Study group became a routine.

Every Thursday, Lola’s dad would pick up Dillon, Desmond, Lola and Junie from Pauper Middle School and drive them to Lola’s house. They would do homework, play truth or dare (or something like it), then leave, once their parents picked them up.

Even Dillon’s mom stopped making a fit every time he went to study group. She came to learn that Lola’s family wasn’t malicious and that they didn’t want to kill him.

After a few weeks, everyone got mildly bored with truth or dare. No one could come up with dares anymore that fit Lola and Junie’s strict guidelines so another activity was needed.

They decided there time would be better spent out of the house, in the coffee shop a few blocks away from the school called Dolce.

Dolce was an independent coffee shop that used to be very crowded every day after school. High school and middle school students used to flock to Dolce during off campus lunch (for upperclassmen at Hawthorne High School, at least) and after school. It was within walking distance of Pauper Middle School and within driving distance of Hawthorne High School, making a perfect location for a kid friendly coffee shop. They fresh baked everything they sold, fresh every morning. Their baked goods were amazing; to die for. The cupcakes they made were classic flavors (like chocolate, vanilla, strawberry) with original recipes. Their line, after school, used to stretch out the door.

About a year before, a large chain coffee house, called Premium Coffee, moved in across the street from Dolce. Since then, Dolce lost a considerable amount of business to Premium Coffee. Students didn’t come to Dolce as much as they used to. Premium could offer low prices that Dolce could never dream of offering if they wanted to stay in business.

But they didn’t mind. It just meant they didn’t have to stand in line as long as they would have, and they could find a table to sit at. Dolce was so much better than Premium Coffee, and now they didn’t have to wait for it as long.

On the fifth Thursday, they walked to Dolce instead of going to Lola’s house.

“I can pay for everyone,” Lola said, as they walked into the café. They were greeted with a large puff of warm air from the café. Outside, the sky was overcast. The street was wet from rain earlier that day. Large ponds surrounded the drains on the street corner. It was the first day of the year they had to wear a coat to keep warm.

“You sure about that? This place is hella expensive,” Junie said.

“Yeah, of course. My dad gave me a lot money so I could pay for you guys,” Lola said.

“You don’t need to do that… I have money, too,” Desmond said.

“Well, I’ll pay for myself and June Bug, at least,” Lola said.

After they ordered, it took a long time for their drinks to come out. It didn’t matter. They were staying for a while, anyway, so the slow service didn’t bother them.

The wait was very much worth it.

Dillon didn’t frequent Dolce or Premium Coffee. In fact, he had never even been to Dolce, despite having gone to Pauper Middle School for several months before that. Before he started hanging out with Lola, Desmond and Junie, his mom required him to go straight home after school; no coffee, no friends, no stops along the way.

About ten minutes after ordering coffee, their orders finally came to the table.

“Thank you very much,” Lola thanked the cashier. Dillon took a sip of his hot chocolate. It had to be the best hot chocolate he had ever tried. It had a hint of cinnamon in it. It was made from warm milk instead of hot water. It was a little spicy, but not so spicy that it burnt his mouth. The whipped cream was actual cream (probably made fresh that morning or earlier that day), not whipped cream from a can like it was at Premium Coffee.

“Thanks, Lola,” Junie said.

“Oh, no problem… any time,” Lola said, sipping her chai.

“Dillon, what are you doing?” Junie asked him, jokingly. Dillon shook his head and looked at her. Crap. He had been absently looking at Desmond. He had almost convinced himself that he just liked Desmond as a friend and that he couldn’t like him anymore than that but he always had a special feeling inside whenever Desmond looked at him. His stomach always fluttered whenever Desmond talked to him. He still got caught staring at Desmond, absently, whenever he wasn’t doing anything else.

“Looking out the window,” Dillon replied. Lying about what he was looking at became second nature to him. He did it so much.

“I could have sworn you were staring at Desmond,” Junie joked.

“Why would I stare at Desmond?”

“I don’t know.”

“Because I’m just so attractive that you can’t keep your eyes off of me?” Desmond said, jokingly. He jabbed Dillon in the ribs. The place Desmond came into contact with him tickled, ever so slightly. His ribcage tightened, trying to alleviate the itch. Junie and Lola cracked up. Dillon smiled, dully. Maybe one day he’d learn not to stare at Desmond so much.

“Damn it… my phone is ringing,” Lola said. She fished the vibrating phone out of her pocket.

“You have a cell phone? I want one,” Desmond exclaimed, excitedly. He reached out to grab Lola’s phone. She pulled it away from him, quickly as possible. Practically no one in sixth grade had a cell phone at Pauper Middle School. It was widely accepted that cell phones were something that eighth graders had, not sixth graders.

“What kind is it?” Dillon asked.

Lola opened the flip phone.

“Shut up, you guys… she’s on the phone,” Junie hissed. The boys dropped to silence.

“Seriously? What happened?” Lola said, into the phone. She paused, waiting for a response. “Okay, dad… Love you, bye,” Lola said. She hung up the phone. “Junie, get your stuff together. Ophie is going to pick us up in a few minutes,” Lola said, shoving her phone back into her back pocket.

“Why? What happened?” Junie asked. Lola put her homework assignment in her backpack.

“Mom’s in the hospital,” Lola said. She zipped her backpack.

“Again?” Junie asked. Junie put her math assignment into a pocket on her binder and put the binder in her backpack.

“Why?” Dillon asked. Lola sighed, put her elbow on the table and rested her forehead in her palm.

“Yes, again… I don’t know the details, but it has something to do with her cancer,” Lola said, matter of factually. Dillon’s jaw dropped, astonished. Cancer…?

“She has cancer?” Desmond said, shocked. They had met her mom but they hadn’t noticed anything different about her. She always wore a scarf on her head, so she easily could have been bald, but having cancer never occurred to either of them at all. She wasn’t weak or frail, like people usually picture cancer patients being, and she was fully functional. She couldn’t have cancer.

“Yeah… she’s had it for a while,” Junie said, not looking up. She grabs her planner and stuffs it into her backpack.

“How long has she had it?” Desmond asked.

“Third grade… It’s how Junie and I met. We were both put into some crappy lives support group in third grade. We’ve been friends ever since,” Lola explained. Dillon and Desmond exchanged uncertain glances. Dillon had never met anyone with cancer. He knew people died from cancer, and lost their hair because of the treatment. And he knew that cancer was a tumor. But asides from that, he knew nothing about it.

“I’m… terribly sorry, Lola,” Dillon said, not able to think of anything else to say.

“Eh, I’ll live,” Lola replied, “Ophie is going to be here in a minute. Let’s go, June Bug.”

With that, Lola and Junie left Dolce, walking brusquely outside, into the rain.

Dillon and Desmond stared at the door for a minute, not sure what to say… or if they should say anything at all. Dillon couldn’t concentrate on homework anymore. He couldn’t even think much. The only thing he could do was stare at the swinging door. All thought evaded him.

“Did you have any idea?” Desmond finally asked.

“Not at all,” Dillon replied.

They stared at Lola and Junie’s silhouettes through the door. Junie was hugging Lola, comfortingly. Finally, Ophelia came and picked them up. They were gone.

“That happened fast,” Desmond said.

“Yeah, you think? Why didn’t she tell us?” Dillon said.

“You’d think it would be one of the first things we would know,” Desmond said.

“Well, maybe it’s kind of a personal thing… Maybe she wasn’t ready to tell us?”

“Wow… it just seems so… strange. Cancer kills people. It seems like it’s be an awfully big thing to hide from anyone.”

They finished their homework silently. They actually got it done in study group, instead of finishing it at home or in study hall. They never did that.

Dillon decided to call Lola that night.

“Hi, is Lola there?” he said, when Ophelia answered the phone.

“Yeah, let me get her,” Ophelia said on the other line. “Lola!” she yelled.

“Hello?” Lola said, into another phone line.

“Hey… it’s Dillon,” Dillon said.

“Oh… hi,” Lola said.

“How are you?”

“I’m… okay… I guess,” Lola replied, reluctantly. Dillon held his breath. He had no idea what to say and it was probably showing.

“How’s… your mom?” Dillon asked.

“Oh… she’s okay, actually. She was in a lot of pain. Her back really hurt… like, bone breaking pain, I guess. Dad was worried it was something really bad. She’ll be fine,” Lola replied.

“That’s good,” Dillon said. There was a long pause. Neither of them knew what to say. “What kind of cancer is it? I mean, if you don’t mind me asking,” Dillon asked, awkwardly. He knew that if he was in Lola’s place, he probably wouldn’t want people to ask him questions like that.

“It’s stage four breast cancer.”

“I know what breast cancer means, but stage four…?”

“Stage four means tumors have spread to other organs… I think it’s the last stage of cancer,” Lola explained. Dillon nodded, even though Lola couldn’t see him.

“Will she… you know… die?” Dillon asked, awkwardly. He knew it was probably the most tasteless thing to ask someone whose mother was dying in the hospital, but it was the only thing he could think of saying.

Lola paused.

“She was supposed to last year… She didn’t, though,” Lola said.

“Well, that’s good.”

Lola didn’t say anything for a few seconds.

“So how has your day been?” Lola asked, trying to change the subject.

“Pretty good,” Dillon said, not sure whether he should go along with it or keep asking questions. When Lola didn’t say anything, he was certain he should keep the subject away from cancer and Lola’s mom. “Desmond and I actually got stuff done in study group after you guys left today,” Dillon explained.

“Do we distract you guys too much?” Lola said, kind of jokingly. Dillon knew it was meant to be a joke but the way she said it didn’t sound like it was.

“Yeah, totally… Okay, more like we distract each other. Have you seen us in study hall?” Dillon asked, still trying to keep the conversation light. It was barely working.

“I don’t have study hall with you guys, remember?” Lola reminded him.

“Right.”

“I have to go now… Dad’s calling me. See you tomorrow, Dillon,” Lola said.

“See you.”

Lola hung up the phone.

Dillon stared at the land-line, shocked. He hadn’t really thought about what went on in Lola’s life when he wasn’t there. He didn’t know that she was suffering, and that she wasn’t telling him. He didn’t know so much about the people who he was hanging out with everyday. He just knew they were there… They were fun to hang out with. They were great people. He knew they all went to Pauper Middle School… but what else could be learned about them? Lola said Junie had been in some kind of crappy life support group. That meant Junie had something going on in her life, too… or, at least, she had in third grade when she was in the support group.

It seemed so… weird that Dillon hardly knew anything about the pasts of his friends. He had eaten lunch with them every day since outdoor school, a little over a month ago. He had been going to study group with them every week. He hung out with them in every class he had with them. He should theoretically know more about them, asides from they get up, go to school, and hang out with him.

Maybe Desmond had something up, too. Maybe Desmond had just as unfortunate of a life as Lola did, with her dying mother. Maybe Desmond was kidnapped by the mafia when he was really little and returned to his parents when they paid several million dollars ransom, forcing them into poverty just for the sake of Desmond. Maybe Desmond was the oldest of twelve children and he was often times forced to look after his younger siblings because his parents went out too much, and really didn’t care what went on in their children’s lives, anyway. Maybe Dillon was an angel in disguise and was sent to somehow help Desmond.

Maybe Desmond was sent to Dillon so Dillon could make a fool out of himself, wooing over a guy.

Maybe Dillon should just stop it with Desmond. He’s never going to get him, but he can’t get it out of his mind that he likes Dillon, even though he knows it will hurt him in the long run, to like someone who is proven to be unattainable.

Dillon sighed. There was so much more than meets the eyes. He now had three people to figure out. He didn’t realize, until now, that he didn’t know them as well as he thought he did. There was so much more to them than what he saw in study group.

He wasn’t sure how, but somehow, he was going to crack every single one of them. He was going to know them, inside and out.

A/N-Yup, fast update. That's what happens when people review. Keep 'em coming! :)