Photograph | Matt Sturniolo

Chapter 2

Megan Taylor

I walked towards the white mini van and anxiety took over my body. As I got towards the van the back door opened for me. When I was met with Nicks smiling face the anxiety I felt subsided enormously.

"Hey, hop on in!" Nick exclaimed excitedly.

"Hi" I said quietly getting comfortable in the material seat.

"So what made you move here?"

I looked up to see Chris looking at me through the front mirror.

"Ireland bored me, there wasn't much to do. I lived in a small town, the most exciting thing was to go for a cycle down the back roads" I replied looking back at him.

"I hate to break it to you Meg, but you didn't pick an exciting place to move to" Matt replied looking at my for a quick second before focusing his eyes back to the road.

"My nan lives here, it was either here to stay back home. It wasn't a hard decision"

"Do you have any friends there" Nick asked. Knowing he was only being curious and not rude, I replied.

"Yeah, I had a few but only four close ones. I also had a boyfriend Harry, but we decided to break it off when I moved here. Long distance just wasn't for us I guess"

Matt looked at me with creased eyebrows and directed his vision elsewhere.

"Was it not hard leaving them?" Chris asked seriously.

"Oh of course it was, but I felt it would benefit me better by moving away. I wasn't my happiest there, I'm hoping for a better start here"

"Make the most of it and you will" Matt said staring at me through the mirror.

"Have I told you I love your accent" Nick nearly shouted from beside me.

"Oh my god I love yours too" I said excitedly back to him.

"I don't think I have an accent" He said back to me.

"You sure do"

"Really?!"

"Hey we're here" Chris interrupted us.

I looked out the window realising we had come to a halt. I recognised we were at the same park I came across earlier, except now it was darker and there wasn't many people.

"Megan! come push me" I looked over to see Nick sitting on a swing waiting to be pushed. I walked over to him and started pushing him while laughing.

"You're like a child"

"Yeah you're like a big baby Nick" Matt said walking towards us.

"I'll make you cry like a big baby in a minuet" Nick said standing up to punch him jokingly.

"Matt come with me to the see-saw" I said running over to it, Matt close behind me.

"I'm going to send you flying off this"

"No you won't sham" I said looking back at him.

"Sham?" He questioned.

"It means like friend" I replied getting on first. Matt sat down on the other end causing the see-saw to rise dramatically.

"See I told you I'd send you flying!" Matt shouted to me while slowly getting off lowering me to the ground.

"You're such an idiot" I said laughing. He looked at me and started laughing too, his blue eyes shining in the sun.

"You have pretty eyes" I complimented him.

"You have pretty eyes too" He replied blushing.

"They're brown, the look like shit" I replied laughing at him.

"What looks like shit?" Chris questioned walking up to us.

"Your face" Matt said quickly looking away from me.

"Hey want to go to Mc Donalds? there's only so much of beating Chris at slide races I can do in a day" Nick said following behind Chris.

"You only won cause you're heavier so you went faster"

"Don't have the player hate the game baby" Nick replied.

I smiled at the walking to the car. Chris let me have the aux so I decided to play Harry Styles. I looked out the window while Matt drove, focusing on all the other cars and unfamiliar houses.

"Meg, what do you want?". Matt asked as I realised we were at the drive through.

"Oh just a cheese burger happy meal"

" A happy meal?" Nick laughed out.

"Yeah I want a toy" I said as it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Weirdo" Chris whispered under his breath.

We got our food and I realised that the toy was a mini nerf gun. "Sucks to be them for judging me" I thought to myself loading up the small toy. My first target was Nick. I aimed at his face while he was looking at his phone. I pulled out my phone to record to post on my instagram story. I pressed the trigger and a bullet hit him right in the nose. I burst out laughing while hitting post on my phone. Nick looked at me offendedly.

"What was that for?" He asked while Matt and Chris started laughing.

"You made fun of my happy meal" I replied while aiming at Chris. The bullet immediately landed in his open mouth stopping him from laughing. The whole car went silent with laughter as Chris pulled the bullet from his mouth.

"I'll get you back" He said eying me up.

"Oh Chris I am so scared of you please don't" I pleaded with Matt looking at me smirking.

"Watch yourself" Chris replied taking a sip from his ice tea.

We decided to head home as it was getting late. Matt pulled up at my house, putting the van into park.

"Thank you guys for today I had fun, I really appreciate it" I said to them unbuckling my seat belt.

"Anytime M, we're practically best friends now" Nick said giving me a hug. I hugged the other two boys before I climbed out of the van.

I reached my door step and turned around to wave goodbye to my new friends. I entered my house saying hello to my parents and my older brother Luke before heading upstairs.

I got into the shower and washed my hair. After I did my nighttime routine I climbed into bed. My phone buzzed so I picked it up to see a notification from Matt. We all exchanged numbers earlier.

Matt
Hey, I had a good time today

Me
So did I, I really appreciate yous being nice to me and making me feel welcome

Matt
Anytime Meg, you're practically one of us now
I was wondering if you wanted to go for lunch with us tomorrow and maybe film a youtube video at ours tomorrow night?

Me
I would love to Matt

Matt
Great I'll see you then. Goodnight Meg

Me
Goodnight Matt see you tomorrow

Matt hearted my message and I placed my phone down on the bed beside me. I turned on my tv and put on shameless. I started thinking about how lucky I was to meet three amazing people within two days of living here. I went to sleep with a smile on my face.