Chapter 3 | Karma failed me

Isabella:

For a moment after I wake up, I am filled with confusion. It takes a while for my brain to adjust to acknowledge where I am but the Harry Styles cardboard cut out looming over my bed is quick to jolt my memory.

Bright light floods into my room from the window and the sound of children laughing outside lets me know that it is certainly way past morning and I let out a big yawn before stretching out my arms and grabbing my phone from the bedside table where it is charging.

The clock on my lock screen tells me it's almost 3 in the afternoon.

Instead of immediately getting out of bed, I choose to nestle back into the covers for a little while longer. Draping the covers over my head to block out the light, I shut my eyes for a few minuets...that is until the rustling and the sound of chatter downstairs perks my attention.

Who could be here? The various number of voices are too many to belong to just my mom and grandmother and unless Sofia has miraculously learned how to formulate sentences then it must be other people who have come to visit. Other people who could be my two best friends Mia and Grace.

I scramble out of bed, curiosity getting the best of me, and make a beeline for my suitcase on the floor at the head of my bed, which clothes are spilling out of in every which way.

Searching through the pile of clothes, I pull out some grey sweats and an oversized black graphic tee that practically swallows my body up.

I rush to the bathroom across the hall, to do my skin care and brush my teeth before heading back to my room, pulling on a pair of white socks, brushing my hair and running down the stairs. I must have done all that in record time as when I check the clock, only been 10 minuets have passed.

As I reach the bottom of the staircase, all my suspicions are correct as I notice a head of long blonde hair before hearing an ear shattering scream and seeing Grace charging toward me. She scoops me into a big hug, lifting me from off the ground.

I giggle and wrap my arms around her tall frame before peeking over her shoulder and seeing Mia stumbling towards us. She attacks us with such a large force that the three of us tumble to the ground. I let out a small yelp and then a giggle as the weight of both Mia and Grace squashes me.

"Now that's what I like to see," a deep voice chuckles from behind us as both Mia and Grace scramble off of me.

"Shut it pervert," Mia says, patting down her dark hair.

I crane my neck to see who the deep voice belongs to, instantly freezing in my tracks.

The voice most certainly did not belong not the scrawny, 10 year old boy that I had left behind with a lanky demeanour and too many scabs on his knees from falling over too much. No, that boy is long gone.

This person who spoke is everything but a young boy.

He is tall and well built and very, undeniably attractive with gorgeous hazel eyes, a mop of dark, unruly hair and a jawline more structured that my entire life put together.

My mouth falls open in the upmost surprise and my eyes widen into saucers. I feel my breath catch in my throat and my heart begin to beat erratically, blood rushes to my cheeks and my neck begins to flame and I suddenly feel the urge to fan myself.

I don't know what I was expecting but it sure as hell wasn't that.

Fuck you karma! He was supposed to not be good looking.

Now, my reaction is one that I'm not proud of; gobsmacked and ogling the the boy you sought to hate? Not fun. But, luckily for me...it only gets worse because I just sit, staring at him pointedly for God knows how long trying to make my stupid brain coherent actual sentences, my mouth opening and closing like a damn fish.

But oh, do I instantly take that wish back because the moment my brain finally chooses to stop being mush and I finally feel my mouth begin to move, what I say is just plain...embarrassing.

"You're supposed to be ugly." I deadpan, wagging my finger in his direction.

The moment the words leave my mouth, I fight incredibly hard to not smash my head into the floor. What the hell is wrong with me?

I hear Mia snicker beside me before letting out a yelp as Grace pokes her in the ribs.

Lucas' grin widens. "Well hello to you too." His eyes crinkle as he stifles a laugh. "I apologise for not being ugly."

At a loss for words and burning with humiliation I just sit there in a rumpled mess on the floor. Staring.

Time seemed to stretch for ages as I take in Lucas' gorgeous, gorgeous face, not knowing what to do or say. All while he stares back, his arms crossed, flexing his biceps in his tight, black t-shirt, with an eyebrow raised.

Brain work. Please. Or even better, earth just swallow me whole right now.

A not-so-whisper a few moments later however, breaks me out of my silence. "Look at that sexual chemistry."

I turn to to look at the doorway where both Mia and Grace's moms - Linh and Eve - stand, my grandmother, mom and Sofia huddled behind them.

Grace giggles at her moms retort and nods her head in agreement as my cheeks burn more red. I'm pretty sure I resemble a tomato at this point but I'm too flustered to care.

Linh wiggles her eyebrows at Eve's remark before they both walk towards me.

Grabbing me by the wrist, Linh tugs me off the floor and into her arms. Thankful for this distraction I hug her back.

Next, Eve kisses me on the cheek and holds me at arms length, she winks at me like she has a knowing secret. "Okay well I guess you and your friends have a lot of catching up to do! So we'll leave you too it!"

She ushers my grandmother, mom, Linh and Sofia back into the kitchen and sends me a smile as I huff a quiet thank you at her.

God bless Eve.

Mia grabs mine and Grace's arm and hauls us both up the stairs and into my room and much to my dismay Lucas follows.

As we reach my room I'm suddenly hyper aware at the state it's in.

My bed covers are all rumpled and all my clothes are strewn across the floor, including all my bras and underwear.

Lucas snorts in amusement as I attempt to slyly kick them under my bed, a coy smirk playing on his lips.

I quickly make my bed as the three of them wander around my room, inspecting the changes.

Grace let's out a small whistle. "Abuela did a good job with upgrading your room."

"I know right." I look over my shoulder to where Lucas is staring at the frame pictures on my bedside table. "Um..thank you for helping her Lucas."

"No worries," He smiles in return, his two dimples popping out on each cheek and I swear my insides melt. "It was fun dragging Harry Styles into your room."

***

Mia is in the midst of re-telling the story of how her and her boyfriend Sammy started dating. During sophomore year she enlisted the help of Sammy, a cute, Indian boy in the grade above us, to tutor her in maths to help bring her grade up. Well that year not only did she manage to pass the class but she also ended up with a boyfriend. They had been dating for a couple months now and by the sound of it, Sammy was head over heels in love with her and I was so happy for them both.

A knock on my bedroom door, breaks Mia from telling her story and two heads peek around the door and I sit up in surprise.

"Aidan! Dylan!" I yelp, rushing off the bed to greet the two boys. They both pull me into a warm embrace and Dylan practically spins me across the room causing me to giggle.

After hugging them both, I shuffle to the end of my bed to make room for the two boys. Aidan chooses to sit next to Grace and I smirk at the sight of that and Dylan hauls Mia into his lap who squeaks in surprise.

Lucas is perched on my spiny desk chair which he has dragged next to the bed and is cradling a bottle of water in his hands.

"Wow," Aidan breaths. "The gang is really back together."

Over the years I had talked to Aidan and Dylan a couple times on social media but not as often as I wished I had. From our calls, I had found out that Mia and Grace had stopped hanging out with the guys once they all started high-school so I only vaguely heard snippets about what the boys had been up to.

Dylan pretty much looks exactly the same. His sandy coloured hair is slightly shorter now and he's taller, but that's where the changes stop. He still has that mega-watt smile of his which he in fact flashes in my direction as he begins to speak.

"So, Bell, how was England?" He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. "Any cute boys?"

Lucas chokes on the water that he was in the middle of sipping "Sorry," he says in between coughs as Aidan leans over to pat him on the back.

I turn back to Dylan once he stops choking and sigh wistfully. If you're hoping that the British boys I met looked and acted like him-" I begin, pointing at the Harry Styles cut out "then you're very very wrong."

I let out a huff of breath. "I was expecting them to be all classy and elegant too but most of the boys in my school were all roadmen whose idea of classy was skiving off school and getting drunk on Tesco vodka in the middle of a field. And the girls - oh don't get me started on girls, some, with their foundation 10 times darker than their actual skin tone, are literally the scariest people I have ever met." I shudder at the memory of the handful of encounters I had with these girls.

"Well that's disappointing." He frowns.

"You know," Aidan interjects. "Your accent has changed so much."

Mia nods dramatically in agreement. "For real, you sound all 'oh gosh where are my tea and crumpets'.

I cringe at her failed attempt at an English accent. "Really? When I was in London I got made fun off for sounding too American."

Grace scrunches her nose up in dismay. "Why did they making fun of you when their accent is all 'it's chewsday innit'."

"Okay can we stop with the English accents," Aidan shudders. "It sounds scary."

Lucas raises up his index finger. "I second to that."

I shake my head and giggle. "You know I only met a handful of people who sound really posh. Most spoke in what sounded like a completely different language. Their slang - oh God."

I roll my eyes at the memory of all the times my classmates had tried to make conversation with me and I couldn't understand a word that would leave their mouths because it sounded like they were speaking a foreign language.

I turn back to the guys. "Okay enough about me, what have you boys been up to?"

Dylan smiles widely. "Well, I finally came out to my parents!"

My grin broadens as I lean across to pull him into a hug. "Ahh I'm so happy for you babe."

Growing up, there were some tell-tale signs that Dylan didn't bat for the other team, such as when us three girls would gush over how dreamy we thought the members of one direction were, Dyl would agree and stare wistfully at the screen when the boys were shirtless in the kiss you music video or when we caught him watching gay kissing pranks on YouTube when we were 10.

"What about you Aidan?" I ask after pulling away from Dylan's hug.

Puberty did Aidan well. He is now taller than Lucas at around 6'3 and looks way older than 16. He has a small stud in nose that suits him well and wears a blue silky durag on his head. He's very attractive and I can see that he still has the hots for Grace at the way he keeps side glancing her way and by the looks of it Grace seems to be interested too, because she flames pink at the slightest touch, whenever his knee slightly brushes against hers.

I'm not surprised that he has a crush on Grace. My girl is beautiful. Both my best friends are. With long blonde hair and a tall almost 5'10 model frame, Grace has big green eyes and could easily pass as being one of the Hadid sisters.

Mia is drop dead gorgeous too. She has the darkest, thickest hair that I am seriously envious of and because she's Vietnamese, has the natural fox eye look, she has a beauty spot above her full lips and the clearest skin ever.

Aidan begins speaking and I snap out of my daze. "Not much, I missed you like crazy of course but there's nothing really interesting about my life at the moment because right it literally revolves around football because I'm gonna be the captain of the team when we start Junior year," he says with a shrug.

I stretch over Grace and pat his hand with a grin on my face. "Oh wow congrats Aidan that's amazing!"

Lucas speaks up as silence stretches over us. "So are you not going to ask how I'm doing then?" He places a large hand of his over his chest and pulls an expression of mock hurt.

Damn. I find myself thinking. He has nice hands and I find myself shamelessly staring.

They are quite large and veiny and he's wearing a couple rings on his fingers. I would quite like them around my throat.

Oh wow. Okay. Um calm down.

I shake my head slightly, snapping myself out of that weird thought and purse my lips. "Uh okay, what have you been up to."

"Okay well as you can see, puberty did me amazing," he pauses for a sec and a I cock an eyebrow at him.

"What?"

"I'm waiting for you to agree."

I roll my eyes and signal with my hand for him to continue.

"Well except for getting super hot, I'm also on the football team with Aidan and um yeah, that's about the only thing interesting that I can think of at the moment."

I nod. "Nice."

***

We spend the next half an hour catching up and talking about our lives when the topic of Lucas' girlfriend comes up.

Yes, that's right, Lucas' girlfriend.

Don't ask why a feeling of discomfort shoots through me at that revelation because I don't know either but I shake it off, as I listen to Grace ask about her.

"No offence," Grace starts. "But out of all the lovely girls in our school, why did you have to chose the bitchiest, fakest one? Yeah she's incredibly pretty but her personality is equivalent to a potato."

"Mhm," Dylan murmurs and I turn to see both Mia and Aidan nodding in agreement too.

Lucas shrugs, a sheepish expression on her face. "You guys don't know her like I do, she's....nice when she's around me."

Dylan rolls his eyes. "By nice do you mean only using you for your body?"

That causes Lucas to stiffen. His jaw clenches slightly, which at the sight of his slight angry expression, somehow sends tingles through my body.

Seriously, what is wrong with me?

"Hey man, that was out of line, who I date isn't your problem."

Dylan purses his lips and shrugs in defiance. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that, I'm just looking out for you."

Lucas swallows, his adam's apple bobbing. "I know but it's none of your business."

An awkward silence settles over us once again and everyone shuffles in their seats uncomfortably.

After a few moments pass, I clasp my hands together to offer a distraction. "Who wants to go into the treehouse!"

Lucas practically flies out of his seat at the change of subject and the rest of them murmur quiet yesses as they follow me out of my room.

***

It turns out the treehouse is much smaller than it had been 6 years ago. I barely have an arm in the wooden hut and Grace is practically seconds away from falling to her death out the tree if it isn't for Aidan holding onto her for dear life. To be honest I don't even think she would mind falling out because the look on her face very evidently signifies that she is loving Aidan holding on to her like that.

Mia is sat on top of both Dylan and Lucas and her feet is seconds away from bashing me in the face.

"Um," I begin, struggling to breathe at this point. "This isn't as fun as I remember."

Mia scoffs. "You think?" She narrows her eyes and points a finger menacingly at the guys. "You giants are taking up all the space."

"Hey," Dylan protests. "It's not just us guys, Grace is pretty tall too!"

Grace groans. "Don't remind me!"

I nag a finger in Dylan's direction. "Stop it."

After complaining about the lack of space for quite a bit we all clamber out of the treehouse.

Aidan groans dramatically as he stretches his arms. "My muscles are all cramped now." I watch Grace as she practically drools at the muscles rippling in Aidan's arm as he stretches and I stifle a laugh.

We all decide to sit on the grass in the shade away from the scorching August heat and begin reminiscing and talking about our childhood escapades.

"Oh my god," Grace gasps, giggling as she tries to say something. "Do ya'll remember when Mi and Dylan got married!"

My mouth gapes open and I begin laughing along side her. "Bro we made that into a whole ceremony and everything." I point a finger at Aidan still giggling. "And Aidan had to officiate it!"

"I remember me and Bella fighting because we both wanted to be the maid of honour," Grace adds, she narrows her eyes at me. "Then Bella won and I was mad for the rest of the day."

Lucas looks back and forth at Dylan and Mia with a grin. "So are you two still officially married then?"

Dylan shakes his head solemnly. "I'm afraid we got divorced."

"I found out that he had been cheating on me!" Mia let's out a fake sob, swatting Dylan on the chest with her hand causing him to yell in pain. "With a man!"

I watch as Dylan hits Mia back on the arm as revenge and the two begin a playful wrangle to which I laugh harder at. As I'm giggling away, I take in the moment and I realise how I much I had missed my friends. It was so good to be back.

My eyes glaze over everyone and I catch Lucas staring at me with an indecipherable expression on his face. It's a cross between wistful and something else I can't read and I quickly glance away from him, a fluttery feeling appearing in my chest.

He clears his throat after realising that I've caught him staring. "Do you guys wanna go out to eat?" Lucas suggests, patting his stomach. "I'm starving."

As if on instinct my stomach begins to rumble and I'm reminded of the fact I haven't eaten all day. I quickly push away the hesitant feeling and the tightening that's appeared in my chest and nod my head. "Sure."

We drive to Aidan's family's burger joint after they guys insist that I have to try the new meal on the menu that apparently tastes like heaven in a bun. I'm hesitant at first but I finally agree after seeing the pure adoration on their faces as they think about that burger.

As the bell rings as we step inside the restaurant, I'm met with the overwhelming smell of meat and fries, it smells good but it also makes me feel kind of queasy. I see Aidan's dad, mom and older sister at the counter and their faces burst out into large grins as they spot us.

"Isabella!" Aidan's sister, Aniya, squeals pulling me into her arms. "I've missed you girl! You've grown so much!"

"I missed you too," I respond before pulling back and turning to face both Mr and Mrs Moore. They lean over the counter to give me a quick hug.

"I've heard you were coming back in town!" Aidan's dad grins, fixing his apron.

"Yep I'm back for good!"

He chuckles. "I'm glad!" He chuckles. "Now what can I get you guys? As a welcome back, Isabella, your meal is on the house!"

Before I can argue Lucas buts in. "Isabella wants to try the burger 3000 extreme!"

"You sure hun?" Mrs Moore gives me a wary look. "It's pretty extreme."

I look back at Aidan, Dylan and Lucas who nod their heads vigorously.

"Trust me it's amazing," Dylan moans, emphasising the taste with a chefs kiss gesture.

"Okay," I say hesitantly. "It best be worth it!"

Mrs Moore nods taking down my order.

"Let me show you guys to your table," Aniya says, gesturing for us to follow her. She places us at a larger booth that's at the end of the restaurant and we slide in, Mia and Grace sitting on either side of me and the boys sitting across.

Aniya quickly takes everyone else's orders and we delve into a conversation as we wait for our food.

Lucas is telling us this story of some incident that happened at a party a couple weeks ago when my food arrives and my mouths falls open in shock.

Now with a name like burger 3000 extreme I was expecting a burger that's generally larger in size but this was huge. It was a good 6 inches tall packed to the brim with cheese and jalapenos and other toppings and by just looking at it I had a feeling that I would be spending a lot of time on the toilet soon.

Mia see's my absolute horror towards this monstrosity that is a burger and squeezes my hand comfortingly. "You don't have to finish it all Bell, it is a lot."

Grace gives me a sympathetic smile. "At least try it babe, it does taste quite good, I've had it once before."

I nod and gingerly pick up some of the fries that came on the side and put it in my mouth, not quite wanting to eat the burger just yet.

Once everyone else's food arrives, I finally pick up the monstrosity and peer at it. "It's so big," I gasp. "I don't know how I'm gonna fit it in my mouth!"

Lucas snickers from in front of me. "That's what she sai-" But he's cut off by the glare that Grace throws at him.

"What are you? 12?" She tuts, shaking her head disapprovingly at him like he's a little kid.

Lucas huffs like a child and tucks into his own burger 3000 extreme. "You're no fun Grace."

I continue staring at it in my hand, feeling kind of queasy.

You can't eat that. Imagine how many calories-

I quickly push away the thought before I start overthinking and begin panicking even more. I finally decide that I've stalled for too long and take a bite into the burger.

The taste of meat and spice and cheese flood my mouth and I groan aloud at how good it tastes.

"You guys were right," I say, my mouth full. "This is bloody amazing."

The guys nod with smug expressions on their faces. "We told you."

I take a couple more bites of the burger before putting it back down on my plate so I can eat my fries. I'm about to reach out to take a sip of my drink when I notice the grease stains smeared across Dylan's face from his burger.

I lift a finger to my mouth and wipe to see if I have any residue and when I look back at my hands I see that I do.

Looking at the grease on my fingers, I'm suddenly surged with this icky feeling across my body.

This is way too oily. Imagine the calories. It's too many.

The queasy feeling in my stomach intensifies and my appetite is completely gone by now.

I stare down at my plate and see that I've only eaten a quarter of the burger but in my head I'm still thinking it's too much.

Grace notices that I've tensed up and she squeezes my hand comfortingly. "It's okay," she whispers. "Don't worry you don't have to finish it."

I nod and take a sip of my water, trying to push away the unwanted thoughts clouding mind.

"Do any of you want the rest of my burger?" I ask the guys after a while.

Dylan furrows his eyebrows. "You don't want it?"

I shake my head. "It's good but it's too spicy."

Lucas shrugs and reaches over and takes the burger off of my plate to which Dylan protests. "I want some of it too!"

Aidan scrunches up his face in distaste. "Bro you guys are so greedy, you just ate one of those burgers on your own."

Both Dylan and Lucas send a glare to Aidan in reply. "So?"

"I'm a big boy," Lucas says wiggling his eyebrows. "In all ways possible if you know what I mean." He sends a wink in my direction and I burn red.

"Ew Luke," Mia gags, scrunching up her face is disgust. "You're gross. I don't want to think about your penis whilst I'm eating my hot dog thank you very much!"

Aidan slaps the back of his head as Lucas snickers and I giggle, continuing to sip on my water, feeling a little bit better already.

***

Everyone went home after we left the restaurant and for the rest of the evening I just cosied up with my grandma in the living room, re-watching some old telenovelas.

It's now night time and I'm all tucked up in bed, trying to fall asleep. I roll over restlessly and sigh.

I can't sleep because I have one specific person on my mind. His face keeps popping up into my head every time I close my eyes and I let out a breath of frustration.

I don't understand why I am thinking of him so much. I assumed the silly little crush I had on him as a kid had disappeared over the years but seeing him again brought the flutter in my chest that I haven't felt since I was 10.

I try to play it off as lust because don't get me wrong Lucas looks like a bloody Calvin Klein model with his tousled hair and chiselled face and lovely, veiny hands but both Aidan and Dylan are almost equally as attractive and I don't feel anything for them.

Maybe it's just nostalgia.

Yeah, it's probably just that.

That makes sense because I haven't seen the guy in years and re-seeing him just opened up all memories and feelings I had as a child which just reminds me of happier times.

Well, whatever it is, I plan to keep my distance because I can't let whatever I'm feeling develop because that's just a disaster waiting to happen.

━

AUTHORS NOTE:

The gang is finally back togetherrr!! I can't wait for you guys to read the next chapter because it's the first that is in Lucas' pov ;) Okay bye now, love you all - Mai x

P.s don't forget to vote if you enjoyed ;)