"No way!" Carmen exclaimed. It was nine thirty on a Wednesday evening and currently she was sitting cross-legged on Tee's bed dressed in her purple nightie and fluffy, pink dressing gown. "Danny Finch is so much hotter than Miles! I mean, have you seen his new haircut? I swear, he could be a supermodel!"

"Yeah, but Miles has really nice eyes," Tee replied, a dreamy smile on her face as she leant back against the cushions on her bed. "They're the most perfect shade of blue. Like a summer sky mixed with the ocean."

Carmen shook her head at her friend. "But does Miles have abs? Because Danny definitely has abs, believe me, I've seen them."

"You're biased," Tee pointed out. "You only think Danny's hotter because you've had the biggest crush on him since the beginning of year ten."

"I- I have- you can't-" Carmen spluttered before managing to compose herself. "Look, everyone with eyes knows Danny's the hottest boy in the school." She paused for a second, then swivelled around. "Hey, Sash," she called to the shorter girl on the other side of the room. "You agree with me, right?"

Sasha, who was sitting on her own bed with her headphones on – and her phone most likely turned up to full volume in order to drown out the girls' chatter - didn't look up.

"Sash!" Carmen repeated after a moment had passed. When she once again received no reply, Carmen grabbed the nearest cushion and chucked it at her.

"Oi!" Sasha exclaimed, rubbing her head and glaring over at the two girls. "Do you mind?"

Carmen ignored her comment, instead asking the million dollar question: "Who do you think is more attractive? Danny Finch or Miles Reed?"

Sasha continued to glare. "Neither, they're both idiots."

"That is not true," Tee said, leaning forwards slightly. "Yesterday, I accidentally dropped my art folder in the middle of the corridor and Miles spent a whole minute helping me gather all of my things. And he then told me I was an amazing artist."

"Wow," Sasha said blankly. "He's so generous."

"He is," Tee insisted, and probably would have continued to bore Sasha with more examples had Carmen not interrupted her with the story about when she kissed Danny at Jessica's party – a story which Tee had heard so many times that she'd need at least five hands to count.

Meanwhile, in the corridor just outside Tee and Sasha's bedroom, Bailey and Ryan were leaning against the door, as silent as church mice, both wearing their pyjamas and matching smirks of amusement.

"Are you recording?" Bailey mouthed, inclining his head down at the old (yet trusty) phone in Ryan's hand.

The blond boy nodded. "For the past five minutes," he mouthed back.

They were quiet for another minute before Bailey grimaced and whispered, "How long before they get bored?" In return, Ryan shrugged. How the girls could gossip on for hours was a mystery to both of them. Still, it could be entertaining to listen in sometimes.

Just then, the two boys heard an awkward cough from the end of the corridor and both span around, immediately plastering their faces with innocent expressions (of which Ryan's was noticeably more believable). Tyler, however, who'd just been returning from the kitchen with an enormous mug of hot chocolate equipped with both cream and marshmallows, wasn't fooled.

"What are you doing?" He asked, eyes flickering between the two boys.

Apparently, both boys sensed that they were busted for their expressions slipped. "Shush," Ryan said, miming for Tyler to keep his voice down, then beckoning for him to come closer which Tyler did cautiously.

"We're catching up on the latest school gossip," Bailey explained.

"Via unconventional means," Ryan added.

"Eavesdropping," was Tyler's conclusion.

Bailey shrugged, pressing his ear up to the door again. "Dammit Tyler, they've changed topics. Now we'll never know who's hotter: Finch or Reed." He turned to Ryan. "Reckon the recording picked it up?"

"No chance," Ryan muttered, "that idiot-" he gestured to Tyler "-was talking too loudly."

Bailey shook his head mockingly. "Shame."

Tyler stepped a little closer and cocked his head. "Hey, I think they're talking about us."

"What!" Ryan and Bailey chorused, pressing as close to the door as they could physically manage.

From inside, they heard Tee say, "No, Carms, that is so weird! They're younger than us!"

"They're in the year below," Carmen reasoned. "And Bailey's only, what? Four months younger than you, since his birthday's in October."

"It's still weird," Tee said. "I mean, we live with them. That's, like, dating your younger brother."

Carmen shrugged. "I dunno, I reckon Tyler could be pretty good looking if he styled his hair a bit better."

"Carmen!"

"What?" She said innocently. "It's true-"

"-weird-"

"-True!" Carmen said, then grinned cheekily. "Okay, okay. Snog, Marry, Avoid-"

"No! Carmen, please," Tee begged but Carmen pretended not to hear her.

"Um," Carmen tilted her head to the side in order to think. "Tyler, Bailey and Ryan. And you have to answer or... You're not allowed to wear make-up to school for a whole week."

Tee groaned and ran her hands through her hair. "You're so evil."

"Oh, I know," Carmen smirked, dramatically flicking her long, dark hair over her shoulder. "Now enough stalling. Avoid..."

"Ryan," Tee said quickly, causing Sasha to laugh from behind her headphones, evidence that she was actually listening to what they were saying.

When Carmen looked over at her, Sasha momentarily pulled her headphones back. "Tee literally hates Ryan. You should hear her sometimes." She put on a mimicry, high pitched voice. "Ryan did this, Ryan did that, Ryan pulled my hair-"

"I do not sound like that," Tee protested. "Besides, I wouldn't say I hate Ryan."

"Oh," Carmen said, as if in realisation. "So you... like him?" She smirked mischievously. "Or you... fancy him?"

"What!" Tee yelped as Sasha began laughing harder.

"You do!" Carmen teased. "Oh my gosh, Tee you're blushing."

"I am not!"

"You are," Carmen giggled, being forced to duck as Tee aimed a cushion at her. "Tee, you so like him!"

"I don't," Tee protested again. "Let's just get this over with, okay? Avoid Ryan, Snog Bailey and Marry Tyler. See? Done. Now can we stop this stupid conversation and get back to talking about the genuinely attractive guys like Mi- What was that?"

Carmen and Sasha both paused in their laughter to stare at the door from behind of which a spluttering cough had just been heard. Quick as a flash, Carmen, who had been nearest, clambered to her feet and pulled open the door to reveal Ryan, Bailey and a Tyler with hot chocolate spilt down his yellow pyjama top front.

For a split second, the three boys and the three girls were frozen before Bailey said, "I was just, um, making sure Mischief had enough water for the night."

"And I was getting a hot chocolate," Tyler said, indicating towards the remaining liquid in the mug.

"And I was just going to the bathroom," Ryan lied before peering in through the open door. "Oh, hi Tee."

"Well," Bailey said loudly, beginning to walk backwards in the general direction of his room. "We should be going."

"Good idea," Ryan agreed and he and Tyler hurriedly scampered off after Bailey.

Carmen stared after them for a few more moments, an incredulous expression on her face. "Freaks," she muttered before slamming the door closed and turning around to face a mortified Tee who, if she hadn't been blushing before, she most certainly was now.

"Do you think they heard everything we said?" Tee asked, desperately hoping that the opposite was true.

Carmen shrugged, catching sight of herself in the mirror hanging on the wall and taking the opportunity to adjust her hair. "It doesn't really matter. It's not as if you actually do want to snog Bailey and marry Tyler. Although, if you do, I better be maid of honour."

It appeared that Tee didn't hear her, stuck in her own little bubble of panic. "But what if Ryan thinks I have a crush on him?"

Perching back down on the bed beside her, Carmen rolled her eyes at her friend. "But you don't, so why does it matter?"

Tee bit her lip. "Yeah. Yeah, no, you're right, I suppose."

From the other side of the room, Sasha cleared her throat, drawing Carmen and Tee's attention. "Any chance that you two could stop talking now? I can hear you over my headphones."

"Fine," Carmen said, getting to her feet. "I know when I'm not wanted. See you two in the morning."

"Night," Tee said as Carmen closed the door behind her.

Feeling tired, and knowing that May-Li would be starting her night rounds soon, Tee switched off her lamp and snuggled down under her duvet, thinking back over her and Carmen's conversation. One part of her agreed completely with Sasha's proclamation that she hated Ryan; he was annoying, arrogant, selfish, mean – she could go on. But another part of her thought that, when he wasn't being an evil prat, Ryan could be halfway decent. And he wasn't exactly someone she'd call ugly, in fact, under certain circumstances she may even call him attractive...

Tee mentally slapped herself. What had got into her? Sasha was right: she hated Ryan and some stupid conversation with Carmen was not going to change that.

By the time the morning rolled around, Tee found herself wholeheartedly agreeing with her latter thought.

"Ryan!" She yelled through the bathroom door at around about seven forty, twenty minutes before they were supposed to be leaving for school. "Can you hurry up? You're running into my slot."

"Just a second," he yelled back, making Tee want to smack her head hard against the wall. Or, more preferably, Ryan's head.

After a second had passed, she replied with, "But I need to have a shower!"

"Then you should have got up earlier," he said, sounding a good deal calmer than she was.

"This is my slot!" Tee repeated through gritted teeth. He didn't reply but soon afterwards he finally opened the door, his hair dripping wet from his own shower. "Thank you," Tee said sarcastically, making to shove past him into the bathroom.

"No problem," he said, as though Tee had genuinely been thanking him. "But," he glanced down at his watch then back up at her, grimacing. "You might want to hurry up, there's not much time left-"

Tee very nearly screamed in frustration. "You're so annoying!"

Jody chose that moment to round the corner. "Lover's tiff?" She asked them, grinning as she placed her red and black tie around her neck.

"What?" Tee said dangerously.

"Oh, y'know, nothing," Jody said, adding a cheeky wink on the end.

Tee turned to glare at Ryan who, for the most part, had been standing near the bathroom door looking amused. "What have you been saying?"

"Well," Ryan said, raising an eyebrow at her. "It's not what I've been saying..."

Tee glared furiously at the two of them for another couple of seconds before evidently deciding that, at this stage, a shower was more important, and she disappeared into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her with much more force than was necessary.

Tyler immediately popped up behind Jody, laughing his head off. "Nice one," he said, and the two mischief makers fist bumped.

"Do I want to know?" Ryan asked.

Tyler and Jody exchanged a brief glance. "No," they chorused.

"Whatever," Ryan said, turning on his heal to head downstairs to grab some breakfast.

"Hey, Ryan," Tyler said, taking a few big strides to catch up with him. "Do you still have the recording from last night?"

"Why?"

"Just wondering," Jody said casually, having followed the two boys down the corridor.

Ryan frowned at Tyler. "You told her?" At his innocent grin, Ryan rolled his eyes. "I had to cut it down. Turns out you were speaking over half of it."

"Whoops," Tyler said as Jody groaned. "Any chance we could borrow it?"

When Ryan didn't look convinced, Jody chimed in, "we promise to use it to annoy Tee. And Carmen, come to think of it."

"Fine," the blond boy said with a sigh, causing Jody and Tyler to grin at each other. "But I'll send it to you because you're not having my phone and you can't tell anyone that you got it off me."

"Deal," Tyler said, still grinning widely.

"What are you even going to do with it anyway?"

"Ah," Jody said, sharing a smirk with her partner in crime. "Great mischief makers don't reveal their plans."

"Of course not," Ryan muttered, though Tyler and Jody, who were apparently too engrossed in thought about their upcoming scheme, didn't hear him.

By that point the three kids had reached the top of the stairs but were forced to stop there when an out-of-control force of nature with bright red, frizzy hair, came cannonballing up the steps, shrieking her tiny head off.

"FLOSS!" Was the accompanying shout. "GIVE IT BACK!"

Floss managed to pull herself to a halt only a foot away from Tyler, Ryan and Jody, and stood there jauntily, Carmen's phone in her hand. "Who's the text from then?" She asked, turning around to face an angry Carmen.

"That's none of your business," Carmen said sharply, having paused at the bottom of the stairs, seemingly hesitant to make any sudden moves in case Floss raced off again.

Floss grinned toothily, "then you won't mind if I open it?"

"Floss, don't!" Carmen launched herself up the stairs and grabbing hold of one of Floss's arms and causing the other – the one holding the phone – to flail as the red-head simultaneously tried to regain her balance and run away. The end result was that Carmen's phone went flying across the hall, hit the opposite wall and crashed to the floor. "MIKE!" Carmen screamed, now launching herself in the other direction and racing over to her precious phone.

"What's all this yelling about?" Mike said, entering from the kitchen, eagerly followed by the twins, Kaz, Harry, Finn, Bailey, Sasha and Mo who were all curious about the commotion.

"Look!" Carmen demanded, showing Mike her smashed phone screen.

"I didn't mean to!" Floss insisted as some of the other kids started to laugh.

Mike sighed, glancing between the two girls. "Carmen, I'm sure we can get it fixed in town."

"Well Floss better be paying for it," Carmen said, glaring at the younger girl. "Because I'm not wasting fifty quid on something that was her fault."

"Don't worry, we'll take some of the money out of Floss's allowance," Mike said, frowning sternly at Floss.

The red head looked sulkily down at the ground, scuffing the carpet under her feet. "I just wanted to see who the text was from," she said.

Running a hand over his head, Mike turned back to Carmen. "I'll take your phone into town straight after I've dropped you lot off to school-"

"-It's still going to take a couple of days," Carmen said, horrified at the thought of living without her phone, even if it was only for a couple of days.

"I'm sure you'll survive," Kaz said, looking somewhat amused at her friend's theatrics.

Bailey snickered. "No chance," he said around a mouthful of toast.

"Alright," Mike said loudly as Carmen opened her mouth to retort. "This is quite enough of that. Go and finish your breakfast everyone." He waved them all into the kitchen, glancing around at the present kids as he did so. "Does anyone know where Tee's got to?" He asked, not spotting her in the throng.

"She's in the shower," Ryan replied.

Mike glanced down at his watch. "Bit late, isn't she? We need to leave in ten minutes."

Ryan shook his head. "I did try to tell her."

Luckily Tee was just ready in time and fifteen minutes later (Jody had held them all up while she searched the house for her French essay – which had turned out to have been in her bag the whole time) the fourteen kids were clambering into the minibus; Toni, Billie, Harry, Finn and Floss were to be dropped of at the nearby primary school and the older ones at the secondary school two miles away.

And the first chapter is up! This story is going to be my (somewhat realistic?) interpretation of how a Ryan/Tee relationship would go. I really hoped you all like it and please please please review because I would love to hear your opinions:)