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ristretto

I FELT LIKE AN IDIOT. I couldn't believe I thought things would be different after Isaac had called me his friend – after he said he'd see me around.

I mean, we did see each other around. We sent polite nods from across the café, but we never exchanged more than a quiet 'hello'. Sometimes we'd smile when we passed in the hallways – on the rare occasion that he bothered to show up at school. Our last text from before Arthur Andrew's party taunted me as I considered texting him each night – ultimately deciding against it every single night, only to reconsider the next.

Either Isaac's definition of a friend was very different from mine, or he'd only said it to be polite.

He was back to his old routine of skipping classes and disappearing from the school quad in the middle of lunch.

It had been nearly two weeks since I'd had a proper conversation with him.

It was on me. I'd embarrassed myself in front of him. I'd told him to reconcile with Lacey. I was the one who encouraged him to go back to his world of popularity and relationships.

And I had to return to mine.

But I couldn't help missing him.

Maybe I was overthinking it.

"Stop staring," Riley scolded.

I turned to see her eyes riddled with concern, leaning against the tree beside William. William's gaze flickered between my face and the soccer field, Isaac and his friends kicking a ball around lazily.

I sighed, thumbing my jeans. "I can't help it. You know he's going to disappear like he always does during lunch. I just –"

"Aspen," Riley interrupted. I turned my focus onto her. She stared at me with eyebrows raised and a pointed smirk on her face. "Go talk to him."

"You think?"

"He said you're friends, right?"

I nodded.

"Then go. Friends talk to each other."

I swallowed. She was right. I needed to take matters into my own hands – if I wanted to talk to Isaac, I should just do it. What was I worrying about? William sent me a small smile of encouragement from beside Riley, and I stood, brushing my pants off from the grass.

"I'll see you guys later, then," I said, my voice quieter than I had hoped. I shouldered my backpack, shrugging it on before turning to the soccer field and sucking in a deep breath.

I shuffled down the hill, practicing what I was going to say in my head – rehearsing in an attempt to not make a fool of myself in front of him and his friends. Hey Isaac, how have you been? Me? Oh, I'm good, just on my way to art early. Are you coming today? We should go together.

Isaac had left his friends and stood at the edge of the field gulping down a bottle of water. I paused, taking in another deep breath and clenching my fists before approaching him.

"Hey Isaac," I began, pushing my voice to sound louder, more confident than I felt. Okay, it was going well so far. "How you been?"

Isaac turned, his brows rising in surprise to see me.

"Aspirin, hey!" His usual charming smile tugged at his lips and my heart fluttered. "Good, good. What about you?"

I mustered up my confidence and sent him a nonchalant smile. This was going well – definitely in my top ten social interactions so far. "Good! I'm just on my way to art early. Are you –"

"Isaac!"

I turned at the same time as Isaac to see a group of girls waltz up to him. They ignored my presence, flicking their pretty long hair over their shoulders and swaying their cute mini-skirts. A girl with long black hair stood ahead of the group, calling Isaac's name.

It was Chloe Pepper.

And behind her was Lacey.

"Hey, Chlo," Isaac grinned, nodding at her. "Lace."

My heart sunk, suddenly feeling like I didn't belong here – this was Isaac's world. I didn't fit in amongst them, that much was clear by the way each person pointedly faced each other in a sort of circle, effectively cutting me out of the conversation. I shifted uncomfortably on my feet, turning my attention to the girls that had approached.

Lacey smiled at Isaac, a light blush tinting her cheeks. When had they made up? I hadn't seen her crying lately, but I also hadn't seen the usual lunchtime cable of Lacey shouting at Isaac in front of the entire school.

In fact, I hadn't seen them associate with each other at all.

"We're going to skip last period," Chloe gestured to her group of friends. "You wanna come? We could use a ride."

I didn't miss the way she pointedly looked at Isaac, as if to show she was speaking to him and definitely not to me. I almost snorted, remembering Isaac's words the other day. She doesn't hate you.

I was entirely unconvinced.

Isaac laughed, his chest rising. "Is that all I am to you? A ride?"

He sent a wink to her and Chloe rolled her eyes, slapping him on the chest. Behind her, Lacey and the other girls giggled behind their hands. "Hurry up, let's go."

She turned and walked towards the main building, her group of friends trailing after her, their eyes still trained on Isaac. Lacey's gaze remained on him all the way to the building.

I wondered if she secretly used echolocation or something. It was impressive how she could walk all the way across the field without looking.

I turned back to Isaac; his eyes trained on Lacey. He watched her carefully, his eyes narrowed and mouth tilted. I paused for a moment, the silence slowly becoming too much for me to bear.

"Um," I said, finally, shifting uncomfortably on my feet.

Isaac's head snapped back to face me, and his eyes widened as if he just remembered I was still there. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Sorry about that. Hey, I'll see you around, okay?"

He was off jogging after Chloe before I could open my mouth to reply.

"Yeah, see you around," I muttered to myself, tugging on my backpack straps.

I was an idiot. Of course, he was just saying that to be nice. He meant he'd literally see me around in glances across the hall, not in conversations. Not hanging out together.

I knew that now. I had gotten my hopes up for nothing.

I sighed, the sound of the bell ringing in the background, and began walking to my art classroom.

I was used to being alone in art by now, so I took a seat in the corner, hoping no one would bother me. I really didn't feel like talking.

Ms Laney entered soon after, clapping her hands together with a grin.

"Don't get settled yet, everyone! Today we'll be doing partner work!"

The class groaned, annoyed we'd be working in partners again. I chewed the inside of my cheek, praying she'd let me work alone.

"Come on, partner up. We'll be doing portraits of your partners in an abstract style," she announced, gesturing to the class to begin moving around.

Students chattered, turning to their friends and shifting their seats to partner up.

"Aspen," she said, snapping her fingers at me. "Partner up."

My stomach turned at being singled out, and I opened my mouth to tell her I had no one to partner with, when a person fell into the seat beside me.

"Want to be my partner?"

I turned, meeting the blue eyes of none other than Sebastian Georges. His shook out his blond curls and sent me a charming smile, his teeth a shining white against his tanned skin.

I opened my mouth, but no words came out. What was I supposed to say? It wasn't like I had a choice. I settled for a nod and he grinned wider, already opening his sketchpad.

"Are you any good at drawing?" he asked, quirking a brow at me.

I shook my head, my mouth feeling too dry to speak. Instead, I focused on opening my own sketchpad and beginning my drawing.

Sebastian Georges was speaking to me. But why? He'd never paid attention to me before this. He was always absorbed in his usual world of popular kids and soccer. He was another one of the 'It Boys' that belonged in Isaac's world – a world completely different from mine.

Hell, the last time we'd spoken was when he'd kicked a soccer ball at my face and covered me in beef stroganoff.

"Me neither," he laughed, his pencil gliding across the paper. I thought of Isaac and how he could create artworks in minutes. "I normally partner up with my mates. We're all as bad as each other, but we were one odd today."

I nodded awkwardly, still focusing on my drawing. So that's why he was here, sitting with me. He had no choice either. I was a last resort. I couldn't blame him.

"At least today's theme is abstract," he flipped the page to show me the mangled drawing he'd begun. My head was an odd triangle, the rest of my body made up of rectangles and circles like a toddler had drawn it. "This could rival Picasso."

I laughed, my eyes finally moving to meet his and he sent me a proud grin, his chest puffed.

"Picasso was a cubist," I chided with a teasing smile.

"Ah, so she speaks after all," he smirked, tossing his sketch pad onto the table.

I rolled my eyes in jest, still grinning, and continued my artwork, not replying to his mischief. He pouted in response, batting his lashes at me.

"You were at Arthur's party, right?" he paused, waiting for an answer as I blushed awkwardly, thinking of how he'd seen me leave with Isaac in the morning. He shrugged at my silence, grinning.

"Back to the silence. That's okay, I can talk enough for the both of us."

I laughed. "I can see that."

"It's a talent."

"It's a curse."

"Wow! Insulting me and I don't even know your name." He placed a hand on my sketch pad, pushing it down to catch my eyes. "Which is?"

"Aspen. Haste," I met his eyes and couldn't help but smile. Like Riley, his enthusiasm was infectious. He grinned at me, his dimpled smile growing contagious.

"Aspen. My muse. It's been a pleasure."

I snorted and rolled my eyes, "That makes one of us."

He chuckled, leaning his chin on his hand against the table. "I think I preferred you when you didn't speak."

"Hey, you and me both," I retorted, and his laugh grew louder.

I smiled, forgetting how I'd entered the classroom upset and bitter. Sebastian's laughter was infectious. I felt instantly better.

Of course, Isaac still lingered in the back of my mind. But I couldn't lie.

It was nice having some company.

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a u t h o r ' s  n o t e

So, the 'new' character was Sebastian Georges! Though your guesses were really good! What do you think will happen with Sebastian? 👀

Thank you so much for reading! Your reads, comments and votes make me so happy, I really hope you're enjoying the story! See you soon!