dakota's pov +

liam and i came downstairs in the morning, talking about how loud he snored last night and laughing at how he continued to deny it.

we walked into the kitchen, suddenly disrupting my mom as she sipped her coffee.

"oh. wow, liam, hi" she said in surprise. "i didn't know that you stayed the night".

i awkwardly rubbed the back of my neck, hoping that my mother wasn't getting the wrong idea.

"yeah, uh, he lost his keys and his parents were out at a wedding" i replied.

"sorry, sarah. maybe i should have asked first" liam added.

mom shook her head with a smile, "no, not at all. you're welcome anytime".

liam smiled back, as him and i settled on the bar chairs. 

"so i'm heading to work, i just finished making a fresh batch of pancakes, so you can go ahead and dig in" she told us, causing me to happily get up from my seat and grab two plates.

mom finished off the remains of her coffee and own pancakes, and quickly wiped down the counter to do a little last minute cleaning.

"oh and leave some for nate, dakota" she sternly said, pausing at the kitchen exit.

i dropped my shoulders and huffed, "but then liam won't have any".

"at least leave him two, dakota".

i groaned and added a few pancakes to mine and then liam's plate, "fine".

"i'll be home before dinner" mom came towards me to quickly kiss my head.

"bye sarah" liam called out.

"goodbye, liam" she responded and promptly left the kitchen, before leaving out of the front door in a hurry.

i loudly clasped my hands together, "okay, so for toppings we have; chocolate sauce, strawberries, nutella, whipped—".

"yes, nutella!" liam exclaimed and i chuckled at his excitement, going over to the cupboard over the microwave.

with my luck the nutella sat on the highest shelf, so i tried my best to reach on my tiptoes until i heard liam laughing quietly behind me.

"thanks for just standing there and laughing without actually helping me get your nutella" i sarcastically told, folding my arms across my chest.

"it's cute that you're tiny" he smirked, then easily reached above me to grab the glass container.

"just because i'm shorter than you, that doesn't mean that i'm tiny" i defended and harmlessly nudged his side.

"okay, sure" he patted the top of my head until i swatted him off and found my own toppings for my pancakes.

after a while of liam and i sitting in the kitchen eating our breakfast, our conversation was quickly cut off by the text that i received.

jack:

dakota are you home?

i frowned at the message in confusion, then tapped my screen to reply.

me:

yeah, i am. why?

"who are you texting?" liam wondered with his mouth slightly filled.

i locked my phone again and picked up my fork.

"oh, it was just j—".

before i could respond, the doorbell rang and i climbed down from my seat to go and answer it.

i opened the door to see jack standing before me in last night's clothes, his hair pretty rough and carrying his jacket in his hands.

"hey" he first spoke.

"hi, you just texted, why were you wondering if i was home?" i questioned, allowing him to come inside and follow me into the kitchen. "jack, you remember liam".

"yeah, what's up?" he nodded at him and liam somewhat did the same before putting his head down to focus back on his food.

"so, what's wrong?" i asked jack.

"well as you can probably tell, i haven't been home all night and my parents would kill me if they found out that i stayed out late and ended up at some random house" he explained, pushing his hair back.

"what happened to sam's party?".

"i actually have no recollection of what happened after we waited for olivia, but i do know that it was crazy and i managed to travel forty minutes away from sam's with people that i barely knew".

"surprise, surprise" i heard liam say under his breath, causing me to subtly glare at him.

"so, i was wondering if you could tell my parents that you and i were studying here all night, then we happened to fall asleep?" jack inquired.

"why don't you just say that you were at sam's or johnson's?" i tried to find a more logical way that didn't involve me, lying to his parents.

"my parents don't really trust my friends" he told. "they know how party-obsessed they are and my mom strictly said that i couldn't stay out late anymore because i have to take my senior year seriously now".

i lightly bit on the edge of my bottom lip, "but what if our moms talk and they realise that we were lying?".

"then i'll take the fall for it, please" he begged.

i watched him hold his hands together and wait patiently for my response. so, i eventually sighed and nodded to agree.

"yeah, okay. sure" i gave in.

"oh my god, you're the best!" jack exclaimed, grabbing my shoulders to abruptly kiss the top of my head.

i giggled at his reaction and tucked my hair behind my hair.

"but you should probably freshen up a little to make it more believable" i gestured to my staircase.

"yes! good thinking" he saluted me and skipped multiple steps as he rushed upstairs to our bathroom.

i laughed, shaking my head at him then walked back to my seat on the bar table where liam still sat with his finished plate.

"so jack stayed out late, had sex with a mystery girl and now he wants the girl-next-door to cover to his tracks for him" he mentioned with a smirk before sipping his water.

i knitted my eyebrows together at his assumption, "he never said anything about having sex with some girl".

"he doesn't need to. come on, it's so obvious. why else would he have been out late? playing video games with the guys?".

"okay, yes, jack is likely to make out with a lot of girls but he would never just have sex with someone he barely knew" i corrected.

liam scoffed at me, "how do you know?".

"because i know, jack" i said almost too sternly, that i put my head down in embarrassment. "...i-i know him really well".

"well, that wasn't the case when you were invisible to him for five years until a couple of months ago" he retorted.

i narrowed my eyes at his comment as i couldn't help, but be annoyed that he bought that up.

he soon noticed my hurt expression and sighed deeply.

"i'm sorry. i shouldn't have—...i'm sorry" liam tried to apologise, but i moved from my seat and went to the fridge to get myself a drink.

yes, jack and i never used to cross paths a few years ago because he never really noticed me. but that was then and this is now, so liam should really learn to let go of it.

"so are you ignoring me now or?" he asked as i poured some orange juice into a glass.

"i just don't get your problem with jack, liam. you never take up the opportunity to bad mouth him, every time you see him you barely say hi—".

"that's because i don't even know him" he cut me off.

"that's not the point. the point is that you don't have to be such an ass to him".

"how is suggesting that you let go of him and stop yourself from getting hurt being an ass?".

"because it's bs!" i exclaimed. "jack's not going to hurt me".

liam didn't take a single second to try and believe me, so he shook his head at me, "so it's bs to look out for you?".

"yes because i never asked for you to look out for me, liam" i argued back and he didn't hesitate to push himself out of his seat.

"fine, then i'll stop" he muttered and stormed out of the kitchen until he suddenly bumped into jack.

"oh, sorry bro" jack apologised.

"i'm not your bro" liam responded, picking up his bag from the corner of the hallway and promptly leaving with the door shutting hard.

"woah, what happened?" jack inquired as he stood looking much more refreshed than before and with his dark hair quite damp.

"it was stupid" i brushed off. "don't worry about it".

jack settled on a chair and ate one of the strawberries that sat in the pack beside him.

"well, i heard my name pop up" he told, so i suddenly felt obliged to tell him what happened.

i exhaled deeply, "liam was sort of bad mouthing you and i just put him in his place and corrected him".

i shrugged like it was no big deal and thought that jack would assume i overreacted, and that it was weird how i stood up for him but i relaxed when his lips started forming into a smile.

"aw, you were defending me" he mocked and i rolled my eyes at his childish smirk.

"i'm your tutor, so it's my responsibility" i played along, picking up one of the strawberries that jack was seeming to enjoy.

he chuckled at my comment, "says who?".

"says me".

he laughed then pouted, once i lightly nudged his hand away from the strawberry that he was about to pick up next.

"but anyways, you're not just my tutor" he stated.

i cleared my throat at his words and stared at him, "i'm not?".

"no way, we're friends. good friends" he replied with the answer i was least expecting or hoping for, so i just smiled briefly and leant my elbows against the counter.

"so, i should probably head back home now. thanks for letting me freshen up a bit" jack started to exit the kitchen, so i followed behind him.

"it's okay. so, i'll see you tomorrow at school?" i licked my lips and asked.

"definitely. bye dakota" he lightly waved, stepping out of the house.

i did the same to say bye one last time, then shut the door with the helpless smile that jack always seems to cause on my face.

+

i always dread world history on the period before lunch, because all i can think about is what i'm going to eat and then i'm just too hungry to even concentrate.

it also doesn't help that i sit by the window, so i always manage to get distracted by the smallest of things.

but to be honest, it's not like i'm missing much because no one in this class pays attention and i'm pretty sure the teacher doesn't even know what she's talking about half of the time.

although, considering that this is one of the few classes that i have with jack where he isn't surrounded by all of his friends, i tend to dread world history on a monday slightly less.

i looked over my shoulder and watched jack rest his head on his hand whilst he tried to watch the pen that he was tapping in the middle of his forehead.

he suddenly glanced up, so i automatically turned away to act like i wasn't just staring at him from afar. but at that moment, i felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.

jack:

you're staring at me, dakota richards 🤔

dakota:

what? no i wasn't

jack:

yes, you were

i glanced over at jack again, seeing him raise his thick eyebrows at me with a smirk on his lips.

dakota:

i wasn't

jack:

were but don't worry, it's cute that you adore me from afar

dakota:

wow i can see your ego expanding from here 😬

jack:

so you WERE staring at me??? 😏

i looked over at him again and this time, he wriggled his brows up and down causing me to chuckle at his comedic behaviour.

dakota:

only because this class is so boring 😩

jack:

tell me about it but hey ur smart so answer me this; is it possible to die from so much boredom? 😳

dakota:

possibly but i don't think that it's been scientifically proven

jack:

well scientists will be pretty impressed when i suddenly die in this chair right here, right now

dakota:

😂

"miss richards!" our teacher loudly called out, that i happened to jump lightly. "do you think that it is appropriate to be texting in my class?".

i quickly locked my phone, "um, no miss".

"no, enlighten me" she folded her arms across her chest.

i could slowly feel everyone's eyes piercing into me, that my chest started to tighten from being the centre of attention right now.

"so, who was this person you were texting that could possibly teach you about the british monarch instead of me?" miss haywood pushed.

i cleared my throat and fiddle with my hands whilst i could feel myself on the verge of a mini-breakdown.

"miss haywood, it was me" jack abruptly spoke up. "i texted dakota first. she was just responding to my initiation".

my body somewhat relaxed after his words since people weren't staring directly at me as much, and because jack was sticking up for me.

"well, at least miss richards will have company in her detention after school" miss haywood picked up a pen to start writing us a slip each.

"detention?! seriously? i have tutoring for–".

"you have a detention, mr.gilinsky and that's final" she cut him off.

she handed jack and i the finished written slips to confirm that we'd both be held back after school, despite the tutoring session that we had planned for today.

-

jack and dakota are cute af

or maybe jakota? idk you guys can decide their ship name

but their relationship is slightly growing which will either make it better or worse when jack finds out the truth about olivia

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btw who watched riverdale this week omfg