Dedicated to pretty1075 for the amazing cover at the top, thank you so much💗

Because I can't focus on studying for my Math and Chemistry test and Happy Early Halloween : ) Really short but i want to update again.

Chapter Forty: "Doubt It."

"IT'S HORRIBLE." I whined, looking at myself in the mirror.

"You need to relax. I can't even see anything." I heard Lucas say on the screen of my phone. I've been complaining for almost an hour, locked in my bathroom and staring at the mirror.

I picked up my phone and made sure he was looking at me looking at myself in the mirror. "It's like bugs bit the side of my head."

"Sydney-" Lucas tried to console me but I wasn't finished.

"It's like I got infected by some disgusting rash." I turned my head a bit, looking at it from the side and cringing.

"Canada-"

"It's like a populated country of disgusting dots are spreading on one side of my face." I shuddered in disgust.

"It's just a couple of pimples. I can't even see anything."

I turned the camera around, making sure he could clearly see me. "You're not bothered because you rarely ever get a pimple."

"That's not true."

"Yes it is." I argued. Lucas couldn't understand it because in my eyes he literally as the epitome of perfection.

"It's not." I could see Lucas shift so that he was now lying down on his bed, holding the phone over his face.

I got out of the hallway, grabbing my earphones from my room before making my way to the living room. "You're being annoying."

"For telling you that you look perfect with or without the traces of puberty?" Lucas asked once I had put my earphones in.

"Yes. I look like a toad." But a smile came to my face at what he said, my heart warming.

"You do not look like a toad."

"Yes I do." I lowered my voice when I headed into the living room, expecting to see my mom but also not expecting to see Liz sitting down on the couch with her and the both of them laughing.

"Um..." I trailed off, giving Liz a weak smile. "Hi Liz."

"My mum is at your house?" I heard Lucas ask but I ignored him.

"Hey Sydney." She stood up and gave me a hug and I returned it shakily, wondering why she was here.

"Who are you talking to?" My mom asked, glancing at my phone.

"Uh, I'm talking to um, Lucas actually. He's helping me out. You know? Exams are really close and I'm still having a hard time understanding some-some things."

That's believable...right?

I could imagine Mary Anne or Octavia scolding me in my head. What happened to overprotective parents raise the best liars huh?

"My Lucas?" Liz asked about her son.

"Your lying skills are getting worse." I heard Lucas chuckle softly through my earphone and I held back an eye roll.

"Yeah." I drawled out hesitantly, licking my lips nervously. "He's getting a really good mark in that class."

"I can only imagine," Liz looked down at the phone in my hand before looking up at me. "Why don't you and Lucas meet up sometime on the weekend or after your dance and his art to study? Besides, I know Phillip is dying to see you again."

I looked over at my mom, waiting to see what she would say. I knew she wouldn't say no, so I had to fight the smile from appearing on my face. I couldn't handle lying to her about where I was supposed to be like I did for the date and in this happening I felt like a little bit of my guilt would be relieved.

My mom gave me a slight nod and the smile on my face appeared really fast. "Sure." I said to Liz. "I'll ask him if he's okay with that right now."

Liz shot me a wink before she sat down next to my mom and the both of them continued talking.

Thank God she hasn't told my mom about me and Lucas. My heart sped up a bit at the thought of that happening and I didn't even want to think about what could happen if she found out.

So all those times I've been saying that I'm going to tell my mom is me assuring people of something that may never happen.

I quickly moved back to my room, closing the door behind me when I noticed that Lucas had disconnected our videochat.

My lock screen showed me and Octavia in the middle of Times Square. I remember how she made Mary Anne take the picture, the both of us making crazy faces and I almost snorted remembering how she stuck up the middle finger in the picture Mary Anne had taken after this, an imitation of her mood that day.

A message popped on my phone.

🐢:

So I hear you're coming over soon for 'studying'.

Me:

Yes emphasis on studying. Now FaceTime me again you idiot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You're pissing me off." I told Zen, half annoyed but I couldn't help but laugh as we walked down the hallway.

Ever since the trip I think Zen and I have gone from friends-who-barely-talk-to-her-practically-acquaintances to real-life-actual-friends.

It was great except for the fact that since Zen and I had similar views of the world, it got annoying sometimes. It was like talking to the boy version of myself.

He laughed loudly. "Shut up, you know I'm right."

I took off my backpack, shoving it to his chest. "Tale this to the caf, I need to use the bathroom."

"Do you always have a need to pee?" He groaned, one of his earphones falling off his ear and I could hear the music from it loud and clear. This guy was going to have some serious ear damage in the future.

"I'm sorry that I'm human and that I have to use the bathroom and that you aren't normal."

"Shut up." Zen mumbled.

"I'll be right there." I rolled my eyes, watching him walk down the hallway just as I opened the door to the girls bathroom.

The second I was inside the stall, I heard a couple of girls talking as they entered the bathroom. After I was done and was about to open the door, I heard them change from a topic about foundation to relationships.

"Okay but no relationship in high school last that long. Honestly, what's the point of dating?" One voice said.

"I don't know. What about Eduardo and Mary Anne?" Another voice said.

"You mean that couple in grade twelve?"

"Yeah. They seem like they'll last forever."

"Doubt it."

"Why do you say that?"

"I saw them earlier today. They were having a really bad argument like I felt like I shouldn't have been watching but it was so intense."

What?

"What was it about?"

"I don't know but Eduardo looks really pissed off at her or something. Maybe she did something."

And when they left and I walked out of that stall, washing my hands. Mary Anne and Eduardo of all people? Having trouble in their relationship?

"Where are you going?" Lucas asked me, about three hours later when I was still thinking about it.

I was already dressed in my dance clothes, my papers in my hand and dance bag slung over my shoulder. "I told you I need to ask Mr. Stiles about the essay. I need to see if my last point is strong enough to be valid."

"I can tell you if it's strong enough." Lucas muttered with crossed arms as we walked down the hallway.

I sighed, reaching to grab his arms and hold his hands in mine to see the slight pout on his face. "I know you're a wiz at English with your obsession with reading-"

He gaped at me. "I wouldn't call it an obsession," I gave him a look and he shot me one of his own. "I'm a bibliophile."

"A bibliophile." I repeated.

"Yeah a person who loves books. A bibliophile."

I gave him an open mouth smile, my eyes narrowed as I nodded. "Got it. But you aren't even taking English until next semester so..." My voice trailed off.

"What so you mean by 'so...'?" He asked me as we approached the partially door to Mr. Stiles' classroom. "I just said that word-"

I reached over and slapped a hand over his mouth. His eyes went wide and he raised an eyebrow in questioning. I shifted him away from the door as I nodded to the door.

He leaned over to see what had caught my gaze and I pushed his head down so I could look over his head.

Kim held a pen in her hand and Mr. Stiles was leaning against his desk with crossed arms. They were both laughing at something.

"Give me my pen back." He said, still laughing and reached over taking the pen out of her hand.

"You have thousands of them in your cabinets."

"You take one every day."

"It's not my fault I don't care for pens. Plus you have a bunch of them so why not take advantage of it?"

Mr. Stiles rolled his eyes and uncrossed his arms. Lucas and I watched him take a step closer to Kim. "You're taking advantage of me?"

The grin on Kim's face grew wider. "Definitely not. Just your endless amount of pens. I got to have something write with anyway Will."

She's on first name basis with my English teacher?

"Way to make me feel useless."

"You know I'm kidding." She looked like she was playfully going to hit him on the shoulder but she rested her hand on his shoulder and I found them both a little too close to my liking.

"Yeah I know. Are you meeting me in the practice room after I finish grading?" He asked her.

Kim nodded. "Yeah did you pick out the song for the acapella group?"

"Yeah," He reached behind him to his desk, putting the pencil down and collecting papers before handing it to her. "Can you show this to them? I'll be there in 15 minutes, a half an hour the latest."

His hand went to her waist and he gave her a smile that matched the grin on her face. By now my eyes weren't sure if I was seeing this properly. This couldn't be happening.

"Yeah, sure but on one condition." Her grin diminished into a look that made it seem like it was between the two of them and no one else.

"Alright." He leaned into her and that's when my jaw dropped.

Holy shit that just happened.

Lucas quietly and quickly shot up and grabbed my hand, pulling ourselves away from the door and leading me down the hall quietly. He stopped at the wall of a turn where I saw two students walking the other way.

"What...What was that?"

Lucas leaned his head back on the wall and I exhaled. "That's your English teacher and one of your friends kissing in a classroom. Yeah, yeah, that's what it is." He nodded to himself, his eyes wide and I sighed.

"That explains why she's late sometimes and why he showed up to our class with a hickey on his neck."

"Your teacher showed up to your class with a hickey on his neck?"

"Yeah, months ago."

"Ew," Lucas almost gagged. I was right there with him, the concern for my friend overtaking my thoughts. What do we do? "He's taking advantage of a student." 

Lucas looked around the corner of the wall and I could hear footsteps. He nodded in the direction of the person and I nodded back.

Kim was walking, looking down at the papers in her hands when I grabbed her arm and Lucas grabbed her other arm. She pressed herself against the wall, looking confusion as we waited for her to say something. "Guys, what's going on?"

I exchanged glances with Lucas and he nodded, gesturing for me to speak. "You and William Stiles?"

The papers in Kim's hands fell to the ground in haste and she avoided my eyes picking one of them that had gotten loose from her grasp. "What? What are you talking about?"

"You and Mr. Stiles, Kim. We know. We saw."

"Like ten seconds ago," Lucas mumbled, reaching into his pocket for a pack of juicy fruit and putting a piece in his mouth. "How did this all start?" Lucas asked.

"A couple of months ago," She mumbled, leaning her head back against the wall. "During the summer, I went to Phoenix, Arizona for a week with my mom and older sister. And there was this concert my sister took me to as a surprise and not even when we got inside, I saw him and it was like...an instant connection."

"Instant?"

"Instant," Kim nodded, her eyes unfocused as she was thinking about the past. "What was so funny was that I never ever thought of him as anything but my vocal teacher. That's all I thought of him and that night changed everything."

Like their supposed connection, instantly I felt a little queasy. "Why was he in Phoenix?" I managed to ask, my fingers curling around Lucas' arm. 

"He has family there."

"He could get fired," I mumbled. He should be fired. But judging by the expression on Kim's face it became obvious that anything Lucas and I would say to her was not going to do anything for her. She clearly didn't see what he was doing was wrong. 

Kim tied her hair in a ponytail, not capturing all the blonde strands so they floated around her face. "I thought my sister would be the one to get with him that night but no he just talked to me then we came back and I kept seeing him before school started and it happened again."

"Wow."

"Yeah. He knows he could get fired it's just that you guys understand it, right? It's like, falling for someone you shouldn't fall for?" 

That's one thing. But this? A minor with an adult? A teacher with a student? 

"We get it," Lucas assured her. I knew he only said that to pretend he was on her side. "You didn't, um..." He trailed off, raising an eyebrow.

Kim shook her head. "We're not risking that even if the age of consent in Canada is 16."

Both Lucas and I let out a breath of relief. But of course, I was still apprehensive. 

 "Does Zen know about this?" I asked. No. There's no way he would know but Kim told him everything. There's no way he wouldn't have tried to put a stop to this whether he had feelings for her or not. Because he cared about her and because this was wrong. 

"No. Because I don't want him to jump to conclusions and started yelling at William saying how he led me on and is only going to use me or something. I just don't want that and I know Zen is going to do that." She got up and I followed suit.

That's not the problem, Kim. 

Her eyes were on the paper before she looked up at me and it was then I realized how much this actually meant to her. How much Mr. Stiles, William meant to her. "You really aren't going to tell anyone, right?"

Oh, God. Kim. "Are you going to tell Zen?" 

Zen was her voice of reason. 

"Eventually." 

"Tell Zen," I said, making no promises. Telling him was the best thing. He would make sure that he could do anything to keep her safe. Anything. 

Lucas nodded and Kim must have read me well. "I will. Eventually." 

"Okay." I nodded and once she left Lucas leaned his head back against the locker. 

A minute of silence between us. "That's fucking insane."

"Yup."

"Joey and Lydia broke up."

"Yeah."

"We're together."

"Yup."

"Ken is now dating Mikayla who was one of the two girls he cheated on his girlfriend with two months ago."

"Wait, what?" I whipped my head to the side, hearing another tidbit of drama. This Ken, Mikayla, Spencer and Wendell thing was getting out of hand. "You're lying! How did you find out?"

"Sarah," He said, reminding me of my friend who knows anything and everything happening between people in school. "She has every single bit of information in this place."

"She doesn't have this one." I told him, thinking about Kim and my English teacher. There was way more stuff that happened in this school in a span of a couple months versus the three years I spent at my old school.

Wow.