Mine

That Ding Dang Nickname

5:00 am- My phones piercing alarms wake me out of a meaningless sleep. I slowly opened my eyes, rubbing them as I did. I didn't get much sleep and the little I did was filled with nightmares. Today is my first day of my Junior year of High School. I turned off the alarm and head into my bathroom. I need to take a shower. I take a quick warm shower and wash my hair, once I got out I brushed my teeth and blowdried and straightened my hair. I went to my closet to pick out an outfit and got black skinny jeans and a flowery blouse. (Picture at top) I quickly got dressed and by this time it was around 6:30 am. I went down stairs to make some breakfast and found that my foster mom had made cinnamon rolls before she left. I help myself to the cinnamon rolls before looking for my backpack and my keys so I could get ready to leave. Yay back to that hell hole. I got my keys and my book bag and I headed out to my car but before I could reach the door and get in I was stopped by a familiar voice. I really wish that wasn't a familiar voice, because that voice belonged to Grayson Lake. The schools bad boy was my neighbor and he was probably asking  some stupid question. I turned around to look at him.
"Hey Ambar" he said with his gorgeous smile "need a ride?"
"Nope, I have a car" I replied without hesitation. Any girl at my school would love to be asked that question and yea he may be gorgeous but he's popular and is probably doing this to prank me or something.
"You sure A?"  A. That ding dang  nickname.  I used to be best friends with Grayson from pre-school to 8th. 9th came around and he became popular whilst I stayed on the sidelines. He could get me to do anything with that nickname when we were close.
I guess he still could, because before I knew it I had climbed in his car and we were on our way to school.
"Are you excited for Junior year, Ambar?"
"Why would I be? Your friends try to make my life hell when I am at that place"
Grayson looked at me confused.
"What do you mean. I told my friends to be nice to you"
"Well they aren't"
"I'll fix that" I give him a confused look.
"Why are you even talking to me again? I thought you hated me."
"Never, A"
After that we sat in silence until we made it to school.
We got a couple stares from people but other than that no one said anything about me and Grayson going to school together. We parted ways as I went to get my schedule and he went to his "friends". If you can't tell I really don't like those people. All freshman and sophomore year they made my life crap. And I'm finding out now that Grayson supposedly told them to leave me alone, that makes it even worse.
After I got my schedule I went back out side to wait for school to start because school doesn't start till 8 and it's 7:15. I went to go to one of the picnic tables they have for lunch but before I could get there I was being screamed over to Grayson and the rest of the schools bad boys. But the call wasn't coming from a male voice. I turned around to see who it was and it was none other that Laci Mallory. Dang she hates me the most.
"Why did you ride to school with my boyfriend? What's so special about you? Your ugly and fat" Laci hissed at me as soon as I got close enough
" k one-" I started but got cut off
"One. I'm not your "boyfriend" and I never will be. Two. She's beautiful and no where near fat. You should really mind own business Laci" Grayson said
She looked like she could kill me.
"Okay well um I'm gonna go" I said
"Why? We still have some time before school. You should hang out with us" Grayson said
"Gray I-" again I got cut off wth. Is today cut Athena off day. If it is they sure are succeeding.
"Actually I need to talk to Ms. Ambar about an art project this year" Ms. Marley has come up and was saving me. I internally thank her and say good bye to the boys as I follow her inside the building. The school day hasn't even started and today has already been crazy.
We got to the art room and Ms.Marley turned towards me. My growing confusion must have shown on my face because she said.
"You look confused.."
"Am I supposed to know what's going on?" I replied
"You know about the Fine Arts festival correct?"
I slowly nodded my head indicating I have in fact heard of the festival.
" well this year they chose our school to pick a student to enter the best art piece they have ever made or are going to make by May. Our principal Mr. Lane said I could pick a student and well I believe that students should be you" she said with a smile
"ARE YOU SERIOUS THAT IS AMAZING OH MY GOSH THANK YOU MS. MARLEY" I said screaming.
Again the school day hasn't even started and it's already unbelievable.
8:00- According to my schedule I have English first so I made my way down to Mr. Macy's class and sat at the back table hopefully to avoid attention. But each table had 10 seats so that failed when Grayson walked in with literally his entire group of friends sat at the table.
"Sorry I'll move" I said
" We only sat here to sit with you Ambar" Grayson's Friend Braxton said. Braxton and Grayson the two most popular boys at Winston.
"Oh" was all I said
Then Mr. Macy walked in and we did the usual back to school stuff with agendas and organizing. He said these were our seats for the rest of the year, dang I really can't move away from these boys. The boys all smirked at me when he said that, even Grayson. I just looked away.
He told us we had to write a 10 page paper about us and our table members, a page per person. You couldn't do the page on yourself so you had to get to know at least one person at your table. Also if you were doing someone's paper they can't do yours. Welp I have to learn about these people, yay. Grayson said he was doing mine, yay an excuse for him to not leave me alone, great. I am doing Braxton. Braxton is doing Grayson. And all of the other popular guys at our table are doing each other. (Not in the weird way. You dirty minded people). Tommy - Max. Terrance-Justin. Max-Terrence. Justin-Tommy. Tyler-Ace. Ace- Alex. Alex- Tyler. They were due next Thursday. So we have a little over a week. We all get to work since we have 11 days till it's due we are going to do a paper a day. Even though we are supposedly writing the pages separate we are still doing them all together at the same time.
Grayson states that he is doing his paper first, about me. They all stared at me like curious children. Welp here it goes.
" um My full name is Athena Lucille Ambar. My favorite color is maroon. Um my favorite movie is The Boy in the Striped Pajama's um-"
Again interrupted
" don't you have something interesting about you?" Terrance said
"Of course she does, she used to live in France since when she was born to when she was 6" Grayson stated
" oh yea, and then I moved to Canada for 2 years and in 2011 I moved here and have been here for almost 8 years" I said
" Really? You've lived in France. And Canada. Say something in French" Braxton said with a smirk
"est-ce assez intéressant pour vous?" I said
"Huh" they all said in unison
"I said, is that interesting enough for you?" I said with a smile
"Wow that's cool" Justin said
"Oh thanks" i replied. We worked until we were finished on the page about me. We had ten minutes left before the bell would ring. I just sat there whilst the boys talked.
"Sorry about this morning" Grayson said
" huh?" I said
"With Laci... she's not my girlfriend we just hooked up and now she won't leave me alone"
"Oh it's fine. Other than the fact that she looked like she wanted to kill me I think I'll be good"
They all smiled at me. Weird.
Then the bell rang. I have Art next. I walked to Ms. Marleys and found a seat towards the back again hoping for no attention. And again I failed when all of the boys, Grayson and all his friends, walked in. So did Laci.
The boys sat at my table again. So did Laci.
" hi best friend" Laci said to me enthusiastically
"Weren't you just screaming at me this morning" I replied.
"What ever do you mean?" She said with an evil smile.
I rolled my eyes and looked to the front of the room where Ms. Marley stood waiting. The class quieted and she explained we were working in pairs for a drawing. We had to draw each other together in a scene we both enjoyed. Laci was eyeing Grayson, but Grayson looked her dead in the eye, smirked and turned to me.
"So do you want to be my partner?" He asked
"I don't know I think Laci might kill me" i said looking at her glaring at me.
Grayson and his friends laughed at that
"Pretty please" Grayson begged
"Fine" if I didn't say yes now he would bug me later. We worked on our project and after about 45 minutes the bell rang. I headed to the library as I had a free period. It is the first day of school so I had no work that I could really work on, and the work I did have assigned were group projects. Once I sat down I started to pull out a book before Grayson and his friends sat at the table.
"Hey do you wanna skip the rest of the day" Justin asked
"No I'm good but you guys have fun" I replied
He smirked as someone grabbed my waist and stood and turned me around
"Come on A, please" Grayson said with a mischievous smile.
" I can't" I said back
"Pleassssse A, come on it's just the first day and you already went to the first half" he said
" no I have classes" I said sternly somehow denying the nickname
"Fine but can I take you out for lunch?" He asked with a sweet voice
"Why?" Is all I said
"Because I've missed you A and I wanna become friends again" he replied sincerely
"Oh"
"So, lunch?"
"I suppose-"
I GOT INTERRUPTED AGAIN WHAT THE HECK
"Yay, A I'm going to take you to Molly's Diner, your favorite in 8th"
All his friends looked at him with a weird smile.
"Actually, I need Ms. Ambar again." Me. Marley said walking up behind me.
Thank you.
Once the boys heard that they all dropped their smiles.
"Is it going to take long?" Grayson asked looking kind of upset
"No no, it's just about her project that's going to be in the Fine Arts Festival"
Why would she say that in front of them???
The boys all looked at me with wide eyes.
"YOUR MAKING ART FOR THE FINE ARTS FESTIVAL" Terrance screamed at me
"Uh yea, I am" I said with a slight blush forming on my cheeks
"Well Athena I just wanted to let you know the theme is love this year. Well I'll let you kids be" Ms. Marley said as she started to turn to leave
"Is that what she wanted to talk about this morning?" Justin asked
"Yea she asked me if I wanted to do it. I thought it would be fun" I replied
After that we all started to head to our cars and there motor cycles to meet at Molly's
Grayson and I got in his car
"I'm really proud of you A. You deserve this" he said after he closed his door.
"Why are you suddenly talking to me again? You ignored me for Two years and now you finally have interest in me again? What's the deal? Is hanging with me a dare or something? Am I a toy to you? Do you-" he put his hand over my mouth.
"You were my best friend for over 10 years. I missed talking to you..." he slowly removed his hand "I would never mess with you for a dare A, ever. You are not a toy to me. I just hope we can become friends again and possibly you can become friends with my friends." He said
"They made fun of me and made my life terrible for TWO YEARS" I said
"I didn't realize until you said something this morning and I told them to stop treating you that way"
"Thank you Gray, I appreciate it"
He then turned on the car and we drove to the diner in silence, well except for me singing along to the radio and him occasionally laughing at me messing up the lyrics.
When we arrived the boys were already there waiting for us. Before we got out Grayson looked at me and said "you know you really look beautiful" I whispered a shy thank you and got out.
"Why are you blushing shorty?" Tommy asked me
"Uh no reason" I replied
"Really? Nothing to do with Grayson?"
I shook my head no
"Well if you say so" they all smirked at me. Even Grayson.
We all walked inside and they sat us at a huge booth. Grayson insisted I sit next to him and made a huge deal until I did. He also made sure to take the end seat.
The waitress came up and I immediately recognized Betty. She was here every time me and Grayson came here in 8th grade.
"Hello what would you guys like to drink today. She went around the booth but stopped when she saw me and Grayson together.
"Omg my dynamic duo is back together! I missed you Athena. Grayson kept coming after you stopped. Oh my it's been a long time since I've seen your beautiful face" she said with a huge smile
" I missed you too Betty" I replied with a smile
"Do you want an iced teas with a lemon on the side like old times?"
"Yes, that's what I was going to ask for actually"
"And Grayson? Chocolate milkshake?"
"Yes ma'am" he said
She walked away to get our drinks.
"You guys used to come here? Together?" Justin asked
"And you were a "dynamic duo"" Ace asked
"We used to be best friends and in 8th grade we came here almost every day." I explained.
"Why didn't you ever tell us Gray?" Alex questioned
"Never got brought up I suppose" he replied
We continued out lunch. I ordered a small salad while the boys all got humongous burgers and fries. Betty came back over with the check after we got dessert, well they did, I didn't want any. I went to get some money out of my phone case but Grayson handed her the money for both of us and the boys gave her money for there food.
"Hey I can pay for my self yanno" I said to Grayson
"Well I wanna pay for you." He replied
"Why?"
"Cause it's annoying you" he replied with a smirk
"That's why you wouldn't let me sit on the end. So I couldn't stop her" I said glaring
"Yep now lets get back to school"
I reluctantly got up and followed him to the car.
We got in and started to drive back to school.
"Yanno I have football practice today so if you want a ride home you have to stay at my practice."
"It's fine. I can walk." I stated
"16 miles?"
"It's that far? I never noticed"
"Well it is and you have no choice but to wait because I will not allow you to walk that far on your own"
"You won't allow me? What are you my dad?" I said
"It's 16 miles. You probably can't even walk that far" he said with a smirk
"Your staying for my practice and that's final. I'll take you out for dinner after. It ends at 5:30"
"I'll text Lane and tell her"
"Okay" we sat in silence until we got back to school.
We got out of the car and said small goodbyes. I went to go to my second to last class which was chemistry and guess who was there. Grayson and his friends.
" aw we just said goodbye and you already miss us" Ace said mockingly
"Do we have the same schedule?" I completely ignored his statement
"Well what do you have last?" Max asked
" I have gym last" I said
"Then yes, we have all the same classes." Grayson said
Dang it. Dang it. Gosh. Freaking. Dang. It.
"Well are you going to sit by us shorty" Tommy said
"Why do you keep calling me shorty" I said as I sat down in the seat next to Grayson
"Because your REALLY short" Tommy said obviously happy with his answer
"Oh"
The bell finally rang after what seemed like forever. The entire class Grayson was playing with my foot and not paying attention at all. The teacher didn't notice but his friends did and they made sure I knew they knew by giving me smirks.
We left and headed towards gym.
We got there and I headed to the girls locker room whilst they went towards the boys. I changed and went out to the gym again. The boys were already there listening to Mr. Marcus talk about how we were playing volleyball today. 
We played the entire class. Girls against boys. Some of these girls really sucked. But some of the boys weren't that great either.
It was an elimination game. If you touched the ball on that turn and it didn't go over you get out. The team that runs out of players first lose. Right now it was me and two girls from last years varsity volleyball team for the girls and Grayson, Braxton, Alex and Ace for the boys.
We kept playing until it was just me and Grayson.
I won!
I think he may have let me win but I'll take it.
I went to the girls locker room to take a shower and change. After I did I went out and Grayson and his friends were waiting for me.
"Your really good at volleyball shorty" Tommy said
"Thanks tall guy" I replied which earned me a laugh from everyone.
"You ready to see us practice?" Ace asked slightly amused
" I was just gonna scroll through Instagram. Or I might get bored and walk home" I replied
"16 miles. We went over this. You aren't walking home." Grayson cut in
" I could use the exercise"
"Oh shut up shorty your no where near fat" Tommy said
After that we headed to the football field
Mr. Marcus (the gym teacher and football coach) looked at me
"Your really good at volleyball Athena. You are trying out for the team right?"
"I um no" I replied
"Why not? Your really good. You lasted longer than everyone even the girls that were on varsity last year. You should really think about trying out. Also what are you doing here"
"She's with us coach" Grayson said while his friends just shook their heads in agreement.
"Your not going to tell any of our tricks or plays are you (side note: idk foot ball. I'm sorry if this is wrong)"
"I don't understand any of this and even if I did I wouldn't" I said
"Okay good, you can stay then"
The practice lasted until 5:30 like Grayson said it would. He came up to me and said "I'm going to take a shower and change real quick. Why don't you go find somewhere with a roof to stand under while I do that, it looks like it's going to rain. Also where do you wanna go for dinner?"
" I um I don't know" I said
"Well then let's get McDonalds and find a drive in movie. How does that sound, just the two of us like old times"
"That sounds fun" I said
"Well I shouldn't be long"
"Okay"
Once he was done we went to his car and drove to McDonald's. I got a 10 piece chicken nugget and small fry with ranch and he got a Big Mac with a large fry. We drove to a drive in and Halloween was on. Yanno with Jason.
Dang I hate scary movies.
"Uh Gray I really don't like scary movies" I said while we were getting comfortable.
"When ever you get scared just squeeze my hand and I'll talk to you."
"Okay"
We watched the movie. I got scared multiple times and squeezed his hand every time.
By the time the movie was over I was sure he would have bruise by tomorrow.
We started to drive home. It was about an hour drive so I started to get tired so I leaned my head against the window and slowly fell into a deep sleep.
The next thing I know we are at my house and Grayson is carrying me bridal style up to my room he gently places me on my bed and tucked me in. He kissed me on my four head
"Goodnight A" he whispered "I hope you had fun"
"I did, thank you. Goodnight Gray" I whispered in my not so cute sleepy voice. He left and I slowly fell back into a deep sleep.