Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize.

***

The chilly autumn wind blew past Alex, strands of her strawberry blonde hair fluttering up. The girl shivered, glad that she had chosen to wear a long-sleeved shirt that day.

The weather was gradually getting colder. Conner had met up with a bunch of boys on their way to school, so he began to chat with them, leaving Alex to the side. Alex didn't really mind though; a bit of peace and quiet would do her good.

"Good morning!" a familiar voice perked, and Alex turned to see a grinning Fred. He looked suspiciously awake in the morning and there was a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Good morning," Alex returned the courtesy. "What have you got here, Freddie?"

Fred gave her a wicked smirk. "I know who Conner likes."

Alex sighed. "Of course you do." It wasn't much of a surprise, really. She knew Fred would do everything in his power to find out his best friend's crush.

"Soooo... you interested in knowing who?" the boy leaned down ("He's so tall," Alex thought) and whispered.

Alex pondered her choices. On one hand, she respected her brother's privacy; but on the other hand, she wanted to know whether his crush would be suitable for Conner. She weighted the two options in her head for a few seconds, then finally said, "Are you a hundred percent sure you have it right?"

"Two hundred percent," he replied, his smile as big as a Cheshire cat's. Alex was rather amused how this topic had Fred wide-eyed in the early hours of the day.

"Alright. But don't tell anyone else," Alex said in a hushed tone.

"It's Bree Campbell," Fred whispered in her ear, and straightened his back, acting as if nothing had happened. "Do you know her?"

"Ah," Alex wasn't sure what to say. She couldn't say she was surprised because she didn't know what type of people Conner fancied. "Yes, she's in my Social Studies class."

"By the way, Freddie, can I ask you for a favour?" Alex asked.

"Anything," Fred cocked his head.

"Can you try to keep Conner from falling down and smashing into walls? I'm a bit concerned for his safety."

"And image," Fred added. "I don't want him to look stupid in front of his potential girlfriend." He saw Alex's exasperated look, and immediately said, "All right, I'll help Conner."

"Fred!" Conner interrupted them from the side, blue eyes narrowing. "The heck are two talking about?"

The other boy batted his eyelashes innocently. "Homework," he gave a simple reply and returned to the mob of boys.

Bree Campbell. Alex remembered the girl was smart and wasn't gossipy. She was also excellent at Social Studies. Once, during a free period, Alex had seen Bree reading a mystery novel while their other classmates chattered loudly. Alex thought that if she had the courage to talk to Bree, they might become good friends.

... To be honest, from what she'd seen of Bree, Alex wouldn't mind if Conner liked her. She seemed like a pretty sensible person.

Although, a little part of Alex was scared that she might not be the closest female figure in Conner's life anymore. Conner was one of the few that truly understood her, and she couldn't bear to have him gone from her life. But of course, a mere significant other couldn't tear them apart. They were twins, after all. Twins that happened to have gone on the adventure of their lives.

But at least she understood what, or rather who had caused Conner's strange behavior. Alex sneaked a look at her twin. His hair was brushed and his clothes were tidy. She'd noticed that Conner had begun to take care of his looks ever since the school year had started. And he'd even begun to look forward to school. Was it also linked to Conner's feelings for Bree?

Alex fidgeted with her clothes, a bit jealous. Here she was, as Conner's twin, trying to persuade him to work hard and be more organized ever since they were kids. She had tried for years and years with little to no result, but then this random girl had to barge in and achieve what she had been trying to do for a long time.

The girl sighed, embarrassed by her extreme feelings. Bree probably didn't know the effect she had on Conner, and Conner was just changing his behavior subconsciously. It wasn't like he would ignore his own sister's advice. And Alex had never had a crush on someone, so she wouldn't know the power of puppy love.

***

Just do it, Bree.

Bree stared at the sheets of papers in her hand. Thinking about them created a fluttery warm feeling in her stomach. Bree bit her lip. By then, she wasn't unused to the feeling, but it was still a little unsettling.

Come on, is it that hard to talk to Conner?

Bree felt like a terrible person. She liked Conner's story so much, she kept it for a few days instead of approaching him immediately. She was such a coward for not returning his story.

But yet, somehow, she couldn't even look at his direction. She shuffled her books so they covered the sheets of paper. Bree didn't want anyone to see her hoarding Conner's story. It was embarrassing and creepy.

"Conner, did you find it?" a boy's voice asked. There was the sound of rummaging and a few books falling to the ground. "Nope," Conner's voice replied. "Man, I wish I'd been more careful."

Conner must be looking for his story, Bree theorized. The correct thing to do was to give him back his story that he rightfully owned, but just hearing Conner speak made her feel nervous for no reason. But she also felt guilty for indirectly hiding his belongings from him. Maybe that was why she felt so weird.

And Bree hated it when she didn't know what was going on inside her. Perhaps the reason for her emotions was the shame she felt for not returning Conner's story. So she could remove the root of the guilt and shame by giving the papers to Conner.

The girl slowly slid the papers out from underneath her book, and made her way to the boys. Put on an unaffected look, Bree reminded herself again and again. Her sisters and friends had told her that they often didn't know what she was thinking because of her neutral expression, and now Bree could put that to good use.

Conner looked very troubled as he puffed at the bangs that hung over his forehead. His roundish face was flushed (his face was always so red around Bree, she wondered if he had a skin disorder) and he was half-heartedly picking up the books strewn on the floor.

"Are you looking for this?" Bree stepped forward, the papers held in her hand. Conner's mouth hung open at the sight of her and he let the book in his hand slip and clatter to the ground.

Wait... why is she talking to me? And is that... my story?

Conner's heart rate accelerated and his face broke into the widest smile Bree had ever seen. "Hey... you have it! I thought I had lost it forever!"

"I kept it for you," Bree found herself saying. Conner reached for the papers and his hand brushed past hers, leading to a tingling sensation that both parties felt. Conner's face reddened further and he quickly snatched the papers to avoid making a fool of himself.

Bree wanted to say that she greatly admired Conner's writing, but something, or someone was distracting her. She swore Conner's face had literally glowed when he realized his story wasn't lost. It was endearing and cute in a way, and her heart skipped a beat when she saw how happy he was.

Is this the effects of his aura?

... And yet, Bree hadn't felt that warm twist in her stomach when she had first sensed Conner's aura.

"Thanks, Bree." He put his story safely in his folder. Bree was sure Conner wasn't that organized at the start of the school, but oh well, people could change.

Bree had thought about Conner and her emotions for too long and she had missed her chance to tell him she loved his story. Slipping on her impassive mask, the girl walked away, heart thumping. She hoped she looked normal and not someone with weird emotions clashing inside her.

If she'd thought giving Conner's story back could solve her complicated feelings, she was wrong.

Because after their encounter, Bree's funny warm feeling only intensified. And somehow, she knew she was powerless to it.

She had tried to solve her "problem", but it had only backfired.

A bit grumpily, she sat back down at her seat, but if she was being honest, she didn't mind that flutter in her much. She almost wished she could hate the thing that made her feel weird.

Also, Bree wondered when had she switched from being captivated by Conner's mystery to Conner himself.

Sure, Bree still wasn't going to let the mystery go, but she had to admit Conner as a person was also rather interesting. The way he smiled radiantly when he got his story back was particularly adorable.

Bree felt like a steaming pile of mush, and toyed with her lucky charm, a crescent moon, on her wrist.

For the rest of the lesson, neither Bree nor Conner could concentrate. Conner was still drunk about the fact that Bree had talked to him. It was absolutely ridiculous how even such a small action could make him go crazy. Conner swore that girl was going to be the death of him.

Bree's jittery feeling did not go away with time. She kept playing the memory of his flushed cheeks and cute smile in her head. She dazedly played with her crescent moon charm on her bracelet.

Bree didn't usually feel this way, so she was a bit afraid. She especially didn't like how Conner Bailey had made her feel that way.

The rest of the lesson passed in a blur. As if on autopilot, Bree's hands moved to take notes, but if you ask her honestly, she hadn't absorbed any information that lesson.

Bree sneaked a look at Conner, and felt her face flush. It was weird that she simultaneously wanted to be close to Conner yet away from him. She didn't like being confused, and the more she thought about it, the more confusing she became. I have to get away from Conner now.

The girl quickly packed her books and hurried out of the room, unwilling to face Conner and her friend Danielle, who would just pester her about her non-existent love life.

Bree left so quickly, she didn't notice she had left something behind.

Nor did she notice that a certain person finding it and keeping it safe for her.

Conner picked up with the crescent moon charm bracelet he had seen on the floor, and immediately knew it was Bree's. He had seen her play with it. He rubbed his finger over the smooth surface of the charm, and placed it in his pocket.

Bree had once kept Conner's story safe.

Now he would return the favour by keeping her lucky charm safe.

***

It didn't take long for Bree to realize something was missing.

Damn, Bree rubbed her wrist over where the bracelet used to be. The girl suspected she had either dropped it in the corridor or at her English classroom. She felt really uncomfortable without it, but she didn't have time to search for it at the moment. She could only hope she could find it when her classes ended.

Bree thought it was stupidly sentimental for her to be so hung up on misplacing a bracelet. When she was younger, a friend of hers had given it to her as a birthday gift. Bree immediately fell in love with the simple yet elegant crescent moon charm design and wore it to school everyday. That was probably why Bree started to wear a lot of bracelets. Bree wasn't particularly superstitious, but after acing a test when she wore her bracelet, it became Bree's lucky charm. Now, the girl was older, and she didn't really believe her charm had the power of luck, but she had worn it for so long, it felt immensely unnatural not to be wearing it.

During break, Bree made her way back to her English classroom, and her ever-so-curious friend Danielle followed her.

"Bree, why are you going back?" the redhead asked as they passed people on the corridors. "Did you lose something?"

"Yeah," Bree muttered, tugging her beanie in place. "Thanks for coming with me, Dani."

The duo rounded a corner and Bree suddenly felt like someone was in front of her despite she couldn't see anyone. Automatically, Bree took a step back and unsurprisingly, Conner Bailey was in front of her with his friend Fred.

Oh great, I can somehow sense Conner's position now. Upon seeing the boy, Bree felt her stomach do somersaults for no reason. She suspected it wasn't just because of his aura, but Bree didn't want to think about it.

Once Danielle caught sight of Fred, she gave out a small "eep" and ducked behind Bree as if she was a shield. Bree rolled her eyes and she wanted to move, but she could see Conner's eyes were somehow transfixed on her, and that made her feel like her body had erupted in flames. Her eyes met his and Conner immediately ducked his head, a blush filling his cheeks, and a similar heat rose to Bree's face too. Next to Conner, Fred smirked when he saw Conner's reaction. Wow, the boy did have it bad.

"Umm, hi Bree, I-I was just wondering if..." Conner dug in his pocket, feeling the bracelet between his sweaty fingers. He took it out and handed it to Bree, eyes shyly cascading down. "Is this yours?"

"Oh!" It took Bree a second to react and she slipped the bracelet on her wrist, and noted the warmth of the charm against her skin. His warmth. Okay, if that doesn't sound weird, I wonder what will. "T-thanks, Conner."

Inwardly, a part of Bree was happy that firstly, Conner had noticed that she wore that certain bracelet, and secondly, he was nice and returned it to her. Bree had no idea why she felt so bubbly at the thought.

Conner scratched his head awkwardly and let out a laugh that sounded forced to his ears. "Haha, it's a bit funny because when I lost some of my stuff, you found it and gave it back to me, and now I'm doing the same..." he made one of his famous hand gestures and Bree's lips quirked up, amused by the boy.

Fred let out a low wolf-whistle and Conner shot him a glare. Behind Bree, Danielle giggled.

"We just... help each other out. Y'know, that bracelet is kind of my lucky charm," Bree said rather lamely, which was unusual for her because under normal circumstances, Bree had a reaction to everything. Having Conner around was not a normal circumstance because Bree knew she felt funny around him. And she wasn't sure if it was a bad thing or a good thing.

"Now I guess we're each other's lucky charms," Conner said without thinking, and he immediately regretted his words, because Fred, Bree and Danielle were looking at him like he'd grown an extra head. Oh, crap. His heartbeat accelerated and he found himself stupidly stammering, "Uhh, umm, yeah that was super cringy don't mind me haha what a crappy joke-"

"We gotta go!" Fred announced loudly and rather obviously. He couldn't let his best friend embarrass himself in front of his crush. That was the least Fred could do to support Conner and his misadventures in love. He grabbed Conner's arm and dragged the boy away.

"Well, that was super smooth," Danielle commented after the boys went away. "So, I guess you found your lost item."

Bree stuffed her hands in her pockets, a whirlwind of emotions and thoughts inside her brain. What the heck was that? And why do I care so much?

"Hello, back to earth!" Danielle waved a hand in front of Bree's face. Danielle frowned slightly as Bree wasn't one to stare off into space dreamily.

Bree was broken out of her stupor. She tried to force the heat out of her cheeks with no results. "Umm, yeah, let's go to our next class."

Danielle stared suspiciously at Bree, but decided not to mention anything yet. "Alright, let's go."

***

Conner Bailey was officially an interesting person.

Well, at least to Bree.

She noticed his constantly flushed cheeks and floppy auburn hair, which somehow reminded her of an adorable puppy.

(Seriously, what was wrong with her? A boy reminded her of a cute animal?)

And there was also the fact his face turned red every time she caught sight of him. He also stumbled over his own limbs and used crazy arm gestures.

In contrary to what Bree had thought during the beginning of the school year, Conner was starting to bother her less and less, until Bree kind of liked seeing Conner around.

Her eyes were also weirdly attracted to the boy, and Bree somehow made note of every thing about him. Including how Conner almost always wore green and blue shirts and jeans. How he disliked wearing baseball caps. How he had a thing for superhero movies. How he refused to join any sports team because he said he was a "couch potato". How Conner's most-worn hoodie was that shade of navy blue, and everytime Bree saw anything in that colour she was reminded of him. How Bree's heart skipped a beat when she saw some random guy on the streets wearing the same backpack as Conner did.

Great, Bree was now a stalker like Mindy, Cindy, Lindy and Wendy.

And she wasn't even stalking him because of the mystery about him and his sister.

Bree still didn't have a lot of clues and concrete theories about the Bailey Twins Mystery, but she was still very much attracted to the case. So much that she began to be attracted to Conner Bailey...

Bree vehemently bit her lip, trying rid of the thoughts in her mind.

She was stalking him because she found him interesting. Bree genuinely thought the boy had an interesting character. He was always so clumsy and dramatic, yet he was well liked by everybody, including Bree. At first, she had disapproved of him but now he had somehow won her over.

Was it his humour? Personal charm? Confidence? Charisma?

Bree was immensely confused. Not knowing what to do, she chose to glare at Conner's auburn head from behind during English class.

They had changed seats for a group project for easier discussion. As the teacher droned on and on, Bree tried to focus but ultimately ended up being distracted by Conner, who was a few seats in front of her. That warm, gooey feeling that she always got when Conner was around fluttered inside her again.

Danielle, who was sitting beside her, tilted her head. Bree was unusually concentrated on staring at something. Danielle followed her eyes, and unsurprisingly, Bree was looking at Conner. A little smirk graced Danielle's lips, and she edged closer to her friend.

"Bree... Do you like Conner? 'Cause you always look at him," she asked slyly.

Bree blinked.

"W-what? No. It's not what you think," Bree almost snapped. That, of course, raised suspicions.

Because Danielle knew Bree didn't usually snap, nor did she usually stammer.

"Uh-huh," Danielle said disbelievingly.

"Don't give me that look," Bree muttered. "You don't like it when people tease you about Fred, right? So don't do the same."

To be honest, Bree was almost afraid of Danielle's accusations. She didn't want to have a crush. She didn't want people to know she had a crush, if she ever had one. She disliked people prying in her emotions, so she always kept her cool. She lied to conceal what she felt because she thought it was better for her and for everyone.

But suddenly, this Conner Bailey came barrelling in and smashed all of her walls. He made her feel weird and warm. He made her nervous and agitated. He made her feel like she wasn't in control of her emotions.

Bree hated it.

But yet, he excited her. He lead her to think about possibilities and theories. He was an outlet for all of her creative energy. What was he hiding? Why did he have that aura? He made her think so much it hurt, and Bree, who loved challenges, enjoyed it. He was a mystery, and she liked mysteries.

Weirdly enough, he also made her happy.

His clumsiness stopped being annoying and instead became endearing. She liked how flushed his face was. She liked how his cheeks looked so squishable. She liked seeing him at school. She liked reading his writing, which brought her to another, fantastical land. A land of stories and imagination. She liked it. She liked him.

Bree stopped and her pen clattered to her desk.

Wait, what?

She liked him?

She liked Conner?

Now she thought about it, it actually made sense. She was happy and excited around him. She liked him. She had a crush on Conner.

Bree's mind was in a whirl. She had never thought of liking someone at her age. She had always assumed she would find someone later in her life. Actually, Bree was pretty sure she could manage well on her own if she couldn't find a partner.

But this was some random boy at her middle school. Bree thought she was definitely not mature enough for a relationship or whatever. But a little crushing wouldn't hurt, right?

I like him, Bree thought and a faint blush rose on her cheeks.

At first, she had just been obsessing over the Bailey Twins Mystery, but somehow, it evolved into her obsessing over Conner himself.

Her "false" obsession with what Conner seemed like had turned into a "real" obsession with who Conner really was.

Panic bubbled inside her. Bree had never had a crush on anyone before. It was so new to her, but yet she was a bit excited for what would happen.

What do I do now?

***

A/N: It's been a couple of tough months... sorry about that. I'm also kind of stuck on writer's block for this story ≥﹏≤ so feedback is very much appreciated!

So Bree knows about her crush now... what will happen next? And yeah Conner is as oblivious as ever. I hope my portrayal of Bree is decent because I kind of feel like characterisation is my strong point... She's a bit OOC now because she started to crush on Conner.

(And yeah that's why this story is named False Obsession Turned Real.)

Thanks for reading! Please review and comment! Your comments make me so happy! :D

30/6/2018