Harder Than You Know (Austin Mahone and Alex Constancio)

Chapter One

Alycin drummed her nails against her desk. The final bell of the day would be ringing soon and she was going to sky rocket out of this hell hole. 

Natalie, her best friend, shot her a look from the desk next to her, trying to warn her about Chelsea without breaking the 'No talking' rule. But, the rude bitch struck, bashing Alycin's hand into the hard top of her desk. 

"God- Mother- CHELSEA!" She shouted. She wasn't one to swear,  but Chelsea always brought out the worst in her. She shook her hand, trying to get the stinging pain away from her finger tips. 

The bell rang and screams were let out. Papers, pens, books, were thrown into the air. "SUMMER!" Everyone shouted. Someone threw a book at Mrs. K. 

"God I hate her," Alycin was still shaking her head as she and Natalie walked to their lockers, side by side. They spun their dials simultaneously. 

"Who doesn't?" Natalie stacked her books into her bag, brushing her blondish-brown hair off her shoulder. Her Ipod hung out of her front pocket of her blue jeans. She smiled as a couple seniors walked by them. 

"On the bright side," Alycin was saying. 

"We're headed to Texas in less than an hour?" Her best friend finished. 

She nodded, pulling the pictures of her and her closest friend off her locker door. "About freaking time. We need to leave this dumpy little town for a few months." 

"Yeah," Natalie nodded, closing her locker, but watching Alycin crawl inside her locker. "What are you doing?" 

"Hang on," She pushed against the back of the tall blue piece of metal. Her feet stuck out the bottom, and her hair fell down her back, slightly frizzing up from the static. 

"What are you-"

"I said hang on," Alycin snapped. She had slight anger issues. 

"Anyway, I can't believe that Austin and Alex asked if they could meet us at the air port."

"When they see me, they'll permanently hate me forever. At least you and Austin have been together fo forever." 

"Don't be like that." She peeked in at her friend, who ran her hands along the back of the locker. Somebody came by with a can of Silly String. 

"Well, I haven't had a boyfriend since sixth grade." 

"Well.... I don't know if you can even count that as a relationship."

"Yeah." 

Seth came by the lockers. "What are you girls doing?" His voice was deep, but he smelled like perfume all the time. Probably because Chelsea was always rubbing all over him. 

"Standing here." Natalie replied, taking a step away from the fruity smelling boy. 

"And you?" He asked, tapping Alycin's foot with his. She sent her leg backwards, kicking him. 

"Don't touch me." She said. She started mumbling something else. 

"What are you guys doing this summer?"

"Going to Texas." Natalie replied. "Which we'll miss the plane if Alycin doesn't get out of there.

"GOT IT!" A shout came from the locker and Natalie peeked in again. Alycin held up an old piece of paper. She smiled and stuffed it into her Escape The Fate shoulder bag, then pulled out a sharpie. 

"What?" Seth asked, flipping his blonde hair out of his eyes. 

She wrote in the back of the locker: 

Have a great tenth grade year!

Then capped the marker and dumped that back in her bag. She climbed out and smiled at her handy work. A huge dent was in the front of the locker, and in the back, along with her message were many more like that:

It only get's better!

Live your life, this is just another stepping stone!

and others that were not so clean. She pulled a yearbook off the top shelf and slid that into her shoulder bag, as well. 

"Well, let's go." Natalie said, grabbing Alycin's arm. 

She nodded and gave one final kick to the door. Ahh, she loved her issues. Seth followed them to Natalie's mom's car. 

"Well, bye." He waved. 

"Yeah, bye." Alycin nodded and climbed in the front seat. Natalie sat behind her. 

"You're such a Vandal." Natalie mumbled, referring to the writing in the locker.

Alycin nodded. "I grew up in Merrill, dummy."

Natalie's mom laughed and turned up the radio. Then dropped them off at the airport with their tickets.

"About time." Natalie mumbled, sitting down in her seat on the plane. Alycin had window seat. How unfair.

Alycin nodded and turned on her iPod. She pulled out the lap top Natalie's mom had bought her for her trip and got on Facebook using the air plane's Wifi. 

"Ugh," Natalie layed back and took a nap. 

****

Two hours later, they landed. 

"NATALIE! YOU DUMMY!" Alycin was practically screaming. 

"Wha-"

"We're here! Austin and Alex await!" 

"Huh?" 

"I was talking to them on Skype. They said they'd be here fifteen minutes before we landed. We landed three minutes ago!" 

The flight attendant looked concerned. Natalie rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and they got up, walking out to meet Austin and Alex. 

They stood with a girl. She was talking and gesturing madly with her hands. 

What. A. Valley. Girl. 

Austin spun and saw them. He ran over and hugged them tightly. "Thought you'd never get here!" 

Natalie hugged him back, sniffing him. 

How weird. Alycin thought. She smiled when Alex turned to them. But.... He was holding the girl's hand. Her heart immediately sunk. 

"Hello, I'm Alex." 

"Hi," Alycin muttered. 

Natalie rolled her eyes and hugged Alex. "I'm Natalie and that's Alycin, but you knew that." 

"This is Erin." Alex said, holding up Erin and his' hands. 

"Let's go get some food." Austin said, grabbing his stomach. Natalie and Alycin nodded. 

Natalie sat shotgun and Alycin sat backseat, wedged between Alex and the door. Erin was kissing Alex. 

"So," Austin said, smiling. "How was your flight?" 

"Decent," Natalie said, grabbing his hand. They had met a year ago and had kept up a long distance relationship. Alex hadn't been with Erin then. She was new. 

"Great." He pulled into a subway and everyone piled out of the car. Alycin stretched, and Natalie couldn't help notice Alex watching her as her shirt crept up her stomach a little with the movement of her arms.