The Odd Lives Of Jennifer And Luke Luke Smith listened to the haunting tune on the radio while lying on his bed. His legs and arms were all splayed out. The#moonfiltered in through the window and the breeze made the curtains sway just a bit. It was a new song, but the title hadn't been announced. Luke closed his eyes and let the soft acoustics fill his mind with dreams of his future. Maybe his band, Small Square Murderers otherwise know as SSM, would become as famous as the Beatles one day. But he'd play only happy songs. Luke had enough gloom in his #life already. Luke found himself suddenly annoyed by the song on the radio. He switched it off quickly and sighed. SSM would never get anywhere. That much was obvious. They didn't even have a drummer anymore. Rob had graduated high school and gone to military school two months ago. On top of that, Jeremy and Nate were too high on drugs to even practice most afternoons. Jack was a great singer, but a terrible songwriter. And Luke himself wasn't enough to compensate for the incompetence of the others. All in all Luke saw that his band was a failure. Now that he thought about it so was the rest of his #life. He was water boy for the high school soccer team. His grade average was a C... barely. He hadn't had a girlfriend since sixth grade ( which did not count anyways). He couldn't even grow a beard as a jumior in high school. Luke sighed again and closed his window. He drifted off into a unhappy sleep. *** Jennifer Tracy did not like to move. At all. It wasn't because she had to leave friends; she had none. It was because it meant leaving all the squirrels and rabbits and deer and other animals she had learned to love in her backyard. And this move was the worst type. It was to an apartment. "Tell me again why we can't get a house." Jennifer stared out the window of the car as she asked wearily for the millionth time of the trip. When her mom was silent, Jennifer began to play with her necklace. It was a simple silver chain, but it meant the world to Jennifer. Her dad had left it for her tenth birthday right before he took off. It was funny how he gave his unborn daughter a gift right before running as far as he could away from her. Sometimes she hated him for it. "I didn't want you to play with the animals anymore, it isn't normal." Her mom finally answered. This time it was Jennifer's turn to be silent. A loving mother would embrace her daughter's strange gift not suppress it coldly. Jennifer kept her face turned out the window as one warm tear rolled down her cheek. ***