Hey guys! Ready for the next chapter? Let's hope so, cuz this is kinda it. Thanks to one of my best friends for reading it and telling me to keep writing it! =)

In this chapter, we meet Austin's family and it's also the first day of school. Let's hope it gets exciting.

BTW, this is definitely AU, but hopefully not OOC. Not on purpose, anyways.

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"Austin! Wake up! It's almost 7!" my aunt called from downstairs, but I could barely hear it from the muffle of our maid, Miranda, vacuuming outside in the hallway. I got up and headed for the bathroom, planning on having a quick shower before heading to school. I turned on the water to let the temperature set and grabbed my phone to turn off the alarm I set that's been going on for about 10 minutes. Sure enough, I got a video text from Silver.

"Hey, Austin! Don't be grumpy, it's our first day of Junior year! Get excited! Anyways, just wanted to ask if you still wanted to get lattes before school. Text me back!" she said, blowing a kiss.

Austin: 4 sure! I forgot about it 2 thnx for the reminder. Make sure 2 check with adrianna and naomi 2 make sure theyre still coming

Silver: Gee thnx and I already did they said yes. k. c u there :)

I put my phone on the bathroom counter and grabbed my iPod to put it on my speakers. I hopped in the shower and enjoyed The Kooks while doing so.

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"Well, it's about time. You're going to be late if you don't hurry it up, Austin," my Aunt Eva scolded while tying her hair up in a formal bun.

"Sorry, Eva. Couldn't decide what to wear." I said, truthfully. I decided on a black and white flannel shirt with boot-cut jeans and black shoes.

"God, Austin. I swear, you're such a girl sometimes." she said, jokingly. I could feel the heat rush from my face as I smiled with the tiny bit of willpower I had.

"Alright, see you later then. Tell Wesley I said 'hi'" I called while exiting out the front door. Wesley was my aunt's boyfriend of 2 years. He was an okay guy, I guess. I barely saw him much since my aunt rarely ever brought him home. I met him three or four times, tops.

I pulled my white sunglasses out of my pocket and headed for my charcoal black Saturn Vue. Shortly after, I drove off to meet my friends at The Peach Pit.

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I exited my car and pushed the button for my alarm, making my car chirp. It didn't seem like they were here yet, so I just decided to order my latte and head for an empty table big enough to sit all four of us. As I sipped my latte, I saw somebody staring at me from the corner table. I glanced over swiftly and saw a really hot guy sitting in the corner, his limbs flayed out nonchalantly, staring at me, not giving a damn if I saw or not.

"Hey, Austin!" Adrianna called from the sidewalk, waving happily. "Oop!" she cried, dropping her Coach bag, and all of it's contents all over the sidewalk. I got up and helped her get everything. "And who said chivalry was dead?" she thanked. I looked over to see if the guy saw the incident, but he had already left.

"So, where are the others?" I asked, hoping she would know while walking her to the barista.

"Ugh, I have no idea. I was almost late picking out Navid's outfit. Apparently, he had trouble deciding from a maroon shirt and a midnight blue one. One small latte, please." she ordered. The barista made her coffee, Adrianna paid her, and we went back to the table I saved.

"Hey guys!" Silver called, walking side-by-side with Naomi. They ordered and joined us.

Naomi sipped her coffee heavily. "God, I needed this. But you know what would make this even better...if this were an Irish coffee" she suggested, pulling out a small container of some unknown liquor.

Ever since prom, she's been drinking a little bit excessively. I think it's to drown out any thoughts of Liam or Annie, although she'd never admit it to herself.

I haven't personally met either of them. Hell, I don't even remember what they look like. But according to Naomi, they were showing affection for each other before that night went down. Something about it all was off, though.

"Naomi! It's 7:30 in the morning! Put that away!" Silver commanded, trying to shove it back into Naomi's bag.

"Not like it matters, anyways." Naomi said, staring blankly out into the parking lot, as if hoping for somebody to pop out from one of the cars.

"You know it does, Naomi." I said, trying to comfort her. She glanced back at me, smiling slightly.

"Alright, let's head to school...Yippee..." I suggested, letting out a heavy sigh. We all got up from the table and headed to each of our individual cars.

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There it was...the building containing the entire population that has witnessed my biggest secret. As I walk up to the school, I can feel the uneasiness set in. And it seems like everybody is whispering about me. Then, Silver reaches over and squeezes my hand in reassurance. I give her a weak smile and slight squeeze in return. Then, Dixon and Navid came out from the student parking lot, each wrapping an arm around their girlfriends, muttering something to make each of them giggle. I smirked, knowing how happy both of them were with there significant other, wishing I could find somebody like that.

We walked up the steps and entered the doors of the school. Immediately, the sound of multiple conversations and scuffling crashes into us, putting me a little bit more at ease. Then, the bell rings, and the uneasiness comes back, a deep emotion settling into the pit of my stomach.

"Alright, guys. See you later." I said, walking off, waving. Walking off, I feel extremely lonely in a sea of people. But I push it all as far into me as I can and head to my first class.

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Here it is, English class.

I take a seat somewhere in the middle and set my binder onto the desk. As soon as the bell rings, Ethan walks into class. He finds a spot in the open seat next to me.

"Nice of you to join us, Mr. Ward." the teacher, Mr. Padalecki said, turning everybody's attention to him.

"Nice to be here, Mr. P." Ethan replied, giving a weak smirk to the teacher, then quickly looking over at me. I give him a quick smile, and return my attention to the teacher.

"First off, welcome to 11th grade English. I know we can all agree that English isn't exactly something we do for fun. But it is, however, a necessity in our lives. Don't think of this as an unnecessary language class, think of it as a life class. Do we or do we not think that that makes it seem easier?" Everybody, including me, nodded their head. As the teacher went on, trying to 'inspire' the entire class, I felt my phone buzz. I pulled it out and read the text.

+4243370210: Look familiar, fag?

I scrolled down and saw the infamous picture that ruined my life. I quickly shut my phone, a little too loudly, and caught the attention of the teacher.

"I know how exciting it must be, texting the person you will speak to in a mere 4 hours, but please, avert your attention from what's in your pocket." he scolded. I gave him an apologetic look, and he continued on.

I felt a paper brush against the side of my arm and turned toward it. It was a note from Ethan. It read 'People still giving you trouble by sending you hate texts?' 'No, it was Silver.' I lied. He nodded in understanding and turned back to the teacher.

Soon after, another note brushed against my arm.

'If they still are, ignore them. Nothing to be ashamed of.' I turned toward him and smiled and he returned it.

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After the bell rang, I pulled out my phone to see if I could recognize the number that sent it to me. No such luck. While staring down at it, I bumped into somebody. The same guy from the Peach Pit this morning.

"Oh, sorry." I exclaimed, a little too distracted.

"It's fine." he said, picking up the binder I dropped in the process, handing it to me.

"I seem to be doing that a lot lately." I said, laughing internally from the inside joke. He just chuckled and walked off. I stood there, disappointed in what happened.

"Hey, Austin." Adrianna greeted, rushing my way. "How was your first class?"

"The usual. Some teacher who still thinks he can inspire students to actually want to learn." I said, hoping to distract myself with the conversation and not at what had just happened.

"I hear that." she giggled. "What class you going to next?"

"Umm...one sec..." I said, pulling out my schedule. "Chem with Steinburg. You?"

"Oh, same here! Walk me to class?" she said, batting her eyelashes playfully.

"Shall we?" I said, holding out my arm.

"Haha, you're such a dork." she teased.

"Hey pot, don't be calling the kettle black." I teased back

"What do you mean?" she asked, confused.

"Umm...tripping over your own two feet and dropping your bag all over the floor. Hmm...ring any bells?"

"Oh shut up." she exclaimed, hitting me playfully with said bag.

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"Understand any of it?" Adrianna asked.

"Nope. All just a bunch of gibberish about half-lives and elements to me." I answered, still confused on what exactly a half-life was.

"Hmm...very promising." she said, smiling. I nudged her in the side for her continuous teasing. "Looks like we part ways for now. Navid is supposed to walk me to my next class." she said, looking over at Navid walking up to us.

"Wow...who knew...Adrianna Tate-Duncan, escort whore." I teased. I walked on to my next class and greeted Navid when I walked past him.

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Great...P.E. I was never really into the whole, 'run-five-miles-then-pass-out-from-exhaustion.' thing. I was pretty good at sports though. I mean, I'm no star quarterback or anything like that, but I can play on the big kid team without somebody having to hold my hand. I got dressed into my uniform and headed out to the gym.

"Alright, guys. Let's line it up for sprints." Mrs. Louis, the P.E teacher ordered in her high and shrill voice. I was getting ready., when I happened to glance over at Ethan, shirtless Ethan...shirtless, sweaty Ethan...playing basketball...did I mention he was sweaty and shirtless? Anyhow, our teacher blew her whistle to signal us to start our exercise.

Caught off-guard, I stumbled into the run, only to trip over myself about five seconds later. I groaned at both the huge embarrassment and slight pain in my ankle. I must have twisted it or something. I felt somebody tug me onto my feet. I opened my eyes only to be met by Ethan's.

"You okay?" he asked, one hand on my shoulder, enough to steady me.

"Yeah...yeah...I'm fine..." I said, turning my attention the ever-so-interesting gym floor, hoping to hide the redness in my face. I tried walking a little, but I felt the twinge in my ankle break my balance, impulsing me to grab for it, wincing in pain.

"Alright, alright, Mr. Newheart. Mr. Ward, take him to the nurse's office, please." she assigned. Ethan nodded in understanding and wrapped an arm around my abdomen and insisting me to wrap my arm around his neck to balance myself. I hobbled my way out of the gym with nothing less than Ethan's help.

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I sat in the nurse's office with a pack of ice on my ankle, burning my skin with how cold it was.

"You know, you could head back to your game. I should be fine." I said to Ethan, still making sure I was okay.

"Yeah, well. Might as well stay here, anyways. We were losing." he smirked.

"Aww, but you seemed to be doing good." I said, slightly wincing at the movement I accidentally made.

"Yeah, well...can't win them all, right?" he shrugged, grinning at me. Then, the bell chimed. "So, you sure you're fine?" he asked, his voice honestly caring.

"Yeah, I'm sure." I answered. He still hesitated. "I'm fine," I chuckled. "Go." I said. He followed my orders and left the nurse's office. I let out a soft sigh, and turned my attention back to the stinging ice pack. I took it off and limped my way back to the locker room to get dressed and head to lunch. Hopefully, I won't embarrass myself more than I already have.