Take Me Down

Chemistry

"Oh my God, please save me." Ariana dropped into her regular seat on the school bus, letting her bag swing under her feet as she sat down. It was way too early to be awake, and this bus was way too crowded which meant Ariana's morning crankiness was even worse than usual. There was nothing more annoying than piling onto an overcrowded bus, especially on the first day back. Luckily for Ariana, she could always count on a spot being saved for her towards the back of the bus and she had a certain dark skinned boy to thank for that.

"Sure. What am I saving you from?" Mason Hewitt asked from his spot beside her, sitting back against the window so he could face her properly. He had been leaning forward to talk to a super cute guy Ariana didn't recognise, probably a sophomore, but he sat back once Ariana arrived. She felt partly bad for interrupting Mason's flirting but at the same time, this crisis took priority.

"The two lovebirds-oh gross." Ariana answered, following that immediately with a loud groan as Violet and Garrett slid into the seats directly behind them, Garrett's arm automatically slinging itself across Violet's shoulder. "You two are disgusting," Ariana added. "It's officially too early for PDA."

"Love does not recognise the boundaries of time!" Violet declared dramatically, grabbing Garett's face and planting a kiss on his lips. He responded willingly, causing another groan from Ariana. She turned away from them, pointedly facing Mason instead.

"See what I put up with?" Ariana furrowed her brow at Mason who was already half way through a laugh. "Mason! You're supposed to be single and miserable like me. Don't encourage them."

"Sorry, sorry. Right, single and miserable. Got it. " Mason pulled his face into a serious expression for roughly five seconds before breaking back into a grin. His dark eyes twinkled at Ariana and within seconds she found herself grinning back at him.

Ariana wasn't sure how she had done anything worthy of being friends with Mason, especially given her extracurricular activities. But somehow he had ended up one of her closest friends outside of Violet and Garrett. Not that he was aware of their situation of course, they were careful to keep him out of the loop in that area. As far as he knew, The Orphans' apartment was only Ariana's and her foster brother's, which was partly true. His absence was easily explained by his long and weird hours for his nursing duties at Beacon Hills Hospital. Mason didn't need to know that Lucas was actually only the owner of the apartment for legal purposes. Ariana barely spoke to him unless it was about the rent. As far as Violet and Garrett's living arrangements went, they managed to evade the questions enough and Mason wasn't nosy enough to push any further so it worked out just fine. Luckily Mason's house was super nice and he was always willing to have them over to hang out so they were able to hang out outside school without any awkward questions arising.

The rest of the ride to school was fairly uneventful aside from the occasional gag-worthy PDA from behind Ariana. It was bad enough having to put up with their mushiness when they were home and it only seemed to get worse when they went out in public. Part of it was for appearances obviously, Ariana knew that. Nobody was going to suspect the cute freshman couple of being murderers. But Violet and Garrett were just naturally affectionate anyway, unlike Ariana who felt like nobody needed declarations of love in their face every day. She loved her two best friends more than anything, but she didn't need the constant reminder that she was technically living the life of a third wheel.

Once the bus finally pulled up at the school Ariana pulled herself out of her seat, backpack already half slung over her shoulder as she followed Mason towards the exit, Garrett and Violet trailing along behind her. Mason stepped off the last step of the bus, immediately turning around to hold a hand out to Ariana to help her down. She grinned down at him, taking his hand, and jumped off onto the hard concrete. Her lack of height gave her a significant enough distance from the ground that she landed with a bit of a thud.