D A R K O S P. O. V.

God, I love Fridays.

The only significant part of today so far was waking up to Taylor's soft snoring on my shoulder with American Horror Story still looping on my TV. As much as I had wanted to stay in that little time bubble, to be with Taylor as he softly leaned his head on my shoulder as he peacefully slept, I knew I couldn't. We had school today.

The first few classes, as well as recess, were about as entertaining as reading the dictionary. Taylor and I were so tired from our TV-show marathon that we were barely awake until the end of the fourth period.

The lunch bell woke us both up, and thankfully, we were finally allowed to buy coffee. We bought three cups each, but it just wasn't enough. I'm never binge watching TV that late again.

We had just sat down with the rest of our group when we heard her voice. That whiney, dick-in-mouth-sounding voice.

"So, who wants to come to my paaaaartyyyy!?" An extremely irritating voice said as it approached us, the sound piercing my ear drums. I glanced away from my beloved coffee, and surely enough it was Lyra. She smiled at my group while tapping her fake pink fingernails onto our table, waiting for an answer. After about a minute of silence, Lyra scoffed in annoyance. She had rolled her eyes before she flipped her curly hair over her shoulder, wafting her cheap peach scented perfume all over the place.

Yeah, she does that. It's cringy.

Lyra Anderson looked and acted like the typical clichè high school bitch. She wore clothes too tight for her (although nobody seemed to mind) and she's mean to everyone. She tries to be nice to Taylor, Bella & I but.. she has her moments. She's dated nearly every guy on the school's rugby team and she's cheated on every single one of them. She has a boyfriend now, but who knows how long that'll last?

I talk a lot of shit about her, but she's actually one of my closest friends. I just... don't agree with a lot of her choices. Yeah.

Among the rest of the students, Lyra's known as the 'Party Queen' and, to some extent, she is one. Nearly every month, she's been hosting these grand parties that almost always end up on the news. Riots, underage drunken messes, fights, and drugs are a few issues off of the top of my head that end up being broadcast on TV's and radios and plastered all over social media. For some stupid reason though, her parties seem to get more popular by the month, and the one she's planning right now already has 200 people attending.

"So?" She asked in a hurried voice, "which one of you idiots wants to come?"

Our lunch bench was big. It was the typical 'popular' table, but to me, it wasn't just that. Owning a motorcycle and being a professional racer meant that girls were begging for my attention, not that I wanted any of it. The table, hence, usually had all of the racer kids and the cheerleader squad overloading its benches. It's just a huge coincidence that all of the popular kids sat at the same table. I ignore most of them anyway; they usually only gossip about some random horse-shit, Kylie Jenner or something else that's irrelevant.

I mainly just focus on Taylor and Bella; emphasis on Taylor.

I don't like Bella. She might be a good person to others, but to me, she isn't. I just don't like her at all.

She's only really here because Taylor is here; which fucking annoys me.

She randomly became friends with him in year 8, and now she's nearly always at his side. Sometimes, I wonder if they're secretly dating. They're always doing things together, she's always talking about him, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't like me, hence why she 'accidentally' gave me the flu. Ugh. Back the hell off.

"I'll go," Bella said, smiling at Lyra. Lyra's cake-face instantly lit up as she waddled over to Bella and wrapped her in a tight hug. I rolled my eyes.

"- but only if Taylor and Darko come too."

I exchanged a confused look with Taylor, and we looked at Bella with the same pained expression. Taylor hates parties - something about being in a room with dozens of strangers and loud music makes him feel anxious. He's okay when it's a small gathering, but he is not ready for one of Lyra's parties. Heeeellllllllll no.

Honestly, I'm okay with the party as long as there are hot guys, food, and sick music. Three of my favourite things. It's just weird that I'm one of her conditions to go.

"Yeah, I'll go," I said before clearing my throat, "but Taylor shouldn't go. Parties aren't his thing."

Taylor instantly shot me a reassuring smile. I think I just did him a massive favour.

"Yeah, what Darko said," Taylor quickly added, which made Bella frown.

"But Taaaaaay!" Bella said in a falsetto whine, before slapping him softly on the shoulder, "you promised me that you'd go to the next party Lyra hosted!"

Taylor confusingly lifted a brow at Bella. "I did?"

Bella scoffed and rolled her eyes. God, she can be so irritating sometimes! Can she keep her dirty paws away from him? When she's with Taylor, she always has her hand on his shoulder, or she's always leaning on him, or she's always whispering stuff to him which makes his cute mouth laugh or smile.

Yeah, I'm a jealous bitch. If I can't have Taylor, no-one can.

"If you don't come, I'll..." she trailed off, tapping her red nails on her white chin. She suddenly beamed and poked his chest with her pale finger. "I'll tell the world your secret!"

Taylor's face drained itself of colour as Bella's mouth widened in the largest grin I've ever seen on a human being before. What secret was she on about...?

"Don't you fucking dare," Taylor hissed coldly, which made Bella frown.

"Well then, go to the party!"

Lyra and I exchanged a knowing grin as we began chuckling to ourselves. Lyra and I both knew that Bella had Taylor under her finger. Whatever this "secret" was, Taylor was desperate to keep it hidden. If I didn't even know what it was, it must be big.

Wait, Bella knows something about him that I don't? Since when did Taylor trust Bella more than me?!

"Darko? Help me out here, buddy! Come on man!" He pleaded.

"Sorry, can't help," I said coldly. "Next time, don't share secrets with her."

Taylor, somewhat taken aback at my words, sighed deeply and glanced at Bella.

"Fine, I'll go, you manipulative ass." He said flatly.

Bella shot her arms up in triumph before shouting 'YES!'. She playfully smacked his arm again before giggling.

Lyra forced a laugh out of her thick lips. "So, you're all coming?"

Bella and I nodded, as did Taylor, albeit he did reluctantly. Lyra instantly beamed as she whipped out her phone and began typing furiously, probably writing our names down on her invitee's list.

"Sweet! See you all there!"

Lyra walked off, flicking a flirtatious wink at Taylor. Oh, honey... not you too.

Bella began talking to some random cheerleader that was sitting next to her, as well as that Nicole girl that sent me that photo of her last night. Taylor started munching on his lunch, and I stared off into space, engulfing my coffee and a giant chocolate-chip cookie. Nicole tried to get my attention but I pretended I was too lost in thought.

I can't believe Taylor's going to a party. A Lyra party. When I go to those, I get uncomfortably drunk. Now that he's going, he's going to need someone to look out for him. Usually, I'd assume Bella would be the one to look out for him, but she gets completely wasted at parties too. She drinks the night away and tries to hook up with as many guys as she can.

I don't particularly want to leave Bella and Taylor alone together anyway. You know since he trusts her more with this secret than he does with me.

I guess I have to stay sober to keep him safe... not that it's that much of a burden to me. Gives me more of an excuse to be with him, and to keep Bella away.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I only just noticed that Taylor had picked up his tray and sat next to me.

"Hey bro, sorry, they started talking about periods. It's not a good thing to listen to when you're eating red shit." He said, gesturing to his plate.

I glanced to his tray and then back to him. I let out a chuckle before lightly clapping his shoulder.

"Red shit? You shouldn't eat that stuff man. Sounds kinda filthy."

Taylor let out a snort as he glanced back over at Bella. Periods are nasty, and they shouldn't be disclosed in a cafeteria where people are eating. Every time I hear someone talk about them I just casually remind myself how blessed I am to be a male human being. It's good not to have blood seep out of your privates.

"So," he began as he threw a tomato-sauce-covered-chip into his mouth, "What is a party, my good extrovert? And how does one go about in a party, without wanting to throw themselves from a balcony?"

I had laughed before I munched on a tater tot. "I still can't believe that you agreed to go to it. Whatever that secret is, it must be important to you."

Taylor stopped eating and glanced at Bella, who was making dumb animal noises to the girl she was talking to. "I can't believe she's blackmailing me with that. She knows how bad it is."

I lifted a brow and stuffed another tater tot into my maw. "It must be bad, you haven't even told me about it, and I know EVERYTHING about you."

When Taylor gets nervous, his body does some weird shit. His hands quiver, he cannot make eye contact for the life of him, and he stumbles over his words . Whatever this secret was, it was making him panic.

I threw another tater tot in my mouth as I side glanced him. "I doubt you'd tell me anyway; you obviously trust Bella more than me."

"I... I uh," he spluttered, seemingly lost for words. After a moment of his panicked mess of a sentence, he said evenly, "I'm sorry. If it makes you feel any better, it's got nothing to do with you. I.. promise. Yeah."

I rolled my eyes and smiled. "Whatever man. You're such a bad liar."

Well, obviously, the secret has something to do with me. Instantly my brain began to draw up false conclusions.

HA. What if the secret was that Taylor liked me? Or that he was gay?

That'd be funny. Too bad it's not going to happen. It's probably got something to do between them. Maybe they finally 'tied the knot'. Ugh.

Ignoring my statement, he began filling himself with the last of his food. I picked up my last tater tot and leant closer to him; eyebrow furrowed, lips pouting.

"Can't you just tell me, dude? You literally cried on me last night, I thought we were past having no secrets between us," I said, gritting my teeth at my words. 'No secrets.'

Taylor began to protest when the siren rang. The cafeteria erupted into a panic, the various students hurriedly eating the last of their lunch as they scurried to class.

"Gotta go, bye!" Taylor said quickly before grabbing his bag as fast as he could. He slipped and faded into the ocean of teenagers almost instantly, earning him a frown from me.

He might have gotten a free ticket out of that, but I am going to know his secret, one way or another.

T A Y L O R S P.O.V

Holy shit. Bella is now dead to me. Dead. Deader than my great grandpa. Completely dead.

How dare she use my secret to blackmail me? She KNOWS I hate parties so much. She knows how nervous I get. Why the fuck does she want to drag me into that horrid mess that is Lyra's parties? WHY?

I ran from Darko the moment I could. Apart from him knowing I have a secret now, he's also pissed at me because I didn't tell him what it was. YAY. I could probably throw Bella onto an electric fence right now.

I can't fucking tell him that I'm in love with him! Now he's suspicious, and it's all Bella's fault. ARGH! You think you could trust someone...

I angrily walked to Biology when I felt a hand on my shoulder. Seeing the red nail-polish, I instantly recognised that it was Bella.

Greeeaaatttt.

"Dude, thanks for waiting for me. Real sweet of you." Bella spat sarcastically. I shrugged her hand off and continued walking.

She bolted in front of me and folded her arms.

"Taylor, what's wrong? If this is about the period talk, then I'm sorry-"

"No, you ass, while I am annoyed that you talked about that stuff, I'm more concerned about how you forced me into saying yes to Lyra and making Darko suspicious. Like, I mean seriously?" I threw my arms in the air and groaned. "Why?!"

Bella smiled sweetly before placing a hand on my shoulder. I leant away slightly from her, confusion spreading across my face as she opened her mouth.

"Oh my god dude, hear me out." She began. I hesitantly nodded as she half smiled.

"Okay, using your secret against you was a terrible thing to do, and I'm sorry. But, I did all of this for you. Why did you think I asked Lyra if I could get you AND Darko to come? I'm trying to get you two to go to the party, man. Together? Do you see where I'm going with this?"

I furrowed my brows in confusion, which made Bella rock her head back and groan dramatically. Her orangey-red hair tumbled behind her back as she did so.

"I'm trying to set you two up, you door-knob. You know? After a few drinks, Darko probably wouldn't be able to tell you from a guy or a girl. This party could be your big moment, dude!"

I widened my eyes at the imagination of Darko and me getting naughty at Lyra's party, but I then narrowed it and directed my gaze at Bella.

"I'm still annoyed! Now he know's something's up! Way to keep my secret under the radar, jackass!" I shouted to her, earning a few looks from passerby's. She glared, but then turned away. She began walking to class when she began to speak again.

"Like I said, I'm sorry. If you want to hear the plan, I'll tell you all about it in Biology. You just have to trust me."

Rolling my eyes and mentally preparing myself for whatever plan Bella was conjuring, I trudged my feet towards class.