Hey peeps!!! Happy Pride Month! Here's another chapter of BTTIWA, as a pride month's gift from me. Love and accept all. :)

Okay, with that being said, let's proceed with the story~

~~♡~~

Jason's POV

I was sitting in my next class thinking about my encounter with Autumn. I think I did good; Kylan would be proud. Suddenly I felt a presence beside me. Upon looking, I saw Autumn smiling at me. "Hey..." I said. 

"Hi Jason." She smiled that dazzling smile of hers. "Well, do you know why I'm sitting beside you?" She asked. 

"Why?"

She leaned in as if letting me on a secret, "Because this is my favourite seat. But... only when you're sitting with me." She smiled. I blushed at that. Damn! Is The Autumn Gibson flirting with me? 

The teacher soon entered and the class started. "Have a pen I can use?" Autumn asked.

"Sure." I handed her a pen. "Why don't you ever have a pen with you?"

"Because I was hoping a certain nerd with glasses would lend me one." She smiled. Oh My God! What should I say? How should I react? Kylan, I need you!!! "Also, someone told me asking for a pen often times is a good conversation starter." She winked at me. Wow! She's returning each of my words to me.

"Well, it is. So... since you brought it up, I'm assuming you'd want to start another conversation?" I asked.

"Sure, why not?" She straightened her back, "So Jason, tell me something about yourself." She said with a serious face.

"Is your next question 'where do I see myself in the next 5 years'?" I joked.

She crackled at that. "I was really hoping to pull off the serious interview thingy." She smiled.

"Mr. Ziegler, Miss. Gibson, please be silent in class." Our history teacher, Mr. Roy Allan said.

We kept quiet after that. But suddenly something dawned upon me. I turned towards Autumn who was engrossed in her work. "Wait, did you just call me a nerd with glasses?" I said.

Autumn grinned ear to ear. "And you just realized?"

~

Elijah's POV

"You know Jason should be mad at you." Cole said.

"Why?" Kylan asked sipping his coffee.

"You called him and bullied him that makes you no less of an asshole." Cole replied.

"Correction. I did not bully him, you did. Also, yeah I guess I should have said something."

As they talked about the incident with Jason, my mind wandered off to the phone call with Jasmine.

~

"It's Jasmine, Jason's sister, to be precise. How are you doing?"

"Oh hi!" Realization dawned upon me as I remembered giving her my digits. "I'm doing good. What's up?"

"Actually I called for a particular reason. So I'm gonna go straight to the point. Do you think someone's bullying my brother in school?" She asked.

"Why do you ask?" I asked. Shit! How am I gonna reply to that? If I say it, Cole's gonna be in trouble.

"Actually I overheard a conversation of my brother on his phone. Apparently, the person isn't being very sincere in his apology... so do you know what this is about?" She asked again.

"Actually yeah." So I explained to her the events unfolded and what the situation is right now.

"It's all good right now. So don't worry." I said.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Positive."

"Okay good. By the way, thanks for taking care of Jason. I really appreciate it." She said.

"That's okay. No need to thank me."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah?"

"You like my brother or something?"

Wow! That question had me shocked. Am I being obvious?

"Umm... not really. We just met. We're friends. Why do you ask though?"

"Well, I can feel it."

"Am I being that obvious?" I asked.

"So I'm right, aren't I?" She asked sounding smug.

"Well, it's not like I like him too much or anything. For now you can say... how do I put it?" I said finding for the right word while trying to put it lightly. "You can say he has my interest."

"Okay, a more subtle way to put it, but I guess I'm right."

"Uh... yeah."

"So... you need me playing wing woman for you? I'm a great cupid if you ask me." She offered. I chuckled at that.

"No, that's fine. Jason likes this girl called Autumn and my friends are already playing matchmaker for them. So yeah."

"Wait, Jason likes someone? Never told me. That boy's becoming more secretive everyday. But nevermind, I'm a better cupid, if we start now, you'll definitely win against this Winter or Summer, whoever she is." She said.

I laughed at that. "It's Autumn. And no, I don't wish to compete against anyone. If Jason wants her then that's okay. Also, I don't even know if Jason is into guys."

"Hey, is that what you're worried about? As per me, I guess he does. He dated this guy called... well whatever his name was, point being he dated a guy when he was thirteen. Didn't you know?"

"No, I don't. And I don't think anyone in school does. Maybe he doesn't want anyone to know."

"Maybe. But everyone at home knows about it. So I thought maybe... nevermind. So yeah, back to the point. You do have a good chance, so just go for it if you feel. Even without knowing that Autumn girl, I can say you have a better chance than that girl."

~

Jason's POV

As I entered the canteen, my eyes found the table automatically. I have friends to sit with at lunch now. This feels new! Me and Autumn said goodbye and went to our respective tables.

"Whoa! Was that Autumn?" Cole asked.

"You sure move fast, don't you?" Kylan teased.

"Well, a lot of stuff happened." I said as I sat down.

"Fill me in." Kylan said. I told them everything; each and every detail. Kylan was impressed that I could manage even though I couldn't stick to the plan. That's when Cole jumped in and said he had already mentioned that girls find clumsy and nervous guys cute. True that. I was lucky that Autumn was one of them. Thank God she found it cute and not creepy.

Ryan's POV

[A/N : For people who missed it, Ryan is Autumn's best friend]

I saw Autumn come towards our table. Wait, who was that guy she was talking to?

"Hey." She said looking towards Daniel, then she looked at me surprised. "I thought you didn't come to school today."

"He did, but just felt like skipping half the day." Daniel said.

"Correction, I feel like skipping the whole day." I said.

"Whatever dude. Where are the others?" She asked.

As if on cue, Paula, Ellie and Josh came and sat down. "Hey peeps! What's up?" Paula asked.

After our usual greeting everyone started eating and random chatting when Autumn said, "So there's this guy I met today. You saw him, right Daniel?"

"Umm... no?" Daniel replied.

"I did." I said.

"Yeah. So since Ryan didn't come, I mean he did, but didn't show up in class, I was sitting alone when that guy came up." She explained how they sat together. Shit! Now I regret skipping. I angrily munched on my lunch as Autumn explained how they flirted back and forth. "And he's so cute, really. Like he gets flustered at even the slightest compliments."

"That's because he likes you. Isn't it obvious?" I said angrily not looking up from my food.

"I guess? But what's with the tone, dude?" She gives me a questioning look. "Anyways, so where was I? Yeah-"

I blocked out the rest of the conversation. I was jealous! I was way too jealous to think straight. I mean, we've been friends since middle school, and I've been trying for a year now, but suddenly a random guy comes up and she finds him cute? What's wrong with her? Girls are hella confusing!
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Hey guyyyys! So what did you think about the chapter? Do let me know.

Also, I introduced so many new characters. I introduced Ryan, and other friends of Autumn also I subtly introduced Roy Allan, the history teacher. Spoiler alert, we're gonna find him later in the story.

Thanks for reading, buh-bye. Love you all ♡

~ Millie.