[Austin]

"So, you got everything?" I ask to the girl next to me.

"Yeah, we can go." Liv says.

We walk through the gates and Alison shows up in front of us before we can even cross the street. What does she want now?

"Dear, where are you going?" Alison questions.

"Home." I state the obvious.

"But you said we'd hang out!" She pouts.

"Huh, sorry, I don't remember saying that. I already have plans with Liv."

"But you promised!" She is gonna start throwing a tantrum soon, I just know that.

Somebody help me! The raven haired girl is staring at Liv and I raise an eyebrow.

"Just go with her." I hear Liv saying quietly. "We'll just talk later."

"Are you sure you don't mind?" I ask, unconsciously wishing she'd say she does.

"No, it's fine."

"Great, see you, Liv." Alison grabs my arm and pulls me away.

"Bye, bitch." The brunette mutters under her breath and I almost snort, trying not to laugh.

We start to walk away from school (and Liv) and I just wish my mom hadn't raised me so nicely.

"Where are we going?" Alison questions, all excited.

"I don't know, to the mall or something. You pick."

"Okay, dear." I already gave up on telling her not to call me that.

We keep walking to the mall near our school. I try to ignore the discomfort I feel for having a girl holding onto my arm. I  shake her off lightly, but she's holding to me like a limpet so I don't succeed.

"You know, some friends of mine are helping organising the prom in a few months. It's gonna be lots of fun."

I look at her and take a deep breath. I'm not really into that kind of stuff, if only it wasn't the free food. Last year, Liv, Michael and I even had our private contest to see who could eat more fruit skewers.

"Well, if you say so. I'm not so sure I'll go. I have to worry about the regional tournament first."

"I'm sure you guys will win. With those set of muscles..."

I notice her squeezing my arm, which makes the situation weirder. I have to leave.

"Let's have an ice cream, dear!" I roll my eyes and promise myself that as soon as I buy us the ice creams I'll make up an excuse to leave.

"I love the lime ones, so fresh." The girl keeps talking alone.

Liv and I hate limon ice creams. Too bitter.

"Okay, let's get the ice creams, then."

I buy her ice cream, and a chocolate chips one for myself.

I try to go pull a Michael move and I take my phone out of my pocket.

"Oh god, sorry Alison. My mom just texted me. I forget I had to help her with some stuff."

"But the phone didn't ring." The girl says with an annoyed voice.

" It's on mute." I hope she buys it. Not that I care that much.

"Sure, go put those muscles to work then." She smiles, a little upset, and I feel slightly bad for lying like this.

"We can make plans some other day." I try to excuse myself, even though it's not that appealing. She smiles and waves, before turning her back to me. Well, we all have to make sacrifices.

I choose to go back home and when I arrive, I find weird to hear multiple voices in the kitchen.

"Hi, son. We have some company tonight!" My mom is the first to notice me leaning into the door, while watching my next door neighbours talking cheerily about some weird way to cook lobster. God knows why.

Liv sighs in relieve as soon as she spots me, probably because she's pretty bored considering that, surprisingly, she doesn't like cooking.

"Come with me, Liv. I want to show you something about our maths homework." I make up some lame excuse to get her out of there. By the corner of my eye, I notice Liv's dad laughing quietly.

"Thank you, you're an angel!" She clutches to my arm when we get out of the kitchen and I laugh, pulling her up the stairs.

We get to my bedroom and I can tell my mom went shopping as I see 2 new blank notebooks on top of my desk.

"I'll never understand how you waste them. At least I use them to make terrible drawings."

"Maybe one day I'll show you." I hit her with the notebook lightly and try to turn the conversation around.

"Sure, sure. What did you want to show me?" Her innocent voice makes me chuckle.

"What do you usually use your brain for, Liv?"

She punches me and throws herself to my bed, laying her arms under her head.

I try to ignore how awkward this would be if Liv wasn't Liv.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You're gonna hit me for looking at you now?" I mock her and she flips me off.

She grabs my computer, which was in my bedside table. I know it's to distract me from the fact that she's blushing.

I feel a smile appearing in my face, without me really noticing it.

This must be some side effects from eating an ice cream in the middle of winter.

"So, what did you do with Alison?" I lift an eyebrow at her question before sitting next to her.

"Nothing special." I shrug and notice she doesn't meet my eyes. 

I sneak at my computer and see her scrolling through twitter.

"Did you see the tea the other day? When some of your classmates started fighting in twitter? This youth nowadays, they are not what they once were." She shakes her head disappointed, but doesnt't miss the chance to smile.

A chill goes through my body but I ignore it. I laugh with her, forgetting what we were talking about before.

"They're literal children, seriously, I don't even care anymore. By the way, I love that you talk like you are this old wrinkly lady."

"You are old with me. We're the same age, remember?"

"Actually, I'm older than you."I know I succeeded in pissing her off when she glares at me. She hates it when I use this card-

"You're asking for another punch."

And I just shrug it off, trying to hide the smile that fills my face.