"Forget her, man, not like you don't have other chances out there!"

You shrug your shoulders and thumb your fingers through some of the books on the rickety shelf, not really paying any attention to the weird titles that adorn the sides of some of these leather-bound tomes. 'Eye of Newt: Magical elixir or sham?', 'Where does the moon fit in with Werewolves', and your personal favorite, 'Twilight: How the human world bastardizes the Vampire race'. Something that your sister, Samantha, would love to read if it weren't so old. Or printed...or even in a book, you suppose. Daniel goes on and on about the value of sucking it up and moving on but all you care about is the fact that you saw your girl, Francine, with some other guy who just flicked you off before ignoring you completely. It wasn't that you were ugly or unpopular, hardy on either count, but the other guy had wheels and you, well, the only wheels you had came in two.

Daniel looks at the book in your hands and whistles low in mock amusement before he just pats you on the shoulder and steps out of the curio shop, bypassing the looks of the old man with the white beard. You're about to put the book back when some dust wipes off the middle of the hardcover under your thumb and the title catches your interest: "Change it." If a man can get elected under the mantra "Yes we can", you figure that it might be worth reading about something, even though you doubt the book was written before this country was founded.

The old man just smiles as he looks at your bemused look and hands you your change, though you were a bit surprised as you stepped out of the store that you weren't even sure how much it cost you. A few more steps and you begin to wonder if you paid too much but since it was some random store you hopped into, when you turned around, you didn't know where to go or how far you were walking. Just as well, Daniel's left you already to go off and probably party with his girl, Allison, and leaving you there to either hop the bus or walk. 'Friends to the end...yeah, right...'

The hike home was a bit longer than you thought but your nose was in the book and, despite the hokey nature of the topic, you found it rather interesting and definitely a better page-turner than those "Twilight" books your emo-wannabe sister was reading. Walking up, you notice your parents' cars in the driveway and already you can hear the screaming at each other from the start of the walk. Mom was probably bitching about something your father didn't do and your father was just replying in kind. Somehow, you knew that the writing was on the wall, which you supposed was the reason that your other sister, Bethany, split for the furthest college away from home as possible. Even though you were just a junior, the thought of heading to California or Florida for college was good, too much snow and cold did little to make you happy. Besides, you missed Bethany, you were so close to her and she dotted on you. Perhaps that's why you were a bit lost with the girls? It was a theory, among many, among your friends that you were the best looking guy with natural talent but couldn't hold a girl for more than a minute.

"Don't go in there, it's too depressing," Sam muttered and you looked from your book to see her walking down the sidewalk from the house. For a girl with such great skin and features, the black hair-dye and white powder face make-up...it just didn't suit her (or anyone living with a pulse, for that matter). But you knew she had it worse than you and you just nodded and walked to the back yard into a shed that you had built out of scraps. It wasn't comfortable by a long shot but it was quiet, it was away from your parents, and it was quiet. As you sat down, you flipped through the book, failing to notice the slight shimmer of glitter on your fingers. Inside, you turned to the index and skimmed it briefly...