For Better or For Worse (Book 2)

Hashtag Squad

*I changed her name to Sierra to be more realistic because Cameron Dallas's sister's name is Sierra. She's older, but in my story, they are twins!

It helps to make friends.
—Tom Petty

"Ew, you're so gross!" Sierra whines, slapping Tyler's hand away. He makes another grab for her French fries, as Shawn does the same thing. She tries to swat their hands, but misses both and they both grab three. She huffs, grinning at them. "You guys are the worst."

Mouths full, they both send her smiles. I take a sip of my Gatorade, watching the funny exchange.

"So are we going to Ty's house today or Skylar's?" Shawn asks, swallowing his food.

"Tyler's." Cam answers.

"Skylar's." Tyler says at the same time.

Everyone's quiet and then we all burst out laughing. "Mine," I confirm over the noise of the cafeteria.

We have formed a sort of group over the past three weeks, Cam, Sierra, Tyler, Shawn and me. We hang out after school at least twice a week, either studying or just hanging around. Games of Truth or Dare, ultimate frisbee, tackle football, Zombie Overload and Just Dance II have gotten hyped, usually ending in an argument over who is actually the winner or whether Sierra was out of bounds or not.

Weekends usually consist of late night sleepovers at my house, or manic hang outs at Tooty Fruity Smoothie. We have so much fun together, laughing and screaming, messing around, that we always have something new to do or talk about when we see each other.

It's great having a "clique" to be a part of, and I really feel at home with my friends. I still miss Miles sometimes, but it's gotten ten times better and I'm so grateful to have fit in after my big move.

I actually love it here, surprisingly.

The lunch bell rings and we all depart, heading our separate ways. "Cameron! Econ!" I yell to him as he heads the wrong way.

He looks around, confused, and then it dawns on him and he jogs to catch up with me. Laughing, I smile over at him. "Idiot," I mutter, bumping his shoulder with mine.

"Buttface." He retaliates.

"Poop head."

"Meanie."

"Jerk."

"Moron."

"Fatty."

"Okay, that's taking it too far!" He yells, making a grab for me. Shrieking, I detach myself from his grip and run down the hallway, with him hot on my tracks.

"I'm gonna get you!" He screams, latching onto my arm and throwing me into the classroom.

Full of laughter, I sit down across the room from him and catch his eye. He winks, making me grin as I turn to the teacher. Cameron's gotten so much more comfortable being around our little group of friends, but whenever there's a new person around, he's a wreck. He's horrible with meeting people and he's quite unsocial, though he's great when you get to know him.

The first week he barely talked, too timid to say much, but now the only time he is really shy is when we get personal with Truth or Dare. He's quite a cool bean and I love his sister as well, even though she's much the polar opposite than her brother.

"Text books, please." Mr. Mansfield says.

And then I tune everything out.

*****