"Five!" I said, throwing my arm around her shoulders.

"It's too early for you to want something from me," she said with a sigh.

"Just, hear me out," I said. "Listen, do you like anyone?"

"Are you hitting on me, Robbie?" she asked.

"Oh god I wish. You're a much better option than Josh. Unfortunately, I have no desire to sleep with girls," I said. "Just curiosity here."

She rolled her eyes and shut her locker. "What's bringing this on?"

"Wally and I were talking last night and it just got me wondering if you or Piers are interested in anyone," I lied. "So, are you?"

"That is none of your business," she said, ducking away from my arm.

"Claire," I said, giving her my most innocent face. "You can trust me. I never told anyone about that time you-"

"Don't say that out loud!" Five hissed, slapping her hand over my mouth. "God, Robin, you're the worst. Fine, fine. Look, I'm not interested in anyone. Yea, I think certain people are attractive, but I'm not dying to date anyone. Now go bother Piers about this."

"Yes ma'am," I said, saluting her.

I turned and walked off in search of Piers. I'd ask him, just in case Five questioned him about it. I didn't want her getting suspicious.

But if Wally had any chance with her, I wanted to find out for him. He'd never dated anyone before. He was too shy to ever go after anyone he was interested in.

"Robin!"

I turned as Josh ran up to me. "You never texted me yesterday. What the hell?"

"Oh, yea, sorry. Wally and I were binging some Batman movies," I said.

"You've seen all those movies at least a thousand times," Josh said in annoyance. "Did you talk to Wally or not?"

"He's got a crush on a girl," I said. "And no, he didn't just say it vaguely like that. I have details. I told you that you were just being paranoid and I was right. He's got no interest in me."

Josh looked suspicious. "Are you sure? He could just be lying, you know."

"I know Wally," I said. "He's not lying to me. Now, I'll talk to you later. I'm trying to find Piers. I've still got plenty of time before class to track him down."

"I saw him heading into the pool room," Josh grumbled. "And you get pissed that I don't text you."

"Wow, doesn't it suck when you're waiting to hear from your boyfriend and he never messages you? Truly tragic," I said dryly.

Josh shook his head. "I'm not fighting with you. Just go get Piers."

"Planning on it," I said, pushing past Josh and heading towards the pool room.

Maybe Piers could help me get more information out of Five. If Wally didn't want her to know about his crush, I'd make sure she never found out. But it couldn't hurt to do a little digging and just see the poor guy's chances. I wasn't going to force them into a relationship, but if it was a possibility, I'd help them towards that direction.

I entered the pool room and looked around, spotting Piers miserably circled by members of the swim team. I snickered and leaned against the wall as they continued to beg Piers to join them.

Piers was constantly harassed by the swim team and the track team to join them. He despised it, but he'd brought it on himself, really.

He noticed me and said something hastily before shoving through the crowd and over to me. He grabbed my shoulder, looking desperate.

"They cornered me. I don't want to join a sports team. I hate physical movement," he said.

I brushed his hand off my shoulder. "I'm well aware. Anyways, I've got a question for you."

"Ask me during lunch. Do me a huge favor, Robin. You owe me for making me stick around during that awkward scene between you and Josh the other day. Just go sit on the bleachers like you're waiting for me. I'll make my escape, and you head out when the bell rings. Please. They're determined not to let me leave," he said.

I rolled my eyes. "Yea, yea, I'll do it. You're welcome."

"Bless you," he said in relief, shoving me towards the bleachers.

He went over to the group and said something to them before slipping out of the room. I sat on the bleachers and pulled out my phone, scrolling through it to kill time until the bell rang.

"He's not coming back, is he?"

I looked up at the voice and a boy I vaguely recognized from around the school stood there. His arms were crossed, but he looked more amused than angry.

"Not a chance," I said.

He shook his head, water droplets flying off it. He was wearing swim trunks and had a towel lazily hanging off his shoulder.

"You're really his friend, right? I think I've seen you with him before," he said.

"Unfortunately, yes, I'm his friend. Also his escape route," I said.

The guy sat next to me, adjusting the towel. "I'm Rhys. We have no chance of recruiting him, huh? I keep telling the guys, but them and Coach are determined."

"He hates sports," I said with a shrug. "Well, since you've caught on to his brilliant escape plan, I'm going to head out. No need for me to be here. I'm sure he's hidden himself away by now."

"Well, you might want to warn him to stay hidden. The indoor track team has an eye on him too," Rhys said, laughing a little. "I have lunch with Piers, and they're all trying to get me to corner him and, I don't know, beg on my knees for him to join, I guess."

"Oh, Piers will be thrilled," I said.

Rhys grinned. "Piers Kasten, the laziest kid in this whole damn school and somehow the most athletic. I should probably be jealous of him, but I'm too busy being impressed."

"Well, you'll have to admire him from a distance. He's got no interest in joining any of the teams that are after him," I said, getting up.

"Just give him a warning. Good to chat," he said, getting up as well and heading back over to his teammates.

I left the pool room just as the bell rang, and made my way to class. My classes blurred by with my thoughts preoccupied.

Wally and I hadn't talked more about his confessions last night. I knew he didn't want me to bring it up, so as curious as I was, I didn't. But now I was wondering just how long it had been going on for. He didn't act strange around Five. How had I missed it?

When it was time for lunch, I grabbed my lunch out of my locker and headed to our usual table. The others were already there, which sank my plan of asking Piers. Not that I was all that concerned about it, but I just wanted to make sure Five didn't get suspicious of anything.

"Hey," I said to Piers as I sat down. "One of the swim team guys told me to warn you they're going to be hunting you down during lunch."

"What? Who? Why?" Piers said, looking around in alarm. "Christ, can't I catch a break?"

I shrugged. "Don't know. His name was Rhys."

"Oh man, Rhys is the captain of the swim team," Piers groaned. "He's in this lunch period. Shit. I guess I'll just have to break my own legs. There's no other option."

"You could change your name and flee the country," Five offered.

"What? No, that's not an option. Then I'd have to do my own laundry," Piers said, shaking his head.

Wally laughed a little. "You could just keep telling the teams no."

"I wish I'd never let myself get taunted," Piers said with a sigh.

Piers had broken the school records for multiple fitness tests. He'd been taunted his freshman year by one of the track team members, and decided to shut the kid up by beating him at everything. He ended up breaking most of the fitness test records, and beat some of his own records the next year. That set multiple sports teams after him, and he hadn't been able to escape since.

"There are worse things in the world than being talented," I said.

"Speaking of worse things in the world, where's Josh?" Five asked.

"Maybe someone kidnapped him?" I said hopefully.

"You're not that lucky and you know it," Five said.

"Why can't you let me hope?" I grumbled, sinking down in my seat.

"While you wallow in misery, I'm going to get a snack from the school store," Five said, getting up. "Anyone want anything?"

"I'm going with you. Maybe you can scare Rhys off," Piers said, getting up. "He knows what table I sit at. It's only a matter of time before he shows."

The two walked away together and Wally looked up sheepishly at me. He fidgeted with his hands for a moment before speaking.

"Thanks for not...you know, not bringing up yesterday. It was awkward and weird. I made it awkward and weird. I'm sorry," he said.

"Hey, I'm the king of shitty crushes," I said, then paused. "Wow, that sounded awful. Five isn't a shitty person, I just mean, you know, probably dreaming of banging girls. And you're not a girl."

Wally laughed. "No, I'm not a girl. So we should just let the whole thing drop, okay?"

"You could have a chance," I said, shrugging. "Just because everyone pins her down as a lesbian, doesn't mean it's true. She's never confirmed it."

"Or denied it," Wally said. "Look, it's not a big deal, Robin. Besides, no offense, but you're not the best at relationships."

It was my turn to laugh now. "No, no I guess I'm not very good at relationships." I blew out a sigh and picked at my lunch. "I'm being an asshole to him, aren't I? I hold grudges."

"You both make mistakes. He doesn't exactly treat you the best," Wally said, that concerned expression coming to his face that I hated. He worried about me so much sometimes, it drove me crazy.

"Well, you get what you give," I said, pushing my chair back and standing up. "I'm going to get a drink. You want anything?"

"No thanks," he said, shaking his head.

I walked through the cafeteria, heading over to the vending machine. Our cafeteria was split into two sections, separated by a wall. The vending machines were located in the larger section, which I was currently dreading. Josh was probably lurking around here somewhere with his friends.

I reached the vending machine without incident though, putting my money in and pressing for a water. I took it out of the machine and spun around, jumping in surprise.

"Whoa, sorry, didn't mean to scare you," Rhys said, holding his hands up. "I warned you I'd be coming for Piers. Some guys from the team have been getting on my case about it, but he wasn't at his usual table. Figured I'd come over here, ask you, let you lie to me, and then head back over to my teammates and tell them Piers isn't around."

"If you had this all planned out, why did you have to come scare the shit out of me?" I asked.

"Well, it had to seem like I actually asked you. My friends sit right over there," he said, nodding a little towards one of the tables. "I want them to leave me alone about it, but they're desperate for Piers. I play along."

"Well, Piers isn't around," I said.

"Oh no, what a tragedy," Rhys said in horror. "However will he tell me he refuses to join the team now?"

I reached out and pat his shoulder sympathetically. "If you stare into a mirror and say his name three times, he'll appear and tell you to fuck off."

Rhys laughed. "I'd be surprised if he appeared anywhere that I was. He's learned to avoid me."

"Does that mean you're going to start targeting me?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Only when I need to pretend I'm trying to hunt down Piers," Rhys said, grinning. "Sorry. You're the first of his friends I've managed to run into that doesn't threaten to kick my ass."

"Five?" I guessed.

"She threatened it, and then literally kicked me in the ass the next time I went up to her," Rhys said. "You have yet to introduce your foot to my ass, so congratulations, you win!"

"Great," I said. "I'll keep that in mind if you start to get on my nerves."

Rhys shrugged. "Hey, if I deserve it, I deserve it. Anyways, I'm off to go pass along the lie to my teammates. Thanks for the help. What was your name? I don't think I ever caught it."

"Robin," I said.

"Right, good to meet you, Robin. I'll try to bother you as little as possible," he said, heading off to his friends.

"Who was that?"

I lifted my water bottle and hit myself in the head with it. "Shit, that didn't kill me."

Josh came over and snatched my water from me. "Who was that?"

"He was just asking me something, calm down," I said, reaching for my water.

"I didn't know you were friends with him," Josh said, holding my water out of my reach.

"I'm not friends with him. You don't have to be friends with someone to ask them a question, Josh. If I got lost in the city and asked a crack addict for directions, it doesn't mean we're going to share jokes and text until the early hours," I said.

"What would Rhys possibly be asking you about, though?" Josh asked.

I paused and dropped my hand to my side. "I didn't say his name."

Josh blushed a little and pushed the water into my hands. "Okay, I know him, we have a mutual friend. He's just..."

"Good looking, and now you're jealous," I said. "Yea, yea, yea."

"I'm not jealous!" Josh said defensively. "He just came over here and cornered you."

"He didn't corner me. This isn't a corner," I said, gesturing to the open space around us.

"You know what I mean!" he said.

"You mean an attractive guy came to talk to me and in no way, shape, or form did anything even slightly flirtatious but you're jealous anyways because you're insecure and don't trust me," I said.

Now Josh looked angry. "I'm not insecure!"

"Oh, good, you're finally admitting you don't trust me. I cleared things with Wally so now you're jealous of a guy I've talked to twice," I said.

"Now you're just putting words in my mouth, Robin," Josh snapped.

"I'm going to walk away before I shove you inside that vending machine," I informed him, turning and walking away.

I made my way back to my table and dropped into my seat. Wally looked up curiously.

"You were gone pretty long," he said.

"I was protecting this one," I said, pointing at Piers. He and Five were back at the table with a bag of chips shared between them.

"Rhys?" he guessed.

"He doesn't actually seem interested in bothering you. However, Josh saw us talking and is now convinced I want to run off and do scandalous things in cheap motels with Rhys," I said.

"Not a bad guy to do scandalous things with," Five said with a shrug.

We dropped the topic and joked around for the rest of lunch. When the bell rang, we gathered our stuff and started towards the door.

Wally grabbed my arm and I nodded at Five and Piers to go on without us. When they were out of sight, Wally released my arm and bit his lip.

"He's getting really jealous lately, Robin," he said. "He's not trying to control you, is he?"

"Look, I'm not someone who would let Josh control me," I said, reaching out and lightly hitting Wally in the shoulder, offering him a smile. "I can look out for myself. He's obnoxious, sure, but he's not abusive. I'm fine, Wally. Really, I am."

He tugged on the sleeve of his plaid shirt and gave a slow nod, eyes downcast. "Okay, Robin. But you'll tell me if things get bad?"

"You'll be the first person I bitch to if things go too wrong," I assured.

He was silent for a moment before looking up at me. "I know you don't want to break up with him but...but maybe you should think about it!"

He bit his lip again, waiting for me to get mad. But I wasn't mad about that. How could I be? Anyone would think that from the outside.

"I'm content with how things are," I said, keeping the smile on my face. "Come on, let's go before we're late to class."

Wally nodded and we took off together to get to class. I felt no need to mess with things when I was content with them. Sure, they might get better. But they also might get worse. It was best to just leave things as they were.

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A.N.- So, what are you guys thinking of this story so far? :)