BOND

2.

And I don't like falling 'cause I've never been good with heights

And not being right

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Joey doubled back upstairs to grab his bike keys. Summer had meant basketball camp so he had just ran to school, completing getting out of the habit of driving over.

Speaking of habits, he was already sleepy considering that he had woken up an hour before his alarm rang, but despite all his wishes to just flop back down under the covers, he dragged himself downstairs and out the door.

Almost knocking into it, he noticed the overflowing bin on the sidewalk between his and the newly shifted neighbor's one if the cardboard boxes and bubble wrap sheets were anything to go by.

Rolling up into the school parking lot, pretty sure he had completely messed up the time Ben had told him to be there at.

Smiling politely at the students, he couldn't for the life of him remember the names of, he made his way over to where the boys were.

Simply placing himself against the hood of Alex's car, Joey tried to catch up on whatever was the most important thing on the first day of junior year. Which was harder than anybody would have expected, considering that he was having to glance between five people.

"It's all over the news," Mark, a friend from the basketball team, waved his hand around.

Alex, taking a huge bite out of his Burger King takeout of the day, his parents were out of town and heaven forbid he even enter the kitchen unsupervised, and nodded, "She might even go to school here."

"Who's going here?" Joey finally asked. Everybody was obviously going to be talking about it so he might as well play catch up.

"Elena Moscovitz," Alex replied in a matter of fact voice as if the name was explanation enough, looking at himself in the side mirror to check for crumbs around his mouth.

Joey waited a couple of seconds for any of them to elaborate and finally asked, "Who's that?"

Ben raised up his hands, "Thank you! Somebody else who doesn't know who the hell that is." He held up his fist towards Joey who, still confused, replicated the gesture.

"She's a tennis player," Mark informed him, disappointment etched deep in his eyes. "One of the best."

The warning bell rang, saving Joey from raking through his brain for any kind of contribution to the conversation.

Ben sidled up to him and said, "Think that girl at the cafe was Elena?"

They walked without resistance, the people almost backing up into the lockers for them walk through the corridors.

Joey shook his head, "She could be anyone and this girl might not even go to school here."

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Elena nearly flung her alarm clock across the room when it rang in the morning, not used to waking up for school. Being home schooled hadn't really put her in the habit of having to get up to face teenagers for seven hours.

Trudging around her room, she got ready still half asleep and texted Taylor to pick her up. Within minutes a horribly loud car horn beckoned her out and Elena managed out a smile at the go to coffee cup Taylor had ready for her.

"So?" Taylor grinned at her, practically shaking in her seat. "How excited are you?"

Elena slowly took in her surroundings as the coffee grounds wafted their way into her brain, "Totally."