AN: very poorly edited, sorry...

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After I finished, I quickly left the classroom, not wanting to hear anyone's opinions on my poem. I was far too bashful and insecure to hear a negative comment, so I opted for the hit and run method. Once the boys realized this, they followed me to meet Xavier -- Cole speeding up to reach me and grab my bag. We eventually got to Xavier's classroom and began our journey to the cafeteria. On the way, I saw Sarah and decided to invite her to eat with us. Though she seemed on the fence at first because of the guys' presence, she eventually decided she'd join us. We all played for our food and found a table.

And that's where we are now, sitting at the table and chatting mindlessly.

"So, your guys' poem were great," Coco comments. And before I get the chance to mutter a thank you, he continues.

"And common, dude," he playfully hit Ash on the arm. "How could you one-up me like that? Totally not fair." Ash chuckles at his pouty face; as do I.

"What are you guys talking about?" Sarah questions.

"Oh nothing, just how we had to share poems and shit in Mrs. Baldwin's class," Ash answers.

"Yeah, and how Ashton basically serenaded

Avelyn in front of everybody. Not fair, now he seems like the romantic one," Cole huffs, crossing his arms over his chest like a kid throwing a tantrum.

"Yeah, Cole's right. That isn't fair. Especially because I didn't get to write Avelyn a poem," Xavier agrees, and I giggle. He turns his attention to me and says, "But don't worry, princess. You'll get your love poem soon enough. You can bet on that." He winks at me, and I flush a deep scarlet.

"Soo..." Sarah drawls, and I turn my head to give her my attention.

"Yeah?" I ask.

"Are you guys, like, a thing?" She finishes.

"What do you mean?" Xavier asks, and she blushes at his attention.

"Y'know, are you guys dating? Like all of you?" I look to the boys because I honestly have no clue. They seem to have the same thoughts as I do, but Ashton is the one to answer, speaking for all of us then himself.

"We don't know yet. But I personally wouldn't be opposed to it." I direct my gaze to him, completely flabbergasted.

'Did he really just say he'd date me? In front of the other boys, no less?'

But Xavier and Cole don't seem to mind, as big grins begin to form on their handsome faces.

"Yeah, none of us would mind, actually," Xavier chimes, and Cole nods in agreement.

"Wait, do you guys mean, like, individually or all together?" Sarah asks, looking completely baffled.

"We-," Ashton's voice is cut off by the bell, and unlike last time, I'm irritated and far from relieved. I actually really wanted to hear what Ashton had to say. Damnit, these stupid bells.

"How about we talk about this later." Xavier's request is directed towards me, so I nod in reply. We trek our way to gym, which I'm not too excited for. Mr. Brown ruined it for me.

When we arrived, Sarah and I split up from my boys so we can all change. Once her and I have done just that, and we're about to head back into the gym, she stops me. There are only a few girls left in the locker room at this time, so I guess she decided now would be a good time to comment on what happened at lunch.

"Oh my God, girl!" She exclaims. "How come you get to have three super hot boyfriends, and I can't even get one?!" I get a few odd looks from the lingering girls in the changing room, accompanied with a few nasty glares. But if I'm being honest, pretty much every girl has been glaring at me from the moment I stepped into this damn school, so I really couldn't care less at this point.

I roll my eyes. "Come on, you don't know that's what they meant. And besides, you're one of the prettiest girls I've ever met; I'm sure there are guys flocking over you."

"Pshh, whatever," she says. "No guy can even think about being with another girl once they've seen you. You're literally the most beautiful girl I, and anyone else, have ever seen. There's no competing with you, Avelyn. You're perfect." Her voice is more of a whisper at the end, and her head is downcast. I reach out and clutch her chin in my thumb and forefinger, as each of the boys have done to me.

Her eyes meet mine, and I smile softly. "Sarah, you're amazing; you're beautiful, smart, and funny. If anyone in here is perfect, it's you, and I'm so happy that I get to call you my friend. My best friend." She smiles in response, tears gleaming in her hazel eyes.

"You're my best friend too, and I'm so happy that I wrote you that stupid note." My smile grows tenfold at her proclamation.

"Now come on." My voice sounds much more elated than previously. "Let's go out there and show everyone just how amazing you really are." With that, I link her arm in mine, and we exit the locker room and make our way into the gym. We see the guys and tread over to them, smiles adorning our faces.

"Well don't you guys look happy," Cole comments.

"We sure are, Coco." It's at this time that Mr. Brown makes his entrance -- late as ever. I roll my eyes out of annoyance and huff. He sees this, chuckles, and says, "Is something wrong Miss Gravaldi?"

"No sir, nothing. Nothing at all," I answer.

"That's what I thought," he chuckles.

"Bastard," I whisper, too quiet for human ears. But he isn't, so I know he heard me. Especially when I hear him let out a quiet laugh with the shake of his head. The boys smile at me, having also heard my annoyance unravel. Sarah turns to me and gives me an unreadable look. Probably just as fed up with Ian as I am.

'That's why she's my new bestfriend. After my boys, of course. She's number two, while they all hold the rank of number one.'

"Alright students, today we're going to be playing one of my favorites: dodgeball," Mr. Brown announces. There are mixed reactions throughout the room; some are excited, while others groan in boredom. But me, I've never played dodgeball before, so I wouldn't know if I like it or not.

☆☆☆

Update: I hate dodgeball.

At first I kept getting pelted with multiple balls, as I didn't know what to do, and there wasn't a chance for someone to explain the rules to me before a shit ton balls were flying through the air. Throughout the game the only people who throw balls at me are the girls who constantly throw me nasty glares and speak behind my back, as if I can't hear them.

Never have I been a very violent person, but I right now I want nothing more than to blast them with some of my magic. Very frequently, I have to stop and remind myself that doing so would cost me to be locked away, disected, and experimented upon.

'If only they knew.'

The boys are able to save me a lot of the time, but every once and awhile, they're too caught up playing the game to save me. Though, they do put in a great effort at avenging me by purposely not catching the balls the girls try to throw at me but inevitably miss -- which they could have done easily -- and throwing it back at the girls. They don't throw them that hard; just enough to get the point across. The point: don't fuck with me, bitches.

Surprisingly, Sarah is actually really good at dodgeball. Girl can really swing 'em.

15 minutes before the bell rings, Mr. Brown blows his whistle, telling us it's time to get changed. So we all leave to our respective locker rooms. Sarah is walking next to me, and as she lifts her hand to tuck the lock of brown hair that falls in her face, she gasps.

"What's wrong?" I ask, and she looks at me frantically.

"Shit! I lost my earring. It must have fallen out while we were playing; I have to find it! They were given to me by my grandmother."

"Don't worry, I'll help you look. Where do you remember having it last?" I ask.

"U-um... I don't know. Can you go check on that side of the gym while I check on this side?" She asks, pointing to two opposite walls.

"Of course I will. Don't worry, we will find them. But we have to hurry; we only have like ten minutes left till the end of class." With those last words, we part, walking to two seperate sides of the gymnasium. After about five minutes of rushed searching, I hear Sarah shout across the gym.

"I found it! Thank God! I almost had a heart attack!" She starts to put the jewelry back into her ear, and I giggle at her presumptuous behavior and call back, "Good! If we start getting dressed now, maybe we won't be late."

I'm about to walk over to her but she stops me, saying, "Don't worry about me; you go get dressed I'll be in, in a sec. I'm almost done putting this back in. If I start walking without it in, I'm afraid I'll lose it again." She laughs at herself, and I join her, nodding my head and walking back to the girl's locker room. As I'm entering, most of the girls begin to trickle out, most likely because they've all finished changing, and the bell is about to ring.

I get dressed in the remaining five minutes of class, confused as to where Sarah is. I mean, she was only putting in an earring; it shouldn't take that long. Once I've finished packing my bag and am about to leave the changing room, Sarah finally enters with a face of disgust. And immediately, I can tell something happend.

"Hey, what's wrong, Sarah?" I ask.

"Oh nothing," she answers. "Just Mr. Brown being his normal piggy-self. He's so disgusting, always hitting on literally everything that breathes and has a pulse. It's honestly so repulsive; I can't even with that guy. How did he even get hired to be a teacher?" She rolls her eyes, and I giggle at her hysterics.

"Oh thank goodness, I thought something happened to you," I sigh. Then I answer her question. "And really don't know how he got a teaching job; I've been wondering the same thing," I laugh. The bell rings then, and I realize that Sarah hasn't changed yet.

"You better hurry if you don't want to be late," I warn.

"Eh, I'll be fine; I have a study hall period after this, and the teacher is cool. I doubt he'll care that I'm late. I don't even think he pays enough attention to notice that half of the class just ditches anyway. You'd better go, though. I'm sure your boyfriends are waiting anxiously for your return," she giggles, and I huff.

"Whatever, they aren't my boyfriends."

"But you want them to be," she taunts.

"So what if I do?"

"Jus-," she gets cut off by a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" Sarah and I call simultaneously.

"It's us, babe. If we don't leave now, we'll all be late," Ashton calls from outside. I look to Sarah.

"Are you sure you'll be fine? Y'know, with Mr. Brown still here," I ask.

"I'll be fine. No need to fret. If he tries anything, I'll scream." Even with her answer, I'm still worried. She doesn't know that he's a vampire, so she doesn't know that he's dangerous.

'But surely he won't try anything at school, right? Right. He may be a pig, but he isn't stupid enough to attack a girl at school.'

Still though, I ask once more just to be sure, but she practically shoves me out the door, yelling, "Get the hell outta here! Your boyfriends are waiting!"

My boys and I leave. They ask what took so long, and I answer by explaining what happened with her losing her earring and having a run in with Ian. Xavier and I end up making it back to the classroom with about four seconds to spare. I'm assuming the boys made it as well, but I have no clue at this point. And I'm sure they'll be fine either way, though.

Since it is a study hall, and I've already finished all of my homework in each of my classes, I've nothing to do but to sit and ponder. One such thing that comes to mind is the term Boyfriends, and the fact that the boys did say that they'd date me -- which still has me internally sqealling. They also said that we'd discuss it later, so I'm hoping we'll talk about it once we get home.

☆☆☆

We've just arrived home, and I'm feeling pretty antsy. I'm nervous to talk about our relationship. I know that we've only just met, but like I said many times, I've known of them for a long time. I just didn't know that it was them.

Lately, my tattoos have been buzzing quite frequently, as if constantly itching to be in their embrace. I don't know if that's just a guardian thing, or if it's a weird Avelyn thing.

Either way, I feel a sort of connection to them, and I don't think it just derives from them being my Given. So, I feel like any other person would understand why I'd want a sort of finality. Not that I'm asking to be their girlfriend or anything; I don't particularly care. It's not like I've ever had a boyfriend before. I'd just like to know, so I'm not always dwelling on the unknowns or the what-ifs. There's a sort of freedom in knowing; one that I'd like to actually experience for once in my godforsaken existence.

We all plop down on the two couches in the living room. Cole next to me, and Ashton and Xavier on the other couch.

"Damn, today was way to fucking long. Mrs. Schneider's voice makes me want to tear my ears off, it's that fucking obnoxious," Cole groans beside me, leaning back on the couch and throwing his arm over his face, covering his beautiful fire eyes.

"Tell me about it," Ash sighs.

"I don't think she's that bad. At least she's a decent teacher," Xavier chuckles.

I'm silent, still caught up in my thoughts, and they all seem to notice my lack of verbality.

"Kitten, what's troubling you?" Coco quizzes.

"Oh nothing, I just," I pause, too embraced to get the words out. I take a breath, finding the words, grabbing ahold of them, and yanking them out of my mouth. "I just want to know what we are. You guys said we'd talk about it later, and it's later. I know that I probably sound desperate or something, but I'm not. I'm just... confused, I guess," i admit, shyly.

Cole, on my right side, grabs ahold of my right hand, and Xavier and Ashton both stand -- Ashton finding his place on my other side, and Xavier directly in front of me, rubbing my knee comfortably.

"Princess, we don't think you sound desperate at all, and even if you are, we're just as desperate as you. The truth is, we all want to pursue you. Even though none of us knows what that'll entail in the future; we still want to try."

"So let me get this straight. You all want to date me... at the same time? Together?"

"Yes, that is what I'm saying," Xavier confirms.

"That is, unless you don't want to." His face looks so somber. You'd think someone just stole his puppy, and I can't believe that he'd feel like that at the mere thought of my rejection.

"No, no, no. I mean yes! I mean no. Ugh, what I'm trying to say is I'd love to date all of you. Because I have feelings for each one of you, and I've been feeling pretty guilty about it. I don't want to drive a wedge between you. No, I won't. I care for you all too much to do that to you. I'll only do this if you're sure that it is what you want. Don't just do it for me."

"We're sure, baby," Ashton says.

"Never been more sure of something in my entire life," Cole chimes, and the biggest smile begins to stretch across my face. It's so big that it begins to hurt.

'That's what she said.'

Shut up Ava; it's not the time. You're ruining the moment. I giggle and wrap my arms around them, forming a group hug. And damn if it's not the best hug I've ever encountered. My forehead is pressed against Xavier's, and Cole and Ashton's heads are nuzzled in my neck. Smelling me, I'm assuming. But surprisingly, I don't find it weird, and in fact comforting.

"You guys are the best," I gush. And it's at this moment that I realize that I feel more for them than I'd ever imagined. That it isn't just affection I feel for them. It's something so much more.

"I love you."

Sadly, I'm too much of a bitch to actually say it aloud. And I'm also too afraid that they'll eventually realize that I'm not worth it or worthy enough for their love and affection, so I keep my thoughts to myself. They linger there, like a fire that can never be never fully extinguished.

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Sorry for the poor editing. I didn't really have time to edit this, but I hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway. I'm just gonna keep this short and sweet and tell you thank you for reading the chap and thanks for commenting. It's always always nice to know what people's opinions are on the book. Okay, that's all.

Goodbye, and as always, until next time...

Sincerely,

The Annoying Author Lady