Lucas

Should I knock?

I'm overreacting. Her parents can't beat me up. I'm a teenager. I'm almost a kid. They wouldn't hit a kid... would they?

The door flies open.

Mr. and Mrs. Young peer down at me, their faces contradicting my thoughts.

They would beat up a kid.

"What do you want?" Mrs. Young looks annoyed the most.

"Honey, don't be rough on the kid."

Thank you, Mr. Young.

"I'll be rough on the kid."

I was wrong. My hands begin to sweat from their intense gazes. I take a step back, trying to make my head disappear by imagining it popping out my body.

"Mom?"

Mr. and Mrs. Young's faces change. They place a fake smile on their face and open the door wider until Nikki is in my line of sight.

The first thing I notice is how pink her shirt is. It's unflattering but somehow she makes it work for her. Nikki's eyes widen. Her feet move towards me in fast strides, panic in her face.

Why is my face hot? I use my shirt to fan my face.

"Hey!" She briefly looks at her parents and back to me. "Did they harass you?"

Would her parents hate me if I nodded? Damn! This goes against one of Logan's most important rules! Initiate conversations! How do I do that when I can barely look them in the eyes?

Mr. and Mrs. Young gasp. "We would never!" Mrs. Young places a hand on Nikki's shoulder. "We were welcoming him inside, right?" Her head leans back to mouth angrily words to me.

"Yes!" I smile nervously. "Your parents are great!" I clasp my hands in a a polite manner. Mr. Young raises his thumb as if to say "good job".

"Oh." Nikki takes a step back. "Want to come inside?"

I exchange a glance with her parents. They, as if thinking the same, silently move their lips in a growl. Nikki turns her head but they are quick to change them into polite smiles.

Nikki rolls her eyes and pulls me inside by my wrist. "Come in. They won't hurt you as long as I'm here. Right?" She looks at her parents.

All I heard was to stick next to her and never leave her side if you want to live.

"Mrs. Young, are there more hotdogs?" Wyatt pops his head out the kitchen, smirking. "I couldn't find them."

My fake smile drops. I want to grab Wyatt by the neck and rip the annoying smirk off his face. How is he here?

"Of course!" Mrs. Young hurries to his side, subtly pushing me out the way. "I'll show you where!"

"Great!" Wyatt grins, eyes twinkling in my direction.

I regret my decision to stop by her house after my date with Victoria.

"I'll walk Lucas out!" Mr. Young grabs my forearm and turns his body towards the door.

Nikki uses her hands to rip her father's hand off mine. "Dad, no." Nikki looks stressed. "He's my friend." Feeling in danger, I hide behind Nikki's body.

"You have enough friends."

"Dad!" Nikki throws her head back in embarrassment. Her coconut hair slaps my face.

"Fine!" Mr. Young glares at me one last time before disappearing into the kitchen with Mrs. Young.

Nikki turns her body to face me. "Sorry about that. They are harmless."

Then why is your father holding a kitchen knife against his neck, Nikki? Mr. Young points the knife in my direction, angrily glares, and his face is gone.

"Are you okay?" Nikki tilts her head. "You look scared. And a little pale." Nikki chuckles.

"Y - yeah."

"Did you need help with anything?" Nikki pulls her wrist up to glance at her watch. "I thought you'd be busy planning your date with Victoria." Her arms cross over her chest.

"I um - " I scratch the back of my neck. "I just came from it."

"Oh." Her arms fall. "Great." Her voice is less enthusiastic.

"Yeah." I place my hands inside my pockets. "I didn't mean to interrupt your date with Wyatt. I'll leave." I force the last words out my lips. My chest is burning with feelings.

"Date?" Nikki looks confused.

"Babe." Wyatt comes out the kitchen, placing his arm around Nikki.

My hands fist inside my pants, faking a smile. Fake it until you make it, man. Fake it.

"Are you sick?" Nikki looks up at Wyatt in confusion.

Wyatt wiggles his eyebrows at Nikki, his eyes pointing at me and back at her. Nikki's mouth silently moves in tongues.

Are they have a silent lovers conversation in front of me?!

My jaw tightens.

"Ignore him." Nikki shakes his arm off and pushes him towards the opposite direction. "We're studying. Want to come?"

Relief floods my inside. "Studying?" My heart pumps out short and quick pumps. "As in books and pens?" My voice comes out hopeful.

The least I can do is ruin their date.

Nikki blinks, scrunches up her eyebrows, and slowly nods.

"Cool!" I bump shoulders against Wyatt and head towards her dining room. Since everything is the same since when Logan and I used to come, I remember almost everything.

Now that I think about it, I have to ask her what that was about.

Once at the dining room, I notice the two science textbooks beside each other in the middle. Wyatt rushes past me and takes a seat, grinning in triumph. My lips curl in annoyance.

Nikki walks up to Wyatt and looks down at the textbook. "Do you have environmental science? That's what we're studying."

"No." I shake my head. Wait. "Yeah, yeah. It's my first period."

"Knew you were a girl." Wyatt snickers.

I hiss my teeth at him.

Nikki shushes us. "Chill." Nikki pats the seat next to Wyatt. "Take a seat. You guys can study together while I bring you some food."

I raise an eyebrow.

She must be kidding.

"I'm not kidding."

Wizard!

"I'll go bring you some food. My dad made hotdogs covered in bacon!" Nikki's teeth clash against each other in an excited grin.

"He probably ate at his date."

My eyes narrow in his direction.

"Oh, right." Nikki's shoulders visibly fall. "I forgot." She slaps a hand against her cheek. "I - I can still bring you some."

"Maybe he had some." Wyatt whispers.

Nikki and I glare at him.

"I'm - " I pause to calm down my anger. "I'm fine."

"Cool." Nikki's eyes search the table. "But you still have to sit beside Wyatt."

"My grades are good."

"Really?" Nikki raises an eyebrow. "Julian said you had a "D"."

Damn him!

Wyatt snickers. "Don't laugh!" Nikki pushes his head. "You have an "F"."

"Ha!"

Nikki tsks. "A "D" is barely passing, Mabry. Now take a seat."

Reluctantly, I walk towards the seat and plop myself down. Noticing how close I'm to this human trash, I scoot a couple inches away and pull the textbook along. Wyatt mimics my actions.

"We are answering the objectives of chapter four as they will be on the test."

"Objectives?" My mood dampens.

"Yeah. Basically, all objectives listed on the assigned chapters will be on the test. It's how the class works."

"How do you know they will be on the test?" I knew some part of the old Nikki would still be there. She probably got it from a nerd. Or from a teacher? I had my suspicions.

"I took this course in freshman year. Now focus." Nikki hands me a piece of paper. "Just number your paper to ten and find the answer to these objectives." Nikki points a finger to the page. "Once you find an answer, write it down and use the paper to study."

"Too much." Wyatt fake yawns. "Let's split it."

I shake my head. "I don't trust you."

"I don't trust you."

Wyatt and I lean towards each other, ready to throw hands. A loud bang makes us jump.

"I didn't want to do that." Nikki grabs her textbook from the table. "Poor book." She taps the textbook. "Wyatt you do one through three. Lucas, four to six. And I'll do the last four." Nikki takes a seat across from us.

"Isn't that too much?" My stomach churns. "I'll do four and you can do three."

"What a gentleman." Wyatt teases.

I huff out an annoyed breath, my dark eyes burning a hole on his skull.

"It's cool." Nikki emphasizes while looking from him to me. "It's easy for me."

"For me too." I lie.

Class sucks worse than an outbreak of pimples.

"Said the "D" student."

"Wyatt!" Nikki scolds.

"I'm just say - " His mouth shuts when Nikki glances at him one last time. I smirk.

"Now... quietly." Nikki hands me a pencil. With one last glare between Wyatt and I, we begin to work.

The chapter is harder than it seems. It's about six pages for a measly three questions. But, surprisingly, the method works. The objectives are easy to put into questions. All I have to do is read and the answers pop out the pages.

"Hey!"

Wyatt and I practically jump out our seats. Nikki swallows her laugh.

"We're in the dining room, Darren!" She shouts out.

My body cools and I remember why I'm here for.

Darren saw my kiss with Victoria. But all I care about is finding out if Nikki knows. She'll know eventually, because high school, but I want to be the one to tell her.

Darren's eyes widen at the sight of me.

"Focus, Mabry. I have a class to pass." Wyatt murmurs.

My eyes remain on the whispering couple. Darren and Nikki are whispering between each other. The passing seconds don't help the sudden dizziness I feel inside my stomach. Nikki, as if sensing my gaze, looks back at me.

I'm quick to glance at my textbook.

"Okay!" Nikki claps her hands. "How many do you guys have left?"

"Last one." Wyatt continues writing on his paper.

"One too." I quickly begin on the last question. Focusing on the question proves to be a challenge but I manage to finish a couple seconds after Wyatt.

"I'll check them over." Nikki grabs our papers.

"I um... brought some Frappuccinos." Darren places the tray of drinks on the table.

"Great!" Wyatt stands up from his chair. He runs his hands together in excitement. "Which ones the low fat, almond milk, caramel Frappuccino?"

What did this man say?

Noticing my gaze, he closes his eyes in embarrassment. "It's not gay if it's good!" He grabs the drink Darren is pointing at and angrily takes a sip.

"I didn't say anything."

Who knew Wyatt Lockwood loves almond milk? Ew.

"Here." Darren hands me a drink, searching my face. "I always get an extra one even though Nikki always says she doesn't want one. We all know she'll drink it anyway!"

"True that!" Wyatt holds his drink in the air.

Nikki, with her eyes still on the paper, slaps the back of Darren's head.

"Oh." I shake my head. "It's Nikki's and besides, I already had a soda."

"On his date." Wyatt adds.

"Really?" Does he have to do that? My dark eyes connect with his light ones. I look back at Nikki but she seems preoccupied with the papers.

Darren places the drink in front of me. "She's drinking green tea. She's never going to touch this drink." His smile is awkward.

"He's right!" Nikki sings while turning a page to the back.

"Thanks, Darren." I grab the drink and take a sip. Wow! It's surprisingly sweet. "What's this called?" I've never tried Coffee Bahay.

"It's Caramel."

"Cool." I awkwardly take another sip.

If only I had Darren's number, I'd be able to tell him not tell Nikki. At least not until I talk to her. And they aren't giving me an indication they've talked about it. Somewhere inside, I think I want Nikki to know. Just so I know if she has feelings for me or if it's all in my head.

"Okay so - " Nikki hands us back the papers. "I added any relevant information to the answers but they were great!"

"Phew!" Wyatt wipes an imaginary bead of sweat from his forehead. "I was afraid Mabry would mess it up."

He has one more time.

Wyatt takes out his phone. He quickly snaps a picture of my sheet and I pull it away. "The hell you doing?" How dare he! I worked hard on it.

Nikki and Darren let out low chortles. "It's teamwork. It's your turn to snap a picture of his." Nikki motions her head to his sheet of paper.

How much of an idiot can I be?

I grab his paper, glare at him, and snap a picture with my phone. Wyatt is quick to pull his sheet back. I do the same.

"I brought some flashcards." Darren pulls out a few packs of flashcards from his backpack.

"My man!" Wyatt fist bumps Darren. Darren grins. Wyatt notices my face and snorts. "Surprised I'm not as shallow as you, Mabry?"

I close my mouth.

He continues speaking, "A jock can be friends with an outcast. I'm not into status like you are." His words would sting if I didn't know he's after the same goal as me.

"Because you're losing."

He drops a stack of flashcards, his teeth grinding against each other.

Ha!

"Don't start." Nikki sighs. "It was going so well."

"How can you be friends with this loser, Nikki?" Wyatt shakes his head. I reach to grab his arm as a warning but Wyatt dodges me. "He made your best friend into an outcast. You should forget about your deal, cut him off, and move on." Wyatt slaps a hand on top of his mouth, closing his eyes as if to scold himself.

Nikki and Darren exchange panicked looks.

I missed something, didn't I?

"It's okay!" Darren lets out a nervous laugh. "He apologized and I forgave."

Nikki's cheeks turn a rosy color but she doesn't say anything. Her eyes are fixed on Wyatt as if they are having another silent conversation. This one seems more heated than the one before.

"I forgive you, Lucas." Darren's hand lands on mine.

Awkwardly nodding, I respond with "Cool". Why is he touching my hand like some... girl? I don't know how to describe this action but I've only seen girls do it.

"I think he's homophobic!" Wyatt whisper yells.

"What?!" Nikki, Darren and I yell at the same time. My face burns when the mood of Nikki and Darren harden. Darren pulls his hand back.

What am I missing?!

"Are you really?" Nikki looks surprised, annoyed, angry?

Wyatt slaps my back - hard. "How you going to answer this, Mabry?" He takes a calm sip of his drink.

"I'm not homophobic."

Nikki and Darren look more relaxed.

"Prove it." Wyatt pushes.

How? "How?" I ask out loud this time.

"Drop it." Nikki warns.

"Is it important?" I wonder out loud. No disrespect but I came here to talk to my crush about my feelings. Gay, straight, trans, colorful, I'm fine.

"Yes." Wyatt answers at the same time Darren says "No".

Darren sighs and takes a seat. "It's not. Wyatt's teasing you because I'm gay."

"Oh, okay." I nod. "Hold up - " My hands tremble. "You're gay?!" Argh, that came out insulting.

"Now, I think he's homophobic." Nikki points an accusing finger at my face.

"I'm not. He just... doesn't have that... ?" I think Darren will not forgive me for this. "I'll see myself out the door." I begin to stand.

Wyatt happily hums "Hallelujah" under his breath.

"Stop." Darren shakes his head. "I'm gay but... me." Darren motions to himself. "You don't have to paint your nails and wear makeup to be gay."

"I know." A rush of heat washes over my body. "I just thought you liked Nikki."

He always seems to be violating her personal space!

"Her?" Darren lets out a loud, obnoxious laugh. Nikki's face falls. "She's just pretty," He says, laughing behind his hand.

"Burn!" Wyatt follows with his own obnoxious laugh.

"I need to make some girl friends." Nikki sighs.

"Wyatt, honey." Mrs. Young appears behind the doorway. "Your mom called. She needs some help at home."

"You have a curfew?" I laugh.

Wyatt, Nikki, and Darren look at me. Mrs. Young tilts her head, dark eyes studying my face.

"Me too." I clear my throat. "It's at twelve." Eleven.

"Whatever, Mabry." Wyatt pats my back. "Thanks for the help Nikki. Darren, my man." Wyatt nods at Darren. Before completely leaving, he turns his body. "You're having lunch in the library this week, right?" Wyatt asks.

Nikki and Darren nod.

"Could you tutor me sometime this week? My test is on Friday afternoon."

"Since we're making space for the book fair, I will be helping Mrs. Heathers." Nikki looks apologetic.

Oh no. That means I have to help since my last day of detention isn't until Friday.

"I can!" Darren suggests. "I'm cleaning up after the book fair."

"Neat. Later."

Mrs. Young follows after him. "I'll make sure you get home okay." She makes sure to shoot me a glare before she disappears.

"He lives across the street." Darren says. He must have seen my facial expression.

"Oh." My face falls. How convenient.

It's silent for a while. Nikki and I exchange a glance. Can she tell I want to talk to her? If only Darren would leave!

"So, I should head home too."

Score!

Darren sighs. "We have school tomorrow and we can't miss this week. If I'm not home in thirty, you're on your own tomorrow." Darren grabs his drink.

"Lucas should head home too." Mr. Young says behind me.

I place a hand on my beating chest, scared by his sudden appearance. My gaze falls on Nikki. "I have something - "

Mr. Young grabs my arm. "No worries! Nikki will see you tomorrow at school! You can talk than!" He pulls me out the dining room.

"Dad!"

"Mr. Young!" Darren looks a little too happy at the moment.

How does he have this much strength in his arm?!

"Don't hurt him!" Nikki tries to pry his hand away from me. She looks concerned. Her face is a couple inches from mine, reminding me of the freckles scattered across her face.

Well, maybe it isn't so bad that her father is manhandling me.

"Pervert!" Mr. Young pushes me away. I stumble into the arms of Darren, whose eyes are stuck on Mr. Young.

"Sorry!" Nikki mouths.

"But I - "

Mr. Young takes a threatening step forward.

"I'll take him out!" Darren pushes me out the door. He sticks his head inside the house yelling "Night" and slams the door shut. "Her parents are awesome, right?"

I give him a look.

"Don't worry." He grabs my shoulder. "They're better than they seem."

I have yet to see it.

"Oh. And you shouldn't worry about Wyatt. He's really harmless."

He has everyone fooled!

"You do realize he was part of the beating, right?" My hands tremble. "He helped pick you and he called you names."

"Yeah but he also told the jocks to stay away from me."

"What?" What?! "He must have been after something!"

Darren shrugs. "He did it after you claimed Victoria a "non-harm" zone but at least I don't get pushed into the lockers anymore." He takes his keys out his pocket. "Maybe give him a chance?"

"He did it to make himself look good after what I did for Victoria."

"And you did it for a crush." Darren points out.

"You caught me." I hate to admit it. "But are you sure Wyatt didn't do it for Nikki?"

"No."