a/n: woah!! Atm i have 900 followers and a good 100-200 of those are you guys!! Thank you all sooo much! And also, thanks for the diversity on this book! Like i've said in previous chapters, this is statistically my most successful book on Wattpad, and the readers spread across the globe are crazy!! So thank you guys sm <3 also!! Ty for entering the cover contest! If you joined, pls comment here so I can tag the winner in the short story book!!

****

Jeremy's eyes were wide. He was currently pinned to the locker by a guy half his size (well, maybe a little more than that, but lets go with 'half his size' for the dramatic effect) with a scary scowl on his face.

"What do you want, Rich?" Jeremy asked, trying to seem bolder than he really was

"I want you to lay off of Michael." Rich told him, "He's been through enough shit and he doesn't need your selfishness to make life harder."

Jeremy's brows furrowed, "Why do you care about Michael? The only time you talk is for answers on a math quiz."

"We have history okay, Tall Ass?" Rich's grip on Jeremy's shirt tightened for a moment before the brunette was released, "Lay off, or else you'll get deep throated by a blender."

The brunette's eyes were wide and he nodded, "Duly noted." He knew not to ask any more questions, or else his head would be up either his ass or in a toilet bowl.

Rich nodded and released Jeremy, a hard look on his face, "Good. Remember this conversation, and Michael doesn't hear a word about it." The blonde walked away, anger in his strides.

****

Chloe gasped, a wide grin forming on her face as she rushed over to her friends on the other side of the room, "Guys!"

Jenna and Brooke looked up from what they were doing (they were playing iMessage games with each other) and directed their attention to Chloe (who was looming over them with a weird grin on her face).

"Yeah?" Jenna piped up

"I don't know how I just found this out, but look!" She turned her phone to Brooke and Jenna, a picture of Rich and Michael walking to school together on the screen, "Is that Rich's boyfriend?"

"Rich is straight." Brooke said with teeth clenched together, "He told me himself.'

"Don't ruin this for me, Brooke!" Chloe snapped, "I'm onto something!"

The girl with the ball cap flinched and slowly sunk into her seat, lips pursing as her eyes traveled around the room. She adjusted the bill on her cap before molding into a stoic pose.

"What are you planning on doing with the photo?" Jenna asked, unphased by what had just happened.

"Exposing Rich, duh!" Chloe responded, "Isn't it obvious?"

****

"Rich told me not to tell you about this conversation we had earlier, but--"

"Rich Goranski?"

"Yeah, him." Jeremy nodded

It was after school and the two were at Jeremy's house. They had been plotting ways to defuse the whole 'Jenna Rolan Incident' with the raging boner text around school when Jeremy had just blurted out the question.

"Anyways," Jeremy cleared his throat, "Rich told me you guys had history. Uh. . . How?"

Michael's body stiffened and he suddenly got uncomfortable, "Well. . Uh, it's complicated. It'll take a while to explain."

"I don't have to be at play rehearsal until next week, I got time."

"I think that's a story for another time." Michael pursed his lips, knee bouncing anxiously.

"Why?" Jeremy questioned, "Are you scared or something?"

"I want you to lay off of Michael." Rich told him, "He's been through enough shit and he doesn't need your selfishness to make life harder."

Jeremy pursed his lips, a silence falling over them, "You don't have to tell me." He was selfish, wasn't he?

****

"Jake, I need your help." Rich said, face still.

"With what?"

"Remember that picture of Michael and I that you found? And you asked me about it?"

"Who's Michael?"

"That antisocial headphones kid?"

Jake let his mouth form the shape of an 'O' for a moment, nodding. They were sitting at Jake's apartment, the two having been there for a couple hours before. Jake was sitting on the couch (It would take both he and Rich to get him off of it though), Rich on the other side. The TV was on in the background.

"Anyways," Rich continued nonchalantly, "that picture of us that you found. . You need to help me get rid of it."

"Why? Are you embarrassed by it?" Jake cocked a brow

"Yes!" Rich replied, voice straining slightly, "Yes, I'm embarrassed by it! I had a reputation to uphold and having a picture of me and the biggest loser at the school together will ruin everything I've worked for!" Rich flinched, eyes going blue for a second.

"Yo, bro, you okay?" Jake asked, "You went all wishy-washy again." He waved his hand in the blonde's face as Rich stared blankly at the wall.

The blonde shook his head, blinking and looking at Jake. The blue in his eyes subsided and they were back to their normal color, "Sorry." Rich responded, "You know how it goes."

Jake nodded and sighed, "Are you sure you're okay?" His tone got a bit more sincere.

"I'm sure." Rich nodded, shrugging his shoulders, "I'm positive."

The brunette reluctantly let it slide, "So. . . How are we supposed to get it down?"

"I don't know! That's why I was asking you!"

"Well, I'm not too good at computers but I took a coding class in Freshman year, bro." Jake said, adjusting the way he was sitting so that he could reach for his laptop on the nightstand.

"What are you gonna do?" Rich asked, sliding over so that he could get a good view of the screen, Jake opening the lid.

He shrugged, "Dunno. We're about to find out though."

****

Chloe and Brooke were sitting on Brooke's bed, the two of them surrounded by tons of little plants (thanks BLS Brooke Route) and completely punched out Pinkberry punch cards in a trash can under Brooke's desk. The room was dimly lit with a couple candles and it looked like they were summoning something, but they weren't. . . I swear.

"So. . ." Chloe pursed her lips and looked at Brooke, "You said you were hanging out with Jeremy the other day?"

The smaller girls face lit up, "Yeah! We were hanging out the other day." She smiled softly, "We went to Pinkberry and then we went to the mall because I got a scratch on one of my purses and needed to return it, so he came with me! Then we went back to his pl--"

"Did you have sex with him?"

The smile from Brooke's face fell quickly, "No! I don't like Jeremy like that anymore." She told him

"By the way you're talking about him, you sound pretty thirsty." Chloe responded.

"Wha-- Chloe, I'm not thirsty. ." Her voice became meek.

"Are you sure about that, Brooke?" Chloe laughed, a brow cocked.

"Yeah! I'm sure. We're just good-- we're just good friends!"

Chloe rolled her eyes, "I'm bored. What happened with you and Jeremy?"

"Well. . ." She thought for a moment.

Chloe gave out a fake snore, earning a wearied look from her friend before she adjusted her ball cap and tried to brush it off so that she could continue with (or start) her story.

"We were talking about his life and stuff. His love life and school and things. Nothing too interesting--"

"His love life?" Chloe grinned

"Uh. . . Yeah, his love life. What about it?"

"Tell me about it!"

"It's not something too interesting."

"I don't care, give me details!" Chloe's voice was a bit more harsh, making Brooke flinch.

"Okay, okay!" The bald haired girl gulped, "He was talking about how he didn't know if he liked his best friend, or some girl named Christine."

"He has the ability to talk to girls?"

"It's not like you've never talked to him, Chlo."

"Yeah, but when I have all he does is stammer and get all sweaty." She shuddered

"He can talk to girls! He talks to me all the time."

"That's different."

"How is it different?"

Chloe crossed her arms, "It just is. Anyways, go on about this love thing. I love watching other people's lives fall apart, especially when it's not my own."

"I dunno," Brooke shrugged, "he was just telling me about how he was strung between the two and how he like, had weird dreams about it or something."

The brunettes brows raised. Now that's the tea sis, "Now why don't we plot a way to expose Rich and to ruin his life?"

"I, uh, pee back! I mean-- Be back!" She bolted off, leaving Chloe a bit dumbfounded.

Brooke gulped, a pit forming down at her stomach. She shouldn't have told Chloe that! That was confidential stuff between she and Jeremy! What if Jeremy stopped being friends with her because of that? Brooke suddenly felt sick, and excused herself to the bathroom so she could collect herself. Secrets was something she took very seriously, but Chloe scared her. Chloe intimidated her to the point of putting aside her own morals and compromising them for the daily scoop.

****

Michael hadn't spoken to Jeremy since their conversation about Rich. There had been a weird tension between them ever since the wet dream thing thugh. It wasn't a big deal, but it was a weird thing to have your best friend of 12 years say he's been having wet dreams about you, and it just roll off your shoulders like water on windbreakers or something). It had been a day or two. In retrospect, that isn't a huge amount of time, but the anticipation Michael was setting up for Jeremy was agonizing. He just wanted to know how his friend felt just for the satisfaction and security of knowing; not being in the dark.

The first time Jeremy had seen Michael since was when the Filipino was striding down the hall, bopping to a song through his bulky headphones with an innocent grin on his face. He had his arms out as he was getting turnt to Bob Marley or some Bob Ross podcast or whatever else was going on in his ears. Whatever it was, it was a bop. It was fire. I sound like a middle aged dad trying to be cool I need to stop lol.

Anyways, Jeremy just stood there. He watched his friend come down the hall and didn't say anything until Michael was only inches away from him (and probably about to smack him in the face on accident). Once Jeremy said something and the two made eye contact, Michael jumped ten feet back.

"Michael--"

The Filipino yelped and recoiled, pushing his headphones down to his neck hastily and looking at Jeremy, "You scared me! How long have you been standing there?"

Jeremy gave off an awkward shrug, "A couple seconds. Want to, uh, want to walk with me?"

Michael took a second to respond, but the straight line that made up his mouth curved upwards, "Why not? Let's walk. We have the next class together anyways."

And with that, the two walked down the hall. It was as if nothing happened, but it had. If Jeremy had known Michael for 12 years, he knew that Michael would act like nothing happened for the first day or two them completely snap. It wouldn't be pretty for Jeremy (probably) in a couple days, but that all depended on how these next 72 hours go between he and Michael. Jeremy gulped. It was only a matter of time.

Aside from that, Jeremy stuffed his hands in his pockets and propped his head up. He grinned softly and tried not to think about it. Right now, things seemed to be good between he and Michael! He didn't want to bring that to a screeching halt any faster than he had to, so he was going to wait this one out. That would not work in his favor, just going to give that little bit of foreshadowing.