William Beckett (Will)

"Again?", I ask

"Oh sorry I didn't mean t-", she starts spitting out apologies

I laugh, "If you wanted to be close to me again you could have just asked"

She narrows her eyes at me. 

I stretch my hand out to her so we don't have to continue our conversation while she sits on the floor, "Will".

She grabs my hand, "Ivy"

I look over at the girl standing next to us, she's laughing and staring at Ivy while Ivy looks at her like she's about to pummel her face in.

Mason steps out from behind the girl, "Will, this is my cousin Alia and her friend that you've apparently already met"

Her face turns bright pink, "Mason can you please show me and Alia to our rooms?"

"Unnecessary, I will show you you're room. And I'll call Grayson to show you to your room Alia.", I say smirking.

Alia looks grateful but also furious. She's kinda scary.

"GRAYYYSONNNN", I call out to him

"What?", he says walking up. When he sees Alia he starts fixing his hair.

"Grayson, would you mind showing Alia to her room?", I ask

"I-uh yeah um come on", he grabs Alia's suitcases and starts chatting while they head upstairs.

Mason looks uncomfortable.

"What the hell was that?", Mason says looking at Ivy and me.

We both shrug smiling.

I quickly grab Ivy's wrist in one hand and one of her suitcases in the other, "Let's go"

We start fast walking towards the stairs. Once we were out of reach for Mason to her I turned to her, "So when did that happen?"

"To be honest I don't know. First I heard of it was a day ago", she says

"So you just had to see me again huh?"

"Interesting, considering you're the one who's holding my wrist and dragging me up the stairs"

I drop her wrist and narrow my eyes.

We walk up the stairs and I guess the silence got too loud for her because she starts asking me questions.

"Do you read", she asks

"Occasionally"

"Favorite book", she asks. She looks very serious like this question was the most important.

"Hmm well, I really liked Percy Jackson in middle school. But those books are still good I reread them a few months ago. And the last book I read was about a girl and a guy sending letters through her closet, but I can't really remember what it was called", I say

Her mouth drops wide open and she turns around from where we were walking. "Percy Jackson and Divine Rivals?!"

"Yes! That's what it was called", I say

"Have you read the sequel?", she asks

"No, I didn't know there was one. But I should've known since it ended on such a big cliffhanger."

"We need to pick that up from the bookstore and read it. And then obviously discuss the book for an hour.", she says with a serious look on her face

"Sounds good let's go tomorrow?"

"Really? I was going today but Mason made us leave because some guys came that were "bad news", she says rolling her eyes

I hope she wasn't talking about Theo and John. I have had enough of them.

"Ok then it's settled tomorrow we can go to the bookstore", I say

"What time is your hockey practice?", she asks

"5:30-8"

"Oh that's actually perfect because that's when I have volleyball so we can go before then", she says

"Ok"

"I'm going downstairs to watch TV want to come?"

"I wish, I need to unpack", she says

I nod and turn around. I guess I'm going to the bookstore tomorrow.

---

I yawned as I sat up on the couch. I have absolutely no clue where I am so I look around. It appears that I fell asleep watching 10 Things I Hate About You.

I probably would've never watched it but a few weeks ago Kalani said no woman will ever love me if I don't watch the movie. It kinda hurt my feelings when she said that so I concluded that I have to watch it. You know, just in case she was right. I look up and the movie is paused with 7 minutes left.

I guess I rolled over the remote and paused it in my sleep. I glance around the couch and locate the remote. However, it's in the most treacherous place ever, the floor. It's a few feet out from the couch so I can't reach it lying down. I groan and roll off the couch with a thud.

I lay there for a few seconds until I realized the whole reason I went through all of this. So I grab the remote, unpause the movie so I can finish it, and pull myself back onto the couch.

"You're watching one of my favorite movies!"

I turn over and see Ivy grinning from ear to ear.

She's wearing a long oversized t-shirt, glasses, fuzzy socks, and her hair is put into a messy bun on the top of her head. She looks hot. No, I should not be thinking about that. Especially with the upcoming prank Mason and I have planned. We didn't tell Grayson because we figured he would tell Alia and blow our cover. Anyway, we are going to prank Alia and Ivy as a welcoming gift.

"Yeah my sister told me to watch it a few weeks ago so I figured, why not?", I reply as cooly as possible

"Ooh, can I watch with you?"

"Sure", I reply

She runs over to the couch and jumps on. We are a safe distance away. I want to close the gap. Ugh, my mind. I need to stop.

Once we finish the end of the movie Ivy starts singing, "I want you to want me. I need you to need me"

"How many times have you seen this movie?", I ask

"2 to 14 times give or take", she shrugs

"14?!"

"It's a great movie"

"I can now agree", I say.

I look up at the clock it's about 1:00. I slept a long time.

"Oh and Ivy, I invited Alia and Grayson to go to the bookstore with us. Grayson and I will drop you guys off at practice and then drive to the rink"

That technically was a lie. I always have practice today, but Coach gave us the day off because his daughter is in town. So it's the perfect time to execute our prank.

She nods. "I should probably go get ready but I'm kinda hungry"

"Yeah, me too. I might drive down to Benny's and grab some biscuits, want to come", I ask hopefully.

"Hmm, I don't know I really need to get ready", she says, debating

"Pleaseee, I might get kidnapped if I go alone"

"You're a pretty big dude I don't think you are going to be kidnapped", she says skeptically

"I don't know, "I cut ties with the Russian Mafia a few years ago and they might be out to get me"

She laughs, "Why would you have had ties to the Russian Mafia in the first place?"

"There are many things you don't know, but you could hear the whole story if you go with me to Benny's", I say

"Ok, Ok, I'll go. But there are 2 things you must know, 1) You're going to have to tell me about this Russian Mafia thing. And 2) I'm 5'6, I don't think I'm going to be much help fighting off the Russian Mafia"

"Eh, you seem scary enough. Let's go", I say, grabbing her hand and my keys.