𝐁𝐀𝐆𝐒 | 𝐉𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐌𝐈'𝐈𝐊𝐄

twenty-three.

"you told your mom?" janis ducked her head into her locker but eden could tell that she was smiling behind the door. "cool." eden rolled her eyes. "cool?" she teased. "that's all i get?" janis grinned at her. "very cool," she corrected herself, closing her locker door behind her. "isn't your class that way?" eden gestured down the opposite end of the corridor. "can i not walk my girlfriend to her class?"

"are you trying to spy on cady?" eden asked. "what?" janis scowled at her. "why do you always think i'm up to something?" eden nudged her. "because you usually are up to something." janis rolled her eyes. "you just told me you told your mom we're dating," she said. "i just wanted to know how that went down." eden felt a little guilty at assuming janis had been following her to her ap calc class to see if cady had shown up. she hasn't shown up to homeroom and it was her first day back, eden wouldn't have blamed janis if she had been the tiniest bit curious about the girl.

"it went fine," eden replied. "oh no you can't do that to me," janis clicked her tongue. "i'm your girlfriend, i want details." eden raised a brow at her. "are you going to say i'm your girlfriend anytime i don't give you what you want?" janis shrugged. "probably." eden couldn't help but smile at that. "she was great with it, i mean obviously she was great with it," she laughed. "she's been rooting for this for a long time." janis blushed furiously at that which eden thought might've been the cutest thing she had ever seen.

eden stuck her hand out in front of janis, halting the girl directly outside her calc class. cady stood outside with karen who was trying to talk to her but cady seemed distracted as usual. "oh great," janis rolled her eyes. "and that is my cue to get out of here, have fun!" eden spun her back around to kiss her lightly before she left, janis grinning up at her when she pulled back. "ok that makes things a little better." karen passed them by, smiling at eden as she did. "ok what was that about?" janis frowned at where karen had passed them by. "oh long story," eden waved her off. "i'll tell you later." janis' frown stayed in place but she let the girl go. "yeah ok, hey don't be a doormat and let her back in!" eden nodded. "i won't."

entering ap calculus was incredibly weird, the hushed whispers told eden that everyone was still talking about cady. aaron had his eyes firmly trained to the front of the classroom while cady's eyes flickered between both aaron and miss norbury, a guilty expression written across her face. her eyes met eden's as she passed, a weak smile forming on her face. eden tore her eyes away from her instantly. miss norbury had placed worksheets on their desk which gave eden a distraction from spending an entire class staring at cady and wondering if she should feel sorry for her.

✭

when the bell rang signalling the end of class, eden took her time packing up her books in the hopes that cady would flee immediately. she had been wrong, as always. both girls approached miss norbury's desk to drop their worksheets, aaron samuels had also gotten stuck as he tried to sharpen his pencil without drawing attention to himself. "oh hi!" miss norbury glanced up at cady. "did you want to buy some drugs?" eden's mouth dropped wide open in surprise, aaron looking around cady to eden as if to confirm they had both heard the same sarcastic statement.

"you know watching the cops tear apart my house for make believe drugs was the highlight of my year," miss norbury ran through cady's worksheet with her pen. "but while they were tearing it apart i found this calculator i thought i'd lost so." she smiled a tight-lipped smile. "i know you didn't write that book yourself," she said. "are you going to tell principal duvall who did?" cady shook her head. "no because i'm trying this new thing where i don't talk about people behind their backs."

"i think getting hit by a bus is punishment enough," aaron shrugged as miss norbury handed the girl back her test, an A stamped across the top of the sheet. "welcome back nerd," he smiled at her before leaving the room. the girl in front of eden stared after him for a second too long, miss norbury raising a brow in amusement at her. "i figured out how you're going to get that extra credit," miss norbury beckoned to the mathletes who had started to congregate for their meeting at the back of the class. "what's up golf bird?" kevin g greeted her.

cady swung around to face eden. "it was always going to be one of us, wasn't it?" eden took a deep breath in. "probably," she shrugged before brushing past the girl to hand her worksheet to miss norbury. cady lingered behind her for a split second until the mathletes herded her to the back of the classroom. "everything ok?" miss norbury asked, glancing between where cady had sat down and eden. "yeah," eden nodded. "perfectly fine." miss norbury handed her worksheet back. "are you sure about that?"

"you think i'm awful, don't you?" eden glanced back to where cady was sitting. "no i think you're a teenager," miss norbury shrugged. "it's rough." eden smiled slightly. "yeah it's actually pretty awful," she replied. "everyone knows i'm probably going to forgive her," she sighed. "i'm allowed to prolong it a little." eden knew that janis and damian were less forgiving which was completely fine but it wasn't really in eden's nature to hold a grudge. and she knew that she hadn't ever really held one against cady, they were all trying to figure out northshore and where they lay on the social scale, she'd just fallen prey to the wrong person. she just had to try and convince janis that forgiving cady might not be the worst idea in the world.