I roll over with a groan, the sheets of my bed tangled around my legs, encasing me in their grasp. I hear Amanda let out a sigh and a groan before sitting up and wiping the sleep from her eyes. The window over my bed lets light fall upon her face and she puts a hand up to shield her tired eyes. I kick my legs, allowing the sheets to unravel and pull them over the bed until I am sitting with my legs dangling off of it. I let out a sigh before sliding my feet across the ragged carpet to my bathroom, closing the door and locking it. I make sure to close the door leading to Aidan's sleeping chambers as well, to avoid any possible awkward situation with my brother.

I had already set out an outfit for today's lunch "date" with Raven and can't help but feel nervous after all the harsh words and new found feelings from last night. I look down at my outfit placed on the sink and wonder if Raven will like it or think I am pretty. Probably not. My mind rushes to telling myself that dressing to impress another girl is wrong. It is wrong, yet why do I still want to impress her?

I quickly slide on the black frayed jean shorts along with my white DC comics cropped T-Shirt, then brush my golden locks and pull it into a ponytail. I look at myself in the mirror and decide that I am probably decent looking enough to enter the public. I unlock both doors and reveal myself to Amanda who probably thinks I look like trash compared to her perfectly dressed lifestyle. She simply smiles at me before taking her bag into my bathroom to change as well. As she is changing, I walk across the room to my closet where I usually hang dresses or jackets of mine. I need to find something suitable to wear for tonight.

Soon the door of the bathroom swings open and Amanda walks out, beautiful as ever, wearing a short crop top revealing her flat, lightly defined stomach and I can't help but feel jealous of her perfect body. Below her small top are very small jean shorts which curve around her upper thighs perfectly. She walks over to me before suggesting, "Hey, we should have a little instagram photoshoot or something, it'll be fun!" I ponder the idea for a moment before agreeing to this offer. I've never done anything like this before, not even with Ashley, so this will be an exciting new experience for me.

Amanda smiles brightly before dashing out the door and down the stairs. She awaits at the front door until I unlock it to unleash her to the outside. There is a small fence in the front of my yard in which Amanda sets her phone up against before stepping back, ready to pose. I rub my arms awkwardly and avoid eye contact with the camera as the photoshoot is about to start. I have always been insecure about myself and especially in full body shots with a camera.

"Remember when I kept failing at that one part of the Harry Potter game last night? It was so simple and we were stuck there for like, 15 minutes!" Amanda suddenly turns to me. I recall her various failed attempts at finding all the missing objects in the game and chuckle at the memory. Suddenly, Amanda places her arm around my shoulders and at first I am surprised and uncomfortable, but then find comfort in the gesture and respond by wrapping my arm around her as well. We both smile brightly at the camera in one of my favorite pictures I have ever taken. 

As the camera continues to take pictures every three seconds, we start to pose in various positions. We stand back to back, then I jump onto her back as a piggy back ride, and then we both do a squat looking seriously at the camera before bursting out in giggles. I have never had a friend that I could be a normal teenager with and honestly, this is a dream come true. I just wish she didn't have to leave so soon. Soon we are both tired out and she runs forward to pick up her phone and look through the photos. I trot to stand next to her and we laugh at all the attempts at looking serious within the pictures.

"Do you mind if I post a couple of these on Instagram? I understand if you don't want to," Amanda asks. I am uncomfortable with this idea at first, but decide that it's time to step out of my comfort zone and put myself out there.

"Uh, yeah sure!" I exclaim and she proceeds to post the best photos along with the caption New city = New friendships. I smile at the thought of sharing our happiness with the world and wonder if I will ever meet any of her other friends someday. Suddenly a new text notification pops up on her screen and she turns the phone away from me, her eyes wandering over the screen as a smile plays at her lips. She quickly types something on her phone and I begin to feel curious.

"Wanna go to Auburn Park? I'm meeting Ezra and some of his friends there," Amanda asks casually.

"Uh, sure," I respond with hesitation. I really don't want to be with Ezra and his dumb friends, but I want to hang out with Amanda more. I lead Amanda back into the caramel brick house and find Aidan in the living room whom appears to be wearing one of my Marvel sweatshirts.

"Hey, are you wearing my sweatshirt?" I accuse. Aidan looks up at me with worry in his eyes.

"Sorry, I got cold," He responds and reaches his hand up to scratch the back of his head nervously, revealing my silver charm bracelet.

"Aidan! You stole my bracelet too?" I screech and he immediately blushes, looking down at his lap, causing his dark hair to fall over his face. I turn my heel and run up the stairs to my room to grab my bag and fill it with all the necessities. I usually like to over prepare when leaving the house in case we somehow get trapped and need to survive. I enter the bathroom and comb through my hair aggressively, still mad at Aidan's attempt to steal my bracelet, the one that Ashley won in one of those claw machines in an arcade for my birthday last year. I am not mad at his decision to wear a bracelet, just the fact that it's mine makes me a bit angry. I make sure to grab Amanda's backpack before galloping down the stairs to meet Amanda sitting and chatting with Aidan on the couch. I am a bit surprised at first at their immediate friendship, but continue to walk until I am handing Amanda's backpack over to her.

"Amanda and I are going to the park, but we will be back soon," I inform Aidan who's lopsided smile makes me grin as well, he barely smiles anymore. 

He nods, "Okay."

With our bags in hand, Amanda and I step out into the warm air once again and begin our journey to the park, unknowingly walking into a bloodbath of drama.

"So, what are Ezra's friends like?" Amanda interrogates.

"Well," I chuckle. "They are not the best example to anyone. They are known to always drink and smoke, things." I say, hoping Amanda gets what I'm hinting at. She sighs.

"Oh, great." I realise that I might be ruining her thoughts of how trusting Ezra is and quickly jump into action.

"But, Ezra usually doesn't follow their example. He's better than that." Soon the park comes into view and I can see the outline of four people tossing a football. Soon we are upon them and I gape at who I see with Ezra and his goons. Ashley.

"Hey guys, glad you made it!" Ezra greets us. I keep my eyes on Ashley as I stand beside Amanda who now has Ezra's arm around her. Amanda and Ezra chat about something, but I am not paying attention to them. I watch as Ashley giggles, obviously drunk, as she twirls her hair and watches Johnny flex his biceps. She hasn't noticed my arrival yet. By the looks of it, Ezra seems to be the only one who isn't intoxicated, hopefully.

I suddenly feel really uncomfortable being here, but I don't want to leave Amanda by herself with them. When I turn around, I find Ezra making his way to the small brick building to the side of the park's feild, most likely to use the bathroom. I take a few steps closer to Amanda and I look up to see Alex take a step in our direction, immediately looking Amanda up and down and whistling. My face contorts with disgust.

"Hey baby, nice legs," He says in a deep voice, walking over to Amanda and wrapping his arm around her, his hand resting on the small of her back. She tries to back away, but his firm grip prevents her from escaping. His hand then starts to slide down her bare skin until it is at the waistband of her jean shorts. She then places both hands against his shoulder and shoves him away.

"Common baby, don't be like that," He retorts in a smooth tone. He begins to get closer to her and it is then that I step in.

"Leave her alone!" I shout as I place myself between the two. At this moment, Alex looks behind us to find Ezra walking across the field towards us. He is soon with the group again and automatically puts his arm around Amanda, who is fidgeting uncomfortably. Alex joins Johnny again and I meet eyes with Amanda, whom is almost in tears.

"Hey, I have to get home to my brother, I'll see you later," I tell Ezra and hope that Amanda will take the hint and join me.

"I'll come with you," Amanda joins.

"Oh, I guess I'll see you at the dinner party tonight," Ezra replies.

She moves away from Ezra's embrace and walks to my side. As we walk away, across the field, we can feel Ezra and Alex's eyes burning into our backs. 

We walk back to my house in silence, both not knowing what to say. I unlock the front door and find Aidan in the exact same position as when we left.

"Hey, we should go dress shopping for the dinner party. I packed a dress for the occasion, but I'd like to get a new one, how about you?" Amanda suggests. I silently thank her for breaking our awkward silence and respond as cheerily as I can.

"Sure! I have zero dresses to wear and I desperately need a new one. We can't leave Aidan here for a long time, so can he come with?" Aidan's head pops up and he scrambles up to join us. Amanda agrees to this and we wait for Aidan to get his bag, a navy blue backpack filled with all the essentials, similar to mine. He has many keychains of different places we've been to dangling from the denim material. He slings one strap of the bag over his shoulder and we all march out of the house, Aidan still wearing my sweatshirt along with a pair of dark jeans. We all chat as we walk into town, then making our way into the boutique. Aidan sticks by my side and Amanda starts to venture off on her own to find dresses.

"I have no idea what I'm going to get," I admit in an exasperated tone to Aidan. He slides his hand over dress upon dress hanging in the racks and starts to take out a few, laying them over his left arm. I just linger behind him and watch as he selects the most exquisite and beautiful of dresses. Once he reaches the end of the rack, he turns to me.

"Okay, so I found some options that would look good with you. Personally, I think red and black contrast the best with your hair color, so I found these," He places a selection of red dresses onto my left arm, "and these." He lays the remaining black dresses on my right arm and I take the time to examine each dress, surprised by his amazing fashion sense.

"I wasn't sure about how much money you want to spend, so..." He lingers the last word for a moment before I decide to interrupt.

"Don't worry about that, these are beautiful. Thanks buddy," I ruffle his raven hair beneath my fingertips and lead him to the dressing rooms. "You can try on whatever you want, but make sure to stick close," I add. I slide the curtain to one of the rooms to the side and hang my options up on the wall. I turn to shut the curtains and proceed to try on the first black dress. It is long and has a jeweled outline around the waistline, a slit down the side, allowing my leg to poke through. I push the curtains aside and find Aidan waiting on one of the chairs.

"How does it look?" I twirl and face him again.

"Um, it's not as fitting as I had first hoped, but it's pretty nice," He replies. I laugh at his expertise and enter the room once again. I try on every dress until I am left with the last one. It is a plain red dress, hanging to about halfway down my thighs. It is very fitting at the top, showing every curve until it reaches my waist. I exit the room and Aidan immediately hollers with delight. I have found my dress. I quickly change out of the dress and put my shorts and t-shirt back on. I then place all the rejects back and lay the red dress across my lap as I wait for Amanda to finish.

 Soon she walks out with a burgundy dress with large sleeves. It is stunning on her and Aidan tells her exactly so, but in a more knowledgeable fashion. Amanda changes out of her dress and we all purchase our selected outfits for tonight. As the sun begins to make its way down the dome of the sky, we all walk down the road, Aidan cheerily chatting about how he would design a dress if it were him. We all have smiles on our faces and laughter lingering in the air, unknowingly walking towards the craziest night yet.

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AN: third chapter of this collab! one chapter to go! if you want to know more about amanda and see more content from this chapter, go read "The Academy" by StarGalaxy8! check out her new dystopian story, "Castaway" as well, it's phenomenal! also go check out happysun_23's "The Heat Of Fire". 

if you have any questions or comments, you can ask them, i'll always respond! :)

thanks so much for everything and being so supportive :)

-MoonSpirit :)