"So what are your plans for next Saturday?"

I ask Tyler when I pull away from a kiss. We're still in his Jeep out in front of my house. We've been 'saying goodbye' from our date for about fifteen minutes now. It's almost my curfew and I really hate to go.

"Just spending as much time with you is all, why?"

"Well, it's no big deal or anything, but it's my birthday so I was hoping to have a few friends over to my house for dinner and just hang out for the night. You know, you, me, Payton and the rest of our inner circle."

"It's your birthday next week?! Dang Lila, way to bury the lead. You almost made me the world's worst boyfriend, I had no idea! These are things I gotta know babe. You didn't give me much time to prepare." Tyler scoffs.

"You're ridiculous! How could you have known? We've been officially together for what, two hours?" I playfully hit Tyler in the chest. "Besides, like I said, I like to keep my birthday low key. I don't expect you to get me a gift or anything. Just being together is what I want. My mom always makes my favorite meal and we usually just play cards or watch a movie or something. Super chill."

"But what if I want to get you a gift?"

"Tylerrrr, seriously, I don't expect one at all. You already gave me the best gifts when you gave me your journal and then planned the best first date I could have ever dreamt of."

I lean into Tyler for another kiss on the lips. Hoping he'll drop it but that isn't the case and he pulls away after a second.

"Well I'm not showing up to your birthday dinner empty handed, that's for sure. I promise I won't do anything crazy, but you need to let me celebrate you, Lila."

"You're not going to let this go are you?"

"Never."

"You Johnson's can be so pushy sometimes." I say with sarcasm.

"You should be less worried about me and more worried about what Payton is going to do when she finds out next week is your birthday. She's ten times worse than I am and you know it."

We both laugh.

"You're probably right." I cup Tyler's face with my left hand one last time and plant a soft kiss on his cheek. "As much as I don't want to, I should probably get myself inside. I've seen my dad's shadow pacing the living room window a couple times already." I say with a sigh.

"You're right. I want to stay in his good graces. Your dad was a little scary when I came to get you tonight." Tyler lets out a small laugh. "Good night pretty girl."

"Good night."

*****

Tyler insisted on picking me up before school Monday morning. Of course I'm happy to spend as much time with him as possible, even when it means I'm not able to hit snooze on my alarm seven times like normal. Which for anyone who knows me well, knows that's a big sacrifice. Tyler did promise to get me a coffee before heading to school from the little cafe in town, proving further to me that he's a keeper.

"Good morning girlfriend."

Tyler emphasizes the girlfriend part when I climb into his passenger seat. He looks handsome and smells like citrus and spice. It's truly unfair that he can look and smell this good so dang early in the morning.

"Mmmmm, warmth." I mutter out.

I pull my freezing hands out in front of me, directly up to the air vents which are pumping the heat on full blast. The sun is barely up and the ground is covered in a thick layer of frost.

"Oh...and good morning to you too, boyfriend." I manage to get out, words are hard in the morning. It takes awhile for my brain to reboot.

"Ready to go?"

"Mmhmm."

I lean my tired head on Tylers chiseled arm on the center console and close my eyes.

"Why does high school have to start so early." I whisper out, mostly to myself and yawn.

Tyler bends his neck and kisses the top of my head as he drives us.

"Let's get you some coffee. That will cheer you up. Vanilla latte right?"

"Mmhmm." I agree, half asleep.

Before long we are parked out front of the little cafe on Main Street. I open one eyeball when Tyler puts his Jeep into park.

"Just wait here babe, I'll keep the car running so you can stay warm. Be right back with our drinks."

"Okay." I mumble out as he's climbing out of the car and I shift my head to lean on the passenger window.

When Tyler gets back in he has a jumbo sized chocolate chip muffin and our two drinks. I sit up straight and take the hot beverage from his hands.

"Thank you." I sniff the sweet scent of vanilla coffee that's steaming into the air.

"You looked like you could use a muffin too." Tyler jokes as I take my first sip.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I give him the eye.

"Absolutely nothing, babe. Just that you're the cutest girl I know, even when you're a sleepy little grump in the morning."

Tyler grins and gives me a quick peck on the cheek. His charming smirk and left dimple are too adorable for me to actually be mad at him for calling me out.

"I'm gonna let it slide that you called me a grump." I grab the muffin from Tyler's hand. "This does look good." I take a bite and smile. Tyler laughs some more.

Tyler pulls us into the school parking lot a few minutes later. We got here a little early which gives me some extra time to drink more sips of caffeine before we have to get out of Tyler's car and face the world. With each sip of the deliciously hot coffee my mind is waking up more and I visibly become happier in a matter of minutes.

"You about ready to head inside?"

"Yeah, we probably should. Tyler...?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you nervous at all?"

"Nervous about what?"

"You know.... having people figure out we're a couple. Don't get me wrong, that's not a bad thing. It's just that it was nice this weekend, being in "the bubble" of you and me. Only our closest friends knowing anything. The rest of the world unable to interfere with us."

I play with the strap on my backpack that's laying next to my feet. I'm realizing my head is still catching up to my heart. I'm completely thrilled to be officially Tyler's girlfriend, it's all I've wanted. But since it's all taken place so fast, I haven't fully processed it yet, it still doesn't feel real. Plus I know the way kids at school can gossip and blow things way out of proportion and I hate being the center of attention when it comes to stuff like this. Even if it's "good" attention, like dating the most popular guy in school that all the girls would kill to be with. It still makes my stomach feel a little uneasy.

"Hey, look at me." Tyler turns to me with sincerity in his ocean eyes. As if he knows exactly what I'm thinking about. "There's nothing to be nervous about. If anything, I'm excited that people will finally know you're off the market and all mine! Don't think I haven't noticed how ninety percent of the guys at our school look at you all the time. Now they will know if they do it again, they will have to answer to me." Tyler wears his proud arrogant smile. "I've wanted to call you my girlfriend for so long Lila and now I finally get to. So no, I'm not nervous at all, I'm happy people will know. I couldn't be happier to tell everyone I'm committed to you and only you."

Tyler's words make me smile and ease my mind some. Having him call me "his" makes my heart flutter in my chest and heat warm my cheeks.

"But if you're not ready for everyone to know just yet, I can understand that and we don't have to make it obvious."

"You'd do that for me?"

"I'd do just about anything for you Lila."

"No, it's ok. I'm happy people will know......I want everyone to know you're mine too. I just wish I could be as confident as you in front of everyone."

I slide my palms up and down my thighs, trying to rub out the last of my nerves before we get out of the car.

Tyler lets out a small laugh. "As confident as me? I think you're forgetting just how truly amazing and confident you are, Lila. You've impressed the crap outta me many times with how fierce you are time and time again. We may not show our confidence in the exact same ways as each other, you like to keep yours a little more hidden. But that doesn't make you any less confident. Just because you like keeping a lower profile except for around your inner circle shouldn't make you feel insecure. It's one of the many, many things that I love about you." Tyler pecks my lips. "But you don't need to worry, we'll do this together. I'll be by your side the whole time. I've got you."

"Thanks." I whisper.

Tyler gets out of his side and comes around to my door. Grabbing my waist he lifts me down from his car to the ground which wasn't totally necessary but was completely adorable. He takes my backpack in one hand, slinging it over his shoulder along with his and grabs my hand with his other one.

Walking into the school together I try to pretend like everything is completely normal. Mind over matter and all that. Having an extremely popular, six foot four football star holding your hand seems to make that wish impossible.....like I knew it would be. We get a lot of looks while we're walking down the hallways. Some are happy or shocked, most though, mainly from my fellow female classmates, appear a lot less thrilled to see us together. I do my best to ignore all the whispers and gauckers and let it roll off my back. Tyler isn't bothered in the slightest from all the attention, which makes sense I guess. He garners a lot of attention from the student body pretty much anywhere he goes so he's probably used to this. He can sense my hesitation and softly rubs his thumb over my hand to comfort me.

"I'll see you later in English, pretty girl. I'll be the one trying to concentrate on whatever Mrs. Sanders is lecturing about but really just thinking about how hot my book report partner is."

Tyler leans down and gives me a quick kiss on the cheek while I'm unloading books at my locker.

"You're ridiculous, I knew partnering with you was a bad idea, you never pull your weight." I smirk. He knows I'm joking. Tyler has actually been a really good partner, and I'm one hundred percent happy he picked me.

"Whatever. You can deny it all you want, but you love being my partner."

"Think what you want, big guy." I pat his chest.

"Alright, I really need to go, but this isn't over! You think you're so funny now but you'll pay for those words later." Tyler taunts.

I have a big smile on my face as I watch Tyler disappear out of view. I think again about how happy I am. Only a few short months ago I was brand new in town, dreading this year, afraid I wouldn't make any friends at all. Now I've got my very own girl tribe of besties, a team full of girl boss athletes turned friends and now a boyfriend?! Life sure can be surprising sometimes.

I'm grabbing my books about to head to first hour math when a particularly snarky redhead appears beside me.

"Well don't you look chipper this morning, Lila."

"Hello to you too Quinn. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I'll cut straight to the point. I wanted to come congratulate you on getting with TJ. Take it from me, have fun while it lasts."

Quinn looks like she just ate something sour. Or maybe that's just her face, hard to tell.

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" I fire back.

"What? You know TJ's reputation. He doesn't like to settle down for long. I bet he'll be onto his next flavor of the month by Christmas."

The side of Quinn's mouth pulls into an evil smirk, she's enjoying trying to get into my head but I refuse to let her.

"No, that's just how TJ feels about you Quinn. He never got much out of being with such a shallow, petty person which is why he broke up with you and had to keep denying you every time you came crawling back." Payton tells Quinn off as she walks up to us.

The rest of my girlfriends come up from behind me and stand beside me, glaring at the tall, bitter red head.

"Thanks for your concern, but I'm not worried about Tyler and I." I add dryly.

"Suit yourself, but don't say I didn't warn you."

Quinn eyes our group up and down then turns around, sauntering away from us and over to some group of senior lacrosse players.

"She's unbelievable. Don't listen to a word she says." Kelly chimes in once Quinn's gone.

"She's all talk. She's trying to seem smug but deep down she's totally jealous you were able to get TJ to commit when she tried a million times and never could." Rachel adds.

"It's alright. I'll just keep ignoring her the way I have since the start of the year."

"Good, don't waste any of your time on that girl, she's not worth it." Payton puts her arm around my shoulder as the five of us start to walk to our classes. "Besides, a little birdie told me it's someone's birthday week, there's no time for Quinn's drama!"

Payton beams at me with a mischievous grin.

"Before you get any crazy ideas, please just remember how much I don't love the entire school staring at me." I give Payton a pleading look.

"But it's your birthday! Everyone needs a little attention on their birthday!" Payton rebuttals.

"It's not my birthday yet. It's not until Saturday. Speaking of which, would you all want to come over for dinner and to hang out Saturday night? The guys are invited too. We can play games and stuff and then you girls can stay the night if you want after."

"That sounds great, count us in." Claire says.

"Oooh I have a bunch of face masks I've been dying to try, we can go full on spa night!" Kelly adds excitedly.

"Sounds perfect." I smile. " Ok this is me, see you all at lunch."

The girls echo their goodbyes and walk to their respective first hour classes.