"Do you hate me or something?" I ask as I drive out of the school parking lot. No name girl siting to my right. Her head rested on her seat nicely, she looks like the seat was built with her in mind.

"Why would you think that." She asks me. Surprisingly not sarcastic at all. Like she's offended I'd even had the thought.

"Well you were willing to walk all the way to the elementary school to pick up your brother rather then let me give you a ride." I smile to her. She turns her head to look out the window, avoiding eye contact.

"I don't hate you, how can I? I don't even know you." She says. That throws me through a loop. She doesn't know me? She obviously knows me if she's aware of how long I've been attending this school. Plus I am the guy of the place how can she not know me.

"But you know how long I've been going here? You must know me." I say like I'm trying to defend myself or something. I can't believe she is trying to tell me she doesn't know me. She must hate me and is trying to make a story, yet she has crossed her stories and they no longer make sense.

"I do," she starts and looks back over at me. "I know of you, I don't know you." She says simply, over enunciating the know.

I don't even know how to respond to that." Uh..."

"Listen Dustin I know you're the rich hot guy. I know how you play with girls like their are just a cabbage-patch doll. I know you name." She huffs out, taking me by surprise. "That's all I know, so technically I know of you I don't know you."

What? Okay I get where she is coming from but I'm like a book, kinda. Okay I have my secrets but if she knows all that then she does practically know me. "You know all that right, that's all there really is to know about me. Congratulations you officially know me." I say like she's won a prize.

"No I don't. I don't think many do actually know you. We've all got secrets Fox, you are no acceptation." She says to me organizing herself with her bag as we pull into the driveway of the elementary school.

"So you've got secrets too," I say, not really knowing where I was going with it. "What are yours?" I ask stupidly, like she's actually gonna tell me.

"They are secrets for a reason Fox. I like to keep it that way." I pull up at the curb to the front door. Her little brother must have seen her through the font window, he was already running outside. He was cute, looked like he was in grade 1 or 2 maybe, got the blondest hair. The girl gets out of the car says thanks and closes the door. I roll down the window to say you're welcome. Before I can get my words out her brother is running to give her a hug and she kneels to his level.

"Hadley!" He yells in every range of excitement.

"Hey buddy." She says smile plastered on her face. "Sorry I'm a bit late, my car broke down, you're okay to walk home from here right." I'm about to say through the window that I can drive them.

"Yay I like walking!" He says even more excited.

Hadley, I presume is her name, takes his hand after standing back up " thanks again for the ride Dustin."

"Anytime Hadley." I say and she closes her eyes.

"I'm one secret closer doll." She giggles slightly with a roll of her gorgeous blue eyes, and starts to walk away with her brother. I stay stationary for a while. Picking my brain for if I've known her for long. She's obviously known me. I don't know her last name, but at least I have her first name and a face.

~ ~ ~

"Bout time you showed up" Jason says head laying on his kitchen table top, paper everywhere and I can see a lot of erasing has been taking place. The poor guy is so confused. "Where have you been, don't tell me you took the freshmen home ..." he mumbles to the the table. "If you picked some freshman over me, your struggling friend, I'm going to be upset."

I roll my eyes at his accounting accusation. I drop my backpack on a nearby chair and head straight for his fridge. Taking out a bottle of ginger ale and heading back over to sit beside pathetic man over there. "No I actually did not." I say as I take my seat, cracking the seal of the ginger ale and it lets out that familiar carbonated hiss.

"Then what took you so long?" He asks. Listing his head off the table and turning to face me.

"I drove Hadley home, her car broke down, well technically I didn't drive her home. I drove her to the elementary school to pick up her brother, she wouldn't let me drive her home." I say simply like it's something that happens every day. I take a small sip from the green bottle and glance over to Jason.

Jason looks at me and furrows his eyebrows. "The hell is Hadley?" He asks confused.

"The girl." I say "from this morning and lunch."

"How'd you get her to spill her name? At the rate she was talking it seemed like she would never tell you." He says a smirk on his face.

"Technically she didn't tell me, her brother did." I tell him." He ran out of the school yelling Hadley so I assumed." I state and Jason nods his head like I've done a job well done.

"Maybe that's just what he calls her?" Jason makes a good point. She didn't say that Hadley wasn't her name, then again would she. "Look her up in my Year book."

"Great idea!" I go to his bookshelf in his living room, where I know he keeps all his yearbooks from grade 1. I grab the one from last year, I quickly flip through the pages of memories and words. I find the pages that our grade started on. I look through the names and pictures looking for Hadley. She wasn't there. So I go to the grade younger then us. Then I spot her, she looks a bit different, he hair is shorter, she looks a little sad but, other then that it's her. I take the book and go back into the kitchen where Jason is working on another question, frustrated might I add.

"So..?" He asks looking up from his work. I place the book in front of him and point to Hadley's picture. "Look at that Hadley Penderson." He takes a closer look. "Looks kinda different then she did at lunch. But that is definitely her." He says "now that you know who she is can you please help me with my work, pass your great knowledge onto me please." He begs and put his hands together in a prayer arrangement.

I close the book and slide it to the other side of the table. I grab my math package from class and open it up. I flip to the page he's working on and help him figure it out.

After another hour of trying to help Jason understand. We do another three questions, before Jason finally does one and gets it right.

"Ugh I got it!" He says dropping his pencil like a football player drops a football after they score a touchdown.

"Congrats, now you can quit bugging me." I laugh. "Now let's grab some controllers and hit up the PS4."

We get up and grab a bag of plain chips from his pantry, I get another ginger ale for Jason and bring my half full one along. We set up our seats in his game room and set up our game. When it gets to be 7 we order a pizza and wait for it to get here. While waiting Jason's parents get home and tell me not to stay too late and Jason to not stay up really late.

After we chow down on an entire pizza and thing of bread sticks we play for another 2 and a half hours. I finally check my phone and see the time.

"I need to go, or should I say I should probably go, don't need to but I probably should." I say pausing our game and standing up.

"What time is it anyway?" Jason asks me as he saves the game.

"Ten o 'clock." I tell him, his eyes go big in surprise. "I know, I'll slip out so your parents don't add another thing to the long list of reason why they don't like having me over." I grab my bag off the kitchen chair that I had left it when I got here.

Once I get to my silver car that's parked outside I fish for my keys, unlock the door and slide inside throwing my bag into the passenger seat. I drive home and when I arrive, like always, lights are off except the one of my moms office, she's working late. My dads car I sent in the garage so he's not home yet. Typical. I look at my phone one more time and see there are still no messages from my parents. I let out a loud sigh. They can't even take two seconds away from their work to text their only son saying that they will be working late or to check up on me.

I go to grab my bag from the seat to my right when I see something on the floor, it's a phone. A completely scratched to hell screen. It's Hadley's.