A/N make sure you read the chapter before this one! double update!

just going to warn you now, sh*t goes down in this chapter. but it's nothing compared to what's coming up ( @f-the-world it's almost time )

this chapter isn't as long as they've been lately, but it's full of stuff so I hope that makes up for it

have at it

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*Kaitlyn MacDonald*

Drew and I have been happily dating for almost a month now. We're nearing the end of January, and things are picking back up in school. In chem, we've started thermochemistry, and I'm honestly having a hard time. So is the rest of my class, except for, surprisingly, Asher.

"I didn't know you had such a brain for science," I tease at the end of class one morning.

"Careful there, Kaitlyn," he shoots back, zipping up his backpack. "Don't want Drew getting jealous now, do we?"

"Yeah, sure," I wave a hand in his direction. "We are fine right now, actually. Although, if chem keeps up like this, I might be the one that needs tutoring. Then he and I would both be in trouble."

"Well," Asher shrugs. "I'm always available during lunch if you need help. For old times sakes?"

"That would actually be wonderful. I'm totally lost," I laugh, walking into the crowded hallway, Asher by my side. We've gotten into the habit of walking to second hour together, art. After the first couple of weeks that Asher was here, he migrated to my table in art class under the pretense of not knowing the proper way to mix paint.

Even I could tell that that was a poorly disguised ruse to talk to me. But whatever. I have no romantic interest in him whatsoever. I mean, that would just be weird.

Drew meets us at the end of the hallway, like always. The first couple of times he saw Asher and I walking together, he almost blew a gasket or two. Lately, though, he's become more accepting of it, although I've definitely seen a dirty look pass between the two of them over my head more than one.

"Hey, Drew," Asher greets. Drew nods in response, instead wrapping an arm around my shoulders and kissing me quickly on the forehead. Asher pretends to gag, and I laugh.

That's basically how every day goes, but now that it's routine, I don't mind it as much.

The art room is across the hall from Drew's 2nd hour chem class, so we say our goodbyes in between the two rooms and go our separate ways every day.

In art, we're working on negative space, so that means lots of paper and Exacto knives. (Bear with me, I haven't taken an art class since 4th grade)

Asher and I sit down at our usual table by the window right as the bell rings. Quickly taking attendance, Ms. Miller sweeps her eyes around the room. After seeing that we're only missing one kid, a certain Kevin Knowles (I'm fairly certain he's high all the time and actually surprised he's still enrolled in school), she claps her hands.

"Okay, so you guys know the drill. Get your projects and get to work. I'll be in the supply office if anyone needs me." She disappears through a door next to her office door, and we all get up to get our things.

Once we're sitting again, Asher leans over. "So, are you taking me up on that lunch offer? Because if not, I think I'm going to hit up the cafeteria. I heard a rumor that there's going to be actual chocolate milk today."

"Are you serious?" I shriek. Then, noticing everyone look over, I duck my head, cheeks burning. "I heard they haven't had actual chocolate milk since the year this place was founded."

"And, when was this place founded, if I may ask?"

"Like, World War II or something. I don't really know, but it's been around for a long time."

"And it's what, 2017? What a long time to go without chocolate milk. No wonder everybody that works here is so cranky." Asher remarks, starting to make precise cuts with the thin blade.

I turn back to my own creation, a patterned hot air balloon flying through the mountains. I'm done with the mountain part, now I just need to focus on the focal part of my creation.

"Asher, what are you doing again? I can never remember," I ask, setting down my knife.

"It's a plant."

"Asher, you are not carving weed."

"Guilty as charged, bean."

I roll my eyes and go back to my own project. "Remind me to never take anything from you. Ever."

"So, I guess that means you don't want that tutoring, hmm?"

"Okay, find. Nothing consumable in any way."

Asher mock sighs. "Okay, I guess I won't buy you chicken nuggets. Thanks for letting me know, Kaitlyn."

I make a strangled noise. "Disregard everything I just said. Just don't get me high too often."

Asher laughs, baring straight teeth. "I think your boyfriend would kill me if I even though about getting you high."

I laugh too. Ms. Miller sticks her head out of the supply office. "Shush! You need to let the creative juices flow, and it's hard to do that when people are discussing marijuana." Her head disappears back through the door, and Asher and I stifle a laugh until the door is closed behind her.

We work mostly in silence for the rest of the hour, occasionally flicking pieces of cut paper at each other. Asher manages to get one down the front of my shirt, but I'm not about to dig through my bra in front of him.

When the bell rings, he grabs the knives and I grab our projects, each of us putting them away.

"So, I'll see you in the library during lunch today?" Asher questions as he waits for me to put my things away.

"Yeah, sure. I'll bring my chem stuff so you can tell me how to do stuff."

"Got it. See you!" He walks into the hallway, me not far behind.

Third and fourth hour pass by quickly. I barely pay attention in either of them, because I'm good for the current unit in math and US history is just facts with limited analysis. When the bell rings for lunch, I head down to my locker to change my books for the afternoon before grabbing my lunch and heading to the library.

Asher is already waiting at a table in the corner when I get there, chem notes spread all over the table.

"Hey," I greet, setting my stuff down and sliding into the chair next to him.

"Hey, yourself," he replies, taking a bag with a sandwich in it out of his backpack. After unzipping it and taking a bite, he sets the sandwich down and turns to me. "So, what would you say you're having the most problems with?"

And so I tell him. Asher starts by explaining the concepts behind thermochemistry.

"So, temperature affects the state of the substance," I begin slowly. Asher nods. "And there are six possible changes that can happen to a substance."

"Right. For example, when you go from a gas to a solid, it's called..."

"Deposition!" I exclaim happily.

"See?" he grins. "You're getting it."

We study like that for the rest of the lunch period, only stopping once to reply to a text from Drew asking where I was. As we pack up, Asher asks, "so, do you want to cover the math aspect tomorrow?"

"That would be great," I reply. "Thank you so much for doing this, by the way. I would probably fail the thermo test without your help."

"No problem, bean. I suppose I have to make up for leaving somehow."

"You got that right," I say, a hint of teasing in my voice. He sighs, shaking his head in mock remorse.

The bell rings, interrupting our silence.

"I guess I should get going," I say, checking a pretend watch. "I'm writing an essay next hour."

"Oh, have fun with that," Asher grins.

"You know I will," I call back over my shoulder, earning a "shush" from the librarian.

After I make it to my English class, I contemplate what the heck just happened. I had a civil conversation/interaction with Asher. Fun.

Asher and I meet up in the library during lunch to study for the thermochemistry test next week. Thanks to him, I've finally begun to understand the concepts and equations of thermochemistry, and no longer feel lost in the class.

Drew and I still meet after school every day to study various subjects, but I notice as the days pass that he doesn't need as much help as he used to.

"Drew?" I ask one afternoon.

"Yeah, nerd?" He replies, focusing on a math problem.

"I don't think you need a tutor anymore."

He stops, setting down his pencil.

"Why would you say that? I still need you, as much as I did when we first started."

"You may need me as a boyfriend and girlfriend do, but you don't need me to help you with school anymore. Just something I've noticed. I don't have to explain nearly as much as I did before, and I honestly think it's because you are now actually trying, as opposed to back in November when you cared for school about as much as I did for you." I occupy my fingers with a pencil, giving myself something else to do besides sit there and wait for his reaction.

"Wow. I didn't know you hated me so much back then." Drew smirks, reaching for me to pull me into his side. I snuggle up, grateful that he still has his sense of humor.

"I like how that's the one thing you picked out of that whole speech there." My eyes flutter shut as he fiddles with my hair.

"The truth is, I didn't care about much of anything before you started tutoring me. Not about school, not about my reputation, not even that much about my family. Veronica and my dad, sure I loved them, but I was more ashamed of my dad than anything else, and Veronica and I never even interacted much. I was so focused on basketball that everything else faded into the background. Then I ran into this nerdy girl in the hallway and I knocked all her books on the ground. Later, when I found out she would be tutoring me, I was ready to quit before I had even started. The only reason I originally agreed to tutoring is that otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to play basketball. But now, I see how flawed my life was back then. You changed me, Kaitlyn, for the better. And I love you every day because of that."

My eyes brim with tears. I don't think I've ever heard Drew open up so much like that, not since he told me about his dad. But even then, that wasn't personal to him only.

"You've changed me too, you know that?" I start, wiping tears with the back of my hand. Drew's hand catches my own, and he wipes away the rest of my tears with his thumb.

"How so?" he asks gently.

"I used to judge people by what I thought they were. If anything, you were the worst judgement I ever made. I couldn't possibly imagine how sweet and caring the bad boy could really be on the inside when he did so many things that I saw as despicable. I mean, I practically hated Chelsea because of how perfect she always seemed to be, and especially because she was so close to you, yet I found I could actually relate to her really well. So, thank you, Drew, for ridding me of my prejudices."

He hugs me tight, my arms finding their way around him as well. We sit in a contented silence for a while, before he lets go of me.

"Want to watch a movie?" He already has our movie in hand. I grab the remote.

"Bring it on."

He puts the movie in the disc player, and as the opening credits begin, I turn to him.

"You know, by the end of this year, we'll have watched this movie so many times that I'll be able to quote the entire thing."

"And that's a bad thing?"

"Touché."

We watch Captain Jack Sparrow and Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner until my eyelids grow heavy, and I fall asleep.

The next day is the day before the chem test. Asher and I meet up in the library like usual, only this time he's acting strangely.

"Hey," I greet him like normal as I slide into the chair next to him.

He grunts in response, pulling his notebook closer to him.

"Is everything okay?" I question, slowly pulling out my own things.

"I'm fine," he spits, before turning a page in his book.

"Okay, sorry for asking." I turn to my own book and begin reviewing concepts.

After a couple of minutes, Asher slams his book shut. I look up, startled.

"Did you know that I have a scar on my shoulder because of your boyfriend?"

"What?"

"Look!" Asher frees his arm from his shirt and points to the raised scar on his shoulder. "That was his fault. Did you know that Drew has a terrible past?"

"I know about his father, if that's what you mean."

"God, I wish that was his only problem." I wince, because my mother had always taught me not to use God's name in vain. She was never religious, but her parents were, and I guess that was the only thing that stuck with her.

"Asher, what are you talking about?" He's scaring me now, shoving his arm back into his shirt and clenching his pencil so tightly that I thought it might break.

"Do you realize how mad Drew makes me? How he put me and my friends in danger a long time ago? Do you even know what he did freshman year? You ever wonder why Beth slept with him? She did it for revenge on a certain group of girls that you might be familiar with."

My mind hurts, reeling from the slew of questions Asher shot at me. What is he talking about? Asher's breathing heavily, his fists clenched. The pencil lays on the table, snapped crudely in half. His eyes are livid, and I find myself backing up and gathering my books into my bag.

The bell rings, snapping Asher out of his trance. "I hope you think about this, Kaitlyn. I don't want to see you hurt." He brushes past me and leaves the library.

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A/N so yeah. that happened.

let the theories commence- I've certainly given you plenty of information with which to theorize

I will try to update again tomorrow so I don't leave you guys hanging after this

I'm serious though, some of you may hate next chapter. others might think Kaitlyn is overreacting, while some are going to be like "oh my gosh Jordan was in on that?"

so have fun freaking out

ALSO- I updated another potential book on my potential book book thing. it's a twist on the classic "billionaire and random girl" thing but I think it's interesting. it's called "looks can be deceiving"

-magic chicken nuggets (I think I have an obsession)