ALL I DO
{ irl }

matt shoves through the hall, looking for a certain face – his face. he knows that chris and camille meet up in the same spot every day. he's heading there now, knowing that he should see them any minute now. but they see him first.

"speak of the devil." camille says from behind matt. he spins around, seeing camille and chris standing with their arms crossed the same exact way. "we were just talking about you, matthew."

"why?" he asks, even though he already knows the answer.

"maybe because we've been interrogated by a bare minimum of a thousand people this morning." chris says.

"don't lie." matt says. "you hardly even know twenty people."

"that's not the point." chris responds, waving his hand at him dismissively. "the point is that everyone was asking if you and niola are dating. what am i supposed to say to that!? 'no, guys, sorry. my brother is too much of a chicken shit to admit his feelings to the girl he's been obsessing over for the past few years'."

"no." matt shrugs. "you tell them that we are dating."

at the same exact time, chris and camille's jaws drop dramatically. camille's eyes widen, but she suddenly begins to giggle like a fangirl who has just been noticed by her idol. "you told her!?  oh, please please please don't tell me you just texted her or some shit. girls want the confession to be romantic, trust me. also–"

"shush!" matt interrupts her, putting his hand up to silence her. chris slaps his hand down and glares at him for being so harsh. "just let me explain, will you?"

"please do." chris and camille reply in unison. they look at each other and grin at how in synch they are, finding it cool. but it's actually just because they're madly in love. which is causing them to copy everything the other does subconsciously. their even copying their own stupidity.

"she needed an excuse to make zade leave her alone, so she told him that she had a boyfriend. and he immediately assumed it was me. so, being the bitch he is, told the entire school that she and i were dating. the news spread like wildfire and now everyone is freaking out. especially since we're known for hating each other." matt explains. "niola and i talked this morning and decided to just roll with the rumors to avoid ant further drama."

camille's eyes light up and she begins stomping her feet like an excited toddler. "that's what the main couple did in my favorite rom-com novel!"

"what're you talking about?" matt asks.

"they hated each other in the beginning, they started fake dating, then they fell in love.it's my favorite trope ever!" camille explains, jumping up and down happily. suddenly, the smile on her face disappears and she glares at matt. "and you better treat niola like she's a fucking queen, you hear me?"

as chris is still trying to wrap his head around the fact that matt and niola are fake dating – and while camille is still threatening matt to be a good fake boyfriend, nick makes an appearance. chris is the first to notice as nick marches over to the trio angrily. nick shoves past camille and he jabs his finger into matt's chest. matt raises his hands in defense, confused.

"you better have a good ass explanation as to why fuck everyone is asking about you." nick shouts. "i've done a good job all fucking year at pretending i don't exist. and now you're ruining it! there are random popular people talking to me."

"you're finally popular, nick!" camille cheers, trying to calm him down. needless to say, she failed at that attempt. he ignores her completely and continues to shout at his triplet.

"i don't want this attention on me, matthew!" he says, flailing his arms around as matt backs up from him. "i've been smiling and laughing with people. and all i want is to fucking cry my eyes out."

"you're so real for that," camille mumbles under her breath but nobody is focused on her – nor do they even hear her speak.

"i promise i have a good explanation." matt says in his defense.

"do you, though?" chris points out and matt shoots him a harsh glare. "to me, it sounds like you agreed to pretend to be niola's boyfriend just to live out your fantasies."

"you what!?" nick screams. almost everyone in a fifty-foot radius pauses and glances at him. honestly, how has he been considered the quiet kid when his first response is to scream at every minor inconvenience?

"chris explained it horribly." matt says. "niola needs to convince zade leave her alone, so i'm helping her out by pretending to be her boyfriend to make her back off."

"matt, you're not helping her out. you're helping yourself out." nick explains. "you want to be her boyfriend so bad that now you're settling to being her fake boyfriend!? that's fucking pathetic."

before matt can answer him, the bell rings – announcing that they're all now late to class. in unison, the group groans. suddenly, matt remembers that he has class with niola next period. it's miss elsher's class. he's hoping that they can just work on the project and ignore all of the rumors and drama.

niola rests her head on her desk, squeezing her eyes shut. but no matter how hard she tries to drown out the noise, she can still hear everyone talking about her. the entire classroom is full of people talking and laughing. the worst part is that nobody is even trying to be subtle about it. they're all shamelessly talking shit when she's only a few feet away from them.

the bell rang a few minutes ago and matt's still not here. despite what he told her this morning, niola can't help but doubt if he is actually mad at her for the rumors or not. it was strangely kind of him to accept her weird offer without much convincing.

what if he was lying? what if he was just trying to get back at her for starting all this drama? what if he's just doing all of this for a laugh? what if he's going to turn on her? what if he already has

suddenly, everyone goes quiet. just as niola is about to lift her head and see what everyone is gawking at, she feels someone tap her shoulder. their fingers are cold against her warm skin. the same temperature as matt's–

her head shoots up. and exactly like she expected, matt is staring down at her. he's towering over her desk. upon confirming that the person is matt, her entire body relaxes.

"you okay?" he asks her softly – quiet enough that only she can hear him. she nods and he nods in return. matt then sits down in his desk which is directly behind her. she turns fully around to face him and he grins. "talk to me, silvers. i can tell something is bothering you."

"to be honest?" she begins before she groans, placing her face in her hands. "i hate every bit of this. the attention, the rumors, the whispering, the-"

matt stops her by grabbing her hands and removing them from her face. he holds her hands in his and stares into her eyes. niola's heart stops as she stares back at him. the way he lowers his head and looks at her through his lashes is doing something to her. the coolness of his skin against the warmth of hers never fails to make her breath quicken.

"what're you doing?" she asks him.

"the best way to stop rumors from spreading is by giving the people what the want – and right now, the people want us to look like a couple." he explains, but niola is still confused. "the reason why people start rumors in the first place is for drama. they want everyone to believe a lie. and the problem is that it's exactly that. a lie. but what if what they're saying isn't a lie? then they have nothing to spread."

he's right; he's completely and utterly correct – people are already looking away from them. so niola agrees with him, and holds his hands back. matt flips her hands over. he moves his thumb against her skin, drawing light circles into her palm.

niola chuckles slightly, "that tickles."

"what? this?" he raises a brow, drawing the circles with his nail instead, making it tickle even more than before. she starts to laugh loudly, causing everyone's attention to be directed back toward the pair.

she pulls her hands out of his hold and stiffles her laughter but matt just continues to smile at her. it's rare to hear niola laugh – even more rare when he's the one to cause it. and god what he would do to hear that sound again.

suddenly, the door of the classroom opens and miss elsher walks in, carelessly apologizing for being late. but she's almost always late, so nobody even listens to how she's saying sorry under her breath. everyone's attention drifts away from niola and matt, turning it over to their teacher. once niola knows that nobody is watching them anymore, she spins around and faces foward as well.

there's no need for them to act friendly if nobody is watching them.

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a/n : my cats were walking ALL OVER my keyboard while i typed this so if there are any random keyboard spams im sorry 🫡
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