Before we start this...

*hides inside secret chamber*
*locks it*
*gets knife*

Okay we're good. Let's start.

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Chapter Thirty Five

What I Would Really Like From You Is To Appreciate Personal Bubbles.

Anna

Monday, 3rd of February, 11 AM.

The last two weeks went pretty good. The week before was a bit hard, considering I couldn't sleep or get a blink of an eye, but I managed to compensate most of the lost sleep. I just have seventeen years left to compensate now.

Anastasia's Memorial Day went great too. The girls and the guys managed to cheer me up and I had so much fun that day before I went to visit her and to be honest, visiting her made me feel so much better. The nightmares thankfully stopped after that.

Luke and Jennie went on their first date on Friday. He didn't update me on what happened, but I'm sure they had fun. I really hate to admit it, but I don't like that they went on a date, at all. And the fact that I'm always thinking about him is not helping. Maybe I really do like Luke. I just have to act completely normal around him and not like he's the most gorgeous thing that ever walked on earth, which is hard considering I can never be normal.

Now that the girls and I are going to perform at the fun fair, Abby informed us that Jewel and Scarlett want to meet up with us so they could tell us about the fun fair's arrangements, so we will be meeting up with them today at the diner after our gig. I'm actually so excited to perform at the fun fair. I just hope it all goes fine that day.

I shut the notebook and slip it in my backpack, just as the bell rings and I stand up, putting my English textbook inside the backpack too.

"Don't forget about your homework! Tomorrow's the due date for submitting it!" Mrs. Porter reminds us as everyone ushers to get out of the classroom. Since the girls are with me in English class, we all head together to the lunch room.

"Did you see Jennie and Luke in the morning?" Sophie asks.

I frown. "Um...no. Why?"

The three of them come to a halt stop making me stop too, then they turn to me and purse their lips. "They are maybe kinda sorta possibly together?" Riley looks at me as if she's ready that I'm going to kill someone.

"What's wrong with that?"

"No, Anna. Riley meant that they are together, as in together as in they are dating," Colette explains.

What the heck?

No, really...

What the actual heck?

"Oh," I stutter and my friends give me pitiful looks. They knew.

"That's okay," I give them a smile. "I mean, I was already expecting that. I just didn't think it would actually happen, but yeah, it's okay."

"It's clearly not okay," Colette points out.

"It is, don't worry. Now let's go the cafeteria. I'm starving," I tell them.

"Yeah, starving for a murder," Riley mutters under her breath, but I still catch it.

"Jennie's murder," Sophie adds and they both nod in agreement.

"Ha ha ha. You're so funny," I say drily.

"Thank you," Riley grins.

"We know," Sophie adds, smiling smugly.

I just chuckle and continue on with walking to the cafeteria. I push through the double doors, holding the door for a few seconds for the girls. Then we had to our table and take a seat, where Zach and Alex are already seated.

"Hey, guys," Riley greets them.

"Hey," Alex responds.

"Where's Luke?" I ask and Zach points behind me. I turn around and find Luke sitting with Jennie on their table.

"Why aren't you sitting with him?" I question the guys, turning back to them.

"It's better here," Zach shrugs.

"And you are fine with him not sitting with you guys?" Colette asks.

"He said that he knew about Anna and Jennie not being on good terms and they sat there instead," he answers.

"Okay," I mumble.

"What's wrong?" Alex asks in concern.

"Noth-"

"She's upset about Jennie and Luke," Colette reveals and I sigh.

"You like him?" Zach raises his eyebrows and I nod my head slowly.

"I knew it!" Zach exclaims. "I told you she does, but you never believed me." He tells Alex.

"How am I supposed to know? You never say anything right," Alex rolls his eyes.

"That's not true," Zach scoffs.

"Tell me one thing you were right about in your life and I'll shut up," Alex challenges him.

Zach blinks at Alexander. "Anna likes Luke."

"No-" Alex then presses his lips in a thin line and he sighs. Zach smirks at him before he turns to me.

"Don't worry though, Leni. He said that he'll spend the last fifteen minutes with us," Zach grins widely and I give him a smile.

"Or maybe the last twenty," Colette says, looking at something behind me.

I don't even bother to turn around and I start getting my lunch out of my backpack. Our school's food is not bad or anything, but I trust the food that I make more. I get my Harry Potter book out and unwrap my sandwich, while proceeding to read from where I left off and eating.

"Hey," Luke says, taking a seat next to me. The guys and the girls greet him back.

"Hi," I say politely, giving him a smile. No matter what, I just can't be rude to people and sometimes I hate that.

"Your girlfriend is not going to sit with us, is she?" Zach questions, glancing at me and I've came to a realization at this very moment.

You can never tell Zach anything.

"Don't talk about her like that," Luke rolls his eyes. "And no, she's sitting with her friends," he replies.

Wow, they really are dating.

"You sure started dating real fast," Colette remarks.

"I like her. She's nice, sweet-"

Before Luke can continue, he gets cut off by Alex throwing a water bottle at him.

"What the hell, Alex?" Luke narrows his eyes at his friend, throwing the bottle back at him and Alex catches it.

"Sorry. Sophie is allergic to flies and I thought I saw one," Alex lies, looking at me through the corner of his eyes and I give him a grateful look.

Sophie nods. "I do. Rashes and everything," she joins in.

"Doesn't mean you throw a bottle at me," Luke retorts and Alex shrugs. "Are you guys okay?" Luke asks, probably sensing the heavy tension swirling around.

"No-"

"Yes," I interrupt Zach and smile at Luke. "We're okay. It just has been a really tough week and we-" I gesture to me and the girls. "-are a bit stressed out about the whole us playing in the fun fair thing."

"That explains it," Luke nods. I also realized another thing at this very other moment. Luke is a good actor.

"Yeah," I smile again, only nervously this time.

"How are you doing?" Luke asks me, separating us from the rest of the table as they start a new conversation between them.

"Good," I answer. "You?"

It's a lie. I'm not good. I feel like crying. I really do despise feelings.

"Pretty great," he responds and silence falls over us, but it's a different kind of silence this time; the awkward kind. If anything, I could be crowned 'queen of awkwardness'.

"So, you and Jennie started dating?" I pipe up.

"Yeah. I asked her on Saturday," he smiles.

"That's great," I smile back.

"Hey, babe," Jennie comes up from behind Luke, wrapping her arms around his neck and I cast my gaze downwards on the book.

"Hey," Luke smiles at her and I see them kissing from the corner of my eyes.

The bell rings and I quickly shoot up, putting the book in my bag and slinging it over my shoulder. "I'm going to class, guys," I smile.

"Want us to come with?" Riley offers.

I shake my head. "It's fine. I'll just head out." Riley nods in response.

I march to the exit of the cafeteria, throwing the empty wrappers in the trash bin and continuing through the route out. As I walk down the hallway to the next class, I hear a pair of boots behind me and I don't need to turn around to know it's Jennie. Her Victoria's Secret perfume could literally take over the whole school in minutes. She struts past me, pretending she never saw me before she spots me and stops, turning to me.

"Oh, hi, Anna," she says.

"Hey, Jennie," I smile at her.

"Did you know that Luke and I are dating now?" She asks, smiling cheekily.

I blink at her twice. "Yes. I was sitting right beside him."

"I guess I didn't see you," she shrugs innocently.

"Yeah. I can be invisible some times," I smile sarcastically.

"I heard it was your sister's Memorial Day a week ago. That must have sucked with your anxiety and everything," she frowns mockingly and I freeze.

"How did you know that?"

"A little birdie told me," she answers, her lips tugging in a devilish grin. "I'm so sorry about that. I hope it wasn't a bad day for you. How did you get over it anyways? Did you like have to go to a temple to take your ancestors' advice like in Mulan? I really hope you didn't though. Asians are so stupid. I mean, they must be blind from all that fish that they eat. You should go to a therapist. They help with the disorders and all that crap," she waves her hand, scrunching her nose in disgust.

"Who told you this?" I repeat in a firmer voice.

"Luke, of course. He's my boyfriend after all," she replies, checking her nails casually.

My eyes widen in shock. "You're lying."

"Think whatever you want to think, but we're dating. We can't keep any secrets from each other."

He wouldn't.

But what if he did?

What if he really told Jennie everything?

Suddenly, I feel myself getting angry and I glare at Jennie. "Listen to me, Jennie. You can insult me or my character, but don't ever insult my family. I never thought that you would stoop so low like that, but you just proved me wrong. You're a low-life and that's what you will always be. You think you're all-mighty and classy the way you are, but you're not. You're far from it," I snap, pointing at her.

"Me? A low-life? Please," she scoffs. "Most if you Asians feed on insects. If anyone's a low-life here, it would be your Chinese ass," she pushes her hair off of her shoulder.

"I would love to chat more, but that would be a waste of time and energy. Bye," she wiggles her fingers at me.

"You're a coward, Jennie and that's what you'll always be," I tell her before walking past her, bumping my shoulder into hers as hard as I can and heading to my class.

That's what happens when I trust people.

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"I'm so hungry," Riley groans, slamming her head down on the table.

"Then order something," Colette tells her.

"I feel heavy when I eat before we perform," she muffles out and raises her head. "Like I might puke all over the keyboard."

"Just order some fries and then we can eat after we're done talking to Jewel," I pitch in.

"Okay," she responds. "Roxie!" Riley yells and almost the whole diner turns to look at her.

"Move on, people!" She shouts at the people and they immediately turn back around.

"Hey. What's up?" Roxie smiles as soon as she approaches us.

"Can I get some fries please?" Riley smiles at her.

"Sure," Roxie jots down the order. "By the way, Tina wanted to tell you that you guys will be performing in ten minutes."

"Thanks, Rox," I smile politely and she sends me a wink before she walks away.

That's when the bell of the door tings and I turn my head to see Zach, Luke, Alex and Jennie walking in. I resist the urge to slam my head down on the table multiple times until I pass out or at least get a concussion, but I settle on screaming mentally instead.

I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay.

I'm. Okay.

Nevermind. I'm not okay.

Could this get any worse?

"Hi there, babe," a male voice says and I turn my head to find three guys standing by our table, smirking at us.

"Hi?" I reply slowly.

"Would you like a drink maybe?" He takes a seat right beside me and I have to scoot backwards, pressing against Sophie.

"Um...no, thank you," I tell him.

"How about you?" Shaggy (random) asks Riley.

"What I would really like is for you to appreciate personal bubbles," Riley responds, looking at him with disgust and backing away too, pressing against Colette.

The third guy, Blondie turns to Colette and Sophie and opens his mouth, but Colette speaks up. "Don't even try."

"It's not going to work," Sophie shakes her head.

"How about your number then, beautiful?" Brunette asks, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

I grimace. "I'm really sorry, but we have to go and perform." I slip outside from the booth, getting on the table in process so I could avoid any body contact and so do the girls.

"You're going to sing for me, baby?" He raises his eyebrow, grinning.

"She sure will," Sophie fake smiles.

The four of us get on the stage and after the girls make sure their instruments are ready, Sophie and Riley play the music, then Colette begins with playing the drums. I start singing the words to one of my very favorite songs, No by Meghan Trainor.

I continue on with the song and I notice the three guys getting up, annoyed at the end of the song. I smile to myself as I watch them walk out of the diner. We continue performing for the rest of the night, going along with our song list.

I try my hardest to avoid any eye contact with Luke while I'm singing and I think he noticed because he was giving me a questioning look when I glanced at him. To be honest, I'm hoping there wouldn't be any kind of contact between us after the gig, but there was this tiny weenie itsy bitsy spark of hope in me that he would actually talk to me.

However I'm still mad at him after the whole Jennie thing, so I grab that spark of hope and stomp on it a few times before I toss it in the trash. That's how I'm supposed to deal with every situation anyways, but I can never do it. I have way too much faith in this world.

Two hours later, we're done with our performance and I see Jewel and Scarlett walking inside the diner. They see us, sitting on our table and we sit up straighter, trying to look professional and–I don't know, maybe like we're not from Northern Hills High School.

"Hello. I'm Jewel Green from Northern Hills and Abby told us that you will be meeting up with us today, concerning the carnival," Jewel stretches out her hand and I shake it.

"Nice to meet you. Please take a seat," I gesture to the cushioned couch.

"Thank you," Scarlett smiles and they both take a seat in front of us.

This is starting to feel like one of dad's business meetings.

"We wanted to discuss the carnival matter with you and we thought it would be really nice if you performed at our school on the day of that event," Jewel explains.

"Yes. Abby already informed us," Sophie tells them.

"And we're totally fine with performing at your school," Riley adds.

"That's great!" Scarlett smiles widely, showing her bright white teeth and I really have to wonder...how the heck is their teeth like that? Like what do they use? That charcoal toothpaste isn't even working anymore.

"Our carnival will be on the twentieth of February. You could come early if you want, but I think it will be preferable for you if you come at exactly three in the afternoon. Does that sound good?" Scarlett looks at the four of us.

"Yeah, sounds good," Colette approves.

"Awesome," Jewel says. "Here's my number, in case you want anything. You can give me a call whenever you want." She hands us a small white paper and I take it from her.

"Thank you. We will," I smile politely.

They both get up. "Well, we are going to head out now. It was nice meeting you..." Jewel trails off when she realizes she doesn't know our names.

"Lyn," I answer. "And this is Lottie, Soph and Ri," I point at each one of the girls.

"Nice to meet you all," Scarlett says. "We'll see you soon!" She waves at us as they both get out of the booth.

"You will," Sophie smiles and waves back at them.

Jewel just stares at us for awhile, before she speaks up. "I'm really sorry, but you seem a bit familiar to me. Have we met before?"

I start freaking out. "Uh...yeah, we get that a lot, but no, I don't think we ever met."

"I'm probably just mixing you up with four girls from our school," Jewel brushes it off. "Bye," she waves and they turn around to leave, then I see Jewel stopping for a moment and eying us, then her lips tug upwards and she and Scarlett exit the diner.

"Guys, I think Jewel knows who we are," I inform the girls.

"Yeah, she knows that we're TNC," Riley says in a 'duh' tone.

"No. I meant, I think she knows who we really are."

"No way. Nobody knew who we really are for a whole year. I don't think Jewel will notice now," Colette says and I shrug, letting go of the matter.

"I can finally eat! Yes!" Riley throws her arms up, looking up at the ceiling. "Thank you, God."

"Roxie!"

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Wassup peeps? So this chapter passed by smoothly but you guys are still in for another ride. The next chapter is what I refer to as 'poop hitting the fan part 2 only with a dash of it's going down for real'. I love drama.

I'm going to like this :)

Anyways, hope ya enjoyed!

Until next time!

Don't forget to leave a comment, hit the star button and share if you can! (I'm sure people will send me middle fingers as votes because of this chapter tho)

Byyyye, totally fabulous peeps!

-W.A❀