Written in the Stars *EDITING*

Chapter 38: The Confession

"Hey," Nathan greeted on Tuesday morning before the first bell rang.

"Hi," Mia greeted back as she shoved her red spiral notebook into her backpack.

"Are you ready for today?"

"No. But what choice do I have but to attend class? Besides, I have you and Hazel to get me through it."

"That's true." Nathan quickly glanced down at his phone before bringing his eyes back up to Mia's face. "So when's your next date with Kyle?" He almost wished he hadn't asked but knew he would rather not be blindsided when she told him they were officially dating.

"It's not happening," Mia shrugged.

"What? Why, does that jerk think he's too good for you?" Anger overtook Nathan, his hands clenched into fists. "I'll mess him up for you."

Mia glanced up from her phone mid text to Hazel, confusion in her eyes. "That's not necessary. I'm the one who told him we wouldn't be going on a second date."

"Why? I thought you liked the date. What did that asshole do to you?"

"Calm down bodyguard," she laughed. "Kyle was a gentleman and the date was amazing. I just realized it wouldn't be fair to go on a second date with him when I like someone else. I don't want to lead him on."

The anger evaporated from Nathan's face. Instead, confusion took over. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked at her. "You've liked Kyle for months now and now you like someone else."

"It took going on a date with him to realize I didn't actually like him as much as I thought."

"So who do you like now?"

Mia gazed up at Nathan and wondered if he was joking. "Are you serious? You really don't know?"

"If I knew I wouldn't be asking," he retorted.

"In that case, you don't get to know," she chuckled. "See you at lunch." Mia walked away as the bell rang.

"You seriously won't tell me?" he called after her, already running through a list of potential people her crush could be.

For the next week and a half, Nathan guessed who her crush could be. Every free moment in class or after school when they were hanging out he would say a name from their grade, gauging her reaction. Mia always said no to the name since they weren't the crush she had. Mia threatened to block his number when he resorted to texting her names a week into his guessing game. Nathan went back to asking her in person. Currently, the two of them were in her living room. Mia was crouched over her math notes and textbook while Nathan paced the length of the living room. His leather jacket had been thrown off long ago so as to not restrict his thinking and pacing.

"Shawn? He's nice," Nathan guessed.

"No. Please stop so I can concentrate."

"I won't stop until I figure out who it is. Walter? He smells like hot dogs," Nathan scrunched his face at the memory of the smell.

"No, it's not him either. You have already said every single name in our grade and still not guessed it. Just give up. Why don't you study for the upcoming math test that we both have," she frustratedly ran her pencil down the study guide.

"Math can wait. I guess I should start from the beginning. Is it Adam? You laughed at his joke once in class."

"I laugh at a lot of things. Nathan if you don't stop guessing I'm going to throw you out."

Nathan stopped his pacing and went silent. For a minute she was able to study. That was ruined when Nathan said "Joey? A lot of girls have a crush on him."