‘’Bye, sexy.’’

Devin had broke her neck in the direction the voice of Amanda Kenderson’s voice was heard. She caught her just as she pulled away from a small but yet lustful kiss shared with Montgomery de la Cruz.

She pursed her lips, waiting for her to walk away. When she did, she had closed her locker shut and snuck up from behind him.

‘’Does there need to be a Jeff Atkins approval list in order for you to screw around?’’ She remarks as she walks around from behind him, replacing the available spot Amanda stood only seconds ago.

‘’Ha ha,’’ He flatly let out.

‘’But seriously,’’ She egged on. She swinged her hips towards his and asked with a sly smirk playing on her lips, ‘’How did that happen?’’

He slammed his locker shut while shrugging his shoulders. ‘’Let’s see.. You hurt me, your boyfriend had hurt her. When you’re sad and drunk, shit happens.’’

‘’Shit,’’ She breathes out. They began to walk down the hall together. ‘’I wish you could have went for better, but I guess I shouldn’t be the one to say of all people.’’

He smiled meekly. ‘’You guessed right.’’

‘’I’m still so sorry,’’ Devin turned to him with a cringed. ‘’I mean, I really-’’

Monty threw his head back and groaned. ‘’Oh my god, I can’t believe I’m saying this but stop saying sorry.’’

Devin had opened her mouth to protest until she was stopped by Hannah Baker, the brunnette that came running up to her with a breathless grin on her face.

‘’I made another friend,’’ She tells her, feeling accomplished with her state of being in the new town.

Devin smiled, genuinely happy for her. ‘’Really?’’

‘’Yeah,’’ She nods her head. Hannah was now walking along side Montgomery and Devin without even realizing, becoming a trio down the crowded halls that Tuesday morning. ‘’Her name’s Kat. You know her?’’

Devin tilts her head to the side. ‘’I know of her. The senior, right?’’

‘’Mhm,’’ She hums, nodding her head to confirm her question.

‘’And you are?’’ Monty craned his neck forward to look at Hannah pass from Devin.

Devin slapped his arm and tighten her lips when mumbling to him, ‘’Don’t.’’

She turned back to Hannah who had her brows furrowed and her smile now pursed spit of curiosity and unsettlement, Montgomery had caused her.

‘’This is Montgomery,’’ She introduces. ‘’He’s an ass, but I swear he can be nice.’’

‘’Let’s not start false advertising.’’

Devin cocks a brow and shakes her head. She turns to Hannah with a sly smirk against her lips when she remarks, ‘’You’ll have to excuse him, you caught him on an off day.’’

Hesitant, Hannah nods her head. ‘’Duly noted.’’

‘’Alright,’’ With his mind elsewhere, His steps had slowed down compared to the girls, and a hand came pressed the small of her back. Devin had turned immediately, jumping at the sudden contact.

Hannah had turned as well when Devin did, seeing as he was focused in a different direction of the halls. ‘’I’ll see you guys around. I gotta head to the gym.’’

Furrowing their brows, Hannah remained silent while Devin mumbles a small, ‘’Okay, bye.. I guess.’’

He was off within seconds.

Hannah turned at the heel of her feet to look back at Devin, her lips pursed and brows arched suggestively. ‘’What the hell was that?’’

‘’The gym thing, right?’’ She refers. She scoffs and shakes her head. ‘’I know, I found that weird too.’’

‘’I’m talking about the,-’’ She mimicked the same position Montgomery had took charged off only a moment ago. Devin had jumped again when her hand landed on the small of her back. She moved to the side, allowing Hannah to cock a brow at her. ‘’What the hell was that?’’

She waves her off. ‘’It’s a long story.’’

‘’Let me guess,’’ She placed a hand on her him and prompts, ‘’It was a bet?’’

Craning her neck forward, Devin shakes her head. ‘’No.’’

Hannah cocked a brow once again, causing Devin to crack. ‘’Okay, there might have been a small wager somewhere there.’’

Hannah shakes her head and uses both hands to grip the straps of her bag. ‘’I said this once before and I’ll say it once again. You guys have a problem.’’

‘’Sweetheart, there’s problems everywhere,’’ She threw her arms out from her side. ‘’There’s global warming, gentrification, boyfriends cheating on girlfriends with their brothers,-’’

Hannah held her hands up in feign surrender with a cringe twisting her features bitterly. ‘’Oh my god, point taken.’’

Devin giggles at her softly before linking arms with hers, proceeding their way down the hallway. ‘’As long as there’s nothing going on between you and him,-’’

Devin rolled her eyes. ‘’Yes, Hannah, there is nothing. We are strictly friends. It’s a been there and done that, honestly.’’

Furrowing her brows, she asked, ‘’And Jeff doesn’t mind?’’

‘’No,’’ Devin blurts out. ‘’So he says.’’

She nods her head and hums, ‘’Hmm.’’

‘’Hmm,’’ Devin mocks.

‘’I need some help,’’ Hannah mentions out of the blue.

Pursing her lips, Devin starts, ‘’Well,-’’

‘’Shut up,’’ Hannah interrupted, already knowing the trick up her sleeve. ‘’No, I mean, I need help finding a job.’’

‘’Ah,’’ Devin breathes out. ‘’I would love to help out, but I don’t even have a job myself. But, uh, I know Clay works at the movie theaters. You should ask him if there’s an opening.’’

She turns to her with a smile growing only seconds within her question, ‘’Do you think he’ll mind?’’

Not facing her to see the hopeful grin, Devin waves her off and scoffs. ‘’He’s too sweet to not mind.’’

Shrugging her shoulders, Hannah decides aloud, ‘’Great. I’ll see you later?’’

The girls give their linked arms a gentle squeeze when approaching Ms. Bradley’s classroom door, also known as Devin’s first period of the day. ‘’Later, hun.’’

× × ×

‘’Guess what?’’ Devin blurts out, dropping her bag to the ground the second she lands in her seat. Across from her sat Jeff Atkins and Clay Jensen, and although it would have been proper to say hello and question Clay’s presence for their Study Hall period, Devin Greene was more persistent on some gossip.

Jeff snapped his fingers and used that same hand to point at her. ‘’Dj Khaled new song with Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper, Lil Wayne and Quavo?’’

‘’Oh my god, you’re amazing,’’ Devin breathes out a grin, the two reaching out for their hands. Though that wasn’t the topic she wanted to throw at them, she did get to listen to that new song and she was just as happy to know her boyfriend did too.

‘’Was that it?’’ Clay furrows his brows, gazing back and forth between the two.

‘’Oh,’’ Devin came back to reality, her thoughts trained to the original tea, leaning back in her seat and letting Jeff’s hand go in the process. ‘’No. I wanted to tell you about Montgomery,-’’

‘’He’s dating Amanda-’’

‘’He’s dating Amanda,’’ Devin repeated just as Jeff had said it. Her smile dropped when realizing Jeff had not only knew beforehand, but he was the one to spill it.

‘’Seriously, Jeff?’’

He tilts his head to the side. ‘’Is that all you got, babe?’’

‘’No,’’ She whines. ‘’Hannah made a new friend.’’

‘’Oh yeah,’’ Clay perked. ‘’She’s getting along with Kat.’’

‘’Oh, stop that,’’ Devin hissed at the two boys that chuckled in front of her. She reached for the pencil resting in the bind of Jeff’s opened book and flung it towards Clay.

‘’Dev!’’ He exclaims.

‘’Shh!’’

Devin rolled her eyes and dropped back into her seat. ‘’Did Hannah also say that she’s looking for a job and that she’s thinking about going to you, Clay?’’

The boys turned to one another with blanked features.

‘’No, that one is,-’’ He turns to Devin while nodding his head. ‘’pretty new.’’

Smirking, she mocks, ‘’Ha ha.’’

‘’Ha ha,’’ Jeff smiles. ‘’Because that was the least juiciest one.’’

‘’I know,’’ She whines after throwing her head back. She looks at them with a frown. ‘’Isn’t it suppose to be my job to fill you in on the juice? You know, as the female in this friendship?’’

Jeff shrugs his shoulders. ‘’I’m considered popular so, obviously, I’m gonna hear stuff.’’

‘’I’m a wallflower,’’ Clay points out. ‘’I hear stuff all the time.’’

Devin tilts her head to the side with pursed lips. ‘’And I’m Devin. I hear what I hear.’’

‘’Sucks to be you,’’ Jeff remarked.

Devin responded by nothing but the roll of her eyes as she slammed her bag on top of the table. Clay Jensen and Jeff Atkins dived back into their work in silence as Devin unflapped the opening of her bag to take out her computer and her notebook and folder filled with descriptive notes from her English class.

Clay dropped his pencil and looked up with furrowed brows. ‘’Nobody finds it weird that Amanda and Montgomery are a thing?’’

‘’Oh my god,’’ Devin mumbles as she opens her laptop. ‘’Don’t even get me started on that.’’

Jeff tilts his head to the side, wiping away the eraser shavings blocking the needed space on his paper as he spoke, ‘’I think they’re perfect for each other.’’

Arching both her brows, Devin digs for a pencil that is known to be at the bottom of the abyss of her bag. ‘’He could have aimed for better.’’

Jeff looked up from his writing, his features remaining the same as he asks, ‘’Like who?’’

Shrugging her shoulders, she suggests, ‘’Like Chelsea Cunnings.’’

‘’Ugh,’’ Clay groans. ‘’Chelsea Cunnings?’’

‘’What’s wrong with Chelsea?’’

Clay and Jeff looked at each other with similar features. Their lips twitched and eyes widen only by disgust. Clay faces Devin again and informs her briefly, ‘’Chelsea Cunnings is incapable of a stable relationship.’’

Devin’s features dropped in an instance. ‘’Yes, she is.’’

‘’She was dating Zach Dempsey for a day and on that same day, she told everybody that his dick was so small, he couldn’t satisfy her, just so she could fuck with Bryce Walker,’’ Jeff mentions.

Devin blinks rapidly. ‘’When the hell was this?’’

‘’Freshman year?’’ Clay cocks a brow at her. He turns to Jeff and pats his arm. ‘’She even came to me and told me that same thing.’’

‘’Freshman year was a lame,’’ Devin tells the two with pout.

‘’You’re a lame.’’

Her gaze shifted towards Jeff. ‘’You’re dating this lame.’’

Smiling, he shrugs his shoulders. ‘’Lames do it best.’’

‘’Uh huh,’’ She nods her head knowingly while pushing herself out of her seat. ‘’I’ll be back. I got to find Lord of the Flies.’’

Devin had left her corner of the library, knowing fully well the book wasn’t in her section, just because the science text books are there. It’d be rare when students actually went back there during that period to fetch one. In fact, the only person who appears in that corner that wasn’t Devin was Skye.

Clay Jensen had picked up his pencil and asks, ‘’So, what are you getting her?’’

Jeff furrows his brows at him. ‘’What are you talking about?’’

Clay looks up from his work and furrows his brows back at Jeff. ‘’For Devin. What are you getting her?’’

He remained silent, discretely egging for him to continue and clarify what he was specifically asking about.

‘’You know,’’ Clay nods his head subtly. ‘’For her birthday. It’s next week.’’

His face dropped in a gasp. ‘’Don’t shit with me, Jensen.’’

His features twisted with confusion as he hesitantly lets out, ‘’I shit you not?’’

Jeff Atkins digged his face into his hands and groans. He looks up at breathes out, ‘’She never given me a hint that her birthday was coming up.’’

‘’Aren’t you guys friends on Facebook?’’

He looked away and hissed, ‘’Fuck.’’

Clay reached a hand out. ‘’Relax, okay? You still have a week.’’

Shaking his head, Clay looks back down at his work. ‘’Besides, it’s not like you don’t know what to get her.’’

His silence caused Clay to look back up. ‘’You do know what to get her, right?’’

Jeff’s features had twisted into a cringe, as he props an elbow on the table to pinch the bring of his nose. ‘’Fuck!’’ He exclaims.

‘’Shh!’’

‘’How do you not know what get her?’’ Clay questions out of disbelief. ’’You guys have been friends for a month now, let alone making it into a week as a couple.’’

He waves him off. ‘’I’ll think of something.’’

‘’Can you believe they don’t have Lord of the Flies?’’ Devin questions aloud when returning to her corner. ‘’How the hell can the school library run out of copies? It’s not no, Fault In Our Stars, worthy.’’