Even though I had gone to bed around half past three the night before, I woke up even earlier than on usual school days. Not voluntary, of course, but because Maya bounced into my room and tugged at my covers until I reluctantly opened my eyes.

"What is it?" I groaned into my pillow.

Maya answered, with a cheerfulness that should be impossible this early: "Mommy is making pancakes for breakfast!"

"Awesome," I muttered and already felt myself drifting off again, barely able to keep my eyes open to blink up at her.

Maya nodded in barely contained excitement. "Are you having breakfast with us?"

I was about to say no in order to go back to sleep, but when I looked at Maya's hopeful expression, I nodded with a sigh.

She laughed happily and tugged at my hand. "Come to the kitchen, we can help mommy! Maybe she lets me crack the egg. I cracked an egg when I was baking cookies with Ben and his mommy last week! She said I'm a great baker!"

"Give me five minutes," I groaned.

She was silent for a while, then she said, sounding genuinely worried: "But you'll fall asleep again!"

"You can stay here and make sure I don't," I mumbled, laughing tiredly.

Maya thought about it, then she nodded and climbed onto the bed. I lifted her up and over me and she snuggled up under the covers next to me immediately, like a cat. With only about two hours of sleep in my system, it was pretty hard to keep myself from dozing off again. Maya was laying next to me, watching me closely, and every time my eyes fell shut, she poked me so I would open them again.

A few minutes later, mom's voice wafted into the room, along with the delicious smell of fresh pancakes. "Kids! Breakfast's ready."

Maya was up and out of the bed within seconds. I followed her with a little less enthusiasm and a muffled yawn.

When I shuffled into the kitchen, dad was already seated at the head of the table, reading the newspaper with a cup of tea in his hand. Meanwhile, mom was baking the last pancake on the stove. She looked up as we came in and offered us a bright smile.

I sunk into a chair and poured some orange juice for Maya and me. When mom put the plate of pancakes onto the table, Maya immediately loaded three of them onto her place.

"Honey, you won't eat that much!" mom said, still smiling.

Maya just shrugged, seemingly unconcerned, and topped them off with a concerning amount of maple syrup.

When everyone was finally sitting and quietly eating their pancakes in the typical early morning haze, I became aware of my mother's eyes studying me closely. Finally she said: "Jules, when have you been to bed yesterday? You look tired."

I sure as hell felt tired as well. Last night I hadn't paid attention to my exhaustion, the adrenaline after the kiss had wiped any thought of sleep away. Now, however, I felt like a zombie, and probably looked like one, too.

"It got a little late," I said vaguely. If they had known what I had been up to, that I had even left the house, they would have raised hell against me.

"What have you been doing?" dad asked with a frown.

Before I could answer, Maya suddenly chimed in. In her squeaky voice she declared: "Jules was here with someone he really, really likes!"

My eyes widened and I nearly dropped my knife onto the plate. Both of my parents looked between us with equally wary expressions.

"Sweety, what are you talking about?" mom asked.

"Jules... kissed someone in the corridor," Maya whispered and giggled at the word kissed. "You said people do that when they like each other very much."

"That was Emily," I quickly said. They still didn't know that we had broken up, neither did they know anything about Hunter.

"But it was a boy!" Maya insisted.

I was starting to get irritated. "She wore a ponytail and her hood over it. You probably didn't see her long hair. It was dark."

"Julian, what are you talking about?" dad asked. "Was someone here last night?"

I nodded slowly. "Yeah... Emily came over. She... had a question about the, uh, school project in Spanish."

"But it was a boy!" Maya said again.

I lightly kicked her chair under the table and glared at her. "No, it wasn't. Why would I kiss a boy, that'd be... so strange."

My father nodded and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "Indeed. Please don't invite Emily over that late again."

"You can invite her over at any other time, though," my mother was quick to say. "I haven't seen her in a while. She's always welcome here."

I nodded and swallowed against the lump in my throat. "I'll tell her that." Then I abruptly got up. "Alright, I have to go... see you later."

"Have a good day, Jules!" mom called after me.

Too eager to get out of there before they got any more suspicious, I rushed out of the door without answering.

+++

When I arrived at school, I immediately looked out for the black Audi, but it was nowhere to be seen. I shook my head at myself as I realized how disappointed I was. When had seeing Hunter become my priority?

On the way to school I had had time to really think about last night and the kiss for the first time. Now I was even more confused; had it had any significance? To Hunter a kiss was nothing unusual, he had probably kissed more people than the number of students at this school. Maybe he had only kissed me because the moment was convenient. He had been drunk on victory after the car race, maybe that had led him to do it. Hunter took nothing ever seriously; why would he think much of this? That was, what the doubting, self-conscious little voice inside my brain was telling me.

Meanwhile, the rest of my brain tried to reason that I should just stay calm, wait and see, not be too fast with my assumptions. Maybe it was not like I thought. Maybe this was as important to Hunter as it was to me.

Trying my best to cling to that thought, I opened my locker and took the books I needed out. I jumped as someone suddenly tapped my shoulder and accidentally dropped my things, a book and a notepad. When I turned around, I saw Hunter standing right before me.

"God, you scared me," I laughed and crouched down to pick everything up.

Hunter quickly set the two Starbucks cups in his hands on the ground and helped me gathering all the notes and papers that were scattered around us. "Sorry, didn't mean to," he said and lightly brushed my hand with his. It could've been accidental, but knowing Hunter, it probably wasn't.

Once I had everything back in my hands, I really looked at Hunter for the first time. He looked at least as tired as I felt, dark circles standing out on his pale skin, as did his slowly fading black eye. He wore a hoodie under his leather jacket, a bit of his tousled hair peeking out from underneath the hood.

"Have you even slept at all tonight?" I asked worriedly. It couldn't be healthy for him to stay up so late for days in a row.

Hunter shook his head. "No." Instead of offering an explanation , he held up one of the coffee cups and handed it to me. "Which is why I got us these."

A smile spread across my face. "You actually bought one?"

He shrugged and drank a sip. "You asked me to last night, why wouldn't I?"

I smiled gratefully at him and lifted the cup to my lips, balancing my books in my other arm. My eyes widened as I tasted the coffee. "Is this a Caramel Macchiato?" I vaguely remembered telling him that it was one of my favourite drinks, but I hadn't thought he had even listened, much less remembered.

Hunter nodded, a hint of satisfaction in his voice as he said: "Yeah. Oh, by the way, you still don't have a new job since you quit at that bar, right?"

"Ugh, don't remind me. I still have to find a new one," I groaned, grimacing.

"They're looking for people at Starbucks," Hunter said. "You should apply."

"Do you think?" I asked. I wasn't very good at the whole... human interaction- thing.

But Hunter nodded encouragingly. "Yes! You already know the entire menu, you know people who work there, you're always friendly and polite... plus, you're cute. Who wouldn't tip you?"

I rolled my eyes at him, but couldn't quite restrain a smile. "Fine. Maybe I'll go there tomorrow after school."

"Maybe?"

"Okay, I'll go there. Definitely," I laughed.

Hunter smiled, but the content expression faded as he glanced behind me. When I turned around to see what he was looking at, I saw Victoria heading straight for us.

Against my hopes, she didn't walk past us, but stopped right next to Hunter, offering him a seductive smile and purring: "Hey, babe."

Victoria had been smart and positioned herself right in between Hunter and I, effectively excluding me from the conversation. I crossed my arms and sent Hunter a pointed look over her head.

"What do you want?" warily he asked.

"Oh, you know..." she said suggestively while trailing a hand up his arm, "The usual. There are a couple empty classrooms around..."

"Awesome," Hunter said, catching her wrist as she put it on his shoulder. His grip was tight enough to make her gasp quietly. "Go ahead, enjoy yourself."

She laughed, baffled. "What do you mean? Aren't you coming, too?"

Hunter shook his head and said, in a voice like he was lecturing a toddler: "No, Victoria. Didn't I tell you I'm not interested in you?"

"It's because of him, isn't it?" she asked in disgust, twisting her wrist out of his grip. Then she half-turned around to shoot me a dirty look. "It's because of your new toy boy. What does he have that I don't?"

"A sense of humor? More than three brain cells? The ability to have a normal conversation? A pretty-"

I bit my lip, suppressing a grin.

Victoria interrupted him before he could say any more. "Since when do such things even matter to you?"

"Victoria, do me a favour and stop thinking you know me," Hunter said. "Because you don't. Not even a little bit."

She snorted angrily. "In a few days, he'll bore you to death. You wanna know why? Because he's not more than a stupid little boy with a pretty face who has no idea how to handle you. He is nothing like you." She paused for a moment, then she said: "And when you realize that, you'll crawl back to me. And maybe I will take you back."

"Dream on, Vicky," Hunter laughed.

Victoria shot him another cool glance, then she turned around to me, jabbing a finger at my chest. "If I was you, I'd be very careful, Jules Hatcher. Getting outed in front of the entire school apparently still wasn't enough to teach you a lesson. But don't worry, I'll come up with something."

I glared down at her, forcefully stopping my hands from clenching into fists at my sides. "Is that supposed to be a threat?"

"I don't know, is it? Aren't you oh so clever?"

"Get out of here, Victoria," I calmly said and slapped her hand away. "Before you embarrass yourself even more."

Victoria opened her mouth and looked like she wanted to say something, but then nothing came out expect for an exasperated growl. Purposely jostling me, she finally left.

I looked after her, shaking my head in disbelief. Who did she think she was?

"Sorry about that," Hunter muttered, suddenly right next to me and rested his hand on my back for a split second.

With a sigh, I turned around to him. "Didn't you say you broke up with her?"

Hunter shrugged, emptying his coffee. "I did, but she seems a little slow on the uptake. Hopefully this was clear enough for her now."

I frowned. "What exactly was going on between you two?"

"Nothing serious," he said briefly.

"Huh. That's weird," I said. "I can't imagine why she's so eager to get you back then. What's so desirable about a solely sexual relationship with absolutely no perspective? Plus, if you treated her like Sean, I can't imagine why-"

"Jules, I don't treat everyone that way." His voice was oddly serious for once.

I couldn't help but quietly ask the obvious question. "Would, uhm..." I cleared my throat, suddenly shy to meet his eye. "Would you treat me like that?"

I nearly flinched when I suddenly felt Hunter's cold touch against my skin, two fingers under my chin, tilting it upwards so I looked him in the eye. He was standing closer than seconds before. For a heartbeat, I didn't even care if anyone was around to see us.

Hunter's voice was almost gentle when he said: "Don't ask stupid questions."

The smile that involuntarily spread across my face was enough to wreck Hunter's self-control.

After he quickly looked around if anyone was near, he leaned in to kiss me. The kiss was short and sweet, but it was enough to make my legs go weak and I was glad I was leaning against the locker for at least a little support.

I could feel Hunter grinning against my lips and pulled back a little just to mumble: "Stop being so smug, it's not like you accomplished anything amazing."

Hunter was still smiling, bracing his hands against the locker on both sides of me. "What, getting you to kiss me isn't an accomplishment?"

"Don't flatter yourself," I chuckled.

Hunter only buried a hand in my hair, pulling me closer once again.

But before his lips could even meet mine, a familiar voice resounded, making both of us jump. "I can't believe it! Okay, when did this happen?"

I peeked around Hunter just to see Nate standing in the corridor with the biggest grin on his face.

"Hi, Nate," I said, an embarrassed blush tinting my cheeks. "What's up...?"

Nate burst out laughing. "Aw, look at you guys."

Hunter laughed quietly and finally released me. "Hi, Nate."

"Is now the time when I tell you not to break his heart?" Nate asked and cleared his throat. "Okay, Adams, listen up. If you hurt my brother, you're gonna regret it, for I will hunt you down and shred you to a million pieces."

Hunter looked at him, trying hard to be serious. "I promise I won't."

Nate nodded, apparently satisfied. "Alright. Jules, how did I do?"

I only gave him a sarcastic thumbs up, still trying to calm my racing heart.

"He's still a little dazed, you see," Hunter mocked, reaching for my hand. "Give him a second."

"Shut up," I said, narrowing my eyes at him, even though my heartbeat had sped up again as soon as I felt his hand in mine. "You're awful."

Hunter laughed. "You're cute."

Nate made a gagging noise. "You're both disgusting. Since when are you two acting like silly lovebirds?" When neither of us answered, he eyed us suspiciously. "What happened last night? Why do both of you look like you didn't sleep for even a minute?"

I rolled my eyes. "Because we didn't. Since we started doing stuff at night, I basically don't sleep at all." When both of them looked at each other, trying not to burst out laughing, I groaned: "That came out wrong."

Nate grimaced. "Never mind. I don't even wanna know."

Hunter chuckled lightly, then he suddenly waved at someone coming around the corner. I immediately pulled my hand out of his grasp, but I needn't have to worry; it was just Alexis coming towards us with Liam and Adam in tow.

She smiled broadly at us and came to a halt next to Nate, who immediately stood a little straighter. "Hey, guys!"

"What's up?" Liam asked, looking from Hunter to me and back to Hunter.

Adam didn't even bother greeting us, he just cocked a brow and stayed behind Liam, as he usually did.

After Hunter and Liam performed some kind of complicated middle school handshake, Alexis said: "Hunter, are you free tonight? We were thinking about going to the cinema. There's this new horror movie that Adam wants to see..."

Adam suddenly perked up at that. "Not any horror movie, Alex. Zombie Slaughter 6: Brains for Breakfast."

"That sounds Oscar-worthy," Hunter snorted.

"Shhh, Hunter," Liam said. "The last time Adam was this happy was when The Witch is a Bitch premiered two years ago. Let him have this."

"So, are you coming?" Adam asked, sounding almost giddy. Nate and I exchanged a surprised glance; Adam was usually not one to show any kind of emotion, much less actual enthusiasm.

Hunter nodded. "Sure. But I can't guarantee I'll stay awake for the entire movie."

Adam waved his argument away with a dismissive hand movement. "Doesn't matter. You're more pleasant to be around when you're asleep anyway."

A scowl formed on Hunter's face as he leaned against the locker.

"Jules, Nate, you should come too!" Alexis said, nudging Nate with her elbow.

He immediately nodded. I was a little more reluctant, but eventually agreed as Hunter looked at me with a hopeful look in his eyes.

Just as things were settled, the school bell rang, drawing a collective sigh from all of us.

"What classes do you have now?" Hunter asked me.

"English," I said.

Hunter nodded. "Okay. See you at lunch?"

I nodded, happy to have something to look forward to on this otherwise boring school day.

After a short goodbye, I hurried to my English class and skidded inside right before the teacher closed the door. I looked around only to see that the only free seat was next to Emily.

I took a deep breath and hurried across the room to sit next to her.

Emily smiled timidly at me before she turned her head to watch our teacher filling the blackboard with illegible scribbling, her dark hair a curtain that hid her face.

The rest of the period passed in a boring series of listening to the teacher and the contributions of other students, taking notes and trying to keep my eyes open.

Apparently, I hadn't been all that successful with the latter. Ten minutes before the end of the period, I got jolted awake by Emily. I startled and looked around, still drowsy.

Emily still had a hand on my shoulder from when she had lightly shook me to wake me up and quickly pulled her hand back. "You fell asleep..."

I groaned and rubbed my eyes. "Yeah... Thanks for waking me up."

Emily giggled quietly. Then she asked: "Hey, remember how we wanted to hang out again? Are you free tonight?"

I was about to say yes, when I remembered the evening at the cinema we had planned. "I'm going to the movies with Hunter and his friends tonight... Hey, why don't you join us? Nate will be there too."

She seemed unsure, chewing on one of her pencils, a habit of hers that she'd had since elementary school. "Do you think that's okay... for the others, I mean?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked with a frown.

"I mean: Is it okay for Hunter if I'm there?"

"Oh," I said. "Yeah, sure. It's not like you think, Em. Hunter actually really likes you."

"He does?" she asked, eyes wide in disbelief.

"Yes. We'd all be happy to have you there with us."

She hesitated for a moment, then she nodded. "Okay."

The bell rung and she got up from her chair, but before she left, she turned around to me once more. "Hey, Jules? Thank you."

She was gone before I could do more than smile at her.

+++

The sun had just started to set, shedding the last bit of golden light over the neighbourhood, when Hunter's car stopped in front of my house. Emily, Nate and I were sitting on the front steps of the porch, waiting for him to pick us up. There was a weird atmosphere around us. It felt somewhat nostalgic, like it had used to back then, when