I haven't spoken to Bryce Bradshaw in eight whole days.

Due to exam week, I obviously didn't have regular classes. The only time I even saw Bryce was during our exams, meaning we couldn't speak to each other even if we had wanted to.

This is excluding our voice class exam, though.

Due to the fact that we didn't even have a formal exam, instead just performing in front of each other, Bryce and I certainly could have spoken then.

Luckily, he chose to ignore me, so Camila and I ended up chatting. She told me all about the school music which she's playing the lead in, and I'm super excited for her, I really am.

When it was finally Bryce's turn to perform, he burrowed a guitar from the music room before hopping up onto the stage, taking a seat on the stool set up.

Even though we're using the auditorium, because there's under thirty people in the class, we all sat up at the front near the stage, eliminating the need for us to use microphones.

Bryce tunes up the guitar before clearing his throat and beginning to sing.

I swear that nearly everyone in the room was hypnotized.

Bryce has the best stage presence I've ever witnessed, even as he's just sitting there playing guitar. He doesn't seem to be nervous whatsoever, and he literally emits confidence as he sings.

I can't recognize the song that he's singing, but from what I can decipher, the lyrics are beautiful.

I'm actually really disappointed when Bryce finishes performance, standing up and jokingly bowing before stepping down the steps and back into the floor, taking a seat far away from everyone else like he's been doing this whole time.

I had just opened up my schedule for our final semester, thrilled to see it confirmed that I get one period off every day.

That period is first thing on Monday and Friday, which means I won't have to be at school until ten o'clock, allowing me to sleep in.

I decided to take astronomy, law, and I was even bold enough to take cooking. I feel like my lesson with Bryce gave me some added confidence, and the class adds a good balance to my schedule.

Now that the stress of exams is off my chest, I'm able to walk into school this Monday morning with an extra pep in my step.

I think that I actually did pretty well on my exams, and though I can't be sure, I'm fairly certain that I'll be happy with my grades.

Now the only thing I have to worry about is Juilliard.

"Let me see your schedule!" Jordan exclaims suddenly from behind me, and I'm nearly scared out of my mind as I didn't notice that he had came in the front door right after me.

I laugh it off though, opening up the schedule on my phone and handing it to him to examine as we head to our lockers.

"We're not taking any of the same courses, Jordan," I tell him, and he huffs, his eyes scanning the screen to confirm this.

He hands my phone back to me as we reach the upstairs hallway, and Jordan spots Bryce by the lockers straight away.

"Bryce! I want to see your schedule!" Jordan calls out across the hallway, and a few lingering students turn to stare at him.

Jordan ignores them though as he rushes across the hallway to greet Bryce, who's standing there with his arms crossed, looking totally unamused.

I follow Jordan, weary of the people with their eyes on me thanks to my dear friend, and I find Bryce and him have exchanged phones to see one another's classes.

I know that something is wrong when Jordan bursts out laughing after look at Bryce's schedule, and I have a bad feeling as he turns around to look at me.

Bryce looks confused as well, but he doesn't seem to really care that much as he hands Jordan's phone back, beginning to walk away from us.

Incredible. He's barely even looked at me.

"That's hilarious, honestly. You two hate each other right now but you have two classes together," Jordan manages to get our despite his bouts of laughter.

My eyes immediately go wide.

Bryce stops his departure, turning back around to face us.

"Are you serious? Which classes?" Bryce asks Jordan specifically, walking back towards him.

Jordan chuckles once again. "How about you just ask her, idiot," he jokes, but Bryce doesn't find it funny.

He stands there, expecting an answer from Jordan, and Jordan suddenly realizes something because he lets out an exaggerated, "Oh."

Jordan shakes his head, answering Bryce by saying, "You both have a free period in block A and cooking in block B. Are you two not on speaking terms?"

Bryce only answers with a shake of his head, briefly thanking Jordan for his explanation before he heads off down the hallway, presumably to the library.

"I'm sorry about him," I apologize to Jordan, seeing as I'm the reason that he's been a total jerk the last week or so.

Jordan gives me a sympathetic smile, shaking his head in a dismissive manner before spotting an empty bench across the hall.

He takes my hand, dragging me with him to go sit down.

"If you guys are both off first period today, why did you come at regular school time?" Jordan asks me as I sit down beside him.

"Charlie drove me," I answer, and Jordan gives me a weak smile.

I feel bad that I've seemed to ruin Bryce's fun personality for everybody. I think that Jordan had really hoped that they could build on a friendship, and now that's probably not going to be possible if I'm within a one hundred meter radius.

Jordan and I chat together for a little bit, and Jasmine joins us as soon as she arrives. She was highly disappointed to hear that neither Jordan or I share any classes with her, but quickly got over herself.

When the warning bell rings, Jasmine and Jordan reluctantly leave me to head to class.

I wave them goodbye, and seeing as I haven't had any classes to obtain homework from, I really don't have much to do right now.

Hoping that my earlier assumption about Bryce's whereabouts were wrong, I decide to head to the library myself; it'll give me someplace to sit and read a book for the hour, which sounds great to me.

When I enter the large room of books, I find Bryce seated at a table off to the corner, alone.

He has his laptop out and earbuds in his ears, meaning that he didn't hear me enter the area.

He doesn't even notice as I pull out a chair at the table next to him, taking a seat down before grabbing a book out of my backpack.

The only other people in here are a group of tenth grade students who are giggling madly at something that they're all looking at on one of their phones.

I open up to my page of Persuasion, beginning to read beginning at chapter seventeen.

It's completely silent for awhile apart from the laughter of those other kids, except for when Bryce clears his throat from beside me.

I glance around the library, wondering who else he could possibly want the attention of.

When I confirm that there's nobody else around that he would care at all about, I look towards him.

He's removed his earbuds and shut his computer. His body is turned totally towards me, which must mean that he's been watching me for some time.

Cautiously, I slip my bookmark back into the pages of my book, marking my spot before setting the novel down on the table.

I look to Bryce with one of my eyebrows raised, and he holds my stare as he carefully observes my every movement.

"You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope . . . I have loved none but you," Bryce says aloud, looking straight into my eyes.

He then glances towards the book set down in front of me on the table, but I didn't need the hint because I already know where the words are coming from; Persuasion.

I have loved none but you. I have loved none but you. I have loved none but you.

I replay the words over and over again in my head, and Bryce continues to stare at me as I weigh out whether or not he meant those words himself.

Sure, he probably just wanted to show-off his extensive book knowledge to try and make himself look good, but now I'm stuck wondering if maybe the worlds did come straight from his heart.

But he could never love me.

Not after the amount of times that I've upset him because we don't want the same things from a relationship.

"I have not the pleasure of understanding you," I counter, and for once in the longest time, I see the corner of Bryce's lips turn up into an actual, genuine smile.

"Pride and Prejudice," he observes, and I nod at him, glad that he caught on.

Suddenly, he stands up from his seat, tucking his laptop and earbuds into his backpack.

He then slings the bag over his shoulder, pushing in his chair after him and walking past me, out of the library.

Upon glancing at my phone for the time, I realize that there's still another thirteen minutes until the bell to end first period sounds.

Despite this, I decide to pack up my things as well, knowing that the kitchen for my next class is all the way across the building.

Unless Jordan is totally bluffing, Bryce and I have the same class right now, meaning that I should probably try and catch up with him unless I want to show up to class alone.

The moment I step into the hallway, I find Bryce standing off to the side, reading a poster on the wall.

He startles when I open the door, but he immediately relaxes when he sees that it's just me.

He takes one final glance back towards whatever he's been reading before he raises a hand, gesturing for me to walk towards him.

This surprises me, but I follow his direction, joining him where he's standing.

It turns out that the poster he's reading is just some cliche message about preventing teen pregnancy, and so I don't think anything of it as Bryce begins walking down the hallway.

I follow close behind, all the way until we reach the other end of the building, Bryce double-checking the room number on our schedule before confirming that we're in the right place with a nod of his head.

He leans against the wall, pulling his phone out of his pocket to avoid looking at me.

He begins typing away as he always does when he tries to distract himself, and I wonder what he could possibly be working on.

It's funny to me that he won't talk to me at all, even as we're alone now.

Apart from quoting Jane Austen novels, that is, but even still, it's frustratingly.

Earlier, I had assumed that he just wants to prove a point to me in front of Jordan, but I no longer think that that's the case.

Now he seems to just want to completely avoid me, which I'm all right with as long as it means that we don't end up screaming at each other.

When the bell finally rings, another fifteen or so students show up. I only know one of them, a girl named Athena who went to the same junior high as Bryce and I.

She walks over to us after glancing around at the group and not recognizing anyone else, and she firstly turns to Bryce.

"Hi, Bryce. I heard what happened with your mom. That's crazy. Seems like it must really suck for you. I can't believe I haven't spoken to you since you moved back," she says, twirling on of her pigtails around her finger.

I can't remember if she's always been this ditzy and unaware, but I have to hold back a laugh at Bryce's response.

"Do I know you?" Bryce asks her coldly, and Athena's eyes go incredibly wide.

Her cheeks go a flaming shade of red, and she looks to me for some support.

"Ignore him. He's just a little tired right now. He didn't sleep well last night," I lie, trying to defend Bryce as best as I can.

He snorts at my words, and he looks like he's about to say something snarky before the teacher arrives, unlocking the door and letting us all inside the room.

She introduces herself as Mrs. Baker, and as ironic as her name is, I don't comment on it. She hands us all a piece of paper, saying that it's just a brief safety test that we're required to take before being allowed to use the kitchens.

All the questions just involved using common sense to answer, and she graded them on the spot, a smile on her face when she informed us that everyone passed.

Next, we're instructed to partner up and go claim one of the kitchen set-ups in the large room.

I glance around to try and figure out who looks like they aren't awful at cooking, but just as I'm about to move, there's a tug at the bottom hem of the sweater that I'm wearing.

I turn around to have Bryce silently beckoning for me to stick with him, and figuring that it means I get to avoid awkward conversation with a stranger, I agree with a slight nod of my head.

We're all handed a recipe for blueberry muffins, and Bryce takes my paper from my hand, setting it down on the counter beside the stove.

He then walks across the room to grab two aprons for us, returning and handing one to me.

I first pull my hair up into a bun at the top of my head, then pulling on the apron. I struggle to tie the apron's string behind my back myself, and it isn't until my third failed attempt that I feel two large hands pull mine away.

The contact from Bryce causes my heart to leap, and I have to try hard to control my breathing as Bryce ties the apron into a perfect bow for me.

His hands linger at the small of my back for a moment too long before he pulls away, beginning to sift through the kitchen's cupboards to find what we need for the recipe.

We baked in silence, even as the group around us seemed to be playing some sort of social game as everyone did their work towards putting the muffins together.

Bryce almost slipped up on the not-speaking thing when I nearly added three-quarters of a cup of salt instead of sugar, and I expected him to not be able to pass up the opportunity to mock me for it.

Our muffins turned out great, and we both ate two despite it being lunch time right after.

I enjoyed the time with Bryce even if we didn't say a word, as even his presence can cause butterflies in my stomach.