ARI.

My shift was over and despite being beyond tired, the boys convinced me to come over for a round of pizza and video games. In the furnished basement of Michael's house, we all lazily sat around on the huge wrap around couch that took up most of the area. Crumbs littered the couch, carpet and even in my hair after only a couple of hours being one of the guys. Rumors tend to spread like wildfire in Percival Shores, so when the news of Luke Hemmings vomiting all over the back alley of the Pier Pressure Shack filtered into their ears, the boys were eager for answers. 

"So you were inside the Hemmings household?" Michael questioned, his eyes glued to the big screen and his tongue poking out the side of his mouth. His concentration when it came to video games was incredible and I only imagined what it'd be like if he applied that same focus to his studies. 

"Yes for the millionth time. I was inside Luke Hemming's house," I repeated, throwing an M&M into the air and catching it in my mouth. I lay across the couch with my head on one of the throw pillows and my legs sprawled across Ashton's lap.

"Was it weird inside?" Calum asked, his eyes also glued onto the game he and Michael were currently playing. 

"If you're asking if they have preserved heads inside mason jars, or creepy voodoo magic artifacts hanging next to portraits of The Last Supper, then you'll be disappointed to know that the Hemmings household is a normal one," I explained. 

"What about Luke's room? Is it perfectly decorated with baseball posters and smell like the inside of Hollister?" Ashton teased, looking up from his phone. 

"Um no," I replied, "it was decorated with band posters. And he had a couple of guitars in there. And it smelled like Fabreeze." 

"What kind of band posters? The Wiggles and Kidz Bop?" Michael laughed. 

"I wasn't really paying attention! I was kind of busy making sure Luke didn't actually pee on me," I bellowed, rolling my eyes. 

"Sorry bro, calm down, just asking," Michael defended. "He was at your work today and you were serving him. Did he say anything?"

"Yea after you spilled his blondies all over his shirt," Calum remembered, giggling at the thought. "That was so bomb by the way Ari." 

"You make it seem as if I did it on purpose," I threw an M&M at Cal's head, "and no, Luke doesn't really remember anything that happened. Just that I was the one who helped him out." 

"You guys aren't going to be like friends are you?" Ashton asked.

I bursted into laugher, "hell no. We're on two different spectrums dude. Can you actually imagine Luke hanging out with us in his Polo shirt and Sperrys? This group already sticks out like a sore thumb. You and Michael can at least somewhat blend into the crowd with your white-ness. Besides Cal, I'm like the only Asian at school." 

"I am not Asian!" Calum yelled, turning his attention away from the game. That moment of distraction gave Michael the better advantage and within seconds won the round.

"YES!" Michael whooped happily. He threw the controller off to the side and grabbed a greasy, cheesy slice of pizza to celebrate.

"You know I'm just joking, brotha' from anotha' motha'... But seriously Cal, have you looked in the mirror lately? You could seriously pass as one of my Filipino cousins." 

"Whatever," Calum groaned annoyingly, as the rest of us laughed at his expense. 

"Anyways," I stood up from the couch, a mountain of popcorn and candy falling from my chest in the process, "I'm gonna go home. I'm hella tired and YouTube is waiting for me. I'll see you boys at school tomorrow." 

"Right, see you tomorrow Ari,"

"Behave,"

"Drive safely," 

I ran up the carpeted steps from the basement to the first floor, opening up the door that led to the kitchen. Michael's mom was sitting at the kitchen nook drinking a glass of wine a she scrolled through her iPad. 

"See ya later Mrs. Clifford," I smiled, giving her a wave.

"Drive safely Ari," she smiled, "did the boys share their pizza this time?"

"I just waited till they were super engrossed in their video games and stole a slice," I joked. 

"That's my girl," Mrs. Clifford mused. I gave her one last wave before I turned the corner and let myself out the front door. Michael's house had easily become my second home and in the days I'm not at the Clifford household, Michael's mom often texted me to ask if the boys and I were fighting. 

I drove to an empty home. When I pulled up to the driveway and saw no lights emitting from any of the windows, I figured that my mom was working late again. I entered the house through the garage door, and flipped on the switch, illuminating the hall and the kitchen. I ran straight up the stairs and into my room where I immediately shook off my pants and took off my bra.

Freedom.

After going through my normal bedtime routine of washing my face, brushing my teeth, and slipping on a pair of clean boy shorts underwear, snuggled into my bedsheets. I flipped open my laptop, the bright glow brightening the room around me. When I found a comfortable position, and a playlist of YouTube videos on cue, I slowly drifted into a deep slumber. I was excited to finally get a good night's rest after being deprived of much need sleep the past evenings. My full-on sleepy-time mode complete with light snores, minimal movement, and even slight drool was unfortunately interrupted by a loud jingle infiltrating my ears. 

Here's to the rest if us, to all the ones that never felt they were good enough. I wanna heart it for the dazed and confused, the freaks and the losers...

The tune of Simple Plan's The Rest of Us echoed in my darkened room and in desperation to shut my phone up, I quickly grabbed the device off of my bedside table and slid my finger across the screen without looking at who was calling me so early in the morning. I pressed the phone to my ear, my eyes still closed tightly.

"Hello," my voice cracked. "This better be good Mikey or Calum or Ash, whichever one of you this is." 

"Um Ari?" the voice didn't belong to either of my friends, nor was it the voice of my mom or even my sister. 

"Who is this?" I asked, still groggy. 

"It's Luke Hemmings,"

I shot straight up, my mind more alert. Why the hell was Hemmings calling me at this time, and how the hell did he have my number? I know for sure I didn't give it to him and unless he's calling me from his mom's cellphone, then Luke having my number was a mystery to me. 

"Ari I need help," he continued. His voice trembled on the other end, a clue letting me know that whatever was his problem, it was serious.

"Luke, where are you?" I questioned, leaning over and turning on the lamp on the bedside table. 

"I-I- um, I don't know," he answered.

"Have you been drinking?" I asked. There was a pause in our conversation as I waited for him to respond. "Luke! Are you there? Are you okay? Answer me. I'll come get you." 

Suddenly I heard discrepancy from the other end, loud shuffling and then yelling coming from an entire horde of people. I couldn't make out any specific words, but the shouting seemed happy, as if there was some kind of celebration happening. I heard obnoxious laughter that sounded as if it were trying to be stifled-- it sounded like the people on the other end were trying real hard to stop from laughing. 

That's when anger filled me up and I realized that this was some kind of joke. Luke Hemmings was a skeeze, a dickwad, a jerk and I was pissed to ever think otherwise. We may have had a friendly connection the previous evening, but at the end of the day Hemmings was still Hemmings and he will always be an insolent little boy. 

With a groan I turned off my phone and dropped it onto the floor beside my bed. I turned off the lamp and fell back into the bed, thoroughly angered by Luke's shenanigans. I was slowly able to find myself calm enough to fall back asleep, but by that time the sun was already rising. I had only an hour till I had to get up anyway and decided against succumbing to slumber. Instead, I threw the covers off of my body and headed for the bathroom to take a long shower before getting ready for school.

Pissed was an understatement. 

I was furious beyond saggy balls and if it weren't for the concealer under my eyes or the super volumizing mascara that I chose to wear, I would've looked like a sleep-deprived mother bear on the hunt for innocent prey. I sat on the floor in the hallway at school, my back against my locker. With my large iced coffee in my hand I sipped the liquid waiting for the caffeine to kick into my system. 

"Your eyelashes look more ginormous than normal," Ashton plopped down next to me, his finger poking at my eyelashes. 

"Dude stop!" I slapped his hand away from my face. He threw both hands up in mock-defense with his eyes wide open,

"Sorry. You left early from Mikey's... I assumed you went to bed right away. Did you not sleep well?"

"I did go to bed right away, but I was awoken at like 4AM this morning. I'm tired as hell and without makeup I would look 10 times more terrible than I already do," I raged angrily. 

"What woke you up at 4AM?" Ashton questioned.

"Not what woke me up... who!" I corrected sternly.

"Who'd be dumb enough to wake--"

"Hold this!" I interrupted, forcing my iced coffee into Ashton's hands. 

I stood up from the linoleum tiled hallway and marched my way to the preppy blonde boy who was responsible for my lack of sleep. He stood around his loud, stupid friends without a care in the world, but my mood was about to change all that. 

"You're an ass-wipe Hemmings!" I bellowed at the top of my lungs, pushing the Hollister model wannabe up against the lockers. He plummeted into the metal with a loud crash, and he winced from the pain. 

"What the hell is your problem little girl?" Jake Hansen questioned, pushing my shoulder.

"Hands off me white boy!" I yelled at Jake, sending him death glares. I turned back to Luke, shoving my forearm up against his throat and pinning him agains the locker. Because he was a whole foot taller than I, I had to step at the tip of my toes to somewhat match his height. 

"What are you doing Ari?" Luke choked. 

"Did you think it was funny to call me hella early in the morning, pleading for help? What kind of sick joke were you trying to play? I can be a pretty good friend but if anyone ever dares to take advantage of that fact, I swear to sweet baby Jesus that it'd be the worst decision ever," I let go of Luke who immediately cowered and brought his hands to his neck as he gasped for air.

His friends and anyone in the hall stared at me with extreme shock etched on their faces. I stepped backwards, meeting a very surprised Ashton who simply handed my iced coffee back to me. I grabbed it, taking a sip before giving Luke my final words,

"Fúck you Hemmings."  

//

Ari is a feisty girl. I love it. And what the heck is going on with Luke. Anywayssss, hope you liked this chapter! I had a good time writing it. Please vote if you enjoyed it, comment, and share with your friends. I appreciate you all for reading my story!! Thank youuu! <33