Madaline wouldn't leave me alone for the next three days. She was so sure that Scarlette was my girlfriend, even though I told her plenty of times that she isn't. We're in math class right now, and instead of taking notes, she's pestering me about a girlfriend that I don't even have. She wonders why she doesn't pass her quizzes, or tests. I write down the last notes for the day before packing up. The bell is going to ring any minute now, and I'd like to be one of the first people out of here. Madaline packs up at the last second and the bell ends up ringing. I offer to wait for her, but our teacher says he needs to speak with her.

"Go. Tell Mr. Harvey, I'll be a little late to class."

I nod and leave the class with my backpack slung over my shoulder. Mr. Harvey is our science teacher and he's a pretty understanding person. Unless you disrespect him, or another student one too many times. Then he gets serious. We've seen it once and no one really wishes to see him angry again. He becomes a scary dude.

Making it to his class, I see that I'm one of the first people there. I walk up to his desk and repeat to him what Madaline told me. He asks why, and I just say that another teacher needed to speak with her. He writes it down in a book and puts her as present. Once I see what he's done, I walk to my table and plop down in the uncomfortable seat. No one sits beside me, and it made me wonder. Apparently my partner never comes to school.

"Okay, I'm going to start class. Everyone take out the notes from our last class, you're going to need them."

I dig through my bag, trying to find the notes we did. Not seeing them anywhere, I start to panic. I know I did them and I remember..giving them to Madaline, so she could copy them. She probably doesn't even have the papers anymore. What now? Mr. Harvey continues to tell us that we'll need our notes for a project that we're doing. We'll start it in class, but the rest has to be done at home. Whoever we sit next to is supposed to be our partner. Except, no one sits next to me. This is just great. Raising my hand, slowly, Mr. Harvey makes his way to my table.

"Yes?"

"Uh, I don't have a partner. No one has sat next to me this whole year."

Mr. Harvey notices the empty seat and goes to look at his seating chart. He has to put on his glasses as he reads over the paper a couple of times. Chewing on my lip, waiting for him to say something, the classroom door gets swung open. A guy with scary looking eyes comes in and behind him is a girl. It's Scarlette. She's in this class? More importantly in this school? Weird that I've never saw her before. The guy in front of her places a late pass on Mr. Harvey's desk and goes to the back. That gets his attention alright.

"Nice of you two to finally join my class. We're starting a project, your partner is whoever you sit next to and I hope at least one of you has the notes from our previous class," he explains to them. The guy just nods as he flops down onto the chair. He looks at his partner and grins, obviously liking who his partner is.

Looking back, I see that it's Orion. The guy loves science and never misses a class. It was no surprise when we found out that he had the highest grade in this class. My grade is decent in this class. I'm currently at an 89 B. Turning back to the front, I see Scarlette walking my way, but ignore it. She probably has a super smart partner and here I am, waiting for mine to show or something. I place my head in my hand and think about what's taking Madaline so long. Next thing I know, Scarlette is placing her bag on the table and sitting in the chair next to me. She does all this without saying a word.

What?

"Oh, that's right. Nolan, your partner is Scarlette," Mr. Harvey finally decides to inform me. I could've figured that out on my own, since she's now sitting next to me. Hearing my name, Scarlette turns her head to look at me. I do a slight wave and cast my eyes down to the black, scratched up table. From the corner, I can see that she's still looking at me. It's making me nervous and shy at the same time. She should really stop.

"So you're my partner, huh?"

This is the first time that she's ever talked first. Besides the time she tried to warn me about tripping over a dumb rock. My eyes stay trained on the table, but I still speak up.

"Yup. Looks like it."

"Cool."

That gets me to look up. She doesn't seem bothered that I'm her partner. She actually looks relieved. Taking my bag off the table to give us more room, I clear my throat. Scarlette looks at me and places her bag on the ground. We listen to the teacher's final instructions and everyone soon gets to work. I don't have anything to go off of, since my notes are probably in the trash somewhere. I doubt Scarlette has any, because she's never here. At least as far as I know. Looking at each other, we silently think of what to do.

"Do you have the notes Steve Harvey was talking about?" Scarlette asks me. I quietly laugh at the joke she made about Mr. Harvey. She smiles herself, obviously amused about her own comment. I end up shaking my head when my brain catches on to what she asked me. "No? We could probably look some stuff up and slap it on a piece of paper."

"The poster is for our drawing presentation. We put the information on google slides," I remind her. I take out my computer and open it, waiting for the login screen to pop up. Once it does, I put in my username and password, before going to google slides. We need five to ten slides total so I make seven to be safe. Scarlette scoots closer to me, so she can get a clear view of my computer. I turn it a little, so we're both able to see.

As we pick a topic from the white sheet of paper on the board, Madaline decides to walk in. I forgot about her for a second..what took her so long anyway? She gives Mr. Harvey her late pass and sits behind me at her table. Her partner tells her about the project and what they need to do. Madaline nods, then looks over at me. She starts to mouth something when she notices who's sitting next to me. I look at her confusingly mouthing 'what?"

Madaline smirks and decides to say nothing. If she's saying nothing now, she'll definitely say a lot during lunch. Lucky me. I focus my attention back on my own project and look up some information to use later. Scarlette points out a few things that she thinks will be of use to us. I save the sites, so we can go back to them later. Trying to fill everything out now with a short period of time is stressful. It's best to figure out what information we're going to use and how we're going to execute it.

"Do you know how to draw?" I ask, out of the blue. We need a visual presentation and that means drawing on a big, blank piece of cardboard.

"No. I'm shit at anything art related," Scarlette responds, not seeming to care that she just cursed out loud. Plus, Mr. Harvey is right in front of us. He's trying to see if we're actually working and not just gossiping. I nod my head slowly.

"Oh."

"Do you?" she then asks me. I shake my head, slowly, letting her know I'm also bad at art. We stare at each other before laughing softly. Classes were being cut short today due to a fire drill that'll take up most of our school day. The reason that is, is because our school's population is over six to seven hundred people. Scarlette and I decide to talk more about our slideshow amongst other things, knowing we don't have much time left.

"I'm not clumsy on purpose!" I whisper shout, as Scarlette reminds me for the hundredth time about the fall that happened outside the church. She just ignores my comment and smirks at her phone. I try my best to glare at her until she scoots closer to me and kind of leans on me. "W-what?"

"Watch these videos with me."

"But, what about the project?"

"We got the basic stuff done, and we don't have much time to do anything else. We'll do more later, or another time."

"Alright...I guess you're right. What are you watching?"

She takes two of my books that are out, and props her phone up on them. She's on youtube and the video that's playing is a compilation of clown pranks. The person is carrying a chainsaw in the middle of the night, and scaring the bajeebus out of people. I glance at her from the corner of my eyes to see her full attention on the video that's playing. My cheeks turn a rosy color when I notice how she's still leaning on me. I don't want her to catch me staring and blushing at the same time, so I start to watch the video too.

"What would you do if this clown came up to you at night?"

"Uhm- probably die," I deadpan in all honesty.

"I feel you. If me punching the dude won't work, then I'll just accept my fate and die," Scarlette adds in. Her response makes me laugh, and even let out a little snort which makes me laugh even more. Scarlette looks at me amusingly, her eyes squinting, and her mouth in the form of a smile. It looks like she's about to say something, but gets interrupted by Madaline. She gets between Scarlette and I which means Scarlette wasn't so close anymore.

"What is my favorite person doing?" She asks, putting emphasis on favorite. I roll my eyes, and push her away from me. Not roughly, or far. Just enough for me to have some space. Madaline seems unaffected by the action, her smile still on her face like it's superglued there.

"I was working on my project until you interrupted me."

"You were laughing pretty hard, so I came over to make sure you were okay," Madaline says, a sneaky smile replacing the genuine one she had a few seconds ago. I look at her suspiciously when she suddenly turns to Scarlette. Scarlette just blinks up at her, wondering what she's doing. Trust me, I'm thinking the same thing. "Hi, I'm Madaline! Nolan's prettiest friend."

More like my only friend. And did she really have to add prettiest? That's like challenging Scarlette who may or may not be my friend now.

"Hey. The name's Scarlette," is all Scarlette replies with. She doesn't seem bothered about what Madaline said, so I think we're all in the clear. At least that's what I thought until she glanced at me with a certain look in her eye. I'm not exactly sure what it meant, but it was enough for me to usher Madaline back to her seat.

Once she sits down next to her partner for the second time, they grab her attention before she could do anything or say anything else to Scarlette and I. A nervous chuckle leaves my mouth before I focus my attention back on the girl in front of me. The same girl who's already looking at me.

"So, you've officially met Madaline."

"Yeah. She's... interesting."

"Heh- you can say that again." We don't get a chance to say much else because Mr. Harvey tells us to pack up. Apparently the fire drill was about to go off, and he wanted us out of the room as fast as possible. I close my computer and put it back in my bag along with my books. Scarlette only had her phone out, so she just put it back in her pocket.

Not long after, the fire drill goes off, hurting my ears in the process. I pick my bag up from the floor and meet Madaline at the door. She takes my arm and drags me to where everyone else was heading. I look back for Scarlette who seems to be nowhere in sight.

Where'd she go? Maybe what Madaline said did affect her a little. Maybe she just doesn't wanna be with me longer than she has to. That thought hurt me a little, but I ignore it and continue walking.