I zoned out during most of the welcoming ceremony. "Let's have a great year!" Bella's voice boomed through the speakers and was the only thing I heard.

Claps erupted as Bella walked off the stage and the headmistress made her way to the microphone once again, not concentrating on what she was announcing.

I then felt Axel's hand on my leg. "Stop shaking so much," he whispered in my ear. I subconsciously sometime during the ceremony started bouncing my leg out of being nervous.

"I can't help it. Did you know he was back?" Not taking my eyes off the stage in fear of him noticing, I asked him. The headmistress began reminding everyone of the rules along with today's schedule. Classes usually were shortened to accommodate everyone.

"I'm as shocked as you are. If he had contacted me, you would have been the first person to know."

I glance at Axel before looking back at the stage. I couldn't for the best of me concentrate on what she was saying. Zoning off again all I could think about was that Niko was back and he didn't tell anyone. I had so many questions, what happened to him, why did he leave the way he did but at that very moment nothing came out I was shocked to see him once again after three years.

"Look, during lunch we can go look for him. Stop worrying about it, isn't it a good thing he's back? We get to graduate together just like we talked about it"

I nodded, "Who do you think was with him?"

"I don't know but we can find out later once we see him again." Remembering what had happened just a couple minutes before.

I stared dumbfounded at the person who was standing right in front of me almost petrified, could this be real? Was this the person I had longed for and missed?

"Gosh, you haven't changed one bit Mari." He gave me a soft smile.

"Niko?" I muttered, still in shock that he was here in flesh and bone. I wanted to hug him but I couldn't move.

He smirked. "The one and only."

I felt Axel's arm wrap around my shoulders. "Here are the papers you dropped." Handing them over I took them from him, not bothering to break eye contact with Niko, in fear that this might be a dream. He glanced over to where Axel's arm was, his eyes void of all emotions.

Niko seemed to want to say something but was interrupted by someone. He stood about the same height as Niko with really curly brown hair. He had caramel-colored skin with hazel eyes that filled with curiosity as he stared at us. "Niko, let's go man, we're going to be late." I could hear the irritation in his voice. Never had I seen this guy in my life, yet he looked familiar.

"I'll catch you later," Niko said as he followed him, not looking once back in our direction.

Claps once again erupted signaling that the welcoming ceremony had come to an end. Students got up and began rushing out of the building. A couple staying behind probably catching up with friends. We had about ten minutes before our first class began.

"Let's go, we'll talk about this during lunch." I nodded at Axel and followed the string of students.

Once outside, I bid farewell to Axel and made my way to my first class. Luckily it had stopped raining, so I didn't have to worry about getting wet. I had astronomy with Bella, so it wasn't too bad.

At the thought of Bella I realized I totally forget to wait for her. No doubt she would be mad at me for leaving her behind.

I walked towards the science building slowly, searching around in hopes to bump into her before heading in. Prieto Preparatory School was not your typical high school; each subject had their own building.

In a way, it was similar to a college campus which is why we had ten minutes to get to our classes. Our mascot was a red fox, symbolizing strength, cleverness, and slyness.

The sound of shoes touching the wet ground approaching took me out of my thoughts. Looking back, I saw Bella approaching me, she took a deep breath before shooting me a glare. Yep, she was mad, a couple more steps and we would be in the building.

Bella was about my height, a bit shorter, but she would deny it. I was standing at 5'3 while she was 5'1. She was always so confident with her dark shoulder-length hair with a couple blonde natural highlights. Her skin had a natural tan and her face was blemish free.

"You didn't wait for me." She hit my arm lightly.

I returned the glare and responded, "I was preoccupied with maybe, I don't know, the fact that Niko came back."

She stopped in her tracks and looked at me wide-eyed. I gave her a weird look and kept walking. She pulled on my blazer, not letting me continue on.

"Isn't this a good thing? Why do you look so upset?" She intertwined her arm with mine and we started walking again.

I looked at the mountains, the thick morning fog was starting to clear up. The sky was still filled with clouds with no sign of the sun. Trying to collect what I wanted to say, she knew me well.

"I'm not upset, trust me. It's just, I don't know." I held the door open for her but she didn't walk in. The whole thing felt surreal. Niko was back but who knew for how long, he could disappear like he did years ago.

"Please don't tell me you still have feelings for him." I didn't answer her since I didn't know what to say. Students began passing through some of them looking annoyed as she blocked half of the doorway.

I forced a smile and motioned for her to enter. Right now, I needed to think about my feelings. I was happy to see him again. But it had been three years, would he be happy to see me too?

"Look Mar, I don't mean to be that person but if he really wanted something with you, he would've shown that before he left. He ghosted us, even you. I honestly thought you had moved on from that." She sighed and crossed her arms disappointedly.

She was right, Niko left and didn't even once reach out to any of us but deep down the feelings that I had so hardly tried to vanish reappeared. "Bella, I don't have any lingering feelings for him. Don't worry, I know that if we were meant to be, it would've happened."

She examined my face, I tried my best to look convincing and maybe it had worked, "Let's go to class." She turned around and made her way in. I rolled my eyes and followed her.

The instructor still hadn't arrived, there were students scattered around the seats. I noticed some familiar faces; some had joined the dance team this year. Looking for some seats next to each other, Bella and I made our way towards the middle.

I reached into my bag taking out a notebook and pencil when someone from the right side bumped the desk and which caused my pencil to roll off. Just as I was about to pick it up, a familiar person reached out and handed it to me. Without a word, he left making his way towards the back. The stranger that was with Niko earlier. I looked back at him briefly making eye contact with him. Then looking down at my lap my face heated up with embarrassment.

Did he recognize me from this morning? If so, I probably looked like a creep the way I started at him.

The day was flying by quickly. I made it through calculus and mythology with each consisting of introducing ourselves to the class and playing some icebreakers. Which in my opinion are the worst and always drain me. Next was lunch time and right on time I felt a vibration coming from my pocket.

Shoes without the s

Vince came up with the brilliant group chat name.

ara is bella: Meet in front of the dining hall in 5?

panda master vince 🤺: No

ara is bella: You're annoying 🙄

bird boy 🦅: last one there has to pay for tonight's dinner

Slipping it back into my pocket, I headed towards the dining hall. Luckily, I wasn't too far from it so I was the first one there. I started humming a tune and softly kicked a pebble waiting for the rest to arrive. I heard a familiar laughter I haven't heard in years. Niko was walking with the stranger from earlier. He looked happy and healthy. Thankfully he didn't notice me as he made his way into the building. I don't believe I am ready to talk with him alone, I wouldn't know what to say.

"Mari, Mariiipooosaaa." I glared back looking at Vince walking with Axel by his side. He draped his arm over my shoulders and flicked my forehead with his other. "You were glaring at the door."

I shrugged his arm off and faced Axel. With a smile, he asked, "how were classes?"

"You two are ignoring me," Vince pouted. Whenever Vince was annoying we would ignore him, but we still loved him.

"They were good, that guy that was with Niko is in astronomy with me and Bella."

"We can ju-"

"Hey guys!" Bella cut him off. We all turned to look at her. She was with a girl who was taller than her, with medium-length dirty blonde hair. "Meet Charity. Charity, these are my friends, Mari, Niko, and Vince my boyfriend."

We smiled at her and exchanged glances. "Is it alright if she sits with us? She's new to this school and hasn't made any friends." For the first time in years, we had someone else sit with us which isn't a problem.

"I'm cool with that if you two are cool with it," Axel said looking at Vince and me.

I nodded and smiled widely; Bella is a social butterfly. Let's just hope this isn't like last time. We all quietly went into the dining hall, no one talking except Bella and Charity. I wanted to talk to Axel about Niko so I grabbed two trays; one for me and one for Axel. "We'll meet you at the usual spot." I didn't wait for a response and dragged Axel with me handing him his tray.

"Thanks," he muttered.

"You said we were going to talk to him during lunch," I said looking around.

"I did but it's lunch time. Let this man eat. I'm starving and we still have classes left that I have to think about." He walked past me heading to the Italian section. Placing a plate on my tray he began to fill it with lasagna.

"You know I'm impatient. Aren't you dying from curiosity?"

"I am but we still have time," I watched as he placed a spoonful of pasta on his, "It's not like he's going to disappear again."

"Hey, don't say that." Panic started to kick in, what if he was only here for a few months. We started walking away towards our usual spot when he stopped me and placed some fruit on my tray.

"Mar, you know I'm joking. What do you want to drink?"

"Lemonade," we said in unison.

"Knew it. Let's go meet Vince and them." I rolled my eyes at his response and headed to our usual spot which was in the corner next to huge windows that overlooked the courtyard. We claimed it as soon as we started our freshmen year. Usually, Bella and Vince would hurry and get there first to make sure no one sat there. We placed our trays giving them a quick smile and I followed Axel back for our drinks.

"After we eat, then can we talk to him?" I asked him. He filled two cups with lemonade and then turned to look at me with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Yes, if that's what it takes to make you shut up." He grinned and walked past me.

I scowled and hit his arm lightly. "I hate you."

We made it back to our table; he pulled out a chair for me to sit. He is always such a gentleman, whoever ended up with him would be so lucky. He handed me the utensils and then started digging into his food. The table was silent until Charity spoke up.

"Are you two dating?" I looked up, she pointed at Axel and me.

Bella bursted into laughter. "No, they're not."

Charity didn't look convinced but didn't question further. It was a normal occurrence that happened often. Axel and I were always mistakened for a couple because of how close we are and how he acted.

I didn't say anything as I ate my lasagna. I was hungry but not for lasagna, I looked over at Axel's food, it was looking delicious. Almost as if reading my mind, Axel reached over and switched plates.

Charity looked between me and Axel. "Mariposa, I heard you're a dancer." I nodded, my mouth full of pasta. "Shouldn't you be watching what you eat?" She looked at my plate and gave me a forced smile.

I swallowed my food and looked down at my already empty plate. Comments like that shouldn't affect me since I work out regularly and I know that gaining a few pounds won't hinder my performances. But it doesn't stop feeling guilty when someone points out what I shouldn't be eating.

Charity looked at me. "I didn't mean it like that." But it was too late. I had to get out of here.

I felt Axel squeeze my hand under the table. I gave him a smile and stood up. "I know, you're all good. I'm going to go look for Niko." I gave them one last look and walked away taking my tray over to returns. I felt a presence behind me knowing exactly who it was. "Axel I'm fine." I turned to look at him.

He didn't seem convinced. "Wanna go look for Niko now?" I nodded.

We didn't need to search long enough. We had a feeling he would be where most of the soccer players would be. There he was chatting happily along with the same stranger this morning.

I looked over at Axel, "You go first."

He rolled his eyes and made his way over to him. Without a word Niko looked up at him curiously. "What's up?"

"Hey Niko, we were wondering if you had time to talk." The stranger next to him looked at us with a frown.

"Sure. Let me introduce you to Julian, my cousin. These are some of my friends I was telling you about Mari and Axel."

I waved awkwardly, " Hi, I'm Mariposa." Julien nodded but didn't say anything.

Niko and Julian exchanged a look. "Don't worry I'll take your tray," Julian told Niko. He nodded and got up.

"Lead the way."

As we walked out of the dining hall, I began to examine Niko more. He hadn't changed much except he had more muscle probably still working out. He did grow a tad bit but now he was shorter than Axel. All my life that I had known him, he was taller than everyone in the group but now Axel had taken over that crown.

"I didn't know you had a cousin," was the first thing that came to mind.

He looked over at me but didn't answer and just continued to follow Axel. I fell a bit behind trying to think of another question that maybe he could answer. Or was I pushing it too far? Maybe this wasn't the Niko I used to know. Maybe I was making him uncomfortable.

Axel came to a stop once we made it to the gazebo. Surprisingly no one was there. Usually there were a couple of people hanging out and waiting but I guess it made sense that it was empty, with all the crazy weather going on. The sky was still gloomy, rain clouds slowly creeping in. There was a slight breeze in the air.

Niko sighed, "What did you want to talk about?"

I looked at Axel who sat down on one of the benches looking out into the distance, he seemed bored. Maybe this was a bad idea.

I looked around, avoiding eye contact.

Niko chuckled, "God you really haven't changed. Still can't make eye contact when you're nervous." I looked over at him.

I took a deep breath deciding not to wait any longer. "Why didn't you tell us?" I crossed my arms.

"Getting right into it huh." He reached out to tuck my stray hair behind my ear. Something in this action made my heart beat rapidly. "It was the best decision." he sighed. "Do you guys hate me? I know it was an asshole thing to do."

I shook my head. "No, I-we were just worried. I'm glad you're okay." Hopefully Niko would tell me his reasoning over time.

He gave me a smile and looked over at Axel. "I hope there are no hard feelings."

Axel shook his head and walked over to us. "All good." He reached out his hand to do their stupid bro handshake. They all had individual ones, never would have thought that they still remembered. "We should head inside; it looks like it's about to pour." Axel glanced in my direction, there was an emotion in his eyes, something like reluctance.

We started walking, Axel was already a few feet ahead of us, his hands in his pockets. "Have you seen Vince and Bella? They'll be happy to see you." I reached into my pocket to text Bella to meet us in front of the dining hall.

"I haven't." There was a silent pause and a hint of hesitation. "Are you- are you and Axel a thing now?"

I burst out laughing. "You're the second person that's asked us. No we are not, I wonder what gives that impression off."

Niko didn't say anything else and we fell into a comfortable silence. I tugged my blazer a little tighter around myself, hoping to get some sort of warmth from the chilly air.

We neared the dining hall, I could see Bella and Vince in the distance, Charity no longer with them. They noticed us and ran over.

"Niko!" Bella went in for a hug.

"Long time no see Ara." I smiled at that, Niko was the only one who called Bella by Ara.

She slapped his arm and playfully glared at him. "Can't believe you just left us like that." Niko smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head.

"Niko, my man," Vince went in to give him one of those bro shakes.

"What's up Vince, still see you haven't grown," Niko smirked. Vince was noticeably a few inches shorter than Niko. Vince wasn't that short but compared to both of my friends he now was the shortest guy of the group, standing at a height of 5'7.

"Mari I'm so sorry I didn't say anything. After you left Charity apologized like a million times. She didn't mean to offend you nor harm you in any way," Bella said as she hugged me.

"Bella, you're fine. It's all good." She didn't respond as the bell rang signaling lunch was over.

"What's your next class?" I asked Niko.

"Uhh ceramics."

I grinned, "We have that together, I can walk us there." We bid farewell to the rest of the group, and soon it was just me and Niko.

None of us talked on the way there, it just felt so surreal that he was once again right here. I cursed myself for not being able to spark conversation. Luckily Niko was the first to break the silence. "Are you free later today?"

I thought about it for a moment recounting this morning. "I have dinner plans but that isn't until much later why?"

"I thought maybe we could go for coffee and talk just the two of us. I know how much you love your coffee."

"Why not? We can go over to my sister's cafe! Her idea came to life when you weren't here," I smiled brightly at him.

"Sounds good, I can pick you up and then drop you off at your dinner plans." It was starting to drizzle when we made it to the art building. He held the door open for me which was a change from him old self. The old Niko would have pushed the door closed on me and held it so I couldn't go in. I smiled over at him. Thankful to have him again.

***

We walked out of ceramics, laughing at a corny joke Niko had cracked. This semester wasn't going to be bad, especially having a class with him. He always made me laugh even if his jokes aren't funny. Just looking at him having fun was all it took to bring a smile to my face.