Samson stood in the corner with a lit cigarette in his mouth. He took a long suck and let out the smoke from his mouth which was carried by the wind.

"A little too early for that, don't you think?" A voice said to him from the corner of his eye.

"Peace! There you are. I've been waiting for you guys." Samson said and reached in for a hug but none was forthcoming.

Peace only pulled the cigarette out of his mouth, threw it in the ground and stepped on it.

"Why?" Samson asked like a little child whose toy had been taken away from him.

"Those things will kill you. And what will Jamie think if he saw you doing that stuff?" She asked, seemingly concerned about him.

"That's why I don't do it in the house," Samson answered and brought out the cigar box to take another.

"Don't even think about it or I will burn the entire box." Peace said.

She sounded serious so Samson put the box back inside his backpack and said, "Later then."

"How about Jamie? How's he doing?" Peace asked.

"He's good, he's good. I just dropped him off at school before I came here. And you? How are your sisters after your parent's little battle this morning?" Samson asked back.

"Little battle Indeed! They're fine. I seriously don't know how they'd end up if I wasn't in the picture. They're so young. They shouldn't be seeing that shit." Peace said, wishing she could do more to change her family's situation, for her sisters' sake.

"They're lucky to have you as their big sis," Samson said sincerely.

"Yeah...Give me one of those cigars." Peace suddenly said.

"I thought these things kill?" Samson asked sarcastically.

"Only if you make it a habit." Peace replied and took a stick. Samson gave her a light and she began smoking.

Just then, Nelly showed up on his skateboard. He saw Samson and Peace and called out to them. They waved at him and he decided to entertain them with some skating tricks.

He did a 360 ollie kickflip and landed flawlessly which made his friends applaud him.

"Thank you, thank you." He said like a performer and stopped his board. He kicked it up and caught it in the air with his hand.

"Where's Darryl and J-lo?" He asked.

"Probably sucking each other's face somewhere." Peace said bitterly.

"Looks like someone's still upset about pretty boy Darryl not noticing she has a crush on him," Nelly said jokingly in an attempt to tease Peace over her unrequited feelings for Darryl.

"Had a crush on him. Keyword, 'had'. I'm over him." She admitted.

"Well if you're so over him, then why do you always let what he does with Jennifer bother you so much?" Nelly asked.

"I may not have feelings for him anymore but he's still my friend and I care about him. She's just using him and he's too infatuated with her to notice. He's just a trophy to her." Peace said, visibly upset.

"Well, you can tell him that to his face because they're here," Samson said and pointed at Jenny's car in the distance.

The car drove up to them and parked by their side with loud music playing from the speakers.

"What's up, guys? Get in, let's go." Jennifer greeted them.

"Here, I'm done with this!" Peace said to Nelly and handed him her cigarette. She opened the door to the car and went in. Nelly threw the cigarette away into a bush and went into the car as well and so did Samson.

"Let's go, Babe," Darryl said to her and she drove off to school.

In the car, the group began engaging in small talk and Jennifer turned off the stereo so they could talk.

"What's up Darryl?" Samson said to him and Darryl turned around from the passenger seat to exchange handshakes with his male friends.

"I'm good Sam." he said while shaking hands, "Nelly, my man! How you doing today?" He asked and shook Nelly as well.

"Never better," Nelly answered.

"Hi Peace," Darryl said with a slight nod of his head.

"Hi, Darryl." Peace replied with the least of interest.

"Yo J-Lo! What's good girl?" Nelly said aloud to Jennifer.

"Nelly, how many times have I told you not to call me J-Lo? I'm a lot younger and more fabulous than she is." Jennifer replied snobbily.

"Ok hold up! I don't care how young you are, you can never be more fabulous than Jennifer Lopez." Nelly said.

"That's facts," Samson said in agreement.

"Don't listen to them, babe. You are the most fabulous babe on the planet." Darryl said to her.

"Aww, thanks, babe."

"Aww, thanks, babe." Peace mouthed the same words in mockery but didn't say it out loud. She was getting so worked up about how hard Darryl was trying to kiss up to Jennifer so she decided to make him uncomfortable.

"Darryl! You mentioned that your Dad was yelling your name this morning. What was that about?" Peace asked, already knowing what it was about.

Darryl never liked telling his friends about his life at home. They knew he was poor but they didn't know how bad his living conditions were because he always managed to hide it and always came up with an excuse not to invite them over. The only one who knew about it was Peace. She also knew that his father was physical sometimes but Darryl made her promise not to tell anyone.

"Oh, nothing really. He just needed me to pick up some things on my way back from school and he was a bit cranky." Darryl lied in response to the question but Peace wasn't buying it unlike the rest of the group.

"And what happened to your face?" She asked again. She knew she was pushing it too far but she just couldn't help herself.

"Yeah, I was meaning to ask you about that bruise on your jaw," Jennifer added.

Darryl didn't know what to say. He couldn't tell them that his father hit him so he came up with a ridiculous lie about bumping into a pole.

Darryl turned around and gave Peace a warning look, a look that suggested that she stop asking questions so she reluctantly did.

"So guys, do any of you have any plans for Christmas? If not, we could do something together." Samson said.

"Urgh! Christmas is still like a week away. Let's talk about plans for tonight, shall we?" Jennifer dismissed the talk of Christmas plans. It wasn't her favourite topic because her parents were always working which made her always spend Christmas alone, void of all the happy family traditions.

"What plans tonight?" Darryl wondered.

"My parents are out and I have the house all to myself. Mom said I could invite you guys over so...?" Jennifer said in a casual invite.

"Sweet! I love hanging out at your crib. That place is dope yo." Nelly said excitedly, forgetting the promise he made to his mom about coming home early to look after his Pops.

"I'm there." Samson accepted to come.

"Well, count me in as well," Darryl said. He was in no rush to go back home after being hit by his father.

"And what about you Peace? You coming?" Jennifer asked and looked at her through the rearview mirror.

"Depends on how things are at home. I'll try to come but I'll probably be late." Peace said as sincerely as she could.

They finally reached their school and the bells indicating the start of classes went off. They all stepped out of the car and walked in like a troop of odd-looking soldiers. They were a weird collection of people with so much in common, yet so different in many ways.

Samson and Darryl were both seniors so they had a different class unlike the rest of the gang and so, they split up.

"We'll meet up during recess and go over the details of the party tonight, alright?" Darryl said and everyone nodded in agreement before they separated.

As Darryl began walking away, Jennifer grabbed his hand and pulled him in for a kiss. She was really going for it, not caring that they were in the hallway of the school and there were so many people around.

Peace saw the kiss and rolled her eyes at them before she went her way.

"You've been very affectionate today," Darryl said to her, wondering why.

"Do you want me to stop?" Jennifer asked.

"No, no. Quite the opposite. I kinda want more."

"Well, maybe you'll get a whole lot more tonight," Jennifer whispered in his eyes.

She kissed him again and bit his lower lip before walking away and leaving him horny as ever.

He watched her walk away, swinging her hips and he winced in excitement for what tonight would bring. He couldn't wait to get the night underway.