“Aren’t you the cutest thing?” I smiled as I hugged Maple before I left for school that morning.
    “Yesh I am!” Maple answered back. I just couldn’t help smiling at her cute face.
    “Bye mom!” I yelled right before I shut the door.
    The walk to the bus stop wasn’t long but it gives me time to think. It’s like relaxation for me. Of course, half my brain was thinking about Chun, but the other was thinking about whether I should be applying for a part time job this summer or not. My mom has been working hard this past year. She works night shifts so she can take care of Maple during the day and so she can make ends meet.  I’m in charge of taking care of Maple during the night. My mom is trying her best to make me and Maple happy, but I see her every morning exhausted from working and I feel so bad, because she is working this hard for me. I know Maple can’t very help with much right now but I can, so I must.
    I’ve decided. I am going to get a part time job this summer. For this to work, I should try my best.
    “Hey, what’s up Heb?” Ella asked from behind, which almost caused me a heart attack.
    “Ahh, Ella!”  I screamed. “You should never do that, especially in the morning. “
    “Ha…ha… Sorry.” Ella answered and then she just continued listening to her MP3. Her long brown hair was just dancing in the wind; it wasn’t even a bit out of place. I wonder how she does that.
Ella is my best friend forever. She has been through ups and downs with me, especially the time when we both liked the same guy… Anyways, we have known each other for quite some time now, I think since we were both five years old. Our moms knew each other from their book club (boring) and they became friends. Then we met and became friends as well.
    Let me tell you a bit about Ella. She’s the same age as me, fifteen. She has long dark hair to the middle of her back and she is around five feet five, an inch taller than me. Ella is much more athletic that I am and more outgoing. I’m a bit on the smarter side. I joined a few sport teams since the beginning of the school year and don’t plan on joining anymore. She’s smart too, besides the fact she hates science. Who doesn’t? It’s like the dumbest subject in school.
    Oh right, she can sing too. She’s like pro at it, but she doesn’t believe me. Guess I have no choice. I tried making her tryout for the talent contest two years in a row and it didn’t work. She always refused. Last year, I almost made her write her name on the signup sheet but on the last second, she turned and walked away. Later that day, she said that she just couldn’t do it, she had stage freight. I thought she was lying and then she showed me a video clip of her singing a solo in fifth grade, and man, she was horrible. Horrible as in she puked all over the stage and fainted after that.

    I turned my head and saw Aaron and Jiro walking towards us. They are two of my best guy friends. They hang out with us, but not all the time. After all, they are guys; they have other friends they rather hang out with that go shopping with us.
    “What’s up?” Aaron asked as he lifted up his head. “Geez, you look terrified, Hebe.”
He called me Hebe, he usually calls me Tian. Just by my last name.
    “Well, now I am sort of.” I replied back trying to make my voice sound calm. “Since when do you call me by my first name?” He never ever called me by my first name. I think it’s a guy thing to like call everyone by their last name. So, this is out of nature.
    “Well, we are friends, aren’t we?” He flipped his dark brown hair back.”It seems right to call you by your first name.”
I think my heart just skipped a beat. Aaron was one of the most ideal guys in our grade. He dressed like he didn’t care, which a lot of girls fell for, and he’s one of the cutest guys in school, and single too. I’m not saying that I am falling for him, but any girl in our grade would flip if he walked by them and winked, maybe except for Ella. You probably are wondering why. Well, let’s see, they live in the same house, under the same roof, same parents, and same siblings. They are step siblings. It’s complicated.
Jiro walked around and in front of Aaron and smiled at me.
    “Good morning, Hebe.” Jiro grinned. He was Aaron’s best friend. I’ve known him since around the same time I met Ella. Heck, she was the one who introduced me to Jiro. They were neighbours, and I think they still are. I’m the farthest away from them. I lived around three blocks away, but hey, I get exercise when I want to go over to their places.
Man, he was also gorgeous, like Aaron. In a way, he is also different. He is actually quite quiet and he’s good at school, like better than a normal guy is. The point is that he is cute like Aaron too, but with dyed maroon hair besides dark brown hair. Too bad he has a girl friend, Selena. She’s with another group of friends so she doesn’t hang out with us. I sighed. As soon as I talk –think- about her, she appears.
    “Jiro!” I heard Leena (we call her that) yell down the street. Almost half of the kids at our stop looked her way. Jiro blushed, it was so cute. It was like watching a scene from an anime show.
    “You’re girlfriend’s here, lover boy.” I had to say it, it was like his official nickname since they were together, which was about six months ago. They were the longest lasting couple in our grade. Half the kids thought they were going to break up after two weeks, maybe not even one week.
    Believe me; because of this couple a lot of girl’s hearts were broken. Even still, there are many hellos to Jiro and Aaron when we get to school.