*Holly's P.O.V*
Ring! Ring! Ring! Rin– I slapped the button, silencing my alarm clock. I got out of the warm bed, and stumbled over to my closet. After I'd changed into a checkered blue t-shirt, a gray jacket, and some jeans, I quickly ran the brush through my brown hair and put on my favorite pair of white Supras.
"Morning!" I said, entering the kitchen and grabbing a box of cereal.
"Someone had a good night. What's up with you, Miss Sunshine?" Mom jokingly asked, sipping her coffee. I shrugged, already wolfing down my breakfast. Whitney came in, already dressed for school and she sluggishly fixed herself a bowl of fruit. After we'd exchanged the usual morning greetings, I pushed Whitney out the door. I dropped her off first at the middle school, then I sped over to the high school.

As soon as I got out, I was swarmed by people.
"Did you really spend the night at Niall's?" One shouted at me as I fought through the crowd.
"I heard you kissed!"
"Melissa's not going to be happy about this!" Breaking free of the girls, I ran up the steps and through the long hallway to my locker. Sighing, I shoved my bag into the compartment and grabbed my History books. I shut the door with a loud clank, only to reveal someone leaning with one arm against Niall's locker.
"Hey there."
"What do you want?" I tiredly asked. He innocently shrugged.
"A guy can't say hello to a beautiful girl like you?" Ryan countered, eyeing me up and down. I was tempted to flip him off or do something along those lines, but I had a feeling the principal wouldn't understand why I decided to knee a fellow student in their groin. Instead, I settled for scoffing and opening my locker again, pretending I had to retrieve more books. Hoping he would go away, I rummaged through the tidy space. Unfortunately, that plan kinda backfired because he made a circle around me, and whirled me around with one hand, closing my locker in the process. My back was to the metal door, and Ryan had a smirk on his face.
"Can't you take a hint and get lost?" I snapped, daring him to try something.
"No can do, Holls." The way he said my nickname made chills creep up my spine; it seemed so familiar, yet I couldn't place a finger on it.

"Fun fact: did you know that every winter, there's a dance?" He asked, lightly tracing my shoulder. I slapped his hand away, reminding myself to bring pepper spray tomorrow.
"Good to know. I hope you're planning to go alone." He chuckled.
"Well, maybe not completely alone because–"
"Oi! Ugly bloke!" A voice yelled from farther down the hallway. Relieved, I looked over and saw Niall running down the corridoor to us. Ryan quickly moved away to make it look like he was just passing by.
"Just what're you doing here?" Niall roughly asked, protectively moving in front of me.
"Just informing our new student here of the upcoming school events," Ryan casually answered. Niall rolled his eyes.
"Well, now that you're done, you can go."
"Fine. And by the way, Holly, the dance is guys ask girls, so look out for an invitation," Ryan added with a wink as he confidently swaggered down the hall.
"I'll find it and run it through a paper shredder," I retorted, making everyone look my way. Niall laughed, opening his locker.
"Don't forget to disinfect that," I told him as he took out his Spanish textbook. He shrugged, closing it.
"I'll need a whole truck of Germ-X," he joked as the rest of the boys straggled in.
"Hey guys," I said.
"HI HOLLY!" Louis loudly shouted, causing all the people to yet again look at us.
"If you keep that up, I'm gonna need a hearing aid," I mock-complained, and he laughed.
"Don't worry, you'll get used to me, especially if you're always as loud as you were with your sister."
"So, last night was really fun," I remarked, and they nodded.
"Totally," Liam enthusiastically said, getting his books like the others.
"Too bad somebody had to leave," Niall said, slinging an arm around my shoulder as we all walked to our classrooms. I'd grown accustomed to this action, since the whole gang did this, me being the only girl and single.
"I'm sorry I didn't want to lose my mom's trust!" I argued.
"It's cool," Zayn reassured me.
"It better be! Who helped you guys win that Nerf-gun war?" I reminded them. Louis rushed out in front of me and comically shushed me with his pointer finger.
"Shhh! I finally got them to forget about that!"
"Well I didn't forget," I pointed out.
"I know. Memory wipe!" He dramatically shouted, almost smacking me in the face. I paused right outside the History classroom, pretending it actually worked.
"Nope," I shrugged. Louis groaned.
"See you later!" I called as Harry and Niall left Liam, Zayn, and me. They waved before heading to their rooms. The three of us took our seats from yesterday, and waited for the teacher to start the lesson.