By Friday, the whole high school knew about the party Kevin was throwing at his house. It wasn’t that surprising— everyone knew Kevin. He was probably the richest kid at the school. His parents donated money with way too many zeroes to it every year, which made him the favorite with the principal, which gave him certain privileges.

            “Yun, is it true Gold is going to your party tonight?” Michelle, a junior in our art class, asked Kevin. Her eyes were lit up with excitement. “Like, you guys are friends?”

            “They will be attending,” Kevin told her, looking smug. “Gold wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

            “What wouldn’t we miss for the world?” Rian asked, dropping into a seat next to me. He glanced at me, a smirk gracing his lips. “Hey, Iris.”

            I raised an eyebrow at him. “Hey?”

            Rian had developed a strange habit of greeting me with a smirk every time he saw me. I didn’t understand it, nor did I want to, but it was kind of unsettling. It was like he knew a secret about me, but wouldn’t tell me what he knew. Of course he couldn’t know anything about me, since I hadn’t told him anything.

            Suddenly a group of underclassmen were surrounding out art table, each staring at Rian with wide eyes. Apparently if one girl came up, it was an open invitation for anyone else who wanted to talk.

            “Will Brendon be there?” Michelle inquired.

            Before Kevin could respond, I cut in. “No, he’s out of town.”

            Her expression fell quickly.

            “Who’s Brendon?” Rian asked, turning towards me.

            “No one,” I responded quickly. If he found out whom Brendon was… erg, I didn’t even want to think about it.

            “Rian!” a short girl cried unnecessarily loudly. “Yesterday I heard one of Gold’s songs on the radio!”

            Rian turned to her, grinning. “Really?”

            “Well I was listening to the top ten songs on 101.3, and your song was number three,” a brunette I recognized as Amelia, the sophomore class president, added.

            “I bought your new C.D!”

            “I have all your albums!”

            Rian’s head snapped in the direction of every girl that called out. I was surprise he didn’t have whiplash. Suddenly Chloe appeared from the group of girls, slumping into a seat across from me. Luke and Noah appeared moments later, sending the girls who were still standing around us into excited twitters.

            “Can I take your picture?” Amelia asked, whipping out her cell phone. “I know they teachers told us we couldn’t, but I’m sure it’s fine if we have your permission.”

            Rian exchanged quick looks with Luke and Noah before shrugging. “Sure. Gold, or just me?”

            “All of you,” Amelia clarified, beaming. “Wow, you guys are awesome.”

            “Only snobs are jerks to their fans,” Luke told Amelia, sending her a million dollar smile.

            Someone cleared their throat from the front of the room, and everyone turned to see Mr. Smith watching my table warily. “Whatever you all are plotting, leave it until after class. You need to work on your projects now.”

            A few people muttered begrudgingly, but the group surrounding my table slowly dispersed. Rian looked relieved, pulling a tray of paint closer to him. I half-smiled in amusement. Now that the boys were settled into the school, their fans thought it was okay to flock them now. Admittedly, I was getting annoyed by them, since for some reason Gold had decided they wanted to be friends with my group of friends which in turn meant the girls were always around me too, but Gold hadn’t once snapped at anyone. They were good sports about it.

            “So how many autographs did you guys sign today?” Chloe asked, pulling her own art project closer to her. This time we were painting our favorite cartoons.

            “I signed twelve,” Luke told her, tapping his finger against the table. “Though, some girl asked me to sign her stomach…”

            Noah laughed, slapping Luke on his back. “Dude, that’s awesome. Only seven people asked me for my autograph today. But this really cute blonde girl gave me this.” He produced a small, square sheet of paper from his pocket. He unfolded it, and a hand drawn image of his face appeared. “It’s pretty awesome.”

            “Today, I found a freshman who didn’t know who I was,” Rian announced, making Noah and Luke blink in disbelief.

            “Even after you told her you were part of Gold?” Luke asked dubiously.

            Rian nodded solemnly. “Not even a flicker of recognition.”

            “Come on you guys,” I started, rolling my eyes at them. “Face it. Not everyone worships the ground you walk on.”

            Rian pursed his lips at me. “I don’t want to hear it from you.”

            “Are you still hung over the fact you’re not my favorite band?”

            “No,” he responded stubbornly.

            Luke gave me a pitying look. “Poor soul. You’re missing out.”

            Chloe snickered as I shook my head. “Look. I like the band Gold. I know most of the lyrics to most of your songs. You’re just not my favorite band.”

            Luke looked surprised. “Rian told me you hated Gold!”

            “You believed Rian?” Noah asked Luke, raising an eyebrow.

            “I didn’t say that!” Rian denied, shooting me a panicked look. “I didn’t!”

            Kevin started laughing, covering his mouth quickly. “You guys are something.”

            “Something difficult,” I muttered, grabbing a paintbrush and dipping it in yellow. The only thing left I had to do for my project was color in Spongebob. Simple enough.

            Rian glanced moodily at my project, then back at his. He had decided he wanted to do Spongebob too. Unfortunately for him, he seemed to have no artistic talent, and his looked more like a cereal box— even though I had practically outlined the whole thing for him before he even started painting.

            “Iris, do you want to come over around six to help set up?” Kevin asked, giving me a pleading look. “There’s too much stuff to do alone.”

            “Why don’t you have Jack or Greg come over?”

            “Because we are best friends. You should want to help,” he pointed out.

            I grinned at him. “Fine.”

            “Can we come to help set up too?” Noah asked. “I’ve never set up for a party before.”

            “Can I bake cookies?” Luke added.

            Kevin shrugged. “If you want. I’ll text you my address.”

            Suddenly Gold had their phones whipped out. I looked around for Mr. Smith, relaxing when I located him absorbed into his computer. Even if they were Gold, cell phones were still a no in school. Rian, Kevin, Luke, and Noah quickly exchanged numbers. Rian held his hand out to me. I gave him a curious look.

            “Your phone,” he told me, closing and opening his hand. “Give me your number.”

            “You want my number?” I asked in surprise. Was he joking?

            Rian raised an eyebrow. “That’s why I’m asking.”

            “Um, sure,” I responded, pulling out my phone and handing it to him. “I guess I’ll text you my number.”

            “Give me her phone after,” Luke chirped. “I want to add mine too.”

            Noah nodded in agreement. “Same here. Chloe, can I have your number as well?”

            Chloe nodded eagerly, shooting me a pleased look as she handed Noah her phone. When my phone finally got back to me, it had three new numbers in the contacts. Three new numbers from three famous boys. It suddenly hit me. Gold wanted to be friends with me. A smile crossed my face as I put my phone back in my pocket.

            “Don’t forget to text me your number,” Rian said forcefully.

            “I won’t,” I told him, waving my hand. Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t.

*

            Five hours later I arrived at Kevin’s house— or rather, Kevin’s mansion. His house was by far the largest house in Westhampton. Not that there were a lot of houses in Westhampton. I should rephrase that. Kevin had one of the largest houses in western Massachusetts.

            It was a towering three stories tall, and as wide as six buses lined up. Everything about the house looked perfect. The black paneling, the vines that grew up the sides in some places, the frost on the windows, even the clumps of melted snow on the ground. A fence surrounded the estate— one of those old fashioned, black iron fences. It even had a gate that was big enough for a car to pass through.

            An unfamiliar car was parked in the place where I usually parked. I didn’t have to take a guess to know whose car it was. No one around here could afford a Benz besides Kevin and Gold. And Kevin had a regular black BMW. I pulled my lame, inferior, beat up jeep next to the Benz and cut my engine. After a moment of admiring the car I headed into the house, not bothering to knock.

            As soon as I entered the threshold of Kevin’s mansion, the man himself came running up to me, looking panicked. “Take cover!”

            I looked at him in surprise. “What?”

            Suddenly there was a crash from behind him and he whipped around, a look of horror crossing his face. I followed his gaze, my eyes landing on Noah, who stumbled into the main hallway, grinning evilly. He had his hands hidden behind his back and he took a few menacing steps toward us. Kevin quickly moved behind me, using me as a shield.

            “You wouldn’t harm an innocent, would you?” Kevin asked nervously, peeking over my shoulder.

            “What are you guys doing?” I demanded, growing uneasy.

            Noah took another step closer, bringing his arms around. In his left hand was a small pistol and in his right, a cartridge. Immediately I brought my arms up to cover my face— just in time. Noah laughed evilly, pulling the trigger and letting the air soft pellets fly at us. Kevin let out a girly shriek before ducking away from me, running down the hallway.

            “Hey Iris,” Noah greeted quickly, sending me a grin. “Gotta go.” With that, he took off after Kevin, waving his pistol wildly.

            I examined the sleeves of my jacket, making sure the BBs didn’t do too much harm. It wasn’t surprising to be attacked by air soft pellets when I arrived at Kevin’s house. He and his friends always seemed to be playing with them. Although it seemed like Noah had the one up on Kevin this time— something that rarely happened. Kevin was pro.

            “Iris?”

            My head snapped towards the other hallway and I saw Luke grinning at me. “Hi,” I greeted, walking towards him. “Are you in the air soft war too?”

            “I am,” he admitted, holding up a rifle. “But I’m taking a break. Rian shot me in the face.” He pointed to a bright red mark on his cheek. “It hurt.”

            I laughed and shrugged of my coat, tossing it on the coat rack by the door. “You became quick friends with Kevin.”

            Luke nodded. “He’s really easy to get along with. Besides, when you have to deal with fans as much as we do, it’s hard not to by friendly. I’m surprised Yun doesn’t think we’re being over friendly.”

            “But you’re not as friendly to other people as you are to Kevin, Chloe, and me,” I pointed out, cocking my head to the side. “It’s kind of unbelievable. A famous boy band randomly befriends people like me?”

            Luke raised an eyebrow. “People like you?”

            “Plain, boring, average,” I listed, tapping my chin. “What else… normal?”

            “That’s exactly why,” Luke told me, wagging a finger at me. “You are one of the only ones who treat us as people, not celebrities. Chloe sometimes is a little much, but it’s cute.”

            I half-smiled at him. “So if I was a huge fan we probably wouldn’t be friends?”

            “Well we probably would still since we are locker buddies.”

            “Right,” I responded with a nod. “When anyone asks how we became friends you can say it all started with a locker.”

            Luke smiled broadly. “Well I’m glad this locker thing happened. It’s pretty awesome to be friends with the class president.”

            “Not as awesome as being friends with you, a famous band mate,” I responded with my own smile.

            “What do we have here?”

            Luke’s eyes widened as he looked behind me. Before I knew what was happening, I felt multiple air soft pellets hitting my back. Luckily, my sweatshirt protected me so it didn’t hurt as much. Luke cried out in surprise, using me as a shield.

            “What’s with you guys using me as a shield?” I demanded, trying to struggle out of Luke’s grasp. “Stop shooting!”

            I heard Rian’s laughter from behind me. “Did I just catch you two flirting?”

            “We’re not,” Luke and I replied simultaneously.

            Suddenly the air soft attack stopped and I cautiously turned around and faced the pecan haired man. His bright blue eyes sparkled with amusement as he came closer, holding up his own air soft gun. Luke held onto my shoulders tighter, backing me up as he walked backwards slowly.

            Rian held his gun pointedly at me. “Iris, you want in?”

            “In on what?”

            “My team,” he told me. “Go get a gun.”

            I held up my hands. “No way. I don’t want to play. I thought you guys were setting up for the party? It starts in an hour!”

            A look of surprise crossed Rian’s face. “What? It’s six already?”

            “Seriously?” Luke gasped from behind me. “Holy shit.”

            I raised my eyebrow. “How long have you guys been here?”

            “Since right after school,” Rian responded, shifting his gun under his arm. He dove his hand into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. After a moment he put it to his ear. “Kevin! It’s already six!”

            I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. They were in the same house. Why couldn’t he just look for Kevin?

            The doorbell rang, causing me to jump. “I got it!” Luke chirped.

            “It’s not your house—” I started to protest, but he was already at the door, yanking it open.

            “Hi!” Luke greeted whoever was that the door in a cheerful voice.

            “Hey,” a familiar voice I recognized as Chloe’s responded, and moments later she appeared, a brown bag in her hand. “I’ve got some lemonade.”

            “Chloe says she has lemonade,” Rian said into the phone, looking confused. “Huh? Oh!”

            Chloe shot him a grin. “Mike’s Hard Lemonade.”

            I rolled my eyes. “Did you convince your brother to get that for you?”

            “Maybe,” Chloe responded with a grin. “He’s a push-over.”

            “Hey,” Rian interjected, raising his voice. “Kevin says to meet in the main living room… where is that?”

            I gestured for them to follow me. “This way.”

            The four of us made our way through Kevin’s humongous house, heading for the main living room. Rian held his gun at ready, glancing over his shoulder every now and then. Chloe was shooting him nervous looks, and me wary ones. We both knew how competitive men got with air soft wars. It was dangerous.

            Noah and Kevin were lounging on one of the many leather couches that resided in the main living room. When we entered Kevin sprung up, an urgent look on his face. “Okay,” he started, walking up to us. “Chloe and I will do the usual.”

            “The usual?” Rian echoed.

            “Take everything breakable and put it in his parents’ room,” I explained, brushing a stray lock of hair behind my ear. “We’ve broken one too many things…”

            Kevin nodded. “Exactly. Rian, you help Iris with getting the snacks out and ready. Noah and Luke, I want you two to go around and collect all the pellets you can off the ground.”

            “Yes, sir!” Noah and Luke responded with a salute.

            I frowned. “What if Chloe helped me with the snacks—”

            “Let’s go Iris,” Rian interrupted, putting a hand on my shoulder. “You’ll have to show me the way to the kitchen.”

            I shot Kevin a wary look and he grinned at me. “Everything is on the table,” he told me. “Just put it in bowls and bring the tables here.”

            “Okay,” I resigned, removing Rian’s hand off my shoulder. “Come on.”

            Rian and I exited the main room together and headed for the kitchen. Rian started humming quietly as he followed me down the hallway. I listened to him for a moment, the song he was humming sounding nostalgic. But I couldn’t place it.

            “And I don’t want the world to see me,” he sang softly, “’cause I don’t think that they’d understand.”

            I stopped, recognizing the lyrics. But what song was it? I grounded my teeth in frustration. If there was one thing I hated, it was knowing a song's tune but being unable to think of the title.

            “Iris?” Rian asked, his humming coming to a stop.

            “That’s it!”

            Rian looked at me in surprise. “What’s it?”

            “The name of the song you were just humming,” I told him excitedly. “Iris. I used to listen to that song all the time when I was younger. It brings back a lot of memories.”

            Rian grinned at me. “Really? Whenever I’m around you that song gets stuck in my head.”

            “Sorry,” I apologized with a laugh. “I’ll change my name to Sexyback.”

            Rian made a face. “Please don’t. I hate that song.”

            “How about Ashley?”

            “You know that song?” Rian asked, looking shocked again. “Our song Ashley?”

            I sighed, shaking my head at him. “How many times do I have to tell you? I like Gold.”

            “But that’s our like, least known song.”

            “But it’s still a good song.”

            Rian slowly began to smirk. “I bet you were lying when you said Gold wasn’t your favorite band.”

            Rolling my eyes at him, I turned to the front again and started walking towards the kitchen again. “Gold isn’t.”

            Rian quickly caught up to me, matching his stride to mine. “I don’t believe you.”

            “You don’t have to.” I quickly turned to the left, pulling open the door to the kitchen. “I’ll get the bowls out. You can fill them.”

            Rian gave me a grumpy look. “Don’t change the subject.”

            I ignored him, going over to the cabinet where Kevin’s mom kept her party bowls. “I’m not. I’m doing what Kevin asked us to do.”

            Suddenly Rian put his arms on either side of me, pinning me to the counter. My breath caught and I turned to give him startled look. He smirked, his face only inches away from me. “Tell me, Iris, what is your favorite band?” he asked in an innocent tone, taking a lock of my hair and twirling it in his fingers.

            I stayed as still as I could, giving him a disapproving look. “Personal space, Rian.”           

            His eyes widened in surprise. “What?”

            I put my hands on his chest and pushed him with as much force as I could. He stumbled back a few steps, letting my hair slide from his grasp. “Why do you care so much about who my favorite band is?” I demanded.

            Rian stared at me with round eyes. “You pushed me away.”

            I raised an eyebrow. “So?”

            “No one’s done that before!”

            “Congratulations.”

            Rian shook his head. “No, that’s not what I meant. You’re a weird person, Iris.”

            “Thanks,” I responded sarcastically. I was weird because I wasn’t uncomfortable with him breaking my personal space? Okay.

            “No ones ever denied me,” Rian told me, furrowing his eyebrows. “That’s why you’re weird.”

            I sighed. “Just because you’re famous doesn’t mean you’re all that.”

            “Exactly!”

            “I wouldn’t— wait, what?” I asked in surprise. “Exactly?”

            Rian nodded, looking excited. “Everyone thinks just because I’m famous I can do whatever I want. It’s really irritating sometimes. Sometimes,” he repeated when I gave him a skeptical look. “Everyone always listens to me, and does what I ask them to. That’s why you’re weird. You won’t answer my questions and you just pushed me away. Any girl would kill to be that close.”

            “Don’t be too modest now,” I said dryly, turning back to the cabinet. “Anyway, I take pride in not acting like a fan girl. I’m sure you’d like to have normal friends.”

            “Yeah,” Rian agreed. “I’m glad it was you who just so happened to be in the library Monday. And the one who I have to share a locker with.”

            I felt my face heat up slightly. I didn’t know what to say, so I made a murmur of agreement, keeping my back to him.

            “You know, Luke’s right.”

            “About what?”

            “You have really pretty eyes.”

            Once more I felt my face grow warmer. “Thank you.”

            “No problem,” he responded casually, as if compliments were a normal thing. “Are you blushing?”

            “No,” I denied quickly.

            “I bet you are.”

            I tried to will away the warmth on my cheeks. “I’m not!”

            Suddenly Rian stuck his head in front of mine, an amused grin in place on his face. “You look like you are to me.”

            Stepping away from his quickly, I turned my head. “I—”

            “Your blush really clashes with your eyes,” he commented, moving in front of my face again. “It’s actually really…” He stopped suddenly, his eyes widening.

            I cocked my head to the side, giving him a curious look. “What?”

            “You look so familiar,” he told me, narrowing his eyes. “I know I haven’t met you before, but maybe I’ve met a family member? Or something?”

            “That’s impossible,” I responded quickly, adverting my gaze. “I, um, don’t have any family members except my mom and dad…”

            Rian frowned. “Really?”

            “Really?” I replied questioningly.

            “Well, maybe that’s why you’re so cute,” he commented with a shrug. “You don’t have to share the good looks.” He winked, sending me a sly grin.

            Looking away from him again, I kept my embarrassment under control. “You’re such a player.”

            “I know. But now to change the topic— are you going to drink tonight?”

            A frown now appeared on my face, and I turned back to him. “I’m not much of a drinker.”

            His eyes lit up. “Well. We’ll just have to change that, won’t we?”

            “No, we won’t.”

            “Yes, we will.”

            I shook my head. “Nope.”

            “Yep,” Rian responded, smirking.

            “No, and you can’t make me.”

            “Yes I can,” Rian told me in a singsong voice. “Oh, this is going to be fun.” 

_______

I hope this update will stop it from being in Dutch xD