Faust was relieved with the knowledge that there was some sort of information, with Silas's help, that would hopefully help get the target off Beau's back.

"I appreciate what your mother is trying to do," he said with a small smile, "but the Abbeys aren't easy to convince. There's also been some sort of uneasiness now whenever I come over between Anya's parents and I. Even Anya herself is a little uncomfortable."

A frown found its way onto my face. "I'm sorry you're going through this, Faust. It's a tough position to be in."

He shrugged nonchalantly, but his shoulders slumped from the heaviness that burdened them. As if he carried the weight of the sky. "We'll figure it out. Sullivan hasn't been in contact?"

I shook my head and leaned against the chair to stretch my legs. "No. But we need to talk to him as well."

"Yeah," Faust murmured, furrowing his brow, "I just wish we didn't have to."

I nodded in agreement.

Faust stepped closer. Aside from the two of us, the staff room was empty, and the sounds of his footsteps echoed across the walls. I looked up at him. The blue in his eyes were soft.

"Thank you, Thea."

Ah. "No problem."

He stared at me three seconds too long. "Are you and Nico okay?"

The mention of Nico's name had last night flashing through my mind. While my lips pulled up into a smile, the familiar heat of embarrassment rose up to paint the paleness of my cheeks. "Yeah. We're good."

Faust nodded. "Good. That's, uh...good."

I nodded, too. "Yeah. And you?"

He furrowed his brows. "Like I said, Anya—"

"Wasn't talking about her," I interjected, fiddling with my fingers. "I meant you and Theo. What's going to happen between you two?"

Faust scoffed. "I already apologized the other day. He wouldn't hear it."

"He thinks you're insincere. And that you apologized just because you needed our help."

The basketball player exhaled heavily. "So you're saying I should apologize again? What about him? Theo's not exactly on board with rebuilding our friendship."

I shook my head. "Getting back the type of friendship you both had is a step too fast and too big. Just...I don't know, at least try to be civil with each other. Apologize again when the time is right and when you actually mean it. He will, too. Believe me."

Faust's mouth twitched. "And if it doesn't work this time around?"

Leaning back against the chair, I crossed my arms. "Not everything is meant to be mended, Faust. You and Theo decide that."

He cocked his head and smiled. "And then you'll just remember me as your brother's high school rival."

I grinned sweetly. "Sure. We can go with that."

Faust laughed once and shook his head. "Being remembered, though," he muttered, eyes peeking over at a distance, "that's nice."

Raising an eyebrow, I told him, "The whole country probably knows your name, Faust. What are you worried about?"

The light in his eyes dimmed when he looked at me. "Being remembered for the wrong reasons, I guess."

"...you know I was joking earlier, right?"

Faust threw his head back and laughed again. "Yeah. Just...never mind, it was a silly thought." He bit his lip. "Before I go, I just wanted to tell you that I—I'm really thankful we're still friends, Thea. After every horrible thing I've done."

My eyes widened. "Faust, you don't have to—"

"I never had the chance to properly apologize," he said slowly, rubbing the nape of his neck, "and I really want to. I'm sorry I was such an asshole of a boyfriend. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Anya."

I looked at him, and my heart grew warm. "You're forgiven, Faust. Thank you. I'm sorry as well for...you know."

"We can't help who we fall in love with, Thea, you have nothing to be sorry about. We're good."

"We're good," I echoed with a wide smile.

He reached out to ruffle my hair and jerked a thumb towards the door. "I'll see you later, then."

I raised a hand in goodbye as Faust left the staff room.

Sutton peeked her head in from the doorway. "You guys done?"

The sound of her voice made me jump a little in my seat. I put a hand on my chest. "You scared me."

A sheepish expression crossed her face. "Sorry."

"How long have you been waiting outside? You could've just come in."

With a dazzling smile, the blonde stepped in with a cup of hot chocolate in each of her hands. "Seemed like a private conversation. Don't worry, I didn't listen. Only took my earphones off when I saw Faust leaving."

"Thanks," I murmured, taking one cup, "for not eavesdropping and for the hot choco. Sorry, I didn't know anyone was going to be here early so I told Faust we could use the room to talk."

"It's no problem, Thea, you know that."

"...I'll treat you to breakfast next time."

"Hush," she said with a roll of her eyes. Sutton took the seat across from me and set her tote bag on the table. "You never called me after your date last night. How was it?"

I bit my lip. "Is it too soon to say I'm in love?"

Sutton laughed. "I'm guessing it went well."

I groaned. "It was beyond amazing."

Killian entered the room. "What was?"

"Thea's date with Nico," Sutton answered quickly just as I opened my mouth.

"My—yeah," I said lamely. "Date. Nico."

Killian blinked at me. "Oh, so it's official, then? You and Faust really broke up because of him?"

"What? No!" I made a wild gesture with my hands as my brows drew together. "It was because of a completely different reason. Please don't get the wrong idea—he's not like that."

Sutton clicked her tongue. "Thea shouldn't have to explain anything to anyone. You know better than to believe rumors, Killian."

Said boy raised his palms up in defense as he flopped down on one of the bean bags. "Sorry. It's all the students are talking about."

"It's alright," I said, taking a sip of the warm drink. "Everything was just...sort of messy with Faust's past. We figured it out though, and we're friends now."

He tipped his chin up with raised eyebrows. "An ex?"

I sighed. "Something like that." Not wanting to get into the details of it, I clasped my hands together and directed my attention to Sutton. "When's our next meeting? I quit my job at the library so I'm free after class now."

The editor-in-chief powered on her laptop. "Saturday. We'll go over what we have so far and add in anything else left to cover. I'm actually just skipping my first period class to work on a paper I have to submit later. What about you guys?"

I laughed. "You weren't able to finish a paper? And you're skipping?"

"I fell asleep," she countered, lips forming a pout as she crossed her arms. "I was forced to attend a teleconference my dad was holding with his partners last night. Sitting through that two-hour thing was torture."

Killian cleared his throat. "Which partners?"

"Abbey Corporation," Sutton muttered, rolling her eyes. My pulse skipped a beat. I pursed my lips and kept my face as expressionless as possible. "Apparently, they're out of town for a long while, so my dad has to handle a lot of things from his end. Meaning that I have to be involved and actually contribute something. It sucks."

"Being a Kirk?" Killian asked with a tilt of his head.

"Being forced to be the perfect Kirk heir," Sutton corrected with a humorless laugh. She shook her head and moved closer to her laptop. "Whatever. I'm going to deal with it until I can find a way out."

My teeth tugged on my bottom lip as I put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm really sorry, Sutton. I wish there was something I could do to help."

Her mouth curled upwards. "Thanks, Thea."

"Well, I'm just going to sleep here until it's lunch," Killian stated, shifting into a more comfortable position on the bean bag. "Feel free to kick me out when you need to."

Sutton nodded. "Will do." She turned to me with an expectant look on her face. "So, did you and Nico kiss?"

I coughed and hooked my finger around the collar of my shirt, avoiding her gaze. "Well, yeah."

"Was he good? Was there tongue?"

"Okay!" I shouted, leaning over the table to grab my things as another violent cough made its way out of my throat. Sutton threw her head back and laughed loudly. Killian snickered. "That's enough details. Bye."

"It was a yes or no question! You don't need to be embarrassed, we don't judge."

"Fine," I bit out, reaching for the door handle. "Yes to both. He was great."

*

"I was great at what?"

My hand froze from scooping a spoonful of chocolate pudding. I looked up at Nico and blinked. "What?"

"Sutton texted me," he said, dipping down to place a soft kiss on my forehead as he slid into his seat. He pulled out his phone. "I didn't even know she had my number."

I snatched it quickly. "What did she—"

Happy for you and Thea! She says you're great. As a person and...at other things. - Sutton

I handed the phone back to him. "I'm going to kill her."

Nico raised an eyebrow as he read the text again, slinging an arm over the back of my chair. "What was she talking about?"

"Nothing important," I answered, resting my palm over his knee. "Faust and I talked this morning."

He tapped my wrist. "How was it?"

I grinned. Nico opened his mouth and I fed him a spoonful of the chocolate. "It was fine. We just have to wait for Silas for more information, and inevitably, we have to talk to Will."

"There's a party to celebrate the end of basketball season this Friday. Open for all schools," he murmured, playing with my fingers, "maybe we can talk there. It's public—he can't do anything if he wanted to. I'm still a little wary about him."

I nodded. "I understand. And Friday's perfect. I think Silas said he'd be able to give us a name by then as well."

"Give me your phone."

I handed it to him, and Nico pulled up Will's contact number to type in a message. I leaned closer to him and peeked over his shoulder, lightly pressing my lips to the curve of his neck. "You haven't eaten yet, right? What do you want?"

"I'll get my own food, princess," he muttered, brows furrowing in concentration as his fingers tapped the screen. "Thank you. When was the last time you talked to him?"

"About two weeks ago, I think. When he told me about the tattoo."

need to talk. friday at the party good? you, me, nico, faust, theo, beau.

A tray suddenly slid onto the table. I looked up and was met with Paula's dark irises as she dropped down on the seat across from me. "Tone down the PDA, guys. Some of us are single here."

Just to spite her, I wrapped my arms around Nico's torso beneath his jacket and leaned further against his chest. "I don't know what you're talking about."

The cheerleader rolled her eyes. "We're in school."

My phone buzzed. sure. did some digging but no luck. hoping you guys found something useful.

"We're aware," Nico answered, putting my phone down. "No one's looking, Paula, shut up."

I held in my laughter as he placed his hands over mine. His thumbs caressed my skin.

Paula stuck her tongue out at Nico and carefully unwrapped her burrito. "Are you guys going to Senior Week? We're heading to the beach and then camping afterwards. First day is this Sunday already!"

"Yes!" I exclaimed, instantly lighting up at the mention of it, "I've been waiting for Senior Week since we were freshmen! Of course I'm going." I turned to Nico. "How about you, babe?"

Nico shrugged. "It's not my thing, but there'll be a bonfire at the camp. It doesn't sound so bad, either."

"Just say you're going because Thea is and leave," Paula chided, fingers playing with the straw of her orange juice. "We all know you don't do school functions."

"Shut up," Nico snapped, and I tightened my grip around him, biting my lip to keep from laughing. "Thea being there is just a bonus, okay? Leave me alone."

"Yeah, leave him alone," I sang, a stupid grin painted over my features. "He's just a real romantic."

"Thea," Nico warned, eyes narrowing. "No."

Paula clapped her hands together. "Thea, yes."

"I'm going to get food," Nico grumbled, untangling himself from me. "Do you want something?"

I shook my head, still smiling. "I'm good, thank you. And I wasn't going to say anything more than that. I know you have a reputation to keep."

The cheerleader scoffed. "Nico's reputation was gone the moment I caught him sneaking a large bag of chocolates into your locker last Valentine's."

I grabbed Nico's wrist before he could run away. "Oh. That was you?"

"I will fucking murder you," Nico hissed, pointing a finger at Paula. "Slowly. Painfully."

"Well, murder is definitely an upgrade from pissing," JJ cheered, suddenly appearing in front of us as he took a seat. "What did you say to make the hothead mad?"

"I snitched him," Paula said with a shrug. Nico huffed in annoyance, setting his jaw. I ran a hand across his back soothingly even though a flame rose up to my cheeks. I'd forgotten about that secret admirer. "About last Valentine's. Where's Faust?"

"Oh, yeah, I remember," JJ said, scratching his chin. "Romance isn't dead."

Giddiness washed over me. I leaned over to kiss Nico's cheek. "Thank you."

He looked away. "You're welcome."

"Cute," Paula mused. JJ snickered in amusement.

With a grimace, Nico stood up. "I'm getting food."

"Faust had to meet with his partner for a project," JJ said, "but I meant to ask, are we all going to Senior Week?"

While Paula and JJ eased into a conversation, my hands turned my phone over as I reread Will's text.

A bad feeling crept up my spine about the meeting on Friday. When Nico came back with a tray a few moments later, he was quick to sense my sudden uneasiness. "Hey," he whispered, taking my phone. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I answered with a bright smile. Suddenly, I blurted out, "Wanna know what Sutton was talking about?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Is it kissing?"

I blinked. "How'd you know?"

"Wild guess," he said, mouth curving upwards as he leaned closer. "Good to know you liked it, baby."

JJ snapped his fingers in our direction. "Hey, stop flirting! We can hear you from over here!"

"I will literally pay you five dollars to shut up, Ford."

A huff. "I—rude, but deal."