"I am not talking to Cole."

Were the first words shared when everyone piled into the vehicle, and all the boys excluding Cole, shared confused glances.

"May I ask why?"

Danny questioned, as he buckled himself in the passenger seat, and Zela glared at the back of Cole's head, as Nathan patted her thigh, unintentionally causing Zela to remember Cole's touch.

"She's butthurt because I beat her in our little project in first period."

Cole spoke up, and Zela was about to rebuttal, but was quickly shut up when Nathan covered her mouth, not wanting to deal with bickering from the two.

"She's not talking to you, so don't try and start anything."

Nathan said, and Cole scoffed, as he drove along the road. Isaac reached up from the very back and untied Zela's ponytail that was wrapped in a white ribbon.

Groaning, she turned around and smacked his hand, as Lee watched the two go back and forth with hitting the other.

"Alright! Enough!"

Alex yelled, grabbing both Isaac and Zela's hands, and separating the two. Keeping ahold of Zela's hands, he sighed looking at her.

"Can you two stop?"

He questioned, as Lee and Isaac instantly got into a conversation, and Zela huffed looking away, and turned her attention back to Alex who had squeezed her hands to get her attention.

"Yes."

She said, rolling her eyes, and Alex grinned keeping ahold of her hands, as he realized how cold they actually were.

"Your hands are really cold."

He whispered to her, and Zela looked down at her hands that were on his lap, and shrugged her shoulders.

"They always are, I guess I'm just naturally cold."

She mumbled, and Alex grinned, as he kept trying his hardest to warm her hands up.

"When we get home, do you want to go to the loft and let me read what you have written so far?"

Alex asked her, and Zela hummed in thought, debating on it.

"She can't. She has to start on Erin's clothes."

Cole spoke up, his jaw clenched as he had been watching their entire interaction from the mirror.

"Yeah, I forgot about that. I promised I'd make something for Erin."

She told Alex, who gave Cole a quick glare and nodded his head.

"Maybe some other time?"

He said hopefully, and Zela nodded her head as everyone started leaving the vehicle. This caused her to realize they were home, and she followed Alex out of the vehicle.

"Here."

Alex said, handing her ribbon back to her, that Isaac had snatched earlier.

"Thank you."

She said, smiling at him, and Cole slammed his door shut causing the two to jump apart slightly.

"Better go start on that project."

He said, sternly, and Zela looked away from him rolling her eyes, as she walked inside.

—

As she sent Erin a text, she had received no reply, and she figured it was because Erin had cheer practice today. Deciding to get dressed in her pajamas early, since she didn't feel like leaving her room for the rest of the day, wanting to completely avoid Cole.

Slipping on her white and blue flowered shorts, along with a cropped tank top, she grabbed another ribbon that matched the one she wore today and tied her hair into two loose pigtails.

Putting on a pair of knee high socks, that had little ribbons adorning the top, she laid on her bed, the only light coming from her aquatic galaxy lamp and the window.

Looking up at the passing fish on the ceiling, she thought back to class and how Cole touched her thigh. Scoffing at the thought, she was no homewrecker.

She may not have been buddy buddy with Erin, but she understood girl code. By that, she knew she was ten times more of a friend than Olivia was.

Hearing her phone ding, she saw it was a message from Erin with details on what she wanted along with an inspiration photo.

Knowing this would be a hard task, she sighed and reached over to her drawer and got her sketch book out, and got to drawing.

After it had gotten dark out, she finally decided to look at her phone to glance at the time, and she did a double take realizing she had spent seven hours drawing ideas for Erin's outfit.

It was nearly eleven at night, which meant everyone had gone to bed. Zela was thankful that she didn't receive any homework today, because she spent her entire day working on designing.

Deciding to take a break, she grabbed the herbal tea Alex had dropped off an hour ago, and started sipping on it. Placing it back on her desk, she laid back at the end of her bed, watching as the sharks were now visible since the sun had gone down.

As she watched it, her eyelids kept fighting against her, and she soon found herself in a slumber of mess, due to all the crumbled papers sprawled around her bed.

—

Groaning, she woke up at the sound of rustling, looking around, her eyes adjusting to the slightly dark room, she could make out the outline of someone near the trash can.

"Nathan?"

She questioned, grabbing her phone noticing she had slept about half an hour, and whined at the thought of being awake.

Raising up completely now that she could actually see around her, she noticed Cole was throwing away all her scraped ideas for Erin that were once on her bed.

"Cole? Why're you in here?"

She asked him, and he turned around, a black shirt and black sweats on his body, which made it hard to even see him.

"Do you like Alex?"

He asked, as he leaned against the wall, and Zela groaned as she was being interrogated once again.

"Why do you care?"

She asked tossing her phone aside, and placing her sketchbook back in the drawer.

"Answer the question."

He said sternly, and Zela rolled her eyes as she looked at him, his body outlined by the blue light from her galaxy light.

"Cole. I'm not going to tell you."

She said back, and Cole scoffed as he ran his fingers through his tousled hair, and shook his head.

"Giving us both signals is not a good look for you, Apple."

He said, and this set a fire in Zela's body, and she quickly got off her bed and shoved him, causing his body to hit against the wall.

"You're lecturing me? I'm not the one sneaking people in and sleeping with their best friends. You're the one who is getting praised for basically cheating."

She said loudly, but not loud enough to wake everyone up.

"Erin and I aren't together."

He said, almost too quickly like it was instinctual.

"Does she know that, Cole? You're the one pining her, leading her on, sleeping with her best friend, sleeping with anyone who has tits and an ass. Actually scratch that, any girl breathing."

She said shoving him again, before she was just repeatedly shoving him.

"You're a awful, awful person, Cole Walter."

She said, before Cole had enough and quickly threw her on the bed, and stood above her, as Zela watched him in pure shock.

"I'm an awful person? You don't think I know that?"

Cole said, and Zela watched him, studying his every move.

"Erin knows we aren't together, she knows that she's just a booty call. She's the one who keeps coming back to me. She's hurting herself. I'm only giving her what she wants."

He said, and Zela laughed before shaking her head.

"She wants a relationship, you're the one hurting her."

She finalized, and Cole's eyes darkened, as he finally pinned her down on the bed.

"You know what bothers me? Everyone says I'm not one for relationships. Maybe they're right, maybe they're wrong. But everything I do, never catches your attention. If you aren't an awful person either, then why do you send me this signals if you don't want a relationship, if you don't want to hurt Erin like Olivia, why do you flirt with my brother in front of me just seconds after you flirt with me?"

Cole said, and Zela let the words sink in, and the only thing her mind could comprehend was the sound of her hand smacking his face.

Turning his head to the side, Cole licked his lips as he got up, and cocked his head, feeling his cheek.

"You're gonna regret that, Apple."

Was all he said, before he left her room completely, and Zela looked around her, breathing loudly once everything was comprehended.

Before she could even get out of bed and put everything else away, Cole was back in the room, and pulled her to him. Grabbing her neck before sliding his hand up to her cheek, he kissed her as if he were hungry for her lips.

Gasping she felt the gears shift in her head, and she wrapped her legs around him, and he carried her over to her bed, and threw her down once again.

Looking up at him, Cole traced her leg, until his fingertips met her exposed thigh. Hooking his fingers under her knee high sock on her left leg, he slowly pulled it down, as Zela watched him breathlessly.

Pulling it completely off, he leaned down, kissing her exposed thigh on her right leg, before he used his teeth to pull down her remaining sock.

As he leaned down to kiss her again, a knock sounded on her door, and both Cole and her looked to one another.

"Zela, dear? It's Katherine, I know you didn't eat, so I made you a quick snack before bed."

Her eyes widened, and cole quickly hid underneath the bed, as Katherine walked in with the tray of food.

"I also brought some fresh tea, I'm not going to stay long, but please whatever is going on with you and Cole."

She paused, and Zela's heart dropped, and she watched Katherine.

"Please figure it out, I don't want you guys not getting along."

Was all she said, before she wished her a good night, and Cole waited before he heard her go downstairs, and he came out from underneath the bed.

Not even glancing at Zela, he walked out of the room, and Zela finally felt like she could breath again.

"Fuck."