Under the Radar

Dates and New Friends

I slipped on my sneakers and ran down the stairs as the door bell rang. Daniel waited at my door, hands in his jacket pockets. "Hey," I smiled.

He returned a huge grin. "Hey! When you texted me your new address earlier, I didn't expect your house to be... well this!" He laughed and scratched the back of his head. "You ready to go?"

"Yup!" I said, popping the "p". We got on his motorbike and rode off. We arrived at a theater and waited in line for tickets. "What movie are we seeing?"

Daniel scratched the back for his head. "Well I mean...there's that Disney movie?" I looked at him strangely.

I laughed and shook my head. "How about no." He raised an eyebrow. "How about Thor or Hunger Games?" He stared at me for a minute before bursting out laughing. "What? What did I say?"

He wiped a tear from his eye. "Nothing! I just didn't think you would want to see something like that, that's all!" Male voices began to yell Daniel's name from behind.

"Danny!" A blonde boy yelled across the crowd. He was followed by a group of other guys. "Whatcha doin here man?" They did the weird "guy handshake" thing and then turned to me.

"Guys, this is Mia. Mia, these are the guys." Daniel introduced. One of them coughed and motioned for Daniel to continue. Daniel glared at him. "That rude son of a bitch is Tanner. Just ignore him. The blonde idiot here is Ronnie, and the kid is his brother Vinnie. Vinnie is actually a boy genius." The boy blushed and all the guys laughed. Except for one. He was the one Daniel still hasn't introduced. "Last but not least, this here is the one I trust most out of all of these idiots." Daniel jokingly glared at his friends. "This is my best friend, Jax. Now, he may seem like a complete ass at first. But he's a good guy. Under all that hair!" Jax pushed Daniel as Daniel laughed. Jax jerked his head in my direction as a greeting and typed away on his phone.

"So what are you two doing huh?" Ronnie waggled his eyebrows. I blushed and lowered my head.

Tanner came and put his arm around my shoulders. "Yeah, why is someone so beautiful here with a parasite like Danny?" Daniel knocked Tanner's arm off and pulled me towards him.

"She's not interested Tanner." Daniel growled.

"What are you here to see?" Ronnie smiled.

"Um, either Thor or Hunger Games, right?" Daniel asked me.

"Uh-I-uh guess..." I stuttered. Jax kept his eyes on the phone and Vinnie smiled at me while the other guys smirked. I cleared my throat. "What are you guys seeing?"

"Well these idiots wanted to see Frozen but Jax and I wanted to see Thor." Vinnie smirked at the guys and went back to smiling. Vinnie was adorable. I could tell he was the sweet one. Ronnie was like the class clown type of guy. Tanner definitely the player. And Jax.... I just couldn't tell. He was unreadable. "You wanna see Thor with us?" Vinnie asked, looking at me.

"Um-"

Daniel cut me off, "Nah, we're good-"

I did the same to him, "Sure!" I smiled and looked back at Daniel. To say he was shocked would be an understatement. His eyes were wide and his mouth was open. I laughed. "Close your mouth Daniel, you're not a codfish." The three guys cracked up and I even earned a soft chuckle from Jax.

"I love this girl! Danny I may just steal her from you!" Ronnie laughed. My eyes widened.

"Not if I do it first!" Tanner shoved Ronnie. Soon enough, they were wrestling around on the side walk. While Daniel and Vinnie tried to break them apart, someone tapped on my shoulder.

Jax had a lopsided smile. "Relax, they're just joking." I nodded. "Where ya from anyways? Wait... You go to our school, don't you?"

"Uh yeah. I think I'm in most of your classes..." I trailed off awkwardly.

He chuckled. "Yeah, I think so." We stood awkwardly watching all four guys wrestling now. Daniel had Ronnie in a headlock while Vinnie was on Tanner's back pulling his hair. I laughed and Jax looked at me and smiled. I raised an eyebrow at him. He kept smiling and turned back to face the guys. "You're okay, Mia. I didn't expect you to be so down to earth, but you are. I'm sure we can be friends." I smiled and he nudged my shoulder. "C'mon, the movies gonna start. Sooner or later they'll realize we're gone and find us."

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"Natalie Portman is so hot!" Ronnie gushed. Vinnie slapped the back of his head and I laughed.

"Mia! Thor or Loki?!"

I bit my lip and thought about it. "Loki." Jax laughed and the rest of the guys looked confused.

"Why? Most girls go for Thor." Tanner asked.

I shrugged. "I guess I like Loki's mischievousness more. It's more entertaining. Plus Thor's voice kinda puts me to sleep, it's so monotone." Daniel smirked as the rest of the guys groaned. "What? What did I say?" Daniel shook his head, smiling.

"Nothing! You're freaking awesome!" Vinnie shouted. The rest of the guys agreed and continued pouting. I liked Daniel's friends. They made me laugh and I felt like I fit in. There was something about Jax though. When we got out of the movie, he got a phone call. He tensed up as the person talked and clenched his fists until they turned white. Just before he hung up, he looked at me. His eyes were full of anger and disgust. When he hung up, he acted strange for a moment but went back to normal. But when he looked at me during his phone call, I got an odd feeling. And I couldn't shake it off.