✓ | DEAR FUTURE ME

038

January 4th

Every Wintersville student groaned when they got out of bed this morning, and Skye was definitely one of them. Winter break was officially over, and now everyone had to return to school, most coming back with bags under their eyes and to-go coffee cups occupying their hands. Skye dreaded coming back for one sole reason, and that reason was having to face Hunter. If her Spanish teacher got her email with one simple request, then maybe she would be at ease if she got her seat changed.

Now with her brand new bike, Skye could ride herself to school without any trouble, not having to accommodate other people's schedules just so she could get a ride to school. As much as she would miss the morning adventures, all good things must to an end, and Skye had no idea where the guys stood with Hunter. She feared that they were still friends with him, but that worst-case scenario seemed pretty unlikely.

Skye kissed her dad on the cheek goodbye before he went off to work and she went off to school, heading off in different directions and starting their mornings. The weather was as cold as ever like every typical January, so Skye had to brace the cold air rushing towards her as she rode down the street. Even the warmest coat and gloves couldn't help one hundred percent, but the rush kept Skye going in the morning.

Upon arriving at school and locking her bike onto the bike rack (she thankfully still had the same old lock from before), Skye saw Levi, Danny, and Xavier walking towards the school entrance together, noticeably with Hunter absent. "Hey!"

She ran up to them, stopping them in their tracks and watching them look surprised to see them, Levi, especially. "Hey..."

"I like the new do," Danny interjected, complimenting Skye on the new appearance.

"Thanks." She said. "Um, no Hunter?"

"We haven't talked to him since the party," Xavier said. Despite all of the texts and calls, they all ignored Hunter's pleas. Nini even went to the lengths of blocking him on everything, mostly because she was getting "annoyed as hell". Hunter didn't dare contact Skye though. It probably wouldn't end pretty if he did.

"Oh, well, me either. Obviously." Skye replied, forcing a laugh to make it less awkward, but there was no saving the extreme awkwardness of their conversation. It was best that she just walk away and get to homeroom at this point as none of the boys in front of her knew how to respond to that. They all thought it would be messed up of them to laugh as well.

"Okay, this is just awkward." She cringed. "I'll see you in homeroom, Danny."

"Oh, I'll just come with you." Danny proposed, which Skye immediately agreed to.

"Alright. Bye, guys." She replied then awkwardly waved goodbye to Levi, who hadn't spoken a word since he said hey. Xavier did the waving for him, but there was no way he wasn't going to get to the bottom of the newfound awkwardness. He knew something else must've happened. Xavier wasn't stupid.

"Dude, what happened after you two left?" He asked Levi. "I was getting secondhand embarrassment and you know embarrassment of any kind makes me queasy."

"It's complicated." Levi frowned, which spoke a thousand words in itself.

Skye and Danny were well into the school already, struggling through the crowd of students as some walked as slow as turtles and others stood in the middle of the hallway for no reason. Skye figured she could get some truth out of Danny, specifically the truth on whether the trio were still friends with Hunter or not. She might as well face the facts now instead of later, and Danny was always a terrible liar anyway.