It was early in the evening when Troy walked in on Evelyn studying. "Hey, Ev," her enthusiastic 'best friend' greeted as he opened her bedroom door. She'd really hoped he wouldn't come over so she could study in peace and quiet. Her final exams were coming up and she needed to pass, but Troy always found a way to distract her.

"Hi, Troy," she responded with a pained smile. Evelyn decided to listen to Katie's advice, because maybe her sister knew better after all. She figured she couldn't actually be friends with him since he was literally the Troy, so she decided that she would only try to tolerate him, since there was no getting rid of him. She didn't think this would be too hard since she was already getting somewhat used to him before certain things went down.

"What'cha up to?" he gestured for her to move over as he approached her bed. Evelyn found it amazing how he could just act like nothing had happened between them. It made her even more suspicious, but she brushed it off, not wanting to continue being insanely paranoid. Maybe Troy did want to be friends with her, or maybe he was still playing his game. Either way, Evelyn was not letting her walls down easily. She could only pretend.

"Studying," Evelyn's tone was nonchalant and tiresome.

"What are you studying for?" he curiously peered over at her textbook.

"History exam. Finals are coming up," she rubbed her cheeks with stressed hands at the mention of her upcoming tests.

"Need help?"

"Nah, thanks for the offer though. I just need some quiet."

"Alright," the boy shrugged, laying back against her pillows in which he had gotten so familiar with.

As Evelyn skimmed through multiple pages, she came to the realization that the simple interaction her and Troy just had was the most civil out of all the ones they'd ever shared. She raised her eyebrows in surprise. Maybe tolerating him wouldn't be so hard. No. She shook the crazy thought out of her head. She could not get too comfortable.

Evelyn huffed and threw herself back, her body falling into a position that almost matched Troy's. "I have a headache," she squeezed her eyes shut and whined.

"How long have you been studying for?" Troy asked with a breathy laugh.

"Like, since I got home pretty much."

"What?" Troy exclaimed. He never understood the point in studying so much, for school of all things. Not even half the stuff he'd learned was worth spending time cramming over. Jake was always the type to lock himself up and spend his days studying for whatever dumb test or quiz he had at school. Troy figured that was why Jake was so smart and successful, because he actually cared. He never went into any academic assessment without just winging it. Every once in a while he would quickly scan through vague notes, but that was it. He truly just didn't care enough for it. It wasn't like he was going to college anyway. He had more important things to focus on. "It's a quarter past six! You get out of school at two!"

"Yeah... and?" Evelyn faced him with a confused expression.

Troy seemed shocked. "That's such a waste of time."

Surprisingly, Evelyn didn't argue. "You're probably right honestly. I'm really bad at studying."

"So stop."

"You're crazy," Evelyn chuckled, "do you even do school?"

"Yeah, not often though. I have to because it's kind of illegal if I don't," Troy scrunched up his face. Evelyn only hummed.

"I just want it to be summer already," she dramatically threw her arms up.

"Yeah, me too. Then we can spend everyday together like true best friends do!" typical Troy. Evelyn physically facepalmed at the mention of them being 'best friends' but all she could do was learn to put up with it.

"Yeah, whatever," she tried her hardest to speak with a more playful tone than what she'd usually reply with. Troy noticed.

"Aw, Ev," he exaggeratedly gushed, "you're really warming up to me, aren't you?"

Evelyn sighed. "I guess I am," she couldn't believe her own words, even if they were faked.

"Aw," he trailed off, "come here."

Before Evelyn knew it, Troy was scooping her into his embrace. He held her so tightly, she could just explode. Her face naturally rested in the crook of his neck and one of her legs wrapped around the lower part of his torso, trying to find any kind of her own stability. She hated being so close to him.

"Troy," she strained, "you can let me go now."

"Why should I?" he teased. Evelyn was sure him and his stupid teasing voice would be the death of her.

"Because I will suffocate and die if you don't. Please," she lied. She was just fine laying there on top of him. In fact, he was actually really warm. It was sort of nice. She immediately missed the touch when he loosened his grip, but quickly scrambled back over to her side of the bed before she could come to any more conclusions.

"Ouch. You were in such a rush to get back over to your side," Troy turned his head away from her in pretend sadness.

Evelyn hummed in response. "Sorry I guess, I was scared you'd pull me in again with no warning and probably kill me," she spoke back to him with a tone that was equally as fake with a hint of pettiness in it.

"It'd be out of love though."

"That's not how it works."

"Ev, you're not being as hostile as you usually are," Troy turned himself to face the girl, "what's going on? Are you actually sick now?"

"No," she glared at him as he placed his hands on her forehead and her cheeks.

"So why are you being like this? It's weird."

"I don't know," she shrugged innocently. She was going to explain herself, but decided not to. He wasn't going to listen anyway.

Troy gifted her a blank expression. "That's all you have to say? You don't know? Come on, something changed. Did you have a good day or something?"

"Yeah," Evelyn lied yet again, "I did have a good day. A good night too."

"Well then please, have as many good days as possible. I like this Evelyn better."

Now it was Evelyn's turn to fake being offended for once. "But I thought we were best friends. Even on my bad days," she accused.

"Yeah we are. The best of friends actually. This Evelyn and I get along better though."

"So you like her better."

"No."

"That's what you just said though," Evelyn furrowed her eyebrows, trying to make the look in her eyes as upset and annoyed as possible.

"You just took it out of context," Troy insisted.

"No, no. I don't think I did. Maybe I'll have more bad days just for you, Troy."

"Alright, that's fine. Either way you'll be my best friend so what does it matter?" Evelyn let out a humorless chuckle at his response which lacked any truth. Not even a little bit.

a/n
peep this new cover y'all...
still just as simple and lazy
but idc i still like this one better
LMAO. i like this chapter
because i knoww something
that you don't knowwww and
it makes me feel like a mastermind!!!
hope y'all enjoyed and had the
best day ever. vote and comment!
so sorry for any mistakes
wc: 1158
02.17.22