Social Casualty

*Amber* Chapter 7

2010

We walk into Dairy Queen and the boys run to order.
“Can I help you?” the woman at the counter asks.
“Um, yeah,” Michael says. “I want an extra large Oreo milkshake and large French fry,” he shouts. I exchange a glance with Reign. I laugh and shake my head. While the other boys shout their orders, Michael turns towards me.
I just laugh. “What?” he asks.
“Nothing. You guys just eat a lot,” I say.
He smiles and kisses my forehead.
I step up and order. “I’ll just take a vanilla ice cream cone. Thank you.”
“Okay, your total is going to be…$29.77,” the woman says. I hand her a twenty and a ten before anyone else can pay. “Your change will be 33 cents. Your order will be ready in about five minutes. What’s your name?”
“Amber. Thank you,” I say.
We sit in two booths. I sit with the girls in one and the boys in another. They shout and play games while we just sit on our phones and talking.
“They are so embarrassing,” Hayley says, smiling.
“Not much we can do about that,” Reign says. “We love them so we have to deal with it.”
“I’m surprised Luke became friends with them so quickly,” Addy says. I nod.
“He seems really popular and the other boys are not that popular. They just seem like they wouldn’t be friends,” I say.
“You guys are right,” Reign says. “I mean, it’s good that he likes them. Then I won’t have to fight with him about “liking” the boys. They’re like brothers to me. Ashton’s so sweet, Calum is b*tchy but sweet, and Michael is crazy but sweet.”
“Hey, it could be worse,” Hayley says. “Like way worse than right now.”
“That’s true,” I say.
Addy scrolls through something on her phone. Probably Pinterest. She stops on something. “Hey, listen to these Teenager Post. It says “When you think there’s one more step and you Hulk stomp the ground.” I have to pin this,” Addy says, laughing. We all laugh at the thought.
“Amber?” the woman at the counter says. I stand up to get the three trays. The girls help me with the trays, drinks and napkins for the boys.
We take the food to them and pass it out. They start eating like crazy. I sit down next Reign and eat my ice cream cone.
I sigh. “Why are they so crazy?” I ask.
“SELFIE!” Ashton shouts and runs over to us. I stick my tongue out and Ashton laughs. He runs away after taking a dozen pictures.
The boys start taking hundreds of selfies.
Hayley runs over out of breath. “I think those four are mentally unstable,” she says, between taking gulps of air.
“You okay?” I ask.
“Yeah, Addy and I just got mobbed for our French fries. We barely had any,” she says, laughing.
Addy tries to run past Calum, but when she passes, he wraps his arms around her waist and holds her against him. He laughs.
“I’ve got you now, Addy.”
“No!” she shrieks. “Let go of me, Calum!”
I laugh and run over to help. I grab Addy’s hands and pull. Michael runs over and snatches me away. I scream and reach for help. When Reign and Hayley try to help, they’re unsuccessful because Luke and Ashton grab them.
We laugh uncontrollably until the manager walks over and kicks us out. Apparently, we were loud and obnoxious.
“Hey, let’s go to the park!” Ashton shouts.
“Like the place for little kids?” Addy asks.
“Duh,” Michael says.
“Sounds fun. Let’s go!” Hayley says. Reign smiles and nods.
We get back into our cars and head towards the park.
The boys jump out and race to the slides. Of course. I walk over to the swings and go as high as I can. The other girls follow and we watch the boys.
“Wait, guys come here,” I say, pulling out my phone. The girls come over and I say, “Selfie!” We all make silly faces and I post it to FaceBook. I put “Hangin with the gang!” as the caption.
Michael runs towards me. “Amber! I want to swing!” he whines when he notices they’re all filled up. The other boys soon follow. They all whine. I sigh and stand, giving Michael my swing. The other girls do the same.
The boys calm down and swing. Hayley sits under a tree and I lay with my head in her lap, playing a game on my phone. Addy and Reign lean against the tree.
“Best day ever,” I say.
“I know, right. It’s crazy. I wonder if we’ll stay together forever,” Addy says. “I mean, people always write those fan factions about people like the boys and they all have girlfriends and get married and have kids and life is perfect.”
Reign sighs. “I wish that was how it always was.”
Hayley nods. “Hayley!” Ashton screams.
“Yes?”
“Come swing with me!”
“There’s no open swings, Ash,” she screams back.
“Just come here!” Hayley groans but stands up. I lay my head on Addy’s lap instead. Hayley runs to Ashton and he pulls her onto his lap. He starts pushing the swing, higher and higher. She squeals and holds onto him, afraid that she’ll fall.
Ashton wraps his arms around Hayley and kisses her.
Michael, Calum, and Luke runs towards as fast as possible. They collapse in front of us.
“I’m hungry!” Calum whines.
“Get us fooooddddd!” Luke says.
“Pleeeeeaaaaasssseeee!” Michael says.
“Ugh. Let’s go,” Reign says.
“Yay!” they all cheer.
“No, you are staying here,” Addy says. “We’ll be back with food.” They pout and groan but agree.
“Hayley!” I shout.
“What?”
“Are you coming with us to get them food?” Reign yells.
“Uh, yeah, sure!” she says, kissing Ashton and running towards us. Ashton follows us.
“We’ll be back soon. I don’t want the police calling me, Ashton,” Reign warns. “You watch them. Make sure they don’t hurt any kids, throw rocks, or do anything stupid.” Luke looks at her defensively.
“What are you talking about?” he asks.
“Remember the time that you stole a little kid’s toy from their happy meal?” Reign asks. “Or the time that you turned on a bunch of sprinklers in a dog park? Or the time that you crushed people’s sand castles at the beach?” she says.
“Ugh, fine. You win.”
“I know,” Reign says, smiling.
We get into the car and I dial Pizza Hut.
“Hi, yes, can I get six large pizzas. One needs to be pepperoni, one cheese, one mushroom, one pepperoni and mushroom, one pineapple, and one supreme. Thank you!” I say, before hanging up.
“Let’s go get drinks before we pick those up,” Addy says.
“McDonald’s?” Hayley asks.
“Yeah,” Reign says. We pull into the McDonald’s parking lot and order drinks. We quickly grab the pizzas and take them back to the park.
The boys cheer when we get there.
“Yay!” They each literally eat a pizza and a half.
“Thank you!” Ashton shouts.
“Yep,” Reign says, laughing at them.

Notes

Hey guys, I'm almost done with another chapter after this! I'll post it tomorrow!
-Emily x