It had been ten hours since I'd seen Tate, not that I was counting.

I had another seven hours to get through before I could see him again, which was fine. That was seven hours to find some chill because I seemed to be fresh out.

If Jolie hadn't stopped me, I might still be at home changing my shirt. The fifth time is the charm, right?

She thought my stressing out was hilarious, but that's alright. She helped me decide, assuring me the fitted plain black tee and jeans I was wearing looked good. It wasn't usually so hard to get dressed, but I'd only known Tate a few days, and I'd spent most of that time needing a shower. I wanted to look my best today.

"Mark!" Jolie yelled, making me jump.

"What?"

"Are you listening, or are you still thinking about your clothes?"

I looked around and realized we were almost to school. I really needed to get it together. "I wasn't thinking about my clothes."

"OK, so you were thinking about Tate then."

"No. Maybe," I shook my head at myself. "Sorry. What were you saying?"

"Nothing, it wasn't important, I was just rambling. It feels like it's taking a year to get to school today. Did the house move farther?"

I chuckled, "No, I think you're just excited to see Ash."

"I am," she sighed. Looking at me sadly, she said, "It sucks that you can't see Tate until after school. We don't have much more of this left, though!"

"Yep, two weeks to graduation, then back to..."

"Nope! Stop right there. We're not going to talk about the bad stuff. I want one routine week. One week where we're normal seniors with normal, super-hot boyfriends and nothing else is going on."

Laughing, I said, "OK. I'm not sure how that's going to work when we explain everything to Clara, but sure, maybe after that, we can get in some normal time."

Jolie pulled into the parking lot, and within seconds of the car stopping, Ash was opening her door. I smiled at my grinning friend as she hopped out of her seat and into his arms. I was thrilled for her and only felt a touch of envy.

As I stretched behind me for my bookbag, I reminded myself I'd get to see Tate this afternoon; it wouldn't be that long. Then, my door opened, and Tate leaned in with his arms resting on the top of the car.

"Good morning, my favorite," he smirked at what I'm sure was an awestruck expression on my face.

"Hi! What are you doing here? I thought I was going to see you at Bea's later."

"I couldn't wait, I have a few things to do this morning, but I wanted to see you first."

He backed up, so I could step out of the car, and I realized he was wearing one of my shirts. It was a pale blue that made his eyes look even more unreal; it was also a little tighter on his shoulders than mine. Overall, I didn't hate it.

He saw me looking, "It's from the bag Emily gave us. You don't mind, do you?"

I shook my head, "Of course not, keep it. I was noticing it looks better on you."

He smiled and leaned against me, pressing me into the side of the car, "I was noticing how good you look today too."

I felt my cheeks warm at his words but tried to be cool about it, "Oh, yeah?"

"Umm-hmm," he leaned down, but Ash cleared his throat, interrupting us before Tate's lips could reach mine.

Tate looked across the car toward his friend and then behind him at a group of students, they were headed to the school, but their eyes were on us. Tate sighed and gave Ash a little nod before looking down at me.

"I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't have come to your school like this, people seem to be having feelings about it. I don't want to cause a problem for you."

He started to step back, but I stopped him with my hands on his waist. I'd never been so happy in my life, and I'd be damned if I was going to hide it. "Screw them. They'll have to find their own badass god of war. This one is taken."

Tate grinned as he leaned down and pressed his lips to mine. Leaning back with a smile, he ran the back of his fingers over my cheek, "You know as pet names go, that one is a bit long; we should shorten it." He crinkled his nose in thought, "How about just, god?"

I cracked up, "How about just, ass?"

He chuckled, "Tate?"

"Tate."

"You're still my favorite, though, and until something else comes up, I don't mind if you still want to call me..."

I stopped his nonsense with another kiss.

The bell rang, and Jolie muttered under her breath before saying, "We're late. Let's go."

"OK, OK," I grabbed my bookbag and slipped it over my shoulder.

Tate used the strap to pull me in for one last kiss, and Jolie threw her water bottle over the car at us. Tate caught it and gave her a wink making Ash laugh as he put his arm around her.

Handing me the bottle, he said, "I'll see you this afternoon."

All I could do was grin like an idiot as he turned and walked toward the trees. My heart had never been so full. I felt like a new person.

No matter what happens, I knew my life would be forever divided into two parts, before Tate, and after Tate. Of course, I'd never tell him that.

I thought about hiding in the bathroom instead of going to lunch, I needed a break from everything, and I didn't feel like eating anyway. The extra stares and whispers were annoying, but nothing too bad so far. The main problem was Clara.

If I thought I could hide and get away with it, I would've. Unfortunately, Clara was driving Jo crazy too, and there was a good chance one or both of them would come looking for me no matter where I went.

My stomach was in knots at the thought of pushing Clara's questions off all through lunch. She was chomping at the bit, wanting to know where we'd been and why we couldn't call or text. All morning, I told her we'd talk about it after school and explain everything, but she wasn't known for her patience.

Unfortunately, I found myself sitting at our table alone when she sat in front of me, looking determined. I surveyed the room, hoping to see Ash and Jo coming, but they were nowhere in sight.

Leaning across the table, she said, "I can tell you two are hiding something from me. I swear, if you guys did something fun while Emily was gone and didn't invite me, I'm going to be so pissed."

I chuckled at her assumption, "Really? You think we'd plan something fun and not include you?"

She glanced away for a second, "I did, at first, but then Emily seemed upset, and I know neither of you would do that to her."

"We'd never leave you out of anything either. We can't talk about it here, but I promise we didn't do anything fun without you."

She scoffed, "Well, it couldn't have been too terrible. Do you think I haven't heard everyone talking? Apparently, one of my best friends was kissing a hottie in the parking lot this morning, and I didn't even know you were seeing anyone."

Her eyes filled with tears, and I felt terrible. "It's not like I wasn't going to tell you, Clara. It's just new."

"Oh yeah? Where did you find this new guy?"

I couldn't stop the huge smile from covering my face, "You know Ash's friend, Tate?"

Her eyes widened to comical proportions as she leaned closer, "Hiking Tate?"

My cheeks warmed as I nodded, and she yelled, "What the heck?" Looking around, she lowered her voice, "Are you joking?"

I shook my head, and she shrieked as she dove across the table to hug me, "Oh my gosh! That's amazing!"

As she sat back, Jolie and Ash finally made it to the table. Jolie smiled, "What's amazing?"

"Mark and Tate!" She smacked her arm, "You didn't even tell me!"

"I thought I'd let Mark do that," Jo shrugged and pinched my cheek.

Clara looked at each of us, and the smile fell from her face. She shook her head, whispering, "I'm the only one without an Efron."

Her dejected expression caught me off guard. Jo and I looked at each other with surprise. Neither of us knew what to say.

Ash chuckled, "She's kidding. She's happy."

Clara pinched her mouth to the side and rolled her eyes, "Duh, of course, I'm happy."

I was relieved, but it was short-lived.

"Don't think this gets you off the hook, though. Mark dating Tate doesn't explain where you guys were all weekend. If you don't start talking, I'm about to Scooby-Doo all up in your business," she leaned back with her arms crossed. It was clear she wasn't going to be put off any longer.

Jo shrugged, "Well, we went to most of our classes. Do you want to go to Bea's now?"

The thought of seeing Tate sooner had me nodding as I stood, "We put in a solid half-day, good job us. Let's go."

As soon as we stepped outside, Clara said, "I'm riding with you. You're not getting away from me until I know what I missed. You can bring me back to my car later."

"OK," Jo tossed me the keys and got in the back with Ash.

"Why are we going to Bea's?" Clara asked as we pulled onto the road.

"Tate's there," I smiled.

"Why?"

"He and I are living there now, along with Hedera," Ash answered.

"Who's Hedera?"

Jo leaned up and patted her shoulder, "We'll explain everything when we get there."

This chapter is dedicated to my amazing sister @corierocks 💜 She might never see this because she doesn't get on Wattpad much, lol! She's the second person I told I wanted to write and she has been consistently and continually supportive since then. She's the best! Also, I stole that Scooby-Doo bit from something she said once, lol!