"New rule. No pranking during chemistry." Griffin sat down next to me at our chemistry table, the rest of the class still filing in.

I groaned. "Morning to you too."

"Good morning princess." He got out a pen. "I'm taking it, you agree?"

I nodded and mumbled some indistinguishable words.

He chuckled. "My, my, you are a woman of many words this morning." He looked me up and down. "Stay up studying?"

I ignored him.

It had taken longer than we'd planned to prepare the second phase of our prank last night. We'd made it back to our dorms in the early hours of the morning and my body had decided that it wouldn't be properly awake for another few hours. I yawned. The prank was worth the loss of sleep.

Griffin laughed. "I'm going to take that as a yes." 

I glanced over at him, finally taking in his appearance. He looked great as always, not a sign of toothpaste on his dark red hoodie, nor dark bags under his striking blue eyes. Both of which I knew I was rocking this morning.

Griffin started doodling on a scrap piece of paper. "I noticed the statue was still wearing her new item of clothing when I walked past earlier." His eyes sparked, a subtle challenge gleaming in them.

I smiled for the first time, ignoring his bait. "She managed to pull it off quite nicely."

His voice dropped. "But I'm sure you look far better in it."

The classroom door opened and Mrs Miller walked in, silencing the class. "Good morning everyone."

I inwardly thanked her for saving me from having to respond to Griffin.

Mrs Miller walked over to her desk and picked up a stack of papers. "You will have two hours to complete the test." She began handing them out. "The rules are of course, no talking, no using your phones and so on. By now you should know the rest of them."

She was right, I definitely did. After hearing them over and over again throughout the last few years there was no way I'd forgotten them. I scribbled my name at the top of my paper and watched Mrs Miller finish handing out the papers. 

"Can we start?" someone asked. 

"In about thirty seconds." Mrs Miller glanced at the clock on the wall, waiting for the second hand to reach the top.

Griffin turned to look at me, a cocky smirk on his face. "Good luck princess."

I rolled my eyes. "My name is Rory."

"Sleeping Beauty." 

Mrs Miller sat down at her desk. "And... You may begin."

I turned over my paper and plunged myself into the first question on equilibrium, trying to ignore the presences of Griffin beside me. 

"Pens down." Mrs Miller began walking round the classroom collecting papers. "Great work guys, you'll get the results tomorrow. Have a good rest of your day."

I handed her mine and promptly collapsed my head onto the desk. "I'm officially diene."

Griffin laughed then elbowed my arm. "Keep triene princess, the competition isn't over yet. I thought you'd at least be a slight challenge."

I inwardly smiled. There was no way I'd let him see that I found his pun funny. "I will beat you Carter. You'll have the competition you want."

He stood up and slung his back pack over his shoulder. "I'm about to beat your school in hockey."

I matched the smirk that was on his face and began collecting my things. "I'll be watching from the sidelines."

"Blowing kisses?"

I laughed. "Booing you of course."

We began walking out of the classroom when Jordan ran over to us. "Hey Rory! Carter. How did you find that test?"

I smiled. "All I have to say is thank goodness Mr Davis decided to go over Hess's law again last week."

Jordan nodded. "Agreed, it was so long since we'd last done it I'd entirely forgotten it all. How about you Griffin?"

"It wasn't too bad." Griffin looked down at me. "I was slightly distracted today though."

Heat rushed to my cheeks and I quickly looked back to Jordan. "Are you coming to the hockey game?

"Of course. The boys in my dorm made it sound like this was the next big showdown since Ironman vs Captain America."

"You make it sound like it'll be evenly matched." Griffin put in. "Dartington has no chance."

"It's cute that you think that." I glanced at my watch. "Shouldn't you be down there now? The match starts in twenty minutes."

"Trying to get rid of me princess?"

I held up my hands in fake defeat. "You caught me red handed."

Griffin smiled and opened the building door for us to walk through. "Coach knows that I just had chemistry. I'm not on for the beginning of this game."

The three of us walked down to the turf together, coming to a halt when we reached the bleachers. I quickly spotted June, Ruben, and Noah already sitting up on one and I turned to Jordan. "Want to sit with me?"

Jordan's eyes flicked briefly behind me to where Griffin was standing. He shuffled his feet. "Sorry Rory, I'm already taken today." 

I smiled. "Okay, well have fun."

"See you tomorrow." He nodded. "Carter."

 I watched him walk off then turned to Griffin, a smug smile appearing on his face. "Did you just get rejected? Ouch." 

I rolled my eyes. "I was being nice."

Griffin raised an eyebrow. "Sure."

I crossed my arms. "Jordan and I are just friends."

A whistle blew and I saw players begin to gather. Griffin turned to me. "I'll try not to make your school look like too much of a fool."

"You couldn't if you tried." I smiled sweetly. "Bad luck on your game."

"In my experience there's no such thing as luck."

For a second I was taken off guard at his quote. "Don't Obi-wan Kenobei me."

"I have the right too after the first night," he replied, then winked. "You're not the only one who knows Star Wars." 

I watched him make his way to the changing rooms before making my own way up to the bleachers.

"How was chemistry?" June asked, moving over a seat so I could sit down.

"It wasn't too bad. Did you grab the sign?" I replied.

Noah nodded and lifted it up from the chair beside him.

I grinned. "Perfect."

"Look," Ruben interrupted. "It's your brother's team."

We watched them walk onto the turf, gear on and grinning. They pulled their hockey sticks out of the team gym bag and began warming up.

"No wonder Mia fell for your brother last Championship," June sighed. "They look gorgeous down there."

I laughed. "The romance that changed him. Oh look, there's Beckfall's team."

The team walk on followed by their coach who dumped their gym bag onto the turf. Griffin's familiar figure was easy to spot amongst the others. The team gathered in a circle for what I assume was their coach giving them a pep talk. After a few minutes the coach leaned down to unzip their gym bag. June grabbed my hand and I squeezed it in anticipation. A player reached down into the bag and we watched as his expression turned from confident to confused. Slowly he pulled out his hockey stick and held it out for everyone to see. 

I grinned at the sight of the entirely glad wrapped stick. "Surprise."

Silence filled the air as the bag was turned upside down by another player revealing that all the other hockey sticks had also fallen victim to the glad wrap. My brother's team erupted into shocked laughter followed by the crowd surrounding the turf.

"This is even better than we'd expected." Ruben laughed. "Look at their faces."

Beckfall's players looked truly confused. 

"Who would dare to prank the Beckfall's hockey team I wonder?" Noah asked innocently.

"Definitely not us," I replied. My attention flicked to Griffin who was now scanning the bleachers looking for someone. Looking for me, I realised. "Noah, sign please!"

He passed it to me and I stuck it up above my head. The bright red numbers caught Griffin's attention and his eyes narrowed in on my own.

I blew him a kiss.

He shook his head then turned back to join his teammates in unwrapping their sticks. I pulled in the sign, its purpose completed.

"Remember boys, always use protection," June cackled and then her smile widened. "Oscar looks so mad."

I leaned back in the seat. "This couldn't have gone any better."

"Popcorn anyone?" Noah held out a container.

Ruben took a handful. "Always." 

The four of us continued munching on popcorn as the players eventually lined up on the field with hockey sticks no longer glad wrapped.

"2:1," I said, echoing the large numbers painted on the sign now at my feet. "Griffin is going down."