Youngblood

Chapter 4

Joe's POV

I wake up late for school. The only reason why I'm awake now is because Zoe woke me up. Naturally, she's already ready. We're definitely complete opposites.

"Come on, sleepy," she says. I roll my eyes. I drag myself our of bed and get ready, getting myself some cereal for breakfast and scoffing it down like a dog. Eventually, I do get ready and make it into school on time. And as always, Caspar's late.

"Someone should set his watch back," Oli says. "Then maybe he'll be on time!"

"I still doubt it," I say, laughing. Caspar then heads up to us, a massive grin on his face.

"Guess who actually arrived a couple minutes before the bell?" Caspar jokes.

"Wow, I'm so impressed!" Conor teases, and Caspar rolls his eyes at him. "Hey, it's a compliment!"

"A sarcastic one," Caspar says. Then Anna and Dianne come over to us, and Anna ruffles Jack's hair.

"Oi!" Jack says, hitting his sister jokingly on the arm. The redhead laughs. She's cute when she laughs. Wait... did I just think that? Joe, you can't be... No, you're not. You're just not.

"Joseph?" Byron says. "We were talking to you."

"You were?" I question.

"Yes," Byron says. "Honestly, you don't pay any attention sometimes."

"Sorry," I say as the bell goes. Anna and Dianne head off and I hate over to my form room, still thinking about the little redhead. Stop it Joe. Just stop.

The minutes tick by and it's now lunch. Me, Oli and Caspar head out of science the quickest and leave everyone else to catch up as we head into the queue. Normally we just push and shove our way in, so that's what we do this time.

"Boys! Stop!"

I look to see that it's Anna and Dianne in front. How did I not notice Dianne and her flaming red hair? As Byron said, I guess I don't pay attention sometimes.

"Sorry," I say.

"So you should be," Anna says. "Honestly, you guys are all ridiculous."

I then look at Dianne, who's putting a hand to her head.

"Oh my gosh, are you hurt?" I ask frantically.

"I'll be fine," Dianne whispers. I can see the pain in her eyes. Did I just do that to her?"

"We're so sorry," Caspar says. I'd never realised before that we could be hurting people. We're just so reckless sometimes. I guess we should start thinking more about what we're doing before we do it.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Oli checks. Dianne just nods. She's clearly not ok.

"Listen, we'll get food, and then you two can sit with us and we'll make sure you're ok," I offer. I guess Joe Sugg is speaking to the new girl after all.

Dianne's POV

I'm not telling the boys, but I really am in pain. I think I slammed my head against the wall when they were pushing the queue, but I don't want to cause any fuss. But they offered to check me over after we've got food, which is nice. Beforehand I just thought they were loud, attention-seeking boys. Maybe they are more than that.

Joe definitely.

I get myself a pasta pot and then we're led over to the benches, where a few other boys are waiting. I sit down and begin to eat my pasta, still feeling my head throbbing.

"Does it hurt?" Joe asks.

"Obviously," Anna says. "Look at her!"

Anna's been really nice since I've joined. She's always so protective of me, and I couldn't ask for a better friend. And now her brother's friends don't seem to bad either. But I can tell there's something going on with her Yasmin, Grace and Marie which she isn't telling me. But I don't want to seem too nosy.

"I'm so, so sorry," Joe says. "Er, we could go and get an ice-pack?"

I really don't want to have to speak to people right now, but an ice-pack would be great.

"I'll go," one of the boys says.

"That's Mikey, by the way," Anna says. Mikey goes inside and comes back out a few minutes later with an ice-pack. As Joe's sitting close to me, he presses it against my head. I feel safe when I'm around all these people, which is not what I thought.

"Any better?" Joe asks.

"Loads, thank you," I say.

"Anytime," Joe replies. "How about you and Anna hang with us this lunch?"

"Why not? If you're up for it," Anna says.

"Sure," I say.

It's great hanging around with Joe and the others, and they all seem to like me, which is more than can be said for majority of people here. When the bell goes, I head off to English with Joe, Oli and Mikey and I take my usual spot at the back of the classroom. But it's nice getting the odd smile from the boys throughout the lesson.

Especially from Joe.

A/N: So Joe is now friends with Dianne! We're getting there! Let me know your thoughts on this chapter x