You and I vs. the end of the world

This place called "home"

"Morning, losers!" I woke up to Lizzie tackling Carter and I. Muffin just sat there on a nearby couch watching my suffering.

"It's too early for this!" I screamed, placing my pillow over my head.

"Go bother Mello and Caroline, please, Lizzie." Carter whined, he too was not a morning person.

"They've been up! It's also noon thirty, so get up!" Lizzie started shoving us towards the wall. I always found it weird how she said 'noon-thirty' instead of 12:30.

"You guys are honestly the laziest people I've ever met." I heard Caroline complaining to us.

I opened my eyes and saw Caroline making her favorite waffle recipe, or recipes I should say. She made Blueberry for herself and Carter, Berry mix for Lizzie, and chocolate for Mello and I, which she knew would start a fight between him and I.

"Hell yeah, chocolate waffles, I'm game!" Mello screamed of joy.

"I better get at least two or you don't wake up tomorrow morning!" I jumped out of 'bed' and pushed Mello out of the way, quickly running back to bed with a plate of 3 of the 6 waffles. "Damnit, I forgot to grab syrup."

"Sounds like a personal problem, plus we all might not wake up tomorrow morning anyways." Mello shrugged and began eating the remaining waffles.

Carter came over to me and handed me the syrup. "I gotta say it, Caroline, you've really outdone yourself today."

"Thanks, I think I deserve some wine." She chuckled, then looked back down at her phone and chuckled again. "So, Kass' hometown is getting wild for their 'End of the World' Party."

I sighed. The people from my hometown are idiots. "How so?"

"Well, I guess there's been a lot of your typical 'redneck' activity. There's also a lot of beer involved." Caroline skimmed through, clearly not giving a damn about the actual article.

I cringed when she mentioned beer. Mississippians and beer are a common mix, but aren't a great idea. "My god..."

"You never seem to talk about your hometown, what was it like there?" Carter asked.

"I prefer not to talk about it, really, the good memories are few in far between." I looked down, fidgeting with my fingers.

"Kass, you can tell us anything, you know that, right?" Caroline tilted my head upwards, so I was looking her in the eyes.

I pushed her hand down with my chin and looked back down. "Yeah, I know, it's just a dark time in my past that I don't like reminiscing on."

"Understandable, I've some dark memories too, just remember you're safe with us." Mello added.

"Forget all this dark, sad stuff, let's talk about those good memories!" Lizzie exclaimed. "That is, if you have any worth remembering."

"I suppose I do have one, and it was about my first love." I grinned slightly.

"OOOOOOOH, CARTER, YOU HAVE COMPETITIOOOOOON!" Lizzie yelled, causing Caroline and Mello to chuckle, and Carter to blush slightly.

"Okay, okay, so his name was Rodney, dumb name, I know." I laughed.

Rodney (dumb name, I know. I used to bully him for it) was my neighbor back home. I remember having to go to his house with my sister often if things got unsafe at my own home. He was fun to be around and he knew how to calm me down when I was distressed, upset or afraid. I remember when him and I used to share Nutty Buddy bars after preschool. We always enjoyed each other's company and he was one of the only boys that I could sleep over with (He did have an older sister, after all, so I wasn't the only girl). We were each other's first kiss, when we were just four years old, going on five. My mom had kept in touch with his parents, but I hadn't talked to him since the kiss. It was a shame.

"Nutty bars are the freaking best." Mello grinned.

"They really were, and both of our families always had them for us." I cracked a sad smile. "I haven't talked to him in so long."

"I'm sure you'll see him again someday." Carter to pull me into a hug.

"What was it like dancing in Mississippi?" Caroline asked. "I never really got to learn about your dance background."

"Right, I started dancing when I was around 2 ½." I thought for a second, (it could've been three, don't judge. That was over a decade ago), then nodded because I knew it was 2 ½.

My obsession with dance came from a few influences. My grandma Ethel, who was not only a prima ballerina in her prime, but she was also an amazing all-around dancer as well who inspired my sister to start dancing. Both of them inspired me enough to start dancing, but I also dreamed of becoming a Cirque Performer or a Rockette. My mother decided it was finally time to enroll me when I was almost 3, that was the time period in which I spent most of my free time leaping and twirling around the house in my baby tutu. The first studio I enrolled in was the same studio my sister went to. I believe it was called Mary's School of Dance, since I do remember it having that kind of title and I do remember a Mrs. Mary being there. Mrs. Mary took a liking to me, but my other teachers weren't too fond of me. They thought I was just there because my mom thought the studio was some kind of aftercare (which really pissed off my mom when she found out they said that because we take dance very seriously in our family). I didn't really know the whole situation clearly, because I was happy to be at that studio. I enjoyed being in the recitals, but I guess what really made the teachers mad was that I was in "my own little world". I guess they were right, but at least I was optimistic.

"So, do you like our studio better?" Caroline asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, that's when I started taking dance seriously."

"It's a good thing that you could find some happiness throughout the dark times." Lizzie looked up at me from my lap, which she started laying in during this story.

"Yeah, and whenever you wanna open up more, we're here." Carter pet my hair.

"Thanks guys, honestly, it means a lot to me." I started to tear up a little, I loved having such a supportive group of friends to talk to.

"No problem at all." Mello pulled me in for a hug as the others joined.