"Al'ight let's see what the babes are doin," Archie grinned.

Cole sat at the edge of the bed still feeling guilty but had a glimpse of anticipation.

A split screen came up, one was the Lowe's cashier area, Skylar must be at work, and the other was Hannah texting away on her phone.

"Not much goin on," Cole said.

"Look closer bro."

Hannah wasn't just texting anyone, she was texting her ex.

"Don't u still want me?" It read.

"Yeah baby. After seeing you with that one guy at the game I need you back."

"We don't have to tell him 😏😉"

"What the fuck!" Cole exclaimed.

"Called it. She's two timing you," laughed Archie.

Cole took out his phone and texted Hannah, "wtf! We're done! I can't believe u wanna get back with that doche bag." After he saw read come up he blocked her.

On the computer you could see Hannah start texting her best friend, Tilly who is Cole's sister. "Did u tell Cole about me and Dean getting back together?"

"No but I was gettin ready to. Y would u do that to my brother?" Tilly replied.

"Fuck you we ain't friends anymore."

"I can rewind the videos to see what they did at school," Archie said.

Suddenly Hannah's video went black. She threw the necklace away.

"Fuck, at least now I know she was a damn whore," Cole huffed.

"Dude that's only half of it. I could watch it at school, she was making out with the dude and then told Tilly she wasn't going to tell you," Archie said, "sorry bro."

"Whatever... fuck Hannah I don't need to see all that shit... what Skylar do today?" It was a mixture of Cole just wanted to change the subject and he fell prey to curiosity.

Archie typed away at the computer and the video started when Skylar got off the elementary school transfer bus and on the advance school transfer.

Skylar made her way to the back seat where 6 guys sat in the seats surrounding her. They were making dirty jokes, laughing, and had vapes of every shape and size, some disposables, some box mods, and a few refillable, passing them around to each other so each could get a buzz. Skylar hit two at once and blew a smoke cloud that filled the back four seats but the bus driver never said a word.

"Damn the advanced kids are more wild then the ones at the lock up," Cole exclaimed surprised.

"Yeah, they ain't goodie two shoes like people think. They just don't get caught," Archie grinned.

Archie fast forwarded it to around 2nd block. Skylar was with one of her best friends.

"Hey Sky. I'm tired as fuck," he said.

"Yeah same," Skylar laughed. He laid his head on Skylar's shoulder and reached for her hand. She interlocked her fingers with his. "Cole gave me this necklace earlier," she said playing with it.

"Why?"

"I don't know but it might means he finally likes me back!"

"Sky, I get you like him but can you not just get the dick and dip?" He rose up.

"Bear, I love him for more then what's in his pants- even if those khaki pants make his ass look great- I actually want it to last," Skylar whined.

"There's not even a relationship to make last," Bear said.

"Well... one day... maybe."

"What about that one guy, with the felonies?"

"Archie? One, my brothers would murder me cause he's a felon; two, I've turned him down and he won't leave me alone and y'know I can't handle that shit. I just wanna live my life but I swear he's obsessed with me."

"She's got a point dude. You are obsessed to the point it's kinda creepy," Cole said.

"Who's listening in with me here," Archie glared. He fast forwarded again. "Recognize this name on her snap here?" Jacob Peace.

"It's her cousin in Florida. She showed me his picture from thanksgiving."

"And what about Josh Noble?"

"Younger cousin, they went to a concert together a while back for his birthday, it was all over her instagram."

"Ok." He kept fast forwarding to when she had got home from school.

"Hey mom, my appointment is tomorrow," Skylar's voice rang over the computer speaker.

"What time?" Her mother asked.

"11:30."

"Are you gonna take some stuff to the hand me down tomorrow?" Chimed in Skylar's father.

"If I can get Josh to help me move some stuff."

"Call your brother and see if he's got all their stuff out first," her mom said.

"I'll call tomorrow. I gotta go to work."

"Boys! Dinner!" Yelled Archie's mother, Jezebel.

"Damn," Archie said.

"Dude nothing big is going on... but Skylar never mentioned an appointment to me today," Cole said puzzled.

"We'll find out soon enough."

The boys walked down stairs to eat and Archie was dying to go back up.

"Arch. Chill." Cole said through grit teeth.

"I know I know."

"She's at work. Nothin is gonna happen. It's Lowe's dude."

"Yeah but what about that Bear guy? He knew about both of us and he was all over Skylar."

"Sky probably told him about us or something."

"Just hurry up and finish eating."

Once the dishes were cleaned the boys ran back up to Archie's room.

Skylar was at home, her hair messy and her face tired in the mirror. Her pajamas were on and her eyes heavy. She laid down and the room went black.

"Well, looks like our cue to smoke a little bit," Archie smiled and pulled out a joint.

"Dude, I don't smoke anymore," Cole scoffed.

"Fine I'll smoke."

"Let's just get some sleep dude."

"Buzz kill." The boys laid down, Archie on the bed and Cole in the floor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The mix tapes got a little Hank, little Drake
A little something bumping, thump, thumping on the wheel ride
The mix in our drink's a little stronger than you think
So get a grip, take a sip of that feel right
The truck's jacked up, flat bills flipped back
Yeah you can find us where the party's at," sang Skylar over the computer speakers.

Both young men woke up to her voice and yawned. "Damn her voice is amazing," Archie smirked.

"You should hear her on the bus," Cole said, "it's a personal concert."

"Wonder where she's goin," asked Archie.

"We'll find out."

Skylar was in her truck driving somewhere into town. She stopped at McDonald's for a sweet tea and a hash brown for breakfast, then pulled into a shopping center. She parked at a tattoo and piercing shop. Skylar already has triple lobe piercings, triple helix piercings, a tragus piercing, and three tattoos.

"Hey Milo," Skylar smiled.

"Hey Skylight, what needles we using today?" The tattoo artist had done all of Skylar's body modifications.

"I want my hair done by Ricky," she smiled.

"Hey Skylar, ready for our appointment?" A tall broad man smiled as he walked in.

"Yep. Did you get the pictures I sent you?"

"I did let's go to my room."

Skylar sat and got her hair done and the boys weren't that interested so this turned on a video game in the meantime then when Skylar was finished she left the shop then drove to a farm house to pick up a trailer.

"Where's she goin?" Cole said.

"Shut up," Archie growled.

She traveled back to her parents house where her sister was sitting at the kitchen table. They talked casually as Skylar was going in and out to load boxes and totes to move, but suddenly Avery, Skylar's sister, blurted out, "How's your little bad boy situation goin?"

"What?"

"Your little crush on the thug in lock up? Yeah, James told me about it." Avery grinned sinisterly.

"Cole ain't a thug. He's not a bad kid. He made a mistake and paid the price." Skylar's words spat.

"So what he's your newest dick toy?"

"He's a fuckin person, asshole! I love him! Not his dick. Not his looks.   Not his reputation. I love him! His smile, the way he talks about his family and acts like he would hate to let them down again, I love his stupid jokes that ain't funny but I still laugh. I love him for who he is, not what people think he is. Sure I ain't known him long but I know him enough. He's got other friends that he probably thinks are better for him to be around but I want better for him. Because I love him!"

"And he probably only wants to be around you cause you're a whore."

"Hard to be a whore when you only want one man."

"He ain't a man. Men don't need drugs to deal with their problems."

"No but men face they have a problem and change the outcome." Skylar slammed her fist on the table, grabbed a final box, stormed out, loaded her truck bed, and left for town again.

She went down to Lowe's got some 2 by 8s. Then Skylar made a phone call.

"Hey Josh... I'm heading to the hand-me-down house... wanna help me with the steps and moving?... great see you soon, love you."

She drove down the road and pulled into a driveway with a large garage.

"Bro she's at my house!" Cole said.

Skylar went and knocked on the door, Cole's sister-in-law, Sarah, answered. "Hey is Cole home? I'm a friend from school. I was wondering if he'd help me move some boxes into my new place."

"I'm sorry sweetie he's at Archie's today."

"Oh... okay thank you," Skylar smiled and continued down the dead end road to her future residence.

When she pulled in her younger cousin was sitting on her front steps in front of the door. He walked to the truck and started grabbing boxes. Skylar directed where each box went as the two talked about dating lives, work, and how the family's doing.

Once the boxes were inside, they took the 2x8s to the basement thru the side door. There was a layout of where stairs going to the top level of the house. Skylar was going to be a construction major in a few months so her taking the lead in building the stairs didn't surprise Archie or Cole.

Skylar and Josh completed measuring and cutting the boards but the sun was goin down and the two were hungry so Skylar made chicken nuggets in an air fryer for them to split. Josh left up the hill to his house after eating, leaving Skylar home alone.