It's Friday, another day of school and another game. Another game means another party. Penny has spent the last fifteen minutes of our lunch break trying to persuade me to go. She said it's one of the highlights of life as a senior, but partying has never really been my thing.

I've been to a few birthday parties here and there, but I tend to steer clear of high school parties. I've seen the movies and heard the stories; you spend the night getting drunk, dancing on a floor of sweaty teenagers and then wake up the next day regretting the whole thing. When the next party comes along you forget all about that regret and repeat what happened last time.

"What's your excuse this time?" Penny raises an eyebrow, challenging me as she waits for my answer. Brody's eyes pour into mine with the same amount of interest.

"I was thinking of looking for a job tonight," she opens her mouth to say something, but I cut her off. "Before you say anything, I promise to go to the next one."

"The next one's in a week." Brody sulks with a pout.

"Well," I take a bite out of my sandwich and continue. "That gives me just enough time to prepare myself for a night of torture."

Penny shakes her head, but she can't hold back her laughter.

"Fine," She narrows her eyes at me. "But you have to go to the next one or I'll hide all the snacks from you."

"You wouldn't!" I gasp but the daring look that she's giving me tells me otherwise.

That's my fate sealed for next Friday.

I've been wanting to go out and find a job for the past week, but I haven't had time. I spent most of the week catching up on homework and doing assignments. I'm still not sure what I want to do. As long as I'm earning my own money, so I don't have to rely on Penny and her parents all year then I'm happy.

"What are we talking about?" Archer slides onto the seat next to me. His voice takes me by surprise, I have to blink a few times to check that I'm actually seeing correctly.

I see Penny pinch her arm under the table to check if she's dreaming and have to hold back a snort.

"What do you want?" She ignores his question.

Archer holds his hands up in surrender like I did when we were lost. "Is it a crime to want to sit with my sister and her friends?" He raises a challenging eyebrow causing my jaw to drop to the floor.

Brody rolls his eyes at his presence, "it should be." He mutters under his breath, but I hear him. If I heard him that means that Archer heard him too, but he doesn't say anything in response.

Penny narrows her eyes at him before turning to the side and launching herself into a conversation with Brody. She must be choosing to ignore him, but I find myself leaning closer.

"What are you doing?" I whisper so only he can hear.

He leans in closer, so his mouth is inches away from my ear. His hot breath fans my face and mine hitches in my throat. "As I said, I'm spending time with my sister." He winks as he returns to his original position. I'm enveloped in the cold.

He smirks. I snap out of my daze, glaring at him. He hasn't spoken to me since we got lost and now, he chooses to come over. He never talks to Penny or Brody either, so his surprise visit makes no sense.

"Madison," Penny waves her hand in front of my face.

I cough awkwardly. "Sorry, what?

"I asked what job you were looking for?"

My mouth forms an 'o'. I must have zoned out. Giving her an apologetic look, I fidget with my hands under the table. All eyes are on me but only one person's gaze piercing into my skin sends shivers across my body...

I gulp and refrain from looking at him, trying to ignore the pounding of my heart. "Um," my voice cuts off. I clear my throat. "I mean, I haven't decided yet."

"The restaurant near me is hiring," Brody suggests, tilting his head slightly.

Laughter rumbles beside me. It hits me like a bucket of ice water. More shivers wrack my body until he finally stops. "Madison, as a waitress," he stares into my soul intimidatingly. "Never."

His words don't bother me which is strange. It's either my heart beating at one hundred miles per hour distracting me or Archer. Both are one of the same.

What does stick with me is the way he says my name. I've heard people with an American accent say my name before, but it never sounds as good as it does when he says it. He makes it sound fancy and elegant whereas I'm anything but that.

"She'd be a great waitress." Penny narrows her eyes at him as she defends me. At least she stuck up for me, I can't even stick up for myself. Although for some reason I don't want to.

"Sure." He drags out sarcastically.

"I saw a sign in a window of an arts and craft shop not far from here. That could be a good place to work." From what I've seen, most of the customers there are children with their parents. That doesn't sound too bad. I can handle children.

"That's worse." Archer rolls his eyes causing Penny to groan.

Finally having enough of his constant negativity, I turn so I'm facing him. His grin widens when he notices the scowl on my face. I know I shouldn't entertain him, but I can't stop myself.

"What do you suggest then?" I challenge, folding my arms across my chest.

He scans the area for something, I don't know what. His eyes land on a patch of daisies growing on the grass a few metres away from us. Something clicks in them as he turns to me with a smirk. "A florist." He states simply.

"Your joking, right?"

"I'm deadly serious." He states sternly.

I laugh at his answer on the outside but on the inside, I have other plans.

My mum always loved flowers. She would spend half of the day in the garden around them. She always got a ton of compliments from people for it. Recently, it hasn't been looking so good. For the most part, it's overgrown. The flowers that are still there are barely clinging to life.

I hate that I am actually considering his suggestion. I don't want to inflate his ego anymore by admitting that he was actually right about something. He would be even more unbearable to be around.

"You can admit it, you know?" He breaks me out of my chain of thoughts.

"What?" A crease forms between my eyebrows.

"You can admit that I'm right."

I huff, "what makes you think that?"

"You're an open book, Madison. You might be too stubborn to say it, but it's written all over your face. You hate that I'm right about this."

My jaw hangs open, but I slam it shut as I remember what he just told me. Unease stirs inside of me at the fact that he can read me so well. What else does he know? Can he see the effect he has on me?

"I'm not stubborn." I pout.

He shakes his head in amusement, a smile playing on his lips. "Prove it."

My eyes dart around to see if anyone apart from Brody and Penny will hear what I'm about to say. The words are lodged in the back of my throat. I sigh deeply, hating the fact that he's going to win.

I copy his confident smile, feeling anything but on the inside, and meet his gaze. "You're right."

"I know," He grins smugly, and I want to desperately wipe it off of his face. "I'm always right." He winks.

"You're always a pain in the ass." Penny sneers, leaving Brody giggling beside her.

Archer lists off multiple reasons why he doesn't care what she thinks. We're all too engrossed in the conversation to notice who's walking towards our table until it's too late.

"Archer." She choruses, making me want to throw my guts up onto her designer boots. Her eyes pass over us briefly before latching onto him.

"Scarlett." He acknowledges but doesn't look at her.

She pouts at this. I can't help my lips from tugging up into a smile. Stop it, Madison. You shouldn't be smiling. Penny's jaw clenches and unclenches from across the table as Brody links his arm with hers.

"Are you coming to the party tonight?" She bats her lashes at him. He looks like he does most of the time, bored.

"Are you going to be there?" He asks causing her eyes to light up.

"Of course." She beams.

"Then I'm not coming."

Her face falls slightly but she fixes it before anyone else notices. I almost feel bad for her. She's trying so hard to fight for his attention and he isn't even bothering to look at her.

"It'll be fun." She reaches out, placing her hand on his forearm. His eyes flicker from her hand to her face. If she can see that he isn't going to change his mind, then she's doing a good job of hiding it. There isn't a trace of disappointment on her face.

"Go bother someone else." He shrugs her arm off.

Her smile falls slightly but she recovers seconds later. "Well, it was nice talking to you all." She nods at the rest of us before walking away, her hair nearly whipping Penny in the face as she turns around. Her hips sway as she walks, and Penny doesn't take her eyes off her until she's out of sight.

*

My steps come to a stop as I peer in through the window of the flower shop. This is the closest one to the house. I'm hoping they have a job opening so I don't have to travel far.

There's an array of flowers outside of the shop, lavender hanging above the door and sunflowers arranged perfectly in a basket beside it. The owner must have a lot of trust in people not to steal them out of the tin buckets and wicker baskets.

The entire exterior is painted white. Two giant windows are taking up most of the wall and there's a door with an open sign hanging on it between them. It almost looks magical, not to mention that it smells amazing. I've always loved the smell of flowers on a summer's day. The sun shining down on them is only making them look more beautiful.

I open the door and am greeted by multiple bouquets. The bell above my head rings as a woman who looks to be in her fifties steps out from behind the counter.

"How can I help you?" She gives me a genuine smile.

She's wearing a white shirt with a denim apron over the top that ends just below her knees. A green skirt is poking out of the bottom. She's still holding an empty pot in her hands.

I explain to her why I'm there and her smile grows wider. "I've had the position open for so long now, I was starting to think no one was going to apply." She places the pot down on top of the counter. "I'm Melissa."

I shake her hand as I introduce myself, staying there for a while whilst she names some of the plants around us. Then she takes me around the back and shows me where everything is. Once I've got an idea of the place, we go back into the main area of the shop.

"You'll be working on a Tuesday and Thursday from half four until close. Every so often I'll ask you to do half a day on Sunday. Does that sound okay?"

"Definitely."

I wasn't expecting it to be this easy. Melissa seems really nice, I'm glad I don't have a boss who works me to death and shuts themselves in their office all day. I'll be working alongside her. She made it clear if I have any questions, I'm more than welcome to ask her, as long as she isn't busy with a customer.

The bell above the door rings again. Our attention instantly switches to the man walking in. He's wearing a pristine suit with not even a scuff on his leather shoes.

"How can I help you?" Melissa asks him.

They talk for a minute. She nods every so often in acknowledgement. When she gestures over to me and his gaze travels along my body, my eyes widen. I hope she's not about to do what I think she's going to do.

"I'll hand you over to my employee and she'll take care of your request." As soon as these words leave her mouth, I freeze in place. She did it.