'I didn't mean it, Fenne! I just... I got angry and I'm sorry! Just open the door, okay? I don't want you to go! That's the last thing I want!'

Joost's voice was muffled through the door but she heard its crack. It was the same crack that she knew her own voice would do if she were to speak. The wetness on her cheeks turned from warm to cold as she dashed about the bedroom.

Grabbing her laptop and a change of clothes, Fenne stuffed it all into a backpack. She sniffled, wiped harshly at her face and caught sight of herself in the mirror.

She hated to see her lashes clumped together and the redness in her nose. If she wasn't so angry, Fenne would have forced herself to stop her pathetic tears. She didn't want swollen eyes in the morning, but instead, she shoved her arm through one strap and heaved the bag onto her back.

'Fenne, please,' Joost got his wish when Fenne appeared in place of the doorway.

He straightened up from the frame with hopeful eyes, but they dulled at the sight of her. Fenne could barely look at him as she collided with his shoulder, sending Joost to the side. He stumbled before catching sight of her backpack.

'W-Where are you going?' he asked, trailing after her. When she didn't answer, he quickened his pace down the stairs in desperation.

'Fenne?'

On the bottom floor, everyone gathered in the hall. They watched, not knowing if they should interfere, as Fenne bounded down the stairs with a wet face.

Hanna intercepted the woman and stopped her before she could head for the front door. This gave Joost time to jump over the last step and ignore Teun's call to wait.

'-Appie will drive you. I'll stay the night if you want,' he caught the last part of Hanna's whisper as he stepped around the two to be in their path.

'Liefje, hey, what-where are you going?' Joost said and looked at Apson nearby. 'Where are you driving to?'

'I'm going to stay with my parents, Joost.'

Joost looked back at Fenne and swallowed painfully. He hated to see how dark green her eyes were and how she struggled to look at him.

'What? No, you don't have to do that. You live here. You'll always live here.'

Another crack in his voice made Fenne slowly look up from Hanna. Her friend's gaze flickered between the two, making sure to wear a harsher look when looking at Joost. But he didn't care for it, because Fenne's sniffle took all of his attention.

'I quit. I don't want to work for you anymore,' she said, wobbly. She tried to appear strong in the face of her friends, but it was a pathetic attempt when her eyes were bloodshot and her nose leaked.

'Don't say that, Fenne,' Joost begged, his own vision blurring. 'I can't work without you. W-What about Eurovision?'

Fenne opened her mouth to speak, unknowingly holding Joost's sanity in her hesitancy. But Apson appeared beside them, joining Hanna in proximity of the tense couple. This made Fenne look away from Joost and plead silently to the man whose keys were in hand.

Hanna had already established that Apson was the driver. But at Fenne's watery eyes and Joost's resistance to stepping away, Apson gulped at the situation he was in.

'I think it's good if you guys have a night apart,' he said, looking between them. 'Don't make any decisions tonight. I think we're all just... tired.'

'Speak for yourself,' Stuntje mumbled.

'After Hanna's packed a bag, I'll take you to your parents house,' Apson said to Fenne, avoiding Joost who scoffed in disbelief.

'Can I wait in the car?'

Apson wordlessly held out the keys in reluctance. The jingle of keychains sounded as Fenne took them and let Joost meet her gaze one more time. No tears had fallen, but Joost stood with a crestfallen expression. His cheeks were hiked up as if to stop himself from crying and his forehead was wrinkled from his arched brow. It took everything in him to not step past Apson and take the keys out of Fenne's hand.

'Fenne...' his weak attempt fell short when Fenne turned away. He watched her head for the door, his chest aching when she wiped at her eyes when she thought no one could see.

'I'll be ten minutes,' Hanna said to Apson. He nodded and she glanced up to Joost as she walked past, but once again, her glare was ignored.

Hanna's absence set the rest of the group into motion. Teun and Daan awkwardly shuffled back into the living room, while Enzo lingered in the hallway with Stuntje. The two mumbled to each other, shrugged, and looked to where the commotion had occured.

'Dude... what happened? What did you do?' Enzo asked what everyone had been wondering.

'Doesn't matter what he did. You've got some serious love-bombing to do.'

Joost didn't need Stuntje's statement of the obvious but was in no mood to snark a reply. He brought his hands to his face and pushed his glasses up to rub at his eyes. The headache brewing wasn't soothed and the lump lingered in his throat. A sniff let its way out and Joost pulled his hands away to make it known that he wasn't crying.

'I'll talk to her on the way. But I'm not a miracle worker, so you better have something to fix this, Joost,' Apson said with a narrowed stare. He waited for a reply from the man who frowned in front of him and sighed when all he got was a limp nod.

Apson was going to have a long drive ahead of him.

---

'I need everyone in pairs. I expect you to all work on this quietly, so keep the talking to a minimum.'

Fenne straightened up in her chair and looked to Angela's empty seat. Her friend had come down with the flu and hadn't turned up that morning. This set Fenne on edge, knowing that she would have to sit in her science class on her lonesome. And, of course, Mr Daalmans decided that he would encourage partner work today.

'Oh, Fenne you're lonely,' Mr Daalmans announced in feign surprise.

'Um, yeah,' she cleared her throat and wiping the tip of her nose. 'I don't mind working on my own, sir.'

The teacher was about to agree, but caught sight of the three boys at the back of the class. They laughed in hushed voices and scribbled things on a notebook that sat on the middle desk. Unaware of the teacher's unimpressed stare, the teenagers threw their heads back and clutched their stomachs.

The trio were undoubtably going to create a fuss when Mr Daalmans tried splitting them into pairs. But he wasn't going to let the smart-mouthed boys better him this time.

'Joost! Can you move up here, please?'

Their laughter paused and the blonde in question went rigid in his seat. Pink lingered on his hairless cheeks and he subconsciously swiped his platinum hair out of his eyes.

Stuntje and Apson snickered beside him, thinking Joost was the only one getting in trouble. But when they caught sight of where Mr Daalmans' hand was motioning to, their smirks were wiped clean off.

Fenne heard the scrape of the chair next to her and turned to look up at her partner for the class. The boy shrunk into the seat, looking down at the wooden desk for as long as he could manage. Joost knew that as soon as he met Fenne's green eyes, he would be rendered a stuttering, squeaky-voiced puddle.

'Did you want me to write?'

In surprise, Joost looked up and felt his hammering heart freeze in his chest. The sunlight streamed in at the perfect angle to highlight the red in Fenne's hair. She had worn it down today and Joost wondered how he hadn't noticed her in the hallway this morning. She was so beautiful in her cropped cardigan and thin turtleneck. Never would Joost have thought he would find someone in a turtleneck so attractive.

'You... you didn't bring your book,' Fenne said, making Joost blink rapidly and look down at his empty desk.

'Oh! Uh, it's... it's back at my desk. I'll just go-'

'It's okay! You can be the brains, then.'

Joost twisted back around in his seat from where he had looked back to his friends. Stuntje and Apson had looked up at his movement, dying for a sign of what was going on at the table. But Fenne's sweet voice became his priority and Joost sat back in his seat, managing a flushed smile.

The only talking they did was about the experiment Mr Daalmans had performed. Their task was to discuss its reaction, which they did, in a painfully stale and boring conversation. If Fenne wasn't his partner, sitting so close that their shoulders could touch if he leaned an inch closer, Joost would have started daydreaming or fiddling with whatever was in his pocket.

'Did you see the fight on Tuesday?' Fenne asked without looking up from her notebook. She wrote their agreed answer and Joost thought he had misheard another scientific suggestion.

'H-Huh?'

'The fight? Between Greitje and Aaliyah?'

Joost couldn't forget the fight and not for the obvious reason. It wasn't because of the chunk of hair that had been left on the floor afterwards, or from Greitje's roundhouse kick that had knocked Aaliyah to the concrete. It was because Joost had been lucky enough to be directly behind Fenne and ghost his hand against her side when the fight raged too close.

'Oh, yeah! That was wild,' Joost breathed out a laugh at what he remembered. 'I heard Greitje sent nudes to Aaliyah's boyfriend.'

'Unwarranted ones?'

'Everything from Greitje is unwarranted.'

Fenne leaned back in her chair to laugh at Joost's comment. The soft murmur in the class blanketted the noise from Mr Daalmans, but Joost heard it loud and clear. He laughed along with Fenne, not finding his own words funny, but the sight of her wide smile sent his nerves soaring.

He wanted to take advantage of the situation. Mr Daalmans had unknowingly done Joost a favour by moving him next to Fenne.

Joost wasn't one for believing in fate or luck. He believed that everything happened for a reason, even the bad things. With Fenne sitting in the window's light, laughing at his joke, Joost was feeling bold and confident.

Maybe this was his chance.

'Hey, um... what are you doing after-'

'Alright, guys! What did you all come up with?'

Maybe Mr Daalmans knew about Joost's infatuation and was taking delight in his torture. The man brought the class' attention back to front, making Fenne look away from Joost attentively.

Joost deflated and leaned back in his chair. His brief confidence died without Fenne's smile directed at him, leaving him to steal one last glance at her side profile.

When the bell sounded, Mr Daalmans dismissed the class for lunch. Fenne closed her notebook and grabbed her bag from beside her desk. Her chair joined the series of scrapes against the vinyl floor. The movement next to her made Fenne look to see Joost pushing his chair in to head to go grab his bag.

'Hey, Joost?' she called and the boy looked up, trying to appear like he wasn't standing to his full attention.

'Yeah?'

'If you hear anymore about Aaliyah's boyfriend, can you let me know? I always hated her.'

'Really? You hate Aaliyah?'

He wasn't judging her. He also didn't care for Aaliyah, neither did Stuntje or Apson. Joost was more surprised to hear that Fenne, the most liked, prettiest and kindest girl in school, hated someone.

'I mean... does anyone like her?' Fenne raised her eyebrows and Joost's smile grew, making hers do the same. 'I'll see you later.'

Joost headed towards his desk where Stuntje and Apson waited. It was the first time they hadn't rushed out of a classroom at the sound of the bell. They watched Fenne leave the room before grabbing the blonde and harrassing him for details.

'Tell me you asked her out,' Apson begged at the sight of Joost's bright face. But at the shake of his head, Apson's shoulders sagged and Stuntje raised an eyebrow.

'You made her laugh, bro. You two were getting so close. How did you not ask her out?'

'Not the right time,' Joost shrugged.

'If you wait for that, you'll be waiting centuries.'

Joost shrugged.

'I'll wait if I have to.'