they were just having fun

the one with a secret

    "tell her you like her." Andi demanded and poked Albert's back as they were walking down the halls.

"no."

"tell her you like her." She poked his back again.

"no."

"tell her you like her." For the tenth time, she poked his back.

Albert rolled his eyes. "how long are you gonna be doing this?" He asked, turning around to face her.

"until you tell Lilly you like her." Andi smiled. To Albert's luck, he saw Elmer, Race and Finch.

"Elmo! Control your girlfriend!" He called to him. Elmer walked up to them and hugged Andi from behind.

"why do you need to be controlled?" He wondered, resting his chin on her shoulder. Race and Finch looked at the two, each other and pretended to gag.

Andi pointed at Albert. "he won't tell Lilster that he likes her." She tattled.

"it'll come out eventually." Race shrugged.

"oh yeah. Remember when Albert almost-" Before Finch could finish his sentence, Albert ran to him and covered his mouth with his hand.

"we don't talk about that, remember?" He reminded, staring daggers into his eyes.

"what? She has a boyfriend now anyways, so what's the big deal?" Race replied. Elmer pulled away from Andi, took out his phone and sent Race a text.

Race read the text and furrowed his eyebrows. "okay and?" He asked. Elmer then sent him another text message and his eyes went wide. "no she didn't!" He exclaimed.

"what?" Race leaned slightly towards Finch and showed him Elmer's text. "she did?!" Finch gasped.

"we're still talking about..." Albert lead off and the three boys nodded. He mouthed ohhh.

Andi crossed her arms. "are you hiding something from me?"

"um... nope!" Race lied and smiled innocently.

"Finch?" Andi asked, knowing that Finch sucks at lying.

"uh look at the time, class time!" He panicked and ran away. Andi looked at Race, Albert and Elmer for an answer, in which they ran away after Finch.

"had to choose them." She laughed to herself and followed the four to class.

Jack and Romeo sat down at their usual lunch table.

"ya know, I'm still shocked." Jack stated.

Andi rolled her eyes. "you're still not over that?" She asked.

"over what?" Lilly wondered as she sat down beside her. Andi cupped her hands around Lilly's ear and whispered something, making her eyes go wide.

"no way, really?!" She asked, surprised. "and no one knew about this?"

"if Elmer doesn't know, no one does." Albert replied. "but seriously, Spot??"

Andi groaned. "yes, Spot!" On cue, Spot arrived and sat down.

"I heard my name." He stated.

"they're still not over it."

"of course they're not!" Suddenly, Eden came up to the group.

"hi Jacky." She smiled and faked a sweet tone.

"save it, E. He has a girlfriend." Andi informed with a grin.

"yeah sorry, I'm taken." Jack took her hand off of his shoulder.

"good answer." Katherine chimed in and pecked his cheek.

"no friendships ruined here." Mush boasted and crossed his arms. Eden's glare was moved from Mush to Romeo.

"you told them, didn't you?"

Romeo shrugged. "you didn't say anything 'bout keepin' your little secret to myself." He smiled.

"I don't like you anyways." She told Jack walked back to her friends.

    It was the end of the day when Romeo saw Eden leaning against her locker, which was on top of his. He noticed that she had a sad look on her face.

"hey, you okay?" He asked her.

"why do you care?" She replied, glaring at him.

"well, you're in the way of my locker and you look sad." He answered.

"oh, sorry." She apologized and moved to the side. Romeo then bent down and opened his locker.

"what's bothering you?" Romeo wondered as he took his textbook out of his locker.

"the guy I like got a girlfriend, that's all." Eden responded wearily.

Romeo closed his locker and stood up. "I thought you don't like Jack."

"I'm not talking about Jack." She sighed. "I'm talking about him." She motioned to a boy who Romeo thought looked familiar.

"he looks famil-"

"Skittery. But people outside of your group know him as Micheal." Eden interrupted, causing Romeo's eyes to go wide.

"I haven't seen him in so long." He stated. "we stopped talking to him when he got put into a different class than us when we were nine." He laughed, making Eden smile slightly. "do people still call him Skittery?" He asked, tilting his head to the side.

"I do. He told me why y'all called him Skittery, so I started calling him that. He was fine with it." She let out a quiet chuckle. "it even made him laugh."

"you two are good friends, huh?"

"yeah, aaaand I caught feelings for him. Looks like all we're going to be is friends." She replied sadly. Romeo then thought of an idea.

"do you have homework?" He asked.

"what?"

"do you have homework?"

Eden furrowed her eyebrows. "no...why...?" Romeo then grabbed her wrist and ran out of the school, dragging her behind him.

"Romeo, what are you doing?" She asked, laughing a bit. Romeo smiled, knowing that he just made Eden laugh for the first time.

"you'll see."