Carl nodded in approval and started chewing with his mouth closed instead. He'd never liked to take orders but this felt different. She was his girlfriend. He would do anything for her. Except risky things, like stealing or so. When they were younger, the older kids used to try to steal stuff from them. Simon even stole a phone, from Lizzie. He sent spam mails to her friends from her e-mail account and hacked her social media accounts with it. Lizzie cried until she got her mom to fix it. Carl himself would never steal.

Courtney smelled the fresh scent of strawberry. Strawberry gum was on the top of her snacks list.

"If you take a deep breath, you feel the strawberry scent. Try!", she said with a smile.

Carl took a deep breath. The sweet smell of strawberry was spread in the corridor. If he would breath on anyone, that person would probably feel harmonic. Or become offended. The strawberry gum smelled exactly like the gum Amanda always carried around. Maybe it was the same brand.

That night, after school, Carl could only think about Courtney. He even dreamed about her.

Carl and Courtney were dancing tango at an empty dance floor. At the end of the dance, Carl picked up a red rose from the floor and gave it to her.

"THANK you, Carl! I love it...", she exclaimed.

Suddenly, Trent appeared from nowhere and took the rose from her. Everything got blurry and they were at a graveyard. As everything got clearer, Carl could see a crowd of people. He was laying down in an open coffin and everyone except Trent, who smiled taunting, looked sad. Carl flinched and tried to move but it was impossible. Trent threw down the rose at Carl and closed the coffin.

The next day, Carl woke up, scared, and sweat was pouring from his face. He took a deep breath and got out of the bed. When he entered the kitchen, his parents had already made breakfast. They were waiting for him, sitting on two chairs, reading two different magazines. His mom (Wendy) was reading a comic magazine and his dad (Ross) a news magazine. Carl waved to them.

"Hello, mom and dad."

They waved back and put their magazines in the corner of the laid out table. Bacon, pancakes, maple syrup, fried eggs and orange juice. Carl picked up the maple syrup bottle and poured an emoji on the first pancake. A devil emoji. That was supposed to be Trent in his nightmare. He still couldn't get him off his head. When Trent stole the rose from Courtney, his taunting smile and Carl being buried alive. Trent was crueler in the nightmare than in real life. Ross looked at the emoji, shocked.

"Why did you make that?"

Carl sighed deeply.

"Just a nightmare I had."

"About the devil?"

"Pretty much so."

After breakfast, Carl put on his black backpack. He got a ride to school by Wendy. The wind was breezing through the window that Carl had rolled down. When he saw that the A/C was on, he turned it off.

"No air condition when the window is open."

Wendy scoffed, surprised.

"Why not?"

Carl rolled his eyes, sighing.

"Because it's not good for the air conditioner."

Wendy gave Carl a quick, ashamed glance. She stared out of the front window.

"I didn't know that... I just thought you wanted to take out your feelings on me because of the nightmare. But I guess that's... Forget it, okay? I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

They arrived at the school parking lot with the car and Carl jumped out. He waved to Wendy before she drove away and she waved back. Carl had his favorite hoodie on. A blue hoodie with beige chinos. He hadn't used it for a year. The reason was that he didn't feel like anyone would appreciate it when Trent was around. But now, Trent didn't bully him anymore and everyone suddenly liked Carl. Which they probably did before too, they were just too afraid of Trent to show it.

Carl went to the schoolyard and saw Courtney sitting alone at a bench, looking around at the other students. She was wearing a purple satin dress, turquoise tights and black shoes without laces. He ran to her and hugged her, tightly. He'd never felt that happy since he got a bicycle. But Trent destroyed it. Of course he did. Because he was mean and selfish back then. Lizzie came to Courtney and whispered in her ear.

"He's so cute!"

She glanced at Carl. Courtney hissed in Lizzie's ear.

"He's not your boyfriend. Stop it!"

Carl couldn't hear what they were saying but he was sure they were fighting about him. Lizzie walked away with a sour look, her black ponytail swinging from side to side. The pretty, light pink Hello Kitty sweater she wore didn't match her appearance in that moment. Carl turned from looking at Lizzie to Courtney.

"What happened?"

Courtney shrugged.

"I don't know. She seemed to be in a bad mood."

Carl knew it wasn't true. Lizzie and all the other girls were still in love with him because of the hypnosis. And Lizzie was Courtney's best friend after all. She must've felt betrayed. Carl felt sorry for her.

"Yeah... Maybe, we three could hang out sometime, you know. Having fun after school."

"No. She just wants you too feel pity for her..."

They looked around at the people at the schoolyard. Simon was one of them. He saw them looking at him and gave them an arrogant glance. Then, he looked back at his friends and started talking again. They looked at Carl and Courtney sometimes, grinning. Carl couldn't tell if they were being happy for them or if they were planning something evil.

Simon walked to Carl and Courtney and took a picture of them. Carl tried to take the phone from him but Simon pushed him aside. He snickered, evilly.