Fearless

Chapter 18

Eventually we pulled into the school parking lot and I could see multiple different cars crowded around, leaving little spaces left.

Lucas finally found a spot and slid the car into it gracefully as I spotted Hailey and Leanne across the lot.

The second we got out of the car, a crowd of girls suddenly flooded around Lucas and Ryan on the other side of the car and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. They were all flirting, giggling and complimenting the car, which is rarely seen in school seeing as Carter's usually the one driving us all.

"Hey guys!" Leanne called as I began walking over to her, waiting for the two boys who attempted to brush the girls off and struggle their way over to us slowly.

The five of us sat at our usual bench beneath a tree in the parking lot, with Leanne sat on the table and the rest of us just sitting normally on the benches.

After a couple of minutes, we spotted Nick pull into the parking lot and we beckoned him over to which he soon followed.

"Hey guys." he said, taking a seat beside Ryan and Hailey on one side of the bench.

"Hey Nick, excited for your first day?" I asked.

"Yeah, I guess." he nodded.

"Don't be." Leanne scoffed.

"Oh come on Lee, it's not that bad!" Ryan said, pushing her gently.

"When you're a popular football jock, I guess not." she said in her usual sassy manner, referring to the boys other set of more'popular' friends.

That's the thing, with each of us being in different grades, we all have separate sets of friends away from one another, although none of them are nearly as close to us. More like...school acquaintances.

Hailey and I stick together with a couple of other sophomore girls whilst Leanne likes to be the loner of junior year. She very much takes after Tris in the fact that it takes a lot for her to warm up to people. She's independent and says that she doesn't want any fake high school friends, she would rather stick to having us as her real ones, which I understand. She often spends her time floating between us and the boys anyway, although I don't think she'll have to be alone much longer seeing as Nick is joining her grade.

The other three boys are in the senior class, and I don't think the twins would mind hanging around with us more often, but of course Carter wouldn't be seen dead hanging out with his younger sister and cousin inside the school grounds. When it's not just the three of them, they're mostly seen with that group of people.

You know who I'm talking about.

The cliché popular group that every school has, full of the football jocks and the pretty girls. They attend parties every weekend and think they're above the rest of the world. That group.

It frustrates me that those are the kinds of people the boys choose to spend their time with because I know that in reality, they're nothing like that. They don't go to parties that often and I know that they don't usually look down on people. They just don't give others the opportunity to get to know them well enough.

The three of them are seen as these intimidating, violent teenage boys who hate everyone they aren't friends with...especially Carter. But that isn't the reality at all.

I know that Lucas in particular doesn't like many of the people he hangs around with, but he puts up with them for Carter and Ryan. He also doesn't like the reputation that they seem to have been given, but he tries his best to ignore it.

Ryan enjoys the attention, and I believe that Carter does too, although I know for a fact that he can't stand half of the people who spend their time around him. He's a lot like Dad in that sense, I believe he acted much the same when he was younger.