Different (Scomiche)

sixteen.

"Scotty didn't take part in the deal!" Esther says in a sing-song voice. "Scotty talked to Mitchy!" She continues. Avi glares at me, I just decided on looking down.

"I told you not to be a hypocrite." Avi says. I shake my head. He talked to me. I was talking to Esther and he started a conversation with me.

"Esther brought him in here, dude." I say to Avi. "I crawled down here and they were both chilling in here like no one owned the place."

"Don't bring him here, Es." She scoffs. "Hangout with him somewhere else, just not here. You're lucky I'm letting you talk to him at all." Esther's smile turns into a frown.

"Why does Scott always get what he wants. It is so unfair." Esther whines. I quietly chuckle and Kevin nudges me.

"He's older." Avi says. It was a lame excuse, but he knew Esther would listen to anything he'd say.

"But you're older than him, Av." She says. "You tell him."

"Then it would still be you telling him, just coming from my mouth." Esther drops her head. "Enough, Es." She shakes her head.

"Yeah, Es, enough." I tease her.

"No wonder Mitch hates you. You are such a dick." She says, a smirk on her lips.

"He doesn't hate me." I reply.

"Whatever you say." She says. I just hop off of the floor and grab the ladder. Esther starts laughing at my reaction, Avi obviously telling her to stop. She doesn't though. I climb out and onto the dead grass.

Esther was the most outspoken person of all of us. If something was on her mind, she'd say it without any second thought or feeling regretful afterwards. She could be a real pain in my ass.

We don't really like each other. The things she said about Mitch were just her trying to fuck with me, and it kind of did to be honest. I couldn't tell if she was telling the truth or not. She never made a difference in her voice when she was messing around or not, so it made it hard to tell.

I liked to mess with her, but it was obvious I was messing around. Of course Avi never took it well, always told me to stop. He was almost too protective over her. He was just scared that she'd be marked as a Different where she belongs. He tried to keep her from that.

She seemed to keep her chill in extremely public places that silvers were always at, like the courtyard and lunch room. Avi never took his eyes off of her, which made me mad when he knew about them sitting together at lunch. I hadn't known, but he had all eyes on her as she spoke every word to him. I wish Avi would've told me before they formed this weird friendship. I think she is doing it despite me, to make me angry that she has something that I don't want her too.

As much as she doesn't act like it, she was a smart girl. If she were trying to hide her friendship with Mitch from me and everyone else, she wouldn't of brought him to the Shack. She did it on purpose. It made me angry how satisfied she is with it too. How saying one thing about Mitch could set me off.

'Don't make him another Alex!'

Ether said it almost everyday if she was passing by me, or we were the first to the Shack. She said it during times where no one could catch it, especially our friends. All too push me overboard. She knew exactly how to do it.

She found entertainment in my anger and stress. It was kind of awful if you think about it, but she didn't care.

"Well, well, well." I hear someone say. "If it isn't the Scott Hoying." I turn around and see a familiar figure.

"Jakey!" I yell, running up and into his arms. It had been a long time since I had seen Jake, he was best friends with Alex. He marked himself as a Different just to stay with him. I never knew if they actually talked still.

"How are you?" Jake asks while continuing to hug me.

"Forget me, how are you?!" I ask.

"I'm good, actually. Is it bad that I like being a Different more than a Normal?" He asks. "Sure, it's harder, but I like it more."

"Nah, Avi likes it more too." He nods. "Are you still with Alex?" He sighs.

"I was, yeah." He says.

"Was?"

"He isn't smart, Scott." He says. "He fucked with Salik. I haven't seen him in a month."

"Is he..."

"I have no idea and I really don't want to think of it." He says. I nod, I completely understood. "How is Avi, Es, and Kev?"

"Avi is still protective as fuck over Esther, Esther still tries to annoy the hell out of me every chance she gets, and Kevin still saves our lives each and every day."

"Any new faces?" I nod. "Who?"

"This girl named Kirstie. She's been friends with Kevin for a while and we met the other day."

"She fun?"

"To others? A whole bunch. To me? Not so much."

"Why does everyone hate you?"

"I'm an asshole according to Esther." He laughs. "But she doesn't hate me, just hates some of the things I do."

"Don't we all?"

"Very funny." I say sarcastically.

"Anyone else?"

"A kid named Mitch. Not really a group friend, though." He nods. "Do you think Alex is okay?" I ask, changing the subject.

"Honestly?" I nod. "Probably not."