Reputation.

"I hear you've been hanging out with Yorkie Corder," Jacob says.

"Yeah, she's cool." I say before taking the first bite of my lunch. "What about it?"

"I dunno, I just have heard some rumors."

This reminds me why I don't hang out with Jacob much. He doesn't usually sit with me at lunch, I had some suspicion he'd be bringing up some weird rumor... because he always does. Normally I'd be thankful he's talking about people at school. After all, he much more often talks about bogus video game rumors he's seen on internet forums, and those can get frustrating.

I have a pretty small circle of friends, and Jacob usually talks about people I don't know, so it's easy to let what he says go in one ear and come out the other. But him talking about Yorkie??? That's a little different.

"Rumors like what?" I ask, not wanting the answer, but also not wanting to come off as defensive.

"Like, she's trouble." He says.

I scoff. "What?"

"Yeah," He leans in. "Y'know Robert F? He has an older sister."

"...Yeah?"

"Well his sister is the same age as Yorkie's brother. And she told Robert, that her brother got suspended for getting in a fist fight recently."

I roll my eyes. "What does that have to do with Yorkie?"

"Everything dude!" He says. "Have you noticed how the teachers keep an eye on her?"

I'd never admit it to Jacob, but I have noticed that. I always chalked it up to the teachers noticing her 'cool aura' and worrying that means she'll do drugs or something.... I quickly come up with a defense.

"Maybe teachers do that because of her brother, and it has nothing to do with her?" I point at him with my plastic fork. "They put some label on her, even though it's not her fault."

"I dunno," Jacob shakes his head. "All I mean to say is: If I were you, I'd think twice about hanging around her."

I just shrug and stuff a bunch of food in my mouth to avoid saying anything more.

The conversation gets more pleasant as the other guys start showing up to the table with more fun topics.

I think about it for the rest of the school day though. Fantasizing about saying something to Jacob that really puts him on the spot.

The part that bugs me is for all I know, he could be right. Yorkie could be trouble, and I'm defending the wrong person just because I have a good impression.

I dunno, she's just fun to talk to, and I look forward to having art class with her all week, but it's not like I've known her long, it's not like we talk outside of class.

And seeing as art class was just yesterday, I'll have to stew in all this until I see her next week... unless I manage to bump into her in the halls or something.

Cut to the end of the day. Everyone's waiting outside for their rides, and I spot her brunette hair bellowing from the baseball cap she always wears in the sea of people.

"Hey Yorkie!" I wave, approaching slowly. She's standing on the sidewalk, right before the parking lot.

She turns around, and smiles when she sees me. "Bolton!"

"Hey! I don't usually get to see you at the end of the day like this." I say.

"Yeah!" She chuckles. "I usually skate home."

Oh my god. Skate? Like skateboard?? You've gotta be kidding me... of COURSE she skateboards, that makes so much sense. Man, she is so cool.

"Oh man really? That's awesome!" I giggle.

She giggles back, and it's the fun rapport we always have.

"Oh uh, by the way, this is my brother DJ!" She motions at a guy I hadn't paid much attention to.

The chaos of other students leaving, and all the cars picking people up distracted me from noticing he and Yorkie are like a unit, waiting for the same car.

Now how stupid would Jacob feel! He's acting like her brother's suspended, meanwhile here he is.

He's real tall, has pink hair unlike Yorkie, but has the same green eyes she does, and is otherwise is very unnoteworthy... just some normal kid.

"DJ, this is Bolton, we have an art class together." She finishes.

DJ, who had been looking far into the parking lot this whole time, glances over, very obviously scans me up and down, and lets out a quick "hey" before turning back to looking at the cars.

"It's nice to meet you!" I smile.

With the idea of me rubbing this in Jacob's face tomorrow, I become suddenly aware I shouldn't stay too long and make my mom worry.

And besides, what would Yorkie, who SKATEBOARDS on top of all the other cool things, think of me if she found out I have to walk to the elementary school where my mom works? Best to just leave.

"I should get going!" I say, pointing my thumb towards the vague direction I'm going. "I'll catch you later, it was nice seeing you even though it was quick!"

"Yeah same to you dude!" She smiles and waves, as I take a big winding path through the crowd in a bid for her to lose track of me and not see where I'm headed.

"I saw Yorkie's brother yesterday." I say, setting my lunchbox down on the table, and taking a seat.

Jacob's eyebrow raises.

"Yesterday when we were all leaving school, I bumped into Yorkie, who was there WITH HER BROTHER waiting for their parents to show up. He's obviously not suspended!" I say.

"That doesn't make sense," Jacob says, opening a ketchup packet. "She must have two brothers, the one I was talking about is in highschool."

My brain flat lines.

"Why didn't you tell me that yesterday?" I furrow my brow.

"I didn't know you cared so much!" He chuckles. "You really like her, huh?"

My face flushes, and the urge to get mad wells in my chest. But thankfully, Nick sits down.

"Whoa, what are you guys on about now?" Nick says.

"Hey, how much do you know about Yorkie Corder?" Jacob says.

I groan, and lean forward so my forehead rests on the table. He's really gonna bring Nick into this?

"Does she go here?" Nick makes a face. "She was in my 4th grade class."

"Really?" My eyebrows raise.

Something I'm still adjusting to in middle school, is that multiple elementary schools merge into this one. I've known some people for a while (like Jacob), but others (like Nick) are new to me.

I've had it, as an unspoken and unexamined fact that Yorkie's some cool new kid who just moved to the area... I never considered she's been here all along and is just from the other elementary school.

"Yeah, I haven't thought about her in a while though." Nick unzips his lunchbox. "She was the tomboy of the class, she has a bunch of brothers or something."

"More than two?" I ask.

"I wouldn't know, she barely ever talked," Nick says. "I just remember it was joked about, like: 'don't mess with Yorkie, her brothers can mess you up'. That sorta thing."

My eyebrows raise, meanwhile Jacob starts laughing.

"So what's going on with her?" Nick says.

"There's a rumor that one of her brothers got suspended. I just wanted to warn Bolton because I know they've been all buddy buddy recently." Jacob elbows me.

"Oh, huh. Maybe it wasn't a joke then, I wonder if they really can mess you up." Nick looks at me. "What're you gonna do?"

I cross my arms on the table, rest my forehead on top of my arms, and let out a big melodramatic sigh. "I guess I'll have to ask her about it sometime, in y'know. A nice way."

Unlike yesterday, I was hoping I wouldn't bump into her again until art class next week.

But again, at the end of the day, in the same place I saw her yesterday, she's waiting for her ride.

This time she notices me first.

"Bolton!" She waves emphatically, approaching me.

"Hey!" Despite the tension, I still feel a little buzz of joy being around her.

"I'm glad I bumped into you again," She chuckles. "I've been wanting to ask you something."

"Oh, what's up?"

"Do you uh, have a deviantart?" She tugs at her sleeve. "I don't have a phone, so I can't text, but I message some friends there! And thought it seems like maybe you'd have one... so I thought I'd ask since it'd be cool if we talked more outside of school?"

My heart skips a beat.

"YEAH I do have a deviantart!! I'd love to talk more!" I yank off my backpack and balance it on my knee, taking out a notebook. "What's your username?"

"Here," She grabs the notebook and pen, and quickly scribbles down her username. "Message me tonight!"

"I will!" I giggle, and she hands me back my notebook, and I stuff it in my backpack.

"YORKIE!" DJ yells, and we both look over.

Their ride is here, I can hear the mumble of loud music despite the windows being up.

"Well, I gotta go then, but I'll be waiting for your message!" She smiles. "I'm glad I asked you, I get that I could've asked in class, but I get-"

The music from the car stops.

"Yorkie," A deep voice from the front seat of the car says, maybe her dad? "Who's this?"

"Bolton, from my art class." Yorkie ducks to see the driver, as do I, to be formal and introduce myself... and as soon as I do I feel the hair on the back of my neck stand straight.

He's glaring at me with the meanest scowl. His hair is the same color as Yorkie's, styled in a mohawk. Unlike Yorkie, his eyes are a lilac that's close enough to white that it makes his pupils look constricted. He's got big gauges in his ears, and somehow manages to look too tall for the car seat.

"This is my brother Dusk," Yorkie smiles at me. "He's off school for a bit, which is good, since it means he can drive us home."

"It's nice to meet you," I push out... standing there, smiling.

I'd started smiling before I saw him, and the smile has stayed on my face since, just distorting itself, slowly.

Dusk very obviously scans me up and down as DJ did the day before, not saying a thing, he turns the music back on, and looks back through the front windshield.

"..Well, I'll talk to you later then Bolton!" Yorkie smiles warmly.

I take a step back, say another 'bye!' and wave. She shuts the car door, and they drive off.

I scurry over to my mom's class in a rush. When I get there, my mom's students are also being picked up.

Like she often does, she has to sort some files and do a few things before we go home. I pull out one of the kiddie chairs that I don't fit well in anymore, take off my backpack, grab my notebook and flip to the page she wrote her username on.

"TheYorkie96"

Written small in the top right corner, all the letters compact together, the straight lines of letters having a little curly cue to the end of them.

My heart skips a beat.