chapter one – delinquents and apple pie

Ya know, I very much enjoyed staying under the radar in high school. When I was younger I was very close with 2/3 of the Preston playboys (of course that nickname didn't start still high school.) That I was as popular as the boys. Preston's are always popular and almost always the boys in the family are notorious playboys but that's a story for later. We were born on the same day only a room apart. Our Dad's played football together in high school so it would make sense that we would grow up together.

Kevin, Devin & I were always really good friends but Marc and I... Marc and I had a different kind of relationship. While Kevin and Devin would fight anybody that picked on me, Marc was always standing along side whoever my bully was at the time. I never cared for any of my bullies but Marc made my blood boil. Maybe it was the evil smile on his four year old face when he would pull at my curls or the evil laugh he would do when we were eight and he had just got done knocking over my Lego towers. But I hated him for it. Elementary school wasn't that bad because boys still had cooties.

Middle school was where it got bad because that's when boys started looking cute and let me tell you, I did not have a thing for blonde haired athletes like the older triplets. Of course I had to have a crush on the "bad boy." As bad as a 11 year old boy could be. It didn't help that adults would always say that boys pick on you when they like you because by that standard Marc was in love with me. I harbored that crush for all of 6th and 7th grade. It's really embarrassing how much I liked that toad. All the family dinners I was invited to where I would peer over at him through my thick curls. What makes things worse is that the only person that knows about my crush on him is the devil himself because in 8th grade I asked him to be my date to the Spring formal. Do you know how embarrassing it is to be rejected? And not even publicly. I guess Marc was feeling nice that day because he took me to the side and told me he didn't like me. He wasn't even being mean, he just looked uncomfortable.

He didn't pick on me or even talk to me (not like he was even talking to me when he wasn't picking on me before) for the rest of the year. Marc went to high school with us for three months before he got sent to a boarding school for troubled boys after he started a locker room brawl with the football team for the hell of it. During those three months the boys and I started drifting apart. There was no falling out, we just started getting busy with our own lives. The boys joined the football team, I joined art club and Marc joined a gang ( I'm kidding about that part haha.) We started making new friends and slowly we stopped hanging out with each other as much. There was no hard feelings. We would smile and wave at each other in the hallway. Marc would always make it a point to smile and say "Hi thick Thea!" which earned a glare from me. When I had art club outside while the boys had football practice, I would always cheer them on.

When Marc left it seemed like the waving and cheering slowly stopped. It got to the point where we wouldn't even acknowledge each other in the hallways but that's just how high school is. We grow out of our childhood and shape our adulthoods.

The boys made friends with the other football players and I made my own little misfit group of friends. Laurel was my girl best friend throughout childhood and we never grew apart. You can spot her from a mile away by her overly perky walk and her loud projections of positivity. We met Millie sophomore year when she moved to Eastview from Oklahoma. She's always sporting dual braids and her accent is adorable. Charlie and Mick joined us Junior year when their main group of friends all graduated. They are actually close friends with the boys older sisters May & Sage. Mick graduated last year and now its just the 4 of us.

"Hey thick Thea" Marc fell into step next to me.

"Hey M-Marc" I rolled my eyes and I noticed Marc's intense frown.

"Hey Thea" Another voice belonging to Kevin said from the other side of me.

"Hey" I sighed. Unwanted attention is bound to follow them.

We walked down the crowded corridor in silence for a few seconds with eyes following us until Kevin spoke.

"What class do you have now?" Kevin asked and I assumed he was talking to Marc as Kevin and I have the same Home Ec class next. "Thea?"

I looked over at Kevin with a frown.

"We've been in Home Ec together since sophomore year" I rolled my eyes and from my peripherals I saw Marc give Kevin a 'are you stupid?' kind of look.

"Oh" is all Kevin said.

"This is great! We all have the same class this period" Marc grinned and I groaned. 42 minutes with my ex best friend who barely recognizes me and stupid Marc.

Charlie appeared near us as he also had the same class as us. The look of confusion evident on his face. I had told the group chat about what had happened yesterday and got a whole bunch of responses. Including one from Mick who was in college with the boys older sister, Sage, letting me know that he had known for a week about Marc's return.

"Why is your hand in her hair?" Charlie asked.

"What?" I frowned and turned to look at Marc but the sharp pull on my hair stopped me. "Ow!"

"Yeah, my ring got stuck a few minutes ago" Marc spoke with no concern.

"And you didn't tell me! Why were you even touching me?" I gasped.

"I dunno" Marc shrugged.

"I seriously hate you" I groaned.

20 minutes went by and we finally got Marc's ring out of my curls. The worst part of all of this is that now Marc is my partner since he sat at the same station as me.

"Thea, can you explain to Marc about the term project? It's so nice of you to offer to be his partner" Mrs. Thompson smiled at me.

I'd like to punch Marc in the throat right now. Does he know how much work this project is going to be? Designing a whole dinner recipe and actually cooking it. If he makes me do the whole project by myself I'll kill him. But then again do I really want to spend that much time with him.

"So I guess we'll be meeting at my house then?" Marc said suddenly.

"What?"

"My Mom has the kitchen all decked out so it's the best place" He grinned.

"Wait-"

"I'll drive you there after school" Marc nodded to himself.

"Marc-" and then the bell rang.

"Bye Thea!"

The day went by faster than usual, probably because I was dreading dealing with Marc. I was not going back to the Preston house. Do you know how weird that would be? Hey guys! I haven't been here in years and the first time I come back is with your delinquent son that used to torment me! We're just going to be in the kitchen baking apple pie! Yeah, no.

"Wyatt, save me!" I ran towards my brothers car. There he was again, in his pajamas.

"What's going on?" He looked up from his phone. "Is that Marc?"

"Drive" I latched myself onto the car door.

"You're not even in the car" Wyatt snorted.

"It's fine. Garbage men do it all the time. Just drive" I rushed him but Wyatt wasn't budging.

"Thea! Where are you going? I'm supposed to drive you to my house to work on the project" Marc said, out of breath from chasing me.

Wyatt's mouth turned into an 'o' shape and he shook his head.

"Thea, get off the car" Wyatt laughed and I groaned but did what he said.

"Okay" Wyatt nodded. "Bye" and then I was watching his car drive down the road.

"I hate my brother" I groaned.