"What the hell?"

It was one of those classic sitcom moments, walking in on the best friend with the brother. I could practically hear the prerecorded gasps in the background. Normally there would also be a ripple over the screen as well, as it flashed back to when Sofi and I were in middle school and vowed to never keep secrets from each other. So much for that pact, apparently.

Sofi was the first to come unglued from her position. "Marina, I'm so sorry, I can explain --" she began, eyes wide.

"How long has this been going on?" I broke in.

Sofi and Adam looked at each other. "Three months," she said softly, and he nodded. "We just weren't sure it was the right time to break the news."

"And you couldn't find the right time in three months?" I shook my head with a laugh, and stalked back into my room, letting the door swing shut.

"Marina!" Sofi shouted, following after me. "Just listen to me for a minute! I wanted to tell you. I really did. I just didn't want it to damage our friendship, and we weren't sure it would really lead anywhere at first!"

"It's not about that!" I countered. "I mean, if you want to date my brother, ew... but it's your life, not mine. I just can't believe you kept this from me for that long. You didn't even tell me you were going to be here today."

"It was kind of last minute." Sofi fidgeted with the hem of her shirt, looking more unsure of herself than I'd ever seen her. "If it makes a difference, we were going to tell you tonight. I'm really sorry, Mari."

I felt my anger drain away. They hadn't done it to hurt me. And nothing either my best friend or brother could do would ever be unforgiveable to me. "Well, I'm still upset. And you're not off the hook either," I said to Adam, who was hesitating in the doorway. "But as long as you don't make out in front of me, continue dating and it won't get weird," I promised.

Sofi squealed and lunged forward to hug me, making me laugh. Who knew? Maybe Sofi would truly be my sister someday...

Nope, nope, I was not going to think about them getting married and doing unspeakable things. Blegh. TMI.

A light mood restored, the three of us settled down on the fluffy rug in my room to play Scrabble (my favorite), Settlers of Catan (Adam's favorite), and Phase Ten (Sofi's favorite), and for a while it felt almost like being back at home when the three of us would hang out together and play board games for hours. We were allowed to have guests in our dorm rooms overnight, so when I started yawning, Adam retreated into his room and Sofi and I made up a temporary bed for her in my room.

"Thanks for understanding, Mari," she said as we layered blankets on top of the air mattress she had brought with her. "I really do care about him." Sofi got a faraway look in her eyes. "He's just... I don't even know how to describe it, but we just click somehow. Do you think it's too soon to say that, even if we've known each other since we were kids?"

"Um... I'm not sure." I climbed into my bed and pulled the comforter up to my shoulders.

Sofi climbed into her bed too. "When did you know you and Jake were meant to be?"

There was a snag in the bed canopy right over my head. "It just kind of happened, I guess."

There was a moment of silence and then a soft snoring came from the pile of blankets, as Sofi crashed abruptly and left me alone with my now-turbulent thoughts.

Sofi and Adam had one kind of romance that everyone dreamed of -- the childhood friends that grew up and realized they had something more. Jake and I had the opposite...

It was a few years earlier, at someone's summer pool party. I wasn't really familiar with anyone, since they all went to school together and I was only invited because I was friends with Sofi. I was kind of hanging back by myself, enjoying the music and the warm sun and the raspberry lemonade someone had handed me, when I noticed a guy standing nearby who was checking his watch every three seconds. He was cute, but his shirt was buttoned higher on one side and there was a series of lines between his eyebrows even though he didn't look much older than me.

"Somewhere more important to be?" I asked him, surprising myself. I didn't usually just initiate conversations with people I didn't know.

He seemed startled as well that someone was talking to him. "I guess it is kind of rude of me," he answered sheepishly. "My girlfriend was invited, and she all but dragged me along with her. I need to be at work in half an hour, but I don't know where she went and I need to drive her home."

"I can find her and explain why you had to leave, and if she can't find a ride my family can take her home," I offered before I could think it through. What was happening? I didn't even know this guy's name! "You need to get to work."

He gave me a truly grateful smile that lit up his eyes and made the worry lines disappear. "Thank you - ?"

"Marina," I filled in.

"Marina. I'm Jake, by the way. My girlfriend's name is Ashley and she has long blonde hair, wearing a blue dress - shouldn't be too hard to find. Thanks for doing this, again."

"No problem." I watched him disappear through the gate in the fence, all too aware of the smile that was tugging at my lips and the butterflies that were circling in my stomach.

Once he was gone, I forced the dopey grin off my face and headed off to follow through on my promise and find Ashley. A quick scan of the pool revealed that she must be inside the house, but a search of the kitchen and family room came up empty too. Frustrated, I ran my hands through my hair. Of course I just had to volunteer for something that would turn out to be needlessly complicated.

I hesitated at the foot of the stairs. The hostess had been pretty clear that the party was downstairs only. But there was no one around to see, and leave no stone unturned, right?

I crept up the stairs to a long hallway with four doors branching off. Pressing my ear to each one, I worked my way down.

At the third, I thought I could faintly hear a rustling on the other side, and I paused, hand on the knob. Should I?

Before I could decide, a laugh came from the room, and impulsively I pushed the door open.

A shriek met my ears. By the looks of the pretty blonde girl and muscular guy tangled up on the bed, I had interrupted some heated making out.

It was the girl who had shrieked, and she glared at me through slits that used to be blue eyes. "What the hell is your problem?"

I could feel heat exploding on my cheeks, but I managed to keep my voice steady. "Sorry, I was just looking for someone. I'll..."

I hesitated, eyeing the girl's long blonde hair. "Ashley?"

She rolled her eyes. "What?"

Oh, I so did not sign up for this crap. I felt the flames increase. "Uh..."

"What?"

"Your boyfriend Jake sent me," I blurted out.

Her eyes grew round and darted to the boy next to her.

He was scowling now. "Hold up, boyfriend? What the fuck is going on, Ashley?"

"It's not-" Panicked, her head swiveled back toward me. "You little -"

"Bye!" I squawked, slamming the door as she lunged off the bed. I half sprinted, half jumped down the stairs, and ran out to the pool where Sofi was lounging on a chair.

"Hey, Mari," she began. "You missed it, they were - hey!"

I grabbed her wrist and began towing her toward the gate as she scrambled to grab onto her tote bag.

"Where are you going?" she yelled at me. "Your parents won't be here for another hour!"

"No time to explain!" I shouted back. I pulled her through the gate and we took off down the road to town.

Once we had caught our breath and were a safe half mile away, I told her the whole story, and she started laughing so hard she had to sit down on the curb. Apparently, from my description, she knew that the guy who had been glued to Ashley's face was also dating someone else. Karma.

I knew someone who wouldn't be so amused, however, and I knew he had the right to know. When Sofi and I finally got home, we did a bit of sleuthing and found Jake's address, and the next day I plucked up the courage and headed over.

His house was a simple two story, but it looked well lived in, from the flowers bursting out of the window boxes to the old swing set in the back. I rang the doorbell, and it was answered by a woman who looked to be Jake's mom.

"Can I help you?" she asked politely, the smile lines at the corners of her eyes crinkling.

"Hi, I'm Marina Pendleton. Can I talk to Jake?"

"Of course, sweetheart. Come on in and I'll get him."

I stepped into the little entry hall and she closed the door behind me, then headed down the hall, brushing her hands on her apron. "Jake! There's a Marina here to see you!"

He had a smile, albeit somewhat puzzled, on his face as he came to meet me. But as the story spilled out, the happiness melted out of his eyes and a grim look settled in.

"I should've known something like this would happen," he said when I was finished.

"I'm sorry, Jake."

He grimaced. "Not your fault. We were having problems anyway - she said I was too focused on school, and I thought she was too clingy. I am sorry I put you in that position though."

"It's alright," I said.

"Actually..." he gave me a sideways glance. "I'd really like to make it up to you. What are you doing Thursday night?"

Fate had smiled on me, as I was free that night, and we went to see some lame new action movie that had just come out. I hadn't been able to focus on the weak dialogue or expensive CGI, my mind way too preoccupied by the handsome profile next to me. When he caught me looking and reached for my hand with a smile, it was like I could feel every fiber of my being buzzing, and it felt like I was walking on air as we left the theater still hand in hand.

That night turned into many until it was a year later. But had I ever felt that feeling Sofi was describing, where we just seemed to click?

My troubled musings faded as they circled around in my head, and I finally drifted into sleep. When I woke up again, gray light was filtering through the gaps in the curtains, and I could hear rain pattering on the roof.

I hopped out of bed and peeked out the window. It was overcast and drizzling, the perfect day to stay indoors and kick back.

Sofi was still fast asleep, and I knew there'd be retribution if I tried to wake her up, so I dug out my laptop to take care of business before she woke up. I cleaned out my inbox and scrolled through some social media, then decided I should sign up for the weekend classes before the good ones filled up.

Remembering Theo's advice, I chose Film Studies for my ten o'clock class. Juniors needed two weekend credits, but I couldn't choose just one other that sounded interesting. Finally I settled on Dance for my 11 o'clock because it sounded easy enough.

I checked the clock. It was almost 10:30 already, and suddenly the prospect of sitting in the room all day sounded dull. I jumped up and went into Adam's room. Ever the early bird, he was already up and working on some project.

"Come get your girlfriend up," I told him, flicking an old candy wrapper off his desk and into the trash. "I kind of want to go check out the town today."

"Get your best friend up," he retorted. "I know what she's like in the morning, I'm not going to be the one to awake the dragon."

"Excuse me?"

Adam and I looked up guiltily at Sofi in the doorway. Her choppy dark hair was sticking up at strange angles, and I have to admit, she did look slightly scary.

"Did someone say something about going into town?" she asked.

"You'll have to get dressed," I told her. "And it's raining."

"I'll suffer through it for you," she joked. "Adam, you coming?"

He shook his head. "I should stay and get some stuff done..."

Sofi and I both knew that wasn't the real reason he didn't want to go, but we played along and left to go get ready. After a quick shower, I threw on jeans, a Harvard t-shirt, a black cardigan, and converse, then twisted my hair up in a bun so it wouldn't fluff out with the humidity.

Once Sofi was ready, we headed out, making sure to grab my keys this time. The rain had softened to a gentle mist, and we started off for the nearby town of Sycamore.

Sycamore was cute even in the rain, made up of little shops and cafes along cobblestone streets. The weather hadn't scared off too many people, and brightly colored umbrellas bobbed along the sidewalks. It was the picture perfect hangout for rich boarding school kids.

Sofi and I ducked inside an antique bookstore first, and then went on to a handmade wire jewelry boutique. Sofi then declared she was going to mutiny unless we ate some lunch, so we stopped at a cafe called In a Pickle for sandwiches.

The rain was finally clearing when we left, laughing at her stories about her little brother and his friends, and the sun was peeking through the clouds.

"You know, maybe it won't be so bad here after all," I mused as we walked around the fountain in the center of the square.

Sofi rolled her eyes. "Yeah, a ritzy private school with a room nicer than mine, a ten minute walk away from a cute little town full of great restaurants and interesting shops. All with your parents' credit card in hand. Might be tough."

I elbowed her. "You know what I mean."

"You know no one's forcing you, right? You could say you want to go home and they'd let you leave."

"Yeah..." Another storefront caught my eye. "Hey, Sundae Haven. Feel like ice cream?"

"Duh," she replied. "Ice cream is always a yes. I'm still on the fence about those turquoise and copper earrings we saw, though."

We climbed the stairs to Sundae Haven. "I'll get them for you," I offered. "Part of your birthday present."

She sighed as she pushed open the door and a bell chimed. "I still can't believe you won't be able to come to my birthday party for the first time in what, ten years? It won't be the same without you."

"I am the life of the party, after all," I added drily as I followed her in.

"Party? Who's having a party?"

Sofi and I glanced to the left, where three familiar faces were arrayed in the corner booth.

"What are you doing here?" I asked them.

Theo, seated in the middle, shrugged. "Rakeem works here part time, so we came to keep him company. Last Saturday of freedom before electives start."

Julian nodded assent. "Plus they have great mint chocolate chip here."

"I'm just here because they dragged me along," added Hikaru, shoving Theo.

Ignoring him, Theo persisted, "So, what party?"

"For my birthday," Sofi said, waving. "Hi, I'm Sofi."

"Sofi, this is Hikaru, Theo, and Julian. She's visiting from my hometown," I added as the guys waved back. "We won't be able to celebrate our birthdays together for the first time in years, since I'm at St. Frances now."

"When is it?" Julian asked.

"Next Wednesday," Sofi told him.

"You should come celebrate here!" said Theo. "I am the party king. We can set up the party of your dreams, easily - music and dancing and cake and everything. Plus you'd be with your best friend, we could set it all up during the week, and it's not too far for a weekend trip."

Julian and I immediately began protesting.

"She's gonna want to be with her family and friends at home, man - "

"We can't throw a party in the dorms, plus she doesn't really know anyone here -"

"Whoa, hold on," Sofi interrupted. We shut up and looked over at her. She had that determined glint in her eye that meant inspiration had ahold of her. "He could be on to something here. I mean, I'd rather celebrate with you and Adam than anyone back in Northview. And since my actual birthday is in the middle of the week, I can be with my family on the real day and celebrate with you the weekend after." She pointed at Theo. "What did you have in mind, party king?"

He grinned and rubbed his hands together. "Only the best birthday/school kickoff party in the history of St. Frances Prep. And no dorms for this celebration. We're gonna have it at Julian's house."

Julian frowned. "We are?"

Theo nodded and put his arm around his friend. "You're the only one out of the five of us who actually lives in Sycamore. And weren't you just mentioning how your parents aren't gonna be in town for the rest of the month?"

"I..." Julian opened and closed his mouth, but nothing came out. Sofi gave him a pleading puppy dog eyes look, and he shook his head. "Alright, I give in. Let's have a party," he said with a smile.

Sofi gave a squeal of delight and jumped up and down. "This is going to be amazing!"

Theo squeezed out of the booth and gave a small bow. "Just leave it all to the party master. Now, let's get some birthday cake ice cream to celebrate, on me." He ushered Sofi to the counter.

I shook myself out of a daze. "What the hell just happened?"

"You just witnessed the most powerful steamroller in action, the Theo 3000," said Hikaru. "Get used to it."

"At least you didn't just give him full rein over your house." Julian groaned. "My parents are gonna kill me if he sets the curtains on fire again."

"Again?"

"Hey, Marina, what kind do you want?" Theo yelled from the front counter.

"Vanilla," I shouted back.

He did a double take, but shrugged and turned back around. I waved at Rakeem, who was behind the register, and he returned it with a wide, friendly smile.

The opening chords of Budapest by George Ezra began emanating from my pocket, and I made my excuses as I ducked outside to answer my phone.

It was Jake.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked, a bit surprised that he was calling on a Saturday. Normally, he would be at work for most of the day.

"Where have you been?" he asked, and there was no mistaking the hint of annoyance in his voice. "I tried to check up on you last night and this morning and you didn't respond to any of my messages. If I made the effort to try and get ahold of you, you could at least respond."

I rubbed my forehead. "I'm really sorry, there's just been a lot going on, and I haven't really been checking my phone. I didn't mean to ignore you. It's better than being clingy, right?"

He sighed, one that clearly said Why are you so scatterbrained and irresponsible? How are we going to manage a long distance relationship if you act like this?

Or something like that.

"It's fine, Marina," he said. "I'm just trying to look out for you even though you're far away now. I miss you."

My heart melted a bit. "I really am sorry. I shouldn't have made you worry. But I know how I can make it up to you!"

"How's that?"

"Well, if you can get away next weekend, Sofi's birthday is coming up..."

By the time I ducked back inside the ice cream shop, I felt like I was glowing again. I slid into the corner booth next to Sofi, who was nibbling at a sundae.

Theo slid a dish of plain vanilla topped with hot fudge and whipped cream across the table to me. "Here's your boring concoction. That is seriously deplorable, Marina. All those flavors and you choose the one with the least originality."

"Well, technically, since it was one of the first flavors, it's the most original," I corrected, reaching out to scoop up a bite. "But I don't even mind your hating on the classics right now, because I have some great news!"

"What?" Sofi asked.

"Jake is gonna find someone to take over his shifts next weekend so he can be here for the party!"

A dollop of whipped cream fell off Sofi's spoon onto the table. She grabbed a napkin and busied herself cleaning it off the table, avoiding my eyes. "That's... great."

"What's wrong? I thought you'd be excited. He rarely ever takes time off," I said with a frown.

"I mean, it's great that you'll get to see him, but it's not like Jake and I are even that close," she mumbled.

"Hold on," interjected Julian, "who's Jake?"

"Marina's boyfriend," Sofi muttered, returning her attention to her sundae. My heart sank a little, the earlier sunniness of the day dissolving under the black storm cloud of her mood.

"Well, the more the merrier, right?" Theo said with a sort of fake cheeriness, seeming to sense the tension. He shot me a nervous glance. "Well, the important thing is that we get the type of cake settled right now, 'cuz that's gonna set the tone for the whole party..."

He and Julian peppered Sofi with questions about party decisions, and she seemed to come out of her funk, laughing and joking with them. I sank into silence, nursing my ice cream. Why shouldn't Sofi like Jake? He was perfect - a gentleman, smart, and more mature than a lot of the boys I knew. What more could anyone want?

An hour later, we departed Sundae Haven, and headed back to campus as a group. A weird icy barrier had come up between Sofi and I; with a few clipped words, she went off to hang out with Adam, and so I packed up my backpack and went to hide out in the library for the afternoon.

Erickson Library was a stone monolith crouching in the middle of campus. It was the first building that James Everett, the founder of St. Frances, had built to house all classes and faculty. When the school gained prestige and outgrew the building, the school's board of trustees had decided to preserve the building and make it an ultramodern library while keeping the historic feel -- leading to a somewhat bizarre mixture of high speed computers and a sleek coffee bar with overstuffed leather chairs and antique chandeliers.

The center hall was just a space for quiet studying, full of oak tables and chairs, so that was where I headed first. Still being the first week of school, there were only a few people sitting and working. I booted up my laptop and opened my paper for English III. What an exciting way to end the day.

_________________

Bzzzt. Bzzzt.

I peeled my forehead off my arm and blinked up at my phone, which was vibrating against the table.

"Shh!" someone hissed, and I quickly snatched it off the table.

"Sorry," I mouthed over to my neighbor, who just rolled his eyes and looked away.

I looked down at my phone. It was... 5:00 P.M.?! I'd been sleeping for at least three hours! I smacked my forehead with my palm and groaned.

"Shh!"

"Sorry!"

I looked back down. Apparently, the notifications that had been causing the vibration were coming from the StudyWay app, but the notifications said BLOCKED. PLEASE ENTER PASSWORD.

I opened the app and punched in the "bro code" under the KUDOS section. A little red chat bubble was flashing next to the tab for Study Groups so I clicked on it.

JOIN GROUP TO ACCESS INTERNALLY SENT MESSAGES> CLICK BELOW TO ACCEPT INVITATION TO JOIN GROUP <THE SCHOOL OF ATHENS>

I clicked ACCEPT INVITATION, and another pop-up appeared, asking for a nickname. Below that, it read, ADMIN REQUEST: ALL NICKNAMES MUST CORRESPOND WITH THE GROUP.

I rubbed my temples and cast my memory back to learning about the original painting "The School of Athens" with my mom. It was a painting by Raphael of famous philosophers... mostly male. I sighed. Did everything have to be a boys' club? I'd play along, but hopefully the messages weren't just "Saw you sleeping in the library today LOL".

I typed in PLATO.

Beep. NAME TAKEN.

SOCRATES.

Beep.

PTOLEMY.

Beep.

ARISTOTLE.

Beep.

I rubbed my forehead. Which name would obscure enough that no one else would have taken it? On a whim, I typed in APELLES.

Ding. WELCOME TO STUDY GROUP CHAT <THE SCHOOL OF ATHENS>.

I felt like cheering at the small victory - it was like I had received an invitation to an exclusive club - but I reined it in and scrolled through the messages. All the names were encoded, replaced by various philosophers from the painting, which would be useful protection if administration found a way to hack into the unapproved link on their app. As I watched, another message appeared at the bottom and I quickly read through the conversation from the day.

PLATO: anyone have time for group tomorrow night? i get off work at 5

EUCLID: physics 2 is kicking my ass already, i'm game

ARISTOTLE: has Marina joined yet?

DIOGENES: hey man, you know the rule, no names here, delete that message just in case

ARISTOTLE: MARIIINNAAAAAA

DIOGENES: blocked

SOCRATES: knock it off, T

I quickly tapped out a message.

APELLES: i'm here. - M

PLATO: hey! study group tomorrow night?

APELLES: any latin experts here?

AESCHINES: i can help you out with that

PLATO: so group tomorrow at 530, in study room C in the library

I stuck my phone in my bag and collected my laptop and notes. Either the nap or the promise of help on Latin had helped lift my mood, and I realized I should go talk things out with Sofi about earlier. I hurried back to the dorms, but when I burst into Adam's room, he was alone, lying on his bed with his headphones on and his eyes closed. I reached over and tickled his foot.

"Gah!" he jumped, one arm flying out reflexively. I ducked away.

"Adam!" I called. "Where's Sofi?"

He tugged his headphones off, scowling. "Jeez, Mari, are you ever gonna stop doing that?"

"No. Where's Sofi?" I repeated.

"She left." Adam put his headphones back on. "She said her parents needed her home for something."

I reached over and pulled them away from one ear. "Did she say anything about me? About being mad that I invited Jake to her party?"

He groaned. "If I say no, will you go away?"

"Maybe."

"She did seem a little upset, but we didn't do a whole lot of... talking, while you were gone. Does that answer your question?"

I made a face at him. "Okay, gross, never mind. I'm leaving now."

He sighed and settled back on the pillows. "Finally."

I turned to go back into my room, when he spoke up again. "Hey, Mar. You said she was upset about Jake coming, right?"

"Yeah? Do you know why that would upset her?"

Adam rubbed his forehead, wincing when his fingers brushed against his stitches. Had it only been two days since that accident? It seemed like much longer, somehow. "I know you may not want to hear this, but Sofi knows that Jake comes first for you nowadays. Maybe she just wanted a night where you were her best friend first and someone else's girlfriend second."

With that, he shut his eyes again and tuned me out, and I had no choice but to leave with a heavy mood settling on me once again.

~~~~~~~~~~~

So, it's been a while since I added anything to this story. Between college classes, getting sick a few times, and general procrastination, I didn't save a whole lot of time for writing - and sometimes it's just too hard because my perfectionist side shuts me down anytime the story isn't exactly how I want it to be. The doubt creeps in and I start thinking is this a stupid idea? Is this believable? Does this matter? Is the pace too slow, is the plot too scattered? But let me know if you enjoy it and I should keep writing this, or just any suggestions you have on how to improve it. Thank you all <3