"Mr. Anderson, I must say, you have made some very good progress. Your grades are really going up", complimented Ms. Adams, reading out Joshua's report in class.

"Well, I had help Ms. Adams", he replied. I smiled to myself. No one knew about our friendship because we kind of avoided each other in school. Only since last week, people have noticed that Joshua seems to be hanging around me.

He even stood up for me last week when a group of kids decided to be mean. And I say 'decided' because they seriously made the mistake of being mean when Joshua was next to me. Poor kids. Long story short, they got yelled at and basically received death threats from Joshua before he stalked away, pulling me along with him.

"Josh, Josh, Josh, Josh", I chanted, as he was dragging me along the corridor that day. "JOSHUA!". Do you know how hard it is to get this boy's attention?

"Yeah?", he asked in his calmest voice. Him, who just yelled and screamed and threw a tantrum in the middle of the corridor at a bunch of kids a few minutes back.

"Calm down", I said. Too late, he was already calm.

"I am calm", he replied.

"No you're not", I said again.

"I AM CALM", he whined. He's such a baby when he wants to be.

"Can you let go of my hand now before my other hand punches you in the face", I asked, grinning slightly.

"Oh yeah sorry", he said, letting so of my hand.

"I'll see you after school, I have Bio now", I said before walking away. For some reason, I felt his eyes burn into my very soul as I walked away. Ah, who knows. Weirdo.

After school, we ended up in the countryside, a well-favored spot for both of us. The countryside somehow makes us both extremely happy and weirdly boisterous. Oh, and I love riding Joshua's bike there. Yes, I learnt after so much hard work. Mentally rolling my eyes still at how he picked me like potatoes that day.

"So Josh?", I started.

"Hmm?", he replied. I think he was digging a stick into the ground. Literally.

"Why were you so defensive today? I've never seen you like that", I told him.

"Well...", he started. Long pause.

"Well? Are you going to continue or should I take a trip to Spain and back?", I asked. He chuckled softly.

"Tell me Joshua", I compelled.

"Well, it's cause I feel bad for calling you names and stuff just a few months back", he admitted. Before I could open my mouth, he continued.

"I realized how dumb I was. The past 2 months just made me realize that you're such a great person but I insulted you for absolutely no reason and that's bad. Like, I was such a bully. And I don't even know why. And like-"

"Oh can you please stop. I literally forgot about it till you reminded me. It wasn't even that bad. And you know what, if it's any consolation, I don't even blame you".

"What do you mean you don't blame me? You blame the sky or what?", he sassed. I raised my eyebrow so high that it was in danger of disappearing altogether.

"Okay sorry, my bad", he mumbled.

"Back to my point", I continued, sighing in exasperation. "I meant I don't blame you because you were pretty- pretty miserable at home so, you know, school was like your escape route, you get what I mean?", I tried explaining it as simply as possible.

"I never actually thought about it like that", he replied slowly.

"So since you were so physically and emotionally abused at home, you were glad to come to school, if only for a few hours, so that you could escape the reality of your home life. And you became popular at school cause you're attractive so you just put up a poker face to hide the quote-unquote real Joshua, a sweet, extremely dumb guy, whose sass is going to get him killed one day", I said, all in one breath. He took a minute to process what I just said.

"When did you figure all this out?", he asked.

"It's so obvious. I knew it ever since you started calling me Da Vinci", I grinned.

"Ugh don't remind me. You know I'm sorry right?".

"Yeah, yeah I know you are".

For a while, we just sat in comfortable silence. He seemed glad that I forgave him and I was glad he realized that it was not his fault. Eventually, he spoke again.

"Sooo... on a completely different note, on a scale of one to ten, how attractive do you think I am?", he asked, in a dangerously polite tone.

"Oh wow, so you're gonna hold that over me huh?", I groaned.

"For as long as I shall live", he vowed.

"I haven't even seen you in 9 months. A LOT CAN CHANGE IN 9 MONTHS", I shrieked.

"Okay well, from what you remember, what was the most attractive thing about me?"

"What if I refuse to answer", I asked, folding my hands.

"Umm... throw you over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes?".

"UGH FINE. The most attractive thing I can remember about you is... your smile and like, your dimples", I said, slapping my hand wildly at where I expected his face to be.

"Ow, Ow, stop woman. First of all, I barely smiled at school. So, how did you see my smile and dimples?", he said, swatting my hand away at the same time.

"Oh well, this one time you were smiling really hard when some friend of yours gave you a brownie. A brownie. You smiled for a brownie", I said.

"THAT BROWNIE WAS DELICIOUS", he defended.

"Eh Whatever", I said and that was the last we spoke of it. Eventually, it was getting late so he drove me back home.

"Bye Sel-", he started.

"Wait I forgot to tell you... you're invited to Thanksgiving with my family", I said.

"Really? Just me?", he asked, with a shocked tone.

"Yup! Dress nice!"

"You won't even be able to see me", he said and I swear I heard a hint of sadness.

"Ah never mind that. You'll have fun anyway. JUST SHOW UP", I said.

"Will do mademoiselle", he replied in a French accent.

"Au revoir bon monsieur", I replied, grinning. He chuckled and I heard his footsteps walk away.

A minute later he was on his bike and off with the wind...

____________________________________________________________

A/N So um... this was the longest chapter so far but trust me... longer chapters are awaiting you... I hope you liked this chapter.. it was kind of a filler chapter I guess but I liked writing it.

Until the next chapter... :)

<3 -H