1 PROXIMA CENTAURI 1

"DON'T TOUCH ME YOU SCUM OF THE EARTH!"

I ran like the devil was after me, trying to reach the house up the street. I didn't look over my shoulder, and instead relied on the sound of feet slapping the pavement that I could hear. He was close, but I still had a fairly decent lead on him.

The house came into view and forced myself to run faster. If I could just make it inside, I could lock the door and catch my breath.

But the sound of feet on the pavement was growing steadily closer. Heart slamming and throat burning, I pushed myself to move even faster.

I quickly scanned for cars before dashing across the street and into the driveway. I was almost at the house! Just a little bit farth-

"AH!"

I let out a yell as I was tackled onto the grass. We rolled a little and then a weight fixed itself securely on my stomach. "Caught you," Shane said, grinning and trying to catch his breath.

"Barely." I said, wheezing and trying to push him off of my stomach. "Get off me fatass!"

He stood up and offered me his hand. I took it and he pulled me to my feet. I brushed the grass off of my clothes.

"Even if you had beaten me, what would you have done if the door was locked? You don't have a key to my house," he pointed out.

I smirked at him. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, because you left it at the house two weeks ago and I never gave it back," he said.

I frowned. "Oh yea. Can I have that back?"

"Maybe," he said, turning and starting up the driveway.

I followed after him. He pushed the front door open and I pouted. If I had just been a little faster, I could've locked Shane out of his house.

"What was the screaming?" Shane's mom, Carol, asked as we went into the kitchen.

"Jace was trying to lock me out of the house. I tackled him to the ground before he got the chance," Shane said.

Carol rolled her eyes. "Alright then. Dinner will be ready in a little."

"Okay," Shane said and pulled me out of the kitchen and into his bedroom.

I dropped onto his bed and folded my hands behind my head. He grabbed sodas off of his dresser and tossed one to me.

"We need to stop at the store after dinner if you're staying the night. We'll get some chips and drinks," Shane said, dropping into his chair and opening his soda.

I shrugged. "Sounds good to me, man."

"I'm feeling night swimming tonight," Shane said. "It's supposed to be a hot night, so we might as well cool down in the pool with some drinks."

"That sounds fantastic," I said, sipping my soda.

Shane reached over and turned his speakers on, blasting Panic! At The Disco. He and I mumbled along the lyrics, nodding our heads in time with the beat.

There was a pounding on his door Shane looked over and lazily turned his music off as the pounding continued.

"Dinner," his dad said once the music was off.

We got up and went out to the dining room. Shane's dad, Jasper, raised an eyebrow at the two of us as we sat down.

"Are you trying to make yourselves deaf?" he asked.

"Yes. Because then I don't have to hear you," Shane said.

"Haha, very funny," Jasper said, rolling his eyes. "Stop blasting your music so loud. Your mother and I don't want to hear it."

Carol came in and set down food. She looked at the empty seat at the tale and sighed in annoyance, shaking her head.

"Honestly, I've been calling to you boys for several minutes. Are all of you deaf?" she grumbled, leaving the room.

She returned a minute later and sat down. Shane's little brother came into the room and took his seat at the table. It always unnerved me just how alike and how different Shane and his brother were. They were so similar in appearance, and yet so freaking different. Shane had dark brown hair that could never decide if it wanted to be neat and straight or a wavy mess. He had well defined facial features, and lips that always seemed to be in a pout. He had eyes a mixture of green and chocolate.

His brother, on the other hand, had the same light brown hair, only it was always neat and straight. His facial structure was more rounded, giving him a younger appearance. His eyes were a pale blue color.

But when they stood next to each other, they looked eerily similar. Their difference almost seemed to disappear when they stood together. It had always freaked me out a little.

"Hey Mitch," I greeted.

He nodded at me and picked up his fork, digging into his dinner. I rolled my eyes and also began to eat.

"Mom, can I have some money? Jace and I are going to the store after dinner," Shane said.

"Mitch, didn't you need something from the store?" Carol asked him.

He glanced up at her and nodded.

"Yea. I needed a few things from the store," he said.

"I'll give you money if you bring your brother," Carol said.

"I get shotgun," I informed Mitch.

"Why am I not surprised?" Mitch grumbled.

"Jace gets shotgun, I get to pick the music, and Mitch gets to shut up and pretend he's not actually there," Shane said.

"Next time I drive, you're getting the trunk," Mitch said to his brother.

"I'll just run you over in the driveway. One less college fund mom and dad have to pay for," Shane said, smirking.

"But then I'd have to replace the tires on the car, and that's a lot of work," Jasper said.

"Can't you ever just get along?" Carol said with a sigh. "I swear to god, Shane, if you hit your brother with the car again, I will take you out back and shoot you."

"Oh, I didn't hurt him when I did it before," Shane said dismissively.

"You bruised my hip for two weeks," Mitch reminded.

"Yea, but you were laughing," Shane said.

"You were laughing." I said with a nod.

"I mean, we were all laughing. But you were okay!"

Carol rubbed her temples. "Just don't hit him with the car. I don't care how funny you think it is. You're going to kill him one of these days."

"Now would I do that to my favorite brother?" Shane asked with a sweet smile.

"Yea, actually," Mitch said. "You probably would."

Shane winced as Mitch kicked him under the table. He pouted at his brother before going back to eating his dinner.

Shane and Mitch argued a lot, but they were actually really close. Whenever I was hanging out at Shane's house, Mitch tended to join us.

Once we were finished eating, we took some money from Carol and headed out to the car. Mitch reluctantly climbed into the backseat as Shane and I claimed the front of the car.

"And now I wanna thank you for my experience in the battlefield!" Shane and I cried as Rise From The Rubble by Allura played.

Shane turned the music down once the song had ended. "Mitch, we're going night swimming. Are you joining us?"

"I guess so. Just come get me whenever you head to the pool," Mitch said with a shrug.

"If we had another person we could play chicken," I said.

"No," Mitch groaned. "That was the dumbest idea we've ever had."

We had consumed a few drinks one night while night swimming and had decided to play chicken. It had ended with Mitch and I nearly cracking our heads open and our friend Brian nearly drowning.

"Well, no one died or got seriously l injured, so it wasn't the dumbest idea we've ever had," Shane said, ever the optimist.

"They say we're crazy, I say we'll maybe that's true. We know who we are now, just leave us alone," I sang along with the music.

Shane pulled into the parking lot and we all got out of the car. Shane scowled at the cars parked in the lot.

"Doesn't anybody know how to park? That asshole is taking up three spaces!" he cried in annoyance, gesturing at a car.

I pat him on the back. "It's alright, Shane. Just take a deep breath and try not to kill anyone," I said, pulling him past the badly parked cars and into the store.

Shane went over and jumped into a cart. "Mitchell," he said, snapping his fingers impatiently. "Push me to the soda and chip aisle."

"Walk. You're too fat. You need the exercise," Mitch said.

"I drove you here, you filthy peasant!" Shane said, glaring at him.

"I could've driven myself," Mitch said, raising an eyebrow.

"I'll push you, Shane," I said, shoving the cart and heading towards the soda and chip aisle. Mitch trailed after me.

"Didn't you need something?" Shane asked Mitch as we turned down the aisle.

"Yea, I'll get it in a minute," Mitch said.

We piled obnoxious amounts of soda and chips into the cart. We grabbed some alcohol as well, since Shane had a convincing fake I.D. and looked older than 21 anyways. He rarely got carded.

Mitch took off to get whatever it was that he needed. He returned and dumped an armful of food into the cart, leaping onto the back of it and nodding at me to push it.

"Really?" I whined.

"I'm buying you alcohol. Therefore, you're my bitch," Shane said. "Now, push the cart Jace."

I sighed and pushed the cart to the checkout aisle. The girl working there gave us a weird look as we piled the cart's contents onto the belt. Shane whistled casually, not moving to get out of the cart.

"I think my arms are going to fall off. You need to go on a diet," I said to Shane as the girl began to bag our stuff.

She glanced at Shane as she bagged the alcohol, but didn't bother carding him. We gathered the bags and Shane finally hopped out of the cart.

We went back to the car and got in after loading the groceries in the open seat next to Mitch. We drove back to their house and carried everything inside, setting the chips, soda, and alcohol in Shane's room.

"We'll get you when we're going to swim," I told Mitch as he started to head to his bedroom.

He nodded. "Alright," he said with a crooked smile.

He disappeared into his bedroom, shutting the door. I stared after him in confusion, wondering why my heart had stuttered at his smile.

"Hey, let's go into my room. We've got some video games calling our names," Shane said, slinging an arm around my shoulder.

"Uh..yea, right," I said, shaking it out of my head and following Shane into his bedroom.