"Theo. Theodore. Wake up."

I woke up to a dead leg and two missed calls. Theo's full physique was lay on my leg, I don't know how that's comfortable for him. "Come on, we have school."

"Shit." He groaned as I pulled my leg from under him, hobbling towards the bathroom to sort myself out.

I sighed at the sight of Matt's name in my missed calls, and tried to ignore it by clicking onto Zoe's messages.

*You may as well move in with him, I haven't seen you in days!*

*Sorry! Fell asleep doing homework. I'll come home straight after school, I promise.*

I placed my phone down on the sink and started running my hands through my hair, when I noticed my neck. "Theo!"

"It's not that bad, honestly." He lied.

We stood in front of the mirror, checking out the purple and red marks on our necks.

"Did Becca leave behind concealer by any chance?"

*

We settled with leaving my hair down and buttoning up our shirts. It's only a half day because it's Friday, and we'll just have to be careful.

We weren't hungry after having dinner so late so we had coffee and left after we were both dressed.

"Stop stressing, no one will know and if they ask just play dumb- say it's from volleyball or something."

"So I got golf-ball sized bruises on my neck from a volleyball?"

"Play dumb." He shrugged, being calming than usual.

I spent the car ride making sure I looked decent in the small mirror on the sun visor while Theo tapped his thumbs on the wheel to the beat of Runaway Baby by Bruno Mars on the radio, casually saying a few words in between. His sunglasses were perched on his nose and he looked like he was living his best life. I guess yesterday's activities gave him some serotonin.

I admired the veins in his hand that were decorated nicely with silver rings while he gripped the wheel, pulling into the school's parking lot.

We strolled into the social area and Theo was immediately spotted by his team, getting a friendly greeting from a boy with curly black hair and a loose tie, "Ayy, TDM!"

"Hey." I felt a hand on my arm and glanced across to see Matt. He's everywhere, if it wasn't for the fact that we share classes I'd think he was stalking me.

"Hey." I sat down on one of the sofa's beside him, "Sorry I missed your call, I fell asleep doing my literature homework."

"It's fine, don't worry."

I got lost in his toothy smile as I changed conversation. "Has Maddy opened a salon yet?"

*

Chemistry was unbelievably hard. Like really, painfully hard. Theo was doing anything and everything to get to me, wether it was our feet that were touching or his hand slipping to my thigh, he tried it.

I won't pretend my stomach isn't fluttering, and if it were another class I might've played along with it, but Matt is sat right behind us.

"What class is next?" He leant closer until I could feel his breath.

"English I think." My voice almost cracked.

"Mhm, okay." His hand rested on his knee but his knuckles stroked my leg, leaving goosebumps in their place.

I crossed my legs, denying any entry and rejecting his plans. "Stop." I sighed under my breath, unsure if he even heard it.

"Sorry, doll."

What is he doing? Why is he doing that here, of all places?

The bell rang through my ears but was quickly replaced by the noise of books closing and feet shuffling to escape the classroom. "Don't forget to read pages 59 to 64."

"Hey." I was first to speak the second I spotted Matt, turning my back to Theo to purposefully annoy him.

"Hey."

We made our way down the hall and into English class. I sat in my seat beside Matt, watching as Theodore walked past me like I didn't exist and take his seat at the back of class. I guess he's playing the game too.

I'm not saying I'm competitive but... he needs to learn his place.

"Camila and Matthew." The teacher glared at us as I giggled at another one of his terrible jokes.

"Sorry."

"Sorry."

"Right, back to what we were reading..."

I could feel his eyes burning through the back of my head. He's quite far away so I can't discretely look at him no matter how hard I try.

I settled with dropping my pen, twisting my body towards him so I could steal a quick glance.

Our eyes immediately locked. His jaw was clenched while his pen perched on his lip. I watched his hands move to his collar, loosening his tie and allowing a few dark red bruises to show.

That motherfucker.

"Excuse me, sir, can I use the bathroom?"

My feet pattered down the hallway and into the ladies' room. The stalls were empty so I rested myself against the sink and pulled out my phone to see I already had a text.

Dory ~ *you feeling okay?*

I could sense the petty smirk he probably has smeared across his face.

*peachy. Now can we drop this?*

*whats 'this?'*

*the lab, the back of class. You're doing it on purpose.*

*don't know what you're talking about.*

"Ugh." I groaned, slipping my phone in my pocket and checking myself in the mirror before making my way back to the classroom. If he won't call a truce, I'll just have to win.

*

"You doing anything this weekend?" I asked Matt to make conversation, knowing he's at work but wanting Theo to think we're making plans.

"Work on Saturday, but I'm free Sunday-"

"You working today bro?" Theo cut in. Here we go...

"Yeah, you?"

"Yeah, I think today is just taking down scaffolding and working on the second floor..."

Their conversation dragged on and I zoned out of it after a minute, walking to last period in silence.

They were interrupted when I sat in between them both, keeping my eyes on the teacher so I don't have to converse with Theo.

Joey turned around to talk to Matt, eying me first. "You're not going to beat me up again, are you?"

"You're not going to sexualise me again, are you?"

"Damn. She's feisty Matt, just how you like them."

My eyes fell to Matt who was leaning back on his chair with his tongue pressed into his cheek. "Just leave her alone, man."

I gifted Joey with a fake smile and middle finger before he turned back around.

We quietened down as the teacher came in, scribbling on the board and telling us what to do.

I rested my head on my fist as I took a peek at Theodore. He was reading something in the book, running his finger along the page. He caught me looking and subtly smiled, placing two fingers on the page instead and rubbed them harder on the book.

He knows what he's doing, and he's definitely winning.

I squeezed my thighs together and sat up a bit, hoping he was still watching as I slowly lifted my tie, fidgeting with it before wrapping it around one of my wrists like he did yesterday.

He cleared his throat, pulling his chair further into the table and picking his pen back up.

Looks like I'm winning now.