When the end of day bell rang, my classmates and I shot up and out of our chairs. I made my way to my locker and took out the books that I needed for tonight's homework.

I felt a presence beside me, but I didn't bother to look assuming it was Caitlyn.

"Are you just gonna ignore me?" Archer asked amused.

"Not ignoring, just focusing on the task at hand." I answered him casually, even though him being the one standing behind me gave me goosebumps.

He just chuckled lowly. I looked over at him as he leant onto the locker beside mine. He is so naturally attractive. No one can pull off leaning on a locker better than Archer Smith.

"Done." I said shutting my locker.

"Great." He said smiling.

"Don't you have training with your coach at the club on Mondays?" I asked Archer as he walked beside me.

"Yes, but it only starts at five." He answered.

"Oh. And you're not joining the group in the consumption of the ice cream?"

"Yes, no ice cream."

"Damn. Do you ever get to cheat your diet?" I asked, genuinely interested.

"Saturday Night. After the match."

"I'm not sure how you manage."

"I remember my goals, they keep me on track."

With that, I think back to when Cody told me about Archer needing to support his family.

"How much do you make when you win a match?"

He looks down at me, confused.

"I'm not going to start fighting there, Archer. I'm just curious."

He chuckled, hanging his head.

"About 3000 per match." He stated.

"What!?" No wonder he does this boxing thing.

He just laughed at my response shaking his head at me.

We make it out of the school and see our friends gathered around Cody's car, all consumed in their conversations.

"We can't all go in Cody's car." I said.

"I have mine, there's Cody's and one of your friends said he had his." That makes sense. Obviously E has his, he's the only one of my friends with a car.

"Oh, okay."

"Hey guys." I said as we approached them. They all returned my greeting.

"So what's the plan?" Erin asked.

"So, we're going to have to devide between cars. There's Archer's, mine and Ethan's." Cody said.

"Well, Erin is coming with me. We spoke about it durning class, I'm her ride home as well." E said.

"Devin is with me." Said Cody.

"Cody's my permanent ride." Devin said. "You and Caitlyn can join Arch."

"Cool. Now that it's sorted, let's get going." Erin said, clearly ready to leave the school premises.

We made our way over to Archers familiar car. I sat in the passenger seat and Caitlyn sat in the back.

"Wow, nice car." Caitlyn said to Archer.

"Thanks, it was my uncles. He gave it to me as for my eighteenth birthday. I had it fixed up with the spare cash I had." Archer explained.

"Generous gift." I said.

"Yeh. It's always been promised to me. He used to take me for rides when I was growing up."

"Cute." I said.

"Okey... are we going to start the car or what?" Caitlyn said from the back seat.

Archer started the engine and backed out of the parking space. Ha, awkward.

"Yes, ice cream time." She cheered.

*~*

"No no no." Caitlyn disagreed.

I'm sitting in the car listening to these two morons argue about the fact that Archer will not have ice cream. Caitlyn won't accept it.

"Yes.yes.yes." Archer insisted.

"How? How can you go to an ice cream parlor and not order an ice cream. Why are you even going?" Caitlyn wondered.

"I'm going for the company, not the ice cream." Archer informed Caitlyn.

"You love us." I looked over at Archer who was still looking at the road, but he turned his head to meet my gaze. He smiled, but turned his attention back to the road.

"I'm sorry, I just can't get over it." She said with a huff. "Crazy person." She mumbled in addition.

He chuckled at that.

"So, is Ar invited to your next fight?" Caitlyn questioned.

"That depends."

"On what?" I asked.

"On whether or not 'Ar' wants to come or on whether a fight is set up for me this Saturday." Archer mimicked Caitlyn's name for me.

"You're not always guaranteed a fight?" I asked confused.

"No. I mostly fight every weekend, but sometimes the club has a night off. It's to derail any possible suspicions about the place." Archer informed me. "Sometimes Garry turns down a fight, if the opponent isn't worth it, to give me a weekend off."

Oh.

"Well if you have a fight, of course I'd want to see it."

"Even after your 'episode'?" Archer asked looking at me.

"Even after that. At least now I know what to expect and there's always your prep room for me to hide in."

"Wait wait. What episode?" Caitlyn asked confused.

Oh right. I 'forgot' to tell her about my panic attack. I don't like sharing about every time I have a panic attack, because people always insist on asking me hundreds of questions. It's embarrassing and uncomfortable.

"I had a panic attack, the crowd and noise freaked me out. Nothing big." I said casually, hoping to move on from this topic.

"And you're okay?" She asked.

"Yeh, all good."

She dropped it after that, probably aware that I didn't want to discuss it further.

Shortly after, we arrived. We were the first car of our friends to arrive, so we went in to pick a booth. Of course I went straight for the corner one. I probably looked half crazy jogging toward the booth.

"I've got to go pee. I'll see you ladies now." Caitlyn informed us.

I saw Archer internally cringe, so I laughed at him.

When she was gone Archer looked at me for a few long seconds, analyzing me.

"What?" I asked.

"Why do you always choose to sit at a corner booth? Your spot at school is also in a corner." Archer questioned.

It was only a matter of time before someone asked me that. I'm not reluctant for people to know or anything, but I just don't want people to see me as the person that they need to constantly cater for. Only Caitlyn and E really know the extent of why I sent where I do. Alice and Erin thinks it's a preference. It's stupid, I know.

"I can't sit in the middle of the restaurant, because I feel trapped by people's eyes. I know they're not looking at me and I don't care what they think if they are looking, but it just makes me aware of everything I'm doing. It makes me nervous." I explained.

"Makes sense."

"It's stupid, so I try to keep people from knowing. That way they don't feel forced to walk on eggshells around me." I explained

"Aurora, it's not stupid-"

"Hey people." Erin greeted as she, E, Cody and Devin arrived at our table.

"Where's cait?" Ethan asked.

"Bathroom." Archer answered.

Once we were all seated and Caitlyn was back, a waiter came to take our order. We all ordered our ice cream and Archer ordered his water. Shame.

"So, you won't believe what happened on the way over here." Cody said to start his story as he sat down.

"Some asshole skipped the red light and almost killed us when we were half way across."

"I've never seen him swear that much in my life." Devin informed us.

I laughed at the image.

"What did you expect? I basically crapped myself!" Cody half yelled.

Thankfully the shop wasn't busy, so hardly anyone could hear the teenage boy swearing about some 'asshole' driver.

"You're alive, so that's good." Erin chuckled out.

"Thank God." Cody said. "We wouldn't be if it weren't for my stellar driving skills." He flexed, running a hand through his hair and sitting back into his seat lazily.

Earning a laugh from everyone at the table, including Archer chuckling next to me. Devin did not laugh.

"Dip shit." Devin said.

Our orders arrived at the table and everyone began dipping their spoons into their ice cream. Archer doesn't even look phased by all the ice cream around him.

"How." Caitlyn said more to herself, probably still on the fact of Archer's 'no ice cream' rule. He ignored her, smiling to himself, satisfied with himself.

We all sat talking about school and the guy's hobbies, because apparently it 'hard to see them doing anything outside of school' according to Erin.

We're currently on the topic of which character was to blame for the failed effort in 'Infinity war' and caused 'End Game'.

"Star Lord for sure. He lost his temper with Thanos after finding out about Gamora's death, messing up their plan." Cody said.

"Wouldn't you be pissed if the love of your life was killed." I defended Chris Pratt.

"I think Thor messed up the most. All he had to do was go for the head." Erin accused.

"But he came the closest to killing him, that should count for something." Devin said.

"He got the closest, but skewers it up." Erin said.

'End game was inevitable, it couldn't be prevented. Everyone messed up somewhere along the line." I defended all the characters.

"Why do you guys care." Alice asked bored.

"How do you not?" Cody asked.

Most of the group is made of Marvel lovers, but Alice couldn't care less about any of it.

After another lengthy conversation and some more laughing, it was time for Archer to leave for training.

"I better get going too. I have to get home to start my science homework." Ethan said.

Which meant that Erin had to go as well, since he was her ride.

"Can I catch a lift with you guys?" Caitlyn asked E.

"Of course." With That, they all got out of their seats, grabbed their coats and headed for the door.

I said my goodbyes to Caitlyn, E and Erin, after which they left.

"Are you guys going to give Blondie over here a ride home?" Archer asked Cody and Devin.

"No no, I can walk home. Don't let me inconvenience you guys."

"It's no inconvenience, we'll happily drive you home." Cody said.

With Archer satisfied, he said goodbye and left.

"Yay, another drive with Feisty." Cody said happily.

Devin chuckled, rolling his eyes. "Don't act like you don't enjoy my company." I said punching him on the arm.

We got into his car and pulled out of the parking space. Luckily I'm upfront this time, which means heat. I flaunted my victory in Devin's face, which he wasn't too happy about. I looked back at him, while we drove off and gave him a sweet smile. He groaned and looked out the window, a smile tugging at his lips. He loves me.

"Arch tells us that you work out." Cody said. "He said that he gave you a ride home from the gym."

"I go to the gym regularly. I'm also on the athletics squad." I said proudly.

"Oh damn. It's a 'beginning of the year' sport, right? So you finished your last season for your high school career."

"Yes." I said sadly. "I'm just keeping fit as a personal goal. Plus the training clears my mind."

"You any good?" Devin asked, finally done sulking.

"I'd like to think so." I said grinning.

I know I'm good, not to sound arrogant or anything. I run three track events, I do high jump and I'm on the team's relay team. I used to compete at a provincial level, but after injuring myself I had to stop. I never got back into it.

"I don't really know what you guys do. I now that, Devin, you swim, because I heard you speaking to Garry about it." I said glancing at him. "But what do you do, Cody?"

"I play soccer and baseball." Cody informed me.

"And I don't just swim, I play on the soccer team with Cody. aoccer season is off season for swimming."

"Nice." I said in reply to their statements. "I never doubted that you guys were into a few sports."

The rest of the ride was filled with mindless smalltalk.

After dropping me off and saying their goodbyes, the boys left. I went inside, showered and changed into my soft PJs. I know it's still quite early, but it's too cold to matter.

I started on my homework, which was a lot. I had a Science exercise, a Bio assignment, three Math exercises and an essay for English.

Thankfully the essay was only due on Thursday, so I only did a small portion of it. I was interrupted by my parents coming in and saying hello after just arriving home from work.

Once I was done with all of my work, it was already seven. Time had gone by so quickly I hadn't even noticed how late it had gotten.

I went down stairs to sit with my dad, while he watched one of his shows. I sat there just enjoying his company.

My stomach growled and I realized how hungry I was, so I stood up off the couch and went into the kitchen to see how much longer the food was going to take. I walked in giving my mom a kiss on the cheek.

"Dinner will be ready in five minutes. Please help me set the table." She said basically reading my mind. She gave me a tired smile.

My poor mother works so hard.

"Sure, no problem."

When I was done setting out the table, mom placed the food down and called the rest of the family to come join us for supper.

Once everyone was at the table, we began to eat. We spoke and laughed, while enjoying our meal.

After dinner we watched some TV and I went up to bed an hour later, to try get an early nights sleep. I needed it after the terrible night I had last night.

I drifted to sleep after lying there for half an hour, which is pretty good. I guess I must've been exhausted.