We sat in the car outside of Mike's house. There was light coming from downstairs and upstairs. Only Mike's car was parked in the driveway.

     Maya was sliding her beanie over her head. She ran her fingers through her hair to try and tame it.

     "We should go home," I said after having examined the house. Maya was calm as she applied a layer of lip gloss. Did she think this was a fashion show?

     She rubbed her lips against each other, watching herself in the rearview mirror. "Not possible," she said, pulling the keys out of the engine. "We're doing this."

     She exited the car and I followed her out. I wrapped my arms around my torso, waiting for her to join me on the sidewalk.

     I inspected the house once again. It wasn't much different than last time. However, as it hid in the shadows of the night, chills ran down my spine. The lights were still on, which scared me even more. What if he saw us?

     Maya, happy as always, didn't wait for me as she skipped towards the house. She walked up the path, and towards the front door.

     I looked in every direction. We were the only ones out at this time.

     "I'm way too sober for this," I said through gritted teeth before running after her. I watched my step, trying to stay away from anything there could make even the slightest of noise.

     We reached the facade of the house. Maya crunched down in the dirt in front of a lit window. Great plan. I ran over to her and crunched down beside her. She glanced over at me, excitement gleaming in her eyes. She was enjoying this.

     "I didn't make a single sound," she said a smile spreading over her features.

     I groaned, leaning my head against the wall. "What do you want? A gold star?"

     She shrugged her shoulders before sending me a death stare. "Maybe some positivity from you." She gritted out the words in the form of whisper yelling.

     She twisted away from me. Her fingers grabbed around the window still as she pushed her head up. She could glimpse inside.

     Once again I caught myself in looking from side to side.

     "I can't see him," she said, looking down at me before returning her gaze to inside the house.

     I let out the breath I'd been holding in. "Thank goodness."

     "We should go around. Maybe we can see him from the backyard."

     "No." I curled my fingers around the fabric of her clothes and pulled her down on the ground again. "This was a bad idea."

     Maya rolled her eyes, one hand grabbing my shoulder. "I'm pretty sure this is the best damn plan I've ever come up with. We are the first ones to discover all of Mike Everson's dirty secrets. We're badasses, Debbie. Come on."

     She pulled me with her around the house. I protested the entire way but couldn't find it in me to stop and turn around. And it wasn't because she was stronger than me or anything. I wanted this as well. Something in me enjoyed the thrill of being on a mission or whatever this was.

     The back yard was dark, unkempt and a maze of furniture, garden tools, plants, and a few other untouched things.

     Maya slid a grin onto her features as she bent down and did an uneven somersault on the grass.

     "What the hell?" I hissed while my eyes kept glancing up at the lit window. Mike's window. One glance out and he would be able to see one tense shadow and one shadow doing somersaults on his lawn.

     Maya, as she sat on the grass, peeped at me over her shoulder. She blew a lock of hair out of her face. "Where's his window?" she asked instead of regarding my former protest.

     I folded my arms around my torso, shifting my weight from one foot to another. I glanced up at the lit window. She followed my gaze, nodding her head.

     She pushed herself off from the grass and dusted off her clothes. She then proceeded to gaze around the garden. There wasn't much in it. However, at the same time as she did, I noticed a tree standing strategically placed in front of Mike's window.

     Hell. No.

     Maya had gotten the same idea as me and she skipped over to the tree. She stood leaning against it as she wriggled her eyebrows at me. "Come on, D. Crawl up and look into his window."

     I widened my eyes, mouth ajar. For a short moment, I wasn't sure what to say. That was until I regained my rational thinking. "Are you clinically insane or incredibly annoying?"

     She smiled. "Probably both."

     I sighed and sneaked over to her and the tree. I looked up. It wasn't that far, however, I hadn't been the kid who climbed in trees and did all sorts of outdoor activities. And besides, this was insane.

     "I'm not going to do that," I said.

     Maya whined, grabbing my arms. "Come on, climb up."

     "Why don't you climb up?" I lifted an eyebrow, both hands on my hips. "It was your plan after all."

     "Because I'm not in love with him."

     I scoffed, glancing at the tree once again. "This is stupid."

     Somehow I ended with one foot in Maya's clutch and one trying to step on a branch. She was a bad influence. If not the worse.

     I grabbed around a branch and pulled myself up. I clung to a branch while trying to find the perfect place to put my feet. To be honest, this was a lot harder than I thought. Why the fuck did kids this for fun? It was exhausting and I'd been up here for about a minute or two.

     "You're doing good." Maya gave me a thumbs up from her safe spot on the ground. "And your ass looks amazing."

     "Shut up!"

     She laughed and stirred her gaze to the window. I did the same.

     There was still no sign of Mike, so I climbed up onto another and thicker branch. Here I sat down and shifted so I could cling to the trunk.

     "If I die I'm blaming you," I said, glancing down at Maya.

     She shrugged. "Fair enough."

     I would have thought it to be a bit more graceful and action-packed with my whole system flooding with adrenaline, but it wasn't. I was sweating, struggling and cursing. However, I made it to the right branch. The one right outside of Mike's window.

     "Do you see anything? Is he undressed?"

     I ignored her questions, in particular the last one. She was never going to grow up.

     Like a ballerina, or well, like a bad ballerina, I twirled around, so I was sitting with both legs hanging on each side of the branch. My torso was turned towards the window and moved a bit further out on the branch.

     I leaned to the right.

     I had a clear view of Mike's bed. And a clear view of Mike's back.

     He seemed relaxed, wearing nothing else but a pair of sweatpants. Oh my lord.

     I gulped, studying more of what he was doing. I could glimpse pieces of the guitar I'd seen in his room. He played.

     "I think he's playing guitar," I said, shifting my gaze to look down at Maya.

     She nodded her head, slipping her phone up from her pocket. "Playing the guitar. Noted."

     "Are you writing it down?"

     "Yeah, in case you'll need it for your future dates."

     "I'm never going on a date with him."

     "Whatever you say." Maya winked to me. The phone lit her face.

     "Idiot," I mumbled and returned to spy on Mike. I gripped harder around the branch and leaned forward. I couldn't hear any tunes, but his back flexed and his arms moved, so he must be doing something.

     I sat there for a few more minutes. Mike kept playing his guitar while Maya couldn't stop the flow of questions. A headache was starting to develop.

     "Let's go home. He isn't doing anything particular." I sighed, my eyes fixated on Mike. He was a hard puzzle to solve, but I was one step closer.

     However, as I was about to give up and climb down again, the unbelievable happened. Mike put the guitar down and stood. He stretched the lean muscles on his back as he drove his head around in a circle. His butt was even good from this ankle.

     I furrowed my brows. Why the hell was I thinking about that?

     I scoped back, however, I lost balance and let out a shriek. I grabbed around another branch in time for me to stabilize, but it was too late. I had made a way to loud noise.

     I stared wide-eyed at Mike as he turned around and stared right out his window, or rather, right at me. His intense stare there roamed over my black figure shoved the air out of me. For a moment, he seemed as surprised as I was, but then he smirked. His abnormal relaxed aura was back. It kept me in my place unable to move even an inch.

     My saliva thickened in my mouth to a rancid paste. At some point, I had to move.

     "What the heck are you doing up there?" Maya said from below.

     She had managed to pull me out of the trance Mike had put me in. I glanced down at her. "I think he saw me."

     "Then get your fine ass down! We need to get out of here." Maya's yell was enough to wake up my system and pump adrenaline through it.

     I swung back down on the branch beneath me and dug up every form of climbing skill I could. I forgot the fear of falling as I climbed down with speed there was probably slower in real life than in my head.

     I reached the last branch and as I got ready to slide down the trunk, Maya decided it was a good idea to yell into my head. "Hurry the fuck up."

     I shrieked, my grip losing from the shock. I rushed through the air, my eyes opened in shock. Everything was a blur, a blur that swirled out of existence.

      I hit the dirt sending a plume of dry mud skyward. My groan followed close after and Maya was in a hurry to lean over me.

     "Are you okay?" she asked, holding a hand out to me.

     I groaned again, keeping a hand on my back as I turned onto my side. "I hate trees."

     "Come on, D. You fell like three feet. Get it together or he's going to catch us." Maya took my hand in hers and hauled me onto my feet.

     A subtle pain shot up through my spine as I slapped her on her arm. "It wasn't you who fell from a goddamn tree."

     She rolled her eyes, clutching my arm in her hands. She hauled me with her as we hurried to leave the backyard.

     We came to the front of the house and went for the car. A freeing feeling surged through me. Maybe we did it. Maybe he hadn't seen me.

     I was wrong.

     Leaning against the car was a tall figure. His arms were folded over his chest as he gazed down the road.

     Both of us halted as we stared at Mike.

     "We're so dead," I said in sync with Maya.