I think I like you

What the actual hell was that suppose to mean? I think I like you

We were half way through assembly, Caden and I sitting side-by-side, listening to our short moderately obese principle going on about some crappy award I didn't care about and the entire time my brain had been rattling over what Caden had said to me after maths.

I think I like you

I just couldn't stop thinking about it, five words, 14 letters, GOD what did it mean? What did I mean? What was even going on In my weird brain?

Had he meant it as a friend, he liked me as a friend and he wanted us to become buds, was that it? Or did he mean it in a sexual, romantic way and was trying to seduce me- gosh I was getting so flustered over the entire situation, and my expression must have been showing I was as Caden gave me a very concerned look.

"Are you ok Riley?" he asked inquisitively "You kinda seem out of it since maths"

"Oh what?" I finally snapped out of my daze and met Caden's stare "What were you saying?"

"You just seem a bit off" he shrugged. Wow, I wonder WHY.

'I guess its because it's the first day of school or whatever" I brushed it off "My birthday too" Caden's eyes widened and he gave a big smile, showing off his remarkably clean teeth.

"Your birthday?" he exclaimed silently "Why didn't you say so? Oh well happy birthday dude, you 17 now?"

"Sixteen actually" I chuckled. Yep I was finally sixteen and still looking like a tween.

"So are you doing something special after school today?" Caden asked as we gave a quick applesauce for something before going back to speaking. Hm, I frowned. What were we doing for our birthday? Were we doing anything at ALL? Last year my dad forgot to get us a present because of all his night shifts. I swear, he worked almost every night- HOW could someone even do that? I could barely stay up past nine before getting sleepy.

"Probably not" I sighed "My parents are usually pretty busy during the day so I'll probably go home and do my stupid math homework" I groaned at the thought of doing homework, and when I turned back to Caden I saw him watching me with the same stare as earlier, but as I went to say something, the bell rang out singling the end of assembly.

Without a moment's hesitation, I jumped from my seat and quickly made my way towards the staircase were about ten billion other people were trying to squeeze down in an attempt to get the HELL out of the disgusting smelling gym. I didn't even think about Caden until I squeezed myself into the cluster of people.

'Hay Caden-' I yelled turning to were we had been sitting, but to my surprise, the guy was gone- which was strange since I had only seen him moments ago. Eh, he was probably somewhere in the mass of students trying to leave, I'd probably see him in another class or something, it was a shame though. I kinda liked talking to him.

Anyway. There was no time to stick around and find him as I was practically pushed all the way down the steps by the horde of students behind me and through into the hallway which was alredy a giant ocean of tired and depressed students wanting to go home already. JUST LIKE I DID.

Once at my locker, I quickly put my belongings away before grabbing my food and heading off to the cafeteria to find the rest of my friends. In fact, the moment I stepped foot into the cafeteria I could hear my it.

"They got rid of the FUCKING choc chip muffins!" my friend Beth's voice rang out loudly, as I quickly moved in the direction of the ranting. Even in the new year with plenty of different people at the school and the usual seating spots all changed, it was pretty easy to spot were my group sat seeing as we sat in the EXACT same place every year.

Sure enough, as I got over to the bench I saw both Beth and Lachie already sitting down, well Beth was, Lachie lay spread out across the entire left side of the bench texting on his phone while Beth sat across from him, angrily trying to rip up the new cafeteria menu she had picked up.

Lachie was the shortest in our group at 5'5, with dirty blond hair and greyish blue eyes. But even though he was still absurdly short, he was actually very muscular for his height, his sport was acrobatics which I suppose might be easier for someone who's tiny, but Lachie was also the most charismatic guy I had ever met, always smooth talking girls and making them laugh- something I still wondered why I couldn't do. Well, I was pretty gawky, especially with my verbal diarrhoea and social awkwardness when it came to meeting new people so that was probably a big factor.

Beth on the other hand looked like the typical nerdy school girl always carrying around a bunch of books. She had short blond hair, peach-white skin and oak brown eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses while she wore a white buttoned shirt tucked underneath a black skirt, but you couldn't let her looks deceive you, this girl was one SAVAGE BITCH. Especially when it came to chocolate muffins, the one and only food she seemed to ever eat.

"WHAT'S UP BITCHES!" I yelled jumping over and slamming my hands on the table, causing Beth to jump in fright and Lachie to practically fall off the bench.

"OH SHIT IT'S THAT BIRTHDAY BOI" Beth whooped as I hopped down next to Lachie, who still looked startled.

"So were are my presents?" I said eagerly, Wanting to see if anyone had got me something for my birthday. We always got presents for each other's birthdays, weather it was money, actual gifts or just chocolate chip muffins for Beth, it was our ritual.

"Twenty bucks" Beth reached inside her skirt pocket and slammed a 20 dollar bill on the table "This is the largest sum of cash I have ever given anyone, so you better take it bro"

"Oh, and I got you-" Lachie reached underneath into his pocket and yanked out two white slips of paper "TWO vouchers to eat free at my uncle's restaurant BOOM" Lachie fist-bumped the air "How's that for a Christmas present?"

"FREE FOOD!" I yelled in delight. Yes, the one and only thing a teenager really loves in this world. "Sorry Beth but Lachie's present is way better then yours"

"I'll take that 20 dollars right back and buy me some chocolate muffins then BITCH" She reached over to try and swipe the money from my hands, but I hopped back just out of her reach

"NO IT'S FINE BETH I LIKE YOUR PRESENT JUST FINE!" I shrieked, getting another round of stares from the students around us before I quickly sat back down at the bench and began eating my tuna sandwich. I love tuna so much, it's the only fish I eat.

"Speaking of muffins, did you hear what happened to the canteen?" Beth thundered "Those old bags decided they didn't want to make chocolate muffins anymore! Now I have to go buy them at the general store down the road every day and that's like a ten minute walk from home and to school! I CAN'T do that!"

"Then get your mum to make you muffins" Lachie said, throwing a green grape into his mouth.

"Or I could make muffins" I said jokingly, but it was true. I loved baking SO much, it was just such a fun thing to do. Getting to make all kinds of delicious foods, cupcakes, donuts, waffles and pies, and Baking only involved a little bit of maths which I could handle, so it was great!

"Riley loves baking" Lachie smirked at me "It's his feminine skill-"

"THERE ISN'T ANYTHING FEMININE ABOUT BAKING!" I demanded "It's a gender natural skill!" and that was true! I always saw men and woman in bakeries. "And anyway" I continued "Were are Suzan and Sam? Is Suzan getting me my birthday cupcake?"

Another ridiculous ritual we did was, the birthday cupcake, which had started out as a one-time thing in year seven, but now it was something that we did on everyone's birthday. Since it was my birthday today, someone else would bring in a cupcake and I would eat it and hopefully like it, since neither Lachie, nor Beth had given me a cupcake, I was guessing it was the final member of our group, Suzan, who was giving me the cupcake this year, at least I hoped so. I Honestly wouldn't be surprised if they forgot, today had been a really weird day so far.

"Guys" I lowered my voice "Is Suzan getting me my birthday cupcake this year?"

"You know it boy" Beth smirked "And speak of the devil, here she comes!"

We all turned to see Suzan walking over to the table with a grin on her face. Suzan was the oldest out of everyone in our little group, she was pretty with dark wavy hair, blue sparkly eyes and a seemingly perfect face. But she was a target for the popular girls because apparently Suzan was fat, which made no sense! she was average weight like the rest of us- but teasing didn't bother her too much, the one thing that DID bother her though was that they called her a lesbian, which was fine if she was- but I didn't know why it bothered her and it defanently didn't feel right for me to ask her why. I guess it would remain one of the many mysteries we didn't know about our friend Suzan Watts.

"Suzan!" I said like a happy child as she climbed down onto the bench beside Beth "You got me my cupcake!" Suzan laughed in response as I eagerly picked it up and took a bite out of it. And oh my god, IT WAS SO GOOD!

Red velvet was my FAVORITE cupcake, and that was the flavour she had got me, She knew that of course. When we caught up on the weekend or the holidays we usually baked together then ate our goodies while watching a really lame movie, playing a lame boardgame or just talking about how we were going. Besides Sam, Suzan was my longest running friend since primary school so we knew pretty much everything about one another. It was good having close friends like that. It meant I knew I could count on her.

"Thanks Suzan!" I said with a grin "You got me my favourite flavour!"

"Because I know you too well Riley Cain" she said winking at me with a smile. "My mum also told me about what happened to the Canteen, So I stopped off at the store and got this" Suzan reached into her lunchbox and pulled out a chocolate chip muffin and in seconds Beth already had it in her hands with excitement printed across her face.

"YOU ARE A GODDESS BABE!" Beth squeezed Suzan into a hug "At least I can count on you to get me my fix!" Beth looked around and frowned "Were missing a kitten, where's Sammy at?"

Where is Sam? I flung around and scanned the canteen until my eyes focused on a particular brunette boy coming our way, I noticed as he walked over that Sam was wearing a white sport's top that outlined his abs and chest, making them visible for everyone to see, and gosh he had got fit over the holidays with a well-defined six pack visible, he could pull that look off very well. I even saw a few girls watching him and giggling and something about it made me unhappy. Was I... Jealous? No, I couldn't be- could I?

I shook my head and quickly turned around to face the others just as Sam reached the bench and hopped down next to me, rapping his arm around my neck- in a friendly-sort of way.

"How were the holidays for everyone?" Sam grinned. "Anyone got a job yet?" what? Did Sam already have a job? Man I needed to get a job BAD. I was too broke to afford anything which was terrible, at least now I had 20 bucks and some coupons to a restaurant, but that would probably only last half the week.

"What you managed to finally get a job?" Suzan said raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I did" Sam said, crossing his arms with a smug grin on his face "I'm a lifeguard down at the pool"

"You did a lifesaving course? I can't understand how you passed" Beth said biting down hard on her muffin.

"Hay, have you guys seen the new guy yet" Lachie said as he bent forward eagerly "I haven't seen him yet"

"Well I have" Beth said smugly "I saw him in the hallway, and let me tell you, the guy looks like a freaking SEX GOD!"

I choked on my sandwich as Sam burst out laughing, slamming his hand down on the table as he did so. Well I couldn't deny he was good-looking, that much was true.

"Is he really that hot?" Suzan said rising her eyebrow "Gosh, I think I wanna see him now"

"Well you can" Beth said leaning up to look over my shoulder "Because he's coming right our way!" In sync, we all turned to were Beth was looking and sure enough, Caden was there. Carrying a lunch tray as kids glanced over their shoulders at him and whispered quietly- but like always, he took all the attention in with a mischievous smirk on his face- which really bothered me for some reason. Beth was right though, I realised as I felt my face turn hot.

Caden was coming right our way.

***

Hello! here's chapter 3!, so there wasn't much romance in this chapter but I can assure you that things are going to heat up in the next few chapters! ;)

Also, feel free to give me some feedback about how I'm going. I've already had a DM from someone who gave me some very kind feedback about my writing, and I would love to hear from you about how I'm going.

Anyway, have a great day/night with lots of love from me! :D