"It might not be the right time,
I might not be the right one.
But there's something about us I want to say,
Cause there's something between us anyway."

"YOU MADE HIM do what?" Emily exclaimed loudly, looking as if she was about to have a heart attack. The two of us were currently sitting on one of the benches behind the Grand Library, since it was free period. We decided to use the time to study, but I was afraid that it wasn't possible now.

"It was the least he could do after bailing on me," I protested, jutting my chin out stubbornly. It was just a meal after all, I didn't see what the big deal was!

Emily shook her head, sighing loudly, "You are so much trouble!"

"Of course I am, that's why you love me!" I retorted, fluttering my eyelashes dramatically and shooting her a sly smile.

"You keep this up and I swear, I'm going to die prematurely," she grumbled, before looking up at the sky dramatically. "Breaking news, Emily Park has died! Cause of death: heart failure after one too many scares from her best friend."

"Oh, please! How is going to dinner with Robin Clair a scare?" I snorted.

"Excuse me, missy. I'm pretty sure I already told you how crazy their groupies are about them," Emily hissed lowly. "The minute they find out you two went on a date, you're dead!"

"Who said anything about a date?" I argued, crossing my arms.

"Say what you will, Lexi, but everyone is going to think it was a date— no matter how many times you reassure them that you'd rather lick a toad than date one of the Royals," Emily giggled.

"I could lick a toad to prove it to them," I said, shrugging my shoulders. Emily immediately wrinkled her nose and hit my arm with the back of her hand.

"Gross!" she squealed, before the both of us broke into a fit of giggles. When our laughter finally subsided, I turned to her and asked her something that had been on the back of my mind since yesterday.

"So, what did you and Asher do after shopping?" I asked.

"We, uh, we went back to his place. For dinner," Emily stuttered, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks.

"Just dinner?" I asked, wiggling my eyebrows and causing her to turn a darker shade of crimson.

"Yes!" Emily immediately replied, patting her cheeks. "Ugh, stop making me blush!"

"I think it's pretty cute when you blush," I grinned, flicking her nose and causing her to squeal.

"Don't flick the nose!" she protested, grabbing her nose gently. "You know how red it gets!"

"Sorry, sorry!" I sang, raising my hands in surrender. Then, remembering about the boy that had slipped my mind yesterday, I turned to Emily with a question. "Do you know a boy by the name of Jake Lindon?"

"Jake...Lindon?" Emily repeated, eyebrows furrowing. She looked like she was wracking her brain for answers, but came up with nothing. "I think I might recognise him if I see him around. What about him?"

"Well," I began, a sneaky smile finding its way onto my face. "He asked me out the night of the Winter Ball when I was walking back to my dorm room. He seems like a nice guy."

"You're a little firecracker, aren't you? You're here for less than a month and you've already got boys fawning all over you," Emily teased.

"That's not true!" I gasped. "Jake's the only one!"

"So far," Emily sang. "How does Jake look like?"

"Oh, you know. Dirty blonde hair, golden tan, big smile," I said, sighing dreamily. Emily pursed her lips, recognition flashing through her eyes.

"Right, Jake Lindon. Yeah, I know of him," she said, before she frowned slightly. "Although...I'm pretty sure he's one of those Anti-Royals students."

"Anti-what?" I repeated, blinking in confusion.

"Basically the people that hate the Royals," Emily said, chewing her lip.

"Are you serious?" I snorted, but stopped when Emily didn't laugh along. The smile slipped from my face, and I sighed. "Great, you are serious."

"Of course, I am!" Emily squeaked, pouting her lips. "These people hate the Royals with everything they've got."

"But...why?" I asked incredulously, scratching my head in confusion.

"I don't know," Emily shrugged. "Nowadays people find fault in anything. Here, it's easier to hate the Royals and blame the social hierarchy on them."

I pursed my lips, thinking back to the cute boy I ran into a few days ago. He seemed so cheerful and friendly, and certainly not like what Emily just described the Anti-Royals students to be. Surely, she had gotten him mixed up with someone else, right?

"I'm sure Jake isn't anything like that," I murmured, although I didn't know if I was trying to convince Emily, or myself. Emily glanced at me, biting her lip. She looked as if she wanted to say more, but held back. Instead, she shot me a small smile.

"I'll let you decide what kind of person he is, okay? Don't let what I said deter you. Besides, I don't know him, so I can't say for sure," Emily sighed.

My lips stretched into a smile, and I leaned forward to give her a big hug.

"Thank you, Em!"

"Ahem." Someone cleared their throat loudly, causing me to let go of Emily. The both of us turned around only to come face to face with Asher Dane himself, who looked as if he had just crawled out of hell in his designer shoes.

"What?" I couldn't help but ask, narrowing my eyes when he shot me a scowl.

"Lunch," he said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "It's lunchtime."

"And? Are you here to kill me and eat my flesh?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him. The moody boy replied me how I should've already expected— he glared at me.

"I'd rather not poison myself. Emily, let's go," Asher sneered, wrapping his slender hand around Emily's wrist.

"Wait, we can't just leave—" Emily began to protest, although it fell on deaf ears. Asher was more than determined to get as far away as he could (probably because of me), and didn't bother to stop.

"Have fun, lovebirds!" I called after them, my smile widening into a grin. "But NOT TOO MUCH!"

All the yelling from me caused the other Meilleureans around to notice, and soon all eyes were on the awkward couple. Asher looked even more murderous, while Emily looked as if she wanted to drill a hole in the ground and bury herself in it.

"God, shut up!" I heard Asher snap, causing me to burst into a fit of giggles. Emily turned a deep crimson shade again and tried to yank her wrist out of his grip, to no avail. I watched as the couple disappear around the corner, before I was interrupted by a small tap on my shoulder.

Turning around, I realized that it was none other than the boy I had been talking to Emily about earlier, and immediately smiled.

"Alex," Jake said, his smile widening. "Hey."

"Hey, Jake," I replied, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear and biting my lip. "Sorry about last night. I was so busy and our date just slipped my mind."

I cringed slightly at how I tried to explain myself, which sounded a little bit harsh. It seemed like Jake didn't really mind, and instead, he grabbed my backpack out of my hands and slung it over his shoulder.

"It's alright. It's lunch now, what do you say we grab a bite together?" he suggested.

"Yeah," I replied, my smile widening. "I don't see why not."

The two of us made our way through campus and into the dining hall, where many students were already eating or queueing up to buy lunch. I immediately spotted Emily sitting at the Centre Table next to Asher, looking a little bit lost. I shifted my eyes to the chair next to Asher, only to look straight into Robin Clair's eyes. He stared at me unflinchingly, then turned his gaze to Jake, who stood next to me with my bag slung over his shoulder. Without another emotion, he turned back to his food, as if he hadn't seen me at all.

Pursing my lips, I reminded myself that we weren't even close to being friends, and that I shouldn't expect him to suddenly be friendly with me just because we shared a meal together. For some reason though, I was a little disappointed.

"Alex," Jake repeated, nudging my shoulder and shaking me out of my reverie.

"Huh?"

"I was asking you if you would mind sitting with my friends," Jake said, before pointing to a table near the floor-to-ceiling windows at the end of the dining hall. The table was filled with people that looked vaguely familiar, and all of them sported smiles when they spotted Jake, waving him over.

"No, not at all," I replied, clearing my throat and shooting him a small smile. Jake grinned, and led me to the table where his friends were seated.

"Who's the chick?" One of the boys seated at the table immediately asked, raising an eyebrow at me. The rest of his friends stared at me, half-curious and half-expectant.

"Alexandra," I quickly introduced, waving an awkward hand.

"Guys," Jake said, giving his friends a pointed look. "This is the Alexandra Knight. And she'll be having lunch with us today."

"No way!" a brown-haired, bespectacled girl seated at the far end of the table cried. A chocolate-skinned boy who had his arm wrapped around a pretty blonde raised an eyebrow.

"The Alexandra Knight?" I muttered under my breath. "Didn't realise I was important enough to need the emphasis."

A boy with messy, slightly damp red hair seated right next to me overheard what I said, and laughed.

"Alright, give her some space," the red-head said, before pointing to the empty seat next to him. Shooting him a grateful smile, I took a seat and immediately had a whiff of soap and chlorine. Jake gave me a tight-lipped smile before sitting on the empty seat across his red-haired friend.

"Introductions," Jake grinned, before pointing to the brown-haired girl who spoke up earlier. "That's Georgie Hamock. She's the senior editor for the school's paper. That's Jim Allen, the school's favourite linebacker and his cheerleader girlfriend, Becca Lewis. And the red devil next to you is Wes."

"Wesleigh Quentin, at your service," Wes joked, saluting me casually before he turned to Jake. "What, no fancy introduction about what I do here?"

"Wait," I said. "Let me guess, you're a swimmer."

Wes smiled and nodded. Jake rolled his eyes and sighed before saying, "Wes is the captain of the swim team."

"Nice to meet all of you," I said with a friendly smile.

"Well, I'll go get our lunch," Jake said. "You can get to know them while I'm gone."

With a wink, Jake stood up and left me to fend for myself. There was awkward silence before Jim and Becca started whispering to each other and laughing, and then suddenly they were making out. I blinked in surprise, then quickly turned to look the other way.

"Don't mind them," Wes snorted. "That's literally all that they do."

"Wow," I muttered. "I'll keep that in mind."

"So are you dating Jake or something?" Georgie asked, her eyebrows furrowing together.

"Now, come on, Georgie. This is not the time to interrogate her," Wes said, giving the brown-haired girl a look. From their intense stare-down, I had the feeling that they didn't exactly get along very well.

"Well, I saw her with the Royals at Winter Ball," she said, tilting her chin up. From the way she said 'Royals', I suddenly remembered what Emily had said about the people that hated them. At the mere mention of Asher and his friends, Jim and Becca pulled apart and stared at me strangely.

"You're not friends with them, are you?" Becca asked, her nose wrinkling in distaste.

"Guys," Wes said, louder this time. "Can we not do this right now?"

"Whatever," Georgie sniffed, looking away with a frown on her face. Becca stared at me a second longer, before rolling her eyes and turning to Jim to resume what they had started.

"They're not usually like this," Wes sighed. "Jake loves to befriend people that have a deep hatred for the Centre Table kids, so excuse their animosity."

"Centre Table kids?" I said, raising an eyebrow. That was the first time I heard anyone address the Royals so casually, and I was almost impressed. Wes shrugged his shoulders as if it was no big deal.

"You're not like them, are you?" Wes asked, glancing at the other people at the table. I shook my head slightly.

"The Royals aren't exactly the nicest people, but I don't hate them. So, what about you? Do you hate them too?" I asked curiously. Wes snorted, then shook his head. Leaning in, he whispered into my ear so that the rest of his friends wouldn't hear him.

"I'm friends with Jake for better reasons."

I couldn't but giggle when he said that, causing him to laugh along as well. Then, a tray of food appeared in before me and I looked up to see Jake standing in front of us, a distant expression plastered on his face. Before I could read into his expression a little more, he replaced it with his familiar smile, and sat down at the table.

❁❁❁ 

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter~ It's been such a tough week because I've been studying non-stop for my exam! To everyone studying for papers, good luck! Let's power through!

#QOTC: What do you guys think about Jake, Wes, Georgie, Becca and Jim? 

Song of the Chapter: Something About Us (Cover) by Spazzkid.