The next day, George is at school early, like he always is. He hates being stuck in the crowds and would usually hang about in the computer room until his friends showed up. Katelyn stands beside him, talking giddily.

'-I mean, they were all talking about it! The Seniors literally have nothing else to do so they've started placing bets on who it is. They think it's Maia but there's rumors that she's going out with Celestia. Hannah wants to put it in the paper; she's got a couple of photos, maybe-'

'Katelyn, would you shut up and tell Hannah to keep it to herself? My life, my decision.'

Katelyn puts her hands up in defeat. George smirks slightly, victorious, and opens his locker, finding an assortment of neon sticky notes on the spines of his books. 

'What the... How did they get into my locker?'

His sister quirks an eyebrow in interest. 'More notes? This is like some cute-but-cringey Netflix original shit.' She chuckles to herself before musing over the thought. 'I hope I'm the protagonist's sister that people stan.'

George doesn't listen to her, his eyes skimming over the notes before scoffing.

I'm sorry for the stunt I pulled yesterday

I didn't think people would make all that drama

I noticed you also didn't reply but that's okay,

You probably think this is some joke or something

George just rolls his eyes, peeling the sticky notes off and stuffing them into his pocket. He made a mental note to put them in the nearest trash can as soon as possible. Katelyn finally stops talking to herself.

'Wait, what did it say? I didn't see.'

'None of your business.'

'Fuck you.'

'Fuck you!'

'Ugh, whatever, I'm going to the library.'

'Good. You're stupid and you need all the studying you can get.'

'Bitch.'

'I'm not a mirror.'

'You are insufferable.' With that, Katelyn flounces off and George chuckles to himself. As much as the two bickered and argued and called each other names, they always had each others back. 

He turns his attention back to his locker, muttering, 'Okay, what's my first few classes...'

George picks out his stuff for Geography, Physics and Maths, shutting his locker and heading to the computer room. He found walking through the empty halls both relaxing and slightly eerie. The teachers were either in the teacher's lounge or preparing for their lessons in their own rooms. Someone was in the music department already, belting their heart out to 'Into the Unknown'. The noise echoed down the corridors, bouncing off the walls like a rubber ball on concrete. When he's far enough, it's just the sound of George's footsteps and the gentle droning hum of the lights. He reaches the computer room, which is already unlocked for the day. He looks at the clock above the door, noting he had about 15 minutes before the Sophomores would come in for their class. 

George makes a beeline for his usual spot in the room, the computer at the very back. He's been using this one since he was a Freshman and found it a habit to just go and use that one despite being the furthest away from the entrance. However, George stops in his tracks, eyebrows furrowing. 

'Oh my gosh, seriously?' he speaks softly in disbelief.

He approaches and, lo and behold, a neon pink and a neon yellow sticky note is plastered onto the screen.

What if I put my minecraft bed next to yours?

Haha, jk

Unless?

George, once more, rolls his eyes but chuckles at the poor attempt of whoever is behind this flirting. What an over-used, dumb pickup line. He takes the sticky notes and remembers the one in his pocket. Taking them out, he goes to put them in the trash can but when he stands there, a nagging feeling told him not to throw them out.

'Come on, George, you know this is stupid.'

Although, George just stands there, sticky notes in a clasped hand before sighing, heading back to his computer. With a simple press of a button, it whirs into life and the screen lights up. George puts in his school account details and it takes him to his home screen, his background picture of him and Dog smiling at him. He grins, proud of his editing work on the filters and placing hearts all around him. Dream had once teased him that it made George look like he was in love with his cat and to this, Sapnap had answered for him.

'You're just jealous because George loves his dog more than you.'

Time ticks on and, gradually, noise outside increases. George, however, didn't notice as he plugged his headphones in and was deep into his work. The door creaks open and Dream peeks his head in, grinning when he realized George hadn't seen him. He creeps up the older boy and suddenly grabbed his shoulders, yelling 'Boo!' George screams, throwing his headphones off and shrinking away from the touch.

'Wh- Dream!'

Dream is too busy laughing, turning into a kettle. 'Gotcha!' he manages to say, before wheezing again, clutching his stomach.

'You scared me!' George can't help but chuckle. His friend's laugh was just so contagious.

Once the two calm down, Dream sits on the table surface beside George. 'How's the coding going?'

'Fine. I should have it done tomorrow.'

Dream grins. 'Yes! How long between each potion effect?'

'1 minute. Any more or any less would seem too fast or too slow.'

'This is a great idea! I'm such a genius, George!' There's a smugness in his voice but a twinkle in his eyes that signaled that he was just kidding.

'I don't like this challenge.'

Dream laughs. 'Why not? It's genius! 'Minecraft, but we get a random potion effect every minute'. It's great!'

'You're just saying that because you came up with it.'

'I'm a genius!'

George shakes his head, smiling. Dream notices the sticky notes on the table, picking them up.

'What's this?'

George glances over and sees what Dream was talking about. He goes back to looking at the computer screen. 'Sticky notes. Duh.'

Dream pulls a face, reading them. ' "What if I put my Minecraft bed next to yours?" ' He wheezes. 'Oh my God, basic.'

'I'm kinda curious to see who it is.'

'Then leave a note!'

'But where?'

It's Dream's turn to think. He kicks his legs, saying 'I don't know, leave it on your locker and they'll reply.'

'I'm not doing that! Imagine what other people will say!'

'Do you wanna find out who's doing it?'

'Yeah-'

'Then do it.'

The bell rings, signaling they had five minutes to get to class. George logs out of his account, switching off the computer.

'I gotta go. Geography's on the other side of the school.'

'Lmao F.'

George playfully punches Dream, who feigns hurt, dramatically gasping and grabbing his arm.

'Ow!'

'Oh, come on, I thought you said you were tough. Also, who says that aloud?!'

Dream just pouts and they begin walking out of the room. Dream stops outside the History room, calling out to George.

'Just do it! What's gonna go wrong?'

George just waves a hand as he keeps walking, merging with the rest of the crowd. He walks into the Geography room just as the bell rings, stopping when he spots Sapnap. He takes his usual seat before turning around to look at him questioningly. 

'What are you doing here?'

'Nice to see you too.' Sapnap smiles tiredly, leaning forward so George could hear him better. Now that they're closer, George can see his friend's exhausted expression. 'Ms. Murphy is out and there wasn't anyone to supervise so we were split up to into different classes to be taken care of.'

George raises an eyebrow. 'And you're not ditching?'

'I wanted to annoy you all class.'

'Okay, that sounds like Sapnap.'

Sapnap smiles at this, resting his hands in his arms as he looks up at the other. George looks at him, as if studying him'

'You look like Hell,' he states bluntly. 'Did you get any sleep last night?'

Sapnap shakes his head. 'I came to school early. Me and Skeppy were talking by the bike sheds. Enough about me, though. Did you get anymore notes?'

'Yeah. Just some dumb pickup lines.'

'Don't you like them?'

'I mean, they're cute, I guess. I just wanna know who's behind it, and also why they're doing it.'

Sapnap nods as George takes out his books. He skims the pages in order to find where the class had left off last but he didn't even read the chapter number to stop flicking through the paper. What stops him is a soft blue sticky note.

Do you have a map? Because I just got lost in your eyes.

'How...'

Sapnap does his best to peer over his shoulder before laughing. George just stares at the note in confusion. 'How did they know-'

He's interrupted by the teacher coming in, shutting the door. Class has begun. He takes off the sticky note and puts it inside his pencil case. Who is doing this? 

Chapter 4: 1,521

Total words: 4,871