Wait,” Noah interrupted.  “Wait, the Kendall I know?”

“Yeah.  I was driving Kendall, Brian, and Anthony home.  They were late because Noah had punched Anthony in the mouth and he was fuming.  Like, scary fuming.  I hate that Kendall hangs out with him…  But anyways.  He said that he was gonna make you pay and he knew just how to do it.  He made me turn around so he could go back to the school for something.  It didn’t take more than five minutes before he was back in the car with some weird bracelet thing.”

“I asked Ms. Baxter, and she said that whoever had the baby was using a babysitter bracelet,” Cole added.

“At the time, I didn’t know what he was doing.  Since I told them about the fight you guys got into, he knew that you weren’t gonna be around the baby for a small amount of time.  They told me they were gonna give it back after the weekend.  They said they just wanted to scare you.  But I asked Kendall about it this morning and he said Anthony doesn’t want to give it back yet.  He wants to break it, or kill it, or whatever,” Laura said, rubbing her arm uncomfortably.

“That piece of shit,” Paul muttered.  Naomi and Noah both wore the same expression.  They were trying to stay Bruce when they really wanted to Hulk out.

“Anthony has your baby.  I asked Kendall if he knew who’s house it was at, but they never told him.  I think it’s at Anthony’s, but I’m not sure.  Guys, I’m so sorry I told them about your fight.  I… if I hadn’t done that, you wouldn’t be here,” she apologized.  Noah wanted to be furious with her, but there was no way she could have known this would happen.

“It’s not your fault.  But if you can help us out…” Cole said.

“No, of course.  I’ll do whatever I have to.  I don’t want Robert to end up trashed.  They said those things cost like, a thousand dollars?  I don’t want you having to pay for that.”

“We’re not gonna pay for that,” Noah said, turning and storming away.  “I’m getting him back right the fuck now.”

“Noah, wait,” Cole said.

“No, Cole.  I’m not waiting.  He thinks he can take our baby and we won’t do anything about it?  He thinks we’ll just let him have Robert?  No.  We’re getting him back today.”  Cole knew that Noah was dead set on getting this done today.  Laura frowned but tried to keep up.

“Guys, I have to go.  I gave Cole my number.  If you need me, call me, okay?”  Noah didn’t bother looking back when he said,

“Sure thing.  Thanks, Laura.”  The others thanked her as well and she veered off in another direction.  Noah continued his brisk walk, his hands in fists.  When they finally reached the small nook where his ex-friends used to eat, Noah placed his hands on the table and looked at the boys.  Kendall’s expression was easy to read.  He knew Laura had told them.  Brian and Anthony both looked amused.

“Hey, Noah.  Hey, Cole,” Anthony said eagerly.

“Where’s Robert?” Noah asked.  Anthony and Brian shared a look before shrugging with exaggeration.  “I don’t have time to play around, man.  Where’s my baby?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, bro.”

“Don’t play stupid.  Laura told me that you guys took him from my doorstep.”

“Are you sure?  I mean, you did leave your baby all alone.  Really, anyone could have walked up and took the ugly little thing.  Besides, why would I want your baby?  My partner and I already have one,” Anthony replied.

“I’m gonna tell you one last time.  Give Robert back.”

“And that’s another thing,” he laughed.  “Why did you name it Robert?  Last time I checked, if it’s got a vagina, it’s a chick.  Are you guys blind or did Cole want to be the only bitch in the family?”  Brian snorted unattractively.

“How’s your mouth doing, by the way?” Cole asked.  “I mean, Noah only hit you once and it looks pretty bad.  I wonder how many times I’d have to punch you before your mouth was wired shut.”

“It’d do us all a favor, really,” Naomi muttered.

“Oh, hey, Naomi.  I bet you heard the word ‘bitch’ and assumed I was calling you over here.”

“Not really.  Kinda like I didn’t say ‘punk ass fucktard’ and yet you’re here,” she smiled.  Paul was ready to attack Anthony but Naomi stood in front of him, her eyes locked on Anthony’s.

“I’d love to keep this little banter going, but we’re gonna be late for more important people.”  Anthony tossed his tray in the trash and stood, followed by Kendall and Brian.  “Talk to you later, guys,” he smirked.  Before he could walk past them, Noah gripped the boy’s shoulder firmly.

“Give me the fucking baby,” he demanded.  Anthony scoffed and shoved him off.

“Make me,” Anthony replied, walking away from them.  Noah turned to look at the others.  Seeing that they were equally as pissed off, he felt a bit of comfort.  Normally, he was the only one out of the group that was grumpy about something.  But now, everyone wanted to kick Anthony in the balls.

“I want to ruin his life,” Cole said.  Noah didn’t even humor the idea of commenting on how Cole was good at that.  They weren’t at odds at the moment.  If they wanted to get Robert back, they were gonna have to stop fighting.  Stop all the drama they had and get things done.

“We’re going to make him wish he’d never screwed with us.  We’re going to fuck him up good,” Noah smirked.

“How are we going to do that?  I’m down for anything.  Let him call Naomi a bitch again, see if I don’t rip his braces out of his mouth,” Paul said.  Cole hadn’t seen this side of Paul before and he found that in a strange way, he loved it.

“He’s just mad that we’re not together.  Let him stay mad,” Naomi said with a smile.

“As long as he’s distracted.  Give him something to focus on so he won’t see what’s happening right under his nose.”

“What’d you have in mind,” Cole asked Noah.

“A plastic eye for a plastic eye.”

“We’re gonna take his baby,” Cole grinned.  “Nice.”