"i can't wait to fucking graduate, this place is hell"
"being held back for 12th grade twice would suck"
"yeah man, especially seeing my friends graduate too"
i wrapped my arms around griffin in guilt.
we're at his house party to celebrate his 20th birthday.
it was the same as jaden's with the loud music, alcohol and stuff.
the teachers and school really don't like griffin because of his parents suing them so they pulled back griff a whole year because of failing one class. and then they held him back again for failing another.
this year, he hasn't failed anything yet but we've barely done any assessments, so let's hope he can actually graduate.
anthony comes back with our drinks as i pull away from griff.
it's been two weeks since we kissed, meaning it's been seven weeks since school started.
seven weeks without our parents doing anything to us and it's been two weeks since scarlet has done anything either.
we've been on a date every week, while still walking each other home and seeing each other at games.
at school we sit at a completely new table with hannah, myself, michelle, jaden, anthony and griff.
surprise surprise!
griff is big on tiktok too!
although we were both big before, we never ever spoke to each other, or even smiled at each other during school, even when we knew each other.
and guess who's apart of the tiktok family now?
griff!
we're looking for one more person to help join the family to make 20.
the tiktok family decided that anthony, hannah and i could choose since we were all from the same state, the others being spread out individually. basically since this state has the most out of our family, ours would be the "meeting" state if we all wanted to go visit each other.
anthony sits down on the couch as i sit on his lap.
we talk as we drink with everyone, this time not drinking alcohol or letting anthony drink any too.
we hear the doorbell ring as i stand up with a smile.
you could say i love pizza.
griffin didn't get enough snacks so i ordered pizza for everyone.
i go to the front door as they place the fifteen boxes of pizza in my hand.
i couldn't even see because of the boxes stacking up in front of me but as i walked in, everyone cheered because everyone likes pizza. groups here and there take a box each as i take the remaining two and place them on the table in front of the couches we were sitting on.
we open the boxes and everyone grabs a slice.
anthony grabs one as he pats his lap with the other hand.
i smile as i sit on his lap once again.
we feed each other the pizza as hannah gags.
"shut up hannah, did you not see noen, syd, benji and jorge sharing a lollipop" anthony says as we all laugh.
"yeah, i know, they sent a thousand videos to our group chat on snapchat!" she says as we all laugh once again.
•
timeskip: the end of the party
•
the last person leaves as we all walk upstairs and into griffin's room.
hannah, jaden, michelle, anthony and i are sleeping over at griffin's house tonight for a movie night and because we don't want him to sober up all by himself.
he drank a lot today because of how upset he was feeling by thinking about never seeing us again after we graduate if he failed any of his classes.
i grab my makeup wipes as hannah, michelle and i all remove our makeup and get changed.
i change into sam's sweater and black pj shorts, then tie my hair into a low pony tail.
once we finish getting comfy, we go downstairs to help the boys clean up, then sitting on the couch to watch a movie.
it was really annoying as when we tried to watch as group chat was spamming.
halfway during the movie, jaden sighed.
"i'll see what's up"
he opens his phone as he gasped.
"sam got jumped!"
"what!"
(when i saw the photo he posted on ig, i got so sad n felt so bad for him :( )
tiktok family (19/20) 😳 | 1:03am
hannah 🥰: sam we're so sorry for not replying earlier
jaden 🥰: yeah man. thank fucking god he's arrested
anthony 💍: i'm sorry for not being right there next to you.
griffin 🥰: i wish i could've been there, if i was that fifty eight year old would b dead !!!!!
michelle 🥰: he really would've been. im so sorry sam :(
me too. i rly rly rly hope ur okay! u never deserved this :((( :me
sam 💍: i'm okay guys.
sam 💍: it was really scary
jaden 🥰: yeah, it really would've been. we love u bro
griffin 🥰: ya. no homo tho 😔✋✋✋
sam 💍: i love you all
sam 💍: so much
hannah 🥰: we all love you too
michelle 🥰: even me, even tho we've only been friends for a few weeks x
sam 💍: yeah, ik. ur a rly good friend already michelle. u too griff. u too jaden. u three need to come with us to the next holiday home next summer.
jaden 🥰: i would fucking love to go
griffin 🥰: me too man
michelle 🥰: same!!
chase 💩: FUCK SAM IM SO SORRY
sam 💍: you were using the bathroom again?
chase 💩: YES HOLY FUCK. I HOPE UR OKAY
sam 💍: im thankfully fine.
•
we talk on the group chat for a bit and then turn back to the movie.
i'm never ignoring the group chat ever again!
poor sam, he didn't deserve this at all!
i cuddle into anthony with a frown on my face.
"i miss sam and everyone so much. imagine if my parents don't let me go next year" i whisper.
"they will, i promise" he whispers back.
griffin gets up and grabs us blankets.
he throws one for the each of us, anthony layering ours on top of us.
i noticed michelle and jaden cuddling as i smile.
they would be the cutest couple.
"fuck i feel lonely" griffin says.
"me too. i miss elmo" hannah says.
"cuddle buddies?" he asks as she smiles and nods.
griffin wraps his arms around hannah as they cuddle with each other too.
i cuddle with anthony until the movie finishes.
we all get up and go into the kitchen because of all of us craving slut brownies.
to make slut brownies; you make cookie dough and use it as the base, you put oreos over it and then cover the whole thing with brownie batter.
we all check the ingredients we had and the ingredients we needed, then getting into griffin's car to go to the grocery store.
hriff really wanted to drive but we didn't let him because of him still being under the influence.
anthony goes into the drivers seat as griff sits in shotgun.
jaden, michelle myself and hannah had to squeeze the four of us into the three seats at the back.
we all go to the grocery store and decided to take pictures with each other in the cereal aisle.
we set the phone up and use the timer.
i post some of the photos and people started to comment and ask why we looked sad. i didn't realise that we did while taking the photos but i guess our serious 'model' faces were unusual since we were used to posting our big smiles.
sam dmmed the insta family group chat and tells them that he posted a photo of himself, explaining how he got jumped.
i'm glad he revealed it because it would just be rude to reveal it ourselves.
we buy our groceries and go home.
as we unpack the things, i post of sam and i with ten slides.
this is how i captioned it:
some of yous asked why we looked sad, it was because of what happened to sam! sam and no one that this has happened to deserved this to happen to them. sam, i miss you and thank god you're okay. i love you.
•
all of us on the family group chat wish him health and everything on their posts too.
we make tiktoks of us making the slut brownies and put the trays in the oven.
poor griff started to get a headache and had to take tablets to make him feel better. we make sure he rests while the rest of us do the dishes and clean up for him.
the slut brownies finish and smell amazing!
we take them out and take photos with them again.
we cut them and put them on plates, giving the crispy ones to griff as they were his fave.
we go back into the living room and watch movies again.
it then hit 3am, meaning we all decided to go to sleep.
we put the plates on the table in front of us and walk upstairs to brush our teeth and get ready for bed.
we then send goodnight texts to our family and the group chat as we all go to sleep.
•
timeskip: 10am Saturday
•
my eyes flutter open as i feel Anthony move away from me.
"morning" he whispers.
"morning"
"did you guys hear griff?" jaden asks as hannah nods while rubbing her eyes.
"what happened?" michelle asks.
"griffin legit puked in the toilet, like three times in the past five minutes" anthony says.
"poor griff!"
we all finally up.
i walk into the kitchen and grab a glass of water while hannah grabs a glass of lemonade. michelle grabs a towel and soaks it in cold water while anthony goes through the cleaning cupboard and finds disinfectant spray to help the smell. jaden goes through the food cupboard and finds saltine crackers for him to eat after.
we all walk upstairs and stand outside the bathroom door.
"griff, can we come in?"
the door unlocks as griff leans his head against the wall.
"are you feeling better?" i ask him as he nods.
"much better now that it's out of my system"
"let's go to your bedroom" i say to him as anthony chokes, making hannah and michelle laugh.
we leave the bathroom as anthony opens the window in there, sprays it the area and closes the door behind him.
i grab onto griffins hand and guide him to his room, helping him get into bed.
michelle places the soaked towel on his forehead as hannah and jaden put the saltine crackers and glasses of lemonade and water on his bedside table.
"hou guys can leave now if you want. you've already done so much for me"
"of course we don't want to leave. you clearly need us and we're here to help"
"fuck, you guys are amazing!"
"you are. do you want us to stay up here or do you want some alone time?"
"maybe some alone time for a bit. love you guys"
"we love you too. we'll be downstairs if you need anything"
we leave the room and walk downstairs to make ourselves breakfast.
"poor griff" i say as i look through the cupboards and find pancake mix.
"i know man, being hungover sucks" anthony says.
"heah, you guys would know. remember the parties?" hannah says.
"don't remind us"
anthony and i make the pancake mix up and hand it to michelle and jaden who poured and flipped them together.
they were actually super cute.
jaden stood behind michelle as he held onto her hand, helping her flip the pancakes.
hannah went and sat on the couch by herself.
i felt really bad for her, she missed elmo so much.
anthony and i noticed her going through his tiktok page.
she couldn't call him because of time zones and the fact that he would be sleeping.
i never really understood how she felt but i kind of got the gist when i started realising my feelings for anthony.
i would miss him even though he was in a room away from me so i can't imagine how she feels with elmo being in a whole other state!
(pls just pretend he lives in america :)
anthony and i look at each other and then back at her.
she looked like she didn't want to talk to anyone so we let her be.
we finish making the pancakes and bring some up to griff. we spent the rest of the day with him, making sure he stayed hydrated.
"my parents are on their way now. i love you all so much, thank you!"
"we love you too! we're always here for you"
his parents didn't know about the big birthday party let alone him getting really drunk, or us even sleeping over.
they were out on their anniversary for the weekend and were on their way home, meaning we had to leave.
anthony and i walked to the party so we had to walk home too, which we didn't mind at all. anthony held onto my hand as we left the house and started to walk.
"so like, my dad is out of town. round 2 of the sleepover?"
"with just us two?" i say as he nods with a small smirk.
"yeah, it'll be fun"
"it really would be"
he grabs onto my hand as we begin to walk to his house.
the sun started to set as we went onto anthony's driveway.
he picks me up and places me on the mail box as he stands in between my legs.
"it's so beautiful" i say.
"it really is. doesn't compare to you though, you're gorgeous" he says as i shake my head with a smile.
without realising, anthony steps away from me and pulls his phone out to take pictures.
"t, i look so trash right now!"
"no no, you look hot!"
i didn't understand how i looked hot in my pj shorts and sweater that i still had on from last night. he really thinks i'm hot in everything!
i pose with a wide smile as he laughs.
"you're actually the cutest like what the fuck"
his laugh made me laugh.
"wow you're so perfect"
he finishes with the photos and puts his phone in his back pocket, then holding out his hand for me to grab. i hop down from the mailbox and grab my bag as we walk into his house.
i honestly haven't been inside anthony's house in years and i was kind of excited to see what he had done to it.
he turns the lights on as i smile.
"your house looks great, t!"
"only spiced up the furniture a few weeks ago. the house looked like shit before"
i was really confused on why his dad was changing up the house a lot only recently.
anthony grabs my hand and walks me upstairs to the corridor. at the end of it, was his room.
"your room is so nice!"
i place my bags down and sit on his bed, to look into the full body mirror.
"i look so tired" i say.
"you still look mad cute though, like just look at the photos i took of you!"
he sits next to me on the bed and wraps an arm around me.
"look how beautiful you look!"
i did look beautiful, only because of the fact that i looked happy. really really happy because that's what he had made me. happy.
he airdrops them to me and makes me post every single one of them, meaning i had to make collages of myself since there were so many.
hi guys anthony took these of me and is forcing me to post every single one of them so here u go pls enjoy
"perfect!" he says as i press the 'share' button.
"oh and you're going on a date with me tomorrow" he says.
"you're controlling me now?"
"i didn't need to control you, you want to go already"
"you're not wrong"
i take out a few of my things and go into the bathroom to brush my teeth.
"how do you look hot while doing that?"
"ew, anthony!"
"just speaking facts!"
i go into his bedroom and sit on the bed, waiting for him to brush his teeth.
i go onto my phone and begin to record a tiktok, then hearing a smashing sound downstairs.
"anthony!" i whisper shout as i grab my phone and rush to the bathroom.
"what's wrong?" he replies, muffled because of him brushing his teeth.
"i just heard something downstairs!"
i start panicking and begin to fan myself as anthony spits and rinses his mouth out.
"it's okay hails! i'll check downstairs now but it might just be the neighbours"
i'm really hoping it was. my dumbass gets scared of everything!
•
timeskip: going to bed
•
i put my phone on charge as i turn around and cuddle into anthony as tight as I could've.
i was still frightened about that sound, so frightened that i didn't want anthony to go check because what if some crazy person came in? what if they were gonna kill us? what if it wasn't even a person! it could've been a big animal!
"hailey, you haven't spoken in ages. stop overthinking"
"sorry"
anthony shakes his head with a smile as he leans down and kisses my forehead.
"you know, lately we've been having it our way" he says.
"that's true, i just hope this lasts forever"
i run my finger along the scar on his chest, which made me think about his dad because of what he did to him.
now that I think of it, his dad can't just change out of the blue.
i now feel like he's up to something, i just don't know what.
anthony strokes my hair, which made me relax.
"you know i wouldn't ever let anything happen to you, right?" he asks.
i look up at him and nod.
"i've got you for life" he says.
"i've got you for life too"
he places a soft kiss on my lips.
"sweet dreams gorgeous"
"sweet dreams handsome"
anthony and i fall asleep, until i wake up out of nowhere.
i then realised it wasn't out of nowhere.
i hear footsteps coming closer and closer to the door.
i started to sweat and my heart started to beat faster and faster.
"anthony!" i whisper-shout.
i shake his shoulder until he woke up.
"hailey, what's wrong?"
"someone's outside your door!"
"all the doors in the house are locked. there's no way"
my lip trembles as he groans.
"i'll check, only for you"
he gets up and walks over to his door.
he opens it and no one was there.
he turns back around me and shakes his head.
"no one's there. now can we sleep?"
and then i see a figure stand behind him.
with a bat.
"anthony, watch out!"