"And we're here!"

Yakko turns the car off, now parked in the school parking lot. You sigh.

"I wish lunch was longer." You mutter, undoing your seat belt while balancing your empty frappuccino cup. "This sucks."

"If only recess was a thing again." Yakko chuckles, undoing his seatbelt. "Too bad it's not."

"You're telling me." You say.

Both of you exit the car and after Yakko locks the car, you both walk side by side out of the parking lot.

"So, did you have fun?" Yakko asks.

You nod and smile. "Plenty."

"That's great!" Yakko heads up to the school doors and opens them for you. "We should do it again sometime."

"Tomorrow?" You ask, heading through the doors.

"Lemme check my schedule." Yakko taps his chin. "I might have to move some things around, but I'm sure I squeeze you in."

You laugh, tossing the frappuccino cup into the trash, and give him a small shove. "So glad you have time for me."

Yakko grins. "I try to please."

"Hey Warner!"

Both of you look to the source of the voice. You recognize the girl from earlier with her orange sash. Sandra, that was her name. She walks over.

"That's you right? Yakko Warner?" Sandra asks Yakko.

Yakko nods, albeit confused. "Yeah, do you need something?"

Sandra pulls out a folded piece of paper. "Your girlfriend left this for you."

Yakko takes the paper and opens it up. You watch as he reads the note. His expression changes from confusion to complete irritation.

"Thanks." Yakko says, folding the note back up.

"No problem." Sandra said, before looking at you. She waves as she turns away to leave. "See you around."

You wave bye. Once Sandra leaves you turn to Yakko. He was staring at the note. You frown.

"Something wrong?" You ask.

"Delphine wants to meet me after school." Yakko explains. He puts the note in his pocket. "She wants to talk."

"She wants to talk?" You ask.

"I know, shocking." Yakko sighs. He then shrugs. "Well it was bound to happen sooner or later. I'll meet up with her, but I'm gonna tell her it's over...again."

You pat his shoulder. He gives you a smile. He takes your hand and turns to face you.

"Thanks again." Yakko says. "I promise, this whole charade will be over before you know it."

You nod. You knew what he would tell her. And you were ready for it. You just had to act like his girlfriend for ever how long it would take to get her off his back. Shouldn't be too long, you believe. After all, she can't be that persistent.

You hope.

Yakko then snaps his fingers. "Right! Before I forget, meet me by the parking lot after school. Once I'm done with Delphine, I'll drive you home."

You felt a smile break out onto your face. "Yeah! Course! I'll see you there."

Yakko checks the clock nearby. "We still have a few minutes."

He holds out his hand. "Want me to walk you to class?"

You take his hand, still smiling. "Sure."

"Where to?" Yakko says, taking the lead and walking you to the stairs.

You reach for the schedule and take it out. "English."

"I have gym next." Yakko says as you both travel up the stairs. "What's your last class?"

"Chemistry." You read off the schedule.

"Aw, I get dumb old history." Yakko complains, but he chuckles. "Too bad. I was hoping we would get lucky again and have the same classes."

"One can only get so lucky so many times." You sigh and follow Yakko further up the stairs.

Eventually, you both reach the floor the English class was on. Yakko holds the door open for you and you walk through. Yakko takes you by the hand again and walks you down the hall.

"Guess this is where we separate." Yakko says as you reach the class door.

"Yeah." You say, although inside you felt a bit sad that your time together had come to an end. "See you after school?"

Yakko grins. "I'll see you then!"

Yakko waves goodbye as he walks off and leaves for the stairs. You wave bye and watch him go out of sight. Sighing, you lean against the nearest wall.

Have you enjoyed yourself? Yes, you could say that with confidence. Although lunch had been quite a rollercoaster, in the end it turned out alright. You and Yakko were friends. You very much still had feelings for him, but you could worry about that later.

Yakko never knew anyway. You think to yourself. It was true. Yakko had never figured out how much you liked him. How long you've liked him too. You could've sworn at some point you would've been caught, but it never happened. Yakko just never pieced together the idea. Maybe it was something he never thought about.

You hug yourself. You barely became friends with Yakko, but you craved something more. You wanted Yakko to see you as something more than a friend, but what could you do about it if he only saw you as a friend? You could be more forward with your feelings, but you were too nervous.

Besides, You tell yourself. He's about to break up with his girlfriend. Yakko doesn't need any more drama in his life.

Other than the fact you were his pretend girlfriend now. The thought left an uneasiness in your stomach. Before you had agreed because you would do anything for him. And you know you would. He was your friend. Your crush. Why wouldn't you not? But as you thought it over, you begin to realize how rushed you had made your decision.

Do you regret it? No. You were helping Yakko. This was all to help Yakko.

You rub your hand. You smile a bit. Yakko would be free from Delphine soon enough. This whole charade will be over soon. You and Yakko can go back to being friends and maybe something might happen. It just has to.

"Fancy, seeing you here."

You snap your head up. You find yourself staring at Sandra Welsh. She was out of her hall monitor uniform and wearing jeans with a white and black striped long sleeve shirt with a black waistcoat over it, unbuttoned. She also had a gray beanie over her short brown hair. On her shoulders was a black backpack with lots of pins on it. Sandra grins at you.

"You got English?" Sandra asks.

You nod. "Yes."

"Cool. I'm the student helper for English class." Sandra said. She leans against the wall you were on. "Notice you thinking all by your lonesome. What happened to that friend of yours?"

"He has another class." You explain. You tilt your head at her. "It's Sandra right?"

"Yep, don't wear it out." Sandra laughs. "You're a sophomore right?"

You nod again. Sandra holds out a hand. You take it and she gives you a firm shake.

"Junior." Sandra says. "I'm a junior here. I'm surprised I haven't seen you around school before today."

"Oh, I guess I just don't stand out as much." You sheepishly answer.

Sandra chuckles. "Neither do I, but I don't complain. Beats sticking out like a sore thumb." She looks at you. She says your name. "That's your name right?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?" You ask.

"I read it off the roster you signed." Sandra says. She then looks around, looking as if she was checking if anyone was listening in. As far as you could tell, most students were just chatting and hanging out or heading to class. Sandra looks at you.

"Not trying to pry." Sandra starts, looking curious. "But that Delphine chick, does she have it in for you or something?"

"Huh?" You said caught off by the question.

"She sorta blabbed to me." Sandra explains casually. "Something along the lines of you being some boyfriend stealer and a pathetic pig."

You could feel your ears burning. An anger rose inside of you at the mention of the word "pig". That had been Delphine's favorite choice of words to describe you. How dare she call you a boyfriend stealer! You didn't even do anything! She's the bitch who's been giving Yakko hell!

"Not that I believe her." Sandra continues, distracting you. "She seems like a petty bitch herself."

"We don't get along." You simply said, holding back your anger. "And yes...she is."

Sandra laughs. "I should've figured. All she was missing was a pack of cronies by her side. She was such a bitch about that note too. I had half a mind to stick it up her nose, but I was on hall monitor duty. Well, there's always next time."

You notice Sandra laughing at her own joke. You're not sure if you should join in. In fact, you were a bit nervous all of a sudden. Delphine had it in for you? Was that true? You weren't saying Sandra might be stretching the truth, but if Delphine was being that open about hating you, did that mean drama might start again? You hoped not. You hated it when Delphine used to actively bully you during school. It would be horrible for that to start up again.

"Really sorry you had to endure that." You tell Sandra.

Sandra shakes her head. "It's fine. I'm used to people bullshitting like that. Perks of being the hall monitor."

Sandra gets off the wall and looks at you. "Wanna talk more inside the class?"

You hesitate for a moment. You didn't know Sandra a lot, but she was nice. Not to mention you weren't the best person at talking with people. Then again you really didn't have a lot of friends...

"Sure." You say instantly. Sandra seems to brighten up.

"Then let's go." Sandra said and took the lead. You follow Sandra inside the classroom.

Inside, a few students were lingering about. You spotted the teacher by her desk. She looks up at the two of you when you enter the class.

"Good afternoon, students." The teacher says with a smile. She sees Sandra and gets up from her seat. "Ah, Sandra, glad you made it."

"Course, Ms. B." Sandra says to the teacher. "Never would have missed it."

"Of course." Ms. B takes out a stack of books and places them in Sandra's arms. "Begin placing these textbooks on every desk, okay?"

"On it." Sandra walks with you to the nearest group of desks. Sandra looks over the text books. "Hope you're into poetry. Looks like it's gonna be the first unit."

Poetry, you think to yourself. Not bad, could be worse.

"I can stand it." You say. "What about you?"

"Love poetry actually." Sandra says as you take a seat and she places down textbooks on the desks. "But I'm better at reading books. But I can be a poet if I want to."

You notice Sandra says that with pride. You smile back. "Bet you could."

"You'd be right." Sandra finishes off setting books down and picks up the next stack of textbooks. "I'll be right back."

You watch Sandra as she hustles around the classroom, placing textbooks on every desk. Students fill in the classroom as she goes group by group. By the time she finishes the bell has rung. Sandra hurries over to your group and plops right down beside you, tossing her bag onto her chair.

"Good morning class." Ms. B says to the class filled with students. "I'm Ms. B, and today we will be starting our poetry unit."

A few groans rise from the students but are hushed by the teacher's gaze. She goes onto explain the unit and you notice Sandra lean in towards you.

"I've had Ms. B's class before." Sandra whispers. "Believe me, it'll be fun. Besides I've memorized her assignments, I can always give you pointers."

You glance at her in surprise. This was a first in a long while had anyone offered you help in class. In any class actually. You always did your best to keep your grades up no matter what, but your slow pace always kept you down. You smile back, grateful for the help. Sandra grins back just before she returns her attention to the teacher who has come to the table.

"And we will have a student helper in class for the year. Everyone, meet Sandra Welsh." Ms. B introduces the junior. Sandra stands up and bows before taking her seat. "Thank you Sandra. She'll be here to help with questions. Now everyone, open your textbooks."

You do as instructed and watch as the teacher hands out worksheets for everyone. You look it over. It was a bunch of questions based on a reading that was in the textbooks. You glance over at Sandra who had a copy with her. She had taken out a sharpened pencil and was busy writing over the sheet, filling out the answers. Sandra noticed you staring.

"I had this worksheet before." Sandra explains. "It's a cinch, but the reading sucks."

Sandra opens the textbook to the page as instructed by Ms. B. It opens up to the class reading. You notice the page count and your jaw drops. Thirty pages? Thirty pages! She expects everyone to read thirty pages today?

Sandra elbows you. "Don't worry. I know the poems like the back of my hand. We got this."

"This assignment is due by the end of class, people!" Ms. B announces. "So let's get started."

You immediately begin reading but Sandra places a hand over your textbook. You look at her confused. She hands you your worksheet.

"Read the questions first. That way you can do the questions while you read." Sandra advises. "You work faster that way."

"Oh, okay." You take the sheet. You then smile at Sandra. "Thank you."

Sandra winks. "No problem."

As time passed by in class, all the while, you worked on the worksheet, taking Sandra's advice. When you were stuck, Sandra was quick to help you out. You had to hand it to her, she really did know this poem like the back of her hand. You were finished with more than half of class time remaining! That must be a record!

"Now that that's out of the way," Sandra says while pushing the textbooks to the side. "We can just chill."

"Thanks for the help." You say. "I've never finished that fast before."

"It's no problem, really." Sandra says, laying back in her seat. "I'm just glad to be of service."

"It did really help." You say, looking over the worksheet one last time. You glance at Sandra. "Ever considered tutoring?"

"As much as I'd love to add tutoring to my nerd list," Sandra says casually. "I've got my plate full with hall monitoring and book club."

"Book club?" You ask.

"Yeah, a little thing I joined last year." Sandra says. "You meet up, choose a book to read and talk about it. But there's also planning book fairs for the school and setting up drives so students can have access to books. Etc, etc."

Sandra reaches into her book bag and pulls out a wrinkled flier. She hands it to you. You grab it and the first words to pop at you off the flier are Book Club.

"If you're ever interested," Sandra continues. "That flier tells you where we meet up."

"Thanks." You say while folding it up and putting it away into your school bag.

"Ms. Welsh." You hear and look up to see the teacher at the group table. She hands Sandra a single worksheet. "Could you make a couple more copies of this worksheet? I seem to have miscounted the first time, we're a few short."

Sandra smiles. "Course Ms. B. I'll get to it."

The teacher walks away to help another table and Sandra stands up, looking at you. "I'll be back."

You watch Sandra walk out the classroom. Knowing you had pretty much nothing else to do, you lay back in your chair and chill.

"You have some guts hanging out with her."

You snap your head up and look around. When you couldn't find who was talking you heard a whispered psst. You turn your head behind you. Some kid in the group behind you was staring right at you. You notice right away the kid was wearing all-black; black hoodie, black jeans, black shoes. Made his blond hair stand out like a sore thumb. The kid frowns at you.

"You shouldn't hang out with her." He says.

"I'm sorry-who are you?" You're confused. Who is this kid, and what is he talking about?

"Nolan." The kid says. "I'm Nolan."

Nolan, looks at the door and the back at you, a frown settled on his face. "She's trouble, okay? You should take my advice and don't even talk to her."

You frown. What the hell is with this guy? You might not know Sandra, but you knew well enough that this kid was out of line.

"Look, I don't know you and I don't know what your deal is-"

"My deal is, she's nothing but trouble." Nolan insists. "Don't trust her. She's got this record of getting other kids into trouble with her. She'll drag you into it too. I'm just trying to warn you before it happens."

You felt your frown grow. You didn't like what this kid was saying about Sandra.

"Gee, thanks for the warning." You drawl, sarcasm dripping off your voice. "If I need saving then shoot me a line."

You turn yourself right back around, but the guy wasn't done talking.

"I'm serious!" Nolan hisses. "You're gonna regret it if you don't listen to me!"

You ignore him. There's nothing that he could say to get you to listen. You were done listening anyway. He's just another jerk spreading hurtful rumors that aren't even true. You knew what it was like to be bullied. Delphine did a well enough job at that. Whatever this whole mess was, couldn't be anything true.

"Fine." You hear Nolan say. "Enjoy being friends with a whore."

You freeze. You snap back around, but Nolan has returned his attention back to his work, ignoring you. You stare at him and look forward once again.

The fuck was that about? Why did he call her that? What's his beef with her anyway?

All these questions were bubbling in your head and so was some anger. Why are you listening to this guy? Don't even think about what he said. These are rumors he's spreading. Rumors that anyone could have made up.

He called her a whore. You think. What the fuck was that for?

The classroom door opens and you notice Sandra come back inside with a pile of papers in her arms. As she walks over to the teacher, you glance back at Nolan. He's glaring at you. You turn away.

Ignore him.

"So, what did I miss?" Sandra says once she comes over to the table. She plops down next to you.

"Nothing." You say right away. "Just boring class time."

"Fantastic." Sandra says, chuckling. "I love boring class time."

You laugh with her. Suddenly, you felt someone bump into you. You stop laughing to look and notice Nolan walking past your desk and heading for the teacher. He drops a crumpled piece of paper which bounces close to your desk. He glances at you, but looks away just as quick.

You raise a brow, but look at the paper. You pick it up.

"What's that?" Sandra asks, noticing you do this.

"Don't know." You answer honestly. You unfold the sheet. There's a phone number at the top followed by some words.

Just in case. It reads.

A feeling of unease settles in your stomach. The guy gave you his number just because he doesn't like Sandra? Who the hell does that?

You glance at Nolan's direction. He's talking with the teacher, not even looking at you. You fold the sheet and turn back to Sandra. You notice right away she is staring in the same direction as you and then gives you a grin.

"Oh, I see what's happening here." Sandra says with an impish grin. "He likes you."

"What?" You exclaim, but quickly lower your voice. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh come on, it's obvious." Sandra giggles. "It's really cute, actually."

"I doubt he likes me." You say quickly.

Sandra plants her head into her hand, smirking. "Then why is he giving you notes in class?"

You're silent. Sandra just breaks out into a grin. She gives you a friendly shove.

"I knew it!" Sandra exclaims. "He does like you!"

"I hardly know him." You say, stuffing the paper into your pocket. "Besides, I like someone else."

"Aw," Sandra gushes, clasping her hands together.. "Young love, sweet."

Your cheeks warm up. "I'm not that young."

"Still, it's really cute." Sandra says, poking you in the arm. "But I'll stop teasing you if it bothers you that much."

"I would appreciate that, thank you." You say, grateful to end the conversation.

"Alright class." You hear Ms. B announce. "I will be passing out the homework for tonight. I expect this to be turned in by tomorrow."

You grab a sheet and Sandra looks at it with you.

"Just some questions about basic knowledge on poetry." Sandra says, turning to look at you. "If you finish that now, you'd be good for tonight."

"Yeah, I should get started." You said, placing the sheet down and beginning to work.

The sheet takes up the rest of your time in class. Soon enough the bell rang. The whole class gets up and packs their things, you and Sandra doing the same.

"Well, I have to head to my next class." Sandra says as you both walk out of the classroom. "I'll see ya tomorrow?"

"Yeah," You smile.

"Cool!" Sandra then starts walking, and just as you were about to turn around, she turns back around and looks at you with a grin. "You know, you're cool to hang out with. We should hang out sometime outside of school."

You perk up. "Really?"

"Yeah, we can try this Wednesday?" Sandra offers. "I know a cool shop we can go to."

"Sure!" You say. "That sounds great."

"I'll see you then." Sandra says and rushes off. "See ya!"

You wave bye and begin walking down the hall. You felt your smile fade as you thought about what Nolan had told you.

"Don't trust her. She's got this record of getting other kids into trouble with her. She'll drag you into it too."

You shake your head and march forward.

"You're gonna regret it if you don't listen to me!"

He's just some stupid kid making up rumors. No need to worry about it. Sandra's a great person. You might not know her well, but she doesn't seem like the type to cause trouble. Who listens to rumors anyway?

You keep walking. You had a class to get to. No time to be worrying about stupid things like rumors.

It's not true.

"Fine."

You're fine.

"Enjoy being friends with a whore."

It's not true.