When we arrived home that night, Caitlyn excused herself while Carter and I hunted for food. Luckily for us, we found leftovers in the fridge and reheated it.

"About tonight..." Carter began.

"About tonight..." I urged him on, after two long minutes of silence.

He sighed. "It's not that I want to keep you in the dark. But you shouldn't be caught up in all of this."

"All of what?" I asked. "It can't be that bad."

"It's not," he said, sighing again.

"It's okay. Whenever you're ready."

He nodded and I gathered our plates and dumped them into the sink. I turned the tap on as Carter passed me our cups.

"Thanks, Camille," he said, giving me a one armed hug. "We'll talk after I've had a chance to clear my head."

"Okay, sure," I said and turned back to the dishes.

***

"This is a terrible idea," I said with a shake of my head.

"Don't be a baby," Logan groaned. "Just do it."

"I don't know why I let you talk me into this."

"Because your idea of a fun time sucks," he said with a smug smile. "Now, go already!"

I took a deep breath and started counting backwards from ten.

"Camille!" Logan hissed, cutting me off at number four.

"Okay, okay. I'm going!" I said, forcing my legs to move.

I nervously bit my lips while I waited in line to place my order at the coffee shop, aware that Logan was watching my every move. In hind sight, I probably should have hung out with Casey instead of allowing him to talk me into ruining this beautiful Saturday morning.

"Hey, what can I get you?" the guy behind the cash register asked with a friendly smile.

"Two cappuccinos please."

I read his nametag: Tyler. "And um, your number," I added, my voice barely a whisper.

"Pardon?" he asked, looking so confused that I almost laughed. "I didn't quite catch that."

"This is so embarrassing," I whispered. "But may I have your number?"

He gave me a warm smile. "I really wish I could, but..."

"That's okay," I said softly, and held out a $10 bill for him.

I lowered my gaze when he gave me my change, too embarrassed to even look at him. "Thanks," I mumbled.

"So, what happened?" Logan asked when I returned to our table.

I shook my head and folded my arms across my chest.

"At least you've learnt a valuable lesson today," he said, pulling me close.

"What?"

"You shouldn't ask a strange guy for his number, especially when there's a no fraternization policy on the wall behind him," he replied with a small shrug.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "It was your idea!"

"I never said it was a good idea!" he defended.

I shot him a glare, but before I could respond, I heard my name being called.

I kept my gaze down as I collected the coffees, and it wasn't until I was separating mine from Logan's that I saw a note taped to one.

I'll probably lose my job for this, but what the heck.

-Tyler.

He wrote his number at the bottom and when I glanced at him I couldn't resist laughing when he flashed me a thumbs up.

"Ready to go?" Logan asked, retrieving his coffee from my hand.

I nodded, still smiling as we walked to his car.

"What's with you?" he asked, shooting me a skeptical glance.

"I got his number," I said, buckling up.

"Way to go cupcake!" Logan grinned. "I knew you could pull it off."

I rolled my eyes and tossed him the note.

"Are you going to call him?"

"I can't do that!" I shrieked. "Asking a guy for his number isn't half as scary as actually calling him."

"Wuss," he teased.

"Shut up!" I said, punching him lightly.

"You can't hit the driver!" he yelled.

"I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?" I cooed, biting back my laughter.

"This is the last time we're hanging out," he muttered.

I ignored him. "Next time I'm gonna dare you to get a girl's number."

"I don't need a dare to do that," he scoffed. "I'm smoother than a baby's butt."

"Oh, that explains it then."

"Explains what?"

"Why you don't have a girlfriend."

"I'm not following."

"You're a bit arrogant," I stated.

"No, I'm confident," he corrected. "It's not uncommon for self-confidence to be misinterpreted as arrogance."

I gasped. "That actually made sense!"

He groaned. "You're awful."

I started laughing and pretty soon he was laughing too.

An angry Caitlyn met us at the door when we got back to the house. "And where have you two been?" she asked.

"Picking up guys," I joked, pushing past her.

I guess she didn't find it funny, because she grabbed us by the arm and pulled us toward the stairs without so much as a smile. "Hands off, lady!" Logan cried, wriggling free.

"Everyone's waiting," she said, clearly annoyed.

"Are we having a party?"

"Don't do that," she snapped.

"Do what?" Logan asked.

"Don't try to be funny," she said, climbing the stairs. "Are you two coming or not?"

Casey sat cross-legged at the foot of my bed, clutching a pillow.

I was a bit annoyed that they chose my room for this little gathering, but I was also happy that I was even included.

Carter and the others, save for Savannah, Blake and Aiden, had just finished going over some of the details of the previous night, which left me feeling slightly confused.

"Okay, let me get this straight," I said, clasping my hands together. "Carter, you were dating Savannah but then you two broke up and she's now dating Blake, who's Casey's ex."

He nodded.

I turned to Casey. "But Savannah was your friend and cheer mate and now because of the Blake stuff you quit the team and ended your friendship?"

"That's not exactly what I said―" she started, but I cut her off.

"So, the argument in the parking lot, that was because of all of this," I said, sweeping my hand in the air. "But the fight, whose fault was that?"

"That would be Cait's," Logan supplied, glued to his phone.

"Shut up! You weren't even there," Caitlyn glared at him.

"What does any of this have to do with you?" I asked her.

"Have you asked yourself that question?" she shot back.

Well played Caitlyn. Well played. "Just answer the question."

"After you guys left, I may have gotten a teensy bit rough with Savannah," she shrugged. "And that's when Blake stepped in, which made Carter snap. One thing led to another and the next thing I knew, Aiden and Casey were prying them off of each other."

"You got into it with Savannah because she hurt Casey or Carter?" I prompted.

"It's a bit more complicated than that, cupcake," Logan said, putting his phone away.

Caitlyn shot him another glare which he ignored. "Cait and Savannah were best friends until she started dating Carter, so their rivalry goes way back."

I raised my brow at her.

"Carter is off limits to my friends," she supplied.

"Why?"

"You ask a lot of questions for someone who has the least to do with any of this."

"Because she didn't want to have to chose between her brother and her friends if things didn't work out," Casey said with a glance in Carter's direction.

He was facing the window, ignoring us.

"Oh," I said stupidly.

"So what are we going to tell Principal Harp?" Caitlyn asked.

"That it was all in his head and we weren't even there," Logan answered, looking very pleased with himself.

"Because that makes so much sense," Caitlyn retorted, rolling her eyes at him.

"It's better than telling the truth," he shrugged.

"How?"

"Okay, that's enough of that," Carter said, interrupting their argument.

We all turned to look at him.

"Blake and I will figure this out on our own, it's our mess after all," he said, ending the discussion.

"I'm hungry," Logan declared after about twenty seconds of complete silence. "Who's up for Chinese?"

I rolled my eyes and covered my mouth to hide my laughter.

"Idiot," Caitlyn muttered.

After that day, the weekend flew by pretty quickly and before I knew it, it was Monday morning and we were camped out by the Principal's office waiting for Carter.

"How'd it go?" Casey asked when the door opened and he stepped out, followed by Blake, who ignored us and continued down the hallway.

"He said one more fight and we were off the team for the rest of the season," he said, sticking his hands into his jeans pocket.

"Both teams?"

"No shit, Logan," Caitlyn hissed.

The bell rang, cutting off his reply and Caitlyn grabbed me and pulled me along to first period English.

"You're not still trying to impress Ms. Lancaster, are you?" I asked when she opted to sit at the desk next to mine, instead of with her friends.

She ignored me and concentrated on her nails instead.

"I'll never understand you," I muttered, as Ms. Lancaster walked in.

***

"Hey," Aiden said, leaning against my locker.

"Hey," I smiled at him. "What's up?"

He shifted so that I could open it. "I'm here to walk you to class."

I laughed. "I think I can make it on my own."

"But I'll hold your books," he said, retrieving my History text.

"Book," I corrected with a chuckle.

He held out his hand to me. "Shall we?"

"We shall," I replied with another laugh.

I composed myself when I saw Mr. Archer standing outside the classroom door.

"I don't think he likes me very much," I whispered to Aiden when we took our seats.

"Don't take it personally. He doesn't like anyone."

"Okay class, turn to page 193 in your textbook..." Mr. Archer droned.

I sighed and flipped to the page.