Keep Your Enemies Closer

My friends - my guardians

"Parker!" I shake my head from my thoughts and look at Lila.

"Yes?" I ask, picking at my sandwich. I wish I wasn't such a dick every time I drink. Maybe I should stop drinking at parties? Nah, where's the fun in that?

"Despite all this hype about your soon to come death, how was the kiss?" As soon as the words left her mouth, Danny and Mike let out a groan. I smirked at them, time for revenge.
"It was weird, you know? It felt sloppy and inexperienced." I shrug. Mike shook his head.

"I actually wanted to eat today, Parker." Danny sighed, eyeing his food.
"Well, if you wouldn't have let me dump a freaking cocktail over his head, we would all be happy now, wouldn't we?" I glare at him.

"I didn't make you do it. It was Mike's dare." He said in his defense.
"Same crap, you guys are like twins. Plus, you could've said something along the lines of: No, that's Chandler Hawkes, the guy who killed his mother. The boy whose father could deportyou to Mexico." I say and he shakes his head.

"He couldn't deport you, you're a native dumbass." He laughed and high fived Mike.
"You really wanna know, huh?" I ask as I stand up and glare at him. Lila sighed dramatically.

"Danny, shut up. Mike stop chewing so loudly it's irritating. Sit down Parker and ignore him." She says and I scoff, before sitting back down. One of these days, I'll get him. He's one of my best friends, but so annoying at times.

"Sloppy?" She continued and I nodded.
"Maybe he was inexperienced. I mean, he's home schooled his whole life. Where would he find friends or even a girlfriend?" Lila shrugs and I nod slowly.

"But what would he be doing at a party then anyways?" I wonder out loud.
"You guys really only know the rumors about that guy, right?" Mike shakes his head.

"What do you mean?" I ask with confusion. Of course we only know the rumors. It's not like we actually know him.
"He's Archer's cousin." He shrugged and Lila and I exchange a look.

"Archer? As in Archer Collins the jock?" I ask as my eyes wander towards his table and as if he felt my eyes on him, his eyes find mine and I thought I saw a smirk, before I quickly looked away.

"You mean as in Archer the hot quarterback Collins?" Lila swoons. The guys and I roll our eyes, because we all know that type of teenage boy. He's outgoing, popular and well- a rake. But he's never bullied anybody, so I guess he's not really your stereotypical jock.

"Whatever. They are cousins and that's why he was at Archer's party." Mike shrugs and I nod slowly. So it was Archer's party, then. Huh.
"And I'm pretty sure he is looking at you, Parker." Danny glances at his table before saying this.

I look towards him and sure enough he is looking at me and that smirk is still placed on his face. We hold eye contact for a few seconds, before I drop it and look back at Danny.

"Do you think he's here to kill me?" I ask, making all of my friend gulp and shrug. Oh god, this will be my last lunch, Mike was right.

"Is- is he coming this way?" Lila gulps and I have only a few seconds to comprehend her words, before we hear a chair being pulled out right next to our table and it's metal legs scratches the floor with a sickening screech. I look up to see Archer Collins settle down next to me.

"Hi there." His voice holds amusement and anger? That's a weird combination, but I swear I can hear passive aggressiveness. I gulp and wave awkwardly, before dropping my hands on my lap. Who the heck waves at somebody who is literally sitting right next them?

"So, last weekend I held a party. As you probably know. And I have this friend, who doesn't go to our school. You might've seen him that night. He has dark hair, black eyes, skin could use a little tan and he goes by the name Chandler." Archer finishes with a tight smile.

"Uh- I-" I look at Mike and Danny for help, because I'm only two seconds away from fainting.
"Look man, I dared her. So if anything, I take the consequences." Mike says and I gulp at his braveness. He really is my best friend.

"You dared her to do what?" Archer asked, acting as if he didn't know. But we all know, so he probably just wanted Mike to admit it. We all look at Mike and I notice how quiet it got.
"To dump that cocktail over his head." Mike's voice trembles a bit.

"Huh." Archer looks back at me, his baby blue eyes boring into mine.
"Nevertheless, you're the one who did it. I mean if it was any other day, I would've laughed. But that party was his birthday party. So, maybe it's not that funny." He clenched his jaw and my eyes widen.

"I-I didn't know." I stutter. Oh god. Archer laughs humorlessly.
"Sure, how could you know. It was only the reason why everybody was there. Cake was a little earlier that day, so that must've been it." He rolls his eyes.

"So what do you want?" Danny asks impatiently. We all turn our heads to him.
"What? It's not him who we're supposed to be scared of." Danny shrugs and Archer laughs out loud. The whole cafeteria was quiet by now. When I looked around all eyes were fixed on us and I hate it.

"Right." He stands up while shaking his head.
"Freaking idiots." He mutters and walks out of the cafeteria. I gulp and my eyes are starting to water. That was it. I'm going to die tonight.

"What was that?" Lila asked as she looks at the exit of the cafeteria, where Archer was just a few seconds ago.
"I have no idea. But I don't feel well." I answer.

"Did he just call me an idiot?" Danny asks in disbelieve. I roll my eyes at his attitude. Danny is more of a careless type. He has a beautiful set of red curls and his green eyes get all the ladies. Whilst Mike has brown hair and brown eyes.

They are both really attractive in my opinion. Lila too. She has short blonde hair and blue eyes. She's more of the prude type. Which makes sense, since she's almost like a nerd. She's smart, she likes maths and doesn't go to parties. Even if her parents would allow it, she probably wouldn't go.

"Guys, I really don't want to die." I say. My stomach is grumbling, but I'm pretty sure if I ate something now I would just puke it out in the next few seconds.
"You're not going to die. We will protect you." Mike whispers.

"How are you going to protect me?" I ask in disbelieve.
"We'll guard you. Wherever you go, we'll be with you." He shrugs and I frown.

"And if he kills all of us?" I ask.
"There's no way a teenager can kill four people in one strike. He will probably be intimidated and run for the hills." Danny adds and I nod slowly. Well it's a plan at least.

"We could try that." I smile at my friends and they all nod in agreement.

Failing is succeeding in trying they say...

A/N: The incredible cover was made by xo_glamfire1. Thank you so much for submitting. For everybody else that wishes to submit a cover, my twitter is @itspearlmae.