━

AUDREY AND MARINA LAUGHED as they made their way towards the cafeteria. the two walked into the large auditorium, marina immediately connecting eyes with lilith.

"hiii" lilith smiled, curling her finger into her usual tiny wave, "i just finished my history test, i think i failed." lilith smiled, tucking her hair back. "yeah, you probably did better than me." marina scoffed, grinning.

"i can tutor you if you want?" audrey offered, sitting down next to her two favorite girls. "i love you audrey, but i'm genuinely scared at the thought of you teaching anybody." lilith said, laughing a bit as she chewed on her sandwich.

"ha ha." audrey rolled her eyes, continuing to write down her history worksheet, glancing between her paper and her notes. "aren't you gonna eat?" marina asked, as audrey nodded, "maybe later, i have a granola bar, i'm good."

the three girls conversed throughout lunch, finishing their food and assignments as the bell rang for fifth period. "i'll see you guys later." audrey waved, as she got up and walked out of the cafeteria.

she walked to her locker, stopping to trade her history notebooks for her english notebook. "where is it.." she huffed, shuffling through all the books in her locker.

just then an idea popped into her brain; she must've left it in her fourth period class before lunch.

audrey slammed her locker shut as she hurriedly made her way towards the math classrooms, "excuse me," she muttered, squeezing into the room past freshman and sophomores who were also trying to make it into the class.

"sorry–" she quickly mumbled, walking up to her desk and finding the light pink notebook sitting right there.

"so then, next week?" miles impatiently asked ms. gallen, his fifth period math teacher as she shuffled through notes for her next class. students were starting to pour in to the classroom.

"yup, and the test has more questions than usual, which is why we're testing on a thursday instead of friday." she nodded before looking up at the boy, "i'm sure you'll do fine."

just as miles was about to say something in return, ms. gallen glanced past his shoulder, "that's her." she said, looking back down at her papers. "who?" miles asked, turning around to see who his teacher was talking about.

"audrey, the girl with the pink notebook who's about to leave." the woman nodded up, miles turned to see the girl who looked stressed and hurried.

"what about her?" miles asked, turning back to ms. gallen, "she's the one who found your guitar pick, thing." she replied, "you should thank her sometime."

miles immediately turned around to get a better look at the girl who was just about to leave the class. "i'll do more than just thank her.." he muttered, before turning to get seated.

━

audrey sighed, looking up at the board that had the numbers in french. she glimpsed down at her math homework, eager to finish it before getting home so she could spend the evening reading her novel.

she stared at the numbers on her paper, confused and exasperated. she brought her head up to look around at the classroom for anyone who she knew who could help her.

the girl glanced around the room tiredly before giving up and letting her head fall into her arms for the fourth time this week. "hate math." she whispered onto the desk's smooth dark surface.

she adjusted her head to the side, her eyes catching the clock across the room hung on the wall above the door. five minutes left of french class before she could go home.

she closed her eyes, trying to grasp the will to get up and finish her work. somewhere in all the thoughts that stayed in the vast space of her brain, she was sure she had to have some goal to finish her math work.

you'll get to read, you'll have a good grade. she thought, as she squeezed her eyes. just then the shrill sound of the bell ringing took over her brain capacity, forcing her to sit up straight and slide out of her seat, packing her bag. it felt as if those five minutes had been a mere second.

audrey stumbled to her locker, pissed and tired over her boring french class. she impatiently unlocked her locker, tossing in her notebook before grabbing her sketchbook and reading book and shoving them in her bag.

just as the girl was about to close her locker, she noticed a small pink paper fall out of her locker. confused she picked it up, shoving it in her pocket thinking it was another scrap piece of graph paper she could use.

the girl slammed her locker shut as she swung her backpack over her shoulder, jogging to the front gates. lilith and marina turned and were laughing as they walked out of the gates, "where are you going?"

"i'm going home," audrey shrugged, laughing, "oh, we're gonna go to the mall again." marina said, as she looked down at her phone, "kay then, have fun guys." audrey lunged forward to give the two a hug.

"byeeee" lilith smiled, waving as she and marina walked the opposite way. audrey saluted in return, quickly getting to her bike.

━

the curly haired boy leaned against the wall of the school's gymnasium, a single cigarette between his lips. across the parking lot, he kept his eyes on the girl, wondering if she had read his letter.

he stood there, looking around the parking lot as people started to clear out of the school's premises. puff after puff he wondered if he should follow her, he had asked kate to pick him later anyway.

soon enough, audrey was on her bike, gradually pedaling out of the school's parking lot and out of it's dark gates.

miles pulled out his phone, looking at the time; it was almost four.

he looked up at the parking lot, searching for aubrey wondering which was she had went. he caught sight of the familiar brown corduroy backpack on her back, white headphones that hung from her ears and connected to the phone in her back pocket.

the boy dropped the cigarette on the ground, smushing it with his foot before he started walking, unbothered by everything in the world. the only thing on his mind; aubrey kinch.

she must be so kind.. he thought, so pure.

he rolled his eyes at the thought, advancing towards the same gates audrey had just left moments ago, turning out of the doors and seeing the familiar indigo bike down the sidewalk about forty feet away at a stoplight.

"audrey." he mumbled, the name beginning to familiarize in his mouth. "audrey."

he walked, and walked, unconcerned where the bike went. he didn't care that she was leaving school, or that she was away. he just walked in the direction she had gone in.

he wanted to know, if he had read his note.

his words.

on his paper.

he remembered watching the girl grab the paper when it fell out of her locker as she impetuously packed everything up and left the school's campus.

he wanted to know, yes, but miles wasn't desperate just yet.

he knew she would read it at some point.

he noticed as the bike took a turn into a familiar plaza, realizing that he had seen the bike before, the day he had lost his guitar pick. he remembered that she was probably in the starbucks that day.

when he was on the bench, moping.

he smiled to himself. this girl was there the whole time, and she's the same person who returned the pick to him.

miles stopped in his tracks before his smile faded.

what the hell's wrong with you. he thought as he swallowed his ambitious thoughts, "stop being weird, you idiot." he mumbled to himself. he looked up, squinting in the sunlight before noticing how close to the coffee shop he was already.

he sighed, contemplating whether to stay outside or sit inside. it was kind of windy, but he could manage. the curious boy strolled off the sidewalk and into the parking lot, until he got to the starbucks.

he walked up to the window, seeing that audrey had already spread her stuff onto a table, staring down at her notebook. she looked.. tired.

she had the paper that miles snuck into her locker stuffed in her pocket, he could see the light pink color peeking out of her jacket.

he watched for a few seconds as she shuffled through her bag looking for something before angrily pushing her bag away and looking around the desk.

finally, she let her hands fall to her sides, before realizing that something was in her pocket. "yes." miles whispered, watching as the girl took the pink slip out of her jacket.

she watched as she opened it the wrong way and spread it out onto her notebook, looking at her paper and then back at the pink sheet. "no, no no no no please don't–" he mumbled, afraid of what she was about to do.

swiftly, the girl moved her elbow as she reached for a blue pen. the pink paper tumbled lightly onto the wooden floor as she quickly grabbed for it.

miles stood appalled as the girl took a closer look at the paper, her eyes scanning up and down the page. "yes, yes please, read it." he whispered to himself, now he was desperate.

the boy watched and waited, his eyes searching the girl's face for any hint of feeling towards the letter he had written her. "please do something." he pleaded, before he watched the girl look around.

as if instinct, the boy hid behind the brick wall that kept her from eyeshot. he panted, excited. excited? was he really that serious about her reading some note he left her?

did he care that much..?

he waited a few seconds before turning back to look into the window of the starbucks. he watched carefully and quietly as he studied her face for any emotions towards the note.

meanwhile, her hand over her mouth as her eyes scanned the page; audrey couldn't tell what to think of the poem.

 my notebook has remained blank for months

thanks to the light you shower

around me. I have no use

for my pen, which lies

languorously without grief.

nothing is better than to live

a storyless life that needs

no writing for meaning—

when I am gone, let others say

they lost a happy man,

though no one can tell how happy i was.

- ♡

audrey read the poem carefully, taking her phone out of her back pocket swiftly. she took a picture of the small paper and sent it to her friend, klailea.

immediately, the older girl replied to her text message.

━

👤

klailea 🛸

holy shit

u got a secret admirer

shut up

im so fr

someone left u a love poem miss girl

🙄

━

audrey rolled her eyes, sighing, a smile made its way onto her face nonetheless.

outside, miles peeked past the wall, grinning. it worked, she read the poem and liked it. he reverted his back to the wall, smiling.

she liked the poem.

just as he was about to turn back, the familiar yellow car made its way into the plaza's parking lot.

"this has become quite the regular, huh?" kate asked, her window rolled down. "yeah, i guess." he smiled, getting into the car.

"what's got you all smiley today?" kate asked, curious as to why he wasn't huffing in the car as per usual. the boy hesitated before shrugging her an answer, "nothing,"

"i just had a good day, that's all."

━

shortish chapter

hope u liked ittt <3

mwah