Beneath You're Beautiful (EDITING)

Chapter 7: Plans

* Alice's POV *

"So..."

"Can someone help me open this stupid sachet?"

I was struggling to open the ketchup that Penny bought with her chips.

As Zack was about to move his hand to take it away from me, Thomas swiftly took the sachet out of my hand and ripped it open so easily that I felt like a weak old lady.

"What?...How?! I swear that ketchup is out to get me. Penny it was hard to open wasn't it?"

"Yeh." She said while gazing at Thomas, talking softly like she was in a dream.

Thomas then handed her the ketchup and she took it from him with her slightly shaking hands.

Zack didn't look very happy. He glared down at his food as if it was something that just punched him in the face.

"So what lesson do you have next Thomas?"

I still couldn't believe that Olivia was actually showing an interest in someone. She always kept it cool and acted like nothing bothered her but today she was full of questions like Penny. They both treated Thomas like a new species they had just discovered, looking at him with wonder and fascination.

"I have English next with Mr Roberts."

"Oh so do Alice and Zack."

Penny gave me a nudge and whispered, "how convenient". My eyes rolled at her in response.

"Hey guys I heard it's gonna be a nice day next Saturday so I was thinking we should all hang out at the beach."

Zack's glare slowly turned to Luke as he looked at him with a bewildered expression. It was as if his face was confused but it didn't meet his eyes, for they were engulfed in flames, the phrase, 'if looks could kill' came to mind...

"Yeh we should definitely do that!"

Penny's voice changed to a higher pitch that travelled through my sensitive ears.

"Thomas would you like to join us?"

"N-"

Zack was about to answer my question with a sharp "no" but I was able to stop him by kicking his leg under the table.

"...well...um...I dunno..."

I could tell that Thomas was uncomfortable with this but I wasn't about to back down easily. It was time for him to get out of that shell of his and learn how to have friends and act like a normal teenager.

"Aw come on, it'll be fun!"

He turned his head the other way with a strained look on his face.

"Please join us, we would love for you to come...I would love for you to come."

I realised that the only way I could get him to come was if I gave him my best puppy eyes. I stared hopefully into his eyes in silence, waiting for his answer. It felt like a staring competition, we both waited for the other to back down but I wasn't going to any time soon.

Eventually, after what felt like an hour but was only a few minutes, Thomas finally gave up.

"Alright alright...I guess I could try to come but that's not definite."

I gave out a girly squeal then shovelled a grape into my mouth, chewing on it triumphantly.

As I did this, Luke turned to Thomas and said, "There's one thing you need to know about Alice and that's that you will never win an argument with her, no matter what it's about. Even if she knows she's wrong, you won't have a fighting chance."

Everyone laughed while I gave a victorious smile. Even Zack cheered up a bit and joined in.

"Anyway, we'll need two cars to get down to the beach so who's are we taking?"

"Ooh some of us should go in my convertible and then I suppose we could take Luke's minivan."

Penny had a cute, convertible Beetle. On our girly days out, we would always go in it on a sunny day with the top down and act like we were in a music video. Those were great days.

Luke's minivan matched his typical surfer dude style. It was one of those Volkswagen vans that looked like hippies had raided it and left beads and peace signs behind.

"Speaking of cars, do you have one Thomas?"

"I used to have two motorbikes, a Yamaha and a Harley Davidson but I had to leave them behind when I came here."

"Oh cool. I've always wanted to go on a motorbike...just saying haha."

I would imagine myself on the back of a motorbike, looking cool and edgy but I would chicken out when I got the chance.

"Well maybe you shouldn't have turned down that dude in the cafe Alice."

Great, Olivia still remembers that.

"Look, that guy was middle aged and could have been a bloody lunatic! I mean, come on, a guy hanging around by himself asking random girls if they would like to go for a ride! Sorry if I was taking precautions by not driving off into the sun set with a possible pervert."

"Ok jeez..."

All of the guys laughed quietly at my preach while Olivia and Penny rolled their eyes at me."

After we had finished our lunch and made official plans for Saturday, we all parted to go to our lessons. On the way, Zack and I talked in more detail about our plans while Thomas quietly walked along with us. I would have talked to him about it but Zack was there so I knew he wouldn't be very open.

The rest of the day went by slowly and I desperately felt the need to talk to Thomas, I just had to find him after my art class.

A/N
Hope your enjoying the story so far, please keep reading!