Mason's POV:

I woke up by my alarm clock and realized what day it was. Monday...gross.

I pull the covers off of my body, stretching my limbs until I heard a faint crack. I wince at the noise but brush it off. I pull the covers over my pillow, swiping my hand across the blanket to rid of the wrinkles and make it seem neat. Good enough.

After that I slip my shirt off over my head and scan through my closet, searching for a decent shirt to wear. I take the navy blue shirt off the hanger but once I was about to slip it on,  I notice a light coming from the Cimorelli household nearby my window which caused me to look up.

The blinds were immediately shut and I furrow my eyebrows in confusion. Weird.

I shrug and slide the shirt over my head and go to the drawers nearby my closet and pull it open. I grab the first thing I see which were black pants. I kick off my basketball shorts and boxers then slide on a new pair of boxers then my black my pants. I reach to grab my black and white converse from the shoe rack and shove one on each foot, then grab my black Jansport backpack that was near the door.

I open the door and walk down the stairs, seeing my siblings eating cereal except for David who was making waffles.

"Morning." I say, setting my bag on the couch and walk to the kitchen to grab a plate from the cabinet.

"Morning Mase." David greeted, handing me one of the waffles he made. I sit down in between Victoria and Rachel.

"So am I going to be in the same class as Christian?" Victoria asked my mom with a hopeful expression. "Him and his other brothers are the only friends I have so far but Joey and Nick are in different classes."

"We'll find out when we go to the office to register you in." My mom assures, checking the time on her phone. "But we have to hurry so I could take you guys to school and make it to work on time."

"Mom don't worry, I'll take Rachel, Oliver, and Mason to school." David said, grabbing a coffee cup from the cabinet. "You don't want to be late on your first day."

"Thank you." She said and kissed his cheek, placing her plate in the sink to wash it. "Come on Victoria, finish up so we can leave."

Victoria quickly drinks the rest of the milk in her bowl and places it in the sink. She quickly hugs the rest of us and grabs her backpack from the couch.  Our mom and Victoria walk out the door, shutting it behind them.

"Now that she's gone, let's talk about the Cimorelli sisters." Rachel says, once the door shut.

"And why the sisters specifically?" Oliver asked, drinking the rest of the milk from his bowl as well.

"Oh come on, don't act like you don't think at least one of them is cute." She rolled her eyes and turned to David. "I mean, Lisa is pretty nice. Right, David?"

"I think you had enough orange juice." David says, snatching the cup in front of her and dumping the last remains in the sink.

"David, you two practically hit it off the first night." Oliver adds with a laugh. "And you told me that you--"

"Oliver." David warned, making Oliver sink lower in his seat. "Anyway let's go, you all don't want to be late for your first day."

"It's not even the official first day. They started a week ago." Rachel scoffs.

"Really? I thought mom said today was our first day." Oliver says, making David facepalm.

"That's not--you know what. I'll meet you guys in the car." David mumbles, grabbing the keys from the hook then walked outside.

Lauren's POV:

As I was straightening my hair in the bathroom to get ready for school, I heard one of my sisters gasp from our room.

"Oh my gosh, he has a six-pack?"

"Ooh I wanna see!" I heard Dani say, making me curious on who they were talking about. I finish the last strand and unplug the straightener from the outlet. I walk to our room, seeing Dani and Lisa peeking their heads at the window.

"What are you guys talking about?" I ask, looking through my closet to find a shirt.

Dani turned with a smirk. "Just the girl we wanted to find." She pointed at the window, moving from her spot. "Check it out."

I sat down on her spot and my eyes widen at the sight of a shirtless Mason. He was looking through his closet, most likely getting ready for the day.

"Careful Lauren, you're drooling." Lisa teased, making me roll my eyes.

"Shut up. You were basically drooling when you saw David the first day." I scoff.

"Was not!" Lisa glared.

"Yes you were!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Ye--"

"Quiet!" We look and see Christina with her arms crossed. "Your bickering and squeals woke us up." I see Katherine rub her eyes sleepily with Amy behind, already dressed for school.

"Why exactly are you guys arguing?" Amy asked.

"Because Lisa was teasing Lauren about seeing Mason shirtless." Dani laughed, pointing at the window. Lisa moved from her spot so Amy and Katherine could see, making the same reactions as I did.

"Are you sure he's only sixteen?" Katherine asks.

"Oh god, don't make me a part of this." Christina shook her head, walking out of the room.

"Dang...Lauren are you sure you're not drooling?" Amy asks, wiping my chin playfully but I smack her hands away.

"Stop it!" I groan and look out the window again. Once Mason grabbed a navy blue shirt, he was about to slip it on but then stops midway.

"Close the curtain!" Dani whispered frantically and I quickly shut the curtain in front of us. I sigh in relief, hoping he didn't see us.

"Do you think he saw?" Lisa asked, trying to hold in her giggles.

"God I hope not." I mumble. I peek through the curtain again and see he already slipped on his shirt, taking a couple glances at our window with confusion. "He probably thinks we're weird."

"Honey, you've been weird. I'm gonna finish getting ready." Amy patted my back and walked out of the room. I roll my eyes and walk back to my closet, searching for something to wear for school.

Mason's POV:

I shut the car door after Rachel but David rolled down the window.

"I have to run some errands for mom today so you guys have to walk home today." He calls out.

Rachel groans. "Aw man."

"Have fun!" David calls out again, driving away from the parking lot and into a different direction.

Oliver, Rachel, and I mindlessly walked around the school since there were surprisingly no teachers around.

"How are we supposed to find the office without anyone helping us?" Rachel scoffs. Oliver attempts to walk to a group of girls and they look at him in confusion.

"Hey, do you know where the office is? We've been looking around and still can't find it." Oliver explains and one of the girls snicker.

"If I had to look for it myself, you should too." She says while stepping away from him along with the rest of her friends as well.

"Rude." He mumbles, walking closer to us again.

"It's cause we're new." I say, seeing people stare at us as we kept walking to god who knows where. Nearby, I see a rather large building than the ones we saw repetitively. I point, catching Rachel and Oliver's attention. "That has to be it."

We start walking towards that direction and Oliver held the door open for Rachel and I to step in. A woman was typing away at a desktop and she turns seeing us walk in.

"Can I help you?" She asked.

"We're new students." Rachel says with a small smile.

"Names?" She asks, opening the cabinet beside her desk.

"Oliver, Rachel, and Mason Smith." Oliver says, pointing to us.

She looked through several papers in the file and pulled out several papers from inside. She hands it to each of us and I see it was our schedule and lock combinations to our lockers.

"Good luck on your first day." She says, turning back to her computer as we walked out of the office.

PING

Rachel pulled out her phone and read the text that was sent to her with a grin.

"I'm gonna go meet up with Dani so I'll catch you guys in the front after school." She says, typing something on her phone. "Bye guys."

"Good luck." Oliver and I say in unison before she walked away from us.

A bell rang throughout the school and several kids around us separated from their groups, most likely heading to their classes.

"Do you need me to go with you to find your class?" Oliver asked but I shook my head.

"Oliver, I'm not five. I can do it by myself." I scoff.

"Hey, I just wanted to be nice." He rose his hand in surrender, backing away from me. He looked down at his schedule and pointed behind him. "Well I think my class is this way. I'll see you later Mase" he says before speed walking away.

I started heading the other way, hoping I was going the right direction, but I guess I was walking too slow since the second bell rang.

"Crap." I mumble and started running. From what felt like ages of constantly going to wrong classrooms, I eventually found my class and walked inside.

I felt everyone's eyes on me and see that my teacher had her arms crossed with a look of annoyance.

Great first impression.

"Why are you so late?" She asked and I awkwardly hand her my schedule. She nods slowly and hands it back to me. "New student." She whispers and faced the class.

Oh god don't introduce m--

"Class...this is Mason Smith. He came all the way from..." She trailed and looked at me expectantly.

I clear my throat. "Michigan."

"Michigan. So I expect all of you to make him feel welcomed." She says and I avoided any eye contact from the students. "Mr. Smith, you can sit next to Lauren since she has an empty corner seat. Lauren raise your hand." She says.

I scan the room, seeing the familiar brunette who slowly raised her hand.

I walked towards the back of the room, still feeling everyone's eyes on me and sit down in the corner seat. I hang my backpack on my chair and take out my notebook and pencil from inside.

"Why didn't you tell me you were going to be in my class?" Lauren whispered to me as the teacher started doing her lecture.

"How was I supposed to know?" I whispered back. "You never asked."

"I gave you my number for a reason."

"Again, how was I supposed to know." I whisper and she rolled her eyes playfully.

"Well it's cool having you here." She says, facing forward again to take down the notes.

Lauren's POV:

I walk to my lunch table after class where my friends hung out and as I got closer to them, they were giggling at what Audrey had said. She notices me once I came close and grabs my arm to drag me to the table.

"Okay Laurie, you have to tell us." She says. "What's it like sitting next to the new kid in our English class?"

I internally cringe at the nickname. "I mean, he's cool. I already met him before."

"What? When?" Layla, one of my other friends jumped in the conversation as well.

"This weekend. He moved next door on Friday." I explain and Audrey gasps.

"Why didn't you tell me, your best friend since middle school, that the new cute boy is your neighbor?" She emphasized, smacking my arm playfully. "What does he like? What does he hate?"

"It didn't really come to mind." I shrug, pulling out a sandwich I packed this morning from my bag. "Also I don't know yet. He isn't really social with others." I say and took a bite of my sandwich.

"That'll change with me." She smirks. "You have to invite him to come with us to the homecoming game."

"And why would I do that? Also I don't recall about me going to the game." I laugh.

"Well because first of all, since most of us are cheerleaders it'll give him a show." She says, pointing to Layla, and my other friends Diana, Cora, Shelby, and Phoebe. "And second, it'll be a way to introduce myself to him." She says.

"I don't know, you know my sisters and I have our band thing going on." I say and Audrey shakes my arm with a pout.

"Come on, just one night? Bring them if you have too. Just as long as Mason goes." She whines. "It'll be fun!"

I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Alright fine." I snatch the chocolate chip cookie from her lunch tray. "But I get to keep this if I have to ask."

"Deal! You're the best." She pulls me in a tight hug making me laugh.

"Can I get in this hug too?"

We turn seeing one of my guy friends, Parker, from our English period. I barely met him in the beginning of the school year and he's been pretty nice to me so far. I mean, despite the fact our teacher forced him to move seats since we kept talking but other than that, he stops by our table once in awhile.

"No way." Audrey teases, hugging me tighter. "Because if you join in on this Lauren hug, I'm pretty sure you won't let go since you think she's cute."

"I won't deny that." Parker winks and I feel myself blush at his response.

"Anyway, you should come to the Homecoming game with us!" Audrey says, releasing her hold as Parker turns to me.

"Are you going?" He asks and I nod. "Then yeah I'll come." He grins.

"Cool." I say, smiling as well.

"I better get going, I have detention with Ms. Gonzales again." He says with a chuckle. "I'll see you guys later or something." He says before walking to where the classrooms were. As I was watching him walk away, I see Dani and Amy walking with Oliver, Rachel, and Mason from the cafeteria.

"Dani!" I loudly call out, making her head turn in confusion. I wave my hand for her to see me and she smiles once she saw where I was. I gesture for them to come over where I was and they start heading to our direction.

"Oh my gosh, it's him. Quick! Layla, how do I look?" Audrey asks, fixing the strands of her hair that were in the front.

"You look good, don't worry." Layla assures.

"Good isn't enough. I need to look perfect!" Audrey groans, pulling her phone out to look at her reflection. "It'll do for now."

Once they came close to our table, Dani and Amy waved to my friends and sat in the empty table by us. I patted the empty seat next to me and Mason sat down, placing his backpack on his lap.

"Are you gonna introduce us, Lauren?" Audrey casually asks, sitting across from Mason and I chuckle ather attempt to make Mason stare by flipping her hair to the side but he was looking away from everyone.

"This is Shelby, Layla, Phoebe, Diana, Cora," I say, pointing to each girl and they wave with a smile. "And this is Audrey."

"Audrey Wescott." Audrey adds, putting her hand out to shake hands with Mason.

Mason awkwardly shook her hand, giving a small smile.

"This is Rachel, Oliver, and Mason." I finish as Mason releases his hand from her hold.

"Nice to meet you guys." Oliver says but then furrows his eyebrows. "Wait...weren't you the girls from this morning when I tried asking for directions to the office?" He points to Cora, Shelby, and Layla.

"We had to get to class, sorry." Cora says and Rachel takes a step back closer to her siblings.

"But you guys told me that he seemed—" Diana tried to say but Layla nudged her, making her stay quiet. "nevermind."

"Right..." Rachel trails, crossing her arms.

"Anyway! The homecoming game is on Friday, are you guys planning to go?" Audrey asks, mainly staring at Mason.

"Probably not." Rachel shrugs.

"It's not really our thing." Oliver adds and Mason simply nods along. Audrey turns to me for help and I clear my throat.

"Come on guys, it'll be fun! Besides, it'll be your first one!" I say. 

"You know, I kind of want to go." Dani says. "Just to say I went to one."

"Good point." Rachel shrugs.

"I mean, it might be a good chance to get used to being around here." Amy suggests.

Diana points at the sign nearby that promoted the game. "It's free admission also."

"If you put it that way, I guess I'm in too." Oliver says, making Amy smile.

"Mason?" Audrey asks, nudging his side and he awkwardly scratches his neck.

"I don't know, I have to catch up with the rest of the class assignments." He says. Audrey discreetly kicks my shin with a pleading look again.

I nudge Mason. "Okay how about if I come over to your house everyday after school until the homecoming game to help you out, will you at least consider going?"

He chuckles. "Who said I needed help? I think I'm perfectly capable of doing it myself."

"Hey it's a pretty good bargain considering the fact I'm taking my time out of my day to help with your homework." I tease.

"It does sound like a good bargain since I'd probably have you do all of it." He shrugged, making me roll my eyes playfully.

"I'll help too!" Audrey butted in, scooting closer to Mason.

Mason broke his gaze from me and awkwardly scratched his neck. "Uh..."   

"Audrey, you can barely do your homework without having to ask me for help." Diana laughed, making the rest of us laugh as well except for Audrey who sent glares towards Diana.

"But I can still somewhat help if you want me to." Audrey says, turning to Mason with an innocent smile.

He locked eyes with mine and gave a small smile. "I guess if Lauren's helping me out, then I guess I'll go too."

"So I'll meet you after school today?" I ask and he nods. "Cool."

Audrey claps, facing Mason again and pulls out her phone. "Great! Put your number in my phone so we can meet up before the game." 

The bell rang, signaling that lunch was over and for students to head to their next class. Mason stood up from his spot and pulled out his schedule. 

"I should get going or I'll be late." He points behind him. "It was nice meeting you all."

"What's your next class?" Layla asks, collecting her things as well.

"Chemistry with Mr. Thompson?" He says and Diana smiles. 

"Hey me too. Wanna walk together?" She asks and Mason nods.

"Sure." He grins and turns to me. "I'll see you later Laur." He says and I wave as he walks away, along with Dani, Rachel, Oliver, and Amy as well.

"I can't believe he didn't take my number." Audrey groans, picking up her bag from the table. "Instead, he went with Diana who barely tried at all!"

"Don't worry, we'll tell her to back off." Cora adds, throwing away Audrey's trash into the garbage. 

"She practically betrayed you." Shelby scoffs.

"All she did was offer Mason to walk to class with him." I laugh as we walked to our Math class. "And he technically didn't say no to you."

Audrey rolls her eyes. "Well I'm not giving up. I wish I can skip babysitting for my mom today or else I would've tagged along with you guys."

"You still have until the game to show off to Mason." Layla nudges her side. 

"Good point." Audrey grins. "Lauren, when you see him later today, you have to be my wing-woman. Talk about the good things about me so he'll be interested."

"Yeah, I'll just casually bring up how you like long walks on the beach on our conversation about the Pythagorean theorem." I sarcastically respond. "Seriously, how do I casually talk about you?"

"I don't know, figure it out." Audrey shrugs, walking inside the classroom first. I sigh and walk inside as well.

Mason's POV:

As I waited for the rest Oliver and Rachel to walk out, I sat down on one of the nearby benches that were in near the front of the school. 

Turns out, I have most of my classes with Lauren besides Chemistry and Math. We had similar teachers but they were in different periods.

I would've sat with Lauren but she was practically surrounded by her friend group.  Especially Audrey. She seems like a nice girl but with how her other friends acted with Oliver, I'm not sure how the homecoming game is gonna turn out.

"Hey," I look up and see Rachel with a concerned expression with Oliver behind. "you doing okay?"

I clear my throat. "Yeah just thinking." I stand up from my spot and dust off my pants then start walking towards the direction of where our house was.

"So," Rachel trailed. "some of Lauren's friends were interesting." 

"Especially Audrey, it seems like she likes you." Oliver teases, making me roll my eyes. "Actually either one of Lauren's friends. I swear they were practically staring at you the whole time."

"We just met today." I groan. "The only person that actually seemed pretty cool to talk to was Diana." 

"I just don't like how they pretended they were busy about showing us around once we first saw them but as soon as Lauren introduced us, it was like they were meeting us for the first time." Rachel crossed her arms.

"Yeah well, what can we do about it? Lauren doesn't control them. Anyway, it's not that big of a deal. I'd rather not have any problems with her friends." I say.

As if on cue, a black Mercedes Benz pulled up beside us, making the three of us stop walking. The passenger window rolled down and Lauren's head peeked out, her expression showing confusion. 

"Hey, I thought your brother would be picking you guys up?"

"He had 'errands' to run." Rachel responds, using her fingers as air quotes. The backseat windows rolled down as well and see Dani poke her head out as well.

"You should come with us! Parker is dropping us off." Dani suggests, making Rachel sigh in relief. I look behind Lauren and see her friend who gives a small wave. 

(a/n: hi I pictured Parker as Ryan Potter. ok bye.)

Amy poked her head out as well. "Dan, how are we all going to fit?"

"If we squeeze in, it's possible."

"But illegal!" Amy scolds.

"Just get in the car." Lauren says and Dani opens the door. Oliver goes on the other side to sit next to Amy while Rachel climbs inside. I got inside last and somehow manage to shut the door. 

"Okay drive! I'm being suffocated by Dani!" Amy groans.

"Sit on my lap if you have to." Oliver says and I could see the blush rise to her cheeks. "T-That's if you want to. I mean, you don't have to. Sorry that was stupid--"

"No, no! It's not like I don't want to, I do. I mean, it won't be that long to get to the house. Even though we practically just--"

"Amy, just sit on his lap!" Dani and Lauren interrupt in unison, making Rachel and I snicker. Amy awkwardly lifts herself up and sits on Oliver's lap. Rachel scooted to give me a bit more space, making me sigh in relief.

I look at Lauren through her side view mirror and see her thoughtfully gazing out the window. Since the window was down her hair flowed along with the wind, as if it was like a movie scene. 

Wow.

Rachel nudged my side. "Don't forget to blink." She smirked.

"Shut up." I glare, making her snicker. 

I look back at the side view mirror and catch Lauren already staring. She quickly averted her eyes and looked back out the window.

"Lauren's friend," Rachel calls, making Parker look at his rear view mirror. "how long have you been friends with Lauren?"

"A couple weeks. We met in our English class from when our teacher had us next to each other.  We instantly hit it off but let's just say a little bit too well where the teacher had to separate us because of somebody." He says, making Lauren gasp.

"You were the one always cracking jokes about Mrs. Benson." She says and Parker shrugged innocently.

"No one told you to laugh." He says, making me scoff quietly enough where he wouldn't hear me.

"No one asked for a life story." I whisper to Rachel, making her and Dani chuckle.

"Is someone jealous?" Dani whispered back.

"Jealous of what?" I whisper, making her roll her eyes. "Why would I be?"

"Nevermind." She chuckles and scrolls through posts on her Instagram.

Once Parker pulled up beside Lauren's house, I was the first one to get out of the vehicle since I knew any minute longer of being squished in the car, I would've lost my mind.

"I'll see you tomorrow Oliver." Amy says and Oliver nods, scratching his neck nervously.

"Yeah. See you...tomorrow." He says and Amy turns to Dani.

"You coming?" She asks but Dani shakes her head.

"Rachel and I are gonna study at her house. I'll be back in time before dinner." She says and Amy nods. She was about to call out for Lauren but she was in the middle of talking to Parker in his car still. 

"I'll just let them be." Amy says before she walks inside her house. Oliver heads inside our house as well, leaving Rachel, Dani, and I outside. 

I couldn't help but watch Lauren laugh along to what Parker had said to her. An uneasy feeling in my stomach started to stir but I couldn't figure out what it was. What's wrong with me?

"Hey," Dani placed a hand on my arm. "I wouldn't worry too much about them. Lauren hasn't said a thing about finding him attractive or something."

"And why are you telling me this?" I ask.

"Because you find her cute. We're not stupid, Mason." Rachel says but I roll my eyes.

"I don't like her like that." I scoff and see Lauren pull Parker into a hug before getting out of the car. "What makes you guys think I do?"

"Just a hunch." Dani shrugged.

Lauren waved goodbye to Parker before he drove away from the house. I turn to Dani and Rachel. "Don't you two have studying to do?"

Dani and Rachel giggled to themselves before walking inside as well, most likely to the backyard. 

"You okay?"

I jump and see Lauren already behind me, giving me a look of concern.

"Yeah it's just Rachel and Dani messing with me." I lie and gesture inside. "After you."

She smiles then walks inside first. I shut the door behind me and gesture upstairs for her to follow. We go up the stairs then walk past my siblings bedrooms since my room was at the end of the hallway. I kick off my shoes by the door and see Lauren does the same. 

"You can put your bag on the chair if you want." I suggest, placing my bag to make it lean against the beanbag chair. She places her bag next to mine and looks around my room with a small smile.

"Nice room." She says and grabs the Darth Vader action figure from my dresser. "Wow I never would have guessed you as a nerdy type of guy."

"Hey, I'm not a nerd. The Star Wars movies are the greatest movies of all time." I say, making her laugh. "Besides, my mom must have found it in the boxes and put it there since I didn't see it there this morning." 

"You don't have to lie about your nerdy interests, it's okay." Lauren teases, turning to face me with the action figure in front of her face. "Mason, I am your father. Don't lie about me." She attempts to impersonate Darth Vader's voice.

I cross my arms with an amused look. "Look who's the nerd now."

"I technically never disagreed about what you said." She laughs before placing the action figure back on the dresser. "Anyway let's get started on your assignments."

Later

"My brain is going to explode." I groan, laying flat on the ground as Lauren kept reading our English homework assignment. 

"Use that with a word you would never usually say." She says and I turn to her with a sigh. 

"My encephalon is going to blow to smithereens if we continue this any longer."

"Well, I think we did a good job covering English today." She laughs, shutting the book and placing it by her bag.

"Can we take a break?" I say and she leans against the beanbag chair. "Like let's just talk about anything but school." 

"Alright, well I asked you the first day you got her but I'm going to ask again. How are you adjusting with Sacramento?" She says but I shrug.

"I like it here. If we hadn't met your family, I'd say we pretty much would be bored out of our minds." I explain.

"Yeah I can tell. Rachel and Dani are practically inseparable. My little brothers were telling me the other day about some video game that Victoria had and suddenly they became best friends as well." She laughs.

"Victoria never really had someone to relate to when we were in Michigan. It was hard on her to hide a part of what she likes in front of her friends." I admit. "Being here, it's different for us to adjust in a different environment but it's still pretty cool."

"How about my friends that you met today?"

"Well," I trail, debating whether or not to be honest. "I don't really know the others that well. I talked to Diana and so far she seems pretty nice. We gave each other our numbers today so we could help each other out on class assignments." I explain and her eyes widen.

"You got Diana's number today?" She asks and I slowly nod.

"Yeah...is that a problem?" I ask but she quickly shakes her head.

"No, no it's just...surprising since you just met her today." She says but I shrug.

"Well we did talk to each other a lot today in our Chemistry class." 

"Since we're talking about my friends, what do you think about Audrey?" She asks, fiddling with her fingers.

"Kind of intimidating but so far she's alright." I say, recalling the awkward moments of her trying to get my attention. 

"She's really nice once you get to know her. I can give you her number if you want?" Lauren suggests.

"Maybe later." I respond and fix my position so I could lean on my arm to face her. "You and Parker seem pretty close." I casually mention.

"He's...pretty nice." She trails and looks up to meet my gaze. "Why bring him up?"

"J-Just curious. I didn't see him when I walked in the class after he was telling us about when you two first met." I say and she smirks.

"Is someone jealous that you're not my only guy friend?" She teases.

I scoff. "Jealous? Yeah, no."  

"It's okay to admit you got jealous." She laughs, sitting up from her spot to repetitively poke my side teasingly.

"I'm not. Why would I be jealous?" I say as she continued to poke my side with a smirk.

"Because you like hanging out with me." She laughs

"I'd rather throw myself down a never-ending staircase."

She scoffs. "That can be arranged." She responds and I raise my eyebrows, crossing my arms as well.

"Is that a threat?" I ask and she shrugged.

"If it is, what are you going to do about it?" She asks, pushing me back as if she was going to fight me.

I slowly nod before tackling her against the beanbag chair, causing her to laugh. I attempt to pin her wrists but she grabs my arms and rolls us so she would be on top. 

I could've easily thrown her off but I wanted her to think I couldn't do it. I acted like I was struggling to roll her off which earned a smirk to form on her face. 

"Just admit it, you're jealous!" She says and I scoff.

"I'm not jealous. You know, you're probably jealous of Diana." I say and she scoffs.

"Why would I be jealous?"

"Because you're not my only girl friend." I mock and she gasps.

"Woah, who said we were dating?"

I roll my eyes and finally roll us over so I would be on top. She attempted to wrestle out of my grip but I held her wrists and pinned them to the ground. She continued laughing and tried to pull from my grip.

"I'll let you go if you say I'm right about not being jealous." I say but she shook her head.

"No way." She says and I shrug.

"Alright, then I guess I'll just..." I trail and bring my hands to her ribs to start tickling her sides. She gasped and continued laughing contagiously, making me smile as she kept attempting to fight my hold. "Say it!"

"L-Let me go!" She said in between breaths. "I can't breathe!"

"I'm waiting!" I laugh and continue my actions.

" Fine! Mason's right, he's not jealous!" She says and I pull my hands away from her sides with a smirk. "Jerk."

I get off of her and lean against my bed with a smile. "But you still like me."

She pushes herself up and leans against my bed as well. She turns her head so she could face me. "You wish."

I see an eyelash rest on her cheek. I scoot closer to her and her annoyed expression change into confusion. "What?" 

"You have something on your cheek," I point. She tries to wipe it off with her sleeve but it still remained on her face. "here."

I cup her cheek with my hand and slide my thumb across to brush off the eyelash. Her eyes never left mine and I instantly realize how close we actually were. I gulp as we stared into each others eyes. Our faces were just a couple inches apart and I couldn't help but look down at her lips but quickly meet her eyes again. 

"Thanks." She whispers and clears her throat, making me pull away a bit. She looks behind me and gets up from her spot. She picks up the guitar in the corner and immediately I tense up. "I didn't know you played."

"I used to but I haven't played in awhile." I respond and she sits across from me with the guitar in her hand. She brushed her finger and thumb against the strings, playing a mini tune.

"Is it too much to ask why you don't play anymore?"

"A story for another day." I say and she nods slowly, placing the guitar back in its previous spot. She sits across from me, leaning against the wall. "Maybe you'll hear me play a song next time."

"I'll hold you on to that." She says with a smile before opening her books again. "Let's finish up the last assignment so we could get over it."

I nod and grab my English textbook beside me and flip through the pages. Once I found the page, I look up from my book. Lauren tucked her hair behind her ear and looked up as well, giving a shy smile. I felt my face begin to flush and I quickly look back down at my book. 

Did that just...no way.

Stephanie's POV:

I walk up the stairs with Victoria to Mason's room, holding a bowl filled with chips while Victoria help two cups of water in her hands.

"Are you sure they didn't eat? I really need to get back into finishing that level." Victoria whined.

"Honey, I'm doing you a favor for your eyes because they've been glued to that screen for way too long." I say, making her groan. "What, you don't want to hang out with your cool mom?"

"It's not that, I just want to finish it before the Cimorelli brothers come over again." She says as we neared Mason's bedroom.

"Once you finish your chores, maybe I'll consider letting you go over to their house with Mrs. Cimorelli's permission." I say and see Mason's door was slightly open. 

Giggles were heard inside which peaked my curiosity. I set down the bowl against the mini table beside me and sneakily peak inside. 

Lauren had Mason pinned on the floor, both having looks of amusement in their faces. Mason had a smile on his face but he didn't even try to fight the grip Lauren had on him.

"Mom what are you--" Victoria whispered but I put a finger over my mouth, showing to be quiet. She set the cups down as well and peeked through as well. "Why is Mason pinned to the ground?"

"They're playing around." I whisper.

I heard more footsteps behind, causing me to turn. Oliver and David had confused expression on their faces but I gestured for them to come to where I stood but to keep their voices quiet.

"Are you spying on Mason? You know how he feels about that." Oliver asks, making Victoria slap his arm to shut him up. "Ow! Victoria what the--"

"She told you to be quiet, genius!" David whispered and Oliver nodded slowly. 

We heard more giggles, mostly from Lauren, and we quickly looked back inside. David opened the door a bit to get a better view for us and this time we see Mason was tickling Lauren's sides, having her lean against the beanbag chair.

"I haven't seen him smile that much since..." David trailed off.

"Since the divorce." I finish, smiling at Mason's reaction to Lauren's laugh. 

"Fine! Mason's right, he's not jealous!" Lauren says and once she does, Mason pulls his hands away from her side with a smirk. "Jerk."

Mason gets off of her then leans against his bed with a smile. "But you still like me."

She pushes herself up and leans against his bed beside him as well. She tilts her head so she could face him. "You wish."

It was completely silent between the two but they kept staring at one another. Mason scoots closer to her and Lauren's face turned into confusion.

"What?"

"You have something on your cheek," He says. 

David quietly gasps. "Is he going to--" He whispers but Victoria shushes him with an annoyed look.

Lauren tries to wipe it off with her sleeve but Mason shook his head, reaching to cup her cheek. "here."

His hand rested on her cheek and brushes his thumb across.  Their eye contact never broke, seeing how close they were. 

"Oh my god they're going to--" Oliver tries to say, making Victoria groan.

"Do you two not understand the word quiet?" She glares.

"Sorry! I'm just trying to process what I'm seeing." Oliver scoffs.

"The thing that you're going to have to process is my fist hitting your cheek." Victoria threatens.

"Kids." I scold, looking away from the scene in front of me. "Now is not the time to be arguing or so help me god, I will--"

"Mom?" We turn seeing Rachel and Dani stand there with confusion. "What are you doing?"

"We're spying on your brother, now shush and get over here." I whisper, gesture for them to come to the door. 

They quietly peek through the gap and Rachel gasps, similar to David. I look through as well and see Lauren holding Mason's guitar I had placed in his room when he was at school.

"Mason never let anyone touch his guitar. Especially people he barely just met." David said with Oliver nodding in agreement.

"Not even me." Oliver says, grabbing a chip from the bowl beside us.

"Lauren's healing him." Rachel says, making me smile once more.

"Is it too much to ask why you don't play anymore?" Lauren asks. I could easily tell Mason was hesitant about bringing up the past but he still gave a small smile.

"A story for another day." He responds.

"As much as I love being nosy about my sister's love life," Dani stands up from her spot with a light chuckle. "we should give them their privacy." 

"We're taking these." Rachel says, handing the bowl to Dani while she grabbed the cups. "Thanks!" She says, walking away with Dani back downstairs.

"Hey, I wanted some!" Victoria scoffed and followed behind them.

"I'm gonna finish homework." Oliver says, going to his room nearby but peeks his head out, pointing at David and I. "No spying."  He shuts the door behind him.

David pats my arm with a small smile as we both watched Mason and Lauren continue doing their homework. "He's going to be okay, you know."

"I know, I'm just wondering how much she's going to impact his life." I admit.

"He'll figure it out." David chuckles. "He has us if anything."

"Good point." 

Lauren's POV:

"You know, you didn't have to walk me home." I say as Mason walked me up to my doorstep. 

We didn't realize how late we had been working on our assignments until Christina texted to ask  if I was skipping dinner and when I was coming back. Once Mason and I finished the last page, he decided to walk me home.

"Well, I would hate myself if something happened to you." He says but coughs, covering his mouth. "I mean, also cause Christina slightly scares me."

"Right." I laugh and dig through my backpack to look for my house keys. 

"Thanks for helping me out with some of the homework from this week." He says and I smile. I pull my keys out but face him again. "Especially since we screwed around through most of it."

"You're welcome. Same time tomorrow? I'd say mine but your room was so cool." I say and his eyes widen. "Wait that sounded weird. It's just your room is spacious enough for us to lie around together." I ramble but feel my face flush, realizing on how I worded out my sentence. 

"Uh..." He trailed and I awkwardly scratch my neck. 

"I mean, we can go to the library if it's too much. Or if you prefer, you can come over tomorrow if you want to study in my room--you know what, we can talk about it tomorrow." I say, quickly turning away from him so I can leave this conversation since I was just continuing to embarrass myself. 

I was struggling on trying to unlock the door but I felt a hand place over my hand that held the doorknob. He held it in place, stopping my hand from shaking and pulled it away from the doorknob, making me face him again. 

He shyly smiled at me since I didn't let go of his hold on my hand. 

"We can study at my place if you feel like your room isn't big enough." He says, his voice low enough so only I would hear. 

"I-If only it's okay with you." I stutter as he reaches to tuck a strand of my hair behind my ear. 

"I don't mind." He shrugs, pulling his hand away. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Was I supposed to hug him? Would it be weird if I did? God Lauren, it's just a hug go for it.

I wrap my arms around him, making him stiffen in place. He slowly wrapped his arms around as well, not even knowing if he was comfortable enough of what I did. For gods sake, we just met a couple days ago.

I pull away and try unlocking the door once more. The lock clicked and I push open the door, stepping inside but turn to Mason one last time. 

"Goodnight." I give a small smile.

"Goodnight Lauren." He says before I shut the door behind me. 

I let out a long breath, leaning against the door and bump my head against it.

Why do I feel so awkward around him? He's just a neighbor I became friends with. Nothing more...I think? No way, no. Just friends.

Oh god, I'm a mess.