(Darcy POV)

Ally dragged me and Tennyson to the back of the bus as soon we ran out after the music lesson lasted for WAY longer than it was supposed to. I didn't mind though. Mr Lurie was cool.

She shoved us into the back seat next to Jonty and sat down on the other side of him. Lola and June grinned like monkeys, turning from the seats in front of us.

"Oh my god, guys, what the hell is this?" Jonty complained.

Ally shoved her phone in his face and Tennyson and I leaned over to watch as well.

It was basically Gail and Jake making out in an empty classroom.

"Crap," said Jonty.

Ally took her phone back and smiled triumphantly. "See?"

Jonty sighed heavily. "I guess I'll have to ditch her now, won't I?" he said.

"Yes!" said June.

"Some of her friends actually were decent company, you know," Jonty said.

"Who cares?" said Tennyson. "You gotta dump her. And do it some way that we can all see because I REALLY wanna see this."

I giggled as they all agreed.

Tennyson smiled at me. "Can I tell them what an amazing musician you are?" he asked quietly.

I shake my head violently. "No!" I hiss. "You'll just make me sound way better than I actually am."

"I doubt I could do that," said Tennyson.

I could feel myself blushing. Damn it, Darcy, why you gotta blush so hard.

Tennyson's grin widened as if he could hear what I was thinking. It was probably the really obvious blush on my face.

"Oh my god, you two!" exclaimed Ally. "You've only known each other for a day and already we've got full-on eyeballing, like, seriously?"

"Leave them alone, Ally," said Lola. "I think it's cute."

I blushed even harder.

Tennyson smirked and laid his arm on the seat back behind me.

"Are we having our usual back to school movie night tonight?" June asked, resting her chin on the seat back and staring at us.

"Of course!" Ally scoffed. "When have we not?"

"Can you come, Darcy?" asked June. "It's at...um. Who's turn is it to host?"

"Mine!"said Lola.

"It's at Lola's house, she lives only like a two minute drive from your house, so if your parents say you can, we'd love to have you!"

"How do you know where I live?" I said.

"You literally, like, walked straight out to the bus," said June.

"You live right next to us, I think!" said Ally with excitement. "I could climb over the fence to see you!"

I considered the house next to ours. "Wait, so, the really fancy one?" I asked.

"Yup," said Tennyson. "The really fancy one."

"Yeah, that one," said Ally. "Tennyson's embarrassed because we're rich and he actually does good stuff with it, unlike me who only uses the money for myself."

"Are you very rich?" I asked.

"Yeah," said Tennyson. "Dad's the manager of the major school supplies distribution company for the state."

"Wow, okay," I said.

"Aaaaaaaanyway," said June impatiently. "Can you come, Darcy?"

"I'll ask Mum about it," I conceded.

"Text me when you know," said Lola. "So I can know how much pizza to order."

I traded phone numbers with them all after realising that I had none of their phone numbers.

"Hopefully she'll say yes," I said.

I felt eyes on me and looked up to find Tennyson looking at me again.

"Yeah, hopefully," he murmured.

I blushed at the expression in his eyes.

The bus pulled up to the curb and Ally, Tennyson and I got out. We waved to the others as they drove off.

"Do you wanna pop over to our house?" Tennyson asked.

"Not right now," I said. "I gotta go in and tell Mum I'm back and ask if I can come tonight."

"Maybe we could pick you up at around five and bring you to Lola's?" Ally suggested.

"That sounds great!" I said. "Is there anything in particular I have to bring?"

"Just your PJs," said Ally. "And maybe a water bottle. It shouldn't go till too much past eleven."

"Is it really a good idea to have a late movie night on the first night of term?" I said.

Tennyson shrugged. "Probably not. But we've been doing it for ages, and honestly we wouldn't get to bed until then anyway."

"And we're not exactly known for being sensible," added Ally.

I smiled. "'Kay. See you then?"

Ally hugged me. "See you tonight!"

Tennyson hugged me as well. For just a little longer than Ally. "Hope you can come," he said.

I blushed. Again. "Bye."

They walked off to their house and I stared after them.

Then I shook my head and walked into my house.

"Mum! I'm home!" I called.

"In here, honey!" Mum called back from the lounge room.

I ran in and dumped my backpack on the floor.

Mum put her laptop aside and patted the seat of the couch beside her. "Sit down and tell me all about it!"

I hugged her and flopped down on the couch. "It was good," I said.

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh, it was, was it?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, it was actually pretty good. I met a girl who adopted me into her friends group, and they're all pretty cool. Oh, and the music class was super fun."

"You made some friends?" Mum said. "That's amazing! I told you you would."

I smiled.

"Are there any...boys in that group?" Mum nudged me and wiggled her eyebrows.

"Mum!" I complained, and giggled as she poked me. "But, one of the boys was kinda cute..."

Mum squealed like a teenager. "Awwww what's his name? What does he look like?"

"Mum! Don't embarrass me!" I had to smile though. "He and his sister Ally live next door, actually."

"Ohhhhh, really?" Mum said. "I actually met their parents this morning. He must be Tennyson?"

"Yeah, that's him. How did you meet them?"

"They popped over with some cookies this morning before I left and we had a lovely chat. They seem like really nice people."

"Their kids are nice as well," I said.

Mum grinned at me. "Ooooooooh."

"Ugh, Mum."

"Do you want to go and call Ben and Sammy now?" said Mum. "I've got a bit more work to do and then maybe we can have takeout together?"

"Um..." I scratched my neck. "Actually, the people I met at school are having a movie night tonight as a first day of term thing, and they wanted me to come. It's just a few minutes down the street. Can I please go? We could have takeout tomorrow. Please?"

"Movie night? On a school night?"

"It's a tradition they have. Please, Mum. They're really kind to ask me," I pleaded.

"How late will it go?" Mum asked.

"Ally said hopefully not past eleven."

"Eleven?"

"Please?"

"Well... You'd better be prepared for a really early night tomorrow night..."

"Yes, of course-"

"And DEFINITELY back by eleven..."

"Yes!" I threw myself on her. "Thank you so much Mum! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Mum laughed and hugged me back. "That's okay. I'm really happy you had a good day."

I jumped up happily. "I'm gonna go tell them!"

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Hiiii! I don't care if you're not proud of me, I'm proud of me! This chapter is a longer one as well!

I'll hopefully put out the next chapter, which will be shorter, in the next couple days, so look out for that one.

See you soon 😊😊😊😊

Love you all ❤️❤️

Riss