A/N Oh boy, I'm tired. 😅

<.><.><.><.><.><.><.><.>

*Kaitlyn MacDonald*

The rest of the day is slightly weird. Asher ends up in two more of my classes, and guess what they are.

German and study hall. Which means that the three classes I have with Drew (German, study hall, and US History, after he switched into that hour) I also have with Asher. I love my life.

Come German, we have a sub. Frau Polsinelli must be sick or out of town or something, because when I walk into the classroom just before the second bell rang, I see a short, middle aged woman with curly dark hair and thick-rimmed glasses. She keeps nervously pushing them up her nose, no doubt in fear of the teenagers she's been forced to deal with and the ones still to come today.

I can relate.

When the bell rings, I take my seat, ruefully noting the empty desks around me. I know Drew is here, but as to where he is currently I have no idea.

Maybe he got too weirded out by Asher and decided to leave. My chest tightens a little bit at that thought, and I internally frown. Do I really like him that much that I'm sad because he isn't here?

"Kaitlyn MacDonald?"

My head snaps up to see the sub staring at me, clipboard in hand. Her glasses are about to fall off her nose, but I don't think she's noticed yet.

"Yes, sorry, I'm so sorry. I'm paying attention, I promise."

"Dear," she says, catching her black frames with the tip of her finger just as they're about to slip off her face. "I was just calling attendance. Nobody else was raising their hand for your name, so I assumed it was you by the way you were staring off into space."

"Oh," I mumble, feeling my cheeks enflame with embarrassment.

The sub continues to call off names like nothing happened.

Did I just embarrass myself in front of the entire class because I was sad that Drew wasn't here? What is wrong with me?

15 or so minutes into class, the door opens and in walks Drew with a scowl on his face. Right behind him is Asher. My brows furrow at seeing them walk into class together, late, I might add. Were they together?

I'm pretty sure Drew is straight, my brain tells me.

How helpful. Shut up.

Neither of the boys meet my eyes as they walk over to where I'm sitting. Drew slumps into his normal seat, letting his backpack drop onto the floor, while Asher slides gracefully into the desk on my other side.

Great. Surrounded by uncontrolled levels of testosterone and really good smelling cologne.

"Where were you?" I whispered to the boy on my right, hoping that he'll respond. I'm out of luck. Drew's mouth remains tightly shut as he stares straight ahead, boring a hole into the whiteboard at the front of the room.

Do I want to ask Asher?

"Hey, Asher?" I question cautiously. Out of the corner of my eye I see Drew's head snap up as he frowns in our direction, but I ignore him. He had his chance.

"Yeah, bean?" I wince.

"Where were you?"

"Why do you want to know?" Asher crosses his arms, emphasizing his biceps that have me imagining how much he must work out.

"Yeesh. Never mind, forget I asked." I receive a noncommittal grunt in reply and roll my eyes.

Men.

The rest of the class passes slowly, but uneventfully.

Study hall is mainly the same, except Drew and Asher don't sit at my table, instead retreating to a corner of the library where I can see them talking in hushed voices about goodness knows what.

Me? I finish my chem worksheet that I was supposed to do in class, but couldn't because Asher Luvalle had to be in that class, and Mr. Hall just had to pick me to catch him up.

I can't wait to go home.

Just as the bell's about to ring, Drew stands up from where he was sitting and strolls over to me, hands in his pockets. Right before reaching me, he glances back in Asher's direction as if to confirm something. When he receives a nod from the dark-haired boy, he crosses the remaining distance in one graceful step and leans against the table.

"Can I help you?" I ask politely, zipping my pencils back into my case.

"Not today. I just wanted to tell you I'm not coming for tutoring today."

"Um, okay."

"Okay." The bell rings. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Bye, Drew." But he walks away without another word.

Why is he acting so strangely? And why would he choose to hang out with Asher instead of with me?

I don't smell that bad, do I?

I change my books at my locker after leaving the library and put my coat on, grabbing my keys from the right pocket and walking up the stairs to find Sam.

I run into him at the entrance to the school building, his headphones in as he stares out at the rain that must have just started. Pulling one earbud out, I smile.

"Hey," I greet him, pushing open the door for him.

"Hi," he grumps back, slouching.

"Rough day?"

"Is it that obvious?"

I laugh. "Only because how you look is exactly how I feel right now."

Sam looks up. "Ice cream?"

I hold my hands out. "Rain, 40 degree weather, November? Perfect."

Sam grins. "My treat."

<.>

<earlier that day>

*Drew McCarthy*

I have yet to see Kaitlyn today, and it's already the start of third hour. Normally, I like PE, but not today.

It would be better if she were in this class too, says my brain.

How helpful. Shut up.

But no, she just has to be all artsy and all that stuff and take art instead. I mean, come on! Who doesn't like sports?

The bell rings, indicating the beginning of class, and Coach Davis blows his whistle.

"You know the drill!" he shouts over our talking. "Five laps around the gym, no breaks. And that means everyone!"

I roll my eyes at his insistent antics, but begin jogging along with the rest of the class. The only person I would consider a friend in this class is Blake, but I'm pretty sure he took it just to bulk up some more before next football season. I took it to get in shape before basketball season.

Blake and I finish our laps, neither of us out of breath at all. We lean against the wall while waiting for the last few stragglers to round the last corner.

Davis blows his whistle again. "Today we're playing basketball! McCarthy, you're captain of the blue team. The red team captain will be-"

He's cut off by the gym door slamming open. In walks none other than my dear friend Asher Luvalle. My eye twitches despite itself, but I quickly calm myself down.

Don't let him get to you.

"What is this?" Davis blows his whistle again, this time directed towards the newcomer. "Who are you?"

"My name is Asher, sir. Asher Luvalle. I just transferred here, and since I hadn't completed my PE requirement at my old school, I have to take a class here."

Coach nods approvingly, his normally flat mouth turning upwards into a grin. "Ah, yes, the transfer! Now that you mention it, they did say someone new would be coming in today. Did you play any sports at your old school?"

Asher nods. "I ran cross country, and played lacrosse. Captain of cross country as a junior this year, would have been captain of lacrosse, except I transferred-"

"He asked for your name, not your life story," I mumble to Blake, who rolls his eyes in agreement.

Asher must somehow overhear, because he glances in my direction, his face hardening as he realizes it's me. His gaze shifts from me to Blake and his expression lightens, but not by much.

"Today is your lucky day, Luvalle!" Coach bellows, twirling his whistle around his finger in apparent excitement. "You get to be captain of the red team!"

"Red," Asher smirks, brushing past where I'm standing to reach the red jerseys behind me. "My favorite color."

The pickup game starts after Asher and I pick teams. Since he's new, Coach let him pick first. He chose Danielle, one of the shortest, skinniest girls I have ever met in my life. I'm pretty sure I saw the wind blow her over one time. What an idiot.

I pick Blake immediately. His height will be an added bonus, plus he can chuck the ball all the way across the court, and with deadly precision too.

Asher chooses another girl, this time a tall, lanky brunette with way too much makeup on her face for PE class. Meghan has height, for sure, but I've had to be her partner on more than one occasion, and let me just say, the only balls she comes into contact with are the ones you're not supposed to discuss in polite conversation.

The pick continues, with me picking my usual team and Asher... picking all the girls. I'm wondering at his strategy, or lack thereof, until I realize something. Each one of the girls in the PE class have been staring at him, seemingly infatuated with his scrawny build and less-than-average looks. They used to look at me like that, before I met Kaitlyn.

So maybe Asher's built this army of worshippers to do goodness knows what. I'm not really looking forward to finding out.

Once all the people have finally been picked, Coach blows his whistle (seriously, that's like the fourth time in ten minutes) and the game starts.

Asher starts out with an easy layup, mostly because the guy I told to stand in the center was distracted by Meghan shaking her assets all around. I grit my teeth. So that's what he intended to do.

I have to give him credit for that.

Hey, you used to be one of those guys who would stare at anything that jiggled. But a certain feisty green-eyed siren changed that, didn't she?

Sure.

The game ends roughly five minutes before the bell to end class will ring. My team lost by 9 points, but all of our points were scored by me, and all of their points were scored by Asher. But whatever.

Coach Davis dismisses us to go change, and Asher follows me into the locker room and over to where my stuff is.

"So," he begins. "Long time, no see. How have you been? Still intentionally endangering people's lives?"

"Shut up!" I growl, twisting my head around furtively to make sure nobody else heard that. "It wasn't intentional, and you know it!"

"Oh, so you didn't know that night was important for him and I, and that it was highly imperative that we make it quick and clean?" He pulls his shirt off, revealing a faded scar on his left shoulder. "This right here," he says angrily, pointing to the raised skin, "is your fault!"

The bell rings, and I quickly change my clothes and spray some cologne on to mask the smell of deranged psycho. I stand up to leave to get to history (finally, a class with Kaitlyn), but Asher catches my arm.

"We are not done talking today," he mumbles lowly, so as not to catch the attention of the other guys. "Meet me in the library after lunch. We can continue this discussion then."

<.><.><.><.><.><.><.><.>

A/N I took down the first author's note because it's no longer relevant :)

does anyone have any theories? I know I haven't given you guys much to go off of, but there's a little bit of juicy information happening in this chapter.

-PI DAY/THE IDES OF MARCH

in honor of 3.14, what's your favorite pie? Mine is either pumpkin or chocolate silk.

Caesar died today. E tu, Brute?

PREFERENCE QUESTION
Would you guys prefer longer chapters less often or shorter chapters more often? I myself prefer the former, as my chapter plans tend to be longer and I already have a set number of chapters left to get all the information in. But the most important thing to me is you guys, so I need your input on this!