"Okay, guys, back to your seats, we're gonna get started on types of inflation."

"nooo." I stood up and trudged back to my spot beside Aiden.

I scribbled down everything on her slide but my mind soon began to drift, and I found myself doodling in my spare notebook, drawing small flowers all along the edges. 

I glanced at Aiden, who was attentively taking notes. I could see even from here that his handwriting was not the untidy scrawl I had expected, but actually a pretty neat little script. The page was methodically split, with his diagrams on one side and his notes explaining them on the other.

"Del, which is one type of unemployment that cannot be avoided in an economy?"

"Uhm," my head snapped up from where it was resting on my hand before. Fuck, I don't know. 

I glanced at my notes quickly as I could. "Frictional?"

"That's right. And, what is another? Sorry, dear, forgot your name. Remind me what it was again?"

"Aiden," he replied, with a soft smile on his face that said 'don't worry about it, memorising names can be hard'.

I rolled my eyes. This guy was going to be a suck up, wasn't he? He'd come in and dazzle the teachers with his supposed charm, all the while being a typical rich kid outside of school. Partying, the loud music and drunken yells that would go late into the night. 

Kind of smart, actually, but it annoyed me.

Sam caught my eye and grinned, probably knowing what was going through my head. 

I had vented my frustrations when he had done the same: in general, Sam could be a player and a flirt, no way around it. Yet somehow teachers seemed to think he was some sort of little church boy just because he put effort into his studies. 

I swear, the power of school uniforms sometimes. Even the baddest of kids looked demure and focused in them.

My mind turned back to Aiden. He wasn't what I'd consider the most popular of kids. I had seen him at a couple of parties, but he mostly kept to himself and another boy, even within their group of friends.

Popular by association, I decided. Friends with the rich kids but kept to himself when he was among them.

In this class there was another girl from that same group of friends, and a guy as well, I noticed, but Aiden didn't seem to want to speak to them. They hadn't even seemed to have noticed or acknowledged him during the break in class.

Maybe he didn't have them as friends, really. Maybe that's all it was, association. 

My sour attitude towards him softened.

When the next bell rang, signalling the end of the lesson, I immediately picked up my books, desperate to get out of the class as soon as possible. 

I had math next, which was equally bad, if not worse, but at least it was shorter than Eco. Plus the only close friend of mine in my math class was Suraj, who actually liked it. So not much help there.

I waved bye to Sam and Maeve before making my way over to math. Since it was all the way on the other end of the building, I didn't have the chance for a quick chat before class.

It was almost like floodgates opened whenever the bell rang, all of high school flooding into the hallways and making their way over to wherever they were headed next. Calls of names, hugs, kisses, laughter, and the odd yell.

My friends, especially Maeve, complained about the swarm of bodies we had to navigate through. I, however, found some solace in sneaking through the crowd, using my elbows to push through, and using my small size to my advantage.

I reached out between two older girls chatting by their lockers to grasp Suraj's sleeve, dragging him along with me to class. 

Once we got to the staircase, the crowd was vastly thinner, and we could walk comfortably.

"Did you get the last question on the homework?" Suraj slid his backpack off, unzipping it and pulling his book out, all while walking.

"Brave of you to assume I did the homework," I muttered, but pulled my book out nonetheless.

Flipping to the page where I had attempted yesterday's questions, I showed it to him.

"How did you get- OH!"

"You forgot to add 'plus c', didn't you?" It was a small joy to get an answer to a math problem which Suraj didn't get.

He pouted. "Yeah."

I grinned, pushing my book back into my bag. The corridor was mostly empty, and I turned back to see Khit, the new kid. He was in my math class.

"Hey, Khit!"

"Hi." He didn't smile, but I'd figured over the past couple of days that he didn't seem like the guy to talk or show emotion much. So no hostility there, hopefully.

I'd seen Khit hanging out with some other kids I didn't know really well, like Neil and Johan, but he seemed to be doing okay. Sometimes during lunch he'd play basketball with the boys, but that was about it.

He walked along with Suraj and I to class, a bit behind us. It seemed kind of heavy, the silence that settled on us, but I tried to ignore it as far as possible. 

We were some of the first people there, and as we went to take our seats, I could swear I saw Khit glaring at Suraj.

Weird, I thought, but set it aside as my teacher came in. Integration, calculus in general really, was not exactly my strong point, so I actually had to focus while she was teaching new bits.

The good thing about math classes, though, was that we didn't really need to always stay sitting at our desks. We'd all pull up our chairs to one another and share tables, working on questions together and sharing textbooks.

I dragged my chair over to Suraj and sat down.

Over the course of the lesson, I kept my head low in hopes that she wouldn't call on me to answer any questions, which worked better than I expected.

It was just a couple of minutes until the bell when she called on Khit.

"Khit, are you getting it?"

"I... think so."

"Okay. Then can you help me out with this next question?"

What was up with teachers and doing that thing? Three other kids had their hands up, but she stared him down, waiting for his answer.

He hesitated. "Um..."

"Uhm, I have a question!" I rushed out, thankfully distracting her.

"Yes?"

"How would we do it if there's pi by two? Like at the beginning?"

"You take it as a constant. So you'll consider it as a coefficient to the x term that you put while integrating."

"Oh. Um, so here, could I just do pi over two times x to the power n plus one over n plus one?"

"Yes, that's how you would go about with this."

"Okay. And-"

The bell rang, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Khit relax slightly. 

Everyone had already packed up all their stuff, and a few kids began to stand up.

"So would this one would give pi by two x to the seventh by seven then?"

"Yeah. Don't forget the constant of integration. Very, very common mistake, you guys." She turned back to face us from the board.

"Okay, I guess I'll see all you guys tomorrow, then?"

"Yep."

"Bye, thank you!"

"Thank you."

"Bye."

We filtered out of the classroom, Suraj trailing behind me, holding onto the strap of my backpack so we wouldn't lose one another.

"Del?"

I turned to see Khit, slinging his bag over his shoulder.

"Yeah?"

"Can I talk with you?"

"Sure, uhm," I gave Suraj a quick look and he nodded at me. I figured I'd just catch up to him and the others at our usual spot.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Thank you, for math class."

"Oh, no problem, I hate being put on the spot like that, so I get how that might have been."

He almost smiled. Was this what he wanted to talk about? He could have just said it in front of Suraj. 

The hallway was emptying out, only a group of seniors heading our way.

Shit. Seniors. My veins seemed to fill with lead just seeing them. I had to get out of here. Right now.

"So, I'm gonna go meet my friends. I'll see you around sometime, okay?" The words poured out of my mouth incomprehensibly. Eminem could never.

"Okay?" 

I fumbled to zip up my bag before rushing ahead, hoping none of my brother's friends were in that group.

"Del?"

Shit.

I turned back, heaving a sigh of relief when I realised which seniors these were. 

I only knew one of the boys by name, and recognised a couple of the girls, who I knew through other friends.

"Hey, Si." Simon had been one of Nate's friends since they were in the second grade, but in all honesty, I didn't talk to him much anymore. We had tried to make conversations enough times to know we had nothing in common except Nate.

"Nate coming to school tomorrow?"

"I don't know, um, you can ask him. I would guess probably not though."

"Oh." He looked down. "Okay. Thanks, I'll see you around."

"See you."

I shook my head at my stupidity at being so worked up over nothing.

I made my way over to the lockers where my friends were, dropping my bag next to Maeve's.

"So, Del." Suraj wiggled his eyebrows. "What did the tall scary thai kid want to tell you?"

I rolled my eyes. "Thanked me for saving his ass in math."

He frowned. "Oh. Far less exciting than I expected."

Maeve grinned. "That's her life, though, isn't it?"

I swatted at her. "Maeve, you're my best friend and quite a big part of my life, so really, you're dissing yourself there."

Suraj laughed. "She's got a point."

Maeve made a face at me before her eyes caught sight of something behind me. 

I ignored it, knowing about her habit of zoning out and staring at something random every once in a while. I did it too.

Someone tapped me gently on my right shoulder. Assuming it to be Sam or Kyle, I turned to face them, but found myself facing Aiden, the guy from economics class, instead.

"Hi, um, Del?"

"Yeah?" I gave a nervous laugh. I couldn't really remember the last time I had spoken to him.

"Um, I noticed you came late to class today, so, in case you needed the notes, you can borrow my book." He held it out to me, a neat looking spiral bound book that was only just starting to wear down at the edges, unlike mine, whose edges were pretty much curved now.

"Oh. Uh, thanks, I guess."

Girl, he just gave you notes without you even asking him! 'thanks, I guess?'  say something!

"Thank you so much, Alde- Aiden!" I beamed, taking the book from him. "I'll give it back tomorrow, if that's okay with you."

He gave me a light, somewhat strained smile before he ambled away. Like he actually didn't want me to have his book or something.

"Well, that was fucking weird," Maeve commented from behind me.

"That was really nice of him," I replied, still not turning back to face her.

"Don't you mean rude? I mean, I came late too, why did he just talk to you?"

"Maybe because she's more approachable and doesn't have a resting bitch face," Suraj said, pulling out some snacks and handing them to us.

"Excuse you!"

"He's right, you know."

"Shut up, Del."

"Shutting up."

The three of us sat there, joined by Lewis and Lena a few minutes later.

"Where's Sam?" I asked, my mouth bulging with food.

"He said he's coming. One of the seniors wanted to talk to him or something."

My ears shot up in an instant. "Senior? Was it one of the guys on the basketball team?" Please say yes, please say yes.

If it was someone on the basketball team it would probably be something about practise. No big deal.

Lena frowned. "I don't think so."

Oh, no. No, no no.

I felt bile rise into my throat as the ground seemed to sway below me, even through I was sitting down. Unconsciously, my hand lifted to clasp around the necklace I was wearing today, a delicate chain with a small silver cross.

"I think that guy is on the lacrosse team," Lewis said, popping a cheeto into his mouth.

"Fuck! Where is he?" I scrambled from my sitting position to stand up, tripping over my own legs twice.

"By the stairs? Del? Everything okay?"

I didn't bother answering before sprinting in the direction of the stairs. I prayed that Sam wouldn't do anything stupid. 

I caught sight of a group of kids near the stairs, and some yells.

No, no, no. God, please, no.

"SAM!" I pushed through, not even stopping to apologise when I elbowed some others. "SA-"

I stumbled through the crowd only to find that it was a pair of junior boys that I didn't know, having a waterfight.

Things went suddenly silent as all eyes turned to me. My face burned, my stomach churning in embarrassment. 

But the hint of relief beneath all that calmed me down a bit.

"Sorry," I mumbled, backing out of the crowd and slinking away, drawing as little attention to myself as possible.

I turned a corner into the adjoining corridor.

"Del?"

"Oh Sam, thank God!" I flung my arms around him and pulled him in for a quick hug before pulling away awkwardly. 

"You good?" his eyebrows furrowed in genuine concern.

"I thought you did something stupid." I tried to sound as nonchalant as possible.

He mock gasped. "Stupid? I would never!"

I swatted at his arm. "Idiot. Come on, the others are waiting."

He followed after me. "Everything okay? You look kind of keyed up."

"What? Oh, yeah, yeah, everything's great. Wonderful, actually." I overdid the nonchalance. 

"Del." He stopped walking.

"What?"

"Tell me what's happening in that pretty little head of yours."

"Nothing," I lied.

In reality, despite the embarrassment I had just experienced, I was thanking God over and over that it wasn't what I thought it was. I had feared walking up to him seeing a bruised jaw and a black eye more than almost anything, because of all the implications that would have.

"Del." He took one step closer, so there wasn't much distance between the two of us. 

Not it.

His cologne was too strong, the musky scent too reminiscent of the kind older guys always wore, like seniors or college kids. The kind I would never let my brother wear because it gave me a headache.

The kind that I smelled so potently that day in Los Angeles.

Pulling down one of my jacket sleeves to give myself sweater paws, I held it over my nose in a quick motion.

"Del, what-"

"Cologne. Too strong."

"Oh." He looked down at himself before taking a couple of steps back. "Sorry. So what did you think happened?"

I sighed. He was going to draw it out of me anyways, and I might as well tell him now so he would have time to think over the damage it would cause if he did anything stupid.

"I thought you got into a fight with Jordan," I mumbled quietly.

He whirled around, hands forming fists just at the name. "Conley's at school?"

"No, no, Lena and Lewis said that you went to talk to some guy on the lacrosse team and I just got worried that-"

"Oh, that was Simon, he had Nate's calculator and asked me to give it to you." Sam placed it in the palm of my hand and gently closed my fingers around it.

"Simon's not on the lacrosse team though? And I just met him like ten minutes ago."

"They must have gotten confused. And he said that he forgot to give it to you. I swear, Del, it was nothing to worry about."

My shoulders slumped forward.

I hated that it had been months now and I was still terrified. More than facing Jordan myself, I was scared of Sam coming across him. 

"Just promise me you won't go looking for trouble, Sam? That you won't go looking to pick a fight with him?"

"I promise." He smiled, and looked away, scratching his neck. He clearly wanted to move to something lighter.

"Oh, hey, um, by the way, you can borrow my economics book for today for the notes you missed. Text me if there's any words you don't understand."

Sam's handwriting had stayed the same ant-looking scrawl since fifth grade, and I found it a miracle that teachers could read it when correcting our exams. I never could get through a page of his notes.

"It's fine, someone already lent me the notes. Thanks, though."

"Who?"

"That guy Aiden? You know, brown hair, kind of tall."

"Aiden? How do you guys know each other?"

"We don't."

"That's kinda weird though."

"I dont think so. I think it was really sweet of him."

"Of course you do."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, you just look at everything so positively, like, always have your first thought about someone else be something nice. I don't really know how to explain it."

I stayed quiet at that. Sometimes it seemed like thinking the best of people was what got me into trouble. 

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