"What took so long?" I question Liam as he comes our way with a wide smile on his face after he sees me, or maybe just cause he won.

Anyways. I'd like to believe it's because of me.

He wraps his arm around, pulling me in for a side hug and kissing on my cheek "Hello love" eh. Better than last time. "Missing me already?" he said, raising his eyebrows making me blush. He shakes his head and says "They were celebrating the win."

"Alright listen, I'm gonna go and see if Leo's done with Hyde, and Evelyn why don't you fill him in on our little discovery." says Austin, and leaves.

I explain everything to Liam, while he won't stop staring at me with those charming brown eyes. "Liam." I frown with a smile

"Yes." he smirks.

"I'm explaining to you something important here. Stop doing that with your face."

"Doing what?" he chuckles, knowingly exactly what I am talking about.

"That being- all- cute- and- making- me- want- to- kiss- you thing with your face. Stop doing it."

"Well, if it makes you want to do what you just said, I'm not gonna stop doing it."

I sigh. "Okay how about we finish our unfinished business later today, after we straighten things up with Chloe. Please? You know how important this is for me."

He gives me a small peck on my cheek and says "of course I do. Oh. and speaking of later, we're gonna celebrate our victory at a friend's house. Why don't you come."

Knowing that the test went well, maybe I should celebrate. Mum always says that we need to take a little time out for fun that apparently helps us focus even more. "Yeah. Sure thing. Let's go see if Leo's done."

We reach the staff room and find Austin waiting outside.

"They're not done yet?" I ask. "And why is the door locked?" That's weird.

"Yeah. I called Leo a few times and he didn't pick it up. So I knocked on the door. Mr. Hyde came outside and said they'll be over in a few minutes."

Before I could respond to what Austin said the door of the staff room opened. Leo comes out. "Hey you okay?" asks Austin, his voice filled with concern.

"Yea- - "

"Waiting for your friend?" said Mr. Hyde as he comes out just from behind. "I accidentally locked the door. I realized that it was locked when someone started knocking. We were almost done by then so I didn't open it." Hyde puts his hand on Leo's shoulder and says "We had a good chat, didn't we Loe? " A smile curves up on his face.

"Yes sir." Leo's face on the other hand looked a bit pale. He has a tensed reaction on his face.

"Often children get nervous and scared when they find their academic scores deteriorating. But nothing to worry about. I'll help Leo throughout this. And with the star kid by your side you really have nothing to worry about." This time Hyde's arm wrapped Leo by the shoulder, making him gulp nervously.

While we walked out of the hallway Leo was silent and was walking very stiff. He is generally very cheerful even without any reason. Maybe Hyde talking about his bad scores made him nervous.

"Leo. You free tonight? There's this party at one of Liam's friend's place. They are going to celebrate the victory. Why don't you come?

Leo!"

"Huh. yeah, um.... I don't know, maybe." He shakes his head and says "I am not sure if I will be able to make it."

That took me aback. Usually Leo's the most excited guy when it comes to parties and celebrations. He is like the life of a party.

"No.... no. I am serious, you should really come. With all the Chloe situation lately we all have been stressed and I think we need to let go a little. It is actually good for you. Just have a last hurrah and then you can entirely focus on your studies and trust me I'll help you through this."

He nods his head and passes a sigh. "If you say so." He gives a little smile "Alright then maybe I will."

We go straight to Chloe's house after school. Her mother let us in and called Chloe downstairs in the living room where we were all sitting.

"Chloe, some of your friends are here. Come on down." I asked Chloe's mother not to mention my name because I knew if she'd hear my name she might not come down stairs.

Chloe comes down.

She was stunned to see all four of us.

"Chloe please. Before you say anything, give me one last chance. And let me explain. We want to show you something that might give a clearer vision of what actually happened."

Without saying anything else she walked back upstairs. We followed her to her bedroom.

"You know that you can't keep ignoring me like this. It's making both our lives more difficult than it needs to be. Leo's getting in trouble because of our fight." This made Chloe turn over to me with a confused look. "Yes. Leo had to go see Mr. Hyde." I felt Leo pinching my arm asking me to not tell her about this. Which I didn't pay much attention to. "Will you please listen to me for once."

"Evelyn stop! Stop this okay! You think I'm enjoying this. You think you and Leo are the only ones suffering. You have any idea how every morning I used to get up thinking how I have to go to school to see a bunch of unwanted faces. And the way everyone else looked at me. As if I was some kind of victim. The pity look on their face ripped me apart, knowing what they thought of me. The girl who got cheated on by her best friend. And you know how big of a deal Jasper and Hazel were. The minute Jasper and I started dating people were already curious about us. The day after Jasper and I...." tears filled her eyes. "We did...." her voice started breaking. "It made my skin crawl in shame. How I was so much in love with him and... he.... he did this to me. Hell! You did this to me" she pointed aggressively and tears started falling off her eyes.

I stopped myself from breaking down. And looked over Austin. He dragged his tab out of his bag and politely asked Chloe to sit. Explained everything to her.

I told her the whole truth about Jasper and I met in the cafe to patch things up between them. And how Hazel has been threatening me since. Chloe slowly stopped sobbing.

She looks up at everyone and then looks at her feet before covering her face with her palm "oh god. I'm- I'm soo sooo sorry." her voice starts shaking again.

"Hey. Hey, look at me." I squat down to her position. "I get it. But it's over now. And I'm sorry about my mum. You know her. She's always so uptight about my relationships. I'm genuinely sorry for what she told you."

She held me up and gave me a hug.

*door bell

"Chloe! It's Jasper!" says Chloe's mum.

We all run downstairs as Chloe rushes outside the door to jump onto Jasper and hug him. She gives him a tight kiss on his lips. Jasper's reaction is somehow unbelievably funny. He's completely blown away.

"Wha- - ?" He shakes his head. "Actually I don't wanna know. Let's just keep doing that."

Chloe gives him another tight kiss on the lips and then pulls off when Austin says, "Alright, time to get these two a room."

That's the type of joke Leo usually makes but, he certainly wasn't feeling fine after the talk with Hyde.

"Now this calls for a serious celebration. I mean this many good things in a series, now if we don't celebrate the universe might punish us." says Liam, inviting everyone to the party in the evening.

After I reached home, I thought that maybe mum's upset about my behavior earlier this week. After that argument she did try to cheer me up and start talking to me. But I either ignored her and walked away or shut her down.

"Mum?" She's sitting on the dining table scrolling down her phone with a glass of wine.

"Yeah, honey."

"So.... I'm sorry about" she turns around to look at me " for uh.... shutting you down so many times. I was really pissed about your little conversation with Chloe. And I still think that you shouldn't have done it."

"Oh Eva," she keeps her wine glass and mobile on the table and stands up. "You have no Idea how much this means to me. And yes. You're right I may have crossed the line. But trust me I didn't have any other motive. You're my little girl, and it hurts me to even imagine your life turning out like mine. I want you to have someone who'll love you unconditionally".

"I understand. And as a thank you, I'm taking your advice and going to a party tonight. My test went really well, Mr. Hyde called me separately to tell me how proud he is me. So I thought maybe this is the right time for me to have some fun. I guess?"

"You guess!?" she squeaked. "Of course it is. And who knows you might find someone to be your plus one for the fundraiser event"

"Ugh. mum...."

"Fine fine, I'm joking. Just go.... And have fun. You know you deserve it."

I go upstairs. Go to the bathroom to take a shower.

Phew. What a day.

I was just lying down on the bed thinking what outfit I should wear. Scrolling through instagram, pinterest.

Just when my phone buzzed (Text from Liam)

~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N

I tried my best to sell Chloe's side, I hope you guys could maybe relate. friendships are complex I've seen myself. But I never favour breaking up with friends. 

Anyhooo.... new people, new problems, more dramaaaa!

Stick around, see ya'll in the next chapter.