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CHERRY SCANNED THE HALLWAY!
Vance earned an elbowing from Mia when he made another joke at Finney's expense when he passed down the hallway.
"Do you have to be such a dick to him all the time?" Cherry questioned, her tone more curious than it was defensive.
"Defending your boyfriend?" Vance guessed.
"Being a good person." Mia corrected, narrowing her eyes at him.
"She doesn't care about being a good person. She's just in love with him." Vance argued.
"I'm not in love with him. I don't even know him." Cherry defended, her eyes glancing at the boy down the hall.
Vance didn't buy it for a second. She must've hit herself on the head with something because she'd never cared before.
Usually, she'd laugh at his joke and pile on until they were clutching their stomachs from the physical pain that laughter brought.
"You're my friend. You're supposed to be on my side." Vance huffed, his eyes set in their usual annoyed squint.
"Not when you're being a jerk." Mia denied, trying to get him to rationalize.
Cherry tried to find words that wouldn't make her sound even more guilty. Finney was an okay guy, but the last thing she needed was people thinking she harbored secret feelings for him.
She glanced at her friend. "Just ease up."
"You wish," Vance replied, not missing a beat.
"Vance." Mia cut in.
Vance let out a loud groan like he was struggling with the concept. "Fine. But ease up doesn't mean stop."
The bell rang as Vance leaned against his girlfriend's locker. Mia gestured for him to move, which ended with her shoving him out of the way.
Cherry took a lap around the school while her classmates shuffled into the room.
Finney took his seat, glancing at the empty chair and then out the window. He saw a flash of red hair wandering past the front of the school.
Cherry entered the classroom eventually, sitting in the seat beside Finney's. She dropped her backpack beside her chair, pulling out a pen from the pocket of her bag.
She began to scribble on her wrist as the teacher rambled on about math equations she didn't understand.
"Has anyone ever told you, you look like a ninja turtle?" Cherry questioned the curly-haired boy who was trying to focus. "Your backpack is huge."
Chase almost snorted. Thankfully for Finney's the humiliation didn't last too long, because the blond had the attention span of a goldfish.
