"eriously, what's the catch?" I whisper-ask for the second time, as Luke peeks from around the corner.

I agreed on Luke coming with me, because he said he knew someone who could hack in the school's system and delete any footage of us. I'm hoping that he's not lying.

"Why are you whispering?" Luke whispers back.

"Why are you whispering back?" I ask.

"I don't know."

"You didn't answer my question."

"What the hell are you talking about?" He asks in confusion.

"Well, I'm sure your mind wasn't all like: Hey, I'm not going to be a jerk for once and help my mum's nemesis' daughter," I say, mocking his voice.

"Firstly: I don't sound like Batman in flu season," he says. "And secondly: what if I really just want to help you?"

"I believe in aliens, but not in what you just said," I reply. "What do you really want?"

He sighs and stops looking around, turning to face me, "I noticed that you're really good at history in Mr. Miller's lesson and I really want to understand that French Revolution lesson, because if I fail in History again. They're going to tell mom that I need to attend night school," he explains. "And I've already had it enough with this shitty place, so I don't really need night school in my life."

"You want me to tutor you?" I ask.

"That would be really nice."

"Why can't you ask someone else?"

"Usually, it ends up with me tutoring them, if you know what I mean," he winks.

"Gross," I grimace.

"I'm just kidding, I don't do hookups," he grins.

"Oh."

"So, are you going to help me?"

"Fine, but only if you promise we will get my notebook back," I cross my arms.

"I promise."

"Okay, then."

"Come on, let's go," he gestures for me to follow him, then he walks from around the corner and I follow him. That's when I remember Colette and I text her, telling her that we're near the lockers.

We keep walking in the hallway for a few minutes, before I hear footsteps and I stop in my tracks. I send Luke a panicked look as the footsteps come closer. A shadow of a hooded figure appears on the floor and Luke and I hide between two lockers.

That's when Colette appears with the hoodie on her red hair. "There you are," she says as soon as she spots me.

I breathe out a sigh of relief and Luke and I step from between the lockers.

"Um, what is he doing here?" Colette whisper-asks.

"He said he could help me," I shrug.

"You're gonna introduce me to your friend, Cherries?" Luke asks, crossing his arms.

"Cherries?" Colette questions and I just signal for her to let it go

"Idiot, Colette. Colette, idiot," I introduce them. "Now, that we're done with the introductions, let's get going," I say, ushering them.

The three of us start our trek to the principal's office, until we finally make it to the hallway where the office is. I peek around the corner to check that the hall's empty and I signal for them that it's empty. I walk around the corner, but I bump right into Alexander.

"Alex!" I squeak.

"Sorry, Anna. Didn't see you there," he apologizes, stepping back a bit.

"I-It's fine," I reply nervously and glance at Colette and Luke who are still around the corner.

"I didn't know that you're in night school," I tell him as I stare in his sparkling grey eyes.

"Yeah, I have this project that needs to be done. What about you?"

"Oh, I'm just here to give my friend something."

"Well, I have to go. Talk to you later."

He's about to walk past me, but I step in front of him. He gives me a small smile and steps to the right, but I step to the right too and give him a smile back.

"I'm just gonna go from the other way," he says, pointing behind him.

"Yeah, that's better," I nod.

I hope that notebook owes me in the future, because I pretty much lost my chances with my crush.

Alex nods back and waves before walking down the hallway and disappearing around the corner. Colette and Luke step from around the corner and stand next to me.

"Let's get going," Colette says.

"You like Alex?" Luke asks.

"It's that obvious, right?" Colette asks.

"Lottie!" I exclaim.

"Hey, even the guy noticed and you met him just a week ago," she holds up her hands in defend.

"Seriously? Out of all people. Alex?" He asks, running his hand through his hair from under the hoodie. "Sounds like a dorky love story to me."

"I thought Alex is your best friend," I raise an eyebrow in question.

"Yeah, doesn't mean I'm not going to make fun of his ass," he snorts.

"Well, dorks are cool, so that's not so bad," I reply lamely.

He's undermining my love life, when he's dating the school's psychotic-popular girl with the perfect dark brown skin and fabulous curly black hair.

We might be enemies, but that girl manages to look fabulous while being evil. She's like that devilish mix of Jasmine and Tiana, but I'm not jealous of her. That would be ridiculous.

"You keep telling yourself that, Cherries," Luke says, smirking and I glare at him.

"Although, I love cat and dog fights. Can we please hurry up? I told Mrs. Quinn that I have issues and that I might stay for too long in the bathroom," Colette says.

"Cat and dog fights?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"Issues?" Luke asks.

I open the door of the secretary's office and the three of us walk inside the dark room, then I walk to the principal's office's door and I try opening the door, but it's locked.

"The door is locked," I whisper.

"Here," Luke says and tosses me a silver key.

I catch it, "How did you get that?" I ask, turning the key around.

"I got my own ways," he shrugs with his hands in his pockets.

"Why do all the guys use that phrase? It's not that mysterious, people," Colette claims as I insert the key in the door's keyhole and unlock it.

"Some girls think it's hot," Luke replies.

"It's not hot. It's creepy," I say.

After the door clicks open, we walk inside the darkened room. I flick on the lights. I look around, trying to spot the purple hard cover of my notebook.

There are two bookcases on the left side of the room that are filled with hundreds of books. On the right side of the room are two cupboards and white certificates hanging on the wall. The principal's wooden desk is in the middle of the room taking up most of the space.

"I'll stay outside for cover while you guys look for the notebook," Colette announces and I nod, then she leaves and closes the door behind her.

"Alright, you take the right side of the room while I take the left side of the room," Luke says.

"Got it."

I look through the cupboards, under the stacks of papers and reports. I search every inch of the cupboards, but I don't find anything. I start looking in the drawers of the cupboards, but I still don't find anything. I run my hand through my short hair, sighing in frustration

"You found anything?" Luke asks.

"No. You?"

"Nothing–wait, is that it?" He holds up a gradient purple notebook and I run to him, snatching the notebook from him.

"You beauty! I missed you so much," I coo, hugging the notebook to me.

"Now, that we found your notebook. Can we get out of here? This place is too boring," he says.

"Wait, let me just-" I start, but the doorknob starts jiggling and I send Luke a panicked look as it opens slowly.

"Would you guys hurry up?" Colette hisses, poking her head inside and I breathe out a sigh of relief. "I can hear someone coming," she continues.

And as if on cue, I hear Mrs. Gray, the secretary, talking on the phone. Colette panics and walks inside the room, closing it behind her.

"Hide," she whisper-yells, as she closes the lights.

She squeezes herself between the two large bookcases and I stare at her with shock. How did she even-? Not now, Anna.

Frantically, Luke and I look for somewhere to hide and my eyes fall on the principal's desk. We look at each other, before we duck under the desk.

I fix the glasses that are sliding down my nose and clutch the notebook to my chest.

"Would you stop moving?" I hiss at Luke.

"Why don't you just find another place?" He glares.

"There's no other place!" I exclaim.

"Stop kicking, then!"

"It's not my fault you're too big and you can't fit inside!"

That's when his mood instantly switches and he smirks, "That's what she said."

"Oh my God, you're insufferable," I say, frustratingly.

"Would you both quit it?" Colette butts in. "I hear someone's-"

"The third drawer," she get cuts off by Mrs. Gray who enters the room.

I watch from the vent of the desk as Mrs. Gray's heels go around the desk and she sits down on the principal's chair.

At first, she doesn't notice us, but when she bends down, she sees us and her eyes widen. I smile nervously and wave at her, while Luke grins at her.

"Yes, I found it," she says in the phone. "Alright...see you soon...goodbye," she hangs up.

"Miss Falls and Mr. Carter, what are you doing here?"

"I can explain," I say quickly.

"No, you can't," Luke argues.

We both get out from the under the desk and stand in front of the desk.

"Please explain."

"You see, I came here to give Colette something-" I gesture for Colette and she comes out from between the bookcases.

"It's really important to me," Colette joins in.

"-after I gave it to her-" I continue.

"-this necklace here-" she holds up the chain with the Big Ben hanging from it.

"-I really needed to go to the bathroom, then I met Luke on the way to the bathroom. And I asked him if he could show me the way to the bathroom since it was really dark and I couldn't see properly," I look at Luke and he just shakes his head slowly.

I sent him a look that basically says 'I got this', which is a total lie because I sucked at this.

"Somehow, we ended up here and Colette found us here later, then we heard you coming and we just panicked and hid here and here we are," I smile, hoping it would help my case.

I can see Luke rolling his eyes from the corner of my eye.

"Dear, I might be sixty five years-old, but I'm not that stupid," she chuckles. "How about we try this again? Yeah?"

"Mr. Harris took my notebook and I really needed it back, so I came here to look for it with Luke and Colette's help. I found it, but then I heard you coming and the three of us hid here, hoping you wouldn't see us," I say so quickly that if Eminem heard me, he'd be shedding tears proudly.

"See? That's better and it saved you from lots of trouble," Mrs. Gray says.

"Wait, we're not in trouble?" I ask, half-suspicious and half-excited.

"No, you're not. Obviously, this notebook means so much to you and you really needed to get it back, so I won't tell Principal Collins about it," she says.

"Just next time, try telling me, Miss Falls. I would have given it to you," she continues.

"Right. Thank you so much," I beam.

"And Mr. Carter, you're off the hook because I know you're already suffering from enough and I don't want it to be a huge burden on you," Mrs. Gray tells Luke.

Enough?

| | | |

"Thank you," I say suddenly, as Luke and I walk back home.

"No problem," he replies.

"This thing means so much to me and I would have done anything to get it back," I explain.

That notebook and the bracelet were the only things left that reminded me of Ana. Everything else in her room was donated.

"And also, thank you for keeping your promise. There are only a few people who keep promises," I say.

"Yeah, I get that," he mumbles.

We finally make it home and I go up the front steps of the house. I'm expecting Luke to follow me, but he just stands there and stares at me.

"Aren't you going to come inside?" I ask.

I may not stand the guy, but that doesn't mean I'm heartless. Besides, he's kind of not that bad. I just have to ignore the perverted comments and the childish personality and it can be a perfect friendship. Again.

"No. I gotta go somewhere first," he says.

"Oh okay," I nod and walk inside the house, closing the door behind me and going upstairs to my room.

I couldn't help but notice that although Luke acts like everything is fine, there's definitely something wrong with him. I wonder if it has something to do with his father...

❀