Hey Guys, I would recommend reading the previous chapters for a reminder of what is happening in the story.

Happy Reading!

-THIRTY FOUR-

After that day at the cafeteria, it had somehow become a little easier to avoid Kade. Not because suddenly I had become an expert at lying, but Kade didn't seem to notice. At least that is what I thought.

Either that or he was hiding it well because as usual, he was hard to read. I did get a few looks from him but other than that, either I was a great actress or he wasn't bothered with my attempts to avoid him. That also could be because Montana was always there stuck to him like glue. I guess having Montana around might just end up helping me somehow.

I had to admit, the thought did pinch me a little but I was still thankful that he wasn't calling me out on my behaviour or he was too busy to take notice of it. That meant I could continue distancing myself until I was completely over him.

For now, I was trying to improvise my avoiding tactics as the situation called for. Whenever he asked me to do something with him, I suddenly had something else to do. I almost needed to find some good excuses because some of them were already used up. Most of the ones I'd used up till now went like:

"Uh, Mr. Cabana wanted me to meet after class. Gotta go." I doubt Mr. Cabana even knew I existed in his class.

"I need to go to the bathroom, catch you later?" Clearly, I never caught up with him.

"Caleb wanted me to go over Physics with him, sorry." Sorry, Caleb.

"I have a group meeting with my project partners for lab." I didn't even have any other partner project other than with Ryder.

I was guilty of using Caleb's name to get out of the situations too. Not that I was lying or anything but having him around helped. I would have used Ria's name as well but sadly she wasn't in as many classes with me as Caleb was.

And there was the fact that we had promised to tutor each other.

Thankfully, in the past few days I had managed to get to know him a lot. Surprisingly, he and Kade hadn't had an interaction yet. I'd already told the girls about him and Ria and how I'd sort of met them at the bowling alley. I tried not to go too deep into the sudden blooming friendship and the girls weren't too nosy about it either, which I was thankful for.

They had just warned me about being careful, which was sweet of them but I had a feeling that Caleb and Ria weren't the kind of people who would get attracted to someone's social status.

I was also low-key happy about making more friends than enemies now. I still remember how the I-Hate-Kyra list was longer than my actual friends on the days before I had officially met Mae and the rest of the Elites.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I walked towards my locker. It was a text from Caleb.

Caleb: Where you at?

Me: Going to my locker, why?

Caleb: Need a favour

Me: What is it?

Caleb: Coming

I shrugged it off and made my way to my locker. I had Chemistry next so I quickly switched out my books, hoping that it got cancelled somehow. I really didn't want to study Chemistry right now. The irony was that out of all the classes, Caleb didn't share this one with me.

I felt a shadow behind me and I knew who it was immediately. Or I thought I did.

"What's the favour you wanted to ask of me?" I asked without turning to look at him. Meeting at the lockers had become a usual thing for us so I didn't even bother looking at him.

"What favour?" I almost dropped my books when I heard who it was.

I snapped my head towards Kade, my eyes widening in surprise. I was not expecting him out of everyone. It sucked that my heart did a quick flip when my eyes locked with his Mediterranean ones. Why was he so damn good looking?

I tried not to fidget and instead gripped my books a little too tightly. I let out a nervous chuckle. "Ah, sorry. I thought you were someone else."

Kade raised his eyebrow and I tried to ignore how hot that action was. "Who, your imaginary friend?"

"What imaginary friend?" I asked, confused.

"The one you seem to always have to do stuff with. That Kale guy or something," he said, folding his arms.

My jaw dropped slightly, I was mildly offended. "Excuse me? He is very much real."

He really thought I was lying about it? Wow.

"Yeah? Why haven't I seen him anywhere then?"

I shrugged. "Probably 'cause you're busy with someone else most of the times," I smiled at him sarcastically, still bugged about the fact that he thought I made someone up to make excuses with.

Kade's expression changed immediately. It seemed like a mixture of guilt and something else that was hard for me to read. I sometimes really wish he was an open book.

I almost wanted to smirk at his reaction because even he knew that he was way busy with Montana these days and it was not my fault that he wasn't updated with my life.

When he didn't make a move to speak or go, I decided to just go ahead and speak.

"What did you need me for?" I asked, crossing my arms as I looked up at him. I really hoped I appeared nonchalant and indifferent because the last thing I wanted was to show him emotion when all I was trying to do was run away from him.

He looked at me as if he was a little hurt by my attempt to brush him off and I did feel a tinge go guilt paint my conscience. "I just came here to ask if you were free tonight for another go at bowling? Or anything else you want to do this time?"

My insides were screaming at me to say yes but I knew better.

"Uh, Caleb is tutoring me tonight so can't," I said, sheepishly.

I didn't have anything scheduled for today but I always could ask Caleb to do a session. Especially if that was what it took to not go with Kade.

Kade's eyes narrowed at me. "I could tutor you."

I almost face-palmed myself for forgetting the fact that the blue-eyes boy in front of me was also a brainiac and not to mention first in our Chemistry class. Great going, Kyra.

"Um, no you can't," I blurted, trying to quickly think of an excuse.

Kade raised his eyebrow at me. "Yeah, and why is that?"

"Uh, because we both have to tutor each other. He teaches me Chemistry and in return I teach him physics," I mumbled out, feeling a little relieved that my brain did function well enough to put that excuse together.

Kade scrutinised me and I tried hard not to fidget under his intense gaze. He opened his mouth to say something when a loud voice caught my attention.

"There you are!"

Caleb's grinning face came into my view and I grinned back. Perfect timing.

"Hey! I was waiting for you," I said, exaggerating a little, hoping to get under Kade's skin.

I gave a side-glance to Kade, who had gone a little stiff and his face was blank- his classic poker face.

Caleb noticed Kade standing with me and gave me a questioning look. "Friend?"

"Oh yeah. Uh, Caleb, meet Kade. Kade, this is Caleb my very real friend," I said and tried not to show how smug I was. Ha! In your face, Kade.

Kade gave me a slightly annoyed look before turning his head to a grinning Caleb who was already greeting him.

"Oh hey man! Any friend of Kyra's is a friend to me," Caleb said cheerfully, extending his hand for a handshake.

Apparently, I had forgotten that Kade's niceties existed only inside of the Elites because I had to hold my cough back at his response.

"Can't say the same, unfortunately," Kade replied, his voice tight as he gave him a fake smile before giving his hand a quick shake. So nice.

Caleb barely paid mind to his words or his apparent lack of niceness and his expression didn't even falter. I had to hide my smile at how unfazed he was at Kade's response to him. Kade, on the other hand didn't seem to be enjoying his presence one bit.

"So, what was it that you needed?" I asked Caleb, who seemed like he suddenly remembered what he came for.

"Ah, yeah. I needed to ask you to go somewhere with me because Ria flat out said no and I don't know anyone else to go with and I really want to go and the only person who came to my mind was you so here I am," he rambled, making me laugh.

He and Ria had a strange dynamic. While she was more blunt and straightforward, Caleb was like a child on sugar rush at times. Total opposites but they made a good pair.

"Yeah, sure. Where do you want to go?"

A loud bang interrupted Caleb's answer and I watched as Kade shut my locker loudly before giving me a deadly look. "We have class. You guys can chat later," he said, giving a blank look to Caleb who watched dumbfounded as Kade grabbed me by my wrist and dragged me to class.

I barely managed to throw a wave and motioned for him to text me before I disappeared in the crowd.

Looked like someone was not happy right now.

*****

"Which one do you think is better?" Mae asked, showing me two hairstyles to choose from.

Liam had asked her to go to this Marvel pop up store that had opened for a few days and clearly Mae was super nervous. I couldn't be happier for how things were going for them. I was glad Mae had someone outside of the group to accompany her when either of us couldn't.

"This one. I think it'll suit your face more," I replied, pointing at the milkmaid braid with loose hair.

She grinned happily and I smiled at her. She was adorable.

We were lounging at Madison's house after school and all of us were discussing Allison's upcoming ball. The boys hadn't come yet so it was just us girls for now. Thankfully, despite Kade being in my Chemistry class, we had assigned partners in that class so I had successfully managed to not talk to him the entire period. I really hoped he was busy enough to not come here but that was just wishful thinking.

"So Kyra, have you confirmed with Darren yet?" Allison asked me and I had to work hard to keep a straight face.

"Not yet. Didn't get the time," I replied, trying to be sheepish.

Madison looked at me with slightly narrowed eyes. It was really intimidating when she did that. Usually it was during dance practices when someone kept messing up and I didn't like the look on her face right now.

"Why don't you call him right now?" Madison asked, waiting to see my reaction.

"R-Right now?" I spluttered and mentally face-palmed for stuttering.

"Why not? I mean unless you aren't actually planning to go with him, I don't see the problem in calling him," she shrugged and I had to try my best to not appear like a dear caught in headlights.

I actually wasn't planning to go with him. I had just used his name to ward off their suspicion. I had been planning to make up an excuse as to why he couldn't take me and go solo instead. Or maybe ask Caleb if he was comfortable enough to go with me.

But definitely not planning to call Darren.

However, going by the looks I was getting from all the three girls, I was going to have to call him after all.

"Yeah. You even have time right now," Allison piped up.

I gave them a nervous chuckle and slowly grabbed my phone. "Oh look, I really need to get home. My aunt needs me back for someth-HEY!" I couldn't even get my excuse out when Allison snatched the phone from my hand and started typing something on my phone.

I tried to grab it from her but Madison and Mae held me back. 

My eyes widened in horror as Allison showed me my phone's screen that was dialling Darren's number. Allison smirked, putting the phone on speaker. I tried to wriggle my way out of both the girl's hold but they really didn't let me go.

I couldn't believe Mae was on their side too. When I looked at her with narrowed eyes, she just gave me an innocent smile.

"Hello?" 

My jaw dropped as I heard Darren's voice on the speaker phone. Both Madison and Mae let go of me and Allison threw the phone at me. It almost slipped from my hands but I caught it in good time. Removing the call from speaker, I gulped and slowly held it to my ear.

"Hello?" He spoke again.

All the three girls were motioning for me to speak up. I had a feeling that I wasn't going to go home in one piece if I didn't answer the call properly so I decided to speak.

"Uh, Darren?" My voice was a little too soft and I quickly cleared my throat. 

"Speaking. Who's this?" 

There was a lot of noise in his background. I wondered where he was.

"Uh, it's Kyra," I answered, trying to ignore the giddy faces of Mae and Allison.

"Oh hey. I was wondering if you'd gotten my number," he chuckled. I heard shuffling from the background and assumed he was going to a quieter place.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" he asked. 

My assumptions were right when the sounds slowly faded in the background.

"Uh..." How do I ask him, again?

The girls were going a little wild with their hand motions, urging me to speak and I shifted my eyes to the TV instead. I couldn't understand anything they were trying to say.

"Uh, I was wondering if you were, uh, free to go to Allison's ball with me? I mean that is only if you don't have a date. If you do, I totally understand. I mean it's no big deal and all. Just thought I'd ask you in case you were up for it or something. No pressure, though," I rambled and I immediately wanted to go hide in a corner with the embarrassment I was facing right now.

Darren chuckled light-heartedly and thankfully didn't embarrass me.

"I would love to. I wanted to ask you about it earlier but I thought you were going with Kade," he said and I immediately straightened up, momentarily forgetting my embarrassment.. Wait, what?

"What do you mean?"

"It's just that he... well, he - ah it's nothing," he spoke but I was too curious about it.

I heard someone calling out to him and he quickly exchanged a few words with them. Before I could ask him anything else, he spoke into the phone.

"Hey, Kyra. Can I call you later? I was with my team members for practice and we're about to go. I'd love to go to the ball with you, though," he spoke quickly and I quickly nodded, not realising that he couldn't see me. I could hear a lot of shouts and shuffling happening on the phone.

"Yeah, no problem."

"Perfect. I'll text you later," he said before hanging up.

I blinked at our conversation. Even though I was glad that he had saved my face by agreeing to go with me, my mind was stuck on why he thought I was going with Kade.

"So, what did he say?" Mae piped up, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I blinked in surprise. "Oh, he said yes."

Both Allison and Mae jumped up shrieking while Madison grinned. I tried to join their enthusiasm but my mind was already forming thoughts I had been trying to run away from.

What exactly was going on?

**********

Hello peeps!

I hope everyone is doing well and is safe.

Apologies for the irregular updates. A lot has been going on in my life and it has been a little hard to be able to write with my full heart. 

But I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Q: How is everyone doing?

Hopefully there won't be any more irregularities if everything goes well :)

Thank yo so much for your patience and for all those who are still reading this, I am very grateful for you guys! Love you all <3

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