It was Friday night. Before I had left the pizza parlour, all four guys had given me their numbers. They had looked at me expectantly, like they wanted me to give them mine, but I shook my head and left.
The week was a blur. I was dreading the weekend, but I was also quite excited. Were the serious when they said I was now their friend? Whenever I passed them in the halls, they'd give me a curt nod or a small smile and keep walking. I treated them the same way I always had; I ignored them. They smiled, I looked away. I hadn't known it before, but it turns out, I had at least one class with each of them. History and music with Bobby, gym and math with Damon, science with Emmett, and art class with Beckett.
Yay.
I was sitting in art class, third period. Damon, Beckett, Bobby and Emmett had been trying to get me to talk to them since Wednesday. Beckett had conveniently decided to sit in the seat behind me.
Yay.
He was throwing crumpled up pieces of paper at the back of my head. It was getting irritating. There was a pile of paper balls growing around my feet. I felt a tug and whipped around. Beckett was holding a lock of my hair, smiling sheepishly.
"Beckett! What the fu-" I glanced at the teacher, who was glaring at me. There was a no swearing policy in art class.
"Fudge. What the fudge. That's what I was going to say. What the fudge, Beckett? You just pulled my hair!" He shrugged and patted the empty chair beside him. I shook my head and turned back around in my seat, going back to my work. We were painting whatever we wanted. Mrs. Sweed, the art teacher, wanted us to try and paint people, but we didn't have to. I was a really good artist, the whole class said so. I was painting my favorite music artists. That was all I ever painted; things to do with music. On occasion, I'd do a landscape of a creepy forest, a foggy cliff, something like that.
Today, I was painting Kellin Quinn. There was a picture of him on my phone, which was set on the easel beside the canvas. I was painting a picture of Kellin holding his baby girl, Copeland.
I felt something hard hit the back of my head. I turned around and gave Beckett the finger. He was holding a math textbook. He had hit me in the head with his textbook?! That little shit. I flicked him on the forehead, but obeyed him and moved to sit next to him. The boy who sat beside me, Alex, tried to stop me.
"He's going to murder you! Don't do it! I care about you, babe. I don't want you to get hurt!" Beckett heard this, and looked at me quizzically. I shrugged. I plopped into the seat and Beckett whispered in my ear.
"Hey, Amber. I think someone has a crush on you!" He winked and I face palmed. Alex had been crushing on me since grade 7, and it was now grade 11. He had told me many times what a perfect couple we would be.
Beckett, for some reason, felt the need to pull me in for a hug. Maybe to show Alex that he wasn't going to kill me, who knows. I wrapped my arms around his neck, resting my head on his shoulder. All conversations in the room ceased. I guess nobody saw it coming; the bad boy, hugging the weird emo nobody. We sat like that for a while. I didn't care if people were staring. Beckett rested his chin atop my head, and he sighed in content. I guess he liked my hugs, too. After a two-minute long hug, he finally let go of me. He took out a piece of lined paper from his binder, wrote something on it, and handed it to me. It read:
Amber:
The guys and I have decided that this conversation may take all weekend. Would you like to meet us at bunker 9 tonight, and you can stay there with us until Sunday night? We'll give you directions, obviously.
I looked up at Beckett. He smiled and raised his eyebrows. I looked at the piece of paper and sighed. I pulled out my pen.
I don't have any plans for over the weekend, so I guess it could work. I have one question, though.
He read it over and mouthed, "what?"
What are the chances that I will be brutally murdered in those two nights?
No chance. The guys and I will protect you. You're our friend now, remember?
That made me smile. I had only ever been close friends with Grey and Di. He smiled back and ruffled my pink hair, knocking my ever-present grey beanie off. I smacked his hand away, grabbed my hat and sat back in my original seat. He whined my name but I ignored him.
«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»
Sixth period. Last period. Ten minutes, and I was out of this hellhole.
Ten minutes, and I was going to the guys 'base'.
Ten minutes.
I sat in math class, staring at the clock. I had finished my work five minutes before anyone else, so I had been staring at the clock while everyone else was working on the sheet.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
Finally.
I got up, grabbed my things, and got out of there as fast as I could. Speed walking to my locker, I didn't see Damon until I crashed into him, sending us both to the floor. He looked mad, at first, but once he saw that it was me, his eyes softened and he even grinned. I smiled, relieved. I stood up and held out a hand to help him up. He took it, only to end up with his face inches from mine. He smelled good- like strawberries. His closeness was making me weak in the knees. I took a step back, and smiled.
"Hello, Damon. Where's...uh, Bobby? And the other guys?" His smile faltered at the mention of Bobby. What was that about? I took his hand and led him to my locker. He immediately intertwined our fingers, and leaned down to whisper in my ear.
"They're right there." I followed his eyes to see Bobby, Emmett and Beckett standing at my locker. I noticed them all staring at our intertwined hands, and I realized what it must look like. I released his hand and put in my lock combination.
"Amber, we're gonna go wait outside. See ya!" I nodded and waved them off. As I was putting messenger bag on my shoulder, I heard my name being called out.
"Amber! Hey, Amber!" I slammed my locker shut, put the lock on, and turned around.
"Oh, hey, Di. Where's Grey?" Dimitri just smiled.
"I'm right here, Boyd." I looked over my shoulder to see Greyson walking up to us.
"So, Amber." Dimitri said, shifting from foot to foot. Why did he look so nervous?
"I was wondering if you, maybe would want to, uh, go-" I cut him off before he could finish.
"Sorry, Di. I'm gonna be busy all weekend. I have to go. Love you guys! See you Monday!" Dimitri looked surprised at first, but nodded.
"Wait, where are you going to be all weekend?" Grey asked. He was always so concerned about me, sometimes it could get annoying, but he just wanted me to be safe.
"Oh, I'm going...camping with some friends." For some reason, I wanted to keep the whole 'Damon, Beckett, Emmett and Bobby' thing a secret. Especially with Greyson and Dimitri; the would give me a lecture on how the guys were bad for me, that I was either going to get raped, possessed, or murdered.
They were both giving me weird looks, for they knew that I had no friends at school, other than them.
"Uh, I'm going with some girls that I met on the soccer tournament, last month. They texed me about it on Thursday, and I decided I should go. I'm getting sick of you guys." I patted them on the back and hugged them both before running out of the building, leaving them standing there, gaping.
I found the guys outside, leaning against the back wall. I ran up to them and stared at Damon. He was smiling.
"Why do you look so grudge-y today?" Emmett asked. I looked down at my outfit. I was wearing a baggy black t-shirt with smoky silver roses on it, tucked into a black skater skirt, with black tights and my black vans. I laughed and looked back up. I shrugged, making Emmett laugh. Damon waved me over to him, signaling that he wanted me to stand next to him. I did just that, and he wrapped an arm around my waist. I leaned into his side and closed my eyes, letting his strawberry smell wash over me.
"Ready to see the infamous bunker 9?"
