Dedicated to happy_katherine_09. Your comments always make my day!!!!

I smiled like crazy while writing this chapter.

Hope you like it too.

Drop some comments.

Chapter 3.

At least the Sven in Frozen knew loyalty.

~~~

"So what are your plans today?"

Rylee straightened her bomber jacket and tied her hair in a ponytail. "What do you mean?" she asked Nina.

"About the guys who like you. How are you going to deal with it?"

Rylee frowned at her best friend. "What guys?"

Nina listed off the names on her fingers. "Sven, Harvey, Aahan."

Rylee resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Nina was simply being absurd. "Aahan? Really? We barely exchanged a few sentences, all of which didn't even form a good conversation. Harvey is my ex and no, we will not get back together. And now that the Blanc twins are back, trust me Sven isn't even going to look at me anymore."

As if on cue, Sven's new bike entered the campus, a gorgeous red head clinging to his back. They got off the bike and not one student stopped from staring at the new couple of New Oak High School.

The girl was dressed in black shorts, an orange top and black boots that made her look taller than she already was. Her face was drowned in makeup as she waved at the students, a steady smile on her red lips. She was just short of signing autographs.

"Well, there's the King and Queen of our high school." Mikaela jeered, the hate in her voice evident.

Rylee smirked at Nina in victory. "Told ya."

"Let's go." Mikaela grunted. It was no shock that Mikaela hated the female Blanc twin – Eloise Blanc.

The other two girls nodded and entered the halls, trying to blend in before Eloise could notice them. But luck wasn't on their side.

"Look who's there."

"Fuck!" Mikaela grumbled under her breath as Eloise's melodic voice rang behind her.

"I am going to leave." Nina said in a timid mild voice.

"Don't you dare." Rylee hissed at her, slowly turning around.

How tall were her boots? She was towering over them when she certainly wasn't much taller than them.

Mikaela sent Eloise a flat smile. "Well, if it isn't the infamous slut of our school. Welcome back from the dead."

Eloise returned the fake smile. "Well, if it isn't the infamous bitch of our school."

"That's still you." Mikaela said in an overly sweet voice.

Eloise glared at Mikaela and then turned to Rylee. "Hi Rylee."

Rylee took a deep breath before answering her. "Hi Eloise."

"I have missed our talks."

Rylee's lips pressed thin. "I have not."

Elosie blinked innocently. "Aww, you didn't miss me messing up your life?"

Rylee restrained herself from slapping Eloise's face and getting cheap makeup on her palms. "Actually I missed the stink you ooze as you walk past."

Eloise frowned. "That's Chanel for her."

"That's rotten eggs by you."

Eloise's eyes hardened. She flipped her hair and then pushed her way between Mikaela and Rylee almost making them almost stumble and fall.

Mikaela glared at Sven who was standing there, both hands in his pockets as he looked down in awkwardness. "Great choice. Didn't wait for long before plunging your jaw into her, did you?" She mocked, showing him a thumbs up.

Rylee shook her head at Sven. "At least the Sven in Frozen knew loyalty."

Nina tsked. "I want to say something snarky but I don't know how to. So I'll just say, I am not proud of you Sven. I am very disappointed in you. We thought you'd be on our side."

With that, the three girls walked away to their classes leaving a flustered and guilty Sven behind.

"Babe." Eloise screamed at Sven who took a deep breath and ran towards her like a lost dumb puppy.

The first two lectures for Rylee were boring, even with Mikaela in one of her class and Nina in the other one. The next lecture was literature and she wasn't feeling too excited, knowing that Aahan was going to be in the class.

She entered the class and contemplated on where to sit. She saw Aahan at the back of the class once again with a book. She frowned, does he ever stop reading? At this rate he must have read most of the books in the world. Doesn't he get bored of reading?

Shaking her head, she looked for another place to sit.

"Hey!" she jumped at the sudden voice just behind her, almost caressing her ear. Rylee turned her head and frowned at the familiar voice. "Harvey?"

Harvey smiled at her. "Hey!" he repeated.

"You are in this class?" Rylee questioned in confusion.

Harvey nodded. "Yep. Exciting huh? Want to sit together?"

Rylee tried to think up of a good excuse but her mouth opened and closed like a gold fish without a word coming out. She couldn't think of a single excuse. "Sure." She finally said a squeaky reluctant tone.

Just then someone called her name, a honey toned yet shy voice. And Rylee turned around to see Aahan waving at her. She blinked in surprise at the rare sight. The whole class blinked in surprise.

Rylee cleared her throat, trying to ignore the stunned gazes of her classmates who looked between her and Aahan. "Um, excuse me, I'll just come." She mumbled to Harvey and walked towards Aahan, trying ignore the inflight of loud whispers and incoming gossip tales.

Her heart was beating a little fast and somehow the thought of Aahan calling her name sent a shiver of excitement through her bones. Mentally she smiled, maybe he wanted to sit next to her. Maybe he actually liked her company and wanted to be friends.

She stopped at Aahan's desk, smiling brightly. "You called my name?"

Aahan nodded and lifted a pen from the desk. "I took your pen yesterday by mistake."

Rylee blinked at her blue pen, she hadn't even realized that it was missing. She could barely believe her ears. "This is why you called me?"

Aahan looked at the pen between his fingers and then back at Rylee with a light confused frown on his face. "Do you not want it?"

Rylee bit her bottom lip from screaming in frustration. A pen? A pen? Of all the things in the whole world she had not expected this.

She grabbed the pen rather forcefully from Aahan's fingers. "Thank you." She spat wanting to stab the pen in Aahan's eye.

Before she could storm off the professor entered. "Sit down. This is a class, not a party."

Everyone instantly sat on their seats and Rylee stood there caught between sitting next to Aahan or walking all the way over to the opposite side of the class, to sit next to Harvey.

The professor narrowed his eyes at Rylee. "Ms. Brooks. Do you want me to address you specifically?"

Rylee shook her head and immediately sat down next to Aahan, mentally cursing her fate.

After 5 minutes of awkward silence and pretending to listen to what the professor babbled about she felt a paper note slide next to her.

She looked in puzzlement at Aahan whose eyes continued to focus straight. She picked up the folded note with little hesitation and opened it. 'Are you okay?'

She gaped at neat cursive handwriting. How could a boy have such pretty handwriting?

Rylee scrawled her reply in her own messy handwriting. It was a huge contrast to his proper and neat writing. 'Yes.'

Aahan read the answer and sneaked a glance at Rylee. Her shoulders were stiffened, her face was neutral, she was staring ahead but her eyes were unfocused, her fingers were intertwined and there was no smile on her face, her lips were in a straight line, almost making a frown. From the books he had read, that meant she was not okay.

So he passed the note again. 'Are you sure?'

Rylee didn't understand why he was sending her notes. Why he was suddenly so curious about her well-being? 'Why do you care?'

Aahan's reply was instant. 'I don't.'

Rylee regretted asking the question immediately. Of all the people she had ever asked that question to, other than her snobby little sister all of them had replied with something sweet and considerate. And here was this lonely boy who didn't care but still asked the question. She wondered what was wrong with him.

Rylee crumbled the paper and threw it on the ground, completely exasperated and wishing she was sitting next to Harvey. Hearing the professor insult her would have been better than this. listening to Harvey's lame flirting comments would have been better than this. anything would have been better than this.

Aahan couldn't understand why Rylee's back had stiffened even more and why her eyes looked hardened. She looked relatively angry. He stared at the crumbled paper next to his feet.

Did he do something wrong? If yes, what?

He slowly took out his mobile and googled. 'What to reply when a girl asks why do you care.'

Instead he was faced with a recommendation - What to answer if a girl asks why do you love me?

That is not related. Google is drunk. He thought to himself.

He scrolled down until he reached a satisfying answer. Why do you care shows the signs of irritation of someone being too nosy in their personal affairs.

He breathed out, that made sense. He wasn't exactly friends with Rylee so maybe he had no right to ask that question. He had no right to pry in her life and her thoughts. That could be why she was so angry and defensive.

He tore another piece of paper and wrote. 'Sorry, I didn't realize I was prying.'

Rylee stared at the note with a twisted lips. How to reply to that? She did want him prying in her life but because he cared, not because it was fun or an obligation. She settled for a simple. 'It's fine.'

The next ten minutes there was no response from Aahan and that made Rylee impatient and edgy. Why was she expecting a reply to a simple its fine? Why was she expecting a reply at all?

Against the opposition of her mind, she tore a piece of paper and wrote. 'Are you okay?'

Aahan replied quickly. 'I am, thanks for asking.'

Rylee scratched her brains to think of what to reply to that. How to continue the conversation. She never had to play this part, it was usually the guys who wouldn't stop talking and always initiated all the conversations. They were also the first to ask for her number, always.

So once again, telling her brain to shut the fuck up she wrote with shaking fingers and a fast heartbeat. 'Can I have your number?'

The wait was killing her, she tried to stare ahead but from the corner of her eyes she kept watching for Aahan's hand movement. Why wasn't he writing a reply? Dammit, should have listened to my brain. Did I do a mistake? Is it too soon? What if he think I am a creep? Does he think I am too clingy? What are the chances of dying from humiliation?

Rylee wanted the ground to swallow her up before she could face the embarrassment. She was sure this time too, Aahan would run away as soon as the class was done, leaving her pride and self-esteem in shatters.

She saw Aahan write and she bit her nails, far too anxious to see the reply.

She didn't even wait for Aahan to pass the note fully towards her. She grabbed it midway and opened it. 'My number?'

She bit her lip from slapping something over the head of this stupid guy next to her. 'No, Chandler Bing's.'

'Oh. I don't have it.'

Rylee had never wished for the invisible cloak as much as she did now. Her face was burning and her teeth were gritting against each other. What was this guy made of? How could someone be so utterly dumb and clueless? And yet he is a scholar, always in the top 5 ranks. How is that even possible?

'Yes, your number.'

'Oh, that was sarcasm. Good one. Here's my number 615554342.'

Rylee stared at the number, a small smile forming on her lips. She did a mental victory dance and if she was alone she would have screamed into a pillow. She vaguely wondered if this was how guys felt after receiving a girl's number. This satisfied and this elated.

She wanted to hug that piece of paper but she had faced enough humiliation for one day so she folded the paper neatly and kept it into her pocket.

"Thanks." She whispered.

Aahan couldn't identify the emotion he felt. His heart was still beating but it was a little fast, his palms felt sweaty and there was a funny feeling right in his gut. Maybe he was sick. He should not have eaten Chinese last night, it always did something weird to his intestines. "You are welcome." He whispered back.

The rest of the day, nothing could stop Rylee from grinning like a fool, not even looking at Eloise Blanc every time she walked in the hallways.

Rylee Brooks had Aahan Miller's mobile number, right in her pocket and it felt much better than she could had ever imagined.

~~~

You can't tell me that you didn't Aww even once!! :P