"Hey, how did it go?" James asked as we sat for lunch next day at school. 

He had hardly known Mira but was concerned about her as if she was his distant aunt. He always had that quality in him that made me like him more. "No problems, right?"

I stuck to tell him a better story than repeat about her history with her son and husband. It was her own story to tell. I shook my head as a no.

"All's well." I said, chewing the fried broccoli in my gravy. "The docs think that it might have been the heavy drinking."

"Oh, shit." Nick put his head on the table in front of us with a thud. "I was the one who told her the margarita was good. After that there was no stopping."

"I was the one who invited her to the game." I said, feeling guilty about the whole situation. If it was not for me, then she would have been at home happy with her knitting and baking. I had ruined not only her health, but Monica's mental state. "I should be the one to blame."

"Hey, you guys need to stop with the blaming and complaining." James said. He was always the responsible one when it came to our childish behaviors. He was the captain of the friend-ship making sure that everything was okay and when it came to the blame games, his head soon would find the crown. I knew he wanted to take the blame now, but he stood back. "Whatever happened, happened. We need to focus on getting her better and making sure that there's no alcohol near her."

I nodded my head. Only if he knew those things happened even without drinks. "Where is Lily?" I asked.

"She said she wanted her beauty sleep." James rolled his eyes. "Women."

"Hey!" I cried, hitting him with one of the French fries from Nick's plate. "I'm a woman too!"

James lifted his hands up in mock surrender, but his eyes were telling a whole different story. He adored Lily and if she said jump, I was sure he would ask her how high.

"By the way, did you check Robert out, yesterday?" Nick brought it up. "He was so handsome."

"I had to remind you to check your drool once in a while." James teased for which Nick only glared back. "I don't know what you see in him, though."

"What?" Nick feigned horror. "He's like a Greek God that's come alive. Sure, he's a little lean and his language has to be tweaked, but I am sure I'll turn his world upside down if he agrees to be mine."

I laughed at it. "I'm sure his world will turn upside down." I said. "Should I pass this message to him when I meet for practice?"

Nick's eyes were wide as if he had spoken a little loud about his affections for Robert. I personally found them cute. If I had thought about me teasing Nick with another person, ignorant of the gender, I would have flipped and boiled with jealously. Now, I was here making fun of the same guy over whom, I had grown a crush. Did that mean that I was over him?

"What are you looking at Scar?" James said, with his own smirk. "Is there something on Nick's shirt?"

"What? No." I laughed nervously, embarrassed that I was caught. I looked at Nick's shirt and surely, he had spilt my gravy over his white tee-shirt getting a big blotch on it. "The gravy looks good on him though."

Nick looked at his shirt and almost jumped up in surprise. "I need to get this out. It's my new shirt." He got up and went to the nearby restroom to get himself cleaned.

James scooted closer to me and put his hand over my shoulders. "Still not over him?" He asked.

It was a simple question, but I could feel my stomach fall, making my hands all clammy. I didn't know if I was over him. He was the first guy over whom I had developed feelings and according to some great men out there, first love was special and was too difficult to get over with. I didn't know if that rule was applied to me as well.

Unlike the previous times, I didn't fret over how I would have to look for him or how I would have to act with him.

"I'm half over him." I told James who was still looking at me, expecting an answer. I licked my fingers with the left over gravy and closed my lid. I had been getting food from home ever since I started conditioning. As I couldn't let go of James' stare, I sighed. "Maybe with time."

"That's my girl." He pulled me to his side, giving me a half grin.

There were times when his jock friends would spot James and I in this position and report to Lily that her best friend was having an affair with her boyfriend. But never once had she believed it. I often wondered if she were human at all. 

She had a way with James, and it seemed as if he was high on her, too addicted to let her go. In the process of getting her a boyfriend, I had got a big brother that I always wished for. What were the odds?

"I'm guessing that's to deal with certain racer?" James chided and my cheeks colored.

As James mentioned Robert subtly, the incidents of the previous nights flashed across my eyes. The warmth and the comfort that I had never felt in my life was laying right next to me and with that thought I had reached cloud nine.

Rob had fallen asleep very soon, leaving me hot and sweaty. His hands tightly held on to my waist while his head rested on my shoulder. Our legs were tangled together for me to get out and switch on the fan. 

I knew he was having a hard time from past three days and I wanted him to rest. So, when my usual alarm for the jog made the tiniest of sounds, I hit on its head, effectively switching it off, letting us have the leisure of sleeping in for a little more time.

Robert had rubbed his eyes tiredly when I had jerked to retrieve the alarm, only to kiss me on my shoulder and snuggle more.

"Since you are not answering anything, I'm assuming I'm right." James said.

"What? No!" I said, my cheeks flaring more than usual. "Nothing like that."

James only laughed and ruffled my open hair. I had slept in and when I had woken up, the lost prince was missing. I only sighed and went on my usual work, but that grin on my face never let me alone all day. Perhaps that was the reason why it didn't bother when Nick had talked about Robert few minutes back.

"I love to see you happy, kiddo." James said affectionately. "It's been a long time since you have smiled and laughed along with us."

"Awe, I love you, James." I said, hugging him sideways.

James laughed and hugged be back. "So, I don't care what you are doing, but keep doing it!" The underlying meaning was too hard not to miss.

"James!" I whined. "I'm going to fucking kill you. What the heck did you just say?"

Before I could get up and hunt him down, he took off, his laughter rumbling throughout the cafeteria, getting a few heads turned towards us.

Brian's was the first one I spotted. He looked at James and then back at me, his eyes darting between us alternatively. I scowled at him, as Lily's words came back to me. I had to do some reverse psychology on him to make him think that I was going to get back at him.

I turned my attention back to the table, taking my phone out to check if there were any messages. Apparently, there were none. I pretended to use it, while I waited for Nick to show up.

I felt opposite chair of my table move and I thought it was another kid taking away an unused from the table, but to my surprise the person sat down and cleared their throat. I lifted my head up just to see it was Brian.

"Scarlet Stone." He said, sitting right in front of me. "Long time, no see, huh?"

I ignored him. He didn't deserve my attention. I pretended to stare at my phone harder and to get him to believe and leave me, I started furiously typing some nonsense into it. My beliefs failed me as Brian only laughed at my efforts to shoo him away.

"You and James seem pretty close, don't you think?" He pointed his chin towards the way where James left. "I mean, Lily's a sweet girl and she's your best friend."

What the heck was he implying? 

I wanted to smash his nose and get it broken in one single blow, in spite of my hand-aches. I took a deep breath and released it through my mouth. He was not worth it and my friends knew my intentions clean and clear. I didn't give two shits if Brian-the-great had a different opinion.

I looked at him like he was boring me. Just when I was about to leave, he got up. "No, no. You sit down. You'll need to sit for what's going to hit you now."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I asked irritated that he had made me talk to him.

Just then, my cell phone beeped and I looked at it. I glared at Brian, but he only smirked evilly. I went back to my phone and checked what I had got. It was from an anonymous number who had sent me a GIF. I downloaded and opened to see me and James together in a hug. I was telling him that I loved him. It played for three times. I looked at Brian in horror.

Lily was right about him. The small prank with the assignment was just the beginning.

I played the GIF again. If it was seen by any third party, it would seem as if James and I were in a relationship. He had put his hands over my shoulder and it was taken from the side. I looked towards my right to see Brian's ex, Macy, laughing with her perky friends and I got my answers.

"You were the one behind this?" I asked, even though I knew it was exactly him.

My cell phone rang and it was Lily. Horror filled up my insides and I felt like puking. For hell's sake, James was teasing me with Robert and I had been shot on a video claiming my love for James? How fair was it?

"Good luck." Brain whispered. "With the look on your face, you might need it more than I thought."

As Brian walked away, I picked up the call. I was sure that Lily had got the GIF too and had called to ask me about it. For some reason, I was happy that she had called me to clear things out rather than assuming the worst possible.

"What the hell is going on?" Lily shouted over the phone. "I don't come for one day and this is what I see?"

"Lily it's not what you think." I started to give my explanations, but she cut me off.

"Why am I not in the hug?" She asked, and it seemed as if she was pouting. "I love him too, I mean in a different way than you do, but still."

"No, James was just teasing me with Rob and... wait, what did you say?" I asked, clearly confused with her.

"James teased you with Robert?" Lily's attention was veered in a different direction. "What the hell happened? And I'm on leave!"

I didn't know if I wanted to laugh or cry at her questions. I took a deep breath preparing myself for the investigation. "Okay, I'll be to the point. Lil, if you make fun of me or even think about it, you have no idea what I'm going to do to you."

"Should I be getting a bowl of popcorn?" She joked making me roll my eyes at her.

I twirled my wavy hair on my index finger as I pondered over what to tell her. "You know that Robert and I are close, right?" I didn't know if I wanted to tell her, but her friendship with me was more valuable than anything else. When I heard her humming, I continued. "Well, we are sort of hanging out in the night too?"

"What?" Lily's side of the conversation ended with one one, making me worried. I waited for sometime to let the information sink, but even after a whole minute, the line didn't get engaged.

"Lily, are you there?" I asked.

"You are sleeping with him?" It was a whisper, but yet it had the power to make me red.

"No!" I almost shouted, getting a triumph look from Brian across the table and I started to wonder where the hell Nick was and why he hadn't come back. "We watch racer videos and go to an early jog in the mornings."

I didn't want to specify the details and get into our sleeping arrangements yet. I didn't know if I could tell her that and could get out of it unscathed.

"We were talking about that and James said something about seeing me happy." I confessed. "I told him I loved him for believing that. That is all that happened."

"Oh, God!" Lily sighed. "Why didn't I go to school today?"

"Shut up!" I said, angry that she was not listening to what I was telling her. "Did someone send you the GIF?"

"Yeah," Lily said, "I don't know the name, it was anonymous. But I don't care. I want you to come home after school and tell me what's exactly happening between you and that guy."

"Lily!" I cried. Nothing was going on between Robert and me. We were only... I don't know, being us with each other. Besides, I didn't want to think about it and toss it over with Lily out of all people. "I think this was done by Brian to get to me."

I could tell that Lily was rolling her eyes. "That guy needs to learn to do proper pranks to get to you." She said. "Doesn't he have a life?"

"As we speak, he's looking at me wondering what we are talking about." I said as I noticed Brian's eyes moving over my table once in a while. "I still don't understand what he wants to prove."

"I think he's aiming for your reputation." Lily said after sometime. "You are in racing and all, do they do background checks on you guys? If so, then video might come in handy to rate you."

If I thought about it, it seemed like a possibility. I didn't know if I would be judged for my character that was based on some video that was taken during my school days. I hoped it didn't matter. After all, I was choosing the legal racing from now on.

"I really have no idea, Lil." I said. "But, I'll find it out when I get to practice today."

"You are going to practice?" Lily asked, taken aback. "Didn't you race like yesterday?"

"Welcome to my life." I said with a laugh. I saw Nick coming back from the washroom, dusting his cloth as he reached the table. "I got to go, Lil."

"Don't you forget to come by later, Scar!" Lily warned. "Don't you dare forget!"

I cut the call before she could go on about her warnings. Nick looked at me and turned all around. He had clearly not seen the GIF yet.

"Hey, where's James?" He asked, looking around. "What did I miss?

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A/N: I would to hear from you if you think this chapter was a filler or has inner intentions in the up coming chapters!