TEMPORARY

o c t o b e r

It was now the middle of October and the buzz around the Halloween ball could be felt throughout the corridors of Acadia. This year it would be on a Friday but I was thinking of using that long weekend, travel to Lisbon, and see my grandparents but apparently, Ava and Emma had other plans.

"I think you should ask him to go with you, I know he's very reserved and all that, but I think he would for sure say yes"

"What? Emma, no I'm not even going to the ball" I explained my intentions.

"What do you mean you're not going, of course, you are," said Ava from the opposite couch where she was sitting upside down with her hair dangling on the edge.

We were the only ones in the senior lounge since it was well past midnight and everyone either had gone out for the weekend or were in their respective rooms. The three of us decided to stay back and watch a movie that now was just being used as background noise.

"Well who are you going with then"

"I noticed that change of subject don't worry, but answering your question I will probably just ask Asher or something" Ava looked a bit disappointed. I knew she wanted to invite a certain girl, but she was scared of rejection since she didn't know if the answer would be yes. She wasn't scared of the no per say, she was more scared about the girls reaction to the question.

"Iris, Iris let's go back to you don't change the subject" Emma like always never let my attempts at diverting the situation slide which sometimes was unsettling.

"What do you want me to tell you there's no reason for me to go out with him"

"There obviously is,  have you seen you two together he clearly enjoys your company and everyone has noticed that he's different around you"

In the previous week

"Are we good to meet after school?" This would be our last meeting of three, to finish our accounting project. Gabriel was the only one inside our classroom when I entered and decided that we had to plan our next move and finally be done with the project. I still felt embarrassed about what happened at Collin's party but if we had to finish this, I might as well just rip off the band-aid.

"Yes, my room. Do you want to prepare now while the class doesn't start?" his suggestion surprised me since he was being... I don't really know if nice was the right word, maybe polite. Yes, he was being polite.

"Of course...sure yes" I sat down next to him and we started working on it.

We spent the next 15 minutes before the teacher arrived working without a hitch and we managed to get some things in order so that later that day we could finish the project quicker.

"I think this is great we're definitely tackling this from the right angle and there's no way we're not getting a good grade" I looked at Gabriel and he was already looking at me in a way that made me divert my eyes. I did not know what that look meant but my overly imaginative brain was already working overtime. Eye contact didn't bother me in general but even I had my limits.

"You're right"

"I am" I nodded. I didn't know what else to say which didn't really matter because Mr. Avery arrived and I was, I guess you could say, saved by the bell.

I arrived at Gabriel's room a little bit before eight, I didn't want to risk a fight because of my tardiness and if there's something I am is respectful. If he didn't feel comfortable with me being late I wouldn't do it, or at least not on purpose.

I knocked on his door and waited until it opened which took a while and I almost gave up thinking that maybe he had forgotten about our arrangement when suddenly the door opened. He looked different. Different in a strange way, it wasn't his clothes or physical attributes that were different, but it was his facial expression. He looked stressed or shaken about something I couldn't quite guess.