Amber's pov:

"Let's go!!!!" Damien whines, almost pulling my arm off as I laugh, hanging onto my locker for support from falling over.

"Wait!!! I'm trying to find the pencil that I lost in my locker!!!" I pout, again lifting up my stack of books for the third time like it would just appear out of nowhere.

He groans, "I'll give you one of mine!!! Now come before I throw you over my shoulder."

"You wouldn't." I give him a challenging look, to which he returns.

"Oh I would. You don't come between a teenage boy and his lunch time." He says, inching closer as I shrink back from his imitating, but playful stare.

"Oh really?" I knew I was just digging myself in a deeper hole as he gives me a wild grin before placing his hands on my waist, getting ready to throw me over his shoulder.

Oh shoot, he really wasn't kidding.

"Okay, okay!" I laugh, quickly pushing him away before shutting my locker.

"Told you I wasn't kidding." He says matter of factly, while I on the other hand just nod my head at his words, knowing he was right.

"Now come on!" He again takes my arm, but this time, he rushes me all the way to the cafeteria, earning us a few curious stares from lurking students in the hallway.

"Jeez slow down!!! I think my arm is about to pop out of its socket." I joke, and even though I couldn't see his face, I could imagine him playfully rolling his eyes, his mind too consumed with the thoughts of eating food.

"Finally!!!!" He says as we enter the cafeteria. I roll my eyes at his dramatic behavior, but I couldn't help but smile at the fact that he wanted to walk to lunch with me, even though it was "important" for him to get to the cafeteria earlier.

"Amber, Damien! What took you guys so long?" I ignore Liam's eyes, already knowing what was going through that mind of his.

And let me just say, his mind is not exactly rated pg 13.

"You can blame Amber for that, she was trying to find a pencil that she dropped in her locker." Damien says, accusingly pointing a finger at me.

"Hey!!! I liked that pencil." I pout, everyone at the table laughs at my expression before Damien and Liam leave for the lunch line, assuming that Luke just couldn't wait to get food.

"I seriously don't understand how people eat that food in the cafeteria. The pizza is barely cooked, the sandwiches have been sitting there for who knows how long, and it's called mystery meat for a reason." Ella says, glancing at her boyfriend in the lunch line before returning back to her own lunch.

"I completely agree. Ashton always told me that it's actually not as bad as it seems, but I refuse to believe him." Julie says, taking a bite out of her sandwich.

"Wait Ella, I actually have a quick question if you don't mind." I say as Ella looks up at me.

"Go ahead."

"I know you were new to the school this year, were you actually home schooled all your life?"

She nods her head, "Yep. Me and Ally, and trust me when I say this, it was pretty rough."

"Oh wow. Did your parents not like public school? Or was it just from a young age?"

Ella takes a sip of her water before answering, "Our parents were pretty protective since are Dad was passed down our great- great grandfathers company. There are people out there who are against the company, basically just because they support an opposing company and want to see theirs succeed. My parents were always worried that Ally or I would get hurt, but in my opinion, they took it too far. But it wasn't until recently that they came to their senses."

I give her a small smile, "Well I'm glad they did-..."

"THANK GOD THEY DID!!! Being outnumbered by boys all the time cost me millions of brain cells to be lost each day. I'm almost didn't survive!!!" Gianna says, dramatically putting a hand over her forehead.

"It wasn't that... bad...?" Julie tries to say, but I could tell she was questioning her choice of words, causing a laugh to escape from my lips.

"Technically, we are still outnumbered by one." Ally says, raising an eyebrow as Gianna groans, slamming her head on the table.

Julie laughs as she pets her head, trying to calm an infuriated Gianna.

"Don't mind her, she's just a little over sensitive because she's Jake deprived."

"Am not!" She tries to argue, but it was muffled since her head was still on the table.

"Gianna looks like she's about to have a mental break down, what did we miss?" Liam jokes as the boys take a sit at the table, Damien taking the one next to me as I smile up at him, to which he returns.

"Nah she's always like that." Luke snickers, as Gianna shoots her head up, giving him a nasty glare.

"You guys need to stop always bickering, I'm afraid that one of you will actually murder the other. And I'm not saying anything but I really don't feel like grave shopping for Luke." Ella says as everyone laughs, except Luke who only glares at his girlfriend.

"Hey!!! What makes you think that she would win?!" He argues, as everyone shares a knowing looking.

"Because you're a wimp." Gianna says, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"No I'm-..."

"Yes you are."

"You don't even know what I was-..."

"Yes I did."

"You are interrupting my words-..."

"Because they are not important."

"Ella!!!!"

Ella only shakes her head before putting it on the table like Gianna did previously.

"You guys are going to make Ella have wrinkles before she's twenty." Ally says, before giggling at her sisters given up face.

"Sorry baby." Luke cooes, as he wraps his arms around Ella, bringing her closer to his body, before covering her cheeks with kisses.

"Okay, okay... stop!!! I get it!!!" She laughs, pushing him away with a blush on her cheeks as everyone around the table laughs.

"I know you love it." He says, wiggling his eyebrows, as he enjoys how embarrassed Ella got from all the stares.

"What am I going to do with you." She says, rolling her eyes while Luke gives her a cheeky grin.

"Ahhh is this what it feels like to be watching the couple interaction instead of being apart of it." Julie says, causing everyone to give a knowing look.

"Yeah, you and Ashton did have that lovey dovey stuff pretty bad." Gianna laughs.

"The only difference though was that Zander wouldn't let us say anything about it because he was watching you guys like it was a romantic sitcom-..." Luke starts to say but Julie interrupts him quickly.

"Anyways!!! I assume that everyone is able to meet this weekend for the boys? Amber, Liam, are you able too?" She asks to make sure as both of us nod our heads.

"I'm assuming it will be after Friday's practice..." Liam says.

"Yes! They won't be here until later on Friday. So while you guys are at practice, I was just going to go and get some snacks." Julie says.

"I can come with you if you want." I say, as Julie turns towards me, giving me an appreciative smile.

"If you don't mind, it will make things a lot easier." She says.

"It's true! I love you and all but your sense of direction is not the strongest." Gianna says, causing everyone to laugh as Julie crosses her arms playfully.

"It's not," she takes a deep breath before continuing, "actually I'm not even going to defend myself on this one. It is pretty bad."

After her words, everyone continues to plan for the weekend while digging into their lunches.

I didn't really have much to say since I'm new to the friend group and don't know really anything about the other boys.

So instead, I just sit in my own thoughts, occasionally listening into the conversation before I suddenly get a notification from my phone.

Probably About To Say Something Perverted🤡:

I think your boy candy wants some attention. He's looking at your like a lollipop without its wrapper.

At the text, I give a quick glance at Liam who only shoots me a smirk from his side of the table, before motioning his head towards Damien while making kissy lips.

Me: Hmmmmmm. I thought I blocked you.

Probably About To Say Something Perverted🤡:

You love me too much for that.

Now go show that boy how many licks it takes to get to the center of a lollipop.

Widening my eyes at his last message, I wish I could say that I was surprised by his comment, but his contact name was put as that for a certain reason.

Just a little warning I like to give myself before reading whatever he has decided to text to me.

Safe to say, the contact name was put into great use.

But taking in Liam's words, you know, other than the whole lollipop thing, I decide to take a peek at Damien who was indeed, already staring at me.

"Amber..." he whispers, as I turn my head fully towards him.

"Hmmm...?" I question, as he rests his head on the palm of his hand.

"I'm bored." He pouts, causing me to giggle.

"I see that." I say, giggling again as he nudges me playfully.

"You know what I've been thinking about..."

"What?" I ask.

"Last night."

I feel my heart skip a beat at his sudden words.

"W-what about last night?"

He shrugs, "I don't know... I just had a really good time. It's always been nice hanging out with my friends and all, but you being there made it better."

I feel myself start to blush as I look down for second, and then back at him, "Really?"

He nods his head, "Like I've mentioned before, you're just really easy to talk to and I feel comfortable being around you. It just feels nice to let everything out."

If I'm dreaming... pinch me.

Pinch me right now.

"I agree, I feel like yesterday went by really quickly though, I was kinda sad when you dropped me off."

He grins, "I would have kept you later but I didn't want my face printed on wanted signs by your Dad."

I laugh at his words, "He's not THAT scary."

But Damien only shakes his head, "You only think that because you are his daughter and only see the soft side of him.  His coaching side is a whole another story."

"If it makes you feel better, you aren't on his bad side. You're actually probably one of his favorites."

"Well I mean," Damien runs a hand through his hair playfully, "can you blame him?"

"You are too much." I shake my head, even though deep down I knew he was right.

He's literally the sweetest, most innocent person probably on that whole entire team, it's literally impossible to dislike someone like Damien.

"But just to make sure, he wasn't mad right? Was that the right time to drop you off-... or should I take you home sooner next time-..."

"No, no! He wasn't mad at all. In fact, he didn't even mention anything about timing. He was just curious on how it went and stuff." I say, as he lets out a sigh of relief.

"Thank god, that means I may have another day to live. He would have actually killed me at practice if that wasn't the case."

"What's the worst workout that's he's given you at a practice?"

He thinks for a second, "Definitely ab workouts. Your dad does not hold back when it comes to those." He says, wincing as if he was recalling the memories of it.

"Look on the bright side! At least you have abs now."

He laughs at my words, a light blush forming on his cheeks, "I guess you're not wrong, it does feel nice to go home from practice with abs."

"Oh don't tell me you are one of those types of people who like to stare at themselves in the mirror." I joke.

He rolls his eyes playfully, "Oh of course, as soon as I get home I like to stare at my reflection for a solid two hours before continuing my day."

I was about to respond but the school bell beats me to it, signaling that lunch is over.

"This is the worst part of the day, having to leave lunch." Luke says, lazily slinging an arm over Ella.

"There's only two classes left, it's not that hard." Ella says, patting his stomach as we all start to head separate ways.

That is, until I feel a presence beside me.

"Isn't your class the other way Damien?" I laugh at how unbothered by my words he seemed.

"Yes."

"So aren't you going to, you know, head in that direction?"

"I'm walking you to class." He says as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"That's sweet of you, but I don't want you to be late for your next class." I say, feeling bad if he were to get in trouble.

"I'll be okay, I'm one of my teachers favorite anyways so she wouldn't care."

I nod my head at his words, even though the worry was still there, I was able to push it down and just enjoy his presence.

We talked for a little bit more until I finally reached my class, and waving goodbye, we share one last smile before I enter my classroom, ignoring all the stares from the other students.

I never really thought much of people's reactions seeing Liam and I joining the friend group.

They were always that group that everyone wanted to be apart of but deep down knew it was practically impossible.

But for me, I guess not.

Taking a seat at my desk, I pull out my phone and scroll through my Instagram, making it seem like I'm not that lonely.

Even though it's easy for me to talk to people once we are in a conversation, I've never really been good at starting them.

I don't know why I'm like that, but once I'm engaged in one, it's kinda easy for me to get along with them and make a friend.

But at least people don't think of me negatively, regarding the yearbook.

Hearing the click of heels, I look up to see the teacher walking in, but what caught my attention was that she was being followed by the new girl.

Instantly, there were whispers around the room, almost making me feel bad for her since she was under so many judging stares.

But surprisingly, she seemed unaffected by everyone's stares.

I mean, good for her I guess.

"Hello class. As some of you might already know, we've gotten a new student today. Would you like to introduce yourself?"

She nods her head confidently, looking around the room, "My name is Annabelle Robins," her eyes soon stop at me, making me feel almost uncomfortable as she continues, "and I can't wait to get to know all of you."

She tears her gaze away from mine before looking back at the teacher, who gave her a friendly smile, "You can sit in one of the open seats in the back."

Annabelle nods her head, making her way towards the back of the classroom as everyone's eyes were on her, before they were pulled away from the teacher starting her lesson.

I don't know why, but for some reason this new girl gave me a bad feeling...

I just couldn't put my finger on it.

Hey guys!!!!

Thoughts about Annabelle?!

I hope y'all are excited because Ashton, Jake, and Zander will finally be here!!!

(Insert confused readers who haven't read the two previous books)

Lol but as always, I love you!!!

~juls