•••

     jaeden walked the halls of central high school, his eyes searching for a certain blonde. he had wanted to try and see her before first hour began, although as he slowly approached his first hour social studies class, he realized he wouldn't be able to. he hadn't even seen her at her locker. he sighed as he walked into his class, making eye contact with wyatt before sitting down next to him.

     hailee walked into her first hour, wanting to have avoided the boy. which she successfully did. she didn't want to seem rude, of course, but she was afraid she'd make it awkward. hailee took notice to a certain brunette boy smiling at her as she walked in.

     she recognized him as noah schnapp. she sometimes made small talk with noah during their shared first hour. although she never considered them friends. and of course the only reason she felt comfortable talking to him was because he was good friends with sadie. and she had also loved his performance on stranger things.

     "hey!" noah exclaimed, a huge smile on his face.

     "hi noah." hailee said, smiling back. "how has your morning been?"

     "it's been okay," noah replied. "but jaeden has been blowing up my phone talking about yo-" noah stopped before he said too much, his face draining of color. "um... yogurt, yeah, yogurt."

     "yogurt?" hailee asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

     "yes! he loves yogurt!" noah exclaimed, attempting to be convincing.

     "alright, i do suppose everyone has at least one weird obsession." hailee shrugged. noah sighed, happy to have convinced her.

     meanwhile, jaeden was sitting at his desk, staring off into space. he hadn't even noticed wyatt trying to talk to him.

     "jaeden!" wyatt said.

     "huh? sorry i was-" jaeden finally answered, only to get cut off by wyatt.

     "zoned out? thinking about hailee?" wyatt finished.

     jaedens face flushed a light pink at the mention of the girl. he couldn't lie, she was gorgeous. and she was kind. what's not to love? "i was zoned out. i wasn't thinking about hailee."

     "mhm, sure." wyatt laughed. jaeden rolled his eyes at wyatt.

     "i'm serious." jaeden said.

     "yeah, right, 'cause you're already not in love with her." wyatt laughed. jaeden rolled his eyes at wyatt as their teacher came in.

     "because i'm not." jaeden scoffed.

•••

     "goodbye, noah." hailee said to the boy as she waved goodbye.

     "bye, hailee! i'll see you at lunch." he smiled. hailee returned a smile back. she quietly walked down the hallway to her locker, the smile never leaving her face. once she approached her locker, she quickly opened it, getting her things for her second hour english class.

     hailee loved her second hour english class, for two reasons. the first reason, was that sadie was in her second hour class, which was also the only class she had with her. the second reason, was that she loved writing and reading. mainly writing. it was her escape from the world, no matter what she always had writing to turn to.

     "hey," a familiar voice said. hailee blinked, realizing she had zoned out. she turned to her right to see her locker neighbor, smiling at her. "how are you?"

     "i'm good," hailee said, mentally cursing at herself for zoning out. "how are you, jaeden?"

     "i'm good, as well." he said. it seemed as if somehow his smile grew even wider.

     he's in your english class. hailee thought to herself. she never really paid attention to people in her classes, she just wanted to learn.

     "you okay?" jaeden asked suddenly.

     "yes, why?" hailee responded.

     "you zoned out." jaeden laughed. hailee blushed from embarrassment.

     "i'm sorry-"

     "don't be." jaeden reassured her as he shut his locker. "i zone out a lot, too."

     "oh, right, yeah." hailee laughed nervously.

     "come on, we should get to class." jaeden said, still smiling at the girl. they began to walk down the hallway together, the bright pink color not leaving hailee's face.

     luckily for the two, class had yet to start and they weren't late. hailees eyes searched for her best friend, who to hailees surprise was already in class. she had somehow missed her in the hallway.

     "there you two are!" sadie said as hailee sat down next to her. jaeden's seat was on the other side of the room, so he didn't hear what the redhead had said.

     "sorry-" hailee began to reply.

     "stop saying sorry." sadie said.

     "sorry." hailee said. sadie playfully rolled her eyes.

     "i thought you two would just keep talking." sadie laughed.

     "oh! no- no i wouldn't want to be late to class." hailee said.

     "debatable. especially because you two really seem like good friends already." sadie shrugged.

     "whatever." hailee replied.

     for the rest of the hour, jaeden couldn't help but sneak glances at the matthews girl. and every now and then, she would sneak one at him, too.

     stop it! what if she catches you? you'll freak her out. jaeden couldn't help but think.

     stop, hailee. he's gonna think you're weird if he catches you. he probably doesn't even like you. hailee couldn't help but think.

     but even those thoughts didn't stop them. hailee couldn't help but smile when she caught jaeden's eyes already on her, while jaeden froze and awkwardly smiled back.

     once english class ended, and hailee and jaeden had parted ways, promising each other they'd see each other at lunch, hailee couldn't help but smile as she walked to her third hour social studies.

•••

     "hey, wait up!" a voice called after hailee as she was walking to lunch. she turned around to find jaeden martell walking at a fast pace to catch up to her.

     "oh, hey, sorry i didn't wait or anything." hailee said nervously, as her face heated up.

     "it's fine. i didn't tell you wait, and to be fair i didn't even talk to you during class." jaeden said. "but come on, let's get to lunch."

     "yeah, right, sorry." hailee said as they began to walk together.

     "stop apologizing for everything." jaeden said.

     "what?" hailee asked. her face scrunched up in confusion.

     "i've noticed that you say sorry for everything. you don't have to." jaeden said, smiling softly at the girl.

     hailee returned the smile just as they had walked into the cafeteria. hailee immediately started to search for her best friend, whom she found sitting with sophia, millie, noah, and wyatt. hailee started walking faster, leaving jaeden behind, wanting to talk to her new friends.

     "hi!" she exclaimed as she sat next to sadie.

     "hi." sadie said, smiling at her.

     "okay this is literally the second time i've had to spread walk after you and it hasn't even been five minutes." jaeden said, sitting down next to the blonde.

     "aw." wyatt sighed, putting his hand over his heart.

     "aw?" hailee asked.

     "couple goals." wyatt said quietly, which only jaeden had heard him, and hit him.

     "you need to be quiet." jaeden said, glaring at him.

     "stop fighting." millie said.

     "we're not fighting." wyatt shrugged.

     sophia gave them an unimpressed look, her eyes switching between the two as they fake smiled at her. "i'm not buying it."

     "none of us are." sadie sighed, shaking her head in disappointment. hailee chuckled in amusement.

     "why am i friends with you two." noah cringed.

     "do you want me to vibe check you?" wyatt snapped, putting his hands on his hips.

     "no-" noah began, but was cut off by wyatt.

     "i won't hesitate, bitch." wyatt stated. hailees eyes widened, as she glanced at jaeden, who was already looking at her, and he shrugged.

     "oh!" jaeden suddenly exclaimed. "my mom told me that i could invite some friends over to help decorate for christmas. would you guys want to come over today and do that?"

     "noah, i swear to god if you say you can't because you're jewish." wyatt said shaking his head.

     "i was going to say sure, so stop attacking me." noah replied, sarcastically.

     "sure," sadie said smiling. "we'll all be there."

     "oh, i wouldn't want to intrude," hailee said sheepishly.

     "you wouldn't be," jaeden said. "you're my friend, and i want you to come."

     "hailee, we wouldn't leave you out." sophia reassured. "we love hanging out with you."

     "yeah," wyatt said. "we wouldn't want you to miss it for the world."

     "what about the others?" hailee asked.

     "they don't have to know." jaeden shrugged sarcastically. "besides we don't need that many people."

     "okay," hailee agreed. jaeden smiled, as if he had just won an award.

     "great," jaeden responded. "i'll text you my address after school."

     hailee sheepishly smiled back at him. for the rest of lunch the group bonded with hailee, making her feel welcomed. after lunch, hailee walked with jaeden back to their lockers, and to their fifth hour math class. math was the last class hailee had with jaeden, which made her sad. she had enjoyed the time she spent with him that day, although she knew it wouldn't be over.

     when they were walking back to their lockers and had both gathered their things for sixth hour, hailee felt proud to be able to say 'see you later' instead of 'see you tomorrow.'

     "see you later." hailee said, smiling widely at the boy.

     "see you later." jaeden said, returning the smile. and at that, they parted ways. their smiles never leaving their faces.

•••