In the middle of Bredbenner's rant about the irresponsibility of juniors in his class concerning homework assignments, my phone, which was currently in my lap (I was texting Lila rapidly—I had to distract myself somehow), vibrated. And it was so loud that my ringtone might as well have pinged.

I stopped texting.

The entire class looked up, everyone innocently scanning each other's expressions. I shoved my phone under my thigh (a trick I'd learned from Lila herself in freshman year to avoid being detected while texting in class). Now all I had to do was to hope that the damn thing wouldn't vibrate again...

As Bredbenner stopped sharply (the silence was starting to hurt my ears since I'd been stuck listening to his really loud, bull-like voice for the past six minutes), I picked up my pencil quickly and smiled up at him as sweetly as I could. It probably looked like the corners of my lips were having spasms since it was super difficult to maintain a fake smile when a teacher like Bredbenner (who scared the hell out of everyone, including the dean himself) was staring me down. I sucked in a deep breath.

Thankfully, he only made a quick remark about the downfall of this generation (technology) before actually starting his lesson (whose time was probably drastically reduced due to his extensive tirade).

I released my breath. Glancing up at the teacher again (he was staring intently at the board), just in case, I quickly texted Lila about my near-death encounter with Bredbenner. Then gingerly, I slipped my phone into the outer pocket of my backpack.

"You're such a doofus," Olivia muttered to me out of the corner of my mouth. She scribbled down the title of the topic and dated her notes, almost illegibly.

I wrote down the date at the top of my notebook. "You're mean." I pouted. "It's never a good thing when you start to resemble Luc."

Olivia glanced sideways at me quickly. "And?"

I realized my mistake then—I'd mentioned Luc. And that was different. I almost never referenced Luc unless it was necessary, especially when he wasn't around. Why had I brought him up now? I was basically dooming myself to a fangirl session—or rather an interrogation—with Olivia for the rest of the class. I really needed to learn how to be subtle...

"Um," I let out underneath my breath. Bredbenner glanced at his class, which was steadily growing more restive due to the lunch period almost right after the period. "Being rude is one thing. Uh, being rude like Luc is like, er, taking things to a new level." I glanced at Olivia, who had an eyebrow raised patronizingly. Oh God, she was reminding me a lot of myself.

"You know I won't be offended or anything if you just tell me what the hell is going on," Olivia said. She copied down some of the things Bredbenner said quickly and pursed her lips. Her expression definitely did not match what she was saying.

So I stalled. "Hey, what was that he said about—right. I got it." I wrote down what she had written on the first line of her page even though I had no idea what we were discussing in class.

"Mm." She positioned her notebook, tilting it so that I couldn't copy off of her anymore. I let out a very loud, exaggerated sigh.

"Come on, Livy."

She shook her head, her dark eyes flashing as she listened to the lecture. "You need to be more independent sometimes."

She wasn't mad about that. I pouted, pushing my pencil case over to her. "Here," I said, "you can borrow my highlighters whenever you want." My collection definitely wasn't as impressive as Lila's, but I did have both of the school colors (gold and blue). Surely Olivia would succumb to my offer...

"Friends are supposed to tell each other everything, right?" Olivia started slowly.

I didn't like where this was going.

Well, each person had a right to decide whether he or she wanted to disclose a topic to someone else, whether he or she was close or not. I decided to keep that to myself—I wasn't very good at being subtle. So I cleared my throat and let her roll on with whatever she had in mind.

"And you've been keeping something from Lila and me," Olivia said, disgruntled. "It's not cool, A."

"I'm sorry you feel that way," I responded evenly, fully aware that answer was something I was supposed to give to a five-year-old in a therapy session, not to one of my best friends. I bit my lip and scrawled a couple points in my notebook under my heading (I wouldn't be able to read them later, but I'd text Lila for her notes when I got back home).

Olivia stopped writing and turned to face me fully. She raised her eyebrows and tossed her dirty golden blond hair over her shoulder. "Well?"

"I'm not comfortable, okay?" I was going to say more (to reprimand her for being too pushy), but at that exact moment, Bredbenner turned around to face the class to emphasize a point. I shut my mouth.

And to say the least, the rest of chem class was awkward. My stomach grumbled loudly every once in a while as if it felt my pain. Yeah, awkward.

↔

Thank goodness, during lunch period, Olivia rushed off to the library to finish up a report for her Modern History class, leaving me with Lila, who was preoccupied with a test that she had in the next period.

I set down my lunch tray at our table, nodding at the couple other girls with whom we shared our table. Loudly, I pulled out my chair (it squeaked on the ground, drawing the attention of the jocks who sat at Luc's table not too far away—luckily for me, Luc's lunch period was different from mine) and plopped down. I cleared my throat.

"Hey, Lila," I said.

Lila glanced up from her notebook. She was obviously studying, and I felt bad for interrupting her session. Then I reminded myself that as her friend, I was obliged to remind her to socialize with the outside world. "Lila?" I repeated, picking up my fork.

It was Japanese cuisine today, so I stabbed my sushi roll and brought it up to my mouth. (I couldn't be bothered to use chopsticks since I'd never figured out how to use them anyway.) My right eye twitched, and my vision blurred all of a sudden. I blinked furiously. Ugh, that was always annoying. I resisted the urge to drop my fork and rub my eye.

"Oh, hey, A. Sorry for everything." Lila stuffed her notebook into her backpack without closing it (I cringed as I thought about all the pages that had gotten crumpled in the process.)

"Mm, it's fine." I chewed on the sushi and swallowed it thickly after a while. Ah, it was a California roll—no raw fish. That was good. I was allergic to fish, and I usually couldn't tell, just by sight, if something had fish.

"So, you look preoccupied," she remarked coolly, picking up her chopsticks and gingerly picking up a leafy green.

Who was she talking about?

"Um, really?" My other hand, which was resting in my lap, twitched. Lila definitely did not need to know about me and Luc. Especially since she was his twin.

But I was sure my efforts to hide my feelings would be ineffectual since Lila could practically read her brother's mood (assuming that he returned my feelings, which was quite improbable). So I just bit my lip and tried to eat as casually as I could (which wasn't very casual since no one looked good while eating).

She raised her eyebrows up at me. She was seriously giving off Olivia vibes; it was making me feel a little uncomfortable since her hazel eyes seemed to see right through me the way her brother's eyes could. I squirmed in my chair.

"What?" I said defensively.

"Something is up with you and my brother." Lila squinted her eyes at me. Her expression made me want to crack up, but the atmosphere was much too serious for that. "Tell me, A."

"You and O are tuned into each other's minds, I swear," I muttered under my breath, stuffing some seaweed into my mouth to avoid answering.

Lila brushed me off easily. "Come on, Audrey."

I shook my head. "Nah."

She shrugged. "I mean, I won't be mad at you or anything. You're, like, totally cute so I don't see why he wouldn't like you."

I choked on my mouthful of food. What was she talking about?

"Ugh, don't distract me with your antics. I know this is, like, Olivia's thing, but you totally look like Audrey Hepburn. Just put your hair in a high bun and stuff on some sunglasses, and you're good to go. Like—"

"No," I said. My head was swimming with everything from today—Olivia (and her weird range of emotions), Lila, Luc (mentions of whom always sent me into a crazy flush, which really annoyed me), school, my emotions, and everything else. No, I couldn't handle my emotions while trying to not become a high school failure. I was already going to have a mental breakdown from not participating in a school sport. Luc, out of all people, couldn't distract me. "Please, stop. You nauseate me."

Lila stared at me for the weirdest second, and then she reached over the table. I sat, frozen. She patted my head, like I was a finally-potty-trained puppy or something. "All right, boo. Take your time. Deny the truth. For, like a mirror, I describe things 'just as they are, unmisted by love or dislike—'"

Now she was really channeling her brother. Quoting a Sylvia Plath poem? Seriously?

I sent her a flat look. "Stop. Please."

And just to further prove the point, my stomach growled a little. Lila's expression lit up as she tried to stifle her laughter—she failed.

For the rest of lunch, I sat, officially put out as Lila pointed out other aspects of my countenance for her amusement.

My friends were just the best.

↔

The bell at the end of seventh period had just rung, and I was already out of the classroom, all my books and affairs in order (for once—I really sucked at getting out of class in time). Today was one day I wanted to get away from as soon as I could.

My head hurt. I couldn't really focus on anything in class. I really wanted to take a nap even though I knew that I had to finish up my homework as well as the extra credit assignments I'd taken on. And at that moment, rushing down the hallway, I realized how out of shape I was: I was already out of breath, and I wasn't even walking that quickly to the school lobby.

All the more reasons for me to be depressed.

"Yo, Audrey," someone called from behind me. This was pretty reminiscent of a situation I'd had a couple days ago...

I turned around, my expression sour as I raised my eyebrows, pursing my lips. "What do you want?"

"Woah, cool down, tiger." Luc pulled me into the art corridor (where not too many students were coming out from) so that we weren't getting trampled by the other students (although he didn't really have much to fear since we were surrounded by freshmen, who usually steered clear of the upperclassmen).

I put my hands on my hips. "I hope you're not gonna sexually assault me or something."

Luc smiled dryly, and my heart skipped a beat. Oh God. This definitely wasn't clearing up the confusion in my head. "'Course not, A. You always assume the worst about me. I just wanted to clear some things up about our schedule for next week."

I didn't think it would be very good for my emotions to see him any more than I was already going to see him (considering that the gang and I were having a sleepover this weekend at Lila's since our course load wasn't as bad as it could be this week). But I kept it inside (no rudeness from me now, even if I was tired).

"Sure. When are you okay?" My eyes felt sore, so I rubbed them lightly. My contacts probably had something to do with it—my eyes were drier than they would be with glasses...

"I'm thinking next Tuesday." Luc watched me closely as I opened my eyes again. His warm eyes were too much. Way too damn much.

I licked my chapped lips slowly. "Um, I'll need to check."

Luc's eyes flickered downward. I wasn't sure where he was looking, but he definitely wasn't making eye contact. He cleared his throat quickly. "Um, yeah, that was it," he said.

Why did he seem so close right now? I glanced up to meet his eyes again. Just seeing them again made me lose my breath, and those dimples...were going to kill me. Focus, focus. I licked my lips again.

"Um, Luc, I, uh, guess I'll see you then," I stammered. Was it just me, or did he take in an extra shallow breath before he stepped away from me?

We parted ways uneventfully. My head throbbed.

That was random. And almost painfully awkward, like the rest of my day.

But today was nothing out of the ordinary, and I continued out into the school lobby toward my car to go home, finally.

→

Hey guys!

So Audrey's relationship with Luc is escalating sort of slowly...but surely, right? Anyway, Olivia's acting funny. What do you think about that? And Lila's being her usual quirky self, so yeah... (I just realized that her name is basically the second part of my pen name but with an extra l. Oops.)

I've come back from a shit day at play practice, so sorry if this chapter wasn't too lively c:

Love y'all and tysm,

Anne :)