The bell for second period rang as I entered the Spanish classroom. The exam was today, and I could practically feel students stressing out around me as they crammed all the knowledge they possibly could before the teacher came in. Looking around, I saw Gigi sitting in a corner flipping through the textbook.

"Hey, you ready?" I asked, as I pulled a chair next to her.

"Well, I've had about three hours of sleep, this is my second coffee and I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown," she muttered as she continued to flip the pages.

"So that means..."

She closed the book, exhaled and looked at me with a stoic expression. "Everything is great." I chuckled.

"Don't worry, the kitchen items are super easy."

"Kitchen items? We're doing the weather!"

"Umm Gigi, look at the board," I pointed at the board with her gaze following my hand.

(Test: what's in the kitchen?)

"So you're telling me that I woke up at five am, drank two cups of coffee and studied the wrong topic?" Gigi whispered.

She lead out a loud wail and slapped her forehead against the table, causing the rest of the class to turn around. I gave them all an apologetic smile as I rubbed Gigi's back.

"You know what the worst part is?" she mumbled, "I don't even like coffee!"

I laughed at her comment. "Don't worry, you can copy from me. It's a multiple choice test," she lifted her head and looked at me.

"I would kiss you right now," she exclaimed as I chuckled, looking around around the classroom. Everyone was mumbling incoherent words as they looked through their notes. All of them except for Daniel, who was sitting in the opposite corner from where I was. He looked calm and ready as he looked out through the window, tapping his pen onto the table.

He turned around to face me and caught me staring at him. Quickly, I shifted in my seat towards Gigi, who was eyeing me.

"What?" I asked but she only responded by raising her arms as a sign of surrender, causing me to roll my eyes and lean back in my seat.

A few minutes later, the teacher came in, tests in hand, and asked us to separate ourselves. Gigi and I remained close to each other as she needed to pass this exam. Before the teacher started the timer, I glanced at Daniel for the very last time. He was already looking at me. With a playful wink he started his test, and I returned a shy smile before doing the same, not without a fuzzy feeling in the bottom of my stomach.

Ew, concéntrate Astrid, you better ace this test!

(Concentrate)

***

"The Spanish test was easy," Gigi concluded as we walked out of the exam.

"Well obviously, you copied from me!" I winked at her whilst I laughed.

"Mason told me about the whole 'roads being cut' thing," Gigi snickered, causing me to eye roll at her comment.

"First of all, it's not even cool that he lied to me," I looked at her sternly. "Second of all, what's between you and Mason?" The last part made her blush.

"Nothing..." she murmured, as she tucked a strand of her fiery red hair behind her ear.

"Ok, Ok," I laughed "I'm leaving, I have biology now." I kissed her on the cheek and marched to my next lesson. As I made a turn, I caught a glimpse of Daniel talking to none other but Mikaela, who was casually leaning against the lockers. Daniel must have said something funny because she lead out a high pitched nasal shriek (was she dying? Or was that supposed to be laughter? Good Lord) and placed her hand on his chest. WTF. A stab of jealousy tore through me out of nowhere. I shook it off as best I could, and walked past them.

"Hey Astrid!" Alex appeared on my right.

"'Sup Astrid," Mason followed on my left.

"Hey guys, what are- WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS DOING!?" I panicked as I was lifted up into the air by both of them. Many students looked in our direction with their brows raised as Mason and Alex carried me into an empty classroom. Before Mason closed the door, I peeked at Daniel who squinted his eyes at me, completely ignoring Mikaela.

"Ok," Mason rubbed his hands together. "Let's get down to fucking business."

"To defeat the huns," Alex sang as he lifted his hand, expecting a high-five from Mason.

"Now's not the time dude," Mason shook his head and lowered his friend's hand.

"Guys," I sighed. "What the fuck is going on?"

"Right," Alex turned towards me. "First of all, can I just say that you're the best? Lori told me what you did for her the other day and let's just say, you have gained my respect."

"That's what gal pals are for," I shrugged.

Alex smiled warmly at me and placed an arm around my shoulders. "Yeah, yeah," Mason waved off. "The important thing is, what is up with you and Daniel?"

"What do you mean?" I asked innocently.

"Daniel's a man slut. He needs a woman in his life. Are you going to be that for him? Or are you just slutting around?"

"¿Perdona? How is this any of your business?"

("Excuse me?")

"We're just worried about him," Alex reassured. His muscled arm was starting to weigh down on me. But hey, who was complaining?

"Tranquila." Mason held his hands up, calming me down, "I didn't mean to say you're a slut, it's just that he hasn't met anyone like you before.'

"Yeah, and we want the juicy deets," Alex grinned, while Mason rolled his eyes at him.

"Juicy deets about what exactly?" answered a silky voice from behind.

I knew that voice. The three of us froze, caught red-handed. Daniel was casually leaning on the door frame, brow furrowed. He didn't look too happy.

Mason and Alex looked at each other, eyes wide. "Just in time, Daniel," Mason laughed nervously while Alex removed his arm from my shoulders awkwardly, under Daniel's firm gaze.

"Wow, would you look at the time!"

"I'm late for French"

"Alex, don't you study Italian?" said Daniel.

"Yeah, that, I'm so late," stuttered Alex, before both of them practically sprinted out of the room, leaving me speechless.

Alone.

With Daniel.

In the same room.