I told Fiona all about the encounter with Lucas the day we came back from Winter break (leaving out the story he told me, because that was his place to share and not mine) and begged her not to tell Delphine.

"Why not?" she asked.

"I don't know if she'll be upset. He's her crush," I told her. "Please- I know we shouldn't be keeping secrets. She's our friend. But for now, don't tell her."

She looked me over. I was scared. I'd never gotten this expression from Fiona before.

"Alright," she said finally. "For now, we'll keep this between us."

"Thank you," I said, but my fear only eased a bit. She was still giving me the look.

At lunch I went to find Jacqueline. She was at her table, quietly eating her food and watching, and looking rather amused at, Celine and Mitchell arguing over something.

I tapped her on the shoulder. "Can we talk?"

She glanced at her two best friends. Celine and Mitchell looked like siblings. Both had blue eyes, brown hair, and pink lips. They even had the same exact skin tone. Celine's eyes were a darker shade of blue, and Mitchell had lighter brown hair and he had freckles, but the differences stopped there.

Jacqueline turned to me. "As entertaining as this is, you probably really need to talk. Let's walk."

She hooked her arm through mine and pulled me through the cafeteria to the big doors at the end. I'd never left the cafeteria during lunch, but none of the teachers even batted an eye, so I went along with her.

"What's on your mind?" Jacqueline asked.

"I'm worried about lying to Delphine," I told her. "You know how there was this encounter with Lucas at my house? The blond guy?"

"Yeah. And?"

"Delphine has a huge crush on him. She literally stalks his socials. She knows he came to my house, but she doesn't know what happened after we ended the call. He said he'd never told anyone about this, but he told me. I'm worried she'll be upset he told me, but I'm also worried that I'll hide it for too long and she finds out and gets mad. I can't even hug him when he needs it." (A/N: this is what happens when you let an overthinker write fanfiction)

"This Lucas guy," Jacqueline said. "He was your friend first, right?"

"Yes."

"And you guys are just friends, nothing more right? Best friends, close friends, whatever. The word friends is in the description."

"I'd say we're somewhere between friends and close friends," I told her, realizing he was a whole lot closer with me than everyone else, but closer than I thought Delphine would like.

"And he knows you guys are just friends? He's never dropped any hints that he thinks you guys are more than that?" Jacqueline asked.

"Not that I know of," I replied.

"Then there's your answer," she said, gently but bluntly. "As long as he's just your friend and nothing more, and you both know that, I see no reason for you to get close with him. My cousin has a separate girlfriend and girl best friend and he's doing great."

"You really think she won't be mad?"

"Even if she is, she has no right to be, and everyone else will see that too. Because she likes him doesn't mean he belongs to her. The boy has a life. As long as you aren't making a move, and you're careful so he doesn't catch feelings, you're not doing anything wrong."

My cheeks burned. The thought of Lucas having feelings for me was so absurd it hadn't even come to mind. I guess it was just engraved in my head that the same way I was just a casual friend to Brandon because Fiona liked him, I should be just a casual friend to Lucas because Delphine liked him. Though I guess there was a fault in my reasoning, because everyone knew Brandon returned Fiona's feelings. And he just never was anything to me more than someone who hangs out with us occasionally, in a big group and never one-on-one. Lucas, as it turns out, is a bit more than that.

"You really really think she won't be mad?" I asked again.

"Trust me, even if she is, you'll have your bestie Fiona and me to back you up. And if it ever comes to it, you can always get the blond boy himself to talk to her. She'll definitely listen to him."

"Whoa. Thanks."

Jacqueline winked as the bell rang.

~>♡<~

I started hanging out with Jacqueline, Mitchell, and Celine a lot after that. I didn't necessarily leave my own group. In recess, we each kind of did our own thing, only rarely hanging out as the same group we are in lunch. Usually, I walked and talked with Lucas, but Mitchell caught me before I could find him.

They were actually hilarious. Jacqueline and Celine had such dirty mouths, and Mitchell carried around a small button that, when pressed, would let out a beeep! like in the movies, that he would hit at just the right moment to block out a cuss word. After a couple days, he let me handle the button, though I wasn't as quick at spotting a curse word like he was, so it ended up sounding a lot like "Oh, that's fu-beeep!" instead of Mitchell's expert blocking out the word before anyone has a chance to hear it. He told me Jacqueline and Celine used to steal it from him, but over time the system had grown on them. Celine, I found out, has her own other friend groups, even though she said Jacqueline was her one and only true best friend, which seemed to annoy Mitchell a lot. Eight times out of ten, it was just me, Jacqueline, and Mitchell.

I caught up with Lucas during Fanfiction Writing after lunch, around a week after I'd started hanging out with Buy One Get One Free, or the Package Deal, during recess. I leaned over my desk, since he was sitting across from me. He copied me so our heads were close together and we could whisper while everyone was still getting settled.

"Hey. I hope you didn't think I was avoiding you," I whispered to him.

He shook his head and smiled. "Nah. Delphine found me on the first day you started hanging with them and we've been sitting at the trees by the gate. It's cool. She's cool. She's really funny."

"Oh!" Why that came out as more disappointed than anything, I don't know. Delphine is one of my closest friends, second only to Fiona. Fiona was #1, but Delphine was #1A. I was supposed to be happy that she was hanging out with her crush.

So why did my heart drop after hearing Lucas had been hanging out with her during recess, one-on-one, like he had with me?

"That's great," I said, managing to sound somewhat believable. "I'm glad you found someone to hang out with."

"Yeah," he said, still smiling. "She's fun, but... she's not you."

Mrs. Golde saved my friendships with Delphine and Lucas by clapping her hands and asking us to settle down at that moment.

Fiona, who had been bent over her notebook writing something this whole time, raised her eyebrow at me.

I stared like an idiot at her notebook. "Were we supposed to be writing something?"

She rolled her eyes and showed me her notebook, which was a bunch of random lines. "What the heck was that?"

"Was what?"

"You know Delphine likes Lucas. What was that?"

"I didn't ask him to say that!" I said, trying to keep my voice quiet while being frustrated. "He just said it. What am I supposed to do?"

"Look, Y/N, I'm your best friend. You know I will always take your side, even if you're wrong. But what do you think he meant by that?"

"That Delphine isn't good to talk with? I don't know. Boys confuse me."

"Then ask a boy," Fiona told me, ripping out the page of doodles from her notebook and writing the date on the new one.

So I did. I asked Mitchell at recess the next day.

"You don't know what he meant by that?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yes, and I feel like if I say another word to him, I'm practically asking to end my friendship," I replied desperately.

"He means he feels like you're better company," he said gently, trying to ease my stress. "Maybe your friend was trying too hard to be funny and he saw right through it."

That did sound like Delphine.

"So I won't destroy my friendship with Delphine if I talk to him again? He's a good friend to have."

"You won't," he assured me, "if you play it right."

And that stuck.

If you play it right.

First Jeveskia, now Delphine. I was on thin ice these days.

I need to take a poll from you guys real quick so I know where to place my focus in writing, so answer in the comments on each question!

Which plot line are you most interested in up till now?

Which character do you want to see more of/more scenes with?

Which character do you want to see less of/less scenes with?

Which character do you want to see their lore?

Which character would you like a backstory of?

Which character do you have a crush on/ship with y/n?

Which characters do you ship together?

Any character suggestions?

Who's your comfort character from this fanfic?

Which character would you want to be your bestie?

Which character makes you want to rip your (or their) hair out?

Which character do you think should be removed? (Sent or killed off)

Which character do you think is useless and shouldn't have been written in the first place?

What classes do you think I should add?