Oscar woke hours later and saw faint streaks of sunlight peeking through the windows. His arm was still around Noah, who had rolled over.

Oscar tried to slowly lift his arm and roll off the bed, but before he could, Noah's eyes fluttered open. "Hey. You leaving, Os?" he asked sleepily.

"Yeah, my parents are probably worried," Oscar answered.

"You want a ride home?" Noah asked.

"No, I'll just walk."

"Okay" Noah said, and further covered himself with the comforter.

Oscar slipped on his shoes and walked down the stairs as quietly as he could. When he began walking home, there was a light mist hanging close to the ground. The grass was still wet with dew, and the sun had just broken over the horizon.

About fifteen minutes later he reached his own house. His heart started to beat faster as he slowly opened the front door and heard voices inside. He sauntered inside, expecting to be scolded, but instead saw that both of his parents were in the kitchen eating breakfast. He nimbly attempted to slip past them, but the creak of the floorboards under his feet gave him away.

"Oscar? That you?" He heard his Dad ask. He walked back around the corner and into the view of his parents. "Yeah, it's me," he said.

"Where'd you go last night? Are you okay?" His mom asked him.

"Uh yeah, I'm fine. I fell asleep at Noah's house, sorry," he said.

Oscar's expression changed from concerned to surprised when his mom then said, "No that's fine honey, we trust you," accompanied with an understanding smile.

"Oh. Thanks," he said hesitantly. "I'll see you guys later, then," he said, gesturing to the stairs and beginning to walk up them.

Deciding to catch a few more hours of sleep, Oscar reached his room and sank into the bed, breathing a sigh of relief.

Less than an hour later Oscar was woken up by the incessant sound of his phone buzzing on the nightstand. He lazily reached for it and was horrified by what he saw on the screen.

7 missed calls and 1 incoming, all from Ethan.

"Oh shit," he murmured before answering the call.

"Ethan, man I'm sorry I completely forgo-" he began to say but was cut off by Ethan's booming voice on the other end.

"Yeah that's fine, but I'm outside your house," he said.

"Wait, right now? Shit. I'll be right there, hold on," Oscar said before ending the call and scrambling to put on a pair of pants.

He clambered down the stairs, not bothering to put on shoes, and rushed past the family room, from where he heard the faint sounds of classical music emanating. He quickly opened the front door and was immediately met by Ethan's large figure standing in front of him.

Still groggy, Oscar said, "Hey, sorry. I was asleep."

"No need to apologize, I get it. Hey listen, I cannot thank you enough for helping me study today. This book is killing me," Ethan said, walking past Oscar and into his house.

"Ethan wait up-" Oscar called, following him inside and shutting the door.

Oscar turned the corner and saw Ethan greeting his mom who had been drawn in by all of the noise he had made.

"Hi Ethan, good to see you again," Jennifer said.

Ethan shook her hand and said, "Yeah, you too Mrs. Fleming."

He turned his head to better hear the music that was playing, "Is that Tchaikovsky? Sick," he said.

Jennifer's mouth fell agape and she turned to her son. "Oscar," she began, "why didn't you tell me your friend was such a connoisseur of the arts?"

The three of them laughed and Oscar asked, "Well, we should probably get studying right, Ethan?"

"Okay, I won't keep you," said his mom, and Oscar and Ethan began trudging up the stairs to his room.

Oscar and Ethan were sat at the desk in his room, pouring over the open novel that laid in front of them. "So, what do you think Janie's hair symbolizes in the story?" He asked Ethan.

Ethan, furrowed his brow and began, "Um, her hair is... a symbol of her power and unconventional identity?" He said hesitantly, and looked up.

Oscar, who's head rested on his hand and had been fading in and out of sleep for the past hour said, "..... um, what? Yeah that's great."

Frustrated, Ethan closed the book and asked, "Dude, why are you so tired? Did you sleep at all last night?"

Oscar raised his head and said, "Yeah I slept, just not much. I stayed over at Noah's house last night. He loves video games, you know."

"No, I didn't know that, actually," Ethan said. "You guys have been hanging out a lot lately, yeah? That's cool. Noah's a good guy."

Oscar, between yawns said, "Yeah..."

Wanting to change the subject he said, "Anyway, you think you got this test down or should we keep going?"

Ethan, who had started putting his books back into his bag, said, "Nah, I think I've got it. Thanks for helping me."

"Yeah, no problem. I'm happy to help," Oscar said with a sleepy smile.

Ethan stood up and walked to the door, "I'll see you at the game tonight?" he asked.

"Uh yeah, I'll be there," said Oscar.

"Ight see you," Ethan said, and closed the door behind him.

Alone finally, Oscar closed his eyes and set his head down on the desk. Sigh.