─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"you're not mad at me?" stasie asked her mother as they walked into the house.

"what? no." michelle jackson shook her head, "you can go out, no issue. i just didn't know you managed a band."

"i don't properly manage them. sometimes, i just take care of the gigs." stasie explained as she laid down on the couch, exhausted although she hadn't done much.

"right." michelle nodded while she made her way to the kitchen.

stasie was a rather strange girl, and her mother had no idea how to communicate with her, so she was struggling.

"do you play with them?" michelle quizzed.

"only during practices." stasie revealed, "i still don't like crowds."

"how do you practice?"

stasie froze, "oh, you know... video calls. they've got really strong internet connection."

"that's nice." michelle complimented, "so, three boys... any crushes."

the brunette turned to her mother so swift, she nearly tumbled off the couch, "mama?!"

"i'm guessing that's a yes." michelle laughed.

"maybe."

her mother hummed, "speaking of, those boys look very familiar."

"really? small world." stasie suggested.

"no, it's almost like i've met them before." michelle continued, "i didn't see the whole performance, but maybe if i could get a closer look-"

"i-i don't think so." stasie quickly cut her off, "just three boys. normal, random boys." she tried to convince her mum, "anyways, i've got homework."

michelle watched as stasie stood up from the couch and sprinted upstairs. once stasie reached her room, she shut the door behind her and sighed.

"hey!" a voice greeted her.

"alex? what are you doing here?" stasie asked the blond boy.

"lying on your bed." he told her.

"i see that." she nodded, "why?"

"just came here to talk." alex grinned.

stasie looked sceptical but gave him a smile, she sat down on her bed and waited for him to speak.

"so, reggie's pretty cool. isn't he?" alex asked with a smirk.

"he is." she nodded, "but so are you, and so is luke."

"but reggie?" he continued.

"alex..." stasie sighed.

"i think he's got a thing for you too." alex suddenly said, "don't tell him this but i've noticed he's stopped winking at random girls during performances."

"what?"

"yeah." alex nodded, "he only winks at you now."

stasie flushed red and turned away from the boy, "well, sheep outnumber people in wales by more than four to one."

"great, you're nervous." alex grinned.

"how is that great?" stasie quizzed.

"because, reginald peters makes you, anastasia jackson, nervous."

"can we please drop it?" stasie shut her eyes, firmly.

alex nodded, "of course. so, who's carter?"

"dance partner at school." stasie explained.

"he's cute." alex told her.

stasie laughed and shook her head, "i guess. so, who's willie?"

it was alex's turn to flush red, but he maintained eye contact with the girl, "ghost friend."

"is he cute?"

"so cute." alex nodded, "but i haven't spoken to him in a while."

"don't worry about it, i'm sure he'll come around," stasie reassured him.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

with a deep sigh, stasie walked into the first period she was dreading - her physics lesson. as she entered the room, it was clear she was tardy because everyone had already got sat down.

"sorry i'm late, sir." the brunette apologised as she shuffled to her seat at the back.

"just take your seat and bring out your exercise book, anastasia." her physics teacher sighed.

stasie nodded and reached into her bag, pulling out her yellow book. she dug through her pockets for a pen, quickly finding one.

"to start the lesson off, i will divide the class in half to play a game." mr barton announced, "from matilda, you're on team a and from stasie, you're on team b."

stasie sighed, these were the games that lead to her being picked on to answer.

"two points for each correct answer."

"hey!" reggie greeted the girl, appearing on her table.

stasie flinched back in shock and confusion, "what are you doing here?" she whispered with her hand covering her mouth.

"heard there was a game - i love games?" reggie told her with a wide smile.

"how did you hear that?"

"... from outside."

"two points for team a." mr barton announced, making the left side of the room cheer, "representing team b, can i have miss jackson?"

stasie face dropped before she stood up and made her way over to the whiteboard. a marker was placed in her hands and she waited.

"the first question is: state a way in which a magnetic force can be increased."

the jackson girl froze and could feel panic rising through her body.

"increasing the current!" reggie yelled out.

stasie turned to him and saw him giving her a nod and thumbs up.

"are you alright, miss jackson?" the professor asked her.

"yeah..." she trailed off as she began writing reggie's answer on the board.

mr barton pulled down his glasses and blinked rapidly to see if he was seeing alright. stasie had written the correct answer on the board, leaving him shocked.

"two point for team b!" he declared.

the members of her team began lightly clapping, making her smile.

"next question: what is one way you can reverse the direction of an electromagnet."

before stasie could even make a move, reggie had called out again from her desk.

"reversing the battery." he stated, "one of my favourite questions."

she gave him a look before shrugging and scribbling his words down on the board.

"correct again! thank you anastasia." mr barton nodded, "that's 4 points - team b, 2 points - team a."

team b began whooping and cheering as they were currently in the lead. stasie turned back to her desk to thank reggie, but he was already gone.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

in her black, above the knee dress, stasie was stood beside carter in the gym.

"boys, i want you to focus and leave it all out on the field." coach barron told his players.

everyone began muttering to each other, confused.

"you're losing them, frank." miss jordan nudged him.

"no, no. i got em." he shook his head.

"breathe in..." miss jordan inhaled, "shake out your nerves."

the dance class and lacrosse team began shaking their limbs, following her instructions.

"surrender to the music and to your partner. here we go." miss jordan stepped over to the speaker.

"oh, ah!" the coach gestured before following the dark-skinned lady.

"ready to carry the performance?" carter joked to the girl.

she shook her head, "you've improved. i say we're okay as long as you don't step on my toes... again."

"it was twice." he clarified.

"and then a third time, a fourth, a fifth-" she droned off.

"okay, i get it." carter laughed, "some people were born with two left feet - it sucks."

"you'll be okay." she patted his shoulder.

the rhythmic music began playing and the two got into position.

"five, six, seven, eight."

they began dancing to the beat, surprisingly not making any mistakes. that was until the very end where stasie ironically stepped on carter's feet.

"ah!" he cried out.

"oh my gosh." she slapped her hand over her mouth.

carter looked up at her while holding his foot in pain. the girl silently began chuckling behind her hands but carter detected it.

"everything was going great until that part." he sighed.

"i am so sorry." she apologised.

carter shook his head and raised his brow, "that large smile on your face says otherwise."

"it's just... i didn't expect to be the one stepping on your toes," stasie confessed.

"glad to see you have so much faith in me." carter teased.

she chuckled, "that was amusing and we did amazing."

"we did." carter nodded as one of his friends came over.

"good job, man." he greeted carter.

stasie gave an awkward smile before waving at the two, "see you later, carter."

"bye."

"did you see where julie went?" flynn quizzed the girl as she pulled her aside.

"she's right..." stasie turned to nick to see him with one of his teammates, "she's not here."

"come on."

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

stasie pointed to the music room, the only place they haven't looked. flynn shrugged and the two walked in.

"there you are." flynn declared, catching julie's attention, "we've been looking all over for you."

"hey jules." stasie waved at her in greeting.

"why'd you run out of dance class so fast?" flynn questioned while she pulled out two chairs.

"sorry." julie apologised, "i just needed some air. it was a little intense in there."

stasie smiled while flynn nodded, "oh, we noticed. didn't we stas?"

"we did." the jackson girl smirked.

"dancing with a guy you've had a crush on for forever will do that to a girl." flynn added on.

"yeah. but the whole time we were dancing... i was thinking about luke." julie confessed.

"no way." stasie elevated her eyebrow in slight shock.

"seriously?" flynn leaned forward, "first off, called it. second, i know you always want what you can't have, but luke is next-level."

"i know." julie sighed, "and now i think nick likes me. nick!"

"that's a good thing, isn't it?" stasie questioned.

"i mean, i think it is."

"he totally does."

"but me and luke just clicked." julie ranted, "and he's so-"

"not real." flynn interrupted.

"ghost-like?" stasie quizzed.

"you can make all the music you want with luke, but... he'll always be a phantom." flynn told her friend.

stasie frowned hearing her words, uncertain on why they hit her so hard.

"so... here's what we're gonna do." flynn started while pulling out julie's phone, "send nick a nice little friendly text asking him to come to your party tonight."

"add about five smile emojis." stasie ordered, "for emphasis."

julie peeked at her phone, "um, i usually don't use that many smiley faces."

"you do now." flynn stated, "stas and i are not gonna let you get your heartbroken."

"course we aren't." stasie nodded.

"and trust me." flynn continued, "tonight, you're performing with luke, so the key is avoiding those big, beautiful, dead... eyes."

"you're very pushy today." julie voiced, "and you're passing that trait onto stasie."

"you're welcome."

⎯ ❃ neens speaks!

gif is probably stas smiling at reggie xo