•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧.˚ *•̩̩͙ ✩. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧.˚ *•̩̩͙ ✩. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐎

•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧.˚ *•̩̩͙ ✩. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧.˚ *•̩̩͙ ✩. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧

     FOR THE NEXT 2 DAYS, ADDIE SUCCESSFULLY AVOIDS STEVE. She was annoyed and a little hurt that he couldn't see how irrational he was about the whole Billy situation. Who knows, maybe he would turn out to be a bad guy. But for as long as they've known each other, Steve has always been the overprotective best friend, and she just wanted a chance to figure things out for herself.

Students seemed to get lucky this year, teachers didn't assign seats in any of the classes. This worked in Addie's favor, and she made sure to always get to class as fast as possible. Steve liked to leave it until the last second to walk through the door, so she knew that was her best bet at not sitting next to him.

Although they had 4 classes together, Addie made it a point to gather her things and have her backpack ready to go juuuust before the bell rang so that she could be the first one out the door.

She knew Steve wanted to talk to her, but she didn't care. Okay, maybe she did. But Addie normally never stood up for herself, so she was determined to stand her ground.

Oddly enough, the 2 classes she didn't have with Steve were the only 2 that she did have with Billy. On Wednesday, she pretended not to notice when Billy subtly removed his backpack from the seat next to him right as she walked into the room.

Thursday, he asked to borrow a pencil, and at the end of class when he handed it back before leaving the room, Addie pretended not to see the pencil that was sticking out of the side pocket of his backpack.

Although school had only been in session for a week, it was safe to say that upperclassmen especially, were ready for the first weekend of the school year.

Friday morning Addie woke up 10 minutes before her alarm. After having a little internal debate about whether or not to hit snooze, she decided against it and instead spent the extra time putting together a cute outfit and styling her hair a little more than normal.

After a quick breakfast of toast, a banana and some juice, Addie and Will headed out the door.

Thankfully Will didn't ask where Steve was. Addie bet he could probably sense something was off because it had been years since the 2 friends went this long without speaking, but he kept quiet about it, just thankful his sister still wanted to give him rides to school.

As they arrived at school and Addie locked her car, she heard a female voice calling her name and was a little surprised to see Nancy approaching.

"Hey, I love your hair!" Nancy greeted her friend with a smile.

"Thank you, I'm still not too sure how it looks because we only have 1 bathroom mirror and no small ones so I couldn't see it from the back," Addie laughed.

The 2 girls walked towards the school together, making small talk about how the first week was going.

"Oh I almost forgot, Mike mentioned it to me this morning, I think the boys all want to have a sleepover this weekend."

"I think Will mentioned something to me too, any idea who's house they want to have it at? Actually, I think he said they were thinking about your guys' house because their game board is still set up in the basement," Addie smiled, they were all obsessed and she remembered how excited they got when she agreed to play with them. Maybe she'd crash their game night too.

As they approached their lockers, which were directly across from each other, Addie noticed that Nancy seemed a little nervous. Her small talk turned to.... Addie didn't know what. But it seemed like she was trying to distract her from —

"Hey guys, what's up?" Steve stood leaning against Addie's locker.

"Really?" Addie turned, arms crossed as she faced Nancy.

"I really did want to catch up and talk to you about the boys sleepover, but also I was making sure you made it to your locker." Nancy shrugged sheepishly.

Addie waited for Steve to step aside before placing half of her textbooks in her locker and slamming it shut. She braced herself for the awkward conversation that she was so sure was about to happen.

"Okay great, you guys talk and I'll be... anywhere but here. Bye!" Nancy said bye to Addie, and mentioned maybe having a girls night when the sleepover was happening, and told Steve she'd see him after first period.

Addie glances at a clock on a nearby wall. "Well class starts in less than five minutes so we should get going or we'll be late."

"Nope. Not until you talk to me." Steve shakes his head and stands there with his arms crossed.

"I'm talking to you right now aren't I?"

"Oh yeah, this conversation is riveting. Addie come on."

She sighs and gives a small shrug. "You wanna have this conversation in the hallway in front of all of our classmates? We can talk at lunch or after school or—"

Steve interrupts Addie by hooking his arm through hers and leading her towards the exit.

"Umm class starts in like two minutes!"

"That's cool. We're going this way though."

Rolling her eyes, but wanting to see what Steve's plan is, she reluctantly follows him to his car. After getting in the passenger seat, she turns to face him.

"Seatbelt please."

"Wait why are we leaving school??"

"Relax it's just first period. We have places to be." Steve shrugs, as if it's that simple.

Addie sits there, confused, trying to figure out where they could possibly be going.

"It's not that far away, we'll be back for second period. Now seatbelt please!"

Still confused, Addie sighs and puts her seatbelt on. 5 minutes later, they pull into a diner parking lot. Once they are seated at a booth and have both ordered, Addie getting a milkshake and Steve some fries, he starts talking.

"Do you remember freshman year?"

"Umm, mostly. What about it?"

"Peter Davis."

Addie groans, knowing where this is headed. "Okay I was 14, and I—"

"He stood you up, because Stacy whatever-her-last-name-is said she wanted to hook up with him. But I remember from the moment you finally told me what happened, I wanted to kill him."

"Yeah and then the next day you went up to him and punched him in the face with no warning."

Steve shrugged, trying not to smile. "Guy was an ass, he definitely deserved it."

Their food arrives, and they push the milkshake and fries into the middle of the table, grabbing fries and dipping them into the shake.

"Not that I don't love that painful walk down memory lane, but why did you bring that up?"

"I don't mean to make you relive it, it's just, you're my best friend, you know? And I don't ever want to see you that upset over any guy ever again. So... I don't know. I know I shouldn't have done that though, and I really am sorry."

Addie smiles, realizing why he reacted the way he did.

"I appreciate you always looking out for me. And now I understand why you did... that, yesterday. And who knows, maybe Billy isn't a good guy. Maybe he'd make me feel heartbroken too. But that's something I need to find out for myself."

"I know, I know. I'll ease up I promise."

They finish the rest of their snack, talking about other things. In particular, a party happening tonight.

"Are you going?" Steve asks.

"Hmm, probably not. I think I'm—"

"That was a trick question. We're going." Seeing the look on Addie's face, he keeps talking. "I'm picking Nancy up at 8, she's further away though so I'll pick you up first, say 7:45, then we're all going. Plus maybe Billy will be there."

Hearing this, Addie tries not to laugh. "What, you're advocating for him now?"

"No, but I think if you want to be friends with him, what better way than to get to know him at a party. Plus I'll be there to make sure he doesn't try anything."

Addie sits back, crossing her arms.

"I was joking! Kind of."

After they finished eating and paid, the 2 headed back to school.

Once they exit Steve's car, he stands in front of Addie holding his arms out.

"Umm... hello?"

"Come on bring it in."

"I'm... okay. Thanks though..." Addie tried to duck under his arms and run to class, but Steve trapped her in a hug, squeezing tight.

"Hey, you're my best friend, I love you, and I'm sorry I upset you. Are we okay?"

"I love you too, and yeah we're good. Promise."

Satisfied with her answer, Steve nods and let's go.

As they're walking to second period, which they have together, Addie turns to him. "You're a good guy, you know. I really do appreciate you caring and looking out for me, even if I don't always show it."

He's still not too sure of Billy, in fact he was pretty sure he saw him flirting with a couple of different girls. But he couldn't risk being wrong and having Addie mad at him again, so he'd have to wait until the party tonight to find out for sure.

•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧.˚ *•̩̩͙ ✩. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧.˚ *•̩̩͙ ✩. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧