Above: Dove Cameron who plays Lia James in this story. (I personally didn't really like her as Lia James, because her character is sort of based off of me, like personality and facial features, and I think she is too pretty to play Lia. But if you like her, it's fine. If you don't, just imagine her as someone else.)
________________________________
Lia James
My eyes open slowly, trying to adjust to the sunlight coming from the shades I forgot to close last night. Oh well.
Today was Monday. The last day of freedom before I have to go to my first day of school. Everyone already had their first week of school, which makes me slightly relieved, since everyone will know who's in each other's classes and won't be as clueless as I am.
I get my schedule tomorrow from the principal, and I have to talk to the softball coach after school to discuss my placement on the team this year.
I shake my head trying my hardest to not worry until the last minute.
I turn my head towards the door and see four faces staring at me, most likely watching me while I slept. I scream, pulling my pillow to my face.
"Oh my God, Lia, what the hell? My ears are now fried." Ollie said, covering his ears in agony.
"You made it seem like we just murdered you." Jace sighed, running his hands through his hair.
"You still haven't answered my question from Saturday. Do you have any hot siblings that I can sleep with?" Cole raised his eyebrows repeatedly, and I made a face.
"No, Cole. Unless you want to date my 20 year old brother?" I suggested, and he winced.
"Sup, Lia." Ryan snapped his fingers, and then pointed them at me.
"What are you guys doing here? You're interrupting my sleep." I moaned, sitting up with my back on the headboard.
"Technically you woke up before you noticed we were here, so." Ollie pointed out and I narrowed my eyes at him.
"No one likes a smart-ass, Oliver." Cole crossed his arms. Ollie punched him in the arm from Cole calling him Oliver. I've come to terms he not only dislikes his name, he hates it and will beat you up if you call him that.
"You still haven't answered my question, yet." I reminded them.
"Okay, Miss Sassy, we are here because Mason let us into the house. It was Cole's idea to come up into the bedroom and wake you up." Jace pointed to Cole, and he gave him the 'why did you rat me out' look.
"Hey! I'm not that much of a perv."
"It's Labor Day. We have a tradition that whenever we have a long weekend or a vacation, the gang spends a whole day together." Ryan tells me.
"Now, get out of bed. Breakfast awaits, my queen." Ollie bows and then races out of my bedroom to get some for himself. Soon enough, all of them run down the stairs to get breakfast. I hear all of them bickering about who gets the last bacon slice.
I quickly get dressed into high waisted light wash jeans, a baseball 3/4 sleeve tee, with red sleeves, and white vans. I put on my classic baseball cap on, along with a little mascara on my eyelashes. I usually don't go all out on my makeup, sometimes I don't even wear makeup.
I walk down the stairs quickly, hoping to at least have something to eat before the boys eat it all.
"I saved you something." Alex waited for me in the kitchen, before retrieving my plate with a little bit of everything: pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs.
"Thanks Aunt Alex."
I placed my plate on the table, and sat down in between Lina and Ollie. Everyone was staring at me while I ate, and I immediately stopped.
"Why are you staring at me?" I asked everyone.
"You saved bacon for Lia and not for any of us?" Mason asked his Mom, and she shook her head on the other side of the kitchen.
"I'm sure she's not used to having pigs eat her breakfast. I saved her some so that she'll be able to eat something before all of you go out."
"Can we take your car, Mom?" Lina asked.
"I thought we were taking my car." Jace whined.
"You guys can take Jace's car, that's fine. Just be back by 9:00. You have school tomorrow." Aunt Alex said before she went into the other room, coffee in hand.
"So, what's the plan for today?" I asked them. It was my first time spending the whole day and I wanted to know what I was getting myself into.
"We usually go to the beach, then grab some pizza at a really good restaurant called Gino's. It has the best pizza in all of San Diego, well I think so." Jace explained.
"Sounds cool. Do I have to get changed into my bathing suit?" I looked at everyone who seemed like they were in their beach attire. Except for Cole who was shirtless and wearing boxers. But that's just Cole.
"Well, considering we're going to the beach, I would think you would need to." Mason answered sarcastically.
"You're a dick." Cole said while eating a bowl of cereal.
"I'm going to go with Lia to get her bathing suit on. Mason, make sure no one, especially Cole follows us." Lina gets up, grabbing my hand and leading me upstairs.
"Don't you find it weird how girls change in the same room as each other?" I heard Ollie say before Lina closed my bedroom door.
***
"We're here." Jace sighed, putting his Jeep in park. I ran my fingers through my hair, noticing the knots because of the wind blowing through it.
"Jace, why couldn't you at least not take the cover off in the back seats? My hair is all frizzy." Lina whined doing the same action as me.
"I didn't think it was a problem." He got out of the car along with the other boys. Lina puffed as he climbed over the seats.
"Okay, Lina you're carrying the cooler. Jace, you carry the chairs-"
"But I want to carry the chairs." Cole interrupted Ollie. He immediately glared at him.
"I suggest you stop being an asshole and cutting me off. Jace, you carry the chairs. Cole, you can carry the speaker."
"I got the money for pizza." Mason raised his hand.
"How come I'm not carrying anything?" I asked, noticing how nothing was left in the car for me to bring.
"You can bring you're cute little self to the beach." Jace flirted, and my face turned red.
We all placed out chairs on a secluded part of the beach, where no one was around us for at least a couple feet. All of us hung our towels over our chairs, and our clothes on the seats. The cooler was situated in the middle of the chairs, the condensation making the sand stick to it.
I felt the water for the first time. I winced at how cold it was, or maybe it's because my body wasn't used to being in the ocean, considering I was from a part of Maine that was super cold.
"Come on, Cap Girl, the water is so nice." Ryan said, gesturing for me to go deeper with them. It was low tide, and the boys were out really far.
I looked over to Lina, who was standing beside me, nodding her head towards the boys. I smiled at her.
She was wearing a purple and white polka dot bikini. The bottoms were high waisted and the top was an off the shoulder style. For me, well I was just wearing a black one piece that said Beach Hair, Don't Care. The back of it was low and hung at the bottom of my back. It was one of my favorite bathing suits ever. My go to.
I walk into the light greenish blue water to catch up with the boys. Every wave the washed over me, splashed my body and hair, making me even more wet when I went farther. My favorite part was how after every wave, I could see my feet moving, embedded in the sand. I laughed when I saw a little fish swim around my feet, but then swim away after I took a step.
I finally caught up to them, and it looked like they were playing skip ball. It obviously wasn't working. Ollie tried skipping it and ended up splashing himself in the face. Ryan was yelling at him for not throwing it far enough. Jace and Cole were wrestling and splashing each other. Jace pushed Cole into a big wave, and it got him angry. I swear I could see a vein pop out of his head.
"When the guys don't act like total retards, it gets better." Mason puts his hands on his hips, looking my way.
"So-" I was interrupted by someone pushing water into my face, completely soaking me. I looked around only to find Mason and Lina trying their hardest not to burst out laughing. I saw Jace, with his back toward me and I knew that it was him.
I ran over to him, as fast as I could, splashing myself even more with every step I took. I jumped on Jace's back, who was taken aback by my actions. Soon enough all the guys started to pile on each other, tackling each other into the water. Cole wrapped his arms around Lina's waist, spinning her around. Mason grabbed him by the neck and pulled him away, causing Lina to sink into the water.
"Guys! I told you I didn't want my hair to get wet." She yelled, splashing both of them. They didn't care.
I was out on Jace's shoulders, trying to fight back all the guys who were attempting to get me off of him. I couldn't remember ever laughing harder than I did today.
I looked over towards the beach and noticed a motorcycle parked on the beach, with a bunch of guys and girls surrounding it. Does this person know the definition of a parking lot?
"Hey. What's going on over there?" I asked the guys, who immediately stopped as looked to where I was pointing.
"Looks like a party." Cole shouted, sticking his tongue out and sticking out his thumb and pinkie finger, just like surfers do.
"Who's the dumbass with the motorcycle?" Jace asked, squinting his eyes.
"Who knows." Ollie shrugged.
Jace grabbed my hands and put me down from his shoulders. The fun moment was obviously over.
"Did you really think you could distract us?" Jace asked me, splashing me lightly.
"I would run if I were you." I raised an eyebrow before taking after him, attempting to splash him while everyone else went after Jace and I.
We continued to have fun and splash around for another couple of hours. But then the boys got cranky, and insisted to sit down and drink something. Jace opened up the cooler.
"Alcohol. Really?" I gestured before, slapping my thigh when I didn't get an answer back.
"It's not like I'm going to get wasted. It's the last day of freedom before we have to go back to hell." Jace expressed, taking a sip of his beer.
It was about 5:00 when everyone finished talking and drinking. Since I was the only one who didn't drink, they insisted for me to drive. I didn't have a damn clue where I was going. Cole was in the passenger seat telling me to take a left, but then cursing to himself and remembering that it was a right. It took us 45 minutes to get to the pizza place just down the road because of his screw-ups. Everyone was complaining how they were starving, even Mason smacked Cole's head for being a doofus.
We sat down at Gino's, and the gang insisted on getting 6 pizzas and I thought they were insane. 6 pizzas for 7 people? But I thought wrong. They ate every single slice of pizza, with only crumbs left.
"I have a food baby." Cole smacked his stomach while leaning into his chair.
"I'm still going." Ollie replied, biting into the crust of his pizza.
"I'm gonna puke." Ryan blurted out.
"You guys are wimps." Jace teased.
"So, before this whole weekend ends, I just wanna say that you guys are actually pretty awesome." I smiled, looking at each of their faces.
The all shouted raising their glasses and cheering everyone. I saw Cole take out a small flask and pour it into his glass.
"Dude? What the hell?" Mason smacked his hand. "Why the heck do you have alcohol? We're in the middle of the restaurant." Cole immediately put it back into his pocket, glancing behind him making sure no one noticed.
"Okay, so is there any other friends you guys have that I haven't met yet and that I'm going to meet tomorrow?" I asked around the table. They all nodded their heads.
"They're good people, though. We haven't talked to them since the last day of school last year. And we reunited last week." Mason nodded.
"Yeah, and with us and them, there's one spot between Angie and Ollie that isn't filled yet. You could take that spot." Jace offered, winking at me.
"Cool. That sounds good. I'm a little relieved actually. I've always hated the first day of school, and was never able to sleep because of anxiety." I put my hands in between my legs.
"Really? I've always loved the first day of school. There's always new freshman chicks, and most of them are actually pretty hot." Ollie and Cole clapped their hands together.
"You're going to be a senior, Oliver. You shouldn't even be speaking to freshman. That's like illegal." Lina twirled her blonde hair around her finger.
"Don't worry, Angelina. I just like to stare at their asses and boobs. They weren't even close to impressive last year." Ollie defended himself, and the boys all agreed in unison.
"What about enemies and stuff? Is there anyone I should stay clear of and not talk to?" I asked, innocently and they all nodded their heads.
"Tons." Was all Ryan said.
"Every school has the popular crowd." Mason stated.
"Look, Lia." Jace grabbed my attention. "Here's the social status bar." He laid out a napkin in front of me.
"This part." He cuts a little part of the napkin. "Is all the band freaks."
"Don't let that discourage you. I slept with a clarinet player in sophomore year." Mason said, and Ollie patted him on the back.
"Here's all the goths, nerds, and other weird people." Jace cut another part on top of the other part.
"The third level is all the jocks and cheerleaders. We are all in this group." He points out.
"You think I'm a jock?" I asked him.
"You play softball, don't you?"
"Yeah, but it doesn't make me a sports freak."
"Listen, Cap Girl, you wear that ridiculous team on your head. Have you even watched the Red Sox play on TV or in the park?" Ryan asked, pointing to the baseball cap on my head.
"Okay, fine, yes. I watch every single game on TV and I've been to Fenway practically every single year of my life." I sighed, giving up and slouching into the chair. These guys see right through me.
"I hate to say it, Lia. But you're a jock. You play sports, you're obsessed with a sports team. You watch it on TV daily. That's the definition." Jace added, agreeing with Ryan.
"Gosh, I hate you guys." I bit my lip in frustration.
"Now, the last level is probably the worst level of them all. These people rule the school. Whenever Cole watches chick movies-"
"Hey! You said you weren't gonna tell." Cole shouted, pouting.
"Whatever. Well, in the movies, they always portray jocks as the people who rule the school. Well, you thought wrong. The rich kids rule the school. The ones who ride in motorcycles and sports cars. They are complete assholes and think they own the school. And they do. They pay the teachers to give them good grades. When they walk in the hallways, no one dares to walk next to them, in front, or in back. They just stare at them, everyone mesmerized."
"That's a bit ridiculous, isn't it?" I raise an eyebrow, annoyed.
"I guess so. But these people are elites. It's like Gossip Girl to the extreme."
"And the best part of it all, is that we used to be best friends with them." Jace added, and my lips parted in confusion.
"How? What happened?" I asked, oblivious to their backstory.
"We used to rule the school without them at one point, at the end of sophomore year. But when 2 guys transferred, we instantly clicked and became best friends."
"Well, who are they?" I asked.
"Andrew Price and Eli Madden." Wow. Even their names sounded like they had loads of money.
"So, how did they control the school now?"
"Mason was dating this girl, Shelby Burns, in the beginning of junior year, until Andrew must have used his smile or some shit and he seduced her. She ended up cheating on Mason, and he caught them in his bed during one Mason's parties."
"Wow." I spoke, looking over at Mason who had his head down. Poor guy.
"So, Mason and Andrew fought, like actually fought, fists colliding with faces, and kicks colliding with body parts. It was terrible. Mason showed up at The Junkyard with 2 black eyes and bruises everywhere. He's lucky to even be alive."
"What about Andrew? Was he bruised like Mason?"
"Just a scratch on his cheek. Just. A. Fucking. Scratch." Mason blurted out and his fists clenched at the memory.
"So, we all agreed to break off the friendship of those dip shits, and we created our own group. A better group." Jace finally concluded, patting Ryan on the back.
"Okay, that was a lot to take in." I rolled my lips into my mouth.
"Don't worry, James. We got your back." Jace grinned at me.
"And your front." Cole added.
"So, what happened to Andrew? Is he still dating this Burn girl?" I asked. I was honestly really curious.
"They're on and off. I just think they're f-ing each other hardcore." Cole answered me.
"I swear, sometimes I just want to take Andrew's fucking head off. Along with his dumb ass group." Mason puts his elbows on the table, gripping his hair.
"Hey, hey, calm down. It's alright, Mason." Jace shook Mason's elbow.
What the hell?
I looked between the both of them, confused on Jace and Mason. I've honestly never seen him so angry before.
"Control yourself. Don't do or even think of doing something you might regret." Jace whispered, and Mason grabbed his hands away.
After the boys paid for pizza, we drove the car but I was confused when we passed by Mason and Lina's house.
"Wait, where are we going?" I looked at Jace, who smiled while he was watching the road in front of him.
"Alex said to be back at 9:00. It's not nine yet."
The drive was about 10 minutes, and I was confused when we stopped at a park. There was an enormous football field, along with two soccer fields, and lastly, a baseball field.
We jumped the short wooden fence, and walked all the way into the center of the football field. The sun was setting behind us, leaving the sky a shade of pink and orange.
"Does anyone mind telling me what we're doing at a football field at 8:00 at night?" I gestured to the football field, and the guys and Lina just laughed at me.
"Usually after we eat pizza at Gino's, we usually come here and talk. Get some secrets off our chests. It's like our therapy. Well, at least I do. All the guys try and wrestle each other, and I'm left alone on the bleachers venting to myself." Lina ranted, glaring at the boys.
"You still love us." Cole scrunched his lips together and made a kissing noise. I heard him yelp when Lina punched his arm nonchalantly.
"Rookie, you see that over there?" Jace pointed to the building not far from us.
"That's our high school. Westfield High School. Hundreds of people are going to be there tomorrow. But the only people you should be focusing on is us. The gang. Don't let others intimidate you."
"Jace is right, Lia. People are asses. Mostly girls but anyway, they are. How about we try and get your mind off of it?" Ryan held his hand out for me to grab.
"With what? I'm not in the mood to talk."
"Not exactly what I was thinking. How about a little-" I grabbed his hand and he threw me to the ground.
"How about a little football? Tackle football." He stands above me, while I am lying in the ground, aching from Ryan's stupid move.
"Seriously?" I sighed, putting my hand up for someone to help me up.
"Why not? I challenge you."
~*~
Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I felt this was sort of a filler chapter, and I wanted you to know more about the gang instead of introducing more new characters. But next chapter there is a lot of new characters. So be sure to check that out as soon as I update.
Don't forget to vote and comment what you thought. Also what you think will happen. Let me know! I'm curious :)
Much love <3
XOXO