The wind blew through Kole Frost’s hair, making him shiver.

He was sitting on his hill, the place he always went to brood unfortunate events within his mind.  He’d gone there when his older brother, Alex Frost, had broken his leg when protecting Kole from an oncoming vehicle.  He’d gone there when his best friend, Terence Favel, had pissed him off after getting drunk at a club.  And now he was there because the father of his close friend, Zander Khadel, had been convicted and arrested for crossing into the Gate’s territory.

Kole scowled.  From his hill you could see the forest that led to the Gate’s borders, the place where Zander’s father had thrown his life away.  Kole couldn’t fathom why people would destroy their lives for the sole reason of being curious.  Why try and cross into a place that they were obviously being protected from?  It just didn’t make sense.

“He’s been take away, Kole,” Zander had said when he called earlier that evening.  “He’s been taken away.”

There had been no sign of a disturbance when Zander had arrived home from school that day.  There was no note, not explanation for why his father had done what he did.  The only sign of something terrible happening was Zander’s five-year-old brother, Zachary Khadel, weeping on the living room couch.  And just like that Zander had transformed from a regular teenage boy to a guardian.

Kole’s hands clenched into fists.  He was angry.  Angry that people in the world were stupid.  Angry that the Government wouldn’t just tell them what was behind the Gate.  Angry at everything and everyone.   

He tried to imagine what his friend was going through.  Walking into his house thinking that everything was normal just to find out that his life had been altered forever.  Becoming practically an orphan just because of a father’s stupidity.  Kole couldn’t do it. 

“What are you doing?”

Kole jumped, spinning around and glaring.  Terence stood before him, his dark hair blowing in the wind as he glared.  He crossed his arms over his chest menacingly, scowling at Kole fiercely, his bright blue eyes flashing.  Kole sighed, closing his eyes for a moment before standing up.  “What are you doing here?”

Terence’s scowl deepened.  “I believe I told you that you were going to Xia with us tonight.”

It was Kole’s turned to scowl now.  Xia was the only club in town that allowed minors through its doors.  Kole hated everything about Xia.  Its bright lights flashing through the building, the drunkards acting like complete fools, the rowdy dancing on the dance floor.  All that came with events like that was chaos.  Kole wasn’t one for chaos; he never had been.  He was the type of person who liked to sit at home and read or play video games on his X-box. 

But, apparently, that wasn’t enough.

“I believe I told you I wasn’t,” Kole retorted, shoving his hands into his sweatshirt’s pockets. 

“Yeah, well, no one cares what you say.”  Terence grinned, grabbing Kole’s arm and tugging it in the direction of the road.  “Come on, Kole.  You need to have some fun once and a while.”

Kole resisted his friend’s grip, shaking his head.  “Xia isn’t fun.  It’s a bunch of drunk people getting their asses kicked.”

“Yeah, but isn’t watching it fun?”  Terence wriggled his eyebrows.  “I promise I won’t get that drunk, okay?”

Kole scoffed, shaking his head again.  He didn’t trust Terence’s words for even a second.  He and Terence both knew that the second they entered Xia, he was going straight to the bar.  Xia didn’t allow minors to drink, but that didn’t stop anyone from trying.  Terence himself had a fake I.D. saying that he was twenty-one years old; in reality he was seventeen.  “Yeah, okay,” he muttered, shaking Terence’s hand off his arm.

“Come on, man!” Terence was practically begging now.  “Even Zander is going.”

Kole hesitated.  Zander was going?  What about his brother?  Kole couldn’t believe that Zander was actually going to a club the day his father got arrested.  “Seriously?” he asked incredulously.

Terence nodded.  “Yeah, though Seth had to do some major convincing.  After like two hours he finally agreed to go.”

Kole sighed deeply.  Why his friends couldn’t let Zander stay home with his distraught brother, Kole didn’t know.  Seth and Terence liked to party, and they always felt the need to drag everyone else down with them when they did.  “Whatever,” he said, giving in.  “But if you get drunk, I’m going to kick you in the ass.”

“I’m going to get drunk,” he said bluntly, waving away Kole’s threat with a wave of the hand.  “I’m just not going to get wasted.  There’s a difference.”

Kole scoffed.  “Whatever.”

Terence rolled his eyes, grabbing Kole’s arm and practically dragging him down the hill.  Kole didn’t bother resisting his friend’s grip, finding it pointless to waist his energy when he’d only need it later.  Someone, if not Terence, was going to get wasted tonight and he was the one who was going to need to take care of it.  Sometimes Kole wondered if that was why he got dragged along.  To supply help when needed.  It wouldn’t shock him if that were the reason.

“Hey, watch it!” Kole hissed as Terence shoved him toward the passenger door.  “I don’t need to break something before we get to Xia.”

Terence smirked, saying nothing as he opened up the door on his side and plopping in.  After a moment’s hesitation, Kole got in also, struggling to get comfortable in the passenger seat.  Terence’s car always smelt odd, like a mixture of pine, alcohol, cigarettes, and vomit.  It was the definition of a partier’s smell.  The little pine tree hanging from the small mirror over the dashboard showed off the minor attempt to help out the smell in the vehicle.  But there was no helping it.  The car was forever doomed to smell like shit.

“How about you try not to piss off the bartender tonight?” Kole advised as they drove down the road.  Since there was no point in telling Terence not to drink, he’d made it his duty to play the “parent” role, telling him off for every little thing he did. 

“How ‘bout we not play the ‘daddy’ role tonight?” Terence mocked, rolling his eyes.

“How ‘bout I just stay home tonight?” Kole challenged, crossing his arms over his chest.

Terence’s eyebrows rose, and his lips pricked up in amusement.  “Nice try,” he congratulated, laughing shortly.

Kole sighed in defeat.  Well, it had been worth a shot.

For the most part, the rest of the ride to Xia was silent.  Kole leaned his head against the window struggling not to drown himself in his thoughts.  That would only cause him to become even more irritated than he already was, and nobody needed that.  Kole could become vicious when he was irritated—or so people told him.

Terence turned on the radio and tapped his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat.  Kole swallowed down his irritation, not wanting to get in a fight with Terence while he was all pumped up.  That would be as stupid as him picking a fight with him when Terence was drunk.

“This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill!” Terence roared out along with Fort Minor.  “Fifteen percent concentrated power of will.”

Kole resisted the urge to plug his ears.  His friend couldn’t sing well, no matter how many times he tried to show everyone that he had talent.  He didn’t seem to understand that he lacked skill.  Even when Zander had duct-taped his mouth shut, telling him to “shut the hell up,” he refused to relent.

“Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain and a hundred percent reason to remember the name.”  Terence whooped, pumping his fist in the air.  “Terence Favel!  Remember that name!”

Kole rolled his eyes, shaking his head.  “We’re not even at the club yet, and you’re driving like you’re drunk,” he muttered as Terence danced around in his seat.  “You’re going to get us killed, you know.”

“You’re a fuddy-duddy,” Terence said, ignoring Kole’s warnings.  “You need to get out more, man.”

“I don’t like getting out.  It’s full of alcohol poisoning, idiots, and smelly breath.”

“Said like a true poet,” Terence teased.

Terence pulled over on the side of the street and unbuckled.  They were across the street from Xia, the line so long that it curled around the other side of the building.  Kole inwardly groaned at the prospect of waiting in line for over an hour just to watch his friends destroy themselves by consuming alcohol.  Terence didn’t look to excited either, for when he turned to Kole as Kole forced himself out of the car he was scowling.  “This never would have happened if you’d agreed to come in the first place.”

Kole shrugged, shoving his hands into his jean pockets.  “I’m pretty sure the line would still be here even if we’d gotten here earlier.”

“Yeah,” Terence snapped, “but we’d be at the front of the line.”

Kole sighed deeply, deciding not to take the conversation any further than where it was obviously escalating to.  He sauntered into the road after checking twice to see if cars were coming, heading toward the ever-growing crowd.  He turned, ready to head toward the end of the line.  But, right as he lifted his foot in that direction, a recognizable voice rang out.

“Kole, over here!”

It was Seth.  Seth Baye always reminded Kole of a hawk with his pinched and angular facial features.  His shaggy light brown hair was usually brushed forward, making it looked windswept.  That had been Seth’s hair style ever since Kole met him in their early years of school.

Kole waved, signaling that he’d heard his friend before turning to Terence.  “They saved us spots.”

Terence nodded, a smile breaking out on his face.  “I forgive you, Frost.”

Kole scoffed.  “Honored, Favel.”

Terence punched Kole’s shoulder playfully before scurrying across the street, making his way toward the front of the line where Seth and Zander waited.  Kole braced himself before following.

“Where’ve you two been?” Seth demanded, scowling as the two boys reached them.  “The doors are about to open.”

“Kole wasn’t cooperating,” Terence replied, shooting Kole a pointed look.

Kole shrugged, turning his attention to Zander.  Zander, unlike the rest of the boys, was tan.  Everyone always called him out on it, saying that he was probably a deformed being from the other side of the Gate.  Kole envied Zander’s pigment of skin, though.  He’d always wanted to be tan.  Though, he didn’t want Zander’s ink black hair.  As much as he liked the color black, having it as a hair color was not something Kole yearned for.  “Why did you come?” he wondered, tilting his head to the side.

Zander shrugged.  “Seth practically shoved me out the door, so I decided to come for a couple hours.”

“What about your brother?”

An emotion Kole couldn’t place flashed across Zander’s face.  He brought a hand through his hair, sighing.  “He’s with a sitter.”

Kole was about to reply, but at that moment the bouncer pushed open Xia’s doors and stepped outside in front of the small rope keeping people away.  He undid the rope, gesturing for Terence to come forward.  Terence obliged, holding his arms out.  Kole watched with bored eyes as the bouncer patted Terence’s shirt, working down all the way to his feet.  It was like a police officer checking for weapons on a suspect.

Terence was deemed access to the club and disappeared inside.  Kole stepped up next, holding his arms out while swallowing down a sigh.  He wasn’t looking forward to going inside, nor was he looking forward to staying inside for the next two hours or so.  In that short period of time he would manage to get a headache and his friends would manage to get themselves drunk beyond understanding.

After the bouncer finished with what he needed to do, Kole dragged himself into the club, biting his lip as his ears made contact with the music roaring from the speakers.  He couldn’t recognize the band or the song, nor did he like the band or the song.  He just wished everything would be quiet.

A moment later Zander was next to him, guiding him to the bar to buy a couple of sodas.  Seth and Terence screamed and danced over the music, acting like they’d downed a minimum of three beers despite being sober.  Kole cringed, thinking about how much worse they were going to be once they were drunk.

“Here,” Zander hollered over the music, passing Kole his drink. 

“Thanks,” Kole replied, sipping at his soda.  “Let’s go find a seat, yeah?”

Zander nodded, and the two of them immediately turned toward the seating area.  It was a semi-circle surrounding the dance floor, filled with tables, couches, and chairs alike.  Every time Kole was dragged to Xia, he’d always sat there and did absolutely nothing despite his friends’ pleas to join them in the fun.

There was nothing fun about this place.

They passed a group of boys scrambling to finish their homework, shouting answers to each other as they struggled to block out the music blaring around them.  Kole couldn’t understand why they bothered coming to a club if they were only going to do homework.  What was the point?  They were only going to get distracted, and they probably weren’t going to get a single thing done.

“Here’s a good one,” Zander said, plopping down at one of the free tables.  He set his drink down, looking out at the dance floor blankly.

Kole set his drink down as well, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.  “If I thought that Seth and Terence could afford to have us leave, I’d suggest us sneaking out and heading back to your house.”

Zander smiled.  “Too bad they always get wasted.”

It wasn’t like Zander wasn’t guilty of getting wasted every once and a while; he was.  But, unlike Terence and Seth, Zander didn’t choose to do that every single time he came.  Sometimes he drank, sometimes he didn’t.  It really depended on his mood.

“Yeah,” Kole muttered, shaking his head.

Zander sighed, rubbing his eyes.  He looked so worn out, so exhausted.  And who could blame him?  He’d just lost his father, he’d just gained the total responsibility of a person.  If Kole had to go through that, he’d be exhausted too.  “I can’t believe my dad did that!” he exclaimed finally, his hands falling and his eyes fierce with rage.  “He left us.  Why would he do that?”

Kole stared at Zander for a long time before answering.  “I don’t know, Zander.  Some people just don’t have their priorities straight.”

“You’ve got that right,” Zander mumbled, letting his head fall in his hands.  “Now, if I screw up even once, Zachary is going to be taken away from me.  And it’s all his fault.”

“You’re not going to screw up,” Kole said with a dismissive wave of the hand.  “You were pretty much taking care of him to begin with, right?”

Zander nodded, sighing again.  “Yeah, but at least he was still there some of the time.  He was there to cook dinner; he was there to read Zander a nighttime story.  But now that’s all up to me.  And you know I can’t cook.”

It was true.  The last time Zander had attempted to cook on the stove, he’d almost burned Kole’s house down.  His father hadn’t really appreciated that.  “You’re not in this alone,” Kole assured, tossing his friend a smile.  “You have me, Terence, and Seth here with you.”

Zander laughed.  “Yeah, that’s true.”

Kole was about to reply, but it was cut short by a huge crash, so loud that it could be heard over the music.  Kole turned in his seat, his eyes immediately finding the source of the commotion: two boys had taken the ice box used for cooling drinks and had dumped it over the bartenders head.  He watched as they whooped and hollered, spinning the now-empty ice box around their heads.  The boys’ triumph didn’t last long.  One of the boys slipped off the counter in which they were standing on, dragging the other boy down with them, leaving them in a pile of drunk guffaws.

“Idiots,” Kole muttered, shaking his head as the bouncer picked the boys up by their shirts and dragged them out of the club.

“Morons.”

Kole glanced out on the dance floor.  Boys were jumping up and down, dancing horribly to the beat of the music.  Most of the boys just couldn’t dance.  And, though Kole couldn’t put his finger on it, there was something off about the way people danced.  It was like something was . . . missing.  Every time this crossed Kole’s mind he struggled to figure out what was wrong with the dancing, but he could never figure it out.

“What the hell is Terence doing?”

Kole followed Zander’s gaze, biting his lip to keep from laughing when he saw Terence doing the chicken dance.  Normally that wouldn’t be as funny, but he happened to be in the middle of a dance-off with a more professional dancer.  While the other dancer was doing flips and spinning around, Terence was flapping invisible wings.  Kole mentally face-palmed.  His friend was so stupid.

“He must be hammered,” Zander mused.

“Yeah,” Kole agreed.  “And if he’s hammered, there’s no hope for Seth.”

Seth was the worst drinker of them all.  In all honesty, Kole was surprised that he hadn’t died from alcohol poisoning yet.  The amount he consumed here was ridiculous.

“Seth the Llama is here for buuusineess,” came a slurred voice from behind them.  “Oh, hey, guuuuys!”

Kole sighed mentally before turning.  Seth stood there, smiling goofily as he struggled to keep himself from falling.  He was drunker than Kole would have thought—seeing how it was so early in the night.  “I see you found the bar,” he muttered.

“That bartender and I have a lovely friendship that goes way back to the fish ages,” Seth announced, waving to the bartender.  The bartender, happening to catch Seth’s wave, waved awkwardly back before continuing to hand out drinks.

“The fish ages?” Zander questioned, amused.  “And what is that?”

“The age where the world was filled with donkeys, duuuuh,” Seth exclaimed, waving his arms in the air.  “The fish ages were epic.  Epic, man!”

“And I’m sure the donkeys ate the fish?”

“What?  There were no fish.”  Seth shook his head.  “Man, you’re so stupid sometimes.”

“Yeah, I’m stupid,” Zander muttered under his breath.  Kole laughed, holding his fist out.  Zander knocked it, laughing along with him.

“Oh yeah,” Seth slurred, leaning back on the table.  “Call me stupid, guys.  Real nice.  But, here me when I say: the turtles will rule the world again someday!”

“All right, whatever you say.”

“I do say!” Seth hollered.  He began laughing uncontrollably, curling forward and laughing into his chest.

Zander and Kole watched him silently.  Kole sighed, imagining how unpleasant Seth was going to be the next day.  Seth in a hangover was never fun.  Kole always made sure he was busy that day so he wouldn’t get snapped at every time he opened his mouth.

Seth abruptly snapped up and twisted toward the table.  With the goofy smile still on his face, he snatched Zander’s drink from the table and splashed it in Zander’s face.  The Coke dripped down Zander’s emotionless face slowly, seeming to fall in eerie slow-motion.

Kole watched as emotion finally appeared on Zander’s face.  He stood up, his face pinched with rage.  He slowly brought his hand up to his face, wiping off the remaining liquid.  “That is it,” he snapped venomously.  “We’re leaving.  Now.”

“Come on, man!” Seth whined as Zander grabbed his arm and dragged him toward the door.  “It was only a joke!”

“Kole, go get Terence,” Zander ordered, ignoring Seth’s pleas to let him go.  “We’re going home.”

Kole nodded, hurrying off toward the dance floor.  He struggled to find Terence through the crowd, annoyed that everyone was getting in his way.  “Terence!” he shouted.  “Terence come on, we’re leaving!”

After a few moments of searching, he found Terence still doing a horrible impression of the chicken dance, balking like he was actually apart of the species.  When Terence saw Kole walking towards, he whooped, his dancing coming to an end.  “Kole is finally coming to party!” he hollered.

Kole shook his head, grabbing Terence’s arm.  “No, we’re leaving.”

“But, I don’t want to.” Terence shook his head, ripping his arm from Kole’s grip.  “You leave, I’ll stay a little longer.”

“Terence, you are in no condition to drive.  Your designated driver is leaving.  Let’s go.”

“You’ll have to drag me out before I agree—hey!”

Kole grabbed Terence roughly by the shoulder, dragging him away from the dance floor.  Terence attempted to smack his hand away, but Kole refused to relent.  Zander was probably having difficulty getting Seth into his car, and the sooner he got Terence safely into his own vehicle, the sooner Kole could go help.

“Ah, it smells nice out here,” Terence mused as Kole threw open Xia’s door.

“If you think pot smells nice, then yeah,” Kole muttered, rolling his eyes.   

Terence guffawed, finding Kole’s comment to be the most hilarious thing in the world.  Kole sighed deeply, trying not get annoyed at his friend’s stupidity.  He hated it when his friends got drunk—or anyone for that matter.  What was the point of losing yourself?  Not only were you going to regret it later, but it made people lose respect for you.

“Get in the car,” Kole ordered once they finally made it across the street.  He opened the passenger door and gestured for Terence to sit.  “Let’s go, we don’t have all night.”

“We would have all night if you weren’t such a party pooper,” Terence muttered, the slur obvious in his voice.  He plopped into the passenger seat, kicking his feet up onto the dashboard.  “Let’s go,” he mocked, grinning like the idiot he was.

Kole slammed the door shut and rounded to the driver’s seat.  He took the car keys from Terence’s outstretched hand and jammed the keys into the ignition before pulling out onto the street.  Zander appeared behind him a moment later, and then they were off.

They stopped at Seth’s house first.  They travelled together so that once they reached Terence’s house Kole could have a ride home instead of having to walk the whole way.  As they pulled up to Seth’s driveway Kole unbuckled his seat, bracing himself for the fight Seth was about to put up.  He was a terrible drunk, he really was.

“He puked in the back seat!” Zander exclaimed as Kole made his way toward him.  “Uck, this is so gross.”

Kole’s face scrunched in sympathy.  “I’ll help you clean it up later,” he reassured, opening the back seat door.  Let’s just get him out of here.”

“He passed out,” Zander said as Kole peered into the back.

Zander was right.  Seth was sprawled out in the back, his arm barely missing the pile of puke on the floor.  His mouth was open, loud, obnoxious snores roaring from the gap.  Kole scoffed, grabbing his legs and pulling him not-so-gently out of the vehicle.  “You grab his arms,” he ordered.

Zander nodded, quickly grabbing Seth’s arms as they came into view.  Together they carried Seth toward his porch, struggling not to drop him as they did.

“Damn, he’s so heavy!” Zander exclaimed.

“We’re almost to the porch,” Kole struggled out.  “We’ll just ring the doorbell and leave him there.”

Zander nodded slightly, beginning the journey up the porch steps.  Kole adjusted his grip on Seth, following him up slowly.  Every step took time and strength, leaving Kole exhausted.  He was tempted to drop him and leave him to wake up on the steps.  But, being the good friend he was, decided that would be too harsh—even if he did dump Zander’s drink all over him and puked in his car.

After was seemed like forever, they finally reached the front door.  Kole and Zander immediately dropped him, stretching their arms out to regain their strength.  Then, after counting to three, Zander pressed the doorbell.

“Run!” Zander exclaimed in a whisper, pelting it down the porch, toward his car.

Kole didn’t have to be told twice.  He ran towards the car, throwing himself into the driver’s seat and slamming his foot into the gas.  Seth’s father wasn’t going to be very happy when he saw a drunk Seth on the doorstep.  The last time he’d outright slapped Seth across the face and then threatened to call Zander’s and Kole’s fathers.  Ever since then they’d made sure that they weren’t around when his father came out.

“Woo!” Terence yelled excitedly as they zoomed down the road.  “It’s like we’re on the run from the cops, man!”

Kole barely cast his friend a glance as he pulled over before making a U-turn.  From the rearview mirror he could see that Zander was copying, turning around slowly.  Terence lived a few miles past Kole’s hill, in a small neighborhood near the edge of town.  Kole wished that he was on his hill right now, left in peace to think of whatever he wanted to.

“Man, have you ever wondered what was behind the Gate?” Terence mumbled as they neared Kole’s hill.  “I think I wanna find out.”

“No you don’t,” Kole said, shaking his head.  “Stop being stupid.”

The hill was in view now.  Terence sat up, letting his feet fall from the dashboard.  “Yes I do,” he argued, his eyes bright with determination.  “And I’m gonna.  Right now.”

Before Kole had any time to react, Terence unbuckled his seatbelt and threw the car door open.  He turned, tossing Kole a foolish grin before jumping out of the car, rolling on the tar until he came to a stop.

“Holy shit!” Kole screeched, slamming on his breaks.  He struggled to unbuckle his seatbelt as Terence ran up Kole’s hill, straight toward the hill.

Kole cursed under his breath, throwing the seatbelt off of him and hurrying out of the car.  He paused for only a moment, trying to find Terence before running after his friend, right into the forest.