Disclaimer: I don't anything you recognize. Also, just in case someone thinks otherwise, Alex is not going to be shipped with an OC (even though I don't like Alex X Rook or Alex X Arthur). The only canon character that might be hinted to be shipped with an OC is Emmerich. But that kid's like ten, so it won't be an actual ship lol.

***

Alex had always thought she and Conner were very different people. Sometimes she wondered how could they have the same parents. Alex would go as far to say they were opposites, like how she was comparably sane and Conner was... well, a bit crazy.

Not in a bad way though. His ideas were bizarre and creative, but strange enough, most of them worked. As Conner always proclaimed, "Being crazy is a part of being awesome!", Alex always laughed at his jokes but never hesitated to scold him for his childish actions. Alex secretly appreciated his creativity, seeing she could never think out of the box like he did.

But this was crossing a line.

Alex frowned as she saw her brother nearly face plant a wall for the fourth time in the day. And it was only lunch break. He didn't seem to mind though, and just walked away with a dreamy look on his face.

Alex also noticed for some reason he finally woke up on time lately, did homework without being told to, and started bumping into things or people. He also looked like he was in a daze, but sometimes, he could be very productive.

All this happened around the time of their birthday. At first, Alex thought Conner was only excited because they were finally teenagers. But when this "excitement" lasted for more than a week, Alex began to get suspicious.

Sure, she was happy that her brother seemed to turn over a new leaf, but he had been so not like himself. He was quieter and immersed in his own thoughts, and stopped asking random questions about whatever that came to his mind. Also, when Alex asked Conner what was going on, he just shrugged.

Weird.

Alex, having enough, searched for Fred, Conner's best friend, in the noisy cafeteria. The boy had known Conner almost as long as Alex knew her twin, so maybe he knew something she didn't know. Not mention, it could be kind of a boy thing?

Alex knew her mother was none the wiser, because her mom had asked her about Conner too. So, Fred was most likely one Conner would confide in.

Fred was standing next to Conner, talking animatedly to him, but Conner looked like he wasn't listening. He scanned the area anxiously as if he was searching for someone. Annoyed, Fred jabbed Conner with his elbow. A bit dazed, Conner turned back and stared at his best friend as if he just realized he was there.

"Have you even been listening to what I said?" Fred asked, running a hand through his hair as a band of girls passed by them. He was fairly popular with the female population of the school due to his looks and athletic ability. It was only September but there were already rumours about this girl who had developed an instant crush on him. Fred claimed it was total rubbish but secretly inside, he felt rather accomplished.

"U-uh no?" Conner squeaked, looking terrified for some reason. Fred stared at him. Fred had no idea Bree had just passed behind him and due to Conner's crush, he was a nervous wreck every time he saw her. "I did catch snippets of what you said... something about History? Red hair? Stupid girls? Sorry, I was a bit distracted."

Fred raised one of his eyebrows so high it almost disappeared. It wasn't the first time Conner spaced out. Fred knew something was going on with Conner, but he didn't know what. Sometimes he acted like a hyper puppy, sometimes a stuttering idiot, sometimes highly exaggerating his actions.

"Freddie, I need to talk to you about something."

The boy whirled around, surprised to see Alex standing there with a determined expression on her face. "Eeeeuuuh Alex?"

Since Fred basically grew up with Conner, he was quite familiar with his sister Alex too. They used to play together when they were little but now Alex seemed to be too occupied with school work to talk to anyone except for her brother.

Alex's determined blue eyes pierced through Fred in a very-Mrs-Peters-way. Then without any warning, she suddenly grabbed his wrist and dragged him away. "See you later Conner!" she called over her shoulder.

Conner just stared in disbelief and shock, wondering what was going on.

Alex and Fred walked through the crowd. The boy tried to free his hand from Alex, but her grip was like a pincer. He groaned, but suddenly something came to his mind. What if Alex liked him and wanted to confess to him? Hell no! Conner would slaughter him for breaking the bro code. Correction: he wouldn't just slaughter him, he would push Fred into a pond with crocodiles, then drag him out and hang him on a tree by his ankle, then force him to step on Lego bricks.

Fred shuddered at the thought of the last punishment.

"Okay what's going on?" he asked, beginning to get slightly annoyed.

Alex sighed. "Did you notice something weird about Conner lately?"

Fred blinked. "Yeah, he always seem to space out when I talk to him. And he gets even clumsier than usual. Do you know what happened to him?"

"No," Alex replied, biting her lip while she thought. "That was what I wanted to ask you about."

"Do you have any ideas?" Fred asked.

Alex gave him a pointed look, then pulled out a small notepad from her jacket pocket. "Here," she said, handing the notepad to the other boy.

***

"Uhh guys?" Conner called after his sister and Fred after they had mysteriously decided to ditch him. He raised one eyebrow comically. "Whatever." He muttered.

Conner walked to his usual bench where his bunch of rowdy mates sat.

"Hey dude!" they chorused, welcoming the boy.

"Where's Freddie?" someone asked.

Conner shrugged. "I dunno." The boys started chattering noisily about soccer tryouts, basketball team tryouts, and so on. Conner wasn't a total fan of sports, the only reason he even ran was either because he was in a hurry or in the Land of Stories.

You run a lot in the Land of Stories. Conner and Alex learnt that firsthand.

After talking for a couple of minutes and Fred being still missing, Conner decided to look for him.

He weaved through the benches, eyes searching for a familiar blond head. He also assumed Fred was with Alex, so he searched for Alex too.

"Hey!" Fred suddenly popped out from nowhere. He waved a hand in front of Conner. "Hello, I'm back!"

"Where have you been with Alex?" Conner asked, glaring at Fred.

"Uhh... nowhere!" Fred answered simply. He pushed Conner. "C'mon, let's go back, I'm starving."

Conner gave him a weird look, but decided not to ask him anything else.

***

"You think he's on drugs?!" Fred had yelled loudly during his conversation with Alex.

Alex crossed her arms. "It was just a suspicion! These are just ideas!"

Fred scanned the words Alex wrote on the notepad. "Most of them are just ridiculous." He snorted.

"This is what I propose." Alex said. "We should find concrete evidence that my brother is behaving weirdly. Then we start to ask what he is up to."

"But we already know he's strange." Fred whispered back.

"It isn't fair to suspect someone without real evidence." Alex said.

"Fine." Fred agreed. "So we stalk him?"

Alex held her chin in thought. "I will observe him at home. You will observe him at school. Then we'll see whether he acts weirder at school or at home. After all, two heads are better than one."

Fred sighed. "Since it's you, I bet we're going to make reports about what he did, when did he do that and stuff, right?"

Alex nodded, surveying the boy with a serious look. "You know me too well, Freddie."

***

Alex was really determined to find out the truth about her brother. They returned home together after school. Conner was rambling about a particularly annoying teacher. Alex pretended to listen, nodding at the right times while she thought of something else.

"So, uh, did anything strange happen in school today?" Alex tried to ask him.

"Well yeah, somebody had a glowing book and then a bird flew out of the book and then I fell headfirst into the Land of Stories," Conner answered sarcastically. "Nope, nothing special."

"Oh!" Alex replied, pretending to be surprised. "I thought something was up as you kept face palming walls."

"That's because I'm clumsy. I thought you knew that."

"You seem clumsier than usual, Conner."

"Well," Conner shrugged his shoulders, but didn't say anything else. Alex found that even more suspicious.

"I also noticed that you space out more at school. Are you okay?" Alex placed her hand on Conner's forehead in concern. Conner rolled his eyes, but didn't throw his sister's hand off.

"I'm fine Alex. No worries."

Alex removed her hand from Conner, seeing there was nothing unusual about his physical state. Actually, Conner was his normal self now, interacting and talking as he always did. Because of that, the thing that caused Conner to act strangely was at school, not at home.

That's perfect, Alex thought, eyes trained on the pavement in front of her as the gears in her brain began to turn. With my observations at home, and Freddie's observations at school, we can have a comparison. It's almost like a control experiment, except it's not really an experiment...

"Alex? Stop trying to burn a hole in the road." Conner said, seeing his sister's serious expression. He ruffled her hair in an effort to lighten her up.

Well, he's all normal now, Alex thought, giggling as she tried to ruffle his hair in return.

"You know, I almost don't mind if I burn a hole using my eyes," Alex commented.

"Wow, I never knew you were into world destruction." Conner teased his sister.

Alex sighed, her sunny expression darkening a bit. "I want to prove that I have magic in my blood, then maybe we'll find a way into the Land of Stories again."

Conner shoved his hands in his pockets, a distant look in his eyes. He appeared to be thinking deeply, and as if making up his mind, he turned to Alex. "Hey-"

Unfortunately for the boy, Alex had been too thinking of starting a conversation at that moment. "I've been thinking about joining one of those classes in the next town."

"Ohh, the one for gifted students or something?" Conner thought out loud.

An embarrassed blush rose on Alex's cheeks. "Well yeah, if we have enough money that is. I don't want to burden Mom."

"Our situation now is already so much better than our situation a year ago," Conner stared straight at the cornflower blue sky, as an image of his father popped into his mind. He remembered that day when he and Alex had been walking home over a year ago, and saw that their beautiful old house had been sold. To lighten the mood, Conner said, "You're my smart sister. You'll solve every problem we face."

"Well," Alex smiled. "You're my cheerful brother. You'll bring light to any situation."

Laughing and joking, the twins continued their way home, which didn't seem as long as usual.

Report #1

Observer: Alex Bailey

Target: Conner Bailey

Time: After school, at around four

Place: During the road back home

Notes: Nothing special. Target seems oblivious to his actions at school, and doesn't act weird.

***

The next day, Fred and Conner shared the same first period, which was Math. They were both yawning and complaining about their amount of homework as usual. Alex walked quietly next to them, mouthing the keywords she was revising for the test next week.

"Bye Alex," Conner called as he and Fred turned into a classroom.

"Bye," Alex waved to the two boys. After they disappeared from view, Alex continued to her own class, feeling slightly lonely without the company of her friends.

I'll visit the library today, Alex decided. But then, something came up in her head. Oh yeah, Fred will do his first observation today. I wonder what he'll get.

Fred, remembering the responsibility he had, narrowed his grey eyes. He peered intently at his best friend, who was chatting loudly with other classmates. Nothing out of place.

In the lesson, Conner was trying really hard to stay awake, and he almost fell asleep at times, only for a rough push from Fred to wake him up. Eventually, around the middle of the lesson, Conner was conscious enough to think about the questions the teacher had assigned them. Because he hadn't been paying attention, he had to ask Fred for answers.

Around the end of the lesson, Fred noticed that the strawberry blond next to him had began to doodle. When he craned his neck in an effort to see what he drew, Conner would cover his drawings with a hand, and say "what?" defensively.

Fred gave him a weird look. "What?" he mimicked, before returning to the lesson. Underneath his textbook, Fred took out a piece of paper and began to write something on it. Conner was too busy drawing to be aware of Fred.

Report #2

Observer: Fred Hayford

Target: Conner Bailey

Time: 1st period (Maths), around nine a.m.

Place: Classroom

Notes: Target is normal for most of the lesson, but towards the end he began to draw, and not let anyone see what he drew.

The bell rang shrilly, and the students rose up slowly like zombies and said goodbye to their teacher in a monotone. After all, being the first lesson of the day, nobody had enough energy to focus on the class. Fred stuffed the paper in a file and sandwiched it between two textbooks to hide it. Everyone began to shuffle out of the classroom to their next class.

Conner put a hand over his mouth to stifle his yawn. "That was boring."

"Yeah, that was so boring," Fred exclaimed immediately. As the two walked down the corridor, they noticed girls whispering and gossiping, shooting furtive glances at Fred.

"What's happening?" a bemused Conner asked.

Fred ran a hand through his spiky hair. "Rumours, Conner." Seeing that a girl nearby had been staring at him, he gave her a little wave before going on his way.

"Ohhhh," Conner turned to with Fred a self-satisfied grin. "Her." The boy nodded dramatically as if he understood everything.

Fred hit him. "Stop acting all knowledgeable and wise."

Suddenly, a girl with reddish brown hair was pushed through the crowd, and a high pitched scream came from the watching girls. The girl glared at the people behind her with a hateful stare, cheeks flaming to match her hair.

"Confess!" somebody hollered, and as if on the same waveline, everybody began to chant, "Confess! CONFESS!" Eyes alight, they stared at the redhead, hungry for some juicy gossip.

"Wait!" the girl yelled at the crowd, shoulder length hair swaying in her anger. "I- I don't even like him! What the heck is wrong with you all?"

"Ooooh," the audience said helpfully. Fred gave a Conner a helpless glance, who just shrugged.

The girl continued to glare at the surrounding people, never meeting Fred's eyes. After a few seconds of hushed whispering, the chants of "confess!" rang through the corridor again.

The boys were beginning to be annoyed, not because they would be late for their lessons, but because everyone was laughing and watching them as if they were some entertainment show.

The girl clicked her tongue impatiently, desperate to escape from the scene. She caught sight of someone she knew, who was standing on the sidelines and observing the incident quietly.

"Bree!" she cried, attracting her friend's attention. Bree had been watching the whole thing, somewhat amused by this silly setup for a confession. "Help me!" the ginger called out to Bree.

Bree? Conner thought, excitement jolting through his spine. He whipped his head towards the girl, and his heart began to beat furiously like a Conga drum. That day, she was wearing a grey shirt and a navy blue jacket was tied around her waist. Despite her rather simple outfit, Conner felt his eyes being glued to her. Being aware that he was behaving very creepily, he looked away, and scolded himself.

Bree crossed her arms, small smirk on her face. She mock sighed, and said evenly, "Well, I don't know about that, Danielle. After all, you got yourself in this mess."

The girl called Danielle huffed, before forcefully pushing her way through the crowd and went away, all without even looking at Fred's direction.

"So that's taken care of," Fred commented. After approximately four seconds, Conner replied with a simple "hmm".

"Dude?" Fred nudged him with his shoulder. And that was when he saw that starry, yet blank look in Conner's blue eyes, and his rigid posture.

Here we go again, Fred narrated in a monotone internally. He would have asked him some questions, but seeing that they were going to be seriously late for their respective classes, he managed a "see ya" before going off.

Once he arrived in his classroom (thankfully the teacher wasn't there yet), Fred immediately took out the piece of paper he had written his report on, and added a few more lines.

Report #3

Observer: Freddie :)

Target: my bro (aka. Conner)

Time: the time between first and second period

Place: school corridor

Notes: spaced out suddenly?? That happened after someone tried to force a girl to confess to me.

***

At lunch, the boys complained about their teachers loudly, and sat in the middle of the cafeteria.

"This sucks!" Fred yelled loudly upon seeing the school lunch, which included a strange slop of something and a dry drumstick that looked like all the water had been drained from it. The other boys muttered their agreements.

"At least we have chocolate chip cookies," Conner said, poking at his cookie and checking whether it was a raisin cookie or a chocolate chip cookie. "That's about the only edible thing on this tray."

"But still, I'm famished," a boy said, and they all dug in. Even if the lunch didn't taste good, it was their only source of food and energy. As they ate, they chatted about recent events, most notably the Danielle Rowland incident that happened on that day in the hallway. They all teased Fred about it, and saying things like "dude, you got yourself a girl". After a while, Fred managed to change the topic.

"What classes do you have next?" Fred asked after a long drink of water.

"Hmm, I think it's Social Studies," another boy replied. "Yours, Freddie?"

Fred stared at his tray, thinking about his response, before nodding. "Science? Yeah, I think so."

"I got English!" Conner announced with an unusually cheerful voice. Everybody else quieted down and stared at him. Ignoring the looks, Conner stuffed half of a cookie in his mouth.

"Wha?" he asked, cookie crumbs spraying out. They continued to be frozen, all eyes on Conner. A few awkward seconds passed, the only sound being Conner's chewing.

Well, Conner was a rather cheerful and optimistic person, he was just never excited for classes or for school. And that was why everybody thought it was shocking.

"I might be mistaken, but..." a boy brandished a fork. "The Conner Bailey sounding excited for English class?"

Next to Conner, Fred frowned. Was that something report-worthy? Or had Conner secretly liked English all along? As far as he knew, Conner never had anything special with English. He didn't really like it, nor did he despise it.

Conner opened his mouth to speak, but more cookie crumbs just tumbled out. After a frantic chew, he swallowed and said, "Me? Excited? I don't sound excited."

"Yes, you do," most of the table said in unison as reply, except for two kids who were having a heated debate about a soccer match that had been on television last night. They didn't even realize the rest of the table had been talking about something that completely different.

"Well, umm, okay," Conner, seeing that he stood out like a sore thumb, drank some water in hope of that telling everyone that the conversation was over. When he finished drinking, the boys were discussing about Conner's apparent sudden interest in English among themselves.

"Umm, maybe it's my sister's influence?" Conner tried to laugh and come up with an explanation. To tell the truth, he only knew that Bree Campbell was in his English class and that somehow made him anticipate that class. "Y'know, she's a bookworm and all that. Might have rubbed onto me."

The boys gave him a peculiar look. "If your sister has an influence on you, your interest in language would have showed way earlier."

"Yeah," the others all muttered in reply. Fred furrowed his eyebrows. He knew Conner was a terrible liar, but because he was such a good friend, he decided to save him from more questioning for now.

"But, it kind of makes sense." Fred offered, attracting everyone else's attention. Gulping, Fred began his (somewhat far-fetched) explanation.

"I mean, Conner's never been a logical person (this earnt a slight glare from Conner), and he isn't too keen on subjects like Social Studies, so maybe he's taken a liking to language. After all, he has to like something."

"I like art," Conner piped up.

"Yeah, sorry to burst your bubble, but art's not really a major subject. But English is."

"I guess that makes sense," the boys nodded and to Conner's relief, they returned to their usual conversation.

Conner wasn't even sure why he was so anxious. Moodily shoving some food into his mouth (if it could be called "food"), the boy knew it wasn't over. Fred suspected something was up, and Conner could feel his friend's grey eyes observing him intently.

For the first time, Conner was kind of glad that he and Fred didn't have the same lesson after lunch. He wasn't sure what to reply if Fred asked him why he was excited about English. Or, maybe, he could let it slip past. After all, it wasn't something of major importance.

The only thing that Conner was sure of was that he liked English class because a certain someone was in it, and that certain girl could only be seen in that class. And it would be embarrassing to admit that.

Fred suddenly stood up, the sound breaking Conner away from his thoughts. "Gonna throw some rubbish away," he said.

"Did you mean to throw yourself in the bin?" a boy suggested jokingly.

As Fred walked away, the boy thought about the strange things Conner had been doing. He reached the rubbish bin, but instead of tossing something in it, he did a ninety degrees turn and walked to one of the benches, where Alex was eating on her own. He slid the folder containing his reports to Alex. The girl looked up from her meal.

"Thanks," she said shortly, taking the folder and putting it between two textbooks that were on the table next to her.

"Do you know anything about Conner liking English?" the blond asked. Alex was a bit surprised by his question, but answered honestly, "I don't really know. He's never taken an interest in a subject that requires studying."

"Apparently he sounded excited for English class, and said it was your influence."

Alex looked at Fred. "That makes sense, but..." her voice trailed off. Fred knew that both of them didn't believe in what Conner had said.

"Never mind. I'll ask him later." Alex decided, secretly pleased that her lazy brother seemed to be taking a liking to a subject. "Bye for now."

"Bye," Fred replied, and went back to his bench. Nobody suspected him of talking to Alex (or anyone for that matter), and all was well.

However, a few benches away, things were not all well.

"Dani, you jealous?" a girl teased slightly, seeing the blond boy walking away from Alex. Danielle's face turned pink.

"As if!" she yelled defensively, but that just arose much more suspicion. Everybody sitting with her for lunch, including Bree, raised an eyebrow.

"Oooh, never think he'll go for a bookworm," another girl commented, twirling her brown hair between her fingers.

Bree sighed internally. "Well," she began, looking like she was about to give a presentation. "Fred is one of Conner Bailey's best friends as I've heard, and Alex is Conner's sister, so it's not much of a surprise that they're close." Bree let out a breath as she finished explaining to her friends.

"I suppose so."

"Yeah, but that doesn't affect Dani's little crush on Fred."

Danielle breathed in and out through her nose, cheeks as red as a tomato. "I. Do. Not. Like. Fred. Hayford," she stated, pronouncing each word clearly and slowly, as if she was talking to a bunch of three year olds. "I don't know where those rumours come from, but like most rumours, it's fake. So stop shipping me with someone I have only known for a month." She stopped speaking, and resumed spooning food to her mouth.

"Oh... okay..." the girls mumbled, evidently disappointed at the lack of gossip. Bree decided it was time to stand up for Danielle.

"Girls, I think it's unreasonable to force romantic relationships out of people," Bree said plainly, turning to her friends. "Just because two people are close together, that doesn't mean they are dating or whatever. Respect other people and their relationships."

There was a short pause as everyone stared at Bree. The silence was broken with an "amen" muttered from Danielle.

Bree knew everybody was seeing her as a weirdo, but she wasn't affected by it. Shrugging her shoulders, Bree added, "Just saying," and resumed eating. The rest of the table soon followed.

***

After lunch bell rang, the students filed slowly into their respective classrooms, sleepy after having lunch. Ms. York, Conner and Bree's English teacher, knew all about that, so she came up with a little game to spice things up, and to attract her students' attention.

Facing her listless students, she announced, "Let's play a game!"

Nobody treated her seriously, because they had all heard of another English teacher who hosted "memory games", which were just sugar-coated versions of dictations.

Ms. York walked over the computer and typed in a link to a certain website. Then, she turned on the projector, displaying the website on the screen.

The class blinked as they saw the familiar words "Kahoot!" make their way on the screen. When the information processed through their drowsy brains, they sat up, suddenly energetic.

Kahoot! Bree thought, a rare shiver of excitement passing through her. Despite that it may sound childish, she actually loved the game. She used to get first places when the game was played in elementary school. The excitement and thrill she felt when competing with other classmates, the rollercoaster emotions when her ranking went up and down, plus the spark and tension in the air, it was really a nice break from boring lessons. At least, it was to Bree.

Kahoot was an application for multiple-choice questions. The questions would be set by the teacher and displayed on the screen, with the answers in distinctive colours and shapes below. The students would use their electronic devices to answer the questions. The fastest correct answer would get a lot of marks, and Kahoot had a ranking system which, in the end, only displayed the top five scores.

Conner could feel the atmosphere change from a dry, stuffy one to one filled with buzz. As a result, he got even more excited. Sneaking a look to Bree, he could see something alight in her pretty brown eyes. Conner felt his heart skip a beat; he had never seen her like that before.

Conner had always gotten the last few places in any Kahoot game, the only exception being when he teamed up with Alex. He didn't mind though, it was a fun game, and it was probably his favourite part of the lesson.

"This Kahoot is about the text we had learned last lesson," Ms. York said, pleased at her students' reaction to the game. "You will be playing with a partner."

Oh, Bree thought, her high spirits lowering a little. She hoped her partner wasn't a complete dumbass, because that would drag her ranking down. And Bree got oddly competitive when she played Kahoot.

Conner was sure that his time at school couldn't get any better (Kahoot day, English class and seeing Bree), but miraculously, it did.

He was paired up with Bree.

YES! Conner screamed internally, biting his lip to stop it from stretching into a wide grin. As the message sunk it, fear and nervousness suddenly began to form in the pit of his stomach. What if he screwed up? What if he screwed up so badly that Bree would hate him forever? Or what if he somehow managed to impress her with his (somewhat bad) Kahoot skills? And why did he care about what she thought about him?

Taking his books, Conner moved to the seat next to Bree's, his heart thumping. He carefully sat down next to his goddess, as if Bree was an easily fragile object that would be broken by a mere touch. Conner couldn't meet Bree's eyes, and stared at the desk in front of him, while thousands of thoughts swarm into his mind wildly, overwhelming him.

Him, Bree studied the boy. His reddish brownish hair was neater (his hair had been comparatively tidier than when she first saw him during the early days of September), he didn't look sleepy, but he wasn't talking to her. Bree could also see the baby fat on his cheeks, which gave him a considerable childish look. However, as Bree knew, she shouldn't judge people by their looks. Which was what she had exactly been doing with this boy called Conner Bailey.

When she first saw him, she felt a little weird. The best way to describe that was a feeling that she had somehow known him before. Bree had shrugged it off; maybe it was déjà vu (whom she knew had scientific explanations), or she had really seen him before (they didn't live too far away). But what was really peculiar was that whether they were in the same room, Bree felt conscious of him. She didn't feel anything special towards the boy himself at first, be it his personality or qualities, but rather the vibe that seemed to radiate off him.

At first, Bree thought it was charisma, as she knew Conner was fairly popular. But as she noticed, her friends didn't seem to be affected by his presumed "charisma", choosing the talk about other "cuter" boys like Fred. Moreover, Bree didn't think it was charismatic that Conner kept hitting walls and tripping over thin air.

So what was it?

Bree had no clue.

From the resident hopeless romantics (also known as Bree's three sisters), Bree learnt about stories such as "soulmates", "reincarnated lovers", or "the red string of fate". For some reason, they all had a romantic element in them, but Bree knew it wasn't like that. She had zero romantic feelings towards Conner.

So why?

Bree decided to investigate. She knew she paid attention to Conner subconsciously, so maybe if she knew more about him, she would know the reason why.

Deep inside, the girl knew there was something strange about Conner. She felt it in her instincts. But so far, on the surface, he seemed normal.

Bree also noticed that he kept hitting stuff and doing clumsy actions whenever she saw him. And then the girl thought, if I keep being drawn to him, why don't I try to actually know more about him inside, instead of always focusing on the mystery?

And that was why she began to silently observe him.

That was why he made an impression on her.

That was why Bree didn't like him a lot at first, because she thought the boy made a fool of himself.

"Did you study the text?" Bree asked casually as she put on her jacket. She was beginning to get cold.

"I tried to," Conner replied in all honesty.

So it's on me, Bree thought grimly. However, on the outside, she said, "Let's give it all we have."

"Okay." Conner allowed himself to smile, despite the butterflies in his stomach. He was on a team with Bree! That made him really happy.

Bree stared at the screen, drumming her fingers against the desk. Conner noted the smirk on the girl's face, and felt a chill go down his spine. Boy, she took this game seriously. Conner also looked at the screen in anticipation, determined not to disappoint.

The first question popped up, and two seconds later Bree tapped on the red box. Conner was amazed by her speed, and Bree rubbed her hands together.

"Were you tooooooo fast?" Conner grinned teasingly, mimicking the messages that would appear on the screen after they submitted the answer. Bree exhaled, shooting a quick look at her partner. "I'm certain we got it right."

"We're in rank three!" the boy gasped as the results came out. Bree allowed herself to be satisfied that they were in the top 5. They were good, but not good enough. But Bree was certain they would catch up.

Bree answered the second, third, fourth and fifth questions swiftly. They were all correct, and beginning from the second question, they took the lead.

"Woohoo!" Conner yelled energetically. Feeling triumphant, Bree continued to drum her fingers, the taps getting more fervent.

He better do something or else I'll answer every question there is. I've already answered five out of the ten questions.

But, as the sixth question made its appearance, Bree had to think for a few seconds to remember. By the time she did, Conner had already answered, to Bree's shock.

"What did you answer?" she immediately interrogated him. Anxiety seized her stomach, and Bree could feel her heart rate going higher and higher. If he answers wrongly and our ranking drops, I'll-

"Uh, the yellow one?" Conner peeped, a bit afraid of the scary vibe coming out from the girl. "I think it's correct?"

Bree looked at the screen, then back at Conner. She calmed down, and said, "I got the same answer too."

The results appeared, and the duo were relieved to see that they were still in first place, and had a massive lead.

Conner reclined in his chair, giving Bree a lazy smile. "I can do something too, Bree." The moment her name left his lips, a warm yet electrifying feeling spread from Conner's body down to his toes.

Bree smiled back. Why do I keep judging people by first impressions? "I'll give you credit. Now on to the next one!" she said determinedly.

Conner had never seen the girl so into something. It was a bit endearing and refreshing to see her that way.

Together, they answered the questions. Sometimes Bree pressed the button, sometimes Conner. When one forgot about something, the other would remind them. At the end, both teens had very high spirits, cheering when the final ranking was revealed. They were in the first place, which was new for Conner, but the usual for Bree.

"Yeah!" Conner cried passionately. Bree smiled modestly at the classmates that were staring at her and Conner with envy.

"Hi five!" Bree said, holding up her palm, brown eyes glittering.

"Hi five!" Conner returned, the impact of their hands hitting making a loud "smack!". Both of their faces glowed alight with excitement and accomplishment. Conner was particularly ecstatic, because that was the first time he ever made physical contact with Bree, which seemed like a moment to remember.

"Congratulations to the top five teams!" Ms. York said. "Now, we'll move on to......"

After school, Conner was, oddly enough, still very excited. He hummed a tune and skipped along the path.

"Umm, what?" Fred uttered lowly when he saw his friend's elated expression.

Alex slid next to him, biting her lip as she observed. "He's going to get questions when we come home."

Little did they know, there were three pairs of eyes looking at Conner. In a corner, Bree watched the boy, wondering what was up with him.

"Is he okay?" Fred whispered to Alex. The girl shrugged, aqua eyes never leaving her brother.

Fred walked up to Conner, Alex following him, and clapped a hand on his back. "Dude! Why so happy?"

Conner turned to them. "I won a Kahoot game!" he grinned.

"Uh, okay. Congrats," Fred and Alex said. They both understood that feeling one would have when they won a round of Kahoot. So Conner was naturally happy.

But Alex remembered one time in sixth grade, she and Conner had won a Kahoot game together. She remembered that he couldn't stop talking about it, and bragged about it to their mother. Now, he seemed more like in a daze than his usual, chatty self.

"Conner, you know you have a test two days from now, right?" Alex reminded him an attempt to sober him up.

Wow, remembering even your brother's test schedule. That's Alex for you, Fred thought in amazement.

"So?" Conner replied, the same starry look in his eyes. "I'll just study for it."

At that exact moment, both Alex and Fred's jaw dropped.

Conner Bailey... studying?!

That was the same thought that immediately came to their minds.

Alex whipped her head towards Fred, and saw that he had done the same. Their serious stares met, conveying the same message.

We need to find out what's up with Conner. Now.

***

A/N: Since I am not a boy, the interactions between the boys might be kind of awkward. Yup.

Also if someone I know in real life is reading this, you'll find out lots of stuff are based from the teachers and experiences in my school. Kahoot is an example, and my partner and I once got 1st place in a Kahoot game :D That was the happiest moment of the day.

Thank you so much your kind reviews! They keep me going!! :)

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22/10/2017