(✔) 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠 𝙗𝙤𝙮 ↳ (𝔃.𝓭.𝓱)

twenty-eight !

When Everly made her way out of her World History class into the cafeteria for lunch, she felt eyes on her, piercing into her. Everly kept her head down, her headphones stuffed in her ears and her hood up. This felt off. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Even when she was new in the school, people didn't stare as much as they were doing now. 

Once, Everly caught a sophomore girl unashamedly staring at her with this odd expression on her face. When Everly looked up, they made direct eye contact, and the girl didn't even look away or look remotely abashed.

When she sat down by herself at a lunch table in the far end of the cafeteria, she still felt the piercing gazed surrounding her and she had no idea what was going on. Why were they staring at her like she had just murdered their entire family?

This question was answered almost immediately by a hand that closed tightly around her wrist and dragged her into a deserted corner. Everly gasped, one of her earbuds falling out of her ears, her phone nearly slipping from her hand. She looked up, furious and flustered, her backpack still swinging loosely from a shoulder. "What's your de-?" She started to complain, but stopped when she saw Zach's face looking down at her.

"Zach? What was that for?" Everly demanded, folding her arms across her chest. Zach looked equally annoyed as her. His lips were set into a thin serious line and his eyes were filled with irritation but also relief at finding her.

"Look, have you heard what's been going around the school?" He said in a hushed voice, his tone laced with urgency. Everly scowled confusedly at him, her eyebrows furrowed. "What? What's happening?" She exclaimed, oblivious to what was going on.

Zach sighed impatiently. "I'll show you." He fished his phone out of his pocket, scrolled for a while and then showed Everly the screen.

TWITTER!

riverside high news! || @riversidedrama

Senior Everly Wilson confirmed to be sleeping with more than half of the Riverside High School student body! Who does she think she is? The female version of Zach Herron?

The initial blow of shock made Everly's jaw go slack, but then the tweet began to fully register in her head and she burst out laughing. She handed Zach back his phone, doubled over in loud giggles, clutching her knees to steady herself. Zach stared at her silently, completely befuddled with how she was acting. He must've thought she'd be at the very least upset, totally not expecting the bout of hysterical laughter.

"Uh...how exactly is this funny?" He asked hesitantly, a brow raised in confusion. Everly snorted and straightened up, wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes. "It's just...it's just so pathetic and ridiculous..." She started giggling once more and Zach waited for her to calm down.

Once Everly had stopped laughing, she continued. "Is that the best Lavender can do? Well I'm afraid she's lost her touch," Everly said, shaking her head in amusement. Zach's eyes widened. "What? Lavender?" He questioned.

Everly nodded calmly. "Yes. She texted me this morning about you. Wanna see?" And so she showed Zach the text messages from Lavender that she had received in the morning. He scrolled through the messages, his frown deepening as he read on.

"Damn. Are you sure that's her?" He said, passing Everly's phone back to her. The latter nodded, shooting him a pointed look that said "duh!"

"Obviously? She literally admitted it in the second text right here."

Zach pursed his lips tightly. "I can't believe she would do that. That's such a bitch move," He said disdainfully.

Everly shrugged. "Whatever. I don't really care what they think. It's not even true, the joke's on them." She rolled her eyes.

Zach turned to look at her. He looked more bothered about the entire situation than Everly was. His jaw was clenched tightly and he was glaring at a spot right above Everly's head. "Hey, are you okay?" She asked softly.

He shrugged and dropped his gaze, staring at his shoes instead. "I don't want you to be compared to me. They called you the new female version of me or some stupid shit like—"

"I don't care! I know you aren't like that. Don't stress out about this okay? It's their problem," Everly interrupted firmly. It took a while to relax Zach, but she managed to do it.

When the bell rang signalling the end of lunch, the both of them made their way to their Biology class, which was their only class together. "You know, you walking with me isn't exactly helping your situation," Zach muttered, noticing all the stares and glares that were coming their way.

Everly shrugged cheerfully. The whole situation was honestly just hilarious to her now. Lavender was so full of shit. "You know, I don't really care. Fuck the situation. They can believe whatever they want. I could care less."

Zach stared at her, looking impressed. "I've never actually heard you curse before."

Everly snorted. "If I curse in front of you, it's either I'm already comfortable enough to curse in front of you, or you're just an asshole, and I want to curse at you."

Zach smirked. "So you're comfortable with me huh?"

Everly rolled her eyes, heat rushing to her cheeks. "Don't let that get to your head, Zachary." She quickened her pace slightly, hoping that Zach wouldn't notice her blushing. Why was she even blushing in the first place? Honestly, having crushes was ridiculous.

"Aha! So you are comfortable with me then!" Zach said triumphantly, jogging along beside Everly, who was brisk walking.

"Shut up Zachary!" Everly complained, but she was grinning, glad that the previous coolness between the two of them had melted away, thanks to the shit Lavender had pulled.

As she entered the classroom and sat down at her desk, she was still smiling despite the odd looks and whispers she was receiving. What Lavender had done had turned practically almost all of the school against her, but at least Zach was there with her, and he was on her side and that was all that mattered.