{Brief Author's Note, please take time to read! It will be worth your while.}

Hello to anyone reading this!! Hope you enjoy this new chapter and that you're just as excited as I was while writing it!

I'm going to be giving a vote on the books of the first five people who vote on this chapter as a way to give back to the author community! Everyone deserves to be recognized for their work and I'm glad to be helping out on it <33

Anyways, enough talk, the rest of the chapter is below!

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"There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven't met yet."

- William Butler Yeats

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I now had 4 permanent absent marks on my record, I thought as I shoved the food around my plate. Tenderloin, rice, and a side of peas and corrects, a meal that was hearty as well as within the budget. Not like that mattered because Dawson adamantly, and I mean adamantly, insisted that he would be the one to pay for our meal.

Speaking of the Ledger boy, he sat across from me, watching with narrowed and calculated eyes, as if he was assessing me for something. It was nerve-wrecking to say the least because the last time we were left alone together, well, that was nerve-wrecking to the maximum.

I tried not to acknowledge his staring, but how long can you go ignoring someone who so obviously wanted to say something?

"Is there something on my face?" I finally asked, dropping my fork and looking at him worriedly. I began patting my face, trying to feel for something out of the ordinary.

My question seemed to snap him out of his trance. He sat up straighter and coughed. "Nope, uhm, I was just thinking about something."

"Thinking about what?" I pressed, feeling a bit bolder.

"Nothing."

"It's not nothing," I deadpanned, finally eating a piece of my tenderloin. I chewed for a while before saying once again, "Especially if it's got you eying me like how you are right now."

"How am I eying you?"

I sighed and looked at him, tilting my head to the side and quirking a brow.

"Like you want to tell me something but you feel if you do you won't like my reaction."

He let out a light laugh at my answer. He tilted his head to the side and quirked one of his lips up in an awkward sort-of smile.

"I'm that much of an open book, huh?" He chuckled, more to himself than me.

I sighed and decided to do something bold. I grabbed his hand that was on the table and squeezed it tightly. Telling by his lack of reaction, besides eying my hand, he didn't seem to care for the sudden intrusion of his space. It was a habit I had with all of my friends, squeezing their arm or hand when they're nervous.

"It's better to just ask it right away instead of waiting," I assured, trying my best to smile.

He smiled back at me the best he could before letting out a sigh. He squeezed my hand back and my smile started feeling more natural, I took it that he accepted my comfort.

"Are you and Cassidy close?" He asked, looking back up at my eyes and sending an emotion coursing through my body.

"Yes," I breathed out, curious about his question. My eyebrows furrowed and an icky noise was ringing in my ears, accompanied by a cold feeling in my stomach.

"How close?"

"Since the first grade," I answered, now pushing my carrots to a different side. Sorting helped me calm down. I didn't understand his line of questioning but something inside me started stirring.

Cassidy Brown, one of my best friends. Our first meeting was in kindergarten but due to some unforseen events I had left kindergarten half-way and returned in 1st grade, and since then, Cassidy, Elenor, and I were inseparable.

Cassidy Brown, one of my best friends. She was beautiful, a conventional beauty who had most guys swooning from a smile alone, it didn't help that her smile was rare and therefore became a valuable object men fought to attain. Literally fought.

Cassidy Brown, one of my best friends, who in the fifth grade, puberty had swallowed her and then shat out a goddess. From then on, I was no longer surprised whenever the boys I liked seemed to fall out of my line of vision and into hers.

Cassidy Brown, one of my best friends, the best of all friends. As I looked up from my plate and into Dawson's eyes, I knew then that he was no longer in my line of vision, I had lost him to Cassidy Brown.

"I have a favor to ask."

And there it was, the favor. In that moment, all I could think about was the movie DUFF. I gritted my teeth.

"Ask away," I sighed, dragging my eyes to look out of the window, grateful that I had something to distract myself from the shattering of my heart.

Dawson didn't seem to notice my shift in mood, or rather, he didn't care.

"Tria." His voice was low, eyes lower.

My eyes returned to his, curious—worried.

"Help me make Cassidy fall in love me."

I dug my nails into my skin, teeth gritted. I should have been shocked by his request, I really should have been because not many people were bold enough to leave subtleties behind to outright demand for help for an obscene task such as making someone in a relationship fall in love with them.

"No."

It was final. No abrupt reaction of outrage from such a horrible ask, just one word that meant I would no longer entertain his request.

Again, to my surprise, Dawson smirked, a dark smirk like he knew my response was coming but he did not like it either way.

"He's not the knight in shining armor Cassidy always dreamed of."

When did you and Cassidy get so close?

"Not everyone is," I retorted, crossing my arms and keeping my eyes down, blinking rapidly. "Cassidy has high expectations."

"That's why it's a surprise she settled for my brother."

"She didn't settle for him."

"You know what I mean," He groaned, almost sneered out. He began tapping the bottom edge of his can against the table in what I assumed to be a nervous habit. "She deserves better."

"She deserves you?"

"More," He gritted, his eyes casting over to the side, glazed in an emotion that looked shattering.

"More what?"

"More than me."

I stared at him. No, like actually stared at him, without the expectation of reciprocation, need, or want for something long passed. Dawson Ledger had his one hand pushing his hair back, the other one tapping his soda can nervously against the table, eyes glued to the window, his brows knitted in worry, and from all these factors combined was I able to confidently conclude one thing.

I had never lost Dawson Ledger, he wasn't mine to lose to begin with. So with pursed lips, eyes glossy with emotion, I lowered my gaze and spoke the only words I could utter.

"Fine . . . I'll think about it."

Dawson's eyes snapped to mine as I stood from the table, gathering my things, food untouched.

It seems I'm going out with an empty stomach once again.

"Really?" He asked, eyebrows permanently knitted together, and tone in disbelief.

"Yes," I forced out, hoisting my bag up my shoulder and leaving my share of the bill on the table. Dawson eyed the money for a while but then I said, "I can't make any promises, though."

"All I need is for you to consider it. I know you'll say yes in the end."

I stopped. I looked at him again. "How?"

This time, he smiled at me, a confident smile.

"Because you love her too."

~*~

"-and finally we'll need to assign five people to spearhead the designing process for our pubmats. I'm thinking Atria for the bloodletting activity," Gerald announced, his eyes sweeping the room until they landed on me.

He pushed his glasses further up his nose and quirked a brow, his lips drawn in a thin line. "You here still, Atria?"

I smiled at him apologetically. I had been spacing out throughout the meeting, my mind still on my conversation with Dawson. "Yup, got it all noted down."

He hummed thoughtfully, still observing me, before turning his chair so that he was parallel with his laptop at his side. "You'll team up with Theodore, he's a new infomedia member who signed up for the leadership program."

"Got it," I replied, writing his instructions down. "When do you want the pubmats done?"

"Just make sure they're ready by next week Wednesday before we publish on Friday, Elenor is hoping to see them before we release them."

My lips quirked up as I thought about Elenor. She was the reason I joined the organization in the first place, a real student leader who was willing to put her all into serving the student body. It's her dream to become student body president and becoming president of the biggest organization in school was her first step to achieving that.

"Noted." I finished scribbling all the tasks assigned to me and then dropped my pen after Gerald directed his attention to another member.

I sighed and leaned back on my chair, now free to think about Dawso-

"You know he gave you the bloodletting activity because of your name, right?"

I turned my head to my side, eying the green-eyed, brown-haired boy suspiciously. I quirked a single brow and asked, "What?"

"Your name is Atria," He pointed out, as if I didn't already know.

"Yeah, I kn-oh."

I pressed my lips together, realizing what he meant.

"Cause my name is Atria."

"Yup," The green-eyed boy chuckled, snapping his fingers and then pointing it at me like a gun. "Ding ding ding, right on the money!"

I chuckled nervously, or more like politely. If someone put in a good effort to make me laugh, I might as well offer a chuckle.

He seemed to like the fact I was gracious enough to give him a positive reaction, a smile adorning his soft and pretty features. He jutted a hand out to shake, "The name's Theodore."

I smiled at him. "The infomedia kid."

"The infomedia kid," He confirmed, winking at me. I chuckled, a real one this time. "Really like the name, by the way."

"My dad chose it, he's a cardiologist."

"Mm, of course he's a cardiologist."

We smiled at each other, easy-going smiles on both of our faces.

"Where'd you get your name from?" I asked him, tilting my head slightly to look at him better. It was a habit I did with strangers, observe their faces for no particular reason.

"My mom just thought it was cute," He answered, pushing his hair back and then rubbing his neck when he noticed me staring.

"It is." I agreed with a nod of my head. "Your nickname is probably Teddy, I have always liked the name Teddy."

He chuckled, his eyes closing slightly from how his mouth quirked up into a smile. "Well, my nickname is Teddy—b-but don't let it fool you! I am not as cute as my nickname."

"Are you now?" I teased, cringing slightly from how defensive yet playful his words sounded.

He chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck and sitting straighter when he noticed me lean in. When I smiled at him, he seemed to regain his confidence.

"That's right, back in my old school they'd call me Teddy the Ter-"

"Atria, Theodore, I'm going to need your vision board for the pubmat in three days," Gerald called to us, his eyes still on his laptop, not noticing he had just cut Theodore off.

"No problem, Ger," I answered him. I turned to Theodore and smiled bright, "Teddy the Ter and I got it."

Teddy grinned at my joke, his cheeks flushed.

"What was that?" Ger asked, finally looking up from his laptop. I waved him off and replied with a short, 'nothing.'

I opened my notepad and scribbled some letters on it. Once finished, I slid it over to Teddy.

"That's my contact," I told him. "We can use it to discuss our ideas, just message me first and I'll try to reply as soon as I can."

"This is almost the fastest it took me to get a girl's number," He joked, surveying the contents of the note.

I shrugged my shoulders and leaned back into my chair, giving him a coy smile. "You must be a lady's man then if this isn't the fastest."

"Ding ding ding, you've got it once again."

I let out a loud laugh, placing a hand over my mouth as I stared at him with mirth. He grinned at my reaction and shrugged his shoulders, as if it was an easy hobby of his to make girl's he just met laugh.

"You're funny."

"I've noticed, thanks to you."

I was about to reply again, when suddenly, the doors to the club room opened and a blonde girl yelled out.

"Tria! One minute more or else I'm leaving you."

Just like that, the door slammed shut once again.

Everyone turned to look at me, causing me to go tense in my seat. I smiled nervously and began to gather my things.

"Who was that?" Teddy asked, looking up at me as I stood.

"Cassidy," I replied shortly, remembering something. Teddy noticed my discomfort and leaned back in his chair.

"She seems like a handful," He sounded out, his eyes not meeting mine, still glued on the door from which Cassidy had just been standing.

"She is," I groaned out.

"I've always hated carrying the groceries inside."

I looked at him. He was staring at me.

I blushed and looked back down at my things, my lips pulled up in a sort-of smile. I pushed my hair back and then this time met his eyes.

"Text me."

"I will."

A goofy grin remained on his face even as I waved him goodbye and exited the room. My heart was thumping in my chest at a fast pace, nothing to scare, but still, it felt good.

"Finally," Cassidy moaned out, looping her arms over mine, letting me latch on to her.

"Thank you, Cass," I purred teasingly, leaning my head on her shoulder as we walked down the halls. My heart continued to beat in pattern with our steps, my smile feeling permanent.

"Yeah, yeah," She grunted but a smile still adorned her perfect features. "I always drive you home."

"I know."

"You can at least hurry up your meetings for me."

"We're having a busy week," I mentioned, sighing as I thought about the pressure we were on. "Elenor has us doing five different projects."

"No way!" Cass exclaimed, stopping in her tracks and looking at me wide-eyed.

"Way." I pulled her forward to continue walking in step with me. "An outreach program, a beach clean-up, bloodletting activity, tree planting, and feeding program."

"Is she trying to kill you guys?" Cassiday asked, her face still shocked by the amount of work that we had to get done. Her shock was justified, finals were coming up and everyone was on the rocks with Elenor's decision for accepting so many projects.

"We're debating on pushing the outreach and tree planting to next semester since we still haven't announced them yet, I think Elenor will understand that it's too much."

"She's been on the edge lately," Cass voiced, a frown on her face. Elenor, for as long as we've known her, had always been on the edge of the academic life, always pushing and never willing to be dragged behind.

I sighed and nodded my head, thinking about our dear friend. "We should talk to her."

Cass nodded her head in response, pushing the exit door open.

As we bounded down the stairs, arm in arm, I saw something in the middle of the parking lot. I squinted my eyes, it looked red and shiny.

"Is that a mustang?" Cass asked, her eyes squinted as well.

My heart began to heat again, harder than it did when I was with Teddy. I gulped, noticing the silhouette leaning up against the vintage car that belonged to the patriarch of the Ledger family.

"It's Dawson."

• • •

This chapter took me a while to complete, I had changed the plot several times because I was desperate to get it just right without surpassing my goal of 2.5k words maximum. Unfortunately, still haven't figured out if this is my vision for it but editing will proceed once I gauge how people receive this chapter.

Anyways, if you guys enjoyed, please leave a comment, vote, and share!!

Lots of love
- T