Like a scene in a romantic comedy, two people stand in a secluded corner of the school library. A shadow overcast the young female soon before a hand snakes above her head, resting against her hand for only a moment. Without hesitation, the book is taken from her grasp. The warmth of the male's body radiates against her back, and she can feel his breath on her neck. There's a deep chuckle before it all vanishes.

"It's cute that you can't completely reach the top shelf."

Her eyes roll at this as she takes the book out of his hand. "It's not my fault this school has bookshelves taller than most females," Alex comments. "Your sister knows this far better than anyone else."

His sister was a few inches shorter than Alex's height of 5'4". Despite the rest of her family, Alex was average height. Laurance towered over her without trying.

"It's not cute when my sister struggles," Garroth says. "Just you. You run to me for help."

"I just like you for your height. Your personality is literal trash."

Garroth mocks hurt, placing his hand over his heart and gasping. Nevertheless, this doesn't prevent him from following Alex towards the circulation desk to check out the book.

The librarian stares down at the cover of the book in approval, and the blonde types her school ID into the keypad nearby. Within seconds, the book is hers.

"Shouldn't you be in history right now?"

Garroth is like a fly on rotting fruit when she walks towards the table where her backpack is at. The male is ignored as the book is slipped inside the bag.

"I should be," he says. "But I got a hall pass for the bathroom."

His face is cheeky. A sense of pride oozes off of Garroth for placing his teacher under false pretenses of his whereabouts.

Alex has english, but she's writing an essay. She went to the library to retrieve a book because of it. The book matched the topic incredibly well, but she needed direct quotes to strengthen her claim.

"I don't think this is the bathroom," she states, slinging her backpack over her shoulder. "Isn't Jinkins going to catch onto how long it's taking you to pee?"

The two begin to leave the library. Garroth follows, being nearly a foot behind her. Alex glances back at him from time to time.

"I'll just tell him that the nearest bathroom was closed for cleaning," he says. "It'll be fine. Some people are gone for longer."

Alex nods her head before the two part ways. She turns to her right, but Garroth continues to walk straight. This doesn't stop him from stealing a glance at her retreating figure.

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Kandi was well versed in all the gossip that went around. Vylad was well versed in anything academic. Somewhere in the middle, Alex found herself. It was like a venn diagram where she found herself to be the section that shared common aspects. Vylad obviously was aware of gossip, but he didn't indulge in it like Kandi had. Kandi was a wiz when it came to knowledge, but the gossip was drawn to her like a bee to a flower. While Alex thought herself to be intelligent, it didn't come as naturally as it had to either twin. Vylad could out show her any day of the week. Alex learned a bit of gossip through Kandi, but she was never the one to hear it first. She was the one in the middle. She even walked in between the two.

"-but then he mentioned something about—hey, are you even listening?"

Alex perks her head up from her notebook. Her pencil makes a sharp drop onto the page. "Yeah, definitely. I'm just trying to figure out this problem."

She had been stuck on the same math problem for longer than she would've liked. And because she was with Kandi and Vylad in their living room, she didn't find her anger to be fitting to unleash.

Vylad leans forward, his messy brown hair overtaking Alex's view of her paper. He picks up her pencil, looking over the problem. "You're using the wrong equation. The other one will make it a lot easier," he says, placing the pencil back in her hand and plucking along on his keyboard.

Alex's face scrunches up when she's forced to erase everything she had written down. With a quick roll of her eyes and mumbled profanities, she begins to plug in the other equation.

"Did you know Garroth skipped part of class today?"

Garroth was still at practice. Cheer got out before football did, so Kandi normally beat him home. Soccer wasn't until the spring, so Vylad would come home with Zane after school most days. Sometimes Zane would distance himself because he was tired of being seen with his little brother.

"Skipped? That's not like him," Vylad comments. "Al, do you know anything about this?"

"Why do you talk to me like I'm Zianna or the problem?" Alex asks, a sense of defeat in her voice. "It's not like I texted him like 'yo, you wanna skip class?'." She pretends to send a text, clicking her thumbs on an imaginary phone. "I've stopped trying to figure out what goes through Garroth's head at this point."

"Lexi, you know you aren't the problem," Kandi says. "You're like an endless loop going through Garroth's mind. Anyway, I only know this because of Dante."

Vylad grows confused. Kandi and Dante take very different classes. And while they are friends, and there is a brief flirtation here and there, it was strange for Kandi and Dante to have a conversation one on one. "Since when do you talk to Dante?"

"We share the same gym class together. He said that while they were in history, Garroth went to the bathroom for, like, ten minutes. When he offered to go check on him, Garroth was coming back but from the opposite direction of the bathroom."

Kandi stared at Alex until the blonde caved in. With pursed lips, she looks Kandi in the eyes. "Fine, he was with me, but I didn't initiate it. He found out I was in the library, so he came. I don't know why. I was just getting a book. I wasn't meeting up with him for a rendezvous. It was a surprise to me too when he showed up behind me."

"Ah, yes, big brother is young, stupid, and in love."

Alex glares at the brunet. "I hate you."