"Vivaine! Hey! I'm here, here." Xavier came running towards me with his arms flaring out excitedly. He stopped just a few centimetres before he would've been able to tackle me down, and with a smile as big as a crescent moon, he gulped like a kid. "Guess what?"

I couldn't hold in my smile from seeing him so happy suddenly. "What?"

"I went on the best date ever!"

"Oh my god! That's what you deserve. I'm so happy for you! What's her name?"

"I'm not telling you," Xavier leaned against my locker with a smug grin.

"Come on!"

"No- ouch! Jesus Christ, you're such an asshole, Ada." He shrieked, his body contorting weirdly in an attempt to brush off the petite human who had just jumped on his back without any warning.

"Tell her name!" She yelled in his ear. Adalyn gripped his shoulders and secured her legs around his waists as Xavier reached for her hand on his shoulder and bit it. I watched their untamable fight in amusement, having encountered many as such in the past.

Their yells subsided as soon as Jacob passed by them. He made a weird face at them before slapping my head. Adalyn got off Xavier's back reluctantly, while the latter simply glared at the other boy. Jacob turned to look at Xavier, feeling his eyes on him. He rubbed my head on where he had hit me and turned to face me again. I was too busy indicating the two to behave with my eyes to react faster. I reached up to smack his forehead.

"Um, so I need you to come with me after school," Jacob whispered, looking back to make sure my friends weren't listening to us.

"Where and why? Also, I don't have the time." I folded my hands on my chest, looking away to appear uninterested.

"I was passing by Caitlin's friends, and I heard them talking about going shopping- probably to the mall, right after school. So I was thinking maybe..." He fished his hands in his pockets, his eyes silently pleading me to comply.

I glanced at Adalyn and Xavier and abruptly looked away when I saw them eyeing us curiously.

"Jacob, don't you dare tell me you're planning to stalk her."

"No- no listen. I have a plan. You will distract her friends, and I'll steal her for some time. It's a public space she wouldn't make a scene. Plus, she'll never expect us in the mall."

I chuckled, waving my hand, dismissing his ludicrous ploy. "Please get someone else. I'm not going to be a part of that idiotic plan."

"Oh, come on. You don't even have a huge role to play. Please understand the seriousness of this situation, okay? Caitlin is pregnant. It's probably my baby in there. I need to talk to her." He came closer to whisper in my ear so others wouldn't hear him.

I gazed into his eyes. It did not help that he looked helpless and innocent. I sighed. "Okay fine, but leave me alone for today until then." I pushed away his abdomen gently, signalling our discreet conversation was over.

With one final look at my friends, Jacob left, fist-pumping the air. I held in a giggle and nervously smiled at Xavier, who looked very confused standing beside Adalyn as she just smirked at me. "He's hot, but didn't you hate him?"

"Since when you guys are friends?" Xavier inquired, fixing his navy blue shirt that Adalyn had ruined earlier.

"He's not hot, I still hate him, and we're not friends. He just told me to tell Mrs Thayer that he'll be a little late today for detention because there's a team meeting today." I said it all in one go, impressed at how quickly I made up a believable lie. Breathing out and finishing it off with a quick wide smile, I ran my hand through my hair.

-

"Excited to see Mrs Thayer?" Jacob smirked, holding the straps of his bag as he nudged me, his arms prodding into my shoulders.

"She's a teacher," I excused, internally complaining about it too.

"You literally go red as soon as you see her, Vivaine." His smirk grew. We passed the school courtyard that was as-usual occupied by jocks who make sports their entire personality. "And I saw your little interaction with her that day when you played to be her knight-"

"And you will mention it to no one, otherwise you'll end up with two black eyes instead of one." I threatened him, dragging my nails into his skin to help the works sink in.

I got nudged by some guy who passed us, lost in a hilarious conversation with his friends as he obnoxiously laughed and slapped their shoulders. I internally cringed at his actions but decided not to show.

Jacob and I walked in silence, observing others when the disgusting jock said something which caught my attention. "Man, you seen that new English teacher? She-"

"So, how are you today?!" Jacob asked loudly, probably to distract me from the conversation in the group of three walking just a few steps ahead of us. He and I both knew what the sports guy was going to say. It was the reason for Jacob to divert my attention away from the locker room talk about our teacher going in open halls, and the same reason was for me to completely ignore my unofficial friend so that I could hear more of the jock's talk.

"You didn't answer me. How are you today?... Can we talk about the mall plan elaborately? I think there are some-" I pushed Jacob's face away.

"If she keeps eyeing me like that every time I show up to her class, I'll start assuming that she wants this dick in her as-"

"Vivaine, don't."

"Hey!" The dude surely didn't see it coming when he turned around to me. His face was met by my fist just as soon as he turned. His friends stopped. I was way too furious to check up on their faces to give them a punch each, plus someone held me back, and I didn't bother to fight against them.

"What was that for you bitch!" He grunted. I saw a glimpse of red liquid coming from his nose. I smirked to taunt him even more. The dude looked at one of his friends which in turn charged towards me. I was ready to kick him, but then we were interrupted by the Principal.

"Move and you both will be suspended." His voice boomed. I wondered how he always manages to arrive to break up fights just in time. He sighed, looking at both of us. "In my office, now."

-

"Be lucky you got off with just a warning this time," Jacob rolled his eyes at me, urging me to walk faster so we don't miss any more of the class.

"That guy should be lucky he only got a punch to the nose."

"Stop acting like that! He said something disgusting, and I admit he deserved it. But you can't keep on fighting people like that."

"Okay, mom," I received a cold glare from the taller boy. "Fine, I just got mad cause he was talking like that about our teacher."

"Very disrespectful," Jacob nodded along as we walked together in the hallway to our class. He knocked on the door when we reached and showed our passes. Mrs Thayer let us in, her eyes lingering on me while I just hung my head low.

"So I was saying, you'll be receiving your corrected quizzes today. Please go through them and analyse your mistakes."

Today Mrs Thayer was wearing pink pants and a plain grey t-shirt. A blue jean jacket hung on the back post of her chair. Her dark heels thumped against the floor, coinciding with my palpitating heartbeat. With every thud, my stomach sank until I caught the whiff of her perfume. Realising she was right in front of me, I turned my head away from the direction she was coming from. My toes curled, my breath hitched when she placed a paper on my desk. Her hands touched my arm, and maybe, she let it linger there for a second longer than it should've been.

I felt humiliated in her presence for some reason and was glad not to be the centre of her attention anymore as she'd moved on to other students. I looked at the paper, saw a red-marked "A" on top.

Since Jacob and I had already arrived at class late, it ended pretty early. Still felt like forever since our teacher kept stealing glances at me. Catching someone looking at me had never been this awkward.

I got hit by a paper ball as soon as the bell rang. I unfolded it to see the familiar messy handwriting of my friend.

bitch why the fuck would you do that

-me

I searched for Adalyn's seat among all the students. When I finally found her glaring at me with an angry scowl. "Bitch are you blind?" she got up from her seat, pushed past a random guy who was packing his books and took his seat that was right beside mine.

"I know-"

"And you're dead," She hit me with her textbook making me

squirm. "Girl, I'm sorry-"

"You go around not spending time with me. Instead, you're with Jacob! And-oh, and you didn't tell me about it. What kind of friend are you? I'm very fucking angry!" She hissed quietly, making sure other people didn't hear us.

"Tell you about what?"

"Why are you getting in so many fights, V? Also, Xavier is pretty mad because you have been spending too much time with Jacob. You know he doesn't like him."

"Addy, I'm very sorry, but I don't understand where you're going with this." I held her hands for my safety.

"Be honest, are you dating him? I won't be mad,"

"Him who? Jacob? Ew no! How can you even suggest that?"

Adalyn's phone vibrated. She quickly read the text. "Well, that's good. My ride is here, so I have to go. I'll text you later," she accentuated the 'r' in 'later'.

"Okay," I nodded at her, still visibly confused. "I love you,"

"Love you too" Adalyn swung her bag over her shoulders and left the class not before giving a tight smile to the teacher.

Mrs Thayer ran a hand through her hair, her eyes fervently on me. She fixed the position of her chair at the front of the room. The legs of the chair screeched obnoxiously due to the friction.

"Mr Priestly, would you please get these books from the library?" Jacob looked up from his phone in surprise at the use of his formal name. He reluctantly got up from his seat and took the list of books from the teacher. He went out of the class after giving me a discrete wink. Mrs Thayer shut the door after him.

I could have sworn that my entire body started shaking at that very moment. She looked at me silently for what seemed like an eternity. I was silently begging her to say something, but my confidence dropped even lower as soon as she opened her mouth.

"I, um..." She broke the eye contact and approached me. I reclined into my chair My hands were aimlessly playing with my phone. She leaned her hips against the desk adjacent to me. "I heard about what happened." She fiddled with her fingers. Never had I ever seen a teacher so nervous, and that's when I understood that she knows how she was objectified by a student today.

"I don't encourage you to get in fights, Miss Valentine. But still, thank you for defending me." She flashed a smile so charming and graceful that I could try to muster up one similar all my life, and it still wouldn't be even half as good as hers. "I hope that this will be your last physical conflict of the year... because, to be frank, I don't think it's something you would have done. I had to request the Principal not to suspend you, so please Vivaine."

I looked down, a little ashamed and a little angry at myself. She wasn't wrong. I had never gotten into a real fight before Jacob and had never initiated one before today. I nodded. My head felt a little heavy. "I'm sorry, Mrs Thayer."

Due to the humiliation, I almost disregarded the mention of my name. It's not always I get to hear her say it. And it rolls off her tongue so effortlessly as if she's practised pronouncing it all night.

Mrs Thayer tapped her thighs, getting back on her feet. "Glad we are done with that."

"Pink looks good on you," I turned my stupid little head away as soon as the words left my unfortunate mouth. Holy shit, I am screwed. Mrs Thayer's face fell void of emotion in an instant and I reckoned she was not going to take it affirmatively.

Before she could say something, Jacob came rushing into the classroom. He plonked the bundle of books on the teacher's table and huffed, wiping his visibly sweaty forehead with a proud smile on his face.

Never had I ever been so happy to see Jacob.

"Great, thank you, Mr Preistly. You can go home now," Mrs Thayer made her way over her desk to check the books. She gave a polite smile to Jacob who gave her one in return.

He grabbed his bag and winked at me. "Should I give you a lift to the mall?" He whispered.

"Miss Valentine, please write an essay on the power of non-violence. You have..." Mrs Thayer flipped her wrist to check her watch. "35 minutes."

Jacob stopped in his tracks as I smiled sheepishly.

Oh no.