ALL I DO
{ irl }

matt walks into the cafeteria for lunch and is instantly bombarded by his brothers. nick grabs him by the shoulders and jumps up and down, making matt groan.

they walk over to their designated seats, where camille is already waiting for them. she notices them coming over and she grins at the triplets — mainly at chris.

they've known camille for a while now, and they've all grown pretty close with her. especially chris. they're both definitely in love with the other, but they're too scared to admit it. the entire situation is horrible to witness.

"soooo," nick trails off, sitting beside matt as chris sits beside camille — the two pairs sitting across from each other. "are you gonna tell us what happened last night?"

"yeah," chris agrees. "you asked about some stuffed bear toy, then disappeared on us."

"niola texted me last night, asking if we had rayne's toy." matt explains. "turns out nick had it. so i simply brought it over to her house and returned it."

"something happened." chris says, squinting to get a better look at matt. "i can tell."

"nothing happened!" matt says a little too loudly, a few people looking over at their table. matt sighs, hesitating to continue. "i'm just worried about her. that's all."

"aha! i knew it!" chris says, smiling to himself proudly.

"why are you worried about her? did something bad happen?" camille asks softly.

matt thinks back to everything he's found out about niola within the past twenty-four hours. the way she laughed with her sister. the way she bled when she picked up the glass. the way she yelled at zade to stop when he touched her.

"a few things," matt says, resting his forehead on the table in front of him.

nick sighs sadly, rubbing matt's hunched back to comfort him. "like what?" nick asks.

"like her not giving a single shit about her own life. all she cares about is her sister." matt explains, his voice muffled because his head is resting on the table.

"can you blame her?" chris jokes, trying to lighten the mood. "her sister is adorable." matt lifts his head, resting his chin on the table. he looks up at chris and glares at him.

"also, do you know her situation with zade?" matt asks.

camille perks up, "oh, yeah. i've heard the rumors."

"rumors?" the triplets ask in unison.

"yeah," camille looks at them and they watch her expectantly. "everyone says that they're dating. zade has told tons of guys to back off of her because shes his. but they're not even together so he's just acting like a controlling bitch. also—"

camille immediately stops talking when she notices the look on matt's face. he's no longer sprawled out on the table — he's sitting up straight with a look on his face saying his fucking pissed.

suddenly, something catches his eye and he stands up from the table, his chair scooting back loudly. camille follows his eyes and sees what he's looking at. niola is walking into the library, zade following a few feet behind her. it's clear that she has no idea that he's watching her.

nick, chris, and camille watch as matt storms away and into the library.

"what's going on between those two?" camille asks, turning to face the two remaining triplets.

"matt and niola?" chris asks.

"yeah."

"easy answer." chris shrugs. "they hate each other and want nothing more than to watch the other burn in hell."

"then why does he care about her so much?"

"it..." chris trails off, rewording his response. "it's complicated. they're—"

"it's not complicated." nick interrupts. "they're both desperately in love but they're too overcome by their own self-hatred to ever accept or admit it. so they cope with the unfamiliar feeling by burying it deep inside and covering it with rivalry and anger."

camille and chris sit in silence, struggling to process nick's explanation. "since when we're you the love expert?" chris asks.

"since i've had to watch those two pine over each other and only ever sink deeper and deeper into the endless void of denial." nick says simply.

niola sets her bag down, dragging out a chair and sitting down at the table she always sits at — the one in the back corner, closest to the window. she reaches behind her chair and pulls a book out of her bag. she opens the book, sinking into the chair as she begins reading.

"niola," a voice says from behind her. she whips her head around, seeing zade standing a few feet behind the table she's sitting at.

he walks up to her chair, pulling out the chair next to her. he drags it over to be right beside her. he then sits down and drapes an arm over her shoulders, drawing circles on her skin. "what do you want, zade?" she asks, rolling her eyes at him and closing her book.

"you." he says, leaning in. his nose brushes her and she shoves him backward. zade's eyes widen — as though he was expecting her to kiss him back rather than push him away.

"get off of me." niola demands, scooting her chair away from him. he scoots his closer to hers again, tilting his head innocently.

"she told you to back the fuck up."

niola turns her head toward the voice and sees matt. he looks pissed. his fists are clenched tightly at his sides and his jaw is clamped shut. zade stands up from his chair, walking over to matt. even though zade is trying to be intimating, he keeps his distance. he knows that matt could easily beat his ass if he wanted.

"yeah? what're you gonna do about it?" zade coos. matt takes a step forward and so does zade. niola groans, standing up and stepping in between them. immediately their angry facades both falter.

"don't be fucking stupid." she tells matt, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at him.

"why are you lecturing me?" matt asks, suddenly offended by the way she's not even acknowledging zade's presence. "he's the one who's acting like a creep."

"i don't give a shit about him." niola says simply, making zade gasp dramatically. she ignores him and continues, "you're the one who has a reputation to withhold — he's known for being a perv."

matt nods before stepping back from zade, keeping his eyes pinned to niola. zade does the same but nobody pays attention to him. he grumbles something under his breath before angrily stomping out of the library.

niola watches him as he leaves, the door slamming behind him. she turns back to face matt — only to realize that he hasn't taken his eyes off of her.

"what?" she asks, furrowing her brows in confusion.

"since we're partners, we need to start working on the project." matt states the obvious, making niola just stare at him, waiting for him to explain further. "would you feel more comfortable studying at the library or at my house?"

"why not both?" she shrugs, walking back over to her table and sitting down. "during lunch, we should study in the library. after school, we can work at one of our houses."

"that sounds like a good idea. i'll text you my address later. we can study at my house tonight." matt responds, following behind her. he sits down in the seat behind her as they talk.

"shit." niola mumbles, remembering something. "i can't leave rayne all alone at home."

"what do you do with her during the day while you're at school?" matt asks.

"i pay our neighbor to babysit her."

"couldn't you just ask your neighbor to extend the timeframe so you can do the project?" matt suggests. "your neighbor should understand."

"yeah. of course she'd understand — but that's not the problem." niola says. "the problem is that i can't afford to pay her for very long. i pay her with the money my mom makes. and i don't want to abuse the allowance she lets me spend."

her mom gives her about $20 per week even when she technically cant afford to give away any money. but her mom always insists that niola has to take it.

while her father couldn't give less than a shit about his children, her mother truly does love her daughters. it makes her mom upset to know that she doesn't have a good relationship with either of his kids — but there's nothing she can do to change that.

"y'know what? just bring rayne with you when you come over to my house." matt tells her.

"you'd be okay with that?" niola asks. "we could just study at my house if it's easier."

"don't worry about it. nick and chris would love to see her again anyway." matt says with a shrug.

kids as young as rayne are honestly nothing but a nuisance. they need constant attention and care. and most people can't handle such a burden — so niola doesn't even bother to ask to take rayne with her to other people's houses. but matt just offered to deal with the liability of the child. she wants to hug him. she wants to thank him over and over and over.

but she doesn't.

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a/n : i adore rayne SO much 🫶🫶 she is my child. she is my bestie. she is my favorite person in existence. but honestly? everything would be SO MUCH easier without her 🤷‍♀️
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