The Voice (Luke Hemmings)

13. McDonalds

"So... I'm meeting Michael for lunch in McDonalds today..." Anna said. "And...?" I said while glueing my skateboard together, so you couldn't even see it has been broken. "Well, I want you to meet him. And he's gonna bring Ashton and Calum, and I don't want to be the only girl y'know?" She said while watching me from my bed. "Are Ashton and Calum your friends too?" I asked and she nodded. "Yupp." She said. "Well, I can't say no to McDonalds now can I?" I said and Anna chuckled. What if they don't like me though? "They're gonna love you, don't worry. You'll be adopted in our clan in no time." She said like she was reading my mind. "Adopted? In your clan?" I asked while hanging the skateboard on the wall, between the many posters of my favorite bands. "Yea, that's what we call our friend group. I don't know why. It just sounded fun." She said and I shook my head. They were probably just as crazy as her. "So... Michael, Calum and Ashton?" I asked. "Jupp. I've shown you a photo of Michael, so you know what he looks like. Calum is the black haired guy and Ashton the dark blonde haired one." She said. "Good to know." She walked to the coffee table that stood in front of my TV, of course with xbox, and looked at the money laying on it. "How much was it again?" She asked. "71,35" I answered and she whistled. It was the money from last week, when I performed at the restaurant. I counted all the money the day after and I was surprised it was so much. Well, 50 dollars were from Ben. It was in the envelope, with a note saying: Thank you again. You were a lifesaver. It was really sweet from him, but 50 dollars? That was so much. And the 21,35 was from the singing on the street. It was also quite a lot. For only a couple hours of singing... When my skateboard finally stayed in it's place on the wall I turned around to Anna. "So. How late are we gonna meet them?" I asked. She looked at her wrist. "1pm." She answered like she was looking at her watch. But she didn't wear a watch. She was just looking at her wrist. I shook my head and headed for the bathroom. It was 12.15 already and I was still in my pyjamas. I combed my hair and let it down. It was brown, straight, and really easy, so I didn't need to use hair products. After I did my hair I applied a thin line of eyeliner and put a couple layers of mascara on. After that I put on some transparent lip gloss and walked to my walk in closet. There were still a couple of blank spaces in there, but I'm gonna buy new clothes every month from the money my mom gives me, so one day it will be full. I changed out of my pyjamas and put a black tank top on, with light skinny jeans. I did my fake diamond earrings in and put a silver necklace on, with a random triangle that was hanging in the middle of my tank top. After that I put my black Vans on and walked back to my room. "Hey, ho. Let's go!" She sung and grabbed her bag from my bed and walked downstairs. I quickly grabbed my purse and put some money and my phone in it. After that I walked after Anna downstairs.

Anna and I walked arm in arm into the McDonalds. Well, it was more like she dragged me along. She was jumping left and right, and I was walking 'too slow'. According to her. When we stood in the middle of the McDonalds she looked around her. "Hm. They aren't here. Let's order already." She said and we both waited in line.

"Hi, a large fries and a large coke please." I said to the woman behind the counter. "Yes, that will be 5,40 please." She said. I gave her the money and she walked away. Next to me, Anna was still naming the things she wanted. She probably wanted a lot. "Here you go." The woman said. I grabbed the tray and thanked her. I walked out of line, waiting for Anna.

After a while she had her food. She had 2 burgers, a large fries, a large coke and a salad. "Need to stay healthy huh?" She said, talking about the salad. I rolled my eyes in a playful manner. "I was thinking... I think they're at the playground outside." She said and I looked at her in horror. As I said earlier: They were probably just as crazy as Anna. We walked outside and Anna waved at three boys sitting next to the playground. She slid into the seat next to Michael and pecked him on the lips. I had to hold my 'aahhwww' in. "Gross." The black haired boy, Calum, coughed. Michael and Anna both glared at him and I chuckled. I grabbed a seat from another table and sat next to them. "So... Hey. I'm Skyler." I introduced myself. "Yea, we know. We heard quite much about you." Ashton said while chuckling. I glared at Anna. "What did you tell them." She shrugged innocently. "Hm... Lemme think... Oh, that time you broke your skateboard, the time you fell out of your bed and almost broke your arm, that time you wanted to shove me into the pool, but you slipped, so you fell in yourself and your lip started bleeding..." She summed up. I groaned. "Thanks." I said while eating a fry. "So... You all go to Norwest Christian College?" I asked and they all nodded. "Yea. You too right?" Michael asked. "Yea, if they let me in though..." I trailed off. "Why wouldn't they?" Calum asked. "Well... I don't know if Anna told you this, but I just moved here. I lived in LA before." They nodded. Okay, they knew. "And my grades weren't great, so I kinda..." I looked at Anna and she looked at me with a grin. "I kinda hacked into the school system and changed them." I explained. "No way! That's so cool!" Ashton said with wide eyes. "Arrchhh, teach me how to do that!" Michael said while throwing his hands up. I chuckled. "What is the most badass thing you can do with hacking?" Calum said while looking at me curiously. "Well, the hardest code I've ever learnt can be used to hack into the electricity system of almost every city and shut it down." Gasps were heard around the table. "That's so fucking cool!" Ashton yelled. I saw a few parents glare at him and he chuckled. "Thanks. But I hope my mom can fix some things so they let me go to the same school as yours." I said. "Well, if you get in, you'll be definitely adopted in our clan." Calum said and I chuckled. "That's good to hear." I said half sarcastically. "So... Tell us a bit about yourself." Michael said. "Um... My name is Skyler Mitchell-" I was cut off. "I thought it was Munro?" Michael said. "Well, yea. It was. My mom recently divorced my dad and changed my last name to Mitchell." I explained. "Ahh. Okay." He said. "Umm... I'm 16 years old... I like skateboarding, playing my guitar..." "Me too!" Michael said. "Calum here plays bass and Ashton plays the drums. Do you play electric or acoustic?" He asked. "I had an electric back in LA, but I had to leave that behind, so I bought an acoustic one here because I didn't have a lot of money... But I'm saving money for an electric one though." He nodded. "That's cool. How long have you been playing?" I laughed. "Only for a few weeks. I can only play 4 songs now." I said. "Do you like gaming...?" Calum said while looking at me for the right answer. "Well, I do own an xbox and I play games on it, but I'm not really a gamer. I really like gaming, but I'm not one." I said. "Favorite superhero?" Ashton asked and leaned in, waiting for my response. "Definitely Mermaid man and Barnacle boy." I said and his face turned into one of horor. "I'm totally kidding. It's Batman." I said. Ashton looked relieved and sat back in his chair. "I like her." Calum said and put his hand in the middle of the table. "Me too." Ashton said and put his hand over Calum's. Michael narrowed his eyes at me. "Do you like playing Fifa?" He asked. "Sure. I'm not really good in it though..." I said. "I like her too." He said immediately after and put his hand on Calum and Ashton's in the middle of the table. "She's my best friend! Of course I like her." Anna said and laying her hand over the other's. "Um... What are you guys doing?" I asked, confused. "SKYLER MITCHELL!" Calum yelled and a few heads turned our way. "YOU ARE OFFICIALLY ADOPTED BY OUR CLAN." Ashton finfished his sentence. "OIOIOIOIIIIII." Michael ended the ritual. I looked at them weirdly and shook my head. "So fucking weird." But I knew they would become great friends.

"What I like about YOU. You hold me TIHIIIGHT. Tell me I'm the only one, wanna come over TONIIIIGHT. YEA." My phone blared. Someone was calling me. "Is that What I Like About You?" Ashton asked. "Yupp." I said. It was Ben calling me. "SHE HAS GOOD MUSIC TASTE TOO! HELL YAS WE'RE GONNA BE GREAT FRIENDS!" Ashton yelled. I rolled my eyes. "I have to take this." I said. I told them to shut up and picked up. "Hey, it's Skyler." I said. "Hey Skyler." I heard Ben say. "Hey Ben, how are you?" I asked. "Good, good. But I have a small problem. One of our official performers, Trevor, Jake's brother, told me this morning he's found another job and he wants to quit the job at the restaurant." He said. I can feel what's coming... "So I was wondering, since you did such a good job, and the customers loved you... Do you maybe want to be a official performer here? At the restaurant?" He asked. I looked at Anna with wide eyes. She was looking at me confused. "YEA!." I yelled. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm just really excited. I would love to. Really really. Wow, that's great. Not that Trevor is stopping, but... You know." I rambled. Ben laughed. "Well, maybe if you can come over today, or tomorrow we can settle everything?" He asked. "Yea, sure. I can come today." I said excited. "Okay, well, see you then." He said. "Okay, bye." I said and hung up. I did this weird thing with my arms while screeching. "WHAT?!" Anna asked me while shaking my shoulders. "Ben called me, he asked me if I can become an official performer there." Anna squealed. "That's great! You'll get free food!" She said and I rolled my eyes. "Umm...?" Michael said. "Oh, sorry. It's just..." I told him the whole story and luckily they thought it was really cool. "That group you saw, laughing at you, they go to our school." Anna said and I scrunched up my nose. "Ew." I said. "Exactly. They're the popular people. They're terrible." She said. "Wait... Lux and the others?" Calum asked and Anna nodded. He looked like he tasted something sour and I chuckled at his face. "Don't want to do anything to catch attention around them." Ashton said. "But a certain someone here can't seem to hold herself back and talk back to them..." Calum said with a pointed look to Anna. "What? Someone has to say something. If they're gonna bitch on me, I'm gonna bitch back." She said. I'm curious how that will go...