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22

Most people hate monday mornings, and usually I do too. But not this time because when I walk into class, there's Reece sitting there talking to his guy friend. But he doesn't ignore me, he gives me a smile when we lock eyes for a moment. My heart races while I sit down.

"Why did you end the call so suddenly?", someone asks me out of the blue and I jump as I get interrupted in my thoughts. Blake and Nov stand in front of me.

"I got an important text I had to reply too", I answered. "But what the hell are you two doing here, class starts in two minutes and yours is not this one!"

"We were worried!", Blake says dramatically.

"He was curious", explains Nov. "As always." She laughs and leans against the empty table next to mine.

"Now you know. Get your asses to your class now, I don't want my friends having detention when we could be hanging out!"

"Yes father", Blake rolls with his eyes but follows Nov out of the room just as my teacher enters. He's always early so the two have another few moments to get to their class.

The class passes kind of fast, and so does the one after. From time to time I make eye contact with Reece. Sometimes he pulls a funny face that makes me laugh. Quietly, obviously. A math class follows and I see Reece's confusion. The way he scrunches up his nose. He has no idea what's happening. Poor him.

All in all, it's just a normal peaceful school day. Until lunch break.

I'm just sitting with my friends and listen to their conversation until everything escalates when Reece comes into the room and Hailey comes onto him. I watch her get really close, whispering something to him. She tries to grab his hand but he moves away from her. She gives him an angry glare, and suddenly Reece seems to explode.

"Get away from me!", he yells, and with that everyone's attention is on them.

Hailey says something but it's too quiet to hear from our place.

"What?! Stay away from me! I have rejected you kindly a lot of times. It's enough. You've been spreading the rumour that we're dating now which is nothing but your dreams, but also my nightmare. You're such a psycho, Hailey." Reece walks away from her while she just stands there, embarrassed by what just happened.

"Yeah, that was a call out", mumbles Nov.

I laugh and concentrate on my food again while my thoughts start running wild. They're not dating, she was just spreading it? Everything about this was so wrong. And I believed it.

A loud thud makes me jump and when I look up I see all my friends looking surprised too. There's a tray with food standing opposite of me. I breathe in while I watch Reece sit down.

"Stop looking at me like that. I'm not sitting at a table with her now", he spits out. "And you're the only people who will leave me be." He looks up and frowns. "Except you, Nov, but that'll be alright."

She laughs while everyone else is giving them confused looks. She shrugs it off. "Nothing important." Then she turns to Reece. "But you listened to me."

He just rolls his eyes, and everyone is still left in confusion, but after another moment we go back to our casual conversation until Malie hits me with a question that makes my eyes widen and glare at her.

"Wait, George, you still need to explain to me why you ended the call", she says.

Blake and Nov shoot each other a look when I give her a vague answer. However, she won't stop asking. She just knows I'm trying to not give her an answer.