Evan.
The past week had come and gone within seconds. It felt as though time was moving too quickly and it didn't want to wait for anyone to catch-up with it. I'd seen more of Everly in the past week than my dad in the last two weeks but by now, I was used to it.

The cold mid-autumn wind greeted me the very second I stepped outside. I quickly shoved my fingers into my pockets as I desperately tried to warm them up. Harper hummed quietly as we walked in a comfortable silence to Everly's house. After walking for ten minutes or so, we finally reached it.

Harper ran up to Everly's doorstep and knocked on the door with a massive smile on her face. When Everly finally opened the door, Harper's toothy grin grew and she quickly wrapped her arms around Everly's legs.

Everly laughed and smiled down brightly at her, "Morning Harps! You look beautiful today." She carefully adjusted one of the bows on her hair, making sure it was straight. "There you go babes, did you do your hair?"

Harper proudly nodded, her two ponytails flying behind her. "I did it all by myself, without any help."

"Wow, well done Harps!" Everly bent down and held her hand out for a high five. She looked over at me, her smile widening, "Want a high five too? You look like you're a bit jealous."

"I mean, I would much rather a kiss than a high five but sure." I shrugged my shoulders and grinned over at her.

"I'm feeling quite generous this morning so maybe you'll get both at some point today," she said as she playfully wriggled her eyebrows at me. "Okay, Blake one and Blake two, let's go!" She took Harper's hand into her own and they started walking in the direction of the primary school.

I took a few long strides to catch up to them and placed an arm around Everly's shoulder, a massive smile on my face as I listened to her and Harper's conversation. After a short walk, we finally arrived and dropped off Harper.

Everly turned to me once we were sure that Harper has gone inside. "Can I like adopt your sister? She's honestly the cutest child I've ever met and that's saying a lot cause I say a lot of kids are cute."

I pretended to think for a few seconds before shrugging my shoulders. "I mean, I doubt she'd have any objections to that but I kinda like my sister. When she gets to her annoying stage and I feel like I might kill her, I'll send you the adoption papers."

"That sounds like a deal, let's shake on it." She held her hand out towards me, brushing away her curls from her face with her other hand.

I gently took her hand and shook it. "I guess it's a deal then. But just to warn you, it's very unlikely it'll ever happen since I doubt she'll ever get to a really annoying stage." 

"Sad times for me then, but I'll be waiting and if by the time I die I still haven't seen those papers, best believe that I will write the following on my grave: Evan Blake, where are the adoption papers?" Everly laughed and lightly nudged me as we continued making our way to school.

"By the way, you did bring the stuff for our history project, right?" I asked anxiously as I scanned Everly's face.

Everly shrugged her shoulders with a slight grin on her face, "I guess you'll just have to wait and see. I'll see you in seventh period Evan, bye!" She quickly disappeared into the crowd of people who were rushing to get to their form rooms before they were marked as late.

"You really are something Everly Garcia," I muttered to myself as I made my way to my form, hoping that Everly had in fact brought the timeline with her.

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Mr Wilson pushed himself off of his desk and clasped his hands together. "Thank you Samantha and Chloe, that presentation was...interesting to say the least. It didn't have much information but we'll discuss that in your detention later. Our final presentation is from Evan and Everly."

I stood up and walked up to the front of the room with Everly. My eyes scanned the class of about twenty-five students, my heart rate starting to pick up. I'd always hated public speaking; the thought of messing up in front of others was something that had often kept me up at night or left me panicking in the school bathroom.

"Anytime today Evan. The one time I actually want you to talk, you're completely speechless." Mr Wilson glanced up from his watch and over at us with a rather impatient look on his face.

I cleared my throat and looked down at the piece of paper that I was holding in my hands and quickly looked up again. I forced a smile onto my face which I could only hope looked convincing enough. "So, key topic one, it's a rather hefty topic as we all know. A lot of dates, figures and events and we're expected to remember all of these along with everything else in our other subjects."

"But, to help us all, we decided instead of doing a regular presentation where we just speak at you, we're going to make it interactive." Everly smiled and clasped her hands together as her eyes scanned the room. "We are going to need quite a few volunteers but because we want everyone involved as much as possible, everyone's names are in this small pile of paper and we're going to pick them at random."

I turned to Mr Wilson. "Sir, would you like to do the honours of picking the first three names?"

He walked over to the front desk and picked up two of the folded pieces of paper. He carefully put on his glasses as he read the names out, "Daniel, Emily and Kasey, you're up."

We handed them a rather short script and picked up our timeline. The rest of our presentation consisted of a few students re-enacting the events while Everly and I explained the key facts about it along with when it was and what it then lead to. After about fifteen minutes or so, we had managed to get round to all of the topics that we were supposed to talk about.

Mr Wilson was sat at his desk with a massive smile on his face as he looked at us proudly. "I'm impressed with the amount of work you two put in, unlike some people who know exactly who they are. You not only got all the information down, but you also made it interactive and accessible to everyone. Well done guys, have a seat."

Everly gave me a high-five and whispered quietly to me, "Wait for me after class finishes, also, there's your high-five from this morning." She went and sat down by Kasey while I went to my seat at the back of the room.

The next ten minutes went by quickly and before I knew it, the lesson was over. I packed up my things, glancing over at the doorway where Everly was waiting for me with Kasey since their row had been dismissed first.

Mr Wilson looked up from the pile of books on his desk and motioned for me to come over, "Evan, can I have a quick word with you? It'll only take a minute or so."

I swung my bag onto my shoulder and shoved my hands into my pockets as I made my way over to his desk, silently wondering what I could have done to annoy him this time. I was pretty sure I had handed in all my homework and had been more or less on time to his lessons.

"I just wanted to say well done again, I'm not entirely too sure as to what I was expecting from your presentation but you really impressed me. Keep up the good work Evan, you have a lot of potential and will most likely do very well in your exams. Your parents should be proud," he said as he actually looked at me for once.

"Thank you Sir, can I go now?"

"Sure, one more thing though Evan, please refrain from talking in my class, it does get incredibly annoying when you're laughing while I'm trying to teach."

A mischievous grin crept onto my face as I shrugged my shoulders, "No promises there Sir, I mean we all know the highlight of your lesson for everyone is me and my jokes. But bye Sir, have a nice day." I walked out and smiled over at Everly and Kasey.

"I'll see you later Kase, don't forget that we're facetiming at eight." Everly hugged her and watched her walk down the corridor, turning her attention over to me. "How does ice cream sound to you?"

"It sounds perfect, as long as it's vanilla." I smiled as she took my hand in hers while we walked out of school and made our way to Sally's.

◆◇◆◇◆◇

I put down my spoon and leaned back in my seat, looking around Sally's which was rather busy for a Monday afternoon. "You know, we were actually sitting here the last time we came." As I spoke, my gaze wandered over to Everly who was enjoying her half of the vanilla sundae.

She nodded and looked away from the ice cream and at me instead, "I know, I asked to be seated here for that very reason. You know, I'm really wondering why we didn't hang out with each other a bit sooner."

I shrugged and thought for a few seconds before speaking, "I think we were probably both too shy or scared to try and talk to each other individually. I know I was, like every time I saw you I just froze. I didn't know how to act in front of you so I just avoided you for the longest time until Nolan knocked some sense into me."

"You know, I genuinely thought that you didn't really know I existed or was anything other than one of Nolan's friends," she confessed while fiddling with a strand of her hair, her fingers tapping the table.

"Well, guess what, I did. I was just a bit shy I guess, I don't really take rejection very well." I shrugged a took a sip of my glass of water, looking around the dessert place.

I furrowed my eyebrows slightly as I felt something cold against my cheek and looked over at Everly with a confused look on my face, "What was that for?"

Everly shrugged, "No reason, it just felt like it was too good of an opportunity to pass up."

I leaned over and put a bit of ice cream on my nose, smiling gently, "There we go, we're now even."

"You know, this feels a lot like our first date here, except this time you're the one with ice cream on your face." Everly let out a small laugh and leaned over the table, gently wiping away the ice cream on my cheek with her thumb. "You know, I really like you Evan Blake, like a lot."

"I really like you a lot too Everly Rose-Marie Garcia," I whispered against her lips as I leaned forward and closed the distance between our lips.

As I slowly pulled away, I wiped away some of her lipgloss that had smeared onto my lips. "You know, your lipgloss tastes of strawberries. I like it," I laughed quietly to myself and looked over at her.

"I mean, I would hope I know that since I am the one who bought it and I wear it everyday. You know, I worry about you sometimes Evan." Everly shook her head, her eyes filled with amusement. "I can't believe we already finished this ice cream, we should probably get going. I'm meant to go to my brother's football match tonight since I didn't go last week."

I looked down at my phone and checked the time, "Yeah, I need to go and pick up Harper from after school club. But before we go, can I get one last kiss tonight?" I grinned as I looked at Everly, putting down a five pound note on the table as I got up.

"Maybe another time, but see you around Evan." Everly grinned and grabbed her bag, walking out of Sally's as I shook my head while watching her disappear into the distance.