Zoe instantly jumped from her seat with her books in hand and skipped across the room through all the calm commotion around her as everybody found their partner. She slapped her books on Teddy's desk, causing him to flinch. Grabbing the chair from the table in front of Teddy's, she spun it around and sat on the other side of his desk. Her eyes were bright and her smile brighter as she looked to the boy in front of her. Teddy, who was mildly amused, relaxed in his seat and let out a long sigh.

"Out of all the people in the classroom, you have to buddy-up with me." Teddy muttered.

"Vanessa isn't in class this morning because she has to practice for the final football game of the season and I'm no longer a cheerleader so, I have no excuse not to choose you as my partner." Zoe confessed.

Teddy rolled his eyes and sat up again, though, he wasn't actually annoyed. He actually found it funny that Zoe would admit that to him. That meant Zoe would usually pick him on any other day, as well, if she had the opportunity. Teddy wasn't sure if he should be flattered by that. Sure, part of him was. But that bigger part of him was still yelling at him to distance himself. He could feel this odd relationship between them becoming more and more dangerous.

Or, in other words, comfortable.

Don't get attached, don't let her any further under your skin, don't even make eye contact for too long.

"You're good at this kinda stuff, right?" Zoe asked as she got comfortable.

Teddy was already filling out answers on his sheet, his back hunched and his face inches from his slightly angled paper like always. "Yes. Leave it to me."

"You're not going to explain it to me?" Zoe rested her chin on her hand as Teddy looked up at her through his eyelashes.

"You don't want to just copy the answers?" Teddy questioned awkwardly as he gestured his pencil between their matching papers.

"No. I want to know what we're doing." Zoe lied.

Usually, she would do very little work with Vanessa and probably end up getting the answers from another friend. Her grades didn't really matter so she never really put that much work into it, anyways. She was rich with a bright future ahead of her. This whole public school thing was basically a hobby. But, she wanted to actually interact with Teddy instead of watching him scribble silently for half an hour like she always did at lunch.

"Alright.." Teddy took a deep breath to mentally prepare himself. He was better at working alone or, used to it, at least. Explaining how he got the answers might be a little harder since he had never done it before.

Zoe kept her eyes on Teddy as he gestured between the textbook and the question on their paper. He would read out a sentence or two and then explain where the answer lied before scribbling it on the blank line. Zoe would write down the answer as well and hum in agreement so he knew she was listening. She didn't hear much of what he was saying, honestly, though. Simply watching the way he sat up to explain something and then hunched to write the answer was amusing. His voice was raspy and never smoothed out, even though, he was talking more than he usually did.

Zoe liked when Teddy would mumble to himself until he found the answer and then try to explain it as clearly as he could, although, he still stumbled over his words because he was trying to talk too fast. Zoe smiled happily with content in her eyes as she never took her eyes off him. She had never heard him talk so much in one sitting. This was exactly why she told him to explain his answers, even though, she really didn't care about the assignment. She just liked to hear him talk.

"Your face healed nicely." Zoe tilted her head as her eyes examined every inch of Teddy's dark features. Teddy glanced up at her, waiting for her to explain. "From when Chuck hit you with his ring."

Teddy scoffed and looked back down at his worksheet. "I'm resilient like that."

"So am I. My hips all better." Zoe smiled as she happily wiggled in her chair.

Teddy didn't say anything as he stared at his pencil. He hated this feeling that festered inside of him like some invasive bug. He called Zoe a spoiled bitch, he pushed her down, and he couldn't stop. Zoe was right about him trying so hard to hate her. He did hate her.. or something... He felt some way about her and he felt a lot of it. Unfortunately, the fact that he didn't know what was going on in his head made things very, very difficult.

"I'm kinda worried about Fisher after what happened at the pep rally." Zoe suddenly admittedly as she twirled her gel pen between her fingers.

"Yeah?" Teddy mindlessly humored Zoe as he forced his attention back on his work. He couldn't think about her or anything she said or he was convinced he'd go insane.

"He told me he likes Howl. Like, likes him-likes him."

"Roman politician and military general.. blah, blah, blah.. Played a critical role in the events that lead to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire. Uhh... Julius Caesar, if I remember correctly. Let me double check." Teddy mostly muttered to himself with his eyebrows intensely furrowed.

"Howl said he's not worried about Fisher, though. He seems pretty confident that Fisher will come back around to him after he's done being mad. I don't really know their relationship but I don't think that's really fair to Fisher, if I'm being honest. No offense to Howl, either. He seems pretty competent, he just maybe shouldn't be going after a guy younger than him. An older man might suit him better."

"Julius Caesar." Teddy proclaimed and scribbled down the name. He read the next question and started rapidly skimming the delegated pages of their textbook as he lightly chewed on his mechanical pencil. "Okay. Next one, next one.."

"I didn't even know Howl and Brett were a thing. The first time I met Howl, he had a black eye and busted lip because of Brett. Did you know about them?" Zoe pushed on as if there was some kind of two-sided conversation happening.

Teddy rolled his eyes as he realized Zoe wasn't going to shut up. She never did, even when they were studying in the library. She always did this. But this time, Zoe had urged him to explain how he got his answers. She made him think she actually wanted to participate and learn. Now she was just chatting his ear off and distracting him, as usual. She was being a hindrance.

"Zoe, did you even write that down?" Teddy sighed as he gestured his pencil towards Zoe's worksheet.

Zoe looked down at her paper. She hadn't written the last two answers down, actually. Zoe sheepishly grinned and nervously chuckled. "No.."

"Just write Julius Caesar, Bozo, and then, Hannibal for the one before that." Teddy pressed.

Zoe was quick to jot those two answers down with her glittery, purple pen. Her eyes snapped back up at Teddy, her soft brown eyes wide and sparkling in the fluorescent lights of their classroom. Teddy still didn't like how straight she sat in her chair. Her spine must've been completely parallel with the back of her seat as Teddy slouched at an almost ninety degree angle. And with her blonde hair pulled into a high ponytail again, she looked so preppy and bright and ready to seize the day. It was obnoxious.

"How long have Howl and Brett been a thing?" Zoe asked with a hushed voice.

Teddy's eyes fell back to his textbook as he grimaced. "They are not a thing. And frankly, I don't really care either way so, can we please stop gossiping? My ears are about to bleed."

"Okay. Sorry."

Teddy looked up, his expression slightly contorted. "You gave up easy.."

Zoe was slightly caught off guard by that statement. She kind of did. She was usually a very stubborn person, she could admit that. But with Teddy, she just wanted to give him everything. Zoe wanted to be compliant. Besides, of course, leaving him alone. She would always be stubborn when it came to that. But, yet again, Teddy did tell her to stick up for herself more and he was hinting at that when he made that observation. Even if he did want some peace and quiet, he still wanted her to fight back a little.

"Did you see Vanessa and Abigail's costumes on Friday?" Zoe excitedly asked as she leant slightly forward. Teddy groaned and mentally cursed himself as he looked down at his textbook again. "A couple people asked me if they were wearing couples costumes but, people never see them talking so, people were so confused how they ended up in costumes from the same movie."

"I regret this.." Teddy muttered mostly to himself.

"I really think their costumes were cute. Abigail seemed excited at the party when I was talking to her. She had never done couples costumes before so it was really sweet." Zoe rambled on and on without reservation, whether Teddy was listening or not.

"I would do anything to get you to stop talking about that stupid Halloween party." A.k.a, one of the many nights in Teddy's life that he forever wanted to forget happened.

Zoe sighed and finally stopped her rambling. She didn't want to give up on making conversation but she also didn't want to piss Teddy off. Teddy let himself submerge back into his studying as Zoe racked her brain for something else they could talk about. The only thing he actually gave his input on was Howl and Brett. But, Zoe liked Howl and he was close with Teddy so, she didn't want to gossip about him too much. Fisher on the other hand, might create a good opportunity.

"Would you go out with Fisher and I after school to get me to stop talking about the Halloween party?" Zoe coyly asked, her eyebrows slightly perked.

"I have to work after school." Teddy answered, thankful that his job would come in handy with the horrible offers Zoe gave him.

Zoe sighed with defeat again. "You're not worried about him?"

"Why would I be?"

"He's completely heartbroken, Teddy. He was so angry at Howl that he attacked Brett. He's obviously struggling."

"Fisher is not my problem."

"Well, he is my problem. I was there at the party when Howl freaked out, I was there at the fight, I gotta be there for him now. I wanna take him out to eat somewhere and just talk for a few hours, you know.." Zoe explained.

Teddy smirked as he jotted down an answer. "How are you two going to meet up if neither of you drive?"

Zoe was silent as she took a moment to think. "I'll invite Vanessa, too. She can drive us and Fisher seems to be struggling with the whole gay thing so, maybe, Vanessa can help talk to him about that."

"Oh, yeah. That's a good idea. Ambush the poor guy." Teddy scoffed, his voice laced with bitter sarcasm.

"It's not ambushing. We're just gonna talk and comfort him and try to help him figure it all out." Zoe shrugged.

Teddy had plenty of comments on hand to throw back at Zoe but, he kept his mouth shut. He didn't believe Zoe would be able to help Fisher. He didn't believe had the power to help anybody. She didn't even know what she was doing, ever, so how the hell did she think she could give other people advice? Besides, she didn't need to always go around putting her nose in other peoples business. Howl and Fisher's relationship was none of her business.

But, it was Zoe. She wouldn't give up, no matter what Teddy said to try and stop her.

-

The Media Club had set up tables in the cafeteria where they were selling print-outs of the pictures they had taken on Friday during the schools lunch hours. It was only a quarter each photo, even though, everyone thought they should be free. The school and Media Club both claimed the funds went to the school, which was probably true, but the pessimists had their own theories. Zoe didn't care either way, she just wanted to see the photos.

"Wow! These are so cute!" Zoe gasped as she looked at the table full of photos. "I didn't know these would be printed."

"You got a quarter?" Vanessa asked over Zoe's shoulder as everyone crowded around the table.

"Here." Chuck gestured a quarter to Zoe and picked up her photo after she politely accepted it. Zoe also gestured for him to hand over the photo of herself but, he scoffed at her and pulled it towards himself. "This is mine. Buy your own."

Zoe stuck her tongue out at Chuck, which made him laugh. She perused the table of photos as her friends did. Lauren and Courtney both bought the photo of all of them together, align with photos of themselves in their costumes. Zoe debated buying her own but didn't really see the point in it. She was too used to seeing her face in photos. She liked the photo of her and her friends all gathered together though. That seemed worth the quarter.

Zoe handed her quarter to Lydia, who offered a friendly smile, before she then grabbed the group photo. She stared at it with a small smile before she looked at everyone else. She wanted another one but she didn't see anything worth it. Besides, she didn't have another quarter. Luckily, Vanessa knew exactly what photo she was looking for. Vanessa put own her secret photo under her group photo, slyly doing the same to Zoe with another photo.

Zoe looked up at Vanessa in confusion, wondering why she had tucked a photo behind the one she had in her hand. Vanessa leaned in to whisper, "Don't look at it until you're alone." Before she scurried off.

Zoe instantly had the urge to look but gripped the photos in her palm so she could resisted that urge. When everyone was done looking at and buying photos, they all went to the lunch line and got their food. Courtney was the first to pull out her phone and start showing off photos. Zoe clung to Courtney and laughed at all the goofy photos with her friends huddled around her.

"These are so tacky." Teddy grumbled as he glanced over all the pictures laid out. Howl was the one actually looking at them. He was searching for something.

"They're tradition." Howl countered. He plucked a photo from a small stack and showed it to Teddy. "This ones a keeper, right?"

Teddy looked at the small photo and snorted a laugh. It was a close up picture of Howl with his pink, fuzzy handcuffs between his teeth and one of his hands tugging the collar of his shirt aside to reveal a small portion of the tattoo on his chest. He was trying to be sexy. Teddy simply nodded. It was a good picture but it definitely wasn't suitable for the yearbook so he might as well buy it before the photo disappeared forever.

"Here." Howl flipped Teddy a quarter before he flipped another to Lydia, nodding once at her with a smirk as they both showed a bit of recognition towards one another. Howl turned back to Teddy as he looked at the quarter. "Buy yourself a good one, Teddy."

Teddy scoffed and shook his head. He didn't need a photo to take home and reminisce on a year or ten from now, like everyone else did. But, when he looked, he spotted a particular bunny that caught his eye. While Howl's attention was drawn elsewhere, Teddy picked up the photo and examined it more closely. It was a close up of Zoe in her bunny onesie, the hood low on her forehead and ears goofily flopped aside. She had a huge grin on her face that forced her eyes shut.

Teddy couldn't help but crack a smile as he stared at the photo. When Howl turned back to him, though, Teddy hid the photo in his pocket and wiped the smile off his face. Howl nodded his head towards the direction of the door that led outside from the cafeteria, silently signaling for them to go out and smoke. Teddy was about to follow Howl before Lydia called for Teddy to pay. He begrudgingly flipped her his quarter and hurried to follow Howl.

On the way through the cafeteria, Teddy couldn't help the urge to look back at Zoe's usual table. She was sat with her friends, completely ignoring her lunch as she peered over her friends shoulder to look at her photos. All of the girls were piled on each other looking at photos, which he could only assumed were from the Halloween party they all went to. She looked really happy, which felt like a breath of fresh air after all the drama recently.

Everything felt normal. Like all the chaos and settled and things were back to how they should be. That was a bit comforting to Teddy. He hated this place and he hated everyone here, but it maybe wasn't so bad when everybody was tolerating each other. With that smile, the real one, on Zoe's face, Teddy couldn't really find anything to be upset about. Besides, his own guilt but, he could push all of that down for now.

-

"Vanessa is on her way and then we're going to pick up Fisher. Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Zoe asked as she grabbed her purse and started through her house.

"I could not be more sure about anything in my entire life." Teddy sarcastically retorted as he dug through his backpack to find his keys. Zoe was leaving to have fun but he had to leave for work.

"We're going to go to the mall to get those cool cupcakes and walk around. Come on, it'll be fun."

"Really, Zoe, I don't-" Teddy started rummaging through his pants pockets until he found something familiar. He pulled out the small photo of Zoe and felt a weird stir in his stomach. "Want to go out with you.."

Before Zoe could say anything to convince Teddy otherwise, he hung up. He couldn't understand why he had even bought this picture. He didn't mean to. He was looking at the picture, had to rush off, and didn't have time to put the picture back. The only thing he could do was throw his quarter. It wasn't like he wanted the picture. He was just looking. And now, Teddy was stuck with a photo that haunted him more and more as he stared at it.

Teddy went to set the photo down on his dresser before he spotted one of her Dior photos. It was straightened out from it's previously crinkled state when he tore it off of the door of the school and stuffed it in his pocket. Now, Teddy had two photos of Zoe in his room. He was basically building a shrine, one dumb photo at a time. It was infuriating that Zoe had him wrapped around her finger before he even realized it. Although, it was kind of good.

Now that he had spotted the symptoms, he could treat the disease before it got out of control. Or terminal.

Zoe found her photos while grabbing her things as well, suddenly remembering that she had two when she only bought one. The photo of her and her friends all piled together was on top, still shielding the secret photo that Vanessa bought her. Zoe slowly sat at the edge of her bed as she wondered what the other picture would be. She hoped it was Teddy. The Media Club didn't have much reason to take a picture of someone who didn't dress up and try to sell it. But, even if he was in the background somewhere, that'd be god.

The picture was even better than Zoe expected. The photos main focus was a girl that was a friend of a friend, but in the background, Zoe and Teddy were talking in the hallways. Zoe had her ears held up and a big smile on her face while Teddy stood with a disbelieving grin, his books at his side and hood falling off the back of his head. This was seconds before The Media Club asked Zoe for her photo. Teddy was gone by the time Zoe turned around again.

"I can't believe you actually came to school in that.." Teddy chuckled as he looked Zoe up and down.

Zoe grabbed her floppy bunny ears and pulled them so they sat straight up from her head, flashing Teddy a big smile. "I thought you said it was cute." She giggled.

"I said it was ridiculous." Teddy countered, that smile still sat comfortably on his dark features.

"At least, I dressed up. You didn't even take my vampire suggestion." Zoe pouted as she dropped her bunny ears.

"Wrong."

Teddy grabbed the zipper of his hoodie and yanked it down his torso, his hood falling off the back of his head. He pushed the fabric of his sweatshirt aside until the graphic on the front of his shirt was revealed. It was a picture of Nosferatu with the name printed in big, dropping letters under it. Zoe gasped, her soft, brown eyes going wide and sparkling with amazement, like diamonds. Teddy chuckled at her reaction, his smile only growing.

"Nosferatu? That's a classic!" Zoe grabbed Teddy's sweatshirt to hold it open to admire his shirt.

"I figured you'd say that. I know you like creepy old films like this. It's the least I could do since I wasn't going to dress up." Teddy shrugged.

Zoe's mouth was still hung open as she looked up at him again. She was so stupidly happy for some reason. Teddy didn't dress up as a vampire but he went beyond what she even expected. He wore a shirt from one of her favorite movies, which he did on purpose because he remembered how much she liked old horror films. And it was a vampire film! He combined the two! He was a genius! Zoe couldn't have been more excited. This was better than him actually dressing up.

"Have you actually seen this movie?"

"Never."

"Oh my god! We should watch it! You can come over and we can watch a whole bunch of them! You have to! Before October is over! And then-"

"Good morning, Zoe!" Lydia happily greeted as she approached Teddy and Zoe. "I think your costume is super cute! Do you mind if I take a picture of you?"

"Oh, sure." Zoe happily agreed, luckily, giving Teddy enough time to slip into the crowd and disappear before he had to even think about her offer.