A/N I hope you guys like this update and vote and comment, because it's 11:35 PM and I have an essay to write in class tomorrow.

But I still love you all anyways, and if I fail school, I'll just become an author. And eat ramen for every meal. But that's okay, because I know I'll have you guys <3

Matthew Espinosa as Mack Sanders. Seriously though, where do these guys exist in real life? Not where I'm from, that's for sure.

For your viewing pleasure, this chapter.

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*Kaitlyn MacDonald*

The doorbell rings just as I'm getting out of the shower, and I quickly wrap a towel around myself and another one around my wet hair. Just in time, too, because Beth comes barging in, as usual.

"KAITLYN!" She screams, and I wince slightly. "WE GOTTA GET READY AND GO! WHAT IF WE MISS THEM?" She shakes my shoulders for emphasis.

"Beth! Calm down! It's going to be okay!" I try and reason with her. She stops bouncing on her toes and looks at me funny, head tilted slightly to the left, eyebrows furrowed. Suddenly she grabs me and pulls me through the bathroom door into my bedroom and shoves me on the bed.

"Beth, wh-" I'm cut off by a bra and underwear set hitting me in the face.

"Put those on," Beth hisses from inside my closet. "Now!"

I grumble, but do as I'm told. "You'd think we were meeting the Queen of England for tea with the way she's going on," I say.

Beth pops her head out. "What was that? I couldn't hear you over the awful loudness of these cheetah-print pants. Why do you own these anyway?" She asks, dangling a pair of skinny jeans from her hand.

I roll my eyes and step to take them from her. "Um, first of all, you made me buy these. Second of all, it was Halloween. And we just had to go as large wild cats. I wanted to be a black panther, but oh, no! Black pants were so last season," I mock, but it just goes over her head. As usual.

"I can't hear you," she shouts, "but go turn on your hair dryer. We are leaving in 20 minutes, exact."

Twenty minutes later, I'm in Beth's car, holding on for dear life as she weaves her car through lanes of traffic. She's managed to stuff me into a pair of dark purple skinny jeans with a light gray shirt and a muted green bomber jacket. On my feet are white Converse, and my hair up in a high ponytail.

"Beth," I say. "I never even dress up this much for school. And literally everybody is at school. So why am I wearing this? Are the Big Four even going to be at the mall?"

She turns down the music, which is coming from my phone through the aux cord. "Of course, silly," she replies, right before stepping on the gas to make it through a yellow light. "Otherwise do you think I would be wearing this?" She gestures to her magenta leather jacket, silver statement necklace, and low cut white tank top.

I shrug. She has a point.

By then, we've arrived at the mall, and I notice that it's crowded as always. Beth snags a parking spot near the front, cutting off a middle-aged woman in a Honda minivan. "Beth," I chide. "That's rude."

"Sue me," she grins, hopping out of the leather seat into the 50˚F sunny weather. I've gotten slightly more adjusted to this cold spell we're having; it doesn't bother me nearly as much as it did at the beginning of October.

As we walk up to the mall entrance, I'm pleased to spot a familiar navy blue Bugatti Veyron in the parking lot. That means Drew is here, I think happily.

Wait. Happily? Kaitlyn, did you accidentally get high or something? Since when does Drew make you happy?

I shake my head to clear my thoughts just as we reach the sliding doors. Beth strides in ahead of me, and I quickly follow. We're in the main hallway, stores on all sides with a food court in the center. Yep, if you want to go shopping, Twin Oaks Mall is the place to go.

Beth grabs my hand to pull me along. "Come on, Lyn," she groans. "We need to look like we didn't just get here, otherwise when we bump into them, it'll look suspicious." I throw my hands up in defeat.

"Fine, whatever. But let's make it quick. Season 7 of Doctor Who just came on Netflix this morning, and I have a binge-watch date with Matt Smith."

Beth shrieks. "REALLY? IT'S ON? WHY DID'T YOU SAY SO?" I shush her, noticing people around us staring, or hiding their kids from us. Yeesh.

"Sorry," she whispers. "Let's scream later. For now, let's focus on the task at hand. Finding the Big Four." I nod, and we turn around to start walking....

...only to bump into the hard chests of none other than Mack Sanders and Drew McCarthy. Over Drew's impossibly tall shoulder, I see Ashton and Blake eating pretzels from Auntie Anne's.

"Well, hello there," Mack says, staring down at Beth, whose normally chatty mouth is hanging open in shock, silent. "A little birdie told us that you two lovely ladies would be here on this fine afternoon, and so we came in hopes of meeting you."

I frown. "But Beth said that someone te-" Beth cuts me off for the second time today, but thankfully with her hand, not a lacy bra.

"What a coincidence!" She giggles brightly. I roll my eyes. There is no winning with this one.

"Hey nerd," I hear Drew say, and I look up to meet his gaze.

"Hey yourself," I reply, shifting my purse from one shoulder to the other. "How's it going?"

"It's going well, thanks." Peanut butter and jelly, I could listen to his voice all day. It was so deep and smooth and-

"Kaitlyn!"

"What?" I shout in response. Beth taps me on the shoulder and I turn to look at her and Mack, who has an arm around her shoulder.

"Mack and I are going to get some food, do you want to come with?" The look in her eyes is daring me to say yes.

I don't say yes.

"Excellent," she squeals, clapping her hands together. "We'll meet you back here in, forty-five minutes?" I absently nod, too focused on the way Mack seems to be pulling Beth's smaller frame into his lean one. She waves goodbye and Mack steers her off in the direction of the food court.

"Well," I say, turning to face the remaining three boys that my best friend left me with. "What do you guys want to do?"

Ashton has a mouth full of pretzel, but he points in the general direction of what looks like a music store. He swallows quickly and grins. "I want to check out that store. I've been meaning to get some new guitar picks for a while now, and it'll also give me a chance to see if there's any new music."

I shrug. "Why not?"

After one music store, two vending machine stops, and a jaunt through Lulu Lemon (Drew's idea, not mine), I'm tired. Finding the nearest bench, I sit down right in the middle of it and lean my head back. "I forgot how much work shopping is," I groan. Drew sits down next to me, and Blake to my right. Ashton is off in the distance talking to an employee at Auntie Anne's. I told him to buy me a lemonade after I won a bet.

While we were walking from the music store, Ashton noticed Mack and Beth on a bench together, sitting closely. Mack's arm was around her shoulder, and her head was tucked underneath his. Ashton turned to me and whispered, "I bet you a pretzel and a drink that they didn't get anything to eat, and that they just wanted to get away from us." I smirk.

"You're on, but lose the pretzel. Can't have dairy, remember?"

If I know anything, it's my best friend. And she will never, I repeat never, pass up an opportunity for free food. I confirmed this by pointing out the blue and white pretzel bag on the bench next to Mack.

Ashton grinned good-naturedly. "I should have seen that, honestly."

I nodded in agreement. "You really should have."

I'm shaken out of my reminiscing by Ashton's return, balancing a large pretzel, a drink, and some of those little pretzel bite things that melt in your mouth.

"What? I had to get something for myself too, you know."

I ignore him, instead turning to Blake. Noticing his shirt for the first time, I like what I see. Blake is wearing a U of M football t-shirt, his biceps neatly outlined by the sleeves.

"Hey Blake," I say. His attention turns to me. "I really like your shirt."

"Thanks, K," he replies smoothly. "It's made of boyfriend material." He winks and I laugh loudly.

Beside me, I hear the pretzel bag crumple in Drew's fist. I turn to look at him, concerned, and am shocked to see his teeth clenched.

"Hey," I cautiously venture. "You okay?"

He nods. "Just peachy."

I look away, still unconvinced. What would possess him to make him act like that?

The only think that I can think of at that moment is the green-eyed monster that we all have a love-hate relationship with.

Jealousy.

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A/N

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-tiny little pretzel bite things that melt in your mouth