Consider this my official disclaimer for the entire story: I don't own it. Any of it.
Now that that's out of the way, I'd like to point out that maybe it's just me, but I'm not crushing on the same guys as a sophomore as I did as a seventh grader. So, taking that into consideration, this story is going to be filled with crack pairings! Woohoo! Don't worry, I do plan to keep some of the original pairings…but certainly not all of them.
Without further ado, here's the first chapter! Reviews are loved, as always :)
"Whose idea was it to walk again?" Alicia Rivera grumbled, zipping her Ralph Lauren Black Label metallic pink windbreaker up to her chin. Even zipped all the way up, completely hiding her white crewneck sweater (and impressive chest) from view, the puffy jacket still didn't keep the cold from seeping in.
"Having my driver take us everywhere is so pre-high school," Massie Block explained. Her navy Marc by Marc Jacobs wool felt trench coat had been left unbuttoned over her mint green Chloe sweater dress and opaque black tights—leave it to Massie to look completely unperturbed by the cold. "And since none of us have our licenses yet, we're walking."
"But it's fuh-reezing!" Claire Lyons complained, reaching up with her mittened hands and pulling the faux-fur lined hood of her bomber jacket up over her head.
"That hood will make your hair staticky," Massie warned without bothering to turn and look at Claire, and the blonde quickly lowered it.
"Come on guys, walking is good exercise," Kristen put in cheerfully, adjusting the wool knit hat sitting atop her super-straight dirty blonde hair.
"How many calories do you burn walking?" Dylan asked curiously, causing her four friends to simultaneously roll their eyes. "Because I ate wayyy too much over Thanksgiving break and I desperately need to lose some weight."
"YOU'RE NAWT FAT, DYL," the girls replied in unison. The redhead opened her mouth to argue, and Massie, not in the mood for another Dr. Phil session about Dylan's weight issues, quickly cut her off.
"Okay, we're here!" They were standing outside of Saturday, a restaurant so hip it didn't even bear a sign stating its name—the idea being that you just had to know.
"We're eating here?" Alicia gasped, momentarily forgetting both the cold and her throbbing feet—the tan sheep skin boots she had tucked her skinny ultra dark wash True Religions into were NAWT made for walking.
Massie shrugged like it was no big deal.
"I thought it was impossible to get a reservation here," Kristen breathed, looking at Massie in awe.
"Puh-lease! Why would we need a reservation?" Massie challenged, striding over to the door and placing a perfectly manicured hand on the handle. "Well? Are you coming or nawt?" The girls scrambled to fall into step behind Massie as the brunette confidently walked into the restaurant.
"Do you have a reservation?" asked the hostess, a woman in her late twenties with light brown hair smoothed back into an immaculate bun.
"No," Massie replied coolly.
"No reservation, no service," the woman sniffed.
"Rebecca, is it?" Massie said, cocking her head to one side as she read the name off the hostess's name tag. "I don't think you know who you're dealing with."
"Oh? And who am I dealing with?" the hostess asked mockingly.
"Massie Block. As in William Block's daughter. As in one of this mess of a restaurant's biggest investors."
The hostess stared at her blankly.
"So here are your options. Either a, seat us, or b, kiss your job here good bye. Because I'm pretty sure my father won't be too happy when he finds out that despite all the money he's poured into this place, his own daughter can't even get a table."
"Will it just be the five of you?" the woman asked, her demeanor instantly transformed.
"Actually, five of our friends are going to be joining us," Massie said. "I hope that isn't a problem."
"Not at all!" the hostess replied nervously. "I'll come get you personally when the table's ready." The woman strode off into the restaurant, her arms laden with the ten menus and sets of forks and knives wrapped into napkins. As soon as the woman was out of sight, the girls burst into speech.
"Ehmagawd!" Alicia screeched. "You never told us William was an investor at this place!"
"That's because he isn't," Massie smirked. "I made the whole thing up."
"What if she goes and asks the manager and he tells her the truth?" Kristen asked nervously, biting her lip.
"Don't worry so much," Massie snapped. "She's too afraid of losing her job to go ask anyone about it."
"Who are the other five people coming?" Dylan spoke up.
"Is it the boys?" Claire asked shyly, hooking a piece of white blonde hair behind her ear.
"Yes, Kuh-laire, it's the boys."
Almost on cue, Derrick Harrington, Cam Fisher, Josh Hotz, Kemp Hurley, and Chris Plovert strolled lazily through the door.
"Hey," Derrick greeted, lifting his palm up as if he were giving a high five.
"Did we miss anything?" Kemp asked slyly, slipping in between Alicia and Dylan and simultaneously sliding his arms around both of their waists. Dylan rolled her eyes and shrugged him off but Alicia giggled and glanced at Josh to weigh his reaction. Her smirk quickly melted into a pout, however, when she saw that her currently off-again boyfriend was too busy stealing Kristen's hat off her head to notice. Kristen laughed as he goofily plopped it on top of his cap, the Yankee's logo showing through the loosely woven yarn.
"Just Massie being amazing," Claire gushed, peeking at Cam out of the corner of her eye. Things had finally gone back to normal between them after their messy break-up at the end of seventh grade, and as much as she valued their new friendship, she couldn't help but wonder if their nightly IM sessions and lengthy phone conversations were leading up to something…more.
"Isn't she always?" Plovert said admiringly, and Massie blew him a kiss.
"Your table's ready," the hostess said breathlessly, having returned. The group of sophomores followed her to the two tables that had been pushed together to fit all ten of them and took their seats. Claire nabbed the chair next to Cam while Josh and Kristen picked seats next to each other. Kemp squeezed himself in between Massie and Alicia, Massie scooting away from Kemp and closer to Plovert. The last to take his seat, Derrick found himself sitting in between Dylan and Claire.
After the hostess retreated, everyone perused their menus, occasionally elbowing the person beside them and pointing out a particularly good looking entrée.
"Are you ready to order?" a college-age waiter with tattoo-covered arms peeking out from underneath the sleeves of his white button-down asked them. Everyone placed their orders, the girls all careful to choose a low-fat, low-calorie option.
"It's getting hot in here," Alicia declared in an overly loud voice, casually unzipping her jacket.
"So take off all your clothes!" Kemp sang, high-fiving Derrick across the table.
"Gross," Dylan burped, and Kristen giggled at the irony. Upon finding that she was the only one who had laughed, she shrugged.
"Dylan called Kemp gross by burping. Kind of an oxymoron," she explained.
"Gawd Kristen, you're such a nerd." Massie rolled her eyes.
"I dunno, I've always kind of had a thing for nerdy girls," Josh spoke up and Kristen and Alicia's faces simultaneously turned red.
"Excuse us, but we have to go, um, use the restroom," Alicia announced, pushing her chair back from the table. Kemp followed suit, grinning like he had just won the lottery.
"Together?" Cam smirked.
"Yes," Alicia replied shortly, grabbing Kemp's hand and pulling him after her.
"Not very subtle, are they?" Plovert commented once they were out of earshot.
"I don't think 'subtle' is what Alicia's going for." Massie glanced at Kristen and Josh, who were now discussing the latest Batman movie. Plovert stared at her in confusion but Massie ignored him, choosing not to offer any further explanation.
After fifteen more minutes of joking, teasing, and flirting, the waiter arrived with their food. Shortly after Alicia and Kemp returned, Alicia attempting to fix her mussed hair and Kemp wiping traces of lip gloss from his mouth.
"Oh good, the food's here," Alicia tittered.
"I bet you built up an appetite," Dylan replied pointedly.
"That's a good thing, because my size four jeans were getting a little loose," Alicia shot back. A niggling voice in the back of Dylan's head reminded her that she could barely fit into her size sixes, and she immediately pushed away her plate.
"Dyl, you barely touched that," Claire commented in concern.
"Nawt hungry," Dylan grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. Claire turned to glare at Alicia, who shrugged.
"How about we ditch this place and go back to my house?" Massie interjected before her friends could start fighting.
"I'm in," Plovert responded quickly.
"Sounds good to me." Derrick grinned, and everyone else murmured their consent. The group of teenagers stood up from their chairs and left the restaurant, leaving behind half-finished plates and crumpled dollar bills.