Song for this chapter - Cooler Than Me

- Mike Posner

"Let's go shopping!" Lydia squeals, as we both get into her convertible mini.

"It's school shopping, you shouldn't be this excited." I comment, and I roll my eyes with a smile on my face.

"Hey Party Pooper! Don't try and ruin my fun." She pouts and I laugh at her.

"Which playlist do you want on?" I ask her, and she turns towards me looking up as she thought

"The one with the smiley emoji." She tells me.

"There's four with a smiley emoji." I point out, blankly. I watch as her face falls, and she pouts again.

"Put the car one on then." She grumbles and then puts her keys in the ignition and drives off. I do as she says and press shuffle. Cooler Than Me by Mike Posner comes on and immediately we both start singing.

It is boiling hot outside, and the roof is down as we try to cool down. We both are wearing matching sunglasses too, which was accidental of course - but it was still cool. It was Lydia's idea to go shopping for school, which starts tomorrow and because I was in desperate need for a backpack, some clothes and stationary I said yes straight away. I was going to go alone, but it would be much more fun with Lydia, so I'm glad she suggested it and was more than happy to trail around after me while I picked up the bits I needed. My dad gave me a bit of money too, not that I accepted it at first - it was forced into my bag by Connor, who also added a bit of money. Those two gang up on me all the time, I was getting sick of it. I didn't want them to waste their money on my school supplies.

"We'll go for lunch and dinner too, and then do you want to stay round mine tonight?" She asks.

"But we have school tomorrow?" I question, slightly confused, I thought she was a dedicated, grade A student.

"And? Please, it's tradition." She begs..

"Tradition for who?" But I already know who.

"Look-"

"Of course I will, but I need to ask my dad."

"Yay!" She squeals, her face lights up, a bright smile grows on her face, "Thank you!"

I agree with everything she says about how we could get ready together, and she could do my makeup while I did her hair. She is the sweetest human, I didn't understand why no one wanted to be her friend when she is always so kind and loving.

"So what first?" I ask.

"Stationary, boring stuff first to get it over with, then we'll shop for clothes." She says, and turns into the car park for Target. We run around the store, picking up all sorts of stationary, even agreeing that we'll buy bigger packs for better value and then share between us. When she wanted something done, this girl was efficient.

"Hey! Look what I found." She says as she walks towards me and hands me a box. They are fairy lights with pegs on the lead between each light so I could hang photos.

"I know you wanted a photo wall, but this would look cute if you hung it up slightly higher, above the photo frames that you've hung on the wall, it would look so pretty!" She gushes and I smile at her enthusiasm. She really made an effort and put a lot of input in for what I should do about my room. She was a huge help in helping me sort through my pictures and choose the best ones, and she even sorted my clothes into colours as she placed them into my closet. She made everything look so good, it was no wonder she wanted to become an interior designer when she was older. The job would suit her perfectly.

"This is perfect!" I mumble, staring at it.

"Are you ready to go to checkouts?" She asks and I nod my head, following her as she walks to the cash registers. Once we were done, we get back in the car and drive to the mall.

Only a few songs were played before we get to the mall, when she switches the car off, she lets out another squeal when she just looks at the large building of the mall. Ah, she really loved shopping.

"My brother and his friends said they were coming here today, I might get to introduce you! Just warning you though, they are too good looking for their own good. You might just have a heart attack if you see them." She tells me, with a huge smile on her face as she makes dreamy eyes and just the mere thought of her brother's friends. They must be dreamy.

"Are they the usual player type then?" I ask.

"Some of them. But most of them are surprisingly not and believe me you won't think it if you see them. They are fairly nice too. Apart from Tris, he's a huge dick - don't go near him. I'm not even sure why they're friends with him to be honest, maybe it's like hot guys are drawn towards each other or something." She rambles and I laugh at the dreamy look that still rests across her whole face.

"Where are we going first?" I ask.

"To get our backpacks." She says with a huge smile and almost sprints towards the shops. This girl is way too excited.

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Lydia is still dragging me when we are done with shopping, this time I am a little more excited as we were finally going to get lunch. I am starving. Lydia just needs to buy some pants, which we are going to get after lunch and then we would be done. I wasn't quite sure what I fancied for lunch but as soon as we walk into the food court, Lydia halts mid-step.

"What?" I question, "what's wrong?" I ask.

"They're here." She states and her face goes red. I follow her gaze to a table full of familiar faces.

"They are them?" I ask and I watch as she nods her head completely star struck.

"Lydia!" One of them calls, and she immediately throws her head down to face the floor.

"What are you doing?" I laugh.

"Put your head down and run away with me, I don't wanna go over there anymore." She grumbles and grabs my hand. I start to follow her but we are stopped by a large figure towering over us.

"Hey Lyds! What are you doing here, North Dakota?" Myles questions, with a huge smile on his face.

"Shopping with me, what does it look like?" Lydia responds sarcastically.

"Mom told you to cut it out with the attitude little sister, you don't want me to tell her do you?"

"You two are twins?" I think out loud.

"Yes, North Dakota we are. Can't you see the resemblance?" He asks me and at the same time they both smile like clowns.

"Yes, the resemblance to pigs fit both of you." I giggle. They both gasp dramatically, and shove me backwards. Luckily, I stumble back into someone - otherwise I would've fallen.

"Careful there, lil' one - you don't wanna go fallin' for me or anything." Grayson says from behind me, and I laugh at him.

"Yeah, I wouldn't want that." I grin.

"Hey Lyds, how are ya?" He greets and messes up her hair, which results in her slapping away his hand and scowling at him.

"Grayson you piece of shit. It took Lay almost a whole hour to perfect this hairstyle!" She screeches.

"I guess I'd have to make it up to her then." He smirks as he stares at me, it gets too intense for me so I have to look at Lydia who starts to give me and Grayson strange looks. I just shrug, which makes her glare at me fiercely. 'What?' I mouth, confused. When another person joins our group she goes rigid and blushes. She blushes!

"Sup Reece, you good bruv?" Lydia speaks and I choke in laughter, which results in her glaring fiercely at me again.

"What's up Lyds?" He laughs, and then turns to me, "Hey cutie." He greets and I blush furiously, embarrassed to be reminded of the last time we met.

"So, what are you two doin' here?" Grayson asks and I smile at him, he was about to get a whole lot of sarcasm thrown his way.

"What does it look like you dickhead, we're in a mall and we have shopping bags!" She grumbles at him, as she throws the bags at his feet and crosses her arms.

"It looks like you need to learn a little from this one, she seems way nicer." He says and strolls towards me, throwing his arm across my shoulders.

Heart attack oncoming.

"Don't be fooled by the innocent look of her, she said Myles and I had the resemblance to cows." Lydia huffs, throwing a playful glare my way. Both of the boys chuckle, and Grayson looks down at me in surprise.

"I said pigs actually." I correct with a laugh.

"Wow, lil' one. That was unexpected. I judged you completely wrong, I thought that you'd be innocent with that cute wave you did." He grins, and I blush even more.

"I'm hungry, let's get food Lay." Lydia says, I think she wants to save me.

"I'll take your bags, come sit with us when you've got your food." Grayson says and takes the bags from my hands, as Reece does the same with Lydia's, that are on the floor by his feet.

Lydia grabs my hand and then storms to the pizza place, and we both stand in the queue.

"So-" She starts and I gulp at the intensity of her stare that pierces through me.

"- when did you meet them?" She asks, her tone completely blank.

"The other day." I answer her simply.

"Where?"

"At one of their houses. I was out on a run and Tristan called me back."

"Was he rude?" She winces, and I nod my head with a look of distaste.

"Why didn't you tell me you had met them?"

"I didn't know they were the ones you were talking about."

"I told you my brother was Myles."

"Have you not learned anything about me? I'm dumb!" I retort and she snorts.

"Now, that my friend is very, very true." She laughs and I just shove her with my shoulder while I giggle.

When we get to the front of the queue to place our order, Lydia beams at the middle aged woman behind the counter.

"Hey Stell!" She exclaims, smiling brightly at her.

"Hi Lyds, do you want your usual?" She asks and frowns when Lydia shakes her head 'no'.

"Can we please have an extra large pepperoni pizza with two sodas please?" She asks and watches as 'Stell' typed in our order.

"Who's this, Lyd?"

"Oh! This is Layla, my new bestie!" Lydia introduces as she wraps an arm around my shoulder and kisses my cheek, making me giggle.

"Hey Layla, I'm Stella." Stella greets and I smile in return.

Once we are given our order, we walk to the boys table. We decide that the best way to split the pizza between us would be to sit opposite each other, so we did. I slide in next to Grayson, as I try to ignore Lydia's eyebrows as they wiggle suggestively. I briefly look around the table in aims to find Tristan, because I really didn't fancy another argument with him where he tries to get in my pants again.

"He's not here." Grayson says as he edges closer to me.

"Was he really that bad to her?" Lydia questions.

"Nah, he was just the usual - trying to get her into his bed." Reece says, as he moves his arm to lie on the back of Lydia's chair. I watch as she goes rigid and then blushes again, someone noticed Reece's movement. I grin widely at her, which results in her pulling up her middle fingers.

"Don't you worry though, her Prince Charming was there to save her." Myles says as he motions at Grayson who just glares at his friend. Lydia laughs loudly, by now my cheeks were extremely red, and I pick up my drink and start to sip in order to distract the others from my embarrassment.

Lydia flips the pizza box open, and takes a slice out of it before she shovels it into her mouth. I drop my drink almost immediately and dive in also.

"There's no way you'll eat all that." Grayson says from beside me, and he slips his arm across my chair and then reaches for a piece. His action doesn't go unnoticed by Lydia who grins widely, but then slaps Grayson's hand, making him drop the pizza.

"You fat lump of shit, no! You can't have a slice!" She scolds and I laugh at her, then pick up another piece to give to Grayson, who grins widely at me before he begins to dig in.

"Bitch!" Lydia screeches, "You're my best friend, you're not meant to give him pizza when I've said he can't have any."

I laugh at her but then frown in confusion.

"Why can't I give Grayson some -"

"Gray. Call me Gray." Grayson tells me, as he stare at me with intensity - I obviously could not handle that so I quickly look away, back at Lydia.

"Why can't I give Gray a slice of pizza?" I question her.

"Because he underestimated us!" She spits, with a mouthful of food and I grimace. "You let him underestimate us. And you call yourself a woman!" I laugh loudly at her over exaggeration.

"Don't talk with a mouth full of food, Lydia!" I scold, teasingly and hear everyone around the table laugh at me.

"You're my best friend! Don't team up with them!" She groans and I grin at her before I tuck back into another slice of pizza, getting interrupted by a round circle of pepperoni that lands on my forehead and then falls onto my plate. I don't have to look up to know who threw it.

"Hey! Don't throw food at my lil' one!" Grayson reprimands, before he tears of a piece of his slice and throws it at Lydia. I watch as it hits her on the forehead and slides down her face, leaving a trail of tomato sauce. She looks up and glares right at Grayson.

"Grayson Elias Reed! You are so dead!" She growls and then reaches across the table to get to him. Who knew this girl could be so violent?

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