Gwen's POV

Oh, my golly.

David Shizuka just asked me out.

Defcon 4, people. DEFCON 4.

I've never been asked out before. And here I was, sitting on the couch in my brother's recreational vehicle/home, with a text from David asking me to the Kickback.

I was so excited, yet so freaked out. Is that normal?

Beck could not know about this. After seeing what happened with Aly's past suitors, I'm afraid of what he'll do when he finds out I have a date… And I don't want Aly to know either, because if I know her, she'll either tell Beck or tell Jade or Cat who will go ahead and tell Beck.

I guess they'll find out eventually, you know, when they see me dancing at the Kickback with a super-tall, Asian-American cutie pie… But I'll figure something out… Hopefully.

"Who are you texting, Gwen?"

"What?" I asked, snapping out my trance. I saw Beck and Aly looking at me, the movie still playing in the background. I had just realized I been staring down at my phone instead of watching Scooby and the gang.

"Yeah, who are you texting?" Aly asked, raising an eyebrow in a way that said she already knew the answer.

"Da…. nielle." Phew, I caught myself before I spilled the beans. That rarely ever happens. "Danielle. That is her name."

"Oh. Who's she?" I swear, if Beck wasn't my brother and I wasn't trying to not act suspicious, I would have yanked that awesome hair of his.

"… A female."

"I could have guessed that," Beck said with a small smile. "May I have a few more details?"

"Uh…" I placed my phone into my lap. "She's, uh… tall. She loves soccer… She has black hair and it's kind of short, but it gets into her eyes when she draws." I grinned, almost forgetting that I was supposed to be describing an imaginary girl. "She's really sweet and funny and nice and cute…" I looked up to see my siblings giving me weird looks, so I awkwardly looked down and added, "And, uh, she's a very great friend. The end."

"She, uh, sounds nice." Beck still looked concerned about how I was practically fawning over 'her', but he quickly went back to watching the movie. Aly, unfortunately, didn't.

Oh no… She knew.

"Snacks!" Aly blurted out of nowhere. She hopped off the couch and looked at me. "We need snacks! Come with me, Gwen."

"But… But we just had din-"

"You know how I like to have popcorn to throw at the screen during horrible movies," she said, not giving me a say in the matter by grabbing my wrist, hoisting me onto my feet and dragging me towards the door.

"If you throw popcorn at my TV, you're cleaning it up," Beck told her, looking more confused than anything as he paused the movie and Aly opened the door.

"It'll be worth it," Aly called over her shoulder, yanking me out right before she slammed the door.

I crossed my arms and leaned against the cold wall of the Silver Streak. "First of all, that movie is all kinds of awesome, and second of all, I don't want to talk about-"

"How Danielle is a dirty, dirty lie and you were really texting David?" Darn, she's good.

"Yes," I sighed. "He, um… He asked me to the Kickback."

"Oh, my God! My little sister has a da-" I slapped a hand over her mouth, panicking.

"A day or two before she needs to start her portrait for Drawing class!" I loudly interrupted, in case Beck was able to hear us. I felt something warm and wet on my hand and let out a squeal, rubbing my wet hand on Aly's sleeve. "Ew! You know I hate being licked!"

"And I hate people putting their hands over parts of my body, specifically my mouth." Aly crossed her arms. "Give me the deets. Now."

"What's there to say? He asked me to the Kickback via text and I'm still deciding whether to go with him or-"

"What's there to decide?" Aly grabbed me by the shoulders. "You say yes, you and David go to the Kickback together, you make kissy kissy face with each other and live happily ever after." And she says I'm delirious.

"Just don't tell Beck," I begged, clasping my hands together. "Pretty please with Mark Salling on top!"

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Okay, but only because Mark Salling makes everything better…"

She walked back into the RV and I was right behind her. As soon as I shut the door, Beck looked up from his PearPhone and yanked his headphones out of his ears. He noticed our empty hands and said, "I thought you guys were getting popcorn."

Aly scoffed, taking a seat to his left. "Beck, we just had dinner. Like we really need popcorn."

I took the seat to his right and the two of us exchanged a glance. It wasn't a 'what were you two up to' glance, but more of a 'what is wrong with our sister' glance.

I just shrugged at him, grabbed the remote, and turned the movie back on. Aly and Beck continued to watch, but I subtly picked my cell phone up off the floor and pulled David's text back up. Making sure Aly and Beck weren't looking, I sent my answer:

Reply; id luv 2 : )

/

I groggily sat up, running a hand over my messy bed head. Last night had been Friday, so Aly and I decided to be lazy and crash in Beck's RV. I don't like the place, but it's got a super comfy couch.

Aly was on the other side of the couch, looking as lovely as ever, with limbs sprawled this way and that and drool running out of the corner of her mouth. She's not really a rise-and-shiner, like I am. Which is why she had yet to rise.

I looked over at Beck, who was tucked snuggly into his bed, sleeping like a log… but not a scary log, like Aly.

I have lazy bums for siblings. I mean, come on. It's seven in the morning!

I stretched my back out, and then slowly stood up. Making sure not to wake up my sleeping siblings by taking big, Aly-like footsteps, I walked over to the table the fish tank was sitting on and grabbed my phone. I was about to tuck it in my pocket, but noticed I had a text. I must have fallen asleep before I saw it.

New Text Message From David: awesome. ill c u at school on monday (:

David's smiley faces seemed much cuter than average smiley faces, for some reason. Probably because they make me think of his smile. Tee hee.

I decided not to text him back, at least not yet, in case he was a lazy bum like Becky and Aly-kins. I'm a very considerate person.

I had to talk to somebody about this. Let's see, who else is up around this time?

The guys were out, because, well, they were guys. Tori? No, I might mention the junk that Aly was rambling on about last night and that probably wouldn't end well. Jade? She'd throw a rock at me the next time she saw me for waking her up so early. And Jade throws hard.

Cat?

Yeah, she's usually up early on weekends… She wanted to help me get ready for the Kickback. This would sort of count.

New Message to Cat: hey! wanna hang out&shop? we can get brekkie while we wait 4 the mall 2 open.

About thirty seconds later, I got a reply:

New Message From Cat: yay! sounds fun! ill pick u up in a flash!

I picked up my discarded sweatshirt, tucked my phone into my pajama pants pocket and was about to leave until I realized something.

Beck and Aly were in one place, completely konked out, and there was a washable marker right on Beck's desk.

Time to get my revenge for Aly giving David my number and Beck not letting me watch Hannah Montana: The Movie. Mwa ha ha.

I swiped the marker, popped the lid off, and knelt down by Beck's bed. I gave him a swirly mustache, a villain-like soul patch and some rather long eyelashes, which were drawn over his shut eyelids.

I tip-toed to the couch, crouched down by Aly and gave her a matching mustache and soul patch. Instead of the eyelashes, I wrote I'm dumb on her forehead. Not creative, but it was some of my best work, if I do say so myself.

A little dastardly for me, but hey, it was washable. It would come off. Besides, I didn't do nearly enough of this kind of stuff. I only wish I could see their faces when, well, they saw their faces. But I wouldn't be, because I was going to get a muffin and a new outfit with one of my besties, Cat Valentine!

I snuck out, quietly shutting the door behind me, and walked into the house. My parents had the day off and they were probably a little hung-over from their dining and wining last night (mostly wining), so I tried to be quiet as I walked up the stairs to get ready.

I showered, got my hair dried and ready, and slipped a purple headband on my head. Once in my room, I threw on a purple scoop neck t-shirt, the dark wash skinny jeans I wore last night and my purple peep toe wedges. I don't usually wear heels. I don't know why. I wouldn't seem so short if I did.

After I almost tumbled down the steps, I realized why.

I figured I should at least tell the parental units and the sibling units where I was, so I jotted a quick 'Hanging with Cat, be back before dinner' note for my parents and left it on the refrigerator. I took another sticky note and wrote, 'Becky, Aly-kins, hanging out with Cat. Would have invited you, but you all were sleeping like lumpy log lumps. And you might want to check the mirror before heading out!" I drew a winky face at the end, picked up my gray tote bag and walked out the door.

I opened the door to the Silver Streak and, seeing that Aly and Beck were still sleeping, stuck the note on the inside of it. Right then, I heard a honk, which was mostly likely Cat. Beck jolted up in bed, while Aly groggily mumbled about it being too early for people to be driving. I quickly shuffled out and slammed the door behind me.

Running away as fast as my wedges would take me, I flung the door to Cat's car open and hopped inside.

"Gwenny, hi!" Cat perkily greeted. "So what's-"

"Talk later, drive now," I told her, panicking. I changed my mind. I didn't want to be there when they saw their faces.

Cat obeyed, but I could have sworn I heard a dual cry of "Gwendolyn!" as we drove off.

/

"Omigod, omigod, omigod!" Cat cried while we were seated in the Frappe Café, waiting for our muffins. But maybe I should have talked her out of getting caffeinated coffee. "You have your first date! That's so adorable! Tell me all about him!"

I sheepishly looked down at my carton of milk. I don't like coffee much. "Well, his name is David Shizuka. He's an artist, like me, and he-"

"David Shizuka?" Cat interrupted. "Oh, I think I know him! That's Austin Shizuka's younger brother!"

Older brother?

Oh. That must have been the guy that wasn't David or his parents. I guess I didn't really notice him much because I was too busy avoiding gawking at David.

"Who's Austin?" I asked.

"He's a pretty cool guy. I have a Dramatic Writing class with him and Beck and the three of us usually partner up on stuff." Cat smiled, taking a sip of her cappuccino.

"Wait... Beck knows David's brother? They, like, talk all the time?"

"Um, yeah, I guess."

Forget Defcon 4. We're up to DEFCON 5, PEOPLE.

David's surely to mention our date to his brother, who's most likely going to tell my brother.

And then the entire universe will implode. I'm sure of it.

Before I could panic anymore, a very handsome and very familiar waiter brought us our muffins.

"Your blueberry muffins, ladies," he smoothly said, setting the small plates with the big muffins in front of us.

I looked up at him and smiled. "Why, thank you… Sean."

Time to help Aly get her man. It's the least I can do.

You know, since she gave David my number… And I wrote on her face.