I don't usually make breakfast. I enjoy eating, but hardly ever wake up and say "time to cook so me and others can eat". Today, though, that's exactly what I decided to do.

I woke up with Eliza holding her laptop close to my face, the tab with the career test open. Groaning, I burried my face under my pillow, but the monster snatched it away. I want to do the test, but right after walking up isn't the time. Eliza wouldn't back away, though, so I told her I had to make breakfast.

Which is why I'm standing over a bowl filled with eggs, flour and milk and trying to blend it all into a smooth mixture. So far it's not going well, judging by how half of it is spilled on my clothes and the counter.

"Do you need any help?" Mum asks, sipping on her coffee.

"No, I've got this," I reply. That's when I remember I forgot to add baking powder, so I look around the cupboards for the can.

"Just don't demolish the kitchen, alright?" She laughs to herself. "That's Eliza's job."

"I heard that!" Eliza deadpans as she plugs in her earbuds. "I'm gonna go jogging," she says, unnecessarily loud, and leaves without hearing Mum going on about how the sun's up already and she should stay in.

"Your father and I will head out too, soon," Mum says with a defeated sigh. "Who's going to eat all these crepes? Assuming they turn out to be crepes."

I smile in a mocking manner and stop stirring the mixture, only to send a text to the group chat that I'm making crepes and anyone who wants to can join, before going back to trying to achieve the same texture the mix at Parfait has. It's a long journey of adding more milk and making it too thin, then adding more flour and making it too thick.

"Good morning!"

Olivia grabs a chair while Kal is trying to close the door behind him.

"Don't bother, it requires a trick only four people know," I say.

"Hello, kids," Dad says.

Mum exhales. "Finally, you're ready." Glancing at Kal and Olivia, she says, "If whatever Summer's making poisons you, know that we" -she's moving her finger between Dad and her- "had noting to do with it."

"No, Summer's a good kid. If what she makes tastes like poison it's only because she has zero cooking skills," Dad says, waving his hand.

Kal and Olivia laugh but I keep a straight face.

I really wish I had three wishes. If I somehow could find an old oil lamp I'd rub it so hard that make Robin Williams wpuld come out and I'd wish my parents weren't so embarrassing. Actually, I'd wish it three times, just in case their skill of embarrassing me is magic-resistant.

I stare at the mixture. It's never going to look right and I'll only end up making about ten thousand batches of it if I keep adding more ingredients. Which means, it's time for the test. I pour a small quantity in the pan, just enough to make a thin layer.

"Alex said they're playing Spider-man into the Spider-verse tonight. We're going to watch it, right?" Olivia asks as she's staring at the pan.

I can't tone down my squeal. "Of course we are!"

"And I won't be singing the whole soundtrack this time," Kal adds. "I promise."

"You better not. Your rapping makes Juice WRLD shake in his grave," Olivia says with a laugh.

Kal shrugs it off and pours himself a glass of water. "When's the movie, again?"

Olivia hums. "I think it's at six. Which means, we have to be ready by five. And if I'm going to get ready with Summer, we must start at four, so I have to be here at three."

Kal frowns. "Why does this sound rational?"

"Because it is," Olivia deadpans.

My crepe has a golden colour now, so I flip it to a plate before putting more of the mix in the pan. "Who wants to be the first test subject- I mean who wants to try first?"

Kal lifts his hand up and forms a weird gesture. "I volunteer as a tribute."

"Okay," I say, dragging the "o". "There's nutella at the cupboard behind you and I think we have some strawberries left in the fridge."

"Oh, cool," he replies and opens the fridge, taking out the small container that, in fact, has some strawberries left. "Uh...where are the dishes?"

Olivia chuckles. "There are litterally right in front of you."

I glance at Kal and, sure enough, the plates I was supposed to dry and put in the cupboard are in front of him.

The next crepe is done as well, so I make another one, already feeling bored and miserable as the mixture I made could even make one hundred.

"Okay, these don't taste like poison," Olivia says while munching on a crepe that's oozing nutella. "The question is, does it contain poison?"

I shake my head and shift my attention to the pan again. Kal is beside me, cutting the strawberries.

"You don't have to cut all these. Besides, you still didn't try my poisoned crepes."

Kal chuckles and takes the one crepe that's left, for now, filling it with strawberries and stuffing it in his mouth. "This is good. At least I'm going to die happy."

Olivia gulps down her bite. "This is insane! Why do you have to be such a monster?"

Kal rolls his eyes. "Is it because..."

"Because first you eat plain toast, no butter or anything, and now chocolate-less crepes? That doesn't make sense. But do you know what makes even less sense?"

"That I haven't talked-"

"That you haven't talked to your parents," Olivia says throuh a mouthful of plain nutella. "You have ten days before the deadline. You have to tell them."

"We talked about it last night, too," Kal mumbles. "If I could, I would. Would you tell your parents you don't want to follow a well-paying and respectable proffession?"

"It's not like Veterinary is much lower in their eyes than Med school, get over it," Olivia replies. "And, yeah, I'd tell my parents that. I already started when I was thirteen and they were pushing me to become a lawyer, just like them."

Kal crosses his arms. "Well, I don't have five years or your parents."

Olivia lets out a dry laugh. "And you're very lucky. You have no idea how I wish I had your parents. It's time you start appreciating them."

Kal frowns. "I never said I don't! I love them, even though they're strict."

No one says anything for a while, the only sounds heard being the sizzling of the pan and the occassional barks from Lucky.

"You know what? I'm going to stop making crepes for now. These are enough anyway. Do you want to watch Friends with me?"

They both shrug, so I take the crepes and nutella to the living room and place them on the coffee table. Olivia sits at the one end of the couch facing the TV and Kal on the other, so I sit between them. The series is the first thing I see at my Watched Recently list, not so much because I've been binge-watching it but because I haven't been watching a lot of Netflix lately.

I click on the next episode, which is The one where everyone finds out.

You're so funny, Netflix.

Olivia laughs at every joke as if it's the first time she hears it, and before I know it, we're all laughing and talking as if my friends didn't almost charge at each other. Along with the laughs, though, I keep on thinking if I'm doing the right thing when it comes to Alex.

Which is why I keep watching more episodes, since Friends is my comfort series. Whenever I felt overwhelmed throughout the year I'd take a break and watch an episode. I always felt more relaxed by the time it was over and less disappointed that I couldn't get all my homework right. I'd think At least I'm not Ross Geller and everything seemed better.

We keep on watching episodes, getting quieter as they go by, aside from the occassional laugh. I don't realise just how many we've watched until the last episode of season 5 starts playing. I try standing up, but one leg is asleep.

"Is that...Is that movement that I spot at the living room?" Mum says and both her and Dad burst into laughs.

I turn around and see my parents at the kitchen, cooking, most likely, lunch.

When did they get back?

"Are these...Are these human beings I spot at the kitchen?" I reply in the same manner Mum said it and Olivia smirks.

"Shhh, Kal is asleep," Dad whispers-yells.

Kal is curled in a ball next to me, hugging his knees and resting his head on the couch arm. It's a cute sight, I have to admit: he's not talking, he's not laughing when he shouldn't be and he's not snoring.

"You two come over, lunch is ready. Or, wait, do you think we should wake Kal up?" Dad asks, scratching his non-existant beard.

I shrug. "I prefer him asleep." They all shoot me warning glares. "Fine, do whatever you want." Then, I shout "ELIZA COME HERE, WE'RE HAVING LUNCH."

"Summer!" Mum screeches. "Are you doing it on purpose? Eliza isn't even here."

I frown. "Is she jogging still?"

"No, her friends are in town and they're...I don't know what they're doing," Dad says. "I'm a cool dad who doesn't ask his twenty-one-year-old daughter what she's doing or who she's with, despite how much I want to know."

Laughing, Olivia says, "C'mon Mr. Derek, it's Eliza. They're probably reading books under a willow tree or drinking tea at Madame Coco."

I snicker too, and so do my parents.

"Try waking Kal up, he's been sleeping ever since we came back so now he should be good," Mum says. "And he can't miss my potato salad."

He can, I think to myself. It's not that great.

Olivia nods and shakes his arm. No response. I advise her to smack him, but she blatantly ignores me and only nudges his shoulder. Again, he doesn't move an inch.

Great, he's a heavy sleeper and I'm losing my one chance to draw a sharpy moustache on him or shave his eyebrows.

We eat quietly, which I don't get since Kal wouldn't wake up even if the world was ending. I wanted to watch Friends with Mum and Dad now that Eliza isn't here to spoil everything for them but they refuse with the horrible excuse that Kal might wake up. Olivia leaves around two, and even Lucky is off to one of her little adventures. My only company is Sleeping Ugly.

So I grab my phone and browse Instagram, until a meme from Spider-verse shows up.

My FBI agent is really keeping an eye on me

I send it to Alex.

yaboialex: im so excited OMG

sum.mer.41: weve watched it a thousand times

sum.mer.41: tho i love it

yaboialex: yeah but never on the big screen ever since it came out

sum.mer.41: okay you have a point. wya?

yaboialex: just finished steaming my marvel shirt. u?

sum.mer.41: bored

sum.mer.41: that's why im talking to you

yaboialex: not tru, u love me :_(

And that's exactly the problem.

sum.mer.41: no, you're clingy

yaboialex: but im clinging to you

I take a breath. I have to remind myseld that we're not seriously flirting right now. It's just how we always do it: we say all these overally romantic things to each other and make everyone think we're deep in love or we will be later in life, when we're not. Or, I could be, who knows? The sure thing is Alex doesn't love me like that, and so I'll prove these people wrong and not gross myself out by living in a country song.

"Sum?"

I glance at the sofa in which Kal is sprawled. "Yeah?"

He looks around, scratching his neck. "What am I doing here?"

"You fell asleep while we were watching Netflix. It's..." -I check my phone- "14:17 and-"

His eyes take the size of saucers. "I have to go home and get ready for work!"

I chuckle. "Calm down, we don't work today." He doesn't seem relieved. "I can't believe I'm asking but...Is everything alright?"

He shakes his head. "I had a nightmare and I'm still trying to adapt to reality, that's all."

"Uh...do you want to talk about it?"

"No, it would be worse."

I give him a tight-lipped smile. "It makes sense though, since you're under all that stress."

He shrugs. "How can you not be stressed? I don't want to rub any salt on the wound but... you can't go to med school now and...Have you got any idea what you want to study?"

I look down at my phone.

yaboialex: gonna take a shower now, see ya later <3

"I was supposed to take a career test but I...It takes half an hour to complete and..."

Kal quirks an eyebrow up. "That's the problem?"

I hesitate for a few moments. "I might be scared it won't show any results I'll like."

Kal nods. "I can understand that." Suddenly, he smiles. "Hey, what if we both take it? We're just going to see the questions, answer as good as we can and check the results. If we like anything, fine. If not, we forget about them."

That doesn't sound so bad

"Okay, let me send you the link."

I copy the link from my inbox and send it to Kal.

"Do we start now?" he asks.

I nod and click on the link. I skip past the instructions and go to the questions. Or, they're actually statements followed by sliders.

"Okay, but what does my favourite colour have to do with what job suits me best?" Kal asks with a chuckle. "Are you sure this isn't a disguised buzzfeed quiz?"

I laugh too. "Maybe in the end they'll also tell us what type of bread are we."

Still, my heart rate spikes when I tap on "submit". Just when the results have nearly loaded, I look away. Kal is smiling at his phone, as if he's watching porn or something.

Oh God that would have been really uncomfortable

"What did you get?" I ask.

"Veterinary, Literature and, the weirdest of them all, Chemistry. I suck at Chemistry! How about you?"

Slowly, I look down at my phone, and throw it as far as I can right after. Kal gasps and looks at me with widened eyes. I drag my feet as I l pick it up from the floor, sighing in relief when I notice it's mostly intact, aside from the cracked screen protector.

Kal winces. "Uh...Is it that bad?"

I ignore him and scroll down to see the rest of the suggestions: Veterinary and Pharmaceutics. AKA majors I can't even apply for because my grade isn't high enough anyway.

I can feel my eyes stinging but I only shake my head. "Oh, no, I was just...Uh, one of my results is Math and I wanted it when I was five and thought I was smart for knowing how to add and subtract and for some reason this was a shock."

Kal chuckles. "That's cute. Maybe you should go for Math. Didn't you have a perfect score?"

I wave my hand as if to push the thought away. "That doesn't matter. What matters is that I finally found out I'd be a baguette, if I were bread."

Kal doesn't laugh, though. Instead, he gets up and sits next to me, giving me the tiniest of smiles.

"It's just a stupid test, Sum. I mean...it suggested Literature to me."

I shrug. "You like reading."

"Well yeah, but it's only modern books for teenagers."

"Still," I mumble.

Kal chuckles. "I can't even apply for majors that require Literature, I didn't take that class. Look, if you really think med school is for you, you can try again next year. What's one year in the...At least eighty you're going to live? If that's what makes you happy, chase it."

I bite the inside of my cheek. I don't even know if I want it anymore, at least the profession of a doctor. I don't think I could ever be complete just by working, and being a doctor is a full-time job.

"Besides, you're smart."

I let out a fake laugh. "Says you. You did way better than me."

Kal tilts his head to the side. "Since when do these exams measure our intelligence?"

"That's just what those who don't do well say."

"I did well and I still believe it, though. It's just a few exams, not a...a brain evaluator or..."

I cross my arms. "Okay, then explain my Biology grade. I was supposed to be really good in it, and I got a 16."

Kal forces a smile. "It was just a bad moment. I used to be so jealous of you when it came to Biology, you always understood the new material right away while I had to look it up when I got home. I even was in a reddit thread."

"Stop trying to make me feel better," I mutter. My eyes catch Lukcy on the lawn, chasing after her tail. "Silly little awesome creature."

Kal half-smiles. "Thanks...I suppose."

I hit my face with my hand. "Not you, Lucky."

The boy's smile turns into a wince, and then a bigger smile. "Can I go play with her?"

I nod, and we both go outside. The sun is still very hot, casting so much light it makes every bright surface hurt my eyes. The lawn is soft and cool under my feet, as if it's trying to even out the way the sun is almost roasting my skin.

I stand there waiting for Lucky to notice Kal and jump on him, but she doesn't. Instead, she comes up to me and places her paws on my knees, wagging her tail, her tongue sticking out of her mouth.

"Where have you been, again?" I ask her as I bend down and stroke her head.

Kal sits cross-legged on the grass next to me and rubs her belly. "Her stomach is about to burst."

I chuckle. "Yeah, I feed her more dog food now. It's the kind that helps her grow."

Kal bites his lower lip. "I'm not sure that's how it works."

"Well, Lucky's not complaining."

"Of course she's not," he replies in a voice as if he's talking to a baby. He cups Lucke's face between his hands and says, "You like eating more? Yeah? You want to become a big dog?"

I sit down on the lawn. "Dad says she could be hunting her own food, since she's a setter and all."

"That could explain the feather in her mouth," Kal points out.

Sure enough, there's a small grey feather there, but no sign of blood.

He stands up. "I should get going." He crouches down again. "Bye beautiful," he says, poking Lucky's nose, causing her to lick his hand. Turning to me, he shoots me a smile and says, "See you later, Summer."

"See you," I reply with a nod. "And uh...thanks."

"Thank you, too."

I'm standing before my mirror, holding my two MARVEL shirts. One is black with the classic logo, but instead of the red background it has the original avengers. The other is white and oversized, maybe a bit too oversized since it's a medium from the men's section, and it has a huge print of most of the avengers on it.

"Summer, put on the black one, you know you're going to spill something on the white before we even leave the house," Olivia says. She's sporting her red Iron Man shirt.

"Ugh, you have a point," I say sighing and turn around so I can change. "Superstars or Js?"

"Js."

I sit down on my bed and push my feet in them. It's always hard to wear any shoe that's higher than ankle-length.

"Do I leave my hair down or put it up?"

"Half-down half-up,"Olivia replies with a chuckle. "And no more questions or else I swear I'm gonna kill you."

Gazing down at my shoes, I ask "In one bun or two?"

Next thing I know, my pillow is thrown at me. Exhaling, I turn back to the mirror and part my hair in the middle with the help of a pencil before tying it back and pulling out two small pieces.

"Hey, are you guys ready?"

I turn to my left and see Kal standing at my door, the back of his hand hovering over it. He's wearing a light grey tee, dark skinny jeans with a green flannel tied around his waist and matching Air Jordan's.

"I-I was going to knock but it was open."

"Dude, it's fine. Chill," Olivia replies with a chuckle, but then she frowns. "Why aren't you wearing a MARVEL shirt? You're ruining the theme."

Kal scratches the back of his neck. "Was there a theme?"

"Olivia, Alex and I are wearing MARVEL shirts," I explain. "But that's nothing new."

His lips form an "o". "I'm sorry?"

"Hey! Summer, he can wear your shirt!"

Kal's head shots towards me. "It's fine, I don't have to. It's not even going to fit anyway."

"No, you should wear it," I say, surprising everyone in the room, myself included. "It's clean and it's from the men's section so..." I grab it from my bed and hand it to him. "Here."

The corners of his lips quirk up. "Thank you, I'll go change in the bathroom if that's alright."

"Sure, go ahead."

When Kal leaves, Olivia shoots me a grin. "You're finally started to get along with him!"

"No, I'm not!"

The tan girl smiles wider. "Yes, you are," she says, dragging the last word. "It was about time."

"Can I leave my shirt somewhere here?" Kal asks, coming back from the bathroom.

Ugh my shirt looks much better on him.

"Yeah, just..." I glance at my closet, but I don't dare opening it. Its contents would all drop on the floor like an avalance. "Uh...leave it on...my chair."

Since it's almost half past five, we get in Olivia's car and go to Alex's house. I half-expect him to be waiting for us outside, sitting on one of the swings under the cherry tree, though he's nowhere to be seen when we get there. What I do spot is Sofia's silver Forf Fiesta parked in the driveway.

"Wait, did he invite her, too?" Olivia says, glaring at the car.

"Maybe she was just about to leave," I offer.

"She better be," Olivia mumbles as we all get out of her car and walk to the house. Mrs. Mary opens the door when Olivia knocks, but she's not smiling like she does everytime she sees us.

Alex and Sofia are sitting on one of the sofas in the living room, but Alex stands up when he sees us. Kal tries keeping it civil by asking if Sofia's going to join us, but then the couple shares a glance before turning back to us.

Sofia gets up and her red lips form a tight smile. "No, I'm not going to come with you and..." I notice she squeezes Alex's hand.

Before I can think of anything, Alex speaks.

"Guys, I'm not going to come either." That's when I notice he's not wearing a MARVEL shirt but a light blue button-up. "Sofia's family is going out to celebrate her success and I was invited too and...Maybe we can go watch it later. I think there's a showing at eleven." His eyes don't even meet mine.

"Weren't you the one that said we should go?" Olivia asks calmly.

"Well, yeah, but we've already watched it and it's not going anywhere and..."

"And you're bailing on us just when we were going to watch it?" she continues and her voice starts raising. "You didn't even text us."

"Alex!" Mrs. Marry gasps. "That's not nice at all!"

"I'll wait for you in my car," mutters Sofia and leaves.

Great, she lights up fires and then goes away.

"Look, the movie isn't going anywhere but-"

Alex doesn't get to finish the sentence. Mrs. Mary leaves the room, shaking her head.

"Why can't we watch the movie later?" he asks again.

"Because Kal and Summer have a job to go to, unless you forgot about it as well. Have fun with your girlfriend," Olivia says with a scoff and gets out of the house.

"A-Are you guys mad?" Alex asks carefully.

My gaze falls on my shoes, and my only reply is a shrug. I am mad, but I don't have any right to be. I can't make him feel bad and pretend I'm his best friend when I'm actively trying to keep secret something I should have told him weeks ago.

Still, it doesn't hurt as much as knowing he puts her first.

Maybe I'm not allowed to feel bad, but I do. The silence is deafening but I don't say a thing because I'm sure I'll cry if I open my mouth.

A hand squeezes my shoulder.

"Uh...we should get going," Kal says. "Hope you have fun, Alex."

"Thanks, you, too," he mumbles.

The atmosphere in the car is weird. None of us talks, no music is playing. Not until Olivia decides we mustn't be like that when Alex has other priorities. Still, she doesn't stop talking about how sucky what he did is and how Sofia is stealing him from us or how he should be his own person making his own choices.

But he did make a choice, and he chose Sofia.

Or am I being too dramatic?

We make it to the cinema only two minutes before the movie is supposed to start. We run to room 5 and curse when we notice the lights are out already. Since the movie hasn't started yet, Kal turns on the torch on his phone and we look around for row H. We slide inside and take our seats.

"I think I want nachos," Olivia whispers. "I'm gonna..."

Then the screen turns red.

"Nevermind, I don't want to miss anything."

Kal and I laugh quietly, but still hear complaints from the people behind us.

The movie starts and maybe it's the fact that I love Sider-man or the killer soundtrack, Olivia's comments or Kal's singing (who sits a seat away from me so it's barely audible) or even him saying my hair looks almost exactly like Gwen Stacy's that help me genuinely have a good time and forget about everything that is and can go wrong with Alex.

.................

This was quite lengthy but I didn't want to split it. Hope you enjoyed reading and, as always, don't be afraid to point out things you didn't like. See you at the next chapter :)