When the bell finally rings, every student at Lincoln High jumps up from their seats and sprints out of their classrooms.

In less than ten seconds, the hallways are crowded with teenagers. They're crammed shoulder-to-shoulder as they move through the halls in order to reach their lockers or leave the building.

The first thing to greet Emily and Rory when they step out of their class is the sound of lockers slamming and kids yelling in order to hear each other over everyone else also talking louder than necessary.

Rory gives Emily a quick hug. She departs to the opposite side of the school, leaving the brunette alone in the sea of madness that is teenagers.

One of the more loud voices belongs to the school's F-Boy ("It-boy," player, etc.), Parker Dyer. The boy with tan skin from being outside often, and bleach-blonde hair, nails the surfer boy look (complete with a shell necklace). He's relevant in their school because of his looks, money, and IQ. He's a triple threat if you will.

When Emily passes him in the hallway, he wolf-whistles, as always. She rolls her eyes and pays him no attention.

Yeah, he's also a major douchebag.

"Yo, Thompson!" Parker acknowledges Emily's presence for the first time ever. She isn't sure how he even knows her name.

The brunette stops walking in the middle of the hallway, startled by the sudden attention. Her heart throbs in her chest. The books in her hand feel slippery from her sweating palms. Many eyes now watch the scene taking place, you know, since teenagers love gossip and have nothing else better to do with their lives.

The loudness of the hallway disappears and trickles down to only whispers that can be heard. Everyone within eyesight is now watching the scene unfold.

Emily slowly turns on her Converse-clad heels to find Parker looking at her with a very amused smirk on his face.

He leans against his locker cooly, his blonde hair hanging loosely over his forehead. "I heard you're falling for my boy, literally." He laughs and the boys standing around him do too.

Emily recognizes them as the guys hanging around Jack earlier. Her eyes immediately flicker over to the boy with auburn hair. Jack smiles cooly, seeing his friend's acts as harmless.

Her blue eyes shift back to Parker. "Yeah, it was an accident. Not that interesting."

Parker laughs cooly again and pushes off the lockers. He opens his mouth to say something, but someone steps in between him and Emily at the last second.

A tall boy with skin the color of milk chocolate practically bounces into the scene. "Hey, Em! Have you done the lit homework yet?" He grins from ear to ear and his obsidian eyes shine with mischief and amusement.

Emily lets out the breath she was holding and visibly relaxes at his presence. "No, it was a little confusing. Can you help me out?" She asks him innocently.

The boy nods, causing his chocolate curls to bounce on his head. "Yeah, come on." He slings his arm around her shoulder and leads her away from the crowd that was already beginning to disperse back to their regularly scheduled programming.

Emily's hair whips around her shoulders when she looks back to see if Parker is still watching them. Instead, she comes to find him talking with his friends like nothing had ever happened at all.

"Tu buena, amiga?" The guy walking with her asks while looking down at her. His accent shows when he is speaking the language he learned from being raised in a bilingual household. His mother is Mexican while his father is African-American.

Emily's gaze turns back to her knight in shining armor. A small, thankful smile graces her pink lips. "Yeah. Thank you, Carlos. You're my savior." She wraps an arm around his torso, giving him a side hug, and sighs. "What would I do without you?"

Carlos laughs. "You would have been good on your own. All I did was shorten the sentence." He bumps his hip into Emily's softly.

The girl bumps her hip back into his, a little harder though. "Well, thanks, dude." She smiles brightly up at her other best friend.

Rory and Carlos were both her best friends. Although those two bumped heads often, Emily, wouldn't trade them for the world. Sure, they got mad at each other sometimes (or a lot), but if they didn't they wouldn't have anything to strengthen their relationship (at least that's what she likes to tell herself anyway).

"A'ight, I have to leave you here. Ao behave yourself, chica!" Carlos exclaims while removing his arm from the shorter, 5 foot 3, girl.

Emily continues to walk down one hallway while he heads for another. "See you later, loser!" She shouts back.

She finally reaches her locker and gets a chance to catch a break.

She leans her head against the blue-painted steel door after she shuts it. A groan escapes her lips. She is thoroughly done with the annoyingly eventful day that she has had.

And just when she thinks it couldn't possibly get any worse, someone taps her on the shoulder. She turns around and is stunned at the sight of toned muscles, a sculpted jawline, and sparkling eyes that resemble sunlight shining through a canopy of green leaves.

The corners of Luke's mouth twitch up. "Hey," he says smoothly.

A/N

QOTD: Who do you wish would tap you on the shoulder when you least expect it?

AOTD: Anyone guy who's funny and fairly attractive (I'm not desperate, you're desperate).