━

AS MILES LOOKED DOWN at his freshman math notes from the year prior,  sure it was from a far more prestigious school, but he wanted to try and use them for her anyway. he couldn't help but smile at the interaction he'd had with audrey two days ago.

for a girl who seemed so upset over school, she had been studying on a friday instead of going out with friends to the mall, or going home.

so she was trying, just.. not in the right way.

miles pushed himself up off the table, looking through his notebook. after flipping through some of the pages he had shown her examples on, looking for the small combination of numbers she had written in his notebook.

quickly, he walked to the other side of the room, unplugging his phone from it's charger before entering the new number in his contacts, texting it. but she had given him her number.

he waited a few minutes before receiving a text back, a small smile painting its way onto his face.

━

👤

audrey

audrey?

who tf

its miles

oh

hiiii

i was kinda wondering

when you'd text me lol

sorry for taking so long

my phone was charging cause i

forgot it yesterday

━

audrey's eyebrows furrowed as she smiled at his message, laying in her bed. the way he tried to apologize and explain was so interesting to her. most boys at their school probably would have been talking in acronyms the whole time.

she sighed, putting her phone away for the night, kind of excited to go to school tomorrow. she was going to try and leave the person who wrote her letters another letter.

━

"audrey pleaseeee!" lilith whined, tugging at the girl's shoulders. "you've been studying after school since it started! you should take a break and spend time with us." lilith said, trying to convince audrey to come to the mall with her and marina.

"i would love to lilith, seriously, but i made commitments to myself and others." audrey nodded, maturely trying her best to explain to lilith that she had other plans. "by others who exactly are you referring to..?" marina asked, leaning against the wall of the cafeteria.

"i mean, i have tutoring." audrey looked down at her feet, trying not to think of how miles had randomly asked her and helped her. "what?!" lilith and marina screamed in sync.

"for what subject?" lilith asked, "are you tutoring or getting tutored?" marina followed, both of them bombarding the girl with their own interests.

"calmmmmm," audrey loudly said, pushing her hands down in front of them gesturing for them to lower their excitement.

"i'm getting tutored for math, someone from the school's helping me." audrey calmly explained, crossing her arms. "you're lying." marina mumbled in awe, "ooouuu, is it a guy?" lilith hummed, twirling audrey's hair in her fingers.

"i'm not lying, and yes it's a guy." audrey sighed, knowing lilith was trying to get somewhere with the conversation. "oh my god." marina smiled, "what?" audrey immediately asked.

"you like this guy, huh?" she smiled, "what?! no!" audrey quickly yelled in defense, crossing her arms tighter as she tried her best to hide the heat from rising on her cheeks.

"you fucking LIAR." marina laughed, "you so like him. you gotta picture of him?" she asked, leaning closer to her best friend. "no! i just met him, for fucks sake, rina." audrey rolled her eyes with a smile.

"you're crossing your arms, you're rolling your eyes, blushing and smiling. if not like you think he's cute, don't you?" marina listed, teasing the girl further.

"okay, cute maybe." audrey admit, remembering how she got to see him closer than before the day he sat at her table in the cafe.

"SEE, I KNEW ITTT" marina yelled, staring back and forth between lilith and audrey. "oh i am so telling everyone else." marina giggled, referring to their group chat of middle school friends.

everyone was tight in seventh grade, less close in eighth, and by their middle school graduation everyone was changing to different highschools.

except for these three at least for freshman year. marina and lilith were moving after freshman year.

"so what's he look like?" marina smugly asked, nudging her friend on the shoulder, "damn you haven't been this shy since.." marina trailed off, realizing what she was about to say when audrey's head whipped up.

"sorry," she mumbled, "what's he look like? he probably has curly hair if you think he's cute." lilith shimmied her friend, smiling at her. "well, he does but–"

"YESSS," lilith cried out, "sorry, go on." audrey stood there, her mouth hung slightly agape, "he has dark curly hair, and he's really pale. kinda reminds me of a vampire or like a greek god." she shrugged trying not to smile at the last comparison.

"what's he sound like?" lilith asked eagerly. "his voice sounds nice, i'm not sure what to describe it as." audrey tilted her head in confusion, walking forward as the line progressed. "does he go here?" lilith asked again.

"yes," audrey sighed, before standing up straight, realizing the thoughts that were coursing through her friends' brains. "no, you–we are not doing that." audrey quickly said, knowing they were set on searching the school for him.

━

miles sat against the library's exterior, huddled behind one of the old emergency exits of the school as he smoked a cigarette. he sighed, burying his hands in his head, he was exhausted.

with quint dying so quickly after his parents, he genuinely felt like he had no motivation for anything.

it was even worse that kate and his uncle had quickly tried to find the closest replacement to a school once he was expelled from his private boarding school.

he wished he had more time at home. time he could spend in his room, at the stables, and most importantly, with flora.

he felt so sick of being around strangers. he above anything else for someone to hangout with, he had since he was a kid.

but most children either thought he was stuck up, or just weird for someone with so much money and a hand to feed them a spoonful.

he got up, brushing off his pants as he dropped the cigarette, stomping on it lightly. he looked around before sneaking back into the library.

as he walked out of the small building and stepped onto the sunny concrete, he heard a familiar voice, "whatever." he heard audrey mumble, his head immediately turning to where he had heard her voice.

"dude, it's so obvious that you like him." marina said, as they walked towards the library, "well i don't i just met—" audrey paused, panic rising in her face as she made eye contact with miles.

"i have to pee." she blurted before turning around, leaving lilith and marina there confused. "wha–audrey!" lilith yelled, speed walking to catch up to her, marina sighed as she trailed behind them.

miles stood there, confused before brushing off whatever just happened. he started to remember marina, from his p.e. period and lilith was from his homeroom period.

so those were her friends.. interesting.

two completely different people who had been friends since first grade, were friends with someone who they'd only met in seventh and eighth grade.

oh well, to each their own.

━

as audrey made it to school the next day, she found herself being extra cautious around her friends, making sure where ever they were was extremely populated.

he noticed miles tended to seclude himself, so wherever there were more people, he usually wasn't there.

and that's what she needed.

because she knew, the moment that marina and lilith realized just who miles was, and why she was avoiding him, they would immediately push her towards him.

just like they did with.. nevermind.

point is, the plan is to stay away from miles, and as long as she can do that until she has tutoring with him at the cafe, she'll be fine. no teasing, no taunting, no walking around to find him.

she had to distract her friends during lunch, change the topic, talk about school work; anything that would take their minds off of who audrey's tutor was, and where he could be on the school's premises.

"hey, lily. audreyy," marina groaned, hugging audrey, "i'm so tired." marina yawned, resting her head on audrey's shoulder. "and what time did we sleep last night?" she asked,

"uh.. um four am." marina quietly replied, as lilith talked to one of her other friends near the entrance. "oh wow, and what did we talk about?" audrey said, looking at her friend.

"sleep earlier, patterns matter, they effect health." marina rolled her eyes as she lifted herself off her friends' frame. "i'm sorry! okay, i know that we talked about it, but i just can't sleep." she sighed.

"i know, and if you ever need somebody to talk to, call me, i'm your national helpful friend hotline." she winked, patting marina's head. "okay thanks hot line." marina said, wiggling her eyebrows with a smirk.

the two of them laughed as the bell rang, "wanna walk to class together?" audrey offered, lilith had p.e. first period, but marina and audrey had different biology classes.

"sure." she hummed, as she took out her phone to change her music, adjusting her airpod in her ear. "dude, i'm so tired of this, do you have any new music suggestions, i need to stay awake." marina quickly said, handing audrey her phone.

audrey typed in her spotify username, finding her favorite hype playlist she'd put together, handing her back the phone. "oh this shit goes hard." marina laughed as they walked hand in hand down the halls.

"i know," audrey smiled at her friend feeling happier, marina offered her the other airpod as they walked to class, both of them humming the tunes and singing the lyrics.

once they reached the other entrance to the school, which was quite close to the science classrooms, audrey returned the airpod to marina, "get some sleep, 'kay?" she smiled, hugging marina.

"will do, thanks." she hummed, as they pulled away. just as audrey was about to turn and leave, she saw a familiar mop of curls enter the school's gates.

"i gotta go, sleep okay? bye." audrey quickly said turning and trying to walk as fast as she could to her biology class, leaving marina there, confuzzled.

"weirdo." she smiled, as she walked to her science class across the hall.

━

as miles sat down in his mixed biology class, he kept thinking about when he would slip the note into her locker. he had arrived a bit late today, so he couldn't slip it in before she got to school.

"for this project, you can have partners," mr. lawdson sighed, "however, this time, you can choose partners, and they don't have to be from your lab table."

miles turned a bit as he heard multiple students start whispering to each other, cheering a bit as they could work with their friends.

"now, you have to create all the formulas on your own for this lab." he explained, "the worksheets are due by the end of next week, now get to work."

as soon as he last four words left the teacher's mouth, the students found themselves shuffling seats to sit with their friends, moving around to sit with their own friends.

he sighed turning back to the board, and glancing at the empty seat next to him. he crossed his arms over the table, resting his head on them as he looked down at his lap.

"i don't.. have a partner." he heard someone mumble at the teacher's desk. "can i work alone?" the voice asked, "no, there are other students without partners." he heard mr. lawdson reply.

"alright," the voice sighed, sounding a bit disappointed. soon enough, miles saw the stool beside him scrape the side of the linoleum floor.

"hi," he heard a familiar voice mutter, he lifted his head to be faced with audrey.

"hi," he replied, a small smile on his lips. "i didn't know you were in this class," he said, looking down at the worksheets in front of them.

"ditto, but i guess it's why it's a 'mixed' biology class." she explained, her painted nails fiddling with her hair.

"so, wanna get started?" miles asked sliding a worksheet her, picking up the vials and beakers. "sure, lead the way einstein." she laughed, as the two got to work.

━

as audrey biked to the starbucks, she felt somewhat happy.

she had been able to avoid miles outside of tutoring, and now she'd found out this morning that he was in her science class.

she felt a feeling that she didn't know how to explain, it was as if she was slightly excited, but confused.

quietly she locked her bike to the bench next to the entrance, walking inside the starbucks and unpacking her bag.

just as she was about to open her notebook, miles walked through the entrance. "hey," he smiled, sitting down across from her. "well hello there," she smiled as she picked up her bag and opened it on the table.

"so, what are we tackling today?" he asked, as he picked up her notebook and read the problems listed on the page.

"just that, there's nothing wrong with the classwork, i think understood it well enough." she mumbled as she searched through her bag for the textbook she brought home.

as she pulled out the large book, a small slip of a blue paper fell out from her bag. miles noticed, realizing it was the letter he had snuck into her bag during science earlier this morning.

"what's that?" he asked, about to pick it up, before audrey snatched it, "it's nothing." she quickly mumbled, her eyes scanning the paper before she shoved it back in her bag.

"was it.. a note?" he carefully asked, "yeah, sort of." she replied, "may i ask, from who?" he tilted his head as he turned back to the problems that were written on her notebook's paper.

"from uh, a friend." she mumbled, zipping up her bag and setting it down next to her. "cool," he nodded, "alright so for this one, you know exponents right?" he started as she leaned over to see the problem he was referring to.

"yeah, what about them?" she asked, looking from the paper over to him. "you're going to solve the exponents, first and then do the rest of the multiplication." he explained sliding the paper across the table with his pencil.

"sweet," she whispered, as she started scribbling down the problem's steps.

━

as the sun began to set, audrey unlocked her bike, miles smoking his cigarette as he waited behind her for kate to show up.

"today was good, you got a few wrong but other than that it went smooth." he started, staring up at the sky as she bent down to adjust the wheels from the bench.

"thanks," she grunted, moving the bike in an angle where she could get on it, "you do know that's eighth grade review though, right..?" he smiled, looking at her, "yeah, miles, you said it like, i don't even know how many times." she scoffed, as she kicked up the kick stand.

"where's your ride?" audrey asked, staring at the parking lot before looking back at her, "not here yet," he said, blowing a puff, "holy shit, you smoke?" she said, quickly looking at him.

"a bit, yeah." he mumbled, looking around, "dude, put that out, that's so bad for you." she whispered, in awe of the cigarette that was between his fingers.

"don't care, helps me relax." he whispered, staring down at his shoes. "i'll see you tomorrow?" he mumbled, looking up. "yeah, tomorrow's good." she nodded, her hands firm and ready on her handles.

"cool," miles said, as audrey pedaled off the side walk and onto the gravely parking lot. "bye!" he yelled as she raised a hand up, her middle finger poking up.

he chuckled to himself as he watched the girl ride her bike until she was out of sight. he stared at the lot in front of him, blowing a few more puffs before seeing a familiar yellow car at the stoplights down the block.

he dropped the cigarette, pressing his shoe on it as he smushed it, putting it out. the car pulled up to the side walk, kate rolled down her windows. "come on," she mumbled, as he got in the car.

"so any specific reason you've been here after school, lately?" she asked, as they drove home. "i'm helping a friend." he replied, staring out the window. "oh?" she asked, looking over to him.

he stared straight a head, his expression fighting the smallest hint of happiness. "yeah, she's uh–she needs help with math so.."

"wow, alright. miles the math tutor." she joked, as they pulled up to the gates of bly manor. "have you told flora you made a friend?" kate asked, "not yet," he replied, gathering his backpack as they entered the second set of gates.

"i know if i do tell her, she'll want to meet her." miles sighed, happy to be home. "i'll tell her when audrey comes over for the science project." he said, knowing he'd probably invite her over for the sake of introducing her to flora.

"cool, cool." kate nodded, smiling. she was happy he was at least making friends at a new school.

she knew he would never admit being happy at a place she offered him to go, but at least she knew he really was happy.

━

HAHAHAHA MORE MILES AUDREY SCENESS

dw there's DEFINIETLY more coming up 😉 

i won't keep y'all waiting but im also updating hiraeth & sweet escape so . . . 

still, summer's starting in 2 weeks for me, (for reference im editing this on may 18th)

love u guysss mwah 💋💋