Amber's pov:

After everyone agreed to hangout at the cafe that we went to last time, the bell rings, signaling the end lunch.

Sighing, I swing my book bag on my shoulder and pick up my garbage.

"Let me help." Damien says, taking some of the wrappers out of my hand to put on his lunch tray.

"Thank you." I smile, walking beside him to the garbage cans to throw my remaining wrappers away.

Damien throws away his tray before turning towards me, "I'll walk you to class."

"You do that everyday anyways." I tease, earning a poke in the side from him.

"I know, I'm such a gentlemen aren't I?"

"Indeed you are." I giggle.

Walking side by side, we exit the cafeteria and towards my classroom.

"So did you mention the idea of hanging out after school so that we can tell them about-... you know." He tries to hide his smile by biting his lower lip.

The simple action puts my heart into over drive.

He will never understand the effect that he has on me, and I don't plan on telling him because I'm afraid that once he knows, he will do it more often.

I'll have you know I plan on making it past 40 years old, Damien Black. I don't need a heart attack at age 17.

"Yes," I blush, "I wanted to tell them somewhere we won't have nosy students surrounding us in every direction."

"Why not, I would love people to know that I have the most amazing, beautiful, and smart girl-..."

My cheeks turn red as I nudge him away, "Stop... you are so embarrassing" I whine.

He laughs, "You love it."

"Hmmm-... I don't think so."

"Well I-..."

"Hiiiiiii you twooo." I feel an arm around my shoulder as a body squishes its way between Damien and I.

"Oh, it's you." Damien pushes Liam's arm off of his shoulder, but he puts it right back.

"Oh it's you." Liam mocks in a high pitched tone.

Damien glares.

"Any-who, hate to interrupt you guys seconds away from getting down and dirty in the middle of the school hallway, but-..."

"LIAM!"

"Hey-hey hear me out love birds, I need help with something."

Damien and I share a look before looking back at him.

"With what?" I ask, getting a dramatic sigh in return from him.

"Before I tell you though, promise me that you won't think of me as some weak p*ssy."

"We won't-..."

"It depends." Damien challenges, getting a pinch to the side.

"OW-... ow OKAY!!" Damien whines, holding the spot where Liam pinched him.

"Pinkie promise?" Liam holds out his pinkie for Damien and I to pinkie promise him.

After that, he takes a deep breath before mumbling, "how do you casually tell your crush that you want to hang out with them?"

...

"HAH YOU P-..." Liam covers Damien's mouth before he had the chance to finish.

"See, I knew you guys would laugh!" Liam groans.

I shake my head, "I didn't laugh, I honestly find it cute." I giggle, pinching Liam's cheek.

Liam pouts at my assault on his cheek, "I'm not cute."

"Around Zander you are though. Just the mention of his name gets you all flustered." I pat his head before pulling my hand away.

"But in my defense, he's hella attractive. If you were in my shoes, you would feel the same exact way." Liam tries to argue, but it only causes a chuckle from Damien and I.

"Whatever you say, lover boy."

"It's true! He's fit and muscular as f*ck, he's got an extraordinary plump ass, and his jaw line-... ugh don't even get me started. I could write a fifty page essay on all the ways his body could-..."

"Okay!" I clap my hands together, stopping him from continuing.

As much as I love Liam to death...

I don't want to know.

Am I scared?

Yes.

For the safety of my mentality?

Yes.

For my ability to ever view life the same way again?

Yes.

*shivers*

"So what should I say?" Liam asks again.

"Just ask if you want to hangout, don't make it so complicated." Damien shrugs his shoulders.

Liam whines, "You dumb dumb, you know I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because he lives like, a few hours from here."

"Ohhhh yeah... that is a problem isn't it?" Damien chuckles, earning another pinch.

"Ow—... ABUSE!"

"Yes, it is quite a problem, now I'm going to have to make up an actual valid reason for him to come and see me."

"You shouldn't have to make it up, just be honest. Tell him that you are interested in him and want to get to know him better." I say, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"But what if he isn't interested back-..."

"Oh trust me," I point towards his phone, indicating the photo that he sent earlier today, "he's definitely interested."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

We soon arrive to my classroom and I wave to the boys before entering and taking my seat.

I pull out my homework a read over my answers before my teacher comes in to collect it, but as I am doing so, I get a weird, unsettling feelings.

Looking up for my homework, I take a peak behind me to find someone staring dead at me with a scowl on their face.

Annabelle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I will take the same." I say towards the waiter, liking what Julie ordered off the menu.

"Trust me, you will like it." Julie smiles my way, collecting my menu from my hand and passing it to the waiter.

"I'll take your word for it." I tell her, before taking a sip of my water.

After school, we all made our way towards a small restaurant, hoping to arrive early to beat the crowd.

Julie sat on my left, Damien on my right, and Liam in front of me.

Just like lunch, Liam continued to raise his eyebrows at me and nod his head towards Damien in a suggestive way.

No matter how many times I kicked him under the table, gave him dirty looks, or texted him to stop being obvious, he in fact didn't stop.

I knew that Damien and I had to tell our friends soon or else they would be finding out from Liam.

...

And that scares me.

I can't blame him though, he did in fact say that he was bad at keeping secrets.

Again, I've known Liam since preschool, sometimes, he really can't help it.

But he's right though, this is something that we shouldn't just keep pushing off. They are our friends, I am certain that the majority of them want us together anyways.

It wasn't that hard to pick up their constant stares between Damien and I, and how they would nudge Damien to say something towards me.

But we want to tell them in a way so they won't react like Liam did because again...

Liam FAINTED.

Overdramatic?

Very much.

Should I have expected it?

Probably.

Was it Damien's fault?

Absolutely.

But Liam is my best friend and overall, I love him... even if he does drive me crazy.

Like now.

He was again making kissy faces across the table while pointing at Damien, who was focused on playing tic-tac-toe with Luke on the back of a kids menu.

Where they got the kids menu?

I have no idea.

If they asked for it from the waiter, I missed it. But I am highly convinced that they just stole it when the hostess walked away for a second or two.

I wouldn't be surprised.

"Dangit!!" Luke groans, throwing his crayon across the table in anger.

"Hun, it's just a game." Ella giggles, running her hands through the back of Luke's hair.

"He cheated."

"I did not, tic-tac-toe may just not be your game."

"Of course it is! Ally, give me the score."

She looks down at her tally chart before back up at the boys, "14 to 0, Damien."

"What-.. I won that one time!"

"Sweetie, that was a tie, it doesn't mean you won." Ella says, earning an annoyed sigh from Luke.

"You know what," Luke reaches over and grabs his crayon, "I rather color my giraffe anyways." He flips over his kids menu and begins to silently color, earning a laugh from the rest of us.

"You don't want to do best out of fifteen?" Damien jokes.

Without giving him a spare glance, Luke gives him the middle finger.

"Julie!"

"One step ahead of you," Julie uses the hair tie on her wrist to sling shot the back of Luke's head.

"What-.. OW!!!" Luke cries, holding the back of his head before shooting Julie a glare.

"That's what you get for swearing in my presence."

"But I didn't say anything!"

"You hand motioned it." Gianna points out, earning a glare from Luke also.

"Frick you Gianna, let me express myself in peace."

"Anyone need anything?" The waiter comes back at the right time, stopping their bickering.

"Can I have more water?" I give my glass to the waiter.

"Thirsty?" Liam whispers from across the table with a smirk.

"Shut up." I harshly whisper back, kicking his foot from under the table.

"Are you perhaps, nervous for something?" He laughs evilly, knowing that I am nervous as heck.

The thing is, there is absolutely nothing to be nervous about.

I am one of those people who get nervous for absolutely no reason.

...

It's definitely anxiety.

"So when do you want to..." Damien whispers in my air, tickling my skin.

I turn away from Liam and towards Damien who was giving me a toothy grin.

"Now?" I ask, looking at the rest of our friends who were making fun of Luke's giraffe.

It seems he had a little difficulty... coloring in the lines.

"Sure, whenever you are ready." Damien motions me with his hand towards everyone else.

I take a deep breath and open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out.

I turn back towards Damien with a pout, "I'm nervous," I whisper.

"There's nothing to be nervous about."

"I know."

"Well if you don't tell them, I will."

"Can you?!" I smile cheekily, clapping my hands together.

"Yes, but I'm going to tell them my way."

"What's your way-..."

"EVERYONE!" Damien yells, hitting his fork against his glass obnoxiously.

"What-... Damien, wait-..."

"Shhhhhh."

Everyone turns towards Damien with confusion on their face.

"What-..."

"SHHHHHHH." Damien shushes Luke and signals with his hand for everyone to be quiet.

"Oh god." I shove my face in my hands, not liking this at all.

Liam on the other hand is practically jumping in his seat.

"I have good news!"

"You're pregnant!"

Luke gets hit three times in the back of the head simultaneously from Julie, Gianna, and Ella.

"Ugh..."

"Shhhh-... stop interrupting," Julie turns towards Damien with a small smile, "continue."

"Amber and I are-..."

"Gianna!!" Luke whines.

"What happened?" Julie turns towards them.

"She said, 'that's what you get,' how rude!"

"What? It's true!" Gianna says.

"Hey!" Everyone looks back at Damien, "SHHH, this is a very important announcement."

"Sorry." The three of them apologize.

"Now back to what I was saying, Amber and I are-..."

"Hello again everyone, I have your food-..." Damien turns towards the waiter with a glare before shushing him.

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHH."

"I-..."

"Watch this is steaming hot-..."—Another waiter.

"SHHHHHHHHHHH."

"Oh food!"— Luke.

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHH."

"Sir please take this, it's hot."——Waiter.

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."

"Luke, shut up."—- Gianna.

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."

"Sir-..."——Waiter.

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."

"No you!"—-Luke.

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."

"SIR!!!!!"——Waiter.

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."

"Guys be quiet."——- Julie

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."

"He started it!"—-Gianna.

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."

"Nuh- Uh!!"—-Luke.

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."

"My hands are burning!!!!!"——Waiter.

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."

"Mom can I-..."—-random child.

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."

"HEY-..."—— Angry mother.

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."

"Bark bark woof woof."—- dog.

"EVERYONE BE QUIET!" Damien stands up from his seat, silencing the whole entire restaurant.

"Excuse me sir, I'm going to have to ask you to sit-..."

"Shut it manager-looking guy!"

"How dare-...."

"AMBER AND I ARE DATING!"

...

"Well why didn't you just say that earlier?"—-Luke

"Don't shush my daughter!!"—- Angry mother

"Bark bark woof woof"—- dog

CRASH

The plate in the waiter's hand falls.

"You all are banned from coming here again."—-Manager.

BAM

Julie fainted.

"NOT AGAIN!"