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A week had passed since John and I made up and we were getting on like a house on fire. We'd quickly fallen back into our old routine, the way everything was before I left. Spending majority of our time together and having so much fun.

During these times, sometimes the topic of Australia would come up and things would get a bit tense. I knew he was concerned about what made my mum and I leave, but I wasn't ready to tell him.

I just wanted to avoid thinking about it.

After school on a Tuesday, I was walking by myself towards the school gate with my jacket hood up and earphones in. I noticed two guys who I didn't recognise standing near the gate, smoking what definitely weren't cigarettes.

I sighed and turned my music up slightly as I prepared to walk past them. Just when I walked past the taller guy, I felt a whoosh of air near my bum and I knew what was about to happen.

I swear time seemed to slow down, enough for me to reach behind me and grab an incoming hand.

I turned on my heels, still holding the stranger's hands in a tight grip, meeting his surprised gaze.

"Try that again and you'll lose it." I said in the most intimidating voice I could muster, squeezing his wrist tightly before letting go. He winced, holding it to his chest and staring at me shocked.

Looking at him closer, I realised he was quite attractive. He was tall and lanky, with dark skin, cornrows and two silver ear piercings. After overcoming his surprise he shot me a brilliant white smile.

"Sorry love, I was just trying to tap your lower back." He told me in a surprisingly deep voice. I scoffed, ready to leave when another voice stopped me.

"Dude... that was so badass!" His companion cheered, staring at me with hooded eyes. I grinned back at him, fist bumping him.

He had dirty blonde hair which was tied in a messy man bun and dull brown eyes.

"Thanks, man. I thought I came across pretty intimidating, what do ya think?" I asked, eager for constructive criticism.

He shrugged, taking another drag of his... whatever. "I feel like the insult was pretty common, but you had the element of surprise when you grabbed his hand."

I nodded, mentally taking notes. "Anyway, who are you guys? I'm sure you don't go to this school."

The black guy gave me a shady looking smile. "This is Ian." He introduced, waving a hand to his friend who was singing softly to himself.

"And I'm Cyrus." He must have seen my expression because he sighed. "Yes, like Miley Cyrus."

I couldn't help but giggle. "Cool name. Is Hannah a nickname?" He ignored my lame joke, but Ian laughed hysterically.

"Anyway, you're Chloe, right?" Cyrus asked with a lazy grin on his face. I nodded curiously.

"We're friends of John, that's how I've heard of you." He explained and I breathed in relief. "I wanted to er, tap you earlier to confirm it was you."

"Are you waiting for John or something?" I asked and he nodded. I shrugged.

"Sorry but I haven't seen him much today." Cyrus frowned at that.

"Weird because he should be spending all of his time with you." I nodded slowly, confused as to why he would say that.

"I'm nodding in confusion." I told him and he laughed, but it sent shivers up my spine. Cyrus peered at me closely.

"I see why he's so fond of you." Is all he said, not offering an explanation about his previous statement. I was about to respond when we were distracted by a familiar nasally voice.

"Cy-cy!" Maisie screamed, scurrying out of the school gates and towards Cyrus. Cyrus grimaced but replaced it with a fake smile when she was close enough.

I couldn't hide my snort at the ridiculous nickname. This caused Maisie's head to snap to me with a narrowed gaze.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, resentment coating her words. I barely spared her a glance.

"Well, nice meeting you guys." I said as a departing statement, completely ignoring Maisie as I started to walk.

Suddenly I was pulled back by my wrist and Maisie was all up in my face. "When I ask you a question, it's rude to ignore it." She said slowly, as if speaking to a toddler.

I glanced at her, her hand on my wrist then at Cyrus.

"Get your little girlfriend off me, Cy-cy." I said seriously to him. Maisie gasped in indignation.

Cyrus rolled his eyes but complied, pulling Maisie towards him. "Calm down Mais, we were just talking." He told her.

She frowned, glaring at me once again before pulling him in for a deep kiss. He responded eagerly and I fake gagged at the kissy noises they were making.

"How often do you have to deal with this?" I asked Ian who looked like he'd come back down to earth. His unfocused eyes rolled.

"Every day since they started dating." Ian whined. My eyebrows rose in shock. When I called her his girlfriend I was joking.

"And when did they start dating?" I asked, moving closer to him and ignoring the stench of weed.

Ian thought for a second. "For maybe a week or two now, ever since John dumped her. Cyrus always takes up his exes." He explained. "It's a system they have."

I was disgusted and shocked. "What, so after John's done with a girl Cyrus dates them?" I asked. Ian nodded, taking another drag of his weed.

"Yeah, and if they're really heartbroken I get to have them afterwards." He grinned, but the sharp smile did nothing to soothe me.

I folded my arms wearily, starting to get a bit creeped out. This was the kind of company John kept? Guys who did drugs and treated girls like pass the parcels?

"Um, it's getting late so I'll leave you to it." I told Ian, glancing at my watch. He frowned.

"You've only been here a couple minutes. Plus, we've been waiting for you for ages." He whined. I frowned again. I seemed to be doing that a lot.

"Me? I thought you were looking for John." I asked, and Ian made an 'oops' face and gave a nervous laugh.

"You, John, same thing." He said quickly. "Anyway, off you go. Cyrus, say goodbye to Chloe." Ian said, pulling Cyrus off Maisie.

He was breathing heavily as he looked at me, frowning. "You're leaving already? I thought we could all hang out a bit."

"Who's we?" I chuckled. "You three?"

"Yeah, why are you saying it like that." He asked in his scarily intimidating deep voice.

"Like what?" I replied, feigning cluelessness. "I would love to hang out with you guys but um... I need to groom my goldfish."

Maisie glanced at me, snatching the weed stick off Ian. "You don't have a goldfish."

I wrinkled my nose when she took a drag. She's doing drugs now?

"Shut it, Maze." I snapped in response, before giving the guys a fake smile and practically running away.

"Maze! Cy-cy, she called me that stupid nickname-"

"Calm down Chinks, I'm sure she was just joking..."

"I wasn't!" I called back cheekily. Ian laughed at this.

"See you soon, Chloe." Ian's voice boomed after me. I waved over my shoulder, picking up the pace.

As I walked back home I dwelled on what had just happened. Those guys seemed nice enough but super sketchy. And Maisie was hanging out with them? She'd always been the goody-two shoes of the group. Out of me, her and Tobi she'd be the last person I'd expect to do drugs.

And Cyrus and Ian, there was something about them that made my skin crawl. The fact that they knew my name even though I'd never seen them before rubbed me the wrong way.

After what happened in Australia I was always on edge around people who seemed fake. It was clear they were waiting for me for whatever reason but lied saying they were waiting for John. Speaking of John I decided to call him to calm down my nerves.

I waited anxiously as the phone rang, sighing in relief when he picked up.

"Hey Clo, what's up?" I couldn't help but smile at his voice.

"Hey, just wondering where you were today?" I asked amicably.

He cleared his throat. "Uh, I was at home. Wasn't feeling too well."

I frowned in concern. "Oh I'm sorry to hear that. Do you want me to come over?"

"That'd be great, actually." John replied, and I could hear the smile in his voice. I couldn't stop a maniac smile spreading across my face, causing a lady passing me to shoot me a look.

"Alright, I'll be there in about ten minutes." I told him, as I wanted to freshen up at my house first.

I heard him curse and a bit of movement. "Uh, ten? Could you make it twenty please?" He asked nervously. I shrugged.

"Sure. Bye." Then I hung up. Shortly after I arrived at my house. After greeting my mum I headed up to my room, dropping my backpack.

I evaluated my outfit, a simple dark green fitted shirt, with black jeans and black air forces. I decided to change my jeans to more comfortable black cycling shorts.

I took my hair out of its pathetic ponytail and brushed it out so it flowed down my back in lose curls. I wiped away the slightly smudges mascara on my eyelashes, applied a fresh coat then applied clear lip-gloss.

Satisfied that I looked decent enough, I wasted a couple minutes playing mindless games on my phone. When John texted me that I could come over I went to my mum's room.

"Hey mum, is it alright if I go to John's house to hang out?" I asked her, leaning against the door frame. She looked up from the book she was reading.

"Who, your boyfriend?" She asked with a mischievous smile. I made a face.

"In your dreams, I know you've wanted us to get together since we were young." I replied accusingly.

"I will neither confirm nor deny that statement." My mum said, laughing. "But you can go. Say hi to John for me."

I waved her goodbye and set off to his house. It was only a five minute walk so I arrived there in not time.

Before I could knock the door opened, revealing a smiling John. I didn't get the chance to say anything before he pulled me inside to give a bone-crushing hug.

I squealed in surprise, before hugging him back. He eventually pulled back and grinned down at me.

"I missed you." John told me in a low voice. My toes curled in excitement.

"Really, we saw each other yesterday!" I teased and he rolled his eyes.

"Just say it back... unless you want to get tickled again?" John threatened. My smile immediately dropped and I took a step back.

Flashbacks of the last time he tickled me played in my mind. Me farting on him. The utter humiliation I felt.

No thanks.

"I missed you too, silly." I said, exasperated. "So, what do you want to do?"

He shrugged. "Dunno, we can start a show on Netflix?" John proposed. I nodded, taking off my shoes and jacket then locking the door behind me.

I looked up, expecting John to be walking but he was just staring at me with an expression I couldn't make out.

"I like your outfit." He said after a minute of awkward silence, glancing at exposed legs before back up at me. I nodded in thanks, before slipping past him and up the stairs.

It seemed a bit tense as we entered his room, so I decided to sit on the beanbag instead of his bed like I usually did. Before my bum touched the beanbag John had wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me onto the bed.

I raised my hands in surrender, giggling as he shot me a glare. Soon we were comfortably watching The Hollow on his TV. After watching three episodes straight I remembered something.

"You don't seem sick." I suddenly said. John stiffened and paused the TV, turning to look at me.

"Yeah, um it was mostly in the morning. I'm better now." He fumbled. I just watched him closely.

"I met your friends by the way." I informed him, looking at my nails. John's head snapped to me so fast I felt the whip of his hair on my forehead.

"Ouch." I mumbled, but John ignored me and turned me to face him.

"What friends?" he asked intently. I shot him a weird look.

"Um, their names were Ian and Hannah- oop I mean Cyrus." I told him, giggling slightly at my mistake. His blue eyes widened in horror and he cursed lowly.

"Did they say anything to you?" John asked urgently. I backed away from him slightly.

"Why are you acting like this? Aren't they your friends?" I asked, confused. He gave me a sheepish smile.

"Sorry, I wanted to introduce you to them later, that's all." John replied. My eyes narrowed.

"They said they were waiting for me."

"HUH?" He practically shouted in my ear, so I shoved him in annoyance.

"If you're so concerned about your friends meeting me and waiting for me maybe you should get new ones!" I snapped annoyed. He was acting like I said an army of aliens was waiting for me or something.

"Chloe, listen to me." John said, grabbing both my arms tightly in his and making intense eye contact.

"If you see them, especially Cyrus, please just avoid them. They're my friends but I know that they're trouble." He told me slowly. I removed my hands from his, nodding slowly.

"Sure, but it might be a bit hard because of Maisie."

"What about Maisie?" John asked, his voice changing to something more dangerous. I twisted my arms in front of me nervously.

"Um, didn't you know what they're dating-?"

"That asshole!" John suddenly shouted furiously, getting up and punching a wall. I froze, watching him in surprise and slight fear.

He was shaking with rage as he pulled on a black hoodie and shoes. When he was done he turned to face me as I was mid-yawn.

"Stay here. I'll be back soon." Is all he said before going to his window and jumping out.

I waited for a few seconds, trying to figure out if what had happened actually just happened.

John had warned me about his friend, gone berserk at the fact that Maisie was dating him then jumped out of his window instead of using the front door.

"Alright, I'm heading out." I said to no-one in particular, switching off the TV then headed downstairs to gather my things.

As I walked home, processing what a weird day it had been, I thought about John's reaction to Maisie and Cyrus. An ugly feeling unfurled in my stomach at the thought.

Did he still like her?

If so why did he dump her?

I sighed. Things were meant to be uncomplicated between us but his weird friends had to disrupt things.

I thought of trying to follow him, but decided not to. He was probably too far to follow.

I knew I wouldn't be able to rest until I got some clarity. I decided to call someone I hadn't spoken to in quite a while, but I knew she would be able to explain everything.

I called, waiting anxiously as the phone rang. Then the ringing stopped and I put the phone to my ear, forcing a polite tone.

"Hey."

*****