After the boys came over, the rest of the weekend passed quickly. True to his word, Asher kept his arm around me throughout the whole movie, as well as during the two other scary movies Jacob and Shawn had chosen. They all laughed every time I screamed, even though I would throw pillows at them for making fun of me. Fortunately, I stayed pretty calm for most of the movies. Asher distracted me, whispering about random things the whole time to make me laugh. He probably paid less attention to the movie than I did, and I was thankful that he was there.

I spent most of Sunday doing homework and trying to get ahead in my classes. Mia and her dad came over around 6:00 for our weekly dinners. My parents were just as close with Mia's dad, Jim, as Mia and I were, so our families did most things together. My mom cooked like always, with a little help from me, and Mia and I went to get ice cream after.

I did my Sunday tradition of a face mask and bath bomb after dinner to help myself feel ready for the week. When I woke up, my skin was glowing from the face mask. Score. I had bad acne in middle school, but it was all gone by now.

As always, Asher was late to our first class. We had just started discussing the novel we were reading when he casually sauntered in, more than twenty minutes after Ms. Smith had called role. She didn't bother reprimanding him, already used to his tardiness. She silently handed him a detention slip before resuming the lesson.

He started talking to me as soon as he sat down. We whispered about the weekend and other random stuff before quickly getting into an argument about basketball.

"You cannot think that Duke is better than UNC!" I whisper-yelled at him. He responded with a scoff, rolling his eyes and leaning back.

"Please. You don't even know basketball."

I narrowed my eyes at that. "No, you don't."

"No, you." He responded, staring me down with his deep, forest-green eyes.

"Shut up." I responded, tired of his childishness. Well, maybe my childishness too.

I finally turned away from him, and was immediately met with a very angry Ms. Smith.

"I hope I wasn't interrupting your conversation, Miss Astor." She sneered in her nasally voice. I usually like my teachers, but this woman was the worst.

I waited for Asher to come to my rescue, but he stayed silent, pretending to be enthralled in his book.

Apparently I took too long to respond, because she reached out and tapped on my desk. "Detention, Olivia. Now please pay attention."

I groaned and shoved the detention slip in my bag. I had gotten detention a few times before, and it was always painfully boring.

Asher grabbed the folded piece of paper back out of my bag, smirking. "Guess you'll have to keep me company." He said, holding up his own.

I studied him for a moment as his smirk grew wider. "You know, pretending to like Duke was harder than I thought it would be. It was worth it, though" He added.

His stared at me with a mischievous look until I understood. I slapped him on the arm, realizing that he had purposely made me angry so that I would be in detention with him.

"I said war for a reason, Astor." He muttered, quickly striding out of the classroom as soon as the bell rang.

________________________

By the time lunch rolled around, my stomach was growling. I had already had multiple awkward situations when my stomach growled in the middle of a silent classroom. Mia cracked up everytime.

Mia met me by my locker so that we could head to lunch together. I didn't bring a lunch today, so we went to the cafeteria to buy food. Unlike most schools, our cafeteria actually had incredible food. It was one of the reasons most people chose to go to school here. Mia and I got cups of fruit before getting in line for the pizza bar. We had to wait for a little while, but it was well worth it. We each got two slices of the cheesy, heavenly goodness. The smell alone was enough to make my stomach growl for the umpteenth time today.

Mia and I left the cafeteria, our hands full of food. When we got to our table, I almost dropped my food in shock. There were already people sitting there. Three specific people, in fact, and I heard Mia squeal quietly when she saw the three muscular guys sitting there. Shawn and Jacob waved at us enthusiastically, and I recognized Asher's light brown hair as he faced away from us. The sun made it sparkle slightly, and the light breeze added to its usual messiness.

"There's my girls!" Jacob yelled enthusiastically.

I saw Shawn shove him lightly. "Nice grammar, idiot." He muttered. I laughed and sat down, my mouth dropping once again.

Sitting in the middle of the table were three whole pizzas.

"How in the world did you steal three pizzas from the cafeteria?" I exclaimed, shocked. The lunch ladies were all very strict, and I couldn't imagine them letting anyone get that much.

Shawn laughed in response, and Asher shot him a glare.

"Asher—" Jacob began, but was cut off with another chilling glare from Asher. If I didn't know any better, I would be terrified of him. His glares were scarier than any horror movie.

Jacob continued in a rush despite Asher's cold stare. "Asher flirted with the lunch lady and while she was distracted we grabbed them!" He burst out.

"Wait, what?" Mia cracked up. "Betsy?" She asked.

Betsy was the meanest of the lunch ladies, and looked like a reptilian. I wasn't surprised she was interested in Asher; she had a reputation for flirting with students despite being fifty years older.

Asher punched both of his friends, looking down at the table and rubbing the back of his neck. I could always tell he was embarrassed when he did that, and it was honestly kind of cute.

"So... why are you sitting with us?" I asked them. I liked that they were here, but I was surprised.

"Ouch." Asher muttered. "Why not?" He added, finally glancing up at me.

"I was just wondering. It's different." I responded.

"Good different, or bad different?" Jacob asked, a hurt expression on his face.

"Good different, definitely." I reassured him, smiling.

I looked down to see both of my pieces of pizza gone. "Hey!" I exclaimed. "You already have three pizzas!"

Shawn shrugged, his mouth full of my pizza. "Jacob got Hawaiian again. It's disgusting."

I couldn't argue with that.

The others began to argue about the best type of pizza, Jacob getting very animated. Asher silently slid me some of his pepperoni slices, which I was grateful for. The whole lunch period passed quickly, and I had a lot of fun. I had just met the boys, but we were becoming fast friends.

We headed to class together when they finally finished scarfing down the pizza, . We all had fifth period AP Calculus together, and the guys made us switch seats so that we could all sit together in the back of the room. Luckily, there was a sub today so we could talk while we did worksheets.

"Olivia."

"Psst, Olivia."

I felt a pencil fly at my head from behind.

"Olivia."

"What?" I finally asked, turning around to see Jacob slumped in his chair. His long, blond hair was messed up from him pulling at it.

"I need help." He muttered. I sighed and turned around, showing him the correct formulas. The whole time I felt Asher's gaze on me from his chair on my left.

"Do you need something?" I asked.

He smirked, a weird, cocky expression covering his face. "Can you tutor me today?" He asked.

I rolled my eyes. "Last time I did that, you knew more than me."

"Please, Olivia?" He asked.

Jacob tried to get my attention for more help, but I ignored him. He looked at Shawn and Mia questioningly, but they both had their heads pressed flat against the table. Apparently I was the only one who paid attention in class.

"Please, Olivia?" Asher asked again, tapping on my desk. "I'll do anything." He turned the full power of his green eyes on me, staring me down. I paused for a minute, losing my train of thought.

"Fine." I murmured breathlessly. He really knew how to mess with a girl's feelings.

Shawn interrupted our unofficial staring contest when he threw an eraser, hitting Asher square in the face. His jawline clenched as he slowly turned around to Shawn before fake-wrestling him out of his seat. The sub gave us a disparaging glare but didn't say anything.

Mia pulled me aside. "Should I ask Jacob to give me a ride home today since you can't? She whispered.

"Why can't I? I asked her, confused.

"Detention, idiot." She responded.

I groaned and slumped in my chair. I had forgotten all about that, and I'm sure Asher had to. When I reminded him he mimicked my pained expression and added a few very colorful words.

"We'll drive you home, Mia." Shawn said. Mia smiled hugely at this, and I know she was excited for some time with Jacob. She was still scared around him, but she was getting better. His infectious personality glossed over any awkward moments, and he was too funny to be uncomfortable around.

The bell finally rang, and I trudged out of the classroom.

"Ready for detention?" Asher said, a weirdly excited expression on his face.

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dedicated to @Leah-Buch because she is so sweet and supportive! everyone should check out her story when she publishes it :)

sorry if this chapter seems like a filler... it was originally part of one larger chapter that I had to split up because it was over 4000 words

the next update will be on Sunday!