𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛&𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 • 𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚘𝚕𝚘

ten

• Sienna •

Sienna sat in her car in front of the boys house for a few minutes, trying to regain her composure as Claire tried to comfort her. Her friend had insisted on coming, but she had stayed in the car so she wouldn't 'interrupt the moment'. Said moment, never happened because Matt wouldn't talk to her. She couldn't figure out what it was the had set him off, but if he wouldn't talk about it, then it was bad. The two talked about almost everything. Had she done something?

"Just let him be. He's obviously in a mood, he'll talk to you soon." Claire rubbed her friends shoulder from the passenger seat. Sienna knew her friend meant well, but she didn't know Matt the way that Sienna did. Matt almost always went to her when he had issues, so why was he shutting her out?

"You don't understand, Claire. He was purposely avoiding me. He's never done that before." Sure, the pair had their fair share of arguments and fights, but it never went longer than an hour or two and then they hashed things out, usually over some chicken nuggets. Matt had not only locked himself away from her, but he had cancelled their McDonald's trip.

"Maybe he's jealo-"

"Shut it. Matt doesn't like me like that."

Sienna put the car in drive and pulled away from the curb, the radio playing the playlist that she had made for him and forgotten to send. She neglected to look up at the house after climbing into the car, missing the sad look Matt gave her from his window.

~~~

Sienna doesn't see Matt at school the next day. It's not unusual, except for the fact that she took all the routes that she knew would bring her near his classes. Nothing. Not even a small sighting of the back of his head. Either he wasn't at school, or he was doing a damn good job of avoiding her.

She tried her best to act normal, not wanting anyone to catch on to whatever issues she and Matt were having. Claire, Chris, and Nick were the only ones who knew what was going on. When she took her normal seat in math, next to Josh, he immediately took notice that something was off.

"You good?" He sounded genuinely concerned. It slightly irritated Sienna that he had seen right threw the act that she was trying to hard to put on.

"Yeah, why?"

"Something seems off with you. You've seemed off since last night." She kicks herself mentally for letting him take notice of her sour mood the night before, even before Matt had blown her off for the second time.

"Really, I'm fine. Just stressed with all the work that we have to do." Josh nods, not seeming convinced, but Sienna's glad that at least he doesn't ask more questions.

No one else seems to notice any difference in her for the rest of the day. No one leans over and asks "what's wrong?" in the middle of a class and no one gives her a second glance with pity in their eyes. No one pays any more attention to her than normal. The only mention of her mood after math class is when Claire sends her a vaguely condescending text in the middle of English.

clairebear: how u holding up sugar ??

Sienna: ...
Sienna: i can't tell if ur joking

Claire sends her a small wink and a smile across the aisle when the teacher isn't looking and they don't speak of it for the rest of the class. It isn't until the two are pulling out of the school parking lot 45 minutes later that either of them bring it up.

"I'm being dead serious, I can't tell if you were joking with that text." Sienna finally broke the heavy silence between the two.

"It was a happy mix of joking and being serious. Also, I just thought it would be funny to call you 'sugar'."

"It was definitely unnerving." Sienna smiled a bit in response to Claire's eye roll, the first real one she's had all day. "In the best way of course, my dear."

"It's just so hard not to think about you and Matt when Mr. Robinson is going on and on about Romeo and Juliet. You guys are like the modern day version of them. With all the denied feelings and jealousy you guys have are harboring."

"Claire. Have you read Romeo and Juliet?" Sienna is genuinely curious as to how Claire had managed to pass English so far if that's what she thought the play was about.

"Of course not. Why read it when I can just skim the Sparknotes for the final essay?"

"Romeo and Juliet do not have denied feelings and they both die at the end."

"Never mind, then." Claire slumps in her seat a little, clearly embarrassed at her lack of knowledge on one of the most well known plays by Shakespeare, but honestly, Sienna doesn't know jackshit about anything else that happens in the play.

The two drift into a more neutral conversation, discussing their plans for the weekend and annoying things that their families have done over the past few days. Sienna is immediately pulled out of the conversation when she sees Matt drive past her, going back towards the school. She tries to call him, wanting to check in because if he wasn't at school then something is way more wrong than she thought, but it goes to voicemail after a few rings. She tries again, but gets the same thing.

"Try Chris or Nick. They'd pick up." Claire offers, and Sienna tells Siri to call Nick after a few seconds of debating it.

"Hello?" Nick sounds confused. Sienna almost never calls him, and they rarely text outside of their group chat with his brothers.

"Was Matt not at school today?"

"No."

"Is he okay?"

"I don't think so."