2.1

The warm spring breeze ruffled our hair as we sat and stared forlornly at our homework. It really sucked to have to do homework when it was so nice out, but what choice did we have? We all had pretty big dreams. I wanted to become a CEO, and to even be considered for job-shadowing next year I needed very  good grades in all of my classes. Mint wouldn't exactly share what his dream was, all he said was that his father had ensured him a position of power. It almost made me nervous to think what the Winters family did to achieve and stay in power.

"This is so hard."

I looked over at Razzy and smiled sympathetically. The homework was fairly simple to me, and Mint wasn't having too much trouble with it either... But we were smarter than Razzy. As bad as it sounded, she simply hadn't inherited her father's intelligence. Not to say she is stupid, far from it, she just isn't really cut out for the advanced courses that Mint and I take. She worked so much harder than the two of us to earn B's and C's. I really respected her for it.

"What are you having trouble with this time?" 

 Mint's harsh voice cut across my thoughts and I glared at him. It wasn't that  he was trying to be mean to Razzy. He was just impatient and rough around the edges. He cared for Razzy almost as much as I did, and I knew he didn't hurt her feelings on purpose. I wish she would understand it too, but every time I tried to explain it she just shrugged.

"I can't figure out number ten."

Razzy always went much slower on her homework than we did. The homework had twenty questions. I was finishing up nineteen, and a look at Mint's paper told me he was starting on eighteen.

"Let me see your paper."

I watched for a moment as Mint began to explain to Razzy what she did wrong. Most of the time she didn't have to be told twice, she just didn't pick up on it in class because the teachers moved so fast.

It didn't take long before both Mint and I were finished with our homework. We didn't sit around and wait for Razzy to finish, we used to, but she got mad about it so we don't anymore. Instead Mint and I like to play catch while she finishes up. She doesn't like to play catch anyway. She doesn't really like any of the things we do... She just doesn't have any female friends to hang out with.

Once Razzy finished up her homework it was getting close to 6 PM. All of our families had dinner around that time, so that meant that we all needed to be heading home. Well, most of the time anyway. I had made plans to stay with Razzy tonight. Mint was always invited, but Razzy's father made no effort to hide his contempt for Mint's family. In fact, he was openly rude and hurtful to Mint. I didn't blame him for not going to Razzy's house.

She looked over at me, "Are you ready?"

"Yeah, of course." We both waved goodbye to Mint and set off toward Razzy's house.

 When we walked through the front door it was the same cold, empty environment as it always was. Doctor Jagger was rarely home, working as many hours as he possibly could. It wasn't that he had to work long, tedious shifts all the time. He chose to.

Razzy sighed as she made her way into the kitchen.

"What do you want for dinner?"

I followed her and sat down on one of the counters.

"Anything is fine."

She nodded and started pulling ingredients out of the cabinets. Razzy was an excellent cook, even better than my mom. She'd been cooking for herself since she was nine years old. Her dad.. Well... He really shut down after her mom died. Maybe it was because he couldn't save her, I don't know. What I do know is he had no excuse to stop being a father to Razzy. But he did. He started working as much as possible, ignoring Razzy. She's pretty much been fending for herself her entire life.

We ate dinner in silence. Razzy and I had fallen into a routine. She stayed at my house twice a week and I stayed at her house twice a week. Even if I wasn't staying the night sometimes I would come home with her. I knew she was lonely. Not only that, but she's a bit of a 'fraidy cat. She hates being home alone after dark. She always has, and Jagger knows it. But he does nothing to try and be home so she won't be afraid.

"Being afraid of the dark is impractical for someone your age, Shiraz. You'll have to learn to get over it."

Thinking about the cold, stoic way he'd muttered those words to her still caused anger to burn in my gut. I shouldn't have to take care of Razzy the way I do. But I do. Sometimes its all I can do to keep my mouth shut when he does decide to come home.

I spread my sleeping bag out on the floor as Razzy slid underneath her covers. I was allowed to stay with her and she was allowed to stay with me as long as we didn't sleep in the same bed. This was the agreement that our parents reached a few months after I met Razzy. I figured it was pretty fair. After all, we were teenagers. Most teenagers were interested in sex... But I would never take advantage of Razzy like that. She was my best friend.

"G'night, Cos."

"Night, Razzy."

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A/N: Sorry these chapters have been so short :/ Especially compared to Moon's chapters I feel like they are terribly short. Maybe they will get longer... Or maybe Cos will just have shorter chapters, but more chapters than Moon did. We'll just see.