January 4th

Every Wintersville student groaned when they got out of bed this morning, and Skye was definitely one of them. Winter break was officially over, and now everyone had to return to school, most coming back with bags under their eyes and to-go coffee cups occupying their hands. Skye dreaded coming back for one sole reason, and that reason was having to face Hunter. If her Spanish teacher got her email with one simple request, then maybe she would be at ease if she got her seat changed.

Now with her brand new bike, Skye could ride herself to school without any trouble, not having to accommodate other people's schedules just so she could get a ride to school. As much as she would miss the morning adventures, all good things must to an end, and Skye had no idea where the guys stood with Hunter. She feared that they were still friends with him, but that worst-case scenario seemed pretty unlikely.

Skye kissed her dad on the cheek goodbye before he went off to work and she went off to school, heading off in different directions and starting their mornings. The weather was as cold as ever like every typical January, so Skye had to brace the cold air rushing towards her as she rode down the street. Even the warmest coat and gloves couldn't help one hundred percent, but the rush kept Skye going in the morning.

Upon arriving at school and locking her bike onto the bike rack (she thankfully still had the same old lock from before), Skye saw Levi, Danny, and Xavier walking towards the school entrance together, noticeably with Hunter absent. "Hey!"

She ran up to them, stopping them in their tracks and watching them look surprised to see them, Levi, especially. "Hey..."

"I like the new do," Danny interjected, complimenting Skye on the new appearance.

"Thanks." She said. "Um, no Hunter?"

"We haven't talked to him since the party," Xavier said. Despite all of the texts and calls, they all ignored Hunter's pleas. Nini even went to the lengths of blocking him on everything, mostly because she was getting "annoyed as hell". Hunter didn't dare contact Skye though. It probably wouldn't end pretty if he did.

"Oh, well, me either. Obviously." Skye replied, forcing a laugh to make it less awkward, but there was no saving the extreme awkwardness of their conversation. It was best that she just walk away and get to homeroom at this point as none of the boys in front of her knew how to respond to that. They all thought it would be messed up of them to laugh as well.

"Okay, this is just awkward." She cringed. "I'll see you in homeroom, Danny."

"Oh, I'll just come with you." Danny proposed, which Skye immediately agreed to.

"Alright. Bye, guys." She replied then awkwardly waved goodbye to Levi, who hadn't spoken a word since he said hey. Xavier did the waving for him, but there was no way he wasn't going to get to the bottom of the newfound awkwardness. He knew something else must've happened. Xavier wasn't stupid.

"Dude, what happened after you two left?" He asked Levi. "I was getting secondhand embarrassment and you know embarrassment of any kind makes me queasy."

"It's complicated." Levi frowned, which spoke a thousand words in itself.

Skye and Danny were well into the school already, struggling through the crowd of students as some walked as slow as turtles and others stood in the middle of the hallway for no reason. Skye figured she could get some truth out of Danny, specifically the truth on whether the trio were still friends with Hunter or not. She might as well face the facts now instead of later, and Danny was always a terrible liar anyway.

"Danny, be honest with me," Skye said.

"That was awkward?" He replied, not sure of what to say.

"Definitely." She sighed then stopped in her tracks, being just as annoying as the others who do the same thing, which annoyed some students walking down the hall. "Can I ask you something though?"

"Oh, of course," Danny said.

"Do you guys still plan on being friends with Hunter?" Skye asked, just spitting out the question instead of beating around the bush. "I know I can't force anything, but ya know..."

"Skye, what he did was shitty." He frowned. "I mean, he wouldn't even be breathing if he did that to Nini. I love her way too much."

"As sweet as that is, it still doesn't answer my question." She said sternly.

While Danny knew the answer for himself, he didn't have a clue about Levi and Xavier. Of course, he knew where Nini stood as that's his girlfriend, but having a whole talk about it with his two best friends needed to happen. "Well, I can't speak for Levi and Xavier, but I don't plan on talking to him anymore. I wasn't as close with him like Levi anyway, to be honest."

"You always seemed to have the most sense out of all of us." Skye grinned a little. At least hearing that from Danny put her at ease a little.

"You do too, don't be modest," Danny said.

"Oh, please-" she began, but then got interrupted by the warning bell.

"We better hurry up." Danny chuckled, already beginning to get ahead of Skye in their walk to homeroom.

"Hey, wait!" Skye exclaimed, extending her arms out and attempting to catch up to him, having a hard time doing so. "I'm grabbing onto your backpack to keep up!"

"I'm slowing down!" He let out a laugh, slowing his walking pace for the sake of Skye.

"You know, Danny." She said, a bit out of breath from catching up with him. "I really wish I had a guy as good of a person as you. Not saying I want you exactly, but you know what I'm trying to say."

"Who said you didn't have him already?" The person Danny was referring to was none other than Levi. Obviously he knew Skye wasn't implying she had interest in him, but he along with everyone else needed her to see that she already had a good guy who was completely loyal to (and in love with) her. Danny's words did make her think just a little, but the picture didn't become clear, at least not yet.

After homeroom, Skye walked as slowly as possible to chemistry, following another annoying hall tactic, but all with good reason. She figured Levi was mad at her for leaving his house with only a note and not a proper goodbye, but really Levi was still trying to process his latest revelation aka his love for Skye, which she didn't have a clue about.

She awkwardly stepped into the classroom, meeting eyes with Levi who was sitting in his seat waiting for her, just like it always had been. Skye took a mini leap of faith and walked over, setting her backpack down and sitting down in her seat while Levi could feel his cheeks burning hotter than hell itself. Completely oblivious to the reason why, Skye figured it had something to do with the cold weather.

"Hey, lab partner." Skye greeted awkwardly, lightly nudging Levi's arm, being extremely careful considering his shoulder had only been brace-free for a few days now.

"Hey." He blushed. God, she's so cute.

"Sorry for leaving your house like that." She added, referring to New Year's Day. Skye hoped the note would be enough, but Levi didn't want her to feel like she needed to justify it.

"I got your note, don't worry about it," Levi assured her.

"Oh, good," Skye said, letting out a sigh of relief.

"I liked the little heart next to your name." He teased. That immediately caught Levi's eye upon opening the note, and boy did he blush like it was nobody's business. The heart was merely innocent, but Levi couldn't help but be in awe of how Skye ended her note with that.

"Thanks?" She furrowed her eyebrows. "Um, sorry for not calling or texting either."

"Honestly, I wouldn't have known anyway if it weren't for Hunter spamming my phone." Levi joked although it wasn't a joke.

Skye didn't have a clue about the spam until now, and she secretly thanked god in her head that she didn't fall victim to it, unlike Levi. "Oh, yikes."

"Jinkies is more like it." He said, making a nod to Skye's Halloween costume from months ago.

"Yeah, jinkies." She forced a laugh. "Why don't you just block his number though?"

"I kind of don't know how to do that," Levi whispered in embarrassment. He wasn't very technology smart, but luckily Skye knew what she was doing.

"Here, give me your phone," Skye said, extending her hand out for Levi's phone, which was immediately given to her despite the hesitation.

"Okay..."

Skye held out his phone to show Levi what she was doing, then magically blocked Hunter and handed the phone back to him. "See, you just go to settings, click messages, then scroll down to blocked contacts, press add, then boom, blocked."

"You're a lifesaver." Levi thanked her. Finally, his phone would be put to rest. Poor guy thought it would explode eventually.

"And so are you," Skye replied, lowkey referring to New Year's Eve, something Levi caught onto and immediately began to say something about it,

"Listen, Skye-"

"If it's what I think you're going to say, then I'll just say this." She interrupted. "I can't force you to stop being friends with Hunter. Sure, he's like your best friend and-"

"I cut him off," Levi said out of nowhere, which made Skye's jaw drop.

"You-"

Before Skye could go on and say something about it, specifically the way Levi said it so casually, she was interrupted by their teacher, who put an end to the class's morning chatter. "Let's get started, class. The holidays are over."

"You..." she whispered as she struggled to form a sentence.

Skye was left with no choice but to collect herself and contain her composure if she was going to focus on class, but there was no way Levi was going to get away with not providing a further explanation. Of course, she was glad to hear him say it, but it shocked her how he did it without her having to convince him to. Maybe Skye was just so used to people not taking account of her feelings that it was so shocking when someone actually did.

When the class did end, Skye immediately followed Levi out the door, pushing Levi for an answer while on their way to English class. "So, are you going to explain now?"

"What's there to explain?" Levi asked. "He wronged you beyond forgiveness and I'm not okay with being friends with him. Simple."

"But like, I didn't even have to convince you!" Skye exclaimed.

"And that's a bad thing?" He questioned.

"I-I don't know!" She stuttered. "I know I said I couldn't force you, but this just really surprised me."

"I was going to do it whether you tried to convince me or not," Levi said. He didn't even have to give it a second thought after the incident. There was no way Levi could be friends with Hunter after that, especially when he cared for, no, loved Skye way too much.

"I'm a really good convincer, you know!" Skye argued. "Besides, I'm older than you. I'm gonna be eighteen in ten days, I could totally boss you around then, but I won't."

"Birthday in ten days, aye?" He raised an eyebrow. Yes, he was totally getting an idea after the mention of Skye's birthday.

"Yeah, why?" She questioned.

"You brought it up, so." Levi shrugged.

"Don't go planning any surprises, Daniels. I hate surprises." Skye ordered. The last time someone surprised her, Skye screamed in horror and almost kicked someone in the face. It was funny, but she still hated surprises.

"Can't boss me around yet." Levi teased.

"God, I hate you sometimes." She rolled her eyes.

"Ditto." But I love you more.

Later in the day when Skye arrived at Spanish, she immediately tensed up upon seeing Hunter there but was thankfully urged to talk to Mrs. Michaels, who informed her that she got her email and set her at an empty desk without anyone sitting one next to her. She also mentioned that if Skye wanted to change her seat and be put next to someone else, then she'd do that as well. Skye had no problem with being a loner in that class, so she just thanked Mrs. Michaels and sat down in her new seat.

While Skye wasn't over it completely, she was at mostly ease with things moving forward, hoping that Hunter would see this as a sign to not attempt to communicate in the future. Plus, after that brutal punch, he didn't want an entire beating from Levi. Skye could definitely hold herself on her own after throwing her drink in his face, but she could also throw a punch if needed.

In the upcoming weeks, Skye would see the light at the end of the tunnel and find so many reasons to be thankful for her life. While she may hate parts of it, some temporarily and some forever, love will always overpower the hate, and Skye would learn that very, very soon.

•••

MARIA TALKS!

and so we're back at school 😌

now i don't wanna say we're in the endgame yet, but we're getting there, trust me.

also fun fact about this chapter; the lines "you know, danny. i really wish i had a guy as good of a person as you. not saying i want you exactly, but you know what i'm trying to say." and "who said you didn't have him already?" came to mind VERY last minute. like, days before i posted this chapter. i actually really enjoy skye and danny's friendship and kind of wish i wrote more moments for them oops.

if the next chapter wasn't obvious, we're taking a bit of a time skip to skye's birthday, which i'm REALLY excited for. it's gonna be a cute one.

btw thank you SO SO SO SO SO MUCH for 1k votes and 5k reads!! it only took like 6 months or so but HEY we finally did it 😌

anyways peace out and don't forget to vote <3 oh and happy pride month ! all my peeps are valid in this household. hope you guys like the new semi permanent cover too! am i a legit writer yet LMAO