the next morning, i'm woken up early by nick walking into my room and clapping his hands.

"andale! andale! let's go go go!" he shouts. i turn towards him and rub my eyes.

"what do you think you're doing?" i ask.

"group meeting downstairs. up up! no time to waste!" he pulls me out of bed and rolls my suitcase towards me, motioning for me to get dressed. i sigh and open my suitcase and pull out the first outfit i see.

as i'm tying my white high top converse, nick rushes back into my room.

"you're STILL not ready?" he asks. i groan.

"i haven't even started my makeup-"

"you look fine without it. come on."

"thanks but no." i finish tying them and grab my makeup bag to go into the bathroom.

"how much time is that gonna take?"

"ten minutes, i'll be quick."

"i'm counting down."

"fine by me." i leave the room and enter the bathroom, where karl is washing his hands.

"good morning!" he shouts enthusiastically.

"good morning," i smile. i open my makeup bag and start my makeup.

"can i squeeze by?" he motions behind me, hinting that he wants to leave the room. i nod and move forward, allowing him past. not even a minute later, toby walks into the bathroom.

"oh, bad time?" he asks. "i was looking for you."

"not at all, is something wrong?" i ask while applying makeup.

"i just wanted to see where you were... is that eyeliner?"

"yup." i move my mouth as little as possible, trying not to mess up.

"can you put it on me?" he asks, his face lighting up. i laugh.

"maybe later, toby. nick told me i had to get downstairs quickly."

"oh yeah, forgot. that's why i was looking for you." he facepalms and i laugh once again.

once i finish applying chapstick (while toby watches me do my entire makeup routine) we both head downstairs. everyone is down there except tommy.

"someone wake tommy up," clay says. wilbur points at me.

"i volunteer valerie as tribute," he says. i roll my eyes and he laughs. i walk up the stairs and into him and toby's room, and find him still fast asleep in his bed. i shake my head as i walk over and gently shake him.

"tommy..." i whisper. he stirs slightly, but doesn't open his eyes.

i groan. heavy sleeper.

i shake him again.

"wake up," i say slightly louder. his eyes wince but stay closed. i groan and walk over to his window, opening the curtains widely, letting the sun shine through the window. he jolts up and rubs his eyes.

"jesus christ, what was that for?" he asks. "why are you already up and dressed?"

"nick wants us downstairs. come on." i drag his arm and pull him out of bed.

"i'm not dressed."

"you look fine."

and he does. he's in his black mogul moves hoodie and dark gray sweatpants.

my favorite hoodie on him.

once i pull him downstairs, he sits on the couch wearily.

"how late did you stay up?" i ask.

"lord knows," he responds, leaning on me slightly.

"okay, so..." clay stands up and walks to the center of the room, looking at everyone. "i was talking to george and wilbur last night, and we want to do a secret valentine's today!"

"sounds fun!" niki says with a giggle. i smile at her enthusiasm.

"we have a hat right here-" george says, lifting up a hat. "that will determine who your valentine is. we're going to all go shopping later for the gifts." george starts passing the hat around.

"don't unfold your paper until we all spread out," clay adds while the tommy hands me the hat. i choose a random name and pass it to wilbur, who's sitting on my other side. once everyone grabs a name, we spread out and open them.

george.

nice.

i try to think about what i can get george. i take a quick glimpse at him. he's wearing a gray hoodie, his own merch, black jeans, and the same shoes i'm wearing. maybe a new shirt so he stops wearing his merch?

we eat breakfast together and let the time pass. the clock turns to 10:00 and wilbur grabs his keys.

"get in the car, boys, we're going shopping," he says. i roll my eyes and smile.

"be careful, val," he says. "your eyes will fall out if you roll them too much."

"what makes you think that's not what i want?" i ask. he laughs.

we all file into the van, with 2 rows of 4-seaters and two seats in the front (y'all i have no idea if there are actually cars like this but for the sake of the story there are HAHAHAH). tommy, toby, niki, and i go in the very back, clay, george, nick, and alex go in the middle row, karl gets shotgun, and wilbur drives.

the order in the back goes niki, me, tommy, then toby. it's comfortable, but not a lot of room to move around. my face goes red at how close tommy and i are, and gets even redder when our legs and arms start touching. by now he's changed, and he's wearing a red t-shirt and blue jeans, with a white hoodie in his hand.

"we're close," he says, embarrassed. i nod with an awkward smile.

"yeah," i say, flushed.

this is awkward.

despite the awkward tension in the back, the car ride is fun. karl has very random, yet amazing, taste in music, so we sing along to 100gecs and olivia rodrigo on the way to the mall. once we get there, we all file out of the car and stretch. we walk into the mall and head to the middle, where a big fountain is.

"alright team," wilbur says. "it's 10:20, i want everyone to meet back here, at this fountain, at 1 pm SHARP. we're sending out a search party if any of you are late. looking at you, george." george lets out a flustered "what" and the rest of us laugh.

"you can buddy up if you want, but i swear if any of you find out who your valentine is because of this..." clay says, cutting himself off at the end. we all nod. niki nudges my arm.

"wanna shop together? a little girl time?" she asks with a wink.

"definitely," i say, letting out a relaxed sigh. everyone splits up and starts shopping.