I couldn't help the groan that escaped my lips as my alarm buzzed beside me, pulling the blanket up over my head. I had barely gotten any sleep last night, and my head was pounding. It wasn't like this was my fault anyway—it was all Alex Gaskarth's fault. Yeah, he'd brought me back home by eleven-thirty, just like he'd promised, but that didn't account for the fact that he'd proceeded to send me messages until three in the damn morning.

Okay, so maybe I'd wanted to talk to him, too, but that's not the point.

I forced myself to sit up in bed, smiling as I thought about our date last night. Not a lot happened, to be honest... well, nothing that would be deemed 'hot gossip' by the school, so that was a bonus. I reached over to the bedside table, picking up my phone. A smile instantly appeared upon my face when I realized that I had a new message from Alex.

Good morning, angel.

Good morning to you, too, Lexy! I quickly messaged him back before getting up to take a shower. I hoped that it would at least wake me up a little before school started.

Around twenty-five minutes later, I was sitting in the kitchen having breakfast, smiling to myself. If I was going to wake up to cute messages from Alex in the mornings, it was going to be kind of hard for anything to put me in a bad mood.

"Morning, dad," I hummed as my dad came into the kitchen, looking up at him. I wasn't normally very talkative at this time in the morning. Hell, I didn't normally even get up early enough to sit down for breakfast. I couldn't help frowning as I noticed the serious expression on my dad's face. "Is everything alright?" I asked nervously, searching my mind for something that I might have done wrong. "I know I was home after curfew, but I had permission."

Dad shook his head. "You're not in trouble, Jack." I felt myself let out a sigh of relief, which quickly turned into one of dread as my dad spoke again. "I did want to talk to you, though, about Alex."

"Alex is really nice, dad!" I said, instantly defending him as I thought back to our date last night. "We like a lot of the same things, like bands and movies."

"Then how come you've never mentioned him to me before?" dad pressed. "I've only ever heard you talk about Zack, Rian, and Tay." He paused when he saw my expression. "Look, it's not that I don't think you should date him," he added quickly. "I just think you should take some more time to get to know him before you start rushing to add a label to what you have. Your mother and I don't want to see you hurt like last time."

My jaw fell open slightly. Alex was nothing like my ex-boyfriend. Didn't first relationships always end badly anyway? I shook my head and looked up. "Don't worry. We're not rushing into anything," I assured him. "Alex said we can go as slow as I want to go." I blushed at that. I couldn't believe that I was having this conversation with my dad of all people, but I'd always been close with my parents, and I knew they meant well.

Dad smiled and nodded. "Well, that's good to know. Just be careful, Jack."

"I will be," I insisted, wondering if I'd jumped into calling Alex my boyfriend too fast, but it felt right and I didn't want to give it up. "We're probably only gonna be hanging out so much right now because we've been paired up together for a class project."

He nodded in response, seeming satisfied with my answer. "I'll be home late, so I might not see you tonight," he told me before he left the kitchen again.

I looked at the clock, sighing as I realized that, after my conversation with my dad, I was now running late. I guess my luck had to run out eventually. I grabbed my backpack off the floor before running after my dad. "Hey! Can I get a ride to school?"

---

I managed to make it into my first class just before the late bell. I slumped down at my desk, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Did I keep you up too late, Jay?" Alex whispered in my ear, causing me to jump. I'd forgotten that he'd switched seats, and I'd been concentrating far too much on sitting down before I was marked late to even notice him. I looked up, seeing a smirk playing on his lips. He was obviously amused by my reaction.

"Dude, I never even knew you could possibly have so much to say," I whispered back before taking my books out, figuring that I better get some work done.

After class ended, I got up from my seat and slung my backpack over my shoulder.

"C'mon, Jack," Alex grinned, his hand grabbing mine, dragging me out of the class.

"Lex, where are we going? You're gonna make me late!" I whined but nevertheless followed after him, letting him pull me into one of the locker rooms.

"What are you doing?" I demanded. "I'm gonna be so la—" I was cut off by the feeling of Alex’s lips pressing against mine. Okay, maybe I don't mind being made late for this.

"I know I said I wanted you to start everything between us, but I kinda missed you," Alex told me as he pulled away, and I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face.

"I missed you, too, a lot," I replied before I could stop myself, my hand flying up to cover my mouth. "No, I'm supposed to be taking things slow!"

Alex just laughed. "Don't worry, it was just a kiss, Jay," he replied, causing me to blush. "Anyway, get to class, I'll see you later." He winked at me, and I just nodded, waving slightly awkwardly at him before hurrying to my second lesson, making it there on time by about a half of a second. I moved to sit down at my usual seat, catching my breath as I pulled my books out.

"Running late this morning?" a voice behind me asked, and I turned in my chair to face him. It was Oli, I think. I didn't really know much about him, other than that he was on the football team, just like Alex was.

"Y-Yeah," I nodded, cursing myself for once again sounding nervous. But could anyone really blame me? I'd gone from having an extremely small circle of friends who talked to me regularly to dating one of the football team's star players literally overnight. I'd kind of become friends with Alex's friends by association.

"Happens to the best of us," he said with a wink. "I don't usually make it here on time." That figured. I swear that, at times, that school reminded me of one of those shitty teen high school dramas, where the rules only applied to everyone who wasn't on the school team. Still, at least it explained why I'd barely seen him around. I tended to zone out as soon as this class started.

"I'm Oli." He smiled, stretching his hand out towards me.

I blushed lightly and shook his hand. "I'm Jack."

"Yeah, I know. You're Gaskarth's boyfriend," he replied. I frowned when Oli referred to him by his surname before I remembered that Alex had told me that his friends called him Gaskarth because there was another Alex—or Alix, really—in their group. I was the odd one out who insisted on calling Alex by his first name. Oh well, Alex hadn't asked me to call him by anything else, so I assumed it was okay.

"Are you friends with Alex?" I asked. "Because I already got the 'do not hurt him' threats from Josh." I smiled a little.

Oli let out a laugh. "Don't worry, I'm not going to threaten you." I let out a sigh of relief at that, it already felt like there was a lot of pressure on my relationship with Alex, and we hadn't even been together for forty-eight hours yet. The last thing I needed was even more pressure.

"Hey, you like Green Day?" he asked, pointing at my hoodie. I bit back a sarcastic response. I had been tempted to ask why I would be wearing it if I didn't like them, but my sarcasm was probably better reserved for the people I was actually friends with. I'd rather Alex's friends like me than have them against me. I mean, I'm pretty sure all of his friends could easily kick my ass if they wanted to.

"I love Green Day," I grinned. "They're one of my favorites." I looked at him for a second. "I'll assume you do, too?"

He nodded in response. "You seem pretty cool. You should hang with me at lunch."

I couldn't help but smile, assuming that Alex would be there as well since the majority of football players seemed to sit together. "Sure, that sounds like fun," I replied as the bell rang.

Oli got up from his desk, and I followed behind him. "I'll see you then." He smiled warmly before walking from my sight. I waved goodbye before heading to my next few classes.

By the time the bell for lunch rang, I was surprised to not have seen or heard from Alex again since he had dragged me into the locker room. Going by last night, it was like he'd been determined to message me at every opportunity. I shrugged it off, assuming that Alex was just trying to give me more space since I had asked him if we could go slower... and maybe panicked a little in the locker room.

I walked into the cafeteria and joined the lunch line, my eyes scanning the room for Alex. I didn't see him, but I did see Oli and his friends sitting at a table nearer the back of the hall. I paid for lunch before heading towards them.

I frowned a little when I heard whispers and laughter coming from the table. I couldn't quite make out what they were talking about, though. Oli smiled up at me before scooting over to make room for me. "Thanks," I said softly, sitting down beside him and shrugging off my worries about the possibility that they were laughing about me. I soon joined in their conversation about the new superhero movies that were coming out. I pulled out my phone from my pocket when I felt it vibrate.

Jay, where are you? Alex's message read.

I'm waiting on you, aren't you joining us for lunch? I sent back, feeling confused.

Angel, we're waiting for you. Are you at your locker? I looked around the table, finally realizing that I didn't see any of the people I had met at lunch with Alex a couple of days ago.

No, I'm sitting with your other friends. Oli invited me over during second period. I assumed you would be here, too.

Notes

i write alex's pov
don't think i mentioned that yet
at this point, mare wasn't an author, but she started writing for this soon
after i went through like four other cowriters lmao