??????? ????. [? ???? ??]

"No way! A hot dog is not a sandwich, a hot dog is a completely separate thing." Gina argues.

"It is totally a sandwich! I mean it's got the bun, and then the stuff inside! That's a sandwich to me. Anyways I'll call you later, bye bye." I say goodbye to Gina and then begin to head to my car. School just ended so I needed to get home.

I walk up to my car, only to stop dead in my tracks when I see Antoine leaning against the hood of my car. I could feel my anxiety start to rise as my heart pace quickens. I quickly turn around and start to head the other way, hoping he didn't see me, but my wishes are quickly turned down when I feel a hand wrap around my wrist, turning me back around. Once I'm turned around I am met with a very angry looking Antoine.

"Antoine, let go of me right now or I swear to God I will make a scene in this very crowded parking lot." I threaten, trying not to show how nervous I actually was.

"You'd be unconscious on the ground before even such as a noise comes out of that pretty little mouth of yours." He replies, glaring at me like I was the thing he hated most in the world.

"What do you want, Antoine?" I try to yank my wrist out of his grasp, but his grip is too tight.

"I want you to come with me."

"I'm not going anywhere with you! You fucking hurt me physically and mentally!" I shout, once again trying to pull my wrist away but I fail once again.

"Yo Antoine, If you don't wanna look even worse then you did the first time you fucking attempted to try something with Nini, then I suggest you leave. Ricky is right behind me and if he see's you, you're fucking dead. So get out of here, and leave Nini alone." I hear Ej's voice say from behind me as he grabs onto my arm and pulls me backwards, my wrist finally breaking free of Antoine's grasp.

"Caswell! I missed you man, how you been?" Antoine's face lights up at the sight of Ej.

"Fucking leave, Antoine. I'm not here to have a conversation with you." Ej raises his voice, his hand still wrapped around my arm as if he was trying to protect me.

"What the hell did I do to you? And can I have my spot on the football team back?" Antoine asks, genuinely confused. Is he serious right now?

"No, you sure as hell are not getting your spot on the team back. Now unless you want Ricky to beat the living shits out of you, you seriously need to leave."

Antoine scoffs before turning around and heading towards his car. Once he's out of my sight Ej lets go of my arm and I turn around to thank him.

"Thank you, Ej." I smile, wrapping my hands around his torso.

"No problem. He needs to leave you alone." Ej says sternly, hugging me back.

"Yo, Ej!" I hear the voice that I've grown to love call out from behind us. Ej pulls away from the hug and turns his head over his shoulder. Ricky was running towards us. Ej told me that he searched Ricky's room and didn't find anything suspicious, so I just decided to drop whatever happened in the alleyway the other day.

His face immediately lights up once his sight sets on me. He walks over to me and wraps his arms around me, pulling me into a hug. On instinct, my arms go to wrap around his neck.

"Hold up, I'm so confused. Are you guys dating or just a couple of besties?" Ej asks. Ricky and I pull away from the hug and just look at each other awkwardly.

"Besties, as of right now." Ricky confirms.

"You guys have a really confusing relationship anyways, Nini you should come over later. I'm thinking of doing a movie night with our group." Ej invites.

"Count me in! I'll tell Gina. What time should we come over?" I ask.

"Uh, maybe six-ish?"

"I'm in. I'll see you then!" I wave goodbye to my two bestfriends, then get in my car and start to drive off. It was weird how at the beginning of the year I was friends with one person only, and now I'm friends with nearly the whole football team and I've got a major crush on the person I once hated most.

What had my life become?

+

"Ej! Give me the goddamn remote!" Ricky yells, basically wrestling Ej on the ground in an attempt to get the remote.

"Why do you care so much about me picking the movie?" Ej wonders, holding the remote away from Ricky.

"Because knowing you you're gonna put on some disney princess movie or some shit! Now hand it over so I can pick a movie that everyone here will enjoy."

"Hey! Don't diss disney, dude!" Ej remarks, finally handing over the remote.

"Fucking finally." Ricky grunts, sitting back on the couch as he begins to scroll through Netflix.

"Someone's grumpy." Ej states, getting up from the ground.

"Shut up." Ricky orders, not taking his eyes off the tv.

Eventually he lands on Stranger Things and we all soon become invested.

I had become so close with all these people these past couple months. Ricky, especially. I was currently surrounded by the people I love most and that meant everything to me. I felt happy.

After about an hour, we're halfway through the second episode. Ricky has his arm around my shoulder while I have my head on his chest, snuggling into him. I look over at Gina and Ej only to see Gina full on laying on top of Ej. I internally laugh at that.

"Are you getting tired?" Ricky mumbles, making sure only I can hear him as he plays with my hair.

"Kinda, yeah." I admit.

"Okay. I'll take you home."

I say my goodbyes to Gina and Ej as Ricky and I head out. Soon enough we're back at my house, standing on my porch.

I pull him into a hug. "Goodnight, Ricky."

"Goodnight." He hugs me a little tighter before pulling away. He gives me a soft smile and then walks away, getting into his car. I walk inside my house and for the first time in a long time I felt like I was at a place in my life where I was okay with everything, and that's something I haven't felt in a long time.

- R I C K Y -
As soon as I dropped off Nini and she was back in her house, I take my opportunity.

I pull my phone out of my pocket, look through my contacts before finally landing on one.

Antoine's.

I press the call button, but he doesn't pick up which sends me to voicemail.

"Heyy, Antoine! I just wanna say that I saw you with Nini earlier and it looked like you were planning some funny business before Ej stepped in. If you lay a finger on her I just want to let you know, and I mean this in the meanest way possible, I will find multiple ways to ruin your life. I can take you to court for sexual assault, I can inform your parents of what you did, I can tell the principal at school and get you expelled, oh and I'll beat the fuck outta you aswell. Just letting you know what will happen if you mess with the people I care about once again. You should've skipped town after the first time you tried to fucking sexually assault her, you sick fucker. I wish you all the worst in life. Have a really shitty day!" And with that, i click the hang-up button, letting the voicemail go through. I wasn't lying about anything I said and I really hope he fucking knows that. I have connections with a lot of people and so does Ej. He needs to know he can't mess with the people that I love.

Wait.

Love?

+
A/N

sorry this chap was rlly short and kinda boring lol it was a filler and the next one will be a filler also but im going for a five hour car ride tomorrow so ill be able to update quite a bit, that is if i don't sleep the whole way thru which actually might happen anyways i love you all mwah!!