Touchdown Boy

Chapter Two

The first three classes passed without any incidents. The first day back at school is always the best because all the teachers just go over the syllabus and don't teach anything. So far Addison has had AP Calculus, AP Latin, and AP Studio Art and she's only thought about killing her parents twice for encouraging her to take so many advanced classes. She's really only worried about Calculus because math is not her strongest subject. She's actually pretty excited for the art class this year. There were a few friendly faces in that class including a senior boy with messy, long black hair who sat next to her. Unfortunately she didn't get a chance to talk to him but he gave her a small smile when she sat down. None of her friends were in her classes though which she was kind of upset about.

            After the bell rang, signaling the end of third period and the start of break, Addison headed to her locker. She took out her AP Physics book and AP Government book for her next two classes and put them in her backpack, even though she probably wouldn't need them on her first day. She was debating whether she should go to the senior lounge or be early for Physics when she felt an arm swing over her shoulders and around her neck. Addison turned around to look at her attacker and saw the spiky hair that could only belong to Mark Hoppus.

            "Hey, Ads! I haven't seen you in forever! How come you weren't in the lounge this morning?" he asked, pulling her into a one armed hug. He began to lead her towards the senior lounge with his arm still around her shoulders.

            "Mark, I saw you on Saturday," Addison laughed. Mark furrowed his eyebrows, as if trying to recall the past weekend.

            "Oh yeah... Well what's your excuse for this morning then?" he smirked, as if he knew she didn't have one. "Noelle was there and you guys ride to school together."

            Addison shrugged. "I had to go to my locker. I didn't know my absence would affect you so much," she said dryly. Mark laughed.

            "You kidding? You're the glue that holds our group together." Addison scoffed at Mark's exaggeration. If she wasn't friends with Noelle she most likely wouldn't even be in her current friend group. Addison considered herself to be more of a loner if anything. If it weren't for Noelle, Addison would spend every lunch period with her nose in a book, completely ignoring everyone around her. Although she did do that now from time to time, but now she had friends that tried to stop her from doing it. She didn't consider herself to be integral to their friend group; certainly no one would miss the quiet girl from their group. But she supposed she was useful in some ways, like when she would help tutor the guys to keep their grades up and gave everyone chapter summaries when she was the only one who would read for English class. Everyone said her summaries were even better than Sparknotes, but she suspected they just said that because they were too lazy to even read the Sparknotes.

Mark dropped his arm from her shoulders so that he could open the door to the senior lounge. He raised his other arm, gesturing for Addison to enter the room first. She thanked him quietly and stepped into the room. It was fairly nice for a senior lounge. There were a couple of couches placed against the walls. There were high-top tables in the middle of the room to stand at and a few had chairs. There were two normal height tables as well mixed in with the high-tops. In the back right corner of the room was a kitchen area, complete with a sink, refrigerator, and microwave. There was even a coffee maker, which Addison figured a student brought in.

Mark led her over to two couches that were placed in the back left corner of the room. There were a few of their friends already waiting there. Obviously the group had already claimed this spot as their own this morning while Addison had been MIA. Billie Joe, the unspoken leader of the group, sat on the couch to the right, leaning against the armrest. Travis was sitting on the other side of the same couch. Tré was sitting on the floor, talking to Billie Joe, with his legs sprawled out in front of him. Noelle was also sitting on the floor but her back was against the foot of the couch so that she was between Billie Joe and Travis. On the other couch, Mike and Skye were sitting next to each other. Mark quickly took the seat next to Skye. Everyone knew that Mark had a huge crush on Skye; everyone except Skye that is.

"Hey! There you are!" Addison turned around to see Adrienne walking towards her, carrying a granola bar from the vending machine. "We missed you this morning." Adrienne sat down on the armrest next to Billie Joe. The two had been together since freshman year and have been inseparable ever since.

"Yeah, Mark already filled me in," Addison replied. She was debating where to sit when all of a sudden she heard someone scream in her ear and grab her waist. Addison shrieked in surprise and turned around to hit her attacker in the chest. Unfortunately it didn't seem to have any effect on the black haired boy. It only seemed to make him laugh even harder.

"You are way too easy to scare, Ads," the boy snickered.

"And you're way too much of an asshole, DeLonge," Addison retorted. It was moments like this that made her question her friendship with these people. All the guys except Travis were laughing with Tom. Noelle was trying to hide a smile. Skye glared at Tom and then nudged Mark with her elbow which prompted him to turn his laugh into a cough.

Since both the couches were full, Addison sat on the floor where she was previously standing so that she was facing the couches. She crossed her legs underneath her and pulled out an apple for a snack. Tom sat down on the floor next to her, sitting criss-cross as well.

"Oh come on, Ads. You know I love you," Tom smirked, nudging his shoulder against Addison's.

"Yeah, whatever," she muttered, resisting the urge to pull out The Catcher in the Rye, the book she was currently reading.

Tom looked over to Mark who was stuffing his face with Doritos. "The party still on for Friday?" he asked. Mark nodded and, thankfully, swallowed before answering.

"Yep. Mom's out of town and I've got the whole place to myself," Mark grinned.

"Who all are you inviting?" Skye asked.

"Only hot chicks," Tré smirked. Noelle kicked his leg in response.

"Why not the whole senior class?" Mark asked rhetorically. All of them looked at him with surprise. He usually only invited a select few to his parties. It made the invitations even more exclusive. "I mean, it's our last year together as a class. It could be a bonding experience."

"Whatever, dude. It'll be your house that gets totally trashed when 200 teenagers come to party in it," Tom stated, taking a swig from his soda can.

"Yeah, and it'll be you that helps me clean it up," Mark smirked. Tom groaned.

"With that many kids you might have to make it BYOB. My brother said he could only get us two kegs, max," Billie Joe informed.

Adrienne nodded in agreement. "That way we can get different types of alcohol without completely raiding your mom's liquor cabinet, Mark. Maybe we can even do body shots." She winked at Billie Joe who grinned. Tré made a gagging noise.

Mike threw one of the couch cushions at the now making-out couple. "Save it for the bedroom you two."

"Jealous?" Billie Joe raised an eyebrow at Mike.

"If I had anyone to be jealous of, it would be Tom, the guy who's slept with almost every girl in school," Mike retorted, smirking at Billie Joe. "Not the guy that's been with the same girl since freshman year."

"You two are disgusting pigs," Adrienne said, throwing the cushion back at Mike.

"Says the girl who was just forcing her tongue down some guy's throat," Tom shot back.

"Shut up, asshole. That's my girlfriend you're talking about," Billie Joe said fiercely. Addison couldn't tell if he was joking or not. He was very protective over Adrienne. One time, a construction worker catcalled to her while they were walking down the street. Adrienne had to keep Billie Joe from punching the guy otherwise it wouldn't have ended well, probably with assault charges pressed against Billie Joe. It took the ultimatum of no sex for two months for him to back off.

"How could I forget?" Tom muttered. Luckily the bell rang before things escalated too quickly. Although it was unlikely that Billie Joe would get into a physical fight with one of his best friends. The group parted ways, each of them heading to their fourth period class. Addison walked towards the science department, already dreading Physics and longing for lunchtime.