Elijah's POV

"Ooff!" He exclaimed, falling down on the floor, as he bumped into me, his papers scattering here and there.

"Oh My God! I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed as I quickly got up from the floor myself, clumsily picking up his papers.

"I am so sorry, Sir. I didn't notice you at all. I was just in a rush. I apologize." I was so embarrassed. Bumping into a student is one thing. But bumping into a teacher and actually knocking him down on the floor? Now that's some next level stupidity!

"Hey, hey it's alright!" He said picking up a few papers himself. "Why are you in such a rush anyway?"

"Ah! I have to meet Ms. Mason to clear a doubt in biology. And she has classes soon, so I can't be late." I explained.

"Oh! Go ahead then." He said. I finished picking up those papers and as I handed them to him, he muttered "Shit!"

"Sorry Sir, did I make a mistake?" I asked.

"Huh? No, no. It's not that. Just... I had arranged them in alphabetical order of names. Now I gotta rearrange them again." He said giving me a small smile.

"Oh. I'm so sorry." I apologized again. "Sir, actually, I'll arrange these for you and bring them to you... just after I'm done meeting Ms. Mason." I said almost snatching the rest of the papers from his hands.

"No, you don't have to."

"Sir, I insist." I said rushing away quickly. "But I really need to leave now, or else I'll be late."

"But um- okay."

~

After clearing my doubts in biology, I had a free period, so I went to the library to arrange the papers. It took longer than I expected, but after it was done I found out that Mr. Allan, our history teacher, was in another class. I waited until it was over.

I waited outside the staff room for him. As he approached towards me he looked up and offered me a smile saying a quick "hi".

"Hello, Sir. Your papers." I said handing them to him.

"Ah thanks. Elijah, was it?"

"Oh, you know my name?"

"You are in my class. Of course I do." He said trying to push the staff room door open with his legs, his hands full of books, papers, pens and whatnot.

"Here, let me open the door for you." I said pushing the door open as he got inside. "Do you need help with that?" I asked referring to the many things he was holding. He seemed to be debating whether to say yes, so I went ahead and said, "Here, let me help you." and took half of those things walking behind him to his desk.

"Thanks a lot. You were great help." He said.

"It's no big deal. I was just trying to make up for messing up earlier, for which once again, I'm really sorry about." I said with an apologetic smile.

"It's alright." He said slightly chuckling. "Even though I appreciate you trying to help me, you shouldn't have run away with my papers like that. I had to distribute them in class today."

The smile faded away from my face. "I am so sorry, Sir. I didn't realize at all. I apologize for-"

"Hey, hey, hey! Before you start another series of apologies, it's alright. Don't sweat it." He said smiling at me. "You apologize way too much."

"Sorry, Sir." I said just proving his point, and he started laughing, and I just gave an embarrassed smile.

After a while I spoke up again saying... "Um- Sir, I have a class now... so if you don't mind..."

He laughed again at that. "Why are you always in a hurry when I find you?" I gave out an embarrassed chuckle as I scratched the back of my head. "Go ahead." He said.

"Thank you, Sir. Have a great day."

"You too." He said as I hurried to get out and bumped into a chair again. Mr. Allan chuckled again saying "Easy there!" as I scrambled out of there.

~

Jason's POV

"What's your biggest strength?" I asked. It was lunch time and we were sitting on our usual table. It was just me and Kylan, and Cole and Elijah were yet to join. Currently, I was asking Kylan questions to get to know him better; basically trying to figure out more about his natural charm with women... or girls I should say.

"My biggest strength is... I can flirt anywhere."

"Wow!" I said. "And your biggest weakness?"

"Your beautiful eyes." He says with a smirk looking straight into my eyes. His half-smirk-half-smile even gets me blushing. I chuckle, rolling my eyes.

"Okay. I got it. You've got the charms, you've got the looks, you've got the smile... of course girls go crazy over you! I can't do that." I said.

"Oh come on! It just takes a little confidence, that's all!"

"Yeah- no! That smile can impress anyone! I can't-"

"Even you?" He questions playfully.

"Oh God! Stop it!" I smack his hand.

"Look at you, blushing like a school-girl!" He says.

"Shut up!" I say feeling embarrassed. "And I am a school...boy; whatever that means."

"Whadup! Love birds." Says Cole, joining us along with Elijah.

"So... how's it going with Autumn?" Elijah asks.

"Well... it's going pretty okay. We're kind of friends now... I could say." I said.

"Well, that's pretty great." Says Kylan. "Why don't you ask her to hang out? You know, just as friends for now."

"We can all go together." Elijah says. "That would be fun."

"But then Jay won't get to spend time alone with Autumn." Cole says.

"Jay?" The three of us question together.

Cole shrugs, "Well, we call Elijah, Eli sometimes. So why not Jay?"

"Only you call me Eli." Elijah says looking at Cole. "Which I hate, by the way."

"I think Eli is cute." I say, making him blush. "Let's all call you Eli, yeah?"

"Okay... I guess" Elijah said after a pause.

"Great! And Jay sounds pretty cool too!" I exclaim.

"Anyway... I think all of us going together sounds cool." Said Kylan. "We can all hang out together, and once they get past the awkward phase, they can get along well, hang out just the two of them, or even ask her on a date. You know what I mean?"

~

"Hi there, Jason." Autumn said entering the classroom.

"Hey!" I said with way too much enthusiasm. "Would you wanna sit with me?"

"Sure." She said shrugging.

"What?" Ryan called from behind her. "Where do I sit then?"

"Sit with Paula or something, bro." Autumn said sitting down.

"Paula is gonna sit with that cheeky neighbor of hers, dude! What am I supposed to do?"

"Hey, it's okay if you..." I started, seeing that Ryan is clearly unhappy.

"No, it's okay." She cut me off. "Dude!" She looked at Ryan and did that eye-conversation thingy that best friends do. Ryan crossed his arms and threw her a defiant look shrugging his shoulders. "Oh come on!" Then Ryan slumped his shoulders pouting and slowly started moving away. Autumn offered him a quiet thanks, whereas he offered me a glare while still pouting. How cute!

"Your friend there is quite cute." I said once he was gone.

"Yeah, he can be a bit of a child sometimes." She said taking out her books.

"Hey, I wanted to ask... do you wanna hang out with me and my friends after school today?" I ask. "Well, only if you're free. If you're not, that's okay too."

"No, I'm free. We can totally hang out!" She said putting her bag down. "So? What's the plan?"

"Well, there's no plan yet." I said. "We can discuss after school."

"Or..." She spoke pulling out her phone. "We can create a group chat."

"That's a great idea."

"Hey, do you mind if my friends join as well?" She suddenly asked.

"No, not at all! The more, the merrier!"

"Great." She said smiling and looking into her phone. "Put in your phone number." She said extending her cell-phone towards me.

"Is this group chat an elaborate scheme to get my phone number?" I joke while putting in my digits into the device.

"You think so?" She asked with a playful voice. "And here I was thinking this whole hang out with friends is an elaborate scheme of yours to hang out with me." I stare at her baffled. "What?" She asked.

"Nothing..." I said and she kept giving suspicious looks. I sighed, "Well, that sort of was the plan."

"Wow! I was just kidding, but..."

"Yeah, yeah. I know." I said. "Well, it's just I kept talking about you, so all my friends want to get to know you... sort of."

"Wow. You talk about me?"

"Well... sometimes."

"What do you say?"

I stared at her with my mouth opening and closing like a fish trying to say something. "How am I supposed to know-"

"Oh come on. Tell me, tell me." She said looking pretty interested. At that very moment, our teacher enters. We all settle down silently after greeting him.

~

"Okay, but you still didn't tell me what you talk about me with your friends though." Autumn said. She had been nudging me subtly all through our previous class to tell her about it. I hate that slip of tongue. But my friendship with her has improved a great deal. She even offered to walk together to our next class since we both had the same class. 

Next class was Mr. Allan's history class. I suddenly spotted Elijah entering. "Oh! There's Elijah. Let's go say hi" I said, dragging Autumn with me towards Elijah and very conveniently ignoring her question.

"Oh Jason, hi." Elijah greeted me as soon as he saw me. 

"Hey. This is Autumn, by the way." I said pointing towards her, "And Autumn, this is Elijah." Followed by that they greeted each other and had a little conversation going, quite formal though, as we walked into the class, which ceased as we found our seats.

Now as planned I did sit down with Autumn, but my eyes suddenly went towards Elijah who was sitting, not too far away, all alone. And I suddenly remembered, that among everyone else in our friend group, I am the only one Elijah shares this class with; that is, if I really am a part of that group just yet.

You see, I would describe Elijah as a guy who enjoyed his own company. He was often quiet, or lost in thoughts, and preferred solitude. 

As he noticed me staring at him, he threw me a smile, which looked awfully like a sad smile. Maybe I'm imagining things, because what reason would it be for him to be sad. Because just as I said, he likes his own company. Now honestly, if you told me a while ago that I got a chance to sit with Autumn, and gave that up, I'd call you crazy, but there was just something about this situation. I mean I can't really speak for him, but I consider him a good friend of mine. And if you told me that I managed to actually make a friend who is so nice to me, and I ditched him for a girl I like, I'd call you crazy again. Because that's just not me!

"Hey, Autumn" I spoke as I turned towards her. "Do you mind if I sit with Elijah for this period? Not that he asked me to, but I think I should sit with him."

"Yeah, you're right." She said turning her head towards his seat. "He's sitting all alone. You should go sit with him."

"You sure you don't mind?" I asked, even though I was unsure what I would do if she did mind though.

"I'm sure." She reassured me with a smile. God! She's just so nice! "Plus, Ryan has been throwing a fit about sitting with me, so I think he'll be happy with your decision. Haha."

"Glad to be of service." I said, before picking up my bag and moving towards Elijah's seat. "What's up, partner?" I said as I sat down beside him. Ugh! I sounded lame even to my ears! I mentally cringed about the 'partner' while Elijah looked up at me with surprise.

"Why are you sitting here?" He asked looking perplexed. "What happened to Autumn?"

________________________________________________________________________________

HELLO my lovely readers! How have y'all been?

So I'm back with another chapter. And as you can see, I've updated the title, cover and the description a little. Do lemme know what you think about that. 

Also, if you guys have any suggestions or feedback at all, please let me know in the comments. Feedback is always appreciated. 

Like always, thank you for reading, I love you all!

~Millie.