ELLY
   "So, which one are we going to make first?" I ask as we all pull out our phones.
   "I'm down for whatever," Chaser says with a shrug. "We could do a throw it back one."
   "Hey," Griffin calls over, taking out his earbuds. We all look over at him. "Don't be doing anything weird over there."
   Anthony rolls his eyes. "Sure thing, dad."
   "Funny," Griffin huffs, plugging his earbuds back in.
   "Let's move to the back. There's more room back there," Jaden suggests. We get out of our seats and make our way to the back area, taking seats across from each other.
   "Don't make us look terrible with your moves, alright?" Jaden laughs, nudging my knee with his own.
   "Sure." I smile back as Anthony sets his phone up against a seat. We all stand, Chaser to my left and Jaden to my right with Anthony to his right.
   "Alright," Anthony whispers right before the sound starts.
   "Are we even doing this right?" Chaser asks with a laugh in the middle of it. I shake my head, but we all keep going.
   "The only one who even did it right was her!" Anthony jokes, laying across a row of seats. I sit across from him with Chaser next to me.
   "But she looked good doing it," Jaden replies, sitting in the row behind me.
"Nah." I shake my head.
"I think you looked good," Jaden says, nudging my shoulder. I just shrug. I see Anthony giving Jaden a weird look, then he sits back in his seat.
"You two okay?" I ask.
"Yeah. Why?" Jaden asks quickly. I look over at Anthony, then back to him.
"No reason," I respond, turning back around. A few seconds later, I see Anthony posted the TikTok to his account, tagging the three of us in it.

   "Everybody, wake up," a voice calls. I crack open an eye and sit up, realizing I was sleeping on Chaser's shoulder. He wakes up, too, and looks around. "Jaden, Anthony, get up. We're getting lunch," Griffin says, smacking both of their heads.
   "Hey, that wasn't nice!" Anthony whines.
   "Meanie," Jaden mumbles.
   "Come on." Griffin gestures for Chaser and I to follow him, so we do. When I get outside, I see Noen, Chase, and Sam are already out here, waiting.
   "Why is it so bright?" Noen groans, shoving sunglasses on awkwardly.
   "It's called the sun," Chase replies, fixing Noen's hair. "It's typically bright."
   "Hi. Elly, right?" I turn and see Sam smiling at me.
   "Yeah. It's good to meet you." I give him a smile in return, then move out of the way when I hear Payton and the other two boys clambering off the bus.
   "Where are we going for lunch?" Chase asks, leaning back against the bus.
   "The mall is right over there." Noen points across the parking lot. "Let's go in and find something."
   We all start walking, knees popping after sitting for a while. A few yawns can still be heard once we get inside.
   "Does somebody want to go get pasta with me?" Noen whines, looking over to a little Italian place in the food court.
   "I will," I answer, starting to walk over with him.
   "Yeah, I'm coming," Chase adds.
   "Here we go!" Noen says triumphantly, walking off in the direction of the food court. Chase and I laugh, then jog to catch up with him.
   "So, how've you been, Elly?" Chase asks. "It's been three months since we met, hasn't it?"
   "Yeah." I nod. "But I've been good. How've you been doing?"
   "Pretty good. The first phase of tour was good." We catch up to Noen, who's already begun looking at the menu.
   "Hey," he says once we get up beside him. "What are you guys going to get?"
   "Probably whatever you get," Chase replies, looking over the menu.
   "Elly?" Noen asks.
   "I'm down for whatever you two are getting." I shrug, looking at the two of him.
   "That's my girl!" Noen cheers, heading into the line. I follow behind him, and Chase gets behind me.
Noen orders three of something and gets cups for us. We go over to the drink station, getting our cups filled up. I get a sweet tea, then put the straw in it.
"Oh, that's us!" Noen says right after we sit down when an order gets called. He hops up from the table and gets a stack of food from the counter, returning with the three dishes.
"Finally!" Chase exclaims once he gets back. We all dig in to the food, eating it quickly and quietly. When we are all done, Chase pats his chest and legs out a burp. Noen and I recoil, disgusted. "What?"
"You had to do that? At the table? In public?" Noen asks with a disturbed face.
"Well, I sure wasn't going to wait until we got back on the bus!" Chase replies. We all laugh, then get up and throw our trash away.
"So, do we know where anybody else is at?" I ask, looking around the tables of the food court.
"No, not really," Noen replies. He shakes his head. "I guess we could go shopping while we waited."
"Elly?" Chase asks.
"I'm down," I reply. We walk around for a little bit before deciding on a small store filled with racks of clothes.
"Ooh, nice TikTok," Chase says, nudging me.
"Let me see!" Noen calls, popping up between two racks. We both lean over, and I see Anthony's video clip from earlier.
"We were so uncoordinated!" I laugh, then go back to flipping between clothes on my size rack.
"Mads posted one, too," Chase says. I lean back over along with Noen. I read the caption first: love you, hossler! excited to see you later today!
"Excited to see you later today!" Noen mocks in a high-pitched voice. Chase and I laugh, then go back to flipping between clothes. I sigh a little to myself. How could I not realize he had a girlfriend?