Heartthrobs Don’t Date Wallflowers (Texting the Boyband)

Chapter 8

eight

I thought the fan-swarming at Starbucks was probably a one-off, with the girls being so excited because they didn’t go to school with the band or see them frequently, but I was proven wrong when I got to school the next day. Mom couldn’t even pull all the way into the parking lot because it was filled with girls screaming the boys’ names and holding stuff for them to sign.

“You can just let me off here,” I said as Mom pulled over at the sidewalk. “I’ll cross the lawn.”

“What’s going on here?” Mom asked, leaning forward to look at it.

I just muttered some noncommittal response as I got out. My parents didn’t keep up with current celebrities, so they hadn’t understood what a big deal it was that Take Five was going to the same school as me, and I was keeping it that way.

“Bye!” I said as regular volume and closed the car door before she could ask about it again or worse, get out to come see. I hurried across the grass, fallen leaves crunching under my feet. I was definitely taking the longer path to the school but I also wasn’t in the middle of the crowd, so I still thought it was for the best.

Walking like this, I got small glimpses of the boys between groups of girls. There was Finn and Neil, with big smiles that I wasn’t sure were real. It was hard to tell with celebrities—of course, they had to seem like they were happy to see fans, but they were also just trying to live their lives. If I was just trying to go to school, I wouldn’t want to be swarmed like this and I definitely wouldn’t be smiling about it. But then again, I was too shy to be a celebrity—nobody would have expected it from me. From them, it was different.

Hudson and Neil were both standing on the steps leading up to the school, which meant half the school population was also on them—and I couldn’t get inside. Good thing I was early. I sighed and leaned against a tree. Might as well make myself comfortable if I’d be here for a while.

“Hey, Ivy.”

I almost jumped out of my skin and spun around. Megan was standing behind me with a knowing grin.

“Enjoying the show?” She asked.

“Is it always like this?” I looked at the crowd again, my eyes automatically scanning for the boys. I’d lost Finn, but I finally spotted Jude—looking like he was thriving on the attention as he took photos with some girls—and Zach. He was the only one who didn’t seem to love this, if his barely-there smile was anything to go off. Not that he was refusing to sign anything—every shirt and bag and notebook girls were shoving in his face—but his eyes kept darting toward the doors like he wanted to escape.

“Pretty much,” Megan said. “I think it’s a different group of people every day, though. Only the hardcore fans show up daily.”

She leaned a shoulder against the tree with me and her eyes drifted over the stairs where Hudson was taking photos with a freshman girl. It must have been annoying for her to have to wait to be able to even go greet her own boyfriend because he was being swarmed by fans.

“Did you really not like the band before you started dating Hudson?” I asked.

Megan laughed. “No. My love story did not involve me fawning over him every day as he came into school.”

“And Sloane?” I asked. I glanced around but I didn’t see her anywhere—with Megan or in the crowd. Not that it was easy to spot specific people in the sea of yellow, blue, and white uniforms.

“She liked their music enough.” She pointed a finger toward the edge of the crowd. “You see that girl with the green backpack? That’s Sloane’s sister Grace. She’s a massive fan of the band, so that kind of forced Sloane to be as well.”

“You said she’s dating one of the boys too, right?” I asked. I tried to remember how they’d listed who was dating who yesterday, but I was blanking on who Sloane’s sister was dating.

“Yeah, she’s dating Neil,” Megan said. She pulled out a pack of gum and held it out like she was offering it to me. I wasn’t a huge fan of gum but I didn’t want to offend one of the few friends I’d made, so I took it.

The crowd was started to disperse now, I guess as people actually headed inside the school, so I had a better view of the boys now. Which was the only reason why, just as I popped the gum in my mouth, I saw the way that Zach turned to look at me. Our eyes locked for a second and I thought I must have been losing my mind, because I could have sworn he smiled fully at me.

The boy who didn’t even smile in photos with fans smiled at me .

And even weirder was that instead of immediately ducking my head away, I found myself smiling back.

Before this week, I’d never considered myself a bad student. I generally did well at paying attention in class and hardly ever pulled out my phone or texted anyone while my teacher was speaking.

But that was before I met Not Zesty and before, I was accidentally added to the most active group chat in the world.

Group name: I promise this isn’t a group chat, Dad

Members: Ni-Ni, Bay, Sharky, Tis Moi Luca, Eggo, Not Zesty, I cheer you cheer, the fangirl, Ivy

Tis Moi Luca

Do you think anyone would notice if I just left school and never came back

Bay

I imagine the administration might

I cheer you cheer

TAKE ME WITH YOUUUUUU

Wait but we can’t leave until after cheer practice

Eggo

I’ll come too!!

My mom can make us snacks

The fangirl

Can I join??

There’s a math test I need to get out of tomorrow

Ni-Ni

WAIT WHAT

WHAT MATH TEST??

I’M NOT READY FOR IT

Tis Moi Luca

Ni do you even take math?

Ni-Ni

Yes

I think

Maybe not

Uh

Grace do I take math??

The fangirl

No

Ni-Ni

Oh phew

So whose driving the getaway car

I cheer you cheer

I can’t, my brother always takes the car

The fangirl

Same here except also I can’t drive

Ni-Ni

You getting behind the wheel of a car is a terrifying thought

The fangirl

Oh yeah like you’d be any better

Ni-Ni

I would be an AMAZING driver thank you

Bay

Don’t worry we’ll never let him learn to drive

#babyoftheband

Sharky

I guess I can drive us

Tis Moi Luca

Absolutely not

Sharky

What??

Tis Moi Luca

You drive SOOOO SLOW

Sharky

I drive THE SPEED LIMIT

Tis Moi Luca

Like I said

SLOW

Grandpa

Sharky

Every time I open this chat, I just get bullied again

One day I’m going to stop responding

Bay

No you won’t

Tis Moi Luca

No you won’t

Eggo

No you won’t

Ni-Ni

No you won’ t

Sharky

Guys

The fangirl

No you won’t

I cheer you cheer

No you won’t

Sharky

I GET IT

Not Zesty

No you won’t

Tis Moi Luca

And I know Nina’s not in this chat but she would want me to say no you won’t

Eggo

Should we add her??

Tis Moi Luca

No.

Bay

@sharky come defend your girlfriend

Sharky

Nah Luca’s right

Nina doesn’t want to be in here anyway

I won’t subject her to that

Tis Moi Luca

WELL THAT CHANGES THINGS

I cheer you cheer

LUCA DON’T ADD HER JUST TO ANNOY HER

Tis Moi Luca

I’M HER BIG brOTHER THAT’S MY JOB

Oh crap my teacher sees me

I cheer you cheer

Relax you guys never get in trouble for anything

Unlike the reST OF US

Tis Moi Luca

I SAID I WAS SORRY ABOUT THAT?—

I cheer you cheer

“Where’s your boyfriend?”

“Oh y’know he got me detention aND THEN ABANDONED ME”

Tis Moi Luca

I said I was SORRY

Bay

I would just like to point out that I have never gotten my girlfriend detention

Tis Moi Luca

Congratulations.

Would you like a reward

Bay

I would actually

CRAP MY TEACHER SEES ME TOO

GOTTA HIDE

I cheer you cheer

Uh

Do you mean hide from your teacher

Because that doesn’t seem like the best idea?—

Tis Moi Luca

QUICK EVERYONE STOP TEXTING BEFORE WE ALL GET DETENTION OK