[A/N] Let's see what happens during this chapter!
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"Hey, glad you decided to come home so early," my dad greets from the couch. It's past midnight, and I was hoping I could sneak in, but obviously I was wrong. "Where were you?"
"At Aaron's place," I admit, kicking off my shoes.
"You could have texted me that, young lady. That's why you have a cell phone."
"Sorry," I sincerely reply.
He sighs, getting up. "How did it go?"
I roll my eyes. "Horribly, as expected."
"Are you going to meet up with her again?"
I shake my head. "Not anytime soon."
I expected this answer to hurt my dad because I know he still feels a bit romantically connected to her after all these years (they were high school sweethearts), but he visibly shows no sign of disappointment. Maybe he's just too tired to show emotion or something. "Alright, go to bed. I'll see you tomorrow."
I give him a quick hug and head upstairs. I kick off my jeans and slide between the covers of my bed, closing my eyes and falling asleep.
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The weekend whizzes by, and before I know it, I'm flipping the calendar. February begins today, and everyone knows what that means.
"Today's Harry's birthday!" I excitedly tell Aaron as we sit in the cafeteria with Charlie and Shay.
"Harry who?"
"Styles, duh."
"That's nice," he replies. "Did you get him a gift?"
"Obviously not. Besides, he practically owns the world already, what more could he want?" I scroll through my Twitter feed.
"Hey," Charlie says, nudging me with his elbow. "Look who's coming this way."
Zander Edwards struts towards us as if he's some type of bad-boy king we should all bow down to. His cronies follow closely behind him. Zander looks down at us with a glimmer of mischief sparking in his brown eyes. "Hello, friends."
"What do you want?" Charlie sneers. His fists clench as he sizes him up.
Zander raises his hands in defense. "Woah, calm down there, Hulk. No one's here to start a fight."
"Then what are you here for?" I blurt out, scowling.
"This message isn't for you, sweetheart, calm down."
His crew snickers as Zander smirks at me.
"Don't worry, we aren't going to fight today. Not in front of the ladies. The real fight'll take place onstage at the competition."
"Bring it on," Aaron seethes, getting in his face.
"Yeah," Charlie adds. "Sounds like a plan."
"It's settled then. See you March 7," Zander replies, glancing at me. "And make sure you bring your little princess. I'm sure she'll enjoy the treat planned for her."
The boys waltz away, disappearing into the crowd of curious onlookers. Aaron and Charlie sit back down, fuming. "Are you okay, Callie?" Aaron asks, pulling himself together.
"I'm good," I reply.
"So what was that all about?" Shay asks.
"He probably just wanted to get a reaction out all of us. I guess he misses all the pranks we used to pull," Charlie replies.
"But what was that last part about?" I ask.
Aaron shakes his head. "I don't know, but he's up to something. We'll just have to be prepared for the worst at the competition."
"Clearly he's got some weird obsession with you," Charlie points out.
"Great, even better," I let out, playing with my phone again. Aaron wraps an arm around my shoulders as Al and Luke approach our table.
"Guess what we did," Luke smiles, taking a seat next to Shay. Al sits on the middle of the table with his legs criss-crossed.
"What?" Shay asks, brushing a piece of hair out of her eyes.
Al giggles. "We may have covered Zander's car in duct tape."
"Really?" Charlie laughs.
"Yup! The thing is sealed shut." Luke giggles into his hand.
"I'm glad we kept them distracted with a bit of an argument while you did that. I swear, I was on the brink of punching him in the face," Aaron recounts, glaring at the table.
"Seriously? Did we miss the action? I didn't get to properly thank him for destroying my guitar," Al replies, smacking the table.
"I'm sure there'll be more where that came from in the future," Charlie replies.
The bells rings, and we all get up from our seats, marching off to class. I unlock my locker and open my top box. Aaron reaches over me to grab my chemistry and math book while I peel off my winter jacket and shove it in the skinny compartment. Somehow we got this daily routine going, and I quite enjoy the help he gives me.
"Okay, I'll take them now," I say after I slam my locker door closed, eyeing the daunting stack of textbooks.
"I got it, Cal," he replies. "You don't give my muscles enough credit."
"'Cause there are none!" I joke.
Aaron sends me an annoyed look, setting my books on the ground. He takes off his sweatshirt off and reveals his infamous Captain America shirt, flexing his arms for me. He smirks as my eyes widen in admiration.
"Good Lord, it looks like the Appalachian Mountains erupted on your arms!" I run a hand over his arm, smiling.
"Talk nerdy to me," Aaron replies, winking at me. I laugh loudly, rolling my eyes. His quirkiness will be the death of me, I swear.
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[A/N] 5SOS HAS A NEW ALBUM COMING IN OCTOBER OMG IM SO EXCITED. I CANT WAIT DJDJSJDJJD. (PS don't forget to vote bc wattpad is being stupid and got rid of the voting function when you hit the very end)