"I got into a fight at school when I was seven. Every other time I got into a fight, I would be sent back so when the family I was with didn't drop me like the others,  I decided I would stop fighting."

"But didn't you miss me?" Alan says.

"Yeah, sure."

"Ouch," Gray says and I can see his grin in the mirror. 

"What a good friend," Alan says sarcastically.

"I'm messing with you. Getting taken in by another family after being there with your friends for so long is a lot like moving to another state."

"Aww. Beth has a heart!" L.J says with an excited tone behind his voice.

We all talk a bit more about me and Alan and how much of a scary person I used to be.

"The Big Bad B. Still can't get over that name," Trever says with a chuckle.

"We were all six! I didn't make up these names!"

"Yeah, I did, her reaction at the time was priceless. She flipped a chair."

"Hah! I would pay money to see that." Mason says.

"Again. Six years old."

"So you call her many nicknames to her face?"

"No-"

"Yes!" I say which overlaps his 'no.'

"He used to taunt me all the time."

"What did he call you?"

"Buckwheat, Dork, Tiny, Chica, Kitten, Princess, Twinkle Toes, and so on."

"How did you remember all of those?"

"Because you would go out of your way to call me whatever new nickname you had come up with!"

"You had nicknames for me too."

"A. I called you A."

"Told you guys I wasn't the only one who went by A!" A says with a taunting voice as we pull into the parking lot.

We all park, taking only three parking spaces. I get off before Gray and take off my helmet, forgetting about my black eye and my back to Alan.

 Gray taps his bike to get my attention and I look to him. He taps his eye and I realize what he means. I quickly move my hair to cover my eye. He nods his head when I finish covering it and I tie up the helmet with the gloves inside. I soon realize the ice in my back pocket is gone. Must have fallen out during the ride. Great.

We all walk in.

"So were you guys ever a thing?"

"Yep-"

"No," I say cutting him off.

"Stop doing that." He says elbowing me as we walk to a round booth. 

I sit between Alan and the edge with Gray across from me.

"Why does everyone assume or want me to date, someone, I swear."

"Have you ever dated anyone?" L.J. says with a smirk.

"Not answering till you guys answer your yourselves."

"Yes." A says as he grabs a menu.

"Yep," Trever says with a chuckle.

"Yeah," Alan says.

"Of course," Gray says.

"Same here," Mason says raising an eyebrow at me.

"Been there," L.J. says motioning to me.

A waitress comes over before I can answer and gives us waters.

"Are you all ready to order?"

"Not yet." A says looking at the menu.

With that, she leaves.

"So?"

"Yes," I say taking my water.

"Oh, so what's his name?" Gray says leaning over the table with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow.

Oh, shoot. Name, name, I need a name.

"Lucas."

"Where is Lucas now?" L.J. asks.

"Austan Texas."

"How did you guys meet?" Trever continues the interrogation.

"At a park."

"How old were you?" Alan says.

"Thirteen, dated till fourteen and he moved."

"How many dates did you go on?" A says moving the questioning along.

"Three."

"What were his parent's names?"

"Cindy and John."

"Did your parents know?"

"Of course not."

"Okay, did you guys ever kiss?" Gray asks.

"That's my own business."

"Okay, gotta say. I'm impressed. You lied your way through that very well." Alan says.

"What?"

How did they know?

"Yeah, you came up with that stuff very quickly," Gray adds.

"You think I'm lying?" I ask, knowing I am.

"Let me explain, he isn't in this state, we never heard of him and we know everyone. And when asked about dates or kissing you didn't hesitate. While if we call you cute, you get flustered and your face turns red. You also said that it was your own business implying that you had when a few weeks ago at the karaoke place you said that you have never kissed anyone. Nice try though." Gray finishes, leaning back with his arms crossed and a smug look.

"So, there you have it. Beth has never been on a date." L.J. says smiling at me.

"So what if I haven't? I mean you guys have known me for over a few months now, I'm not the type of person to go out on dates."

"So what I'm hearing is you need to find yourself a guy," Trever says.

"No. I'm fine being single. I'll live. Plus then I wouldn't get to hang out with all of you."

"Aww, you'd miss us?" Gray says trying to taunt me.

"Yeah. I would miss you guys."

"You do have a heart. So how do we get Beth a boyfriend that won't get jealous of her continually hanging out with us?"

"You! You did this!" I say looking up at the sky before turning back to the guys.

"How about Carlos? He's in a band."

"I am not about to go date whoever you point out to me."

"I see it as she would have to date someone in the group to stay in the group. Cause we can't add more people." Gray says.

I cross my arms on the table and drop my head.

"Question is, who's it gonna be?" Trever asks.

"I'm not going out with anyone," I say leaning back into my seat with my arms crossed.

"Why not?" Gray asks.

"I want to focus on school."

"Goody two shoes," Alan says.

"Was that ever a question?"

"Wonder if Tori is like you at school, cause I still have no clue who she is," L.J. says.

"So, what exactly is this Tori girl like?" Alan asks.

"Well if want to come tonight, she is supposed to come back for a big fight," Gray says.

"Yeah. She very cute?" Alan says, not looking over to me.

"Man, she's hot," L.J. says.

I'm almost offended right now as Beth. But I can't think of me being her otherwise my face will turn red.

"Gotta be the hottest girl out there," Mason adds.

Smirks soon cross their faces as they talk about her.

"Without a doubt. No one is better." A adds.

I grab my water and start drinking it, not able to say anything without saying something wrong. Thanks, Alan. 

"How so?"

"She's got the body and the attitude of the perfect type of girl," Mason says.

Phew...I'm good. I'm getting better at this.

"So are you all just going after her?"

"Pretty much. It's worth it though." Trever says.

"How far have you all got?"

"Phone number."

"No date yet?"

"Beth is helping us out with that one," Gray says looking over to me as I continue to sip on my water.

Alan looks at me and I shrug my shoulders.

"What exactly do I need to be prepared for tonight then?"

"A few bids, fights and a hot girl."

I finish my water and continue to sip making a loud slurping noise as they continue to talk about how 'hot' Tori is till they all turn to me.

"We got a problem?" A says raising an eyebrow at me.

"You're out of water, set it down," Alan says taking the water from me and setting it on the table.

"We call you cute and your face goes red," Gray says.

A waitress soon walks up.

"Have you guys got your order yet?"

"Yes, ma'am."

We all order and talk about school and what not. My eye burns and hurts like crazy the whole time. Soon our ice cream comes.

"I'll be right back," Alan says pushing me out of the booth.

I get up and he walks to the bathrooms. When he is completely out of sight I grab my ice cream dish, quickly putting it to my eye.

"Is it that big of a deal whether he knows or not?"

"He's like a brother to me, yeah, he's gonna kill some people if he finds out."

"Oh! Get brother zoned Alan!" Mason says loud enough for Alan to hear.

"I mean, we almost killed him. You didn't care if we found out."

"Not like I could hide it from all of you. Plus you guys would bug me till you found out and they had already left."

"How bad is it?" Mason says motioning for me to move the ice cream.

I move it from my eye and try to keep my eye open even though it isn't swollen shut.

"Swelling is going down. Gonna leave a nasty bruise though. How many times did you get hit?" Gray says.

"I didn't count. It all happened in twenty seconds at most."

"After school?" L.J. asks.

"Never changes," I say putting the ice cream back on my eye.

"Well, here he comes."

"You guys pee so quickly," I say quickly covering my eye with hair.

I set down my ice cream and stand up as he comes over and he goes over to sit down.

"We should get going soon, fight gonna start soon," Gray says as he starts to eat his ice cream.

We all agree and quickly finish, splitting the bill. We all go out to the bikes and I ride with Gray. He knows where my house is since Leo throws so many parties. They all ride to the house and I quickly get off, waving them goodbye, careful to hide my eye.

I walk in and see Leo on the couch, watching t.v. till he looks over to me as I uncover my eye and walk by.

"What happened to you?"

"Same old, same old."

"Careful not to let mom and dad see. They will freak."

"I will."

"I'm heading out at seven tonight, alright?"

"So am I." I say. 

"Where are you going?" He asks, standing up.

"Where are you going?"

"How about this? We hire a babysitter and say none of this to mom and dad."

"What about those two?" I say motioning to the noise upstairs.

"I got this. Rain, Asher!" He calls up.

They come down the stairs.

"What do you want?" Asher says.

"Me and Beth will be gone in the evenings so we are hiring a babysitter. If you guys keep it from Mom and Dad you will get extra ice cream on the weekends."

They look at each other and back to us. Rain does a motion for them to get more out of this.

"Fine, a dollar each plus the ice cream. But if Mom and Dad ask you have to help us cover."

The side of their mouth tugs up.

"You got a deal," Asher says.

"I'll call the babysitter."

I nod my head.

"You're a good brother," I say, putting my hand on his shoulder. 

He swipes off my hand and grabs his phone. I run upstairs and change into gym shorts and a regular black t-shirt that is tight around my stomach. I change into regular shoes and grab my boxing bag which I put a few wraps, my beanie, my hoodie and boxing shoes in.

I sling it over my shoulder as I put my hair into a bun and head out after the babysitter shows up and before Leo. 

I had made it obvious before that I won't be in that locker room again. And with what happened with the guys giving me a black eye just makes me madder which makes me warm in the cool air. Once I am halfway there I slide on my hoodie and beanie that covers my eyes and nose. 

Once I show up in the parking lot I can hear the cheering. I go around the back without going to the locker room and change my shoes and grab my light blue wraps and putting it in my pockets. I hide my things in tall grass and place an uprooted, dead bush over it to better hide it. 

I leave it and walk back around to that I go to the only entrance. I walk in and I get a few strange looks till I find the guys. Including Alan.

"About time you show up," Gray says crossing his arms.

I give a half smile till I hear Liam.

"Tori!"

I turn and see him walk over to me. He puts his hand on my shoulder and walks me away from the others.

"Glad to have you back but where were you?"

I mouth 'getting ready to win'.

"You better, a lot of people have been betting that you will lose this fight. This fight alone could get us both a few thousand."

My eyes go wide and I smile.

"Alright, get ready. It's gonna start soon."

I nod my head.

He walks away and a few of the girls walk up to me.

"Look who decided to show up."

"Scared of us taking your title?"

I cross my arms, saying nothing.

"Or scared you would get in trouble for your temper tantrum?"

I smile at them and spit off to the side before walking away. I walk over to the guys.

"What was all that about?"

I shrug my shoulders and pull out my wraps. I lean against the wall and un-attach the ends and begin to wrap my right hand first.

"Do you want a hand?" L.J. asks me.

I shake my head 'no' as I carefully wrap my hands to protect my knuckles.

"You talk to Beth much?"

I nod my head and right on time I see Daniel, Henry and Jace all walk up. I move on to the next hand and begin to wrap it.

"You have some nerve showing up here after what you did to Beth," Alan says crossing his arms.

The guys told him. Figures.

"Who's the new guy, needed back up?"

I am halfway done with my hand as they talk.

"You wish we needed back up."

"Why don't you mind your own, we just came to talk to Tori here," Henry says putting his hand on my shoulder.

"Next up, for the final fight of tonight-"

I finish wrapping my hand.

"Is Tori and Dallas!" 

I get off the wall and quickly turn to Henry, making his hand on my shoulder drop. I turn my angry expression into a snarl. I point to Henry before dragging my thumb across my neck, indicating that I am gonna kill him. They all watch me as I strut off.

I walk past the crowd and to my corner. Unmoved and unafraid.