"So, I got you something," Troy said almost giddily when they pulled up to Evelyn's house. "I'll show you when we get up to your room."

"Okay..." Evelyn responded, stomach turning in nervousness. She loved surprises, but not when they came from Troy. She didn't trust him like that yet.

"Turn around," Troy grinned as he shut her bedroom door. Evelyn complied. Usually she would question him, but she was interested now. She felt him come up behind her and gently push her hair to the side. Her breath almost got caught in her throat. She heard him fumble with something for a second before his hands came over her head. She saw the gold chain dangle in front of her eyes for a second, and her stomach twisted further. Troy clasped the necklace and returned her dark hair back to it's previous spot.

Evelyn looked down at the small piece of jewelry. "T as in Troy?" she stared at the letter.

"No, T as in trombone," Troy quipped sarcastically. "Yes, T as in Troy!"

"Troy?"

"Yeah?"

"Troy."

"Yes?"

She turned around to face him. "This is something couples do, you know that right?" Evelyn spoke slowly, not knowing what to think of the situation. She grew more and more nauseous by the second.

Troy shrugged, "I honestly don't care. It can be a best friend thing if we make it a best friend thing."

"I never see you giving that Max boy things like this," Evelyn squinted her eyes.

"It's Mike," Troy corrected, "and him and I aren't friends the way we are. Don't tell him but, I think I like you better."

"Troy... where did you even get this? This must've cost a lot," Evelyn avoided eye contact with the boy standing before her. She could not wrap her head around the situation she was currently stuck in, and she wished it'd be over already.

"Don't worry about it, I'd spend all the money in the world for you," Troy's lip quirked. "I noticed you wear a lot of gold jewelry so I got you a gold one. Mike said it'd be nice."

"And you're telling your friends about me?!"

"Evelyn," Troy groaned, placing his hands onto her shoulders, "you're overthinking it. Appreciate the gift."

"Thank you, I guess," she shook her head in confusion.

"You guess?"

"Yeah!" she brought her hands up to cover her reddened cheeks. "This is something that boyfriends and girlfriends do. We aren't boyfriend and girlfriend."

"But we could be."

Evelyn froze. "What?!"

"I'm kidding," Troy laughed. Evelyn let out a huge sigh of relief. She'd just started trying to get used to him. If she found out that he liked her, her heart would probably give out from all the stress.

Evelyn watched as he laughed a little too hard. She tilted her head and moved her hands down to her hips. "Shy is that so funny to you?"

Troy's laughter quickly ceased. "Evelyn."

"Hm?" she hummed.

"What is it that you want from me?"

Troy's eyes practically burned into her face as she calmly shrugged. Evelyn was thinking about how to respond, her mind going a million miles an hour. Was she supposed to say 'just a friendship'? was she supposed to say 'nothing'? "Friends," she blurted.

"And that we are," the boy smirked, "but seriously, you can just tell me if you want anything more," he leaned in closer to her, fingers wrapping around her wrists. Evelyn's eyes grew wide and her untanned cheeks turned a deep mixture of pink and red.

Evelyn swore her heart had skipped about five beats. How did her day go from taking a boring history test and crying to her sister to having Troy in her face like this? If she were to tell her old self that her and Troy would be talking like this, she'd laugh in her own face. This was so unpredictable, and they both knew it. They also took note of the fact that Evelyn wasn't fighting it.

"Ev," Troy started. "I'm kidding."

She closed her eyes and huffed. "You're the worst," she whispered. This statement didn't hold as much venom and anger as it usually would. She was too flustered, and confused, and weirded out all at the same time.

"I got you twice in a row!" he poked at her sides. She weakly tried to push him away, but she could never overpower him.

"Katie!" Evelyn waltzed into her younger sisters room a couple hours later. Troy left. "You will never believe what just happened!"

"Oh my god," Katie stopped what she was doing. She was still dressed in her cheerleading uniform. "What?"

Evelyn frantically moved her hair away from her neck. "Look at this!"

Katie squinted her eyes. Evelyn watched as her jaw slightly dropped and her eyes widened. "T as in Troy?"

"T as in Troy!"

"Oh my god!"

"Right?!"

"Evelyn!" Katie exclaimed. "What does this mean? How do you feel?"

"It's so weird!" Evelyn replied in the same tone.

"Good or bad?"

"Uh— bad... I think!"

"What?" Katie grabbed Evelyn's arms. "Why is it bad?"

"I don't know, it's just strange! This is like a couple thing!"

"Exactly!"

"What?!" evelyn shouted with knitted eyebrows.

Katie shouted back with excitement. "This is like, the cutest thing ever! That boy is so into you!"

"Katie."

"Evelyn!" the two girls' moods differed completely. "So what happened? How'd he give it to you?"

"He just put it on me, nothing special."

"But it isn't nothing special! It is so special!"

"Stop it!" Evelyn's hands covered her flushed face.

"Look, you're blushing! You like him!"

Evelyn raised her head and stared at her sister with a shocked expression. She could not believe the words that just came out of Katie's mouth. "I do not like him!"

"Oh, please! Why else would you be acting like this?" Evelyn struggled to come up with an answer, but she knew for a fact that she did not like Troy. Not even a little bit. "See, you can't even answer that!"

"I'm just confused, Katie!"

"I'm sure he likes you too!" Katie continued, disregarding her sister's scowl. "I mean, just look at the necklace!"

"No he doesn't!" Evelyn countered. "He just likes to tease."

"What if that's his way of showing that he likes you?"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Katie," Evelyn groaned.

"What? What's wrong?" Katie tilted her head, waiting for her sister to give a good answer.

"Why is he doing this?" Evelyn cupped her warm face, falling back into Katie's bed.

"Because he likes you!" Katie grew agitated at her stubborn sisters' attitude.

Evelyn sighed. "No he does not! I mean look at me! Why would Troy like me?"

"Um— because you are so pretty and so nice?"

"No, no," Evelyn shook her head. "I know that. Look at me. I'm not white."

Katie slapped her mouth with her hand like she'd just said something she shouldn't have. She couldn't believe herself. How could she overlook something like that? They had just spoken about it earlier in the day. Evelyn had never spelled it out so bluntly. "Oh god."

Evelyn nodded. "See where I'm coming from?"

"Yes, Ev. I am literally so dumb. I'm so sorry," Katie pulled her sister up into a tight hug.

"Don't be, oh my gosh," Evelyn wrapped her arms around the younger girl. "I just can't help but like, doubt him. I wish i didn't have to, but I do."

"Yeah, I get it," Katie nodded. "Wait! We keep forgetting what we talked about!"

Evelyn pressed her lips together. The two were just as stubborn as each other. "We agreed on friends."

"You guys are still friends."

"This," she pointed to the necklace, "isn't friendly. it's boyfriendly."

"Did he make it seem boyfriendly?" Katie placed her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, for like a second," Evelyn answered timidly. "Then he said he was kidding, but I still think it's pretty weird."

"Okay, so then it's just a friend thing. We need to stop overthinking it."

"That's what he said!"

"Maybe he was right!"

"Fine," Evelyn huffed.

a/n
are we getting somewhere?
i don't know i can't sayy...
but i hope you guys enjoyed this
kinda interesting chapter! i hope
you enjoyed the high school
musical references too LOL
wc: 1353
03.07.22