My head, understandably, was completely scrambled for the next week. I managed to talk to Mr Wright the day after Roman spilled the news and he explained all the logistics. I knew I'd have to work hard, someone didn't just get a scholarship, especially to a school that was as selective as UNC Chapel Hill, but, hey, at least it wasn't Harvard. I still had a chance.

  My study routine became hectic to say the least. Some night, my mom would have to pry me off of my desk to have dinner, other nights, I'd collapse from stress as soon as I walked in the door. I was pushing myself. Pushing myself to limits I never knew I could reach but I would do anything to secure me this scholarship.

  My parents were thrilled when I told them, both, unsurprisingly, had absolutely no doubt I'd get it, but they didn't know the full extent of my failings beforehand, and I knew I'd have to step it up big time. Yet, in a sense, there was a massive plus side because this whole situation totally eliminated the awkwardness between Roman and I since we were so busy trying to get my grades up. Nearly everyday after school he was round mine or I was round his, pulling almost all-nighter study sessions, completing extra homework tasks, essay, even taking notes whilst watching documentaries till 3am. Usually, he'd fall asleep but not me. Nope. I was running off cups of coffee and packs of Cheetos he hit under his bed. Most of the time, I'd have to untangle myself from his arms wrapped around my body by the time I'd have to leave.

  It hurt to leave. I'd be stupid saying it didn't, but I had priorities now, the main one being this scholarship and so I took all my time and attention off of whatever was going between Roman and I and shoved it onto getting this scholarship. Besides, after the Spring Fling, I decided that Roman and I would be done. No deal. He'd have Emily, and I would have enough material and motivation to try for this scholarship, especially with the help of Mr Wright and my parents. Whatever we had, it was going to be over, and I tried not to think about the hard part of saying goodbye.

   "Thanks again for bringing me, I can't believe you got them to let me out." Skye beamed next to me as we parked up at the dress boutique. Belle's Boutique was the usual dress shop everyone went to in town, and since the Spring Fling was days away, it was probably thriving off customers.

  It was a Saturday and, for what I could see, it wasn't that busy. People usually went after school to go dress shopping with their friends, so I wasn't surprised when we walked in to see the place nearly empty.

   "Woah." Skye gasped as we stepped inside. I could see what she meant. It had been a while since I came here last, and when I did, I was the one dress shopping. Now I was the one helping.

  It took a lot of negotiating with the hospital to get Skye out. Luckily, I had her parents on my side and since she was now off the tubes and back in her room, she was almost back to normal. Almost, I was still worried about her new developed anaemia, but I had the hospital on speed dial in case anything went wrong. Besides, the girl deserved some time out.

  I spotted Rya sitting on a velvet, chaise longue, staring at her phone before she caught my eye. "Took you long enough!" she smiled happily and stood up, rushing over.

   "There was traffic, but we're here, aren't we?" I chuckled as she came to meet us. Her eyes fell to Skye and I could sense Skye's nervousness. Skye was a very small human being, I very much doubted her to be anything over 5ft, whereas Rya was pretty tall at 5ft8. She definitely towered over her to say the least. However, I suddenly realised that Skye's variety of human interaction had been so limited over the past few years that meeting new people must've been rather daunting for her. Rya wasn't one to bite though, unless you gave her a reason to, but Skye was the sweetest girl I knew. I knew the two would get on great.

   "Skye, right?" Rya smiled kindly as she looked down at her.

   "Um, yeah." She chirped. I could still sense her nervousness.

  Rya nodded and looked down at her hoodie. "I love your hoodie! It totally gives the cute spring vibes." It was a cute hoodie, a pale yellow one with a little bumblebee and pink flower sewed on the front.

   "Thanks! My dad got it for me when he went to Australia!" Skye replied, happily. "I asked him to buy me a cat but instead he came back with a hoodie, so I guess it was alright."

  I laughed a little. She always came up with the best responses.

   "No way! I have a cat. His name is Piggy." Rya replied. Oh no. Not Piggy.

   "You do?!" Skye's eyes went wide with excitement.

   "Mm hmm! He's actually so adorable."

   "By 'adorable' she means fat." I whispered in Skye's ear, making her laugh.

  Rya's eyes went wide with anger as she gasped and placed an offended hand on her heart. "Um, no! And we do not body shame cats here!"

  I gave a playful roll of my eyes and linked my arm in with Skye's. "Alright, alright! Are we going to dress shop or not?"

  Rya wasn't exactly looking for a dress as her parents had paid for a designer, she was looking more on the lines of accessories and the amount of shoes and purses this store had almost matched up the number of dresses. Although even though dresses weren't our main priority for being here, didn't mean we couldn't have some fun.

   "Oh my god, I look like a pumpkin!" Rya gasped as she stepped out in a bright orange ballgown with tulle for days. I had to brace my hands on the longue as I burst out into laughter. She really did look like a pumpkin.

   "A sexy pumpkin." I corrected, still laughing.

  She stepped to look into the mirror and braced her hands on her hips – or what I assumed were her hips because the dress was so huge. "Hmm, I guess if I met someone with a fruit kink." She shrugged and I laughed even harder.

   "Let me see!" Skye poked her head through the curtains of her own fitting room and burst into giggles at the sight of her. "Oh my god, you so do!" she had to hold a hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing even more.

   "Okay, okay!" Rya brushed it away chuckling, picking up her skirt and waddling back into her fitting room. "Now let me turn this pumpkin into a mother-fixing golden carriage. Next dress, baby!" she announced, and I got up to take the next dress off the hanger. It was flourishing with golden sequins, every spec of them glinting in the light. It was a statement to say enough, not really something I'd wear.

   "Here." I passed it over. Rya ran back into her fitting room just as Skye came out.

   "How do I look?" she posed like Hollywood supermodel. The dress was bright pink and purple and covered in strings of feathers.

   "Like a swan dipped in food dye." I replied. She only giggled and stepped up to the mirror.

   "Perfect." She grinned and flicked her hair. "I think my mom would faint at the sight of it."

  I laughed, "Yeah, or she'd scream. It definitely is a number and a half." She chuckled at that comment. "But I think your brother and dad might pass-out from that neckline." I suggested looking at the low V-line. In all fairness, it had a sheer covering over the top, but I could imagine the look on Roman and his dad's face as they saw Skye in it. The dress was monstrous enough, but that neckline would become the real villain, bless her.

   "Oh please, I don't even have boobs to fill it out." She waved a hand as Rya poked her head through the curtains.

   "Preach to that!" She enthusiastically agreed.

  I shook my head, trying to hold in a laugh as Rya studied the dress on Skye. "Damn girl, that's a lot of feathers. This dress gonna make you fly or something?" she furrowed a brow, and I snorted a laugh.

   "Funny," Skye rolled her eyes with a smile, "Has your pumpkin turned into a golden carriage yet?"

   "Oh, hell yes." Rya smirked and flung the curtains back. "B-Bam! How do I look? Gorgeous? I know!" the dress was like a tight, golden, glitterball, sparkling at every inch in her body.

  I whistled, "You turned golden alright."

   "Yeah, you look like a treasure chest puked on you." Skye agreed.

   "Weird analogy, but I'll take it." She shrugged and walked over to the mirror. "Maybe I should wear it to Prom?" she turned back to me, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

   "If you where that to Prom, then I'm not standing next to you."

  Rya placed an offended hand on her heart and gasped. "Rude! You'd be lucky to have my fine ass standing next to you, bitch."

   "You actually have to have an ass in order for it to be fine, Rya." I rolled my eyes, holding back the smirk.

   "Bitch."

   "Whore."

  Skye looked slightly uncomfortable at the exchange but still kept smiling. "Wait, I thought you weren't going to Prom, Sienna?" she then questioned.

   "I'm not going to the Spring Fling." I corrected. "Prom's a couple months away."

  She nodded in understanding as Rya spoke, "Yeah, plus she's running for Prom Queen, so she has to go."

  Skye's eyes lit up at the comment. "You're running for Prom Queen?" so far, the Prom Queen running had been pretty quiet since everyone was getting ready for the Spring Fling, but Rya and I had created campaign posters, little badges, even freaking cupcakes with 'Sienna for Prom Queen!' iced on in pink and gold. At the moment, Leah hasn't done anything about her Prom Queen campaign, but we were waiting. She had to have something up her sleeve and whatever it was, was most likely going to try and knock me down.

   "Damn right she is!" Rya nodded. "And she's going to win."

   "That's if Leah doesn't ruin it." I muttered harshly under my breath.

  Skye walked away from the mirror, "Well, if it counts, you have my vote." She smiled softly.

  I looked up and returned the smile. "Thanks, I'll mention you in my speech if I do." She grinned at that and turned to look at the other dresses on the dress wrack.

   "I swear to god," Rya began when Skye was out of hearing range. "If Leah wins, I am not afraid to pull a 'Carrie'." That was definitely a thought, but I couldn't think about that. If Leah got Prom Queen, she would most likely say something in her speech to throw me under the bus also and ruin my Prom night. Plus, if Adam won Prom King, it'd be even more of an embarrassment. Surely he'd loved to get back at me too. I just had to make sure that wouldn't happen.

   "We just have to make sure that she won't win." I sighed.

   "You talked to Roman about the nerd squad, right?" she asked, sitting down next to me.

   "Yep, and he went along with it." Thankfully. Even though things have been awkward between us, he kept his promise to talk to the whole 'nerd gang' of the school. It was right saying they looked up to him now and totally followed his move when he took a cupcake from Rya and I giving them out around the courtyard. A bunch of other nerds took ones too so it looked good so far.

   "Good... you know, I could always bury Adam and Leah in my backyard till Prom's over. That'd be an easier way out."

   "Yeah, and a one-way ticket to jail." I reminded.

  Rya shrugged. "Eh, my parents have enough money to shut them up for the next thousand years."

   "Or till the day they die?" a thousand seemed a little excessive.

   "Oh please!" Rya waved her hand. "I'm convinced Leah has a demonically possessed soul, and demons are pretty much immortal."

  I chuckled softly, "Yeah, unless you stab them with a crucifix."

   "Note taken." She then nodded thoughtfully, and I playfully pushed her shoulder. "But on a serious note, don't let her worry you. You've got this in the bag." To the outside eye, it probably looked like I did. Yet to me, it seemed like one wrong move and my whole world would come crashing. It was terrifying. Completely and utterly terrifying.

   "Thanks, let's just hope it is." I sighed as Skye came back with an armful of dresses.

   "Who wants to try on more?!" she excitedly gave a radiant smile.

   "Totally! Come on my little blondie in crime." Rya got up and trekked back to the fitting room. She poked her head behind the curtain as Skye went through hers and laughed at me, "I absolutely love her, by the way." She announced before popping her head back in.

  For the next hour, Rya and Skye tried on multiple numbers of dresses, posing in the most ridiculous ways as they walked out. Soon my stomach hurt from how much I was laughing, I had to hold it to calm myself and ease the stitch. It was so nice to see Skye in such a normal element, it felt even nicer to be the one to give that to her. After everything she had been through, she deserved it.

   "So, who is this Taylor guy?" Skye called out from her fitting room. We were currently talking about Rya's secret admirer situation.

   "Rya's date to the Spring Fling." I answered for her.

   "And you guys are dating?" Skye asked curiously.

  I heard Rya struggling behind her curtain before replying, "No, we're just talking."

   "Talking as friends or talking as something more?" Skye pushed further.

   "Um, talking as... people who are going to the Spring Fling together." She replied rather coyly. I shook my head and laughed lightly as she said that. I didn't get many deets on Rya and Taylor's... whatever it was. She was quite secretive about it.

   "Right..." Skye dragged it out slowly. "But he sent you those secret admirer notes, right? So he has to be romantic."

   "Oh, you should have seen the way he asked Rya to the Spring Fling. It was like an explosion of flowers." I chuckled to myself.

   "Ooo! That's so cute!" Skye beamed. "I love flowers!"

   "Yeah, but I've been trying to get him to admit the whole secret admirer thing, like I've been asking all about different novels and plays and all he comes back with is confusion. He keeps playing dumb so he's really hard to catch out." Rya explained.

   "Well, then maybe it wasn't him." Skye suggested.

  Rya scoffed behind the curtain as a heard a zipper zip up. "Please, who gives someone secret admirer notes and then doesn't ask them to the Spring Fling? It all ties together." She had a point.

   "But you said there was that note that asked you to meet them at a specific location. What if whoever sent that was going to ask you there and then but because you didn't show up, they think you don't want them and therefore they're leave you alone." She had an even better point.

  Silence echoed behind Rya's curtain for a while before she argued, "But then why wouldn't they generically ask me? Why go to that length?" that got me thinking more about Taylor. He was a confident guy; he knew what he wanted. Why would he go to that length with all his confidence and determination? It didn't add up.

   "Because, when you do something romantic anonymously, you make a person fall in love without them truly knowing who you are. It might be someone that thinks they have no chance with you, someone who's afraid of asking you straight up because of an image you already have of them, someone you don't expect." But then who would be afraid to ask Rya to the dance? Who would want Rya to fall in love with them anonymously? The whole thing was a big ball of confusion.

   "Urgh, I'm just putting my money on Taylor. It doesn't frazzle my brain that way." Rya stepped out of the curtain wearing a deep green gown with puff-sleeves. "And don't you have some sort of lover or something? You live in a hospital so there must be some sort of John Green story there."

   "Rya!" I hissed. She didn't care and walked over to me.

   "Nope!" Skye squeaked behind the curtain.

   "Yeah, totally not Lukas." I muttered to myself, but Rya caught it and her eyes widened.

   "What about Lukas?" the teasing dripped off her tongue.

   "Rya..." I warned.

  I could hear Skye fumbling behind the curtain, coughing as if to try and buy herself some time. "Oh, um... he... w-well, you see that's... that's, erm –"

  Rya wiggled her brows, "You're John Green story?" I slapped the back of her head. "Ouch!"

   "U-Um..." Skye coughed awkwardly. "We're... We're not anything really." Sadness radiated off her tone. Poor thing, she must really like him.

   "What does he look like?" Rya asked curiously pulling out her phone.

   "I don't have a picture, I'm not some stalking creep believe it or not." Skye shot back.

   "Fair enough. "Rya sighed. "What's his full name then?" she pulled up Instagram.

  I heard a zipper go up before she replied. "Lukas Neumann. He's German and his mom's a paediatric nurse –"

   "Found him." Rya sang and clicked on his profile. "Lukas Gunther Neumann – eesh, ugly middle name." I facepalmed myself. There was no stopping her anymore. "He's fifteen, likes sushi, and rides a motorcycle – hot – Taylor has a motorcycle."

   "Taylor has a motorcycle?" I repeated in surprise.

   "Yeah, he got one last year. Ooo, it says he's a Virgo. Taylor's an Aquarius."

  I tilted my head to the side, "Taylor's an Aquarius?"

   "Yep, Don't you know what Roman's sign is?" did I know what Roman's zodiac sign was? No. Was that bad?

  Now I felt like a bad person. "Erm... no?" when was his birthday? How the hell did I not know when his birthday was? It must've been before we met because he's already eighteen.

   "I'm a Gemini – June 5th, and Roman's a Sagittarius – November 30th." Skye stepped out behind the curtain. His birthday is November 30th. I made a mental note of that.

   "Is a Sagittarius compatible with Aries?" Rya nudged my side, winking. I slapped her head again. "Ouch, bitch!"

   "You deserve it." I rolled my eyes.

   "Oh sorry, I'll just take me and my Libra ass home." She flicked her hair behind her shoulder.

"Again, Rya, you have to actually have an ass first." I gave her jokingly fake smile. She returned one back.

   "You're a Libra?" Skye chuckled extremely surprised. "Aren't you like... violent?"

   "We blame it on the coffee addition." I explained and Rya narrowed her eyes at me in annoyance, but I just laughed. Then I finally got a good look at Skye and the dress she was in. It was white and strapless, falling mid-thigh, with little yellow flowers dotted around. The material was like cotton making it seem far more casual looking than the rest of the dresses we'd seen so far but it looked perfect on her.

   "Oh my god." Rya gasped.

   "What?" Skye looked at both of us like we were crazy.

   "Skye, you look amazing." I gushed. She truly did. I'd never seen her in a dress before, but she looked adorable. However, the only thing that I tried so hard to ignore was how skinny she really was. Bone. She was all bone. Despite that, I decided to not bring any attention to it and focus on the dress. She probably had enough people gasping at her body, she didn't need me doing the same.

   "Really?" she perked up.

   "Um yes!" Rya exclaimed. She wasn't lying, it was gorgeous on her. "You should buy it."

  Skye shook her head, "I don't know..."

   "No, you do know. Get it!" I argued. She giggled and agreed, running back into the fitting room to get changed into her own clothes.

   "This Lukas guy..." Rya then said, studying his profile. "Do you think..." I couldn't get what she was trying to say.

   "Do I think