as expected - n.g.

1 - l.h

STARTING any day in a bathtub is an odd thing for anyone to do.

Maybe not so much if you had gotten drunk the night before, but it was definitely out of the ordinary for any person at all. But when you don't get drunk, and instead wake up after falling asleep reading a book, then that's kind of incredibly odd. At least the bathtub wasn't filled with water, but my reasoning behind it was because I could never get a moment of peace in my own bedroom, thanks to my annoying little sister Cody. The perks of having to share your room with a stroppy twelve-year-old obsessed with One Direction.

Myself, on the other hand? Laurie Hale, 17 years old, and into The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, The Black Keys and alt-J, to name but a few. Also, unlike my little sister, who just watches beauty tutorials on YouTube, I watch a channel called Smosh. You've probably heard of it before...who am I kidding, you must have heard of Smosh. They're one of the oldest channels on YouTube, having been there since 2005! And recently, they've recruited some new members to their group, known as the Smosh Squad; Courtney Miller, Olivia Sui, Keith Leak Jr, Shayne Topp and lastly (but not least) Noah Grossman. 

I suppose I kind of have a soft spot for Noah, because he seems really nice, and has the same music tastes as me. Also, he's a great actor, and him and the others are what I aspire to be when I grow up, because I've always loved acting ever since I was a little girl, and watching the Smosh Squad, along with Ian and Anthony do what they love gives me hope that maybe I can actually get to what I want to do when I'm older, and work with some great people. 

Regardless, I hoist myself out of the bathtub and pad down the hall back to my room, getting some new clothes as I do so and then sitting on my bed. Cody is asleep in hers across the room, meaning that I have a bit of time to read in my own comfortable bed before she starts harassing me as usual. Besides, I really want to finish this book because it has such a good storyline that I'm hooked on. After about 5 minutes, Cody's alarm goes off. Her school alarm...shit. I have school today as well. 

School is always the worst for me, because of Karen du Jardin and her clique of bitchy girls who think they're the best thing to happen to the school. They make everyone's life a misery, but especially aim any of their blows towards me, even though I never did anything at all to them so I really don't get what their problem with me is. Besides, Karen constantly has her nose done, so she's always walking around school with a bandage on it, meaning that she constantly looks fake, which is never a good look for anyone, popular or not.

I have to walk to school because Cody never wants to be associated with me on the school bus, even though I'm the cool older sister that she always used to look up to when we were younger, so I grabbed my drinks cup and made some peach iced tea (my favourite drink, hands down), grabbing a piece of toast with Nutella in the process, before walking out of the house, bag in tow, ready for another day in my literal hell.

While I walked to school, I hummed along to the song blasting through my ears. Twenty One Pilots was always that band for hype or for quiet times, but today I was going for hype, so "Holding On To You" was the best song for that. "Lean with it, rock with it, when we gonna stop with it, lyrics that mean nothing, we were gifted with thought. Is it time to move our feet to an introspective beat? It ain't the speakers that bump hearts, it's our hearts that make a beat," I mumbled along with Tyler, slowly growing louder until the end of the song came and I was practically yelling the song as I approached the familiar building.

Joy of joys, yet another day of hell. I quickly walked through the building to my locker, rushing past everyone in an attempt to not see Karen or her cronies at all. Let's just say that didn't exactly go to plan. Stood right outside my locker, was the bitch herself, with boyfriend 1 of millions in tow, practically eating each other's faces off. The sight was enough to make someone want to vomit. I sighed and moved to my locker, opening it up and grabbing my papers for the first period, Drama, while putting my cup in the locker.

"Oh, look who it is! Little miss Laurie Hale. How is the band whore?" I grimaced as Karen spoke, and shut my locker.

"You know Karen, at least it's a good thing I'm not an actual whore. What, is this your hundredth fuck-n-chuck this semester alone?" I said with a smile, every single word dripping with sarcasm. 

"Just because you haven't actually been fucked yet. I forgot that boys don't like girls who obsess over bands and guys they will never meet, leaving them to become crazy cat ladies."

I rolled my eyes and pushed past her. "Sweetie, it's okay, that's going to be you in about a year's time because you can't get the grades to go to Yale!" And with that, I walked off to Drama, leaving her in a shocked stupor. 

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Once the day was over (and I successfully survived a day of Karen), I walked to the local library where I worked to start my job. It was a simple one, but it meant that I could get some peace because the most we got were the occasional old lady or a uni student looking for god-knows-what, and that I could also do my homework.

I'd get lost in the music that rang through one earphone until the bell on the desk rang and I would assist someone else in the library, my daily work. It was actually quite enjoyable, and the music could easily assist my studying because it was the type of stuff I would normally work with. 

In fact, this particular day, I was listening to a song by Coldplay, and humming along to that when I came face to face with my idol. "Hey, I was wondering if you could help me out? I'm looking for a book about...ahem...the reproductive system." He stood there, blushing scarlet, and his eyes said please go along with this I'm so embarrassed.

I smiled and said, in the calmest voice I could muster, "Right this way, Sir." I showed him the section and he nodded thankfully, obviously not being able to trust his voice at any point in time. I checked the book out for him and he hurried out, returning a few minutes later.

"I'm so sorry about that, I kind of had to do that for a dare for a video. I'm so so sorry, I-"

"Hey, dude. It's fine. I could kind of tell, I mean you seemed pretty embarrassed when you walked in, and it didn't seem like the normal type of request to make for a guy like you." I smiled at him again, and he chuckled.

"If it's not too much trouble, could I take you out for coffee? I mean, you seem like a genuinely nice girl, and I really want to make things okay again."

"Trust me, it's fine...?"

"Noah. Noah Grossman," he grinned again, and I smiled.

"Well Noah, it's absolutely fine. But, if you don't mind, I will take you up on your offer of coffee. I'm Laurie by the way," I said extending my hand out to him.

"Well, Laurie, I will see you soon then!" He smiled once more, and slipped me a note with a number scrawled on it, before leaving. I smiled down at the note, clutching it to my chest, before squealing slightly. I met Noah Grossman, and he wanted to see me for coffee! Today was looking up definitely.

A/N: In case you couldn't tell, I edited this chapter so it worked with the plot a bit better, but as with most of my old stories, they won't fall for each other so quickly. It will take a bit more time, because I've learned that you don't rush into things like that (I'm not a naive little girl anymore, trust me).

So, next chapter will be the coffee shop, and I may introduce some more of the Smosh Squad too! I'll definitely add the Smosh Games crew in as well, so they will be in this story too!

Hope you enjoyed! I'll write more soon :)