About Last Night

We're Just Friends!

"I don't get it,"
Leo said, pushing back his safety goggles, "I should've gotten an A. A+, even," He looked at me, cheeks flushed. I clenched my teeth, hoping he wouldn't spill the liquid. " But no, B it was," he said furiously as he transferred the Hydrogen Peroxided to the new beaker. Thankfully, he didn't spill it. Our fifth period science class was currently underway, and we were only half-listening to Miss Harris' instruction to add salt to the mix. It's been two days since I started my social media accounts and I couldn't manage to shake the feeling that I was standing on the edge of a cliff waiting to be pushed in.

"You could always ask for a re-mark," I said, shaking the thought away. "Or try harder next time.''

"Excuse me," he said, removing the plastic glasses, "I am second from the top in our class, one does not simply 'try harder next time'" he snapped, and gazed directly at me. "What was your score? B-?"

"No," I replied, taking a seat, trying to control the prideful smile I was wearing. "I got an A+,"

There was silence as Miss Harris explained the reaction we were supposed to have gotten, I don't think we followed the instructions correctly, instead of removing mold, the potato was sizzling. Leo tossed his glasses on the table and yelled, "WHAT??"

At least two rows of students turned around to look at me, so I shooed them away. "Yeah," I said, tucking my hair behind my ear. "The highest score for Maths, 90, was me..."

He looked at me, blinking in disbelief, "I'm sorry," he pinched the bridge of his nose, "but aren't you a frequent skipper?"

Yes, yes I was. "No, of course not," I glanced at Hailey, her potato seemed fine. "I guess I just got better at self study,"

"Lies from the depths of hell," he replied. "and you know it—" then his eyes went wide, "D-Did you," he leaned in closer, "cheat?" He asked, he weirdly smelled of jellybeans and citrus.

"What do you think of me," I exclaimed, "of course not," I rolled my eyes. "I had help studying, that's all,"

His eyebrows shot up, "Anthony," he said, then shook his head as if everything made sense, "of course,"

Anthony? Who was Anthony? Anthony Miller?

"Huh?" I asked, looking at the smirk on his face.

"Anthony," he said, motioning to the left. "Anthony—class president, top of the class, all the guys wanna be him—Miller," he said, rolling his eyes in disbelief. "Don't act like you guys don't hang out every now and then when you skip math; the twins told me how you two got cozy a couple weeks back." The smirk grew wider.

I inwardly groaned. Yes, okay, fine. We use to have a... thing. But it wasn't like that now. When we skipped class these days, Anth and I always hung out in the school library (with friends!!!) to catch up on homework, copy each other's notes, the usual stuff.  And only that. Nothing too serious. While he was still talking, I looked over to my left and noticed that Anthony and Kyle were both taking notes. I guess he saw me watching him, because when he looked up, he winked at me.

"Anthony didn't help me study." I said, looking away, and pulled out a random notebook. We'd spent so much time talking that we'd fallen behind. "It was someone else,"

He leaned closer, close enough that I could see his stubble beginning to grow back again on his jawline. "Who?"

He wanted to know who...well... It was Shaun.
Yes, Mr. I Don't Attend School. He ended up being a math wizz. We've hung out a couple of times since the meetup at O's, mostly at The Park, which is where he first found me studying, and that's how it began. Whenever I got stuck on something, he went above and beyond to help, even preparing me for the past exam. He came over for dinner once, which was nice.

"A friend," I said, eyes glued to the textbook infront of me. "Page 64, right?"

Leo didn't answer, "Well do I know them?"

"No," It was page 46, I discovered, "I don't think so, it's a guy I met recently, doesn't attend EPHS,"

This was clearly not the wises thing to say because immediately he said, "Secret boyfriend,"

"NO, not boyfriend. Friend."

He nodded, "Right, because it's completely normal for you to keep your 'friend' a secret from your best friends," he air quoted, "but is okay," It wasn't okay. "I get it." He definitely did not get it. "The twins are over bearing, I'm pretty intimidating and Haylie, well," he dropped his voice to a whisper, "she's a vegan,"

I tried my hardest not to laugh at that, "No. It's not like that at all. You'll most likely meet him soon because I hang out with him every morning before school. I promise, we're just friends, and I'm not hiding him."

He squinted at that, golden brown eyes narrowing, but he let it go. "You're still a traitor, though," he murmured, jotting down the notes open in front of us. "You got better grades than me, so it's on, cupcake."