(  Bill's POV  )

She was already standing by the door, waiting patiently for me. As I made eye contact with her, her eyes lit and she started waving her hands excitedly. 

"Why are you so late today?" she pouted as we walked into the house together.

"Training's getting more hectic," I said, making excuses.

I could see her nodding slowly from the corner of my eye. 

"Is everything okay?" she asked again softly, meeting my gaze.

 I blinked twice, mind thinking of answers.

"Uh, why are you suddenly asking this..?" I looked around, before resting on her concerned eyes. I took a seat.

"Are you sure you aren't being bullied, left out or anything?" Her intense gaze made me feel uncomfortable.

I shrugged in response.

She grabbed me by both my shoulders, pulling me closer.

"Don't lie, Bill, I know that look you give, stop biting your lip, tell me exactly what's going on."

I felt intimidated by her, especially since she was towering over me as I was sitting down. I looked up at her, making a mental note on how her hair turns to a nice, lighter shade of brown under lighting. I stopped biting my lip.

"Maybe there are a few problems, and maybe I don't know how to solve them?" my voice dropped, and I sounded like a young kid admitting his mistakes to his mother.

"Maybe you can tell me," she finished, taking a seat next to me.

I smiled.

"Everyone ignores me during training, I don't know what to do," I sighed, "I've never felt such at a loss before."

"Everyone's like that, especially the popular people. They're always so obnoxious, they don't care for anyone's feelings. Especially the athletic people, the people in Basketball, Football. Do you know how often they sleep with the girls in the school?" 

"Sleep?"

"That's something, uh, yes."

"Okay..." I nodded. I still didn't really understand everything.

She stood up. 

"You know what, let's go for dinner," she smiled.

I nodded and followed behind her.

---

After that talk with Shooting Star, she told me to start hanging out with them. I was quite reluctant at first, since I don't feel myself around them, but I decided to follow her words, trusting her.

It was lunch again, that time of the day.

I spotted them at the corner round tables, laughing and talking without a care of the world. I noticed how their side of the canteen was so packed with people, so much more rowdier and nosier than the other side. It seemed like they were a people magnet.

Especially when they burst in laughter, with their inside jokes. The numbers of heads turning over to their table clearly exceeds one-third of the canteen. 

I eyed Mabel, and was glad to see she wasn't part of that one-third. She met my gaze, and winked at me. I winked back.

It all starts now.

I walked towards the legendary table, and to my surprise I could already feel eyes on me.

I could feel something inside pulling me back, strongly objecting to whatever I'm about to do, but I barely registered this feeling. It was probably fear, but it didn't affect me much. In fact, all I felt like doing was to just talk to them, face it all out. I felt brave.

"Hey guys, it's Bill again, so I was wondering if I could join you guys? I mean it's training right after this, it's probably best if we stick together, right?" I placed a hand on the table, and leaned slightly, trying to appear casual as I introduced myself. 

They looked at me with blank looks, and I shrugged. 

Benjamin nodded, "Sure why not bro? Come, take a seat!" He motioned at Louis, who immediately moved, giving me space to sit. The others started nodding in agreement.

I sat down gratefully.

So there was Benjamin, Nathan, Louis, Chris and me. Bill.

I noticed how everyone in the clique looked up to Benjamin. Looks like he was the head.

And he was eyeing me disapprovingly. I gave a nonchalant expression, as if I never noticed.

"So guys, what were you talking about? I can listen, I'm sure I wouldn't disrupt y'all," I said while placing my bag down.

Louis seemed to support me. He looked at me, motioning the other table.

"See that table of girls? We're talking about them."

I nodded, trying to look interested.

This was surprisingly easy, not as bad as Shooting Star thought.