"Halloween is the best holiday. No doubt about it," Devin says with a shrug as she grabs a Cheeto from Asher's bag laid in front of him.

"Speaking of Halloween," Asher pipes up, subtly moving the bag of chips closer to him which earns an eye roll from Devin. "Austin and a few other guys from the football team are throwing a huge ass costume party next Friday."

I tear off a piece of my protein bar as I listen in, curious on how these high school parties go. I, of course, have never been to one, but I've always imagined them to be insane: loud music blaring from various speakers, a collection of red cups scattered throughout the house, etc.

Then again, my interpretation of these kinds of parties is based solely on what I see in movies and television shows I would watch with Brooke almost all the time. But in reality, that idea could be so incredibly inaccurate, and I wouldn't have a single clue.

"And you're telling us this because..."

Asher looks to Devin with a bored expression on his face. "Cause we're going."

"I'm not," she replies. The challenging tone in her voice causes Asher to roll his eyes.

"Dev, we always go," Aaron chimes in from where he sits beside me. "What's the problem with going this year?"

An unwelcomed thought enters my mind in response to his question aimed toward Devin. It hardly makes sense, but at the same time, Devin's feelings toward me never really made sense in the first place. Neither do most of my thoughts.

Maybe I'm the problem.

"I just don't wanna go."

"Of course you don't wanna go," Asher sighs. "You're the biggest— what do they call them?— The biggest Devin Downer I know."

I watch as Devin rolls her eyes.

Here we go again.

"Because I don't wanna go to a stupid Halloween party?" Devin counters as she turns her body to face Asher. "Where you and Aaron get higher than the  clouds and I'm left to babysit you both for an entire night? Where I'm responsible for making sure you don't do anything stupid? Call me a downer all you want, Asher. Excuse me if I'm over putting up with your bullshit all the time."

There it is.

I look at Aaron from the corner of my eye, watching as he sucks in his bottom lip after listening to Devin's call out.

"We can find something else to do—"

"No, no, no. Hold on," Asher interrupts Aaron's suggestion, holding a hand out to gesture for him to stop talking. "You don't get to play innocent, Devin. Cause if I can remember correctly, you're the one who got drunk off your ass a few months ago at Jacob's party and me and Aaron were the ones to make sure you didn't fuck up. It goes both ways, you see? So if you're done putting up with my so-called bullshit then consider me done putting up with yours."

The tension at the small table feels thick, almost suffocating. After a month of knowing them, I've gotten used to Devin and Asher's daily bickering. The day almost feels unnatural without it.

This, however, this is different. Times like these I wish I could speak up, let them know that it's just a party. There will surely be more opportunities to attend one in the future. But I never do. I figure it's not my place to do so.

"We can talk about this another time—"

"I think we should talk about it right now." Asher cuts into Aaron's sentence once again.

"Stop interrupting me!"

I press my lips together at the dumb-founded expression Asher's currently wearing.

"Aaron's right. We can talk about this later," Devin mumbles as she fiddles with the corner of her checkered phone case.

"Of course he's right," Asher replies. "Just push it to the side. Take the easy way out, right, Devin? Cause I mean, fuck facing your problems head-on."

"Asher." I sigh.

"What the hell is your problem?" Devin raises her voice. "All because I don't want to go to the party? News flash, Asher, not everyone is going to agree with you or do whatever the hell you wanna do all the time. But guess what. Deal with it. Making accusations just because you're mad someone doesn't want to do the same thing as you is a real dick move."

Empathy shoots through my body as I listen to Devin's words. She's right. There's not a bone in my body that disagrees with her. It's unfair to her that she gets attacked for simply not wanting to go to a high school party. I'm sure she's had her fair share of them and skipping out on a few won't do anybody any harm.

I watch as she stands up, grabbing her phone from the lunch table before she walks away. A part of me almost wants to go after her, tell her that Asher had no right to lash out on her for the smallest of reason.

"Fuck," Asher groans.

"You're an asshole for that."

"Yeah— tell me something I don't know," he mutters, his face hiding behind his hand.

Only a few seconds pass before he's up from the table, most likely on his way to begin searching for Devin and apologizing for being incredibly rude to her.

"That was... that was intense," I say in a low voice although Asher is long gone by now.

"I know," Aaron agrees as he turns his head to face me.

"I feel bad... for Devin." I bite the inside of my cheek, recalling the way her voice broke after telling Asher off, right before she walked away. Just a few days ago at Knott's Berry Farm she was happy, care-free. Fast-forward only two days later, she's the complete opposite.

"I know," he repeats. "Listen, Estella. I'm not defending Asher— he can be a dick sometimes... but he has his reasons for being the way he is, for doing the things he does. It's not an excuse, though. I'm just letting you know. He has his good traits, too."

I nod in agreement. I've witnessed the good in Asher. He's given me rides to and from school on a daily basis since the day he realized I didn't have anyone else to do it. I've seen the way he has his friends' backs at all times.

"They'll be alright," he assures me. "They just need some time to cool down."

I'm about to reply when I see two girls walking toward our table. Madison and Vanessa wear smiles on their faces as they sit down in the same spots Asher and Devin sat at before they left.

"Hi Estella, Hi Aaron," Madison says as she leans forward on her elbows.

"How are you?" Vanessa asks. I open my mouth to reply only to realize her gaze is solely focused on Aaron.

"Fine." He shrugs.

"What are you guys doing here?" I ask, curious as to why the two girls decided to sit with us today.

"Sorry, are we interrupting?" Madison's face turns into one of realization. "We can talk another time."

"No, of course not!" I reply, shaking my head.

At the same time, Aaron responds with a casual, "A little."

Madison nods slowly. "We'll find you after lunch, Estella." She begins to stand up from the bench, making sure to tap Vanessa subtly on the shoulder.

"It'll be quick," Vanessa says, pulling her friend back down to sit beside her. "We just wanted to talk to you about a costume idea we have."

My eyebrows furrow in confusion. I'm not sure what their idea has to do with me, but I'm curious about what they have to say. I can practically feel Aaron's agitation from beside me as I watch him pull out his phone in my peripheral vision.

"How do you feel about a trio costume?"

My eyebrows raise in surprise. Not at all what I was expecting to hear come out of Madison's mouth when they first sat down at the table. I turn to find Aaron stifling an amused smile as he scrolls through his phone. I nudge him with my elbow subtly.

"Trio costume?" I repeat dumbly.

"Clueless trio." Madison smiles. "I'm Dionne cause she's a fashion icon and we have the same hair. Then you can be Cher, or Tai. It doesn't really matter."

"I'm Cher," Vanessa chimes in. "You can be Tai."

My mouth parts as I tilt my head toward the right. Madison takes it as a sign to continue explaining the concept to me.

"Aaron can even be your Travis," she says with a beaming smile. She turns to Aaron and adds, "I mean, don't get me wrong. You're much hotter than Travis but you got the blonde hair and blue eyes part good to go. Grow out your hair a little more and you're set."

"I'll pass." He smiles tightly.

"That's fine." Vanessa shrugs. "Tai doesn't need a Travis, anyway. Girl power, right?"

"Maybe Josh can be your Josh, Vanessa!" Madison exclaims. "We should ask him if he's interested."

"I don't want Josh to be my Josh."

I'm completely lost with the conversation. I have absolutely no clue who they're talking about and I have a feeling I should let them know that right about now.

"So what do you think?" Madison asks me. "Sound like a good idea?"

"I've never watched Clueless."

Both of the girls' eyes visibly widen in shock at my confession. Aaron lifts his head, staring at them with the same bored look he's worn since Madison and Vanessa arrived at the table.

You'd think that with all the time I've had on my hands for the first seventeen years of my life, I'd already have watched a movie as popular as Clueless. But I simply never got around to it— I'm sure Brooke and I would have watched it soon if she were still with me.

"Looks like you guys are about to combust or some shit," Aaron says. "She hasn't seen the movie... it's not a big deal."

Their expressions soften, their eyes go back to a regular size after Aaron speaks up for me, which is evidently something I've pathetically struggled with time and time again.

"We'll have to do a movie night."

"Movie night?"

"To watch clueless," Madison elaborates. "Are you busy Friday after school? We can go to my house right after we get out."

I shake my head slowly. "I'm not busy."

"Great!" She smiles. "I'll text you with details... anyway, that's all. We'll leave you two alone now."

"Wait," Vanessa says. "Um— are you excited for soccer season, Aaron? You're probably captain this year, right?"

He has his elbow resting on the table, holding his head with the palm of his right hand. "Yeah, I'm excited."

"So will you be captain?" She asks.

"I don't know." He shrugs. "Haven't tried out."

She nods with a small smile. "Well, I'll be cheering for you on the sidelines," she says. "And the rest of the team, of course."

I switch my focus between an unengaged Aaron and a smiley Vanessa.

"Okay, well talk to y'all later," Madison says with finality as she stands from the table.

"Yeah." Vanessa follows suit. "See you guys later."

"Okay." I smile. I give them a little wave as they walk away, heading back to the cafeteria where they usually eat lunch.

"You just agreed to do a throuple costume." Aaron turns his head to me.

Throuple?

"Throuple?"

"Yeah, like you know how a couple is two people," he continues. "A throuple is three."

"What? Aaron—"

"I'm just playing with you." He chuckles.

I roll my eyes in a joking manner. His mood is now the opposite of how it was just a few moments ago. He's now in a playful, teasing mood. One of my favorites although it can get quite obnoxious very quickly.

"So... how does it feel to have Vanessa supporting you at every game? Being your number 1 fan?" I tease, knowing he wasn't exactly eager to talk to her about the upcoming soccer season.

"I bet you she doesn't know the first thing about the game." He shakes his head, a faint smile on his face. "Do you?"

"No," I answer honestly.

"Estella!"

"I'm sorry." I smile sympathetically. "I've just never really been interested in watching people play soccer. I'm more of a basketball or football fan, if I'm being honest."

"Sorry— what?" Asher's voice reappears as he sits down on across from us.

"I said I don't find soccer interesting." I shrug.

"Estella, never talk to me again."

"Where's Dev?" Aaron asks him.

"With Josh. When I tried walking up to them, he shook his head, like telling me to back off or some shit. Like fuck, I get it. I'm a dick and all but at least let me try to make it up to her, right?" He rants. "He gets on my nerves sometimes. Acts like he's this perfect ass guy straight from a damn TV show. No one is that perfect."

I watch as emotions flash across his face. He shrugs, grabbing his phone from his pocket to scroll through Instagram. Instinctively, my hand pats his forearm in an attempt to comfort him. His eyes move from his phone screen to my hand before he looks up at me and Aaron.

"Why are you guys looking at me like that?" He asks. "It's making me really uncomfortable. Stop, please."

"Sorry." I shake my head, turning my attention back to my conversation with Aaron. "What were you saying?"

"Soccer," he replies. "We were talking about soccer."