I sat in art class on the Friday morning, my eyes drooping from the lack of caffeine in my system. Bill sat at the table to my left and my stomach clenched every time I looked at him. I never got round to apologising for my leaving him the other day and, although he never gave any reason to show that he was upset about it, I still felt bad.

Patrick entered the classroom a few minutes after it had started, earning a stern glare from the teacher. He waved it off with a grin, sitting in the only available seat which just so happened to be the one behind me. I could feel his gaze burning into the back of my skull and I felt sick. I wished I hadn't done anything with him in the Barrens the other day. I felt like hitting my head against a wall just thinking about it.

"Alright guys, we've got a new project we're going to be working on for the next few weeks." the teacher said. The class groaned in reply, myself included.

"No no, it's going to be one that I think you'll enjoy since we're basing it around photography. Don't get the wrong idea, this is still an art class so we'll be making a lot of hands on changes to our photos."

I banged my head on the table at this. I was absolutely terrible at photography. Every photo I took was always either blurry or had a terrible angle and lighting. It's not like you could erase things from a photo; once you've taken it, it's there forever.

The students started talking to each other and the teacher had to wait a few moment to quiet everyone before he could continue.

"So, the basic outline of what we'll be doing is taking a photo and painting over it. You'll need to use the techniques we talked about in the last class, or else you'll be ungraded Now, I hope you all have fun with it. Let your creative juices flow!"

The students rolled their eyes and the teacher continued, oblivious. "We'll be working on this project in pairs. I'll be a nice teacher and let you guys pick for yourselves."

The class whooped at this and automatically turned to the people around them, finding their partner.

I jumped as I felt two hands on me at once, one on my back and one on my shoulder. I turned to see Bill and Patrick both staring at me, their arms outstretched.

"B-be my partner, Lara?" Bill asked, but Patrick cut it in before I could reply.

"I got to her first, loser. Come on, new girl, you know you want to be my partner." he winked at me after sending a glare towards Bill.

They both looked at me and I froze, not knowing what to do. I know I should've chosen Bill, that would have been the more sensible option. But in the moment I was conflicted and was running on a few hours of sleep, which I convinced myself was the reason my mind was all jumbled. I shook my head at myself. I was going to pick Bill.

I opened my mouth to say so, but the teacher cut me off.

"What's going on here?" he asked, standing in front of my desk. We all turned to face him, Bill with an annoyed look and Patrick with a smirk.

"We're just waiting for Lara to make a decision on who to be her partner. Go on Lara, is it going to be me, or stutter boy?" Patrick asked,

looking confident as if he knew I was going to pick him.

Billy looked at me with wide eyes.

"Obviously I'm going to pick-" I started.

"Well, there won't be any need for that. There's an odd number of people in the class, so there has to be a group of three. I guess that's going to be you guys." the teacher said, cutting me off once again.

Billy and I groaned and a dangerous spark ignited in Patrick's eyes.

"That's bullshit. Can't Denbitch join another group and become a three with them? Didn't you see, she was about to pick me!" Patrick exclaimed, bringing his fist down onto the table.

"N-no, you should go." Billy replied and I looked from one to the other. I'd never thought I'd have boys fighting over me, even for something as stupid as being my partner for an art project. Whenever I thought about something like this happening, I imagined it would be really hot and make me feel good about myself. This just sucked.

"Neither of you are changing groups, unless this poor girl would like to find another one to join instead of being torn to pieces by you two." the teacher looked at me expectantly.

"No sir, I'd much rather just be in a group with Bi-"

"I guess it's settled then." the teacher cut me off. "You three should get to work with planning your project, you've wasted enough time as it is." he walked back to his desk and was immediately swamped by students asking questions. A common occurrence for art teachers.

I slowly turned to look back at the two boys and saw them glaring at each other, not blinking.

"G-guys?" I stuttered, afraid of what might happen. They didn't move, and it wasn't until I opened my mouth to say something else that Bill turned away reluctantly. Patrick grinned, looking confident as if winning some staring-contest battle actually meant something.

"Knew you'd break, freak."

Bill's fave turned red. "Y-you're just a-"

I stepping in before he could finish his sentence, scared if what Patrick might do to Bill if he pissed him off more than he was already. "Please, no fighting. I just want to get this stupid project done already. Can we just chill out and get this stupid project over with?" I begged. Bill nodded slowly in agreement, not looking me in the eye. My heart dropped as I realised he might be mad at me for not picking him. I'd tell him later. For some reason, I didn't want Patrick to know.

"Sure, new girl. Anything for you." Patrick winked. I felt my cheeks turn pink.

- - -

I sat with the Losers at lunch, everyone staring at me with accusing looks. The class had ended terribly, with Patrick and Billy constantly bickering despite my best efforts. No work got done. Billy had told them what happened and now I felt like it was four against one, which it was. There was nobody to blame except me and that stupid, stupid teacher.

"What the actual fuck Lewis, why would you want to be in a group with Hockstetter?" Richie demanded, his enlarged eyes staring me down.

"I didn't!" I exclaimed. He scoffed in reply.

"Then why didn't you just join Bill? I still don't understand how you managed to get stuck in that situation." Eddie looked at me reproachingly and I felt my stomach clench. They were right, there was a part of me that wanted to be in a group with Patrick. I knew it was wrong, so I tried my best to pretend it wasn't there. If only I had just responded quicker, choosing Bill before any of that mess happened.

"Yeah, and obviously you and Patrick must be close because he asked you to be his partner." Stan added.

"That's not true!" I replied and bit my lip, looking each of them in the eye slowly. "Look, I'm really sorry guys, especially you Bill. When Patrick asked me, I guess I freaked. You guys know I hate him as much as you do and I'd never choose him over any of you. I was about to pick you, Bill. Surely you know that! The stupid teacher kept cutting me off. And if I did say no to Patrick, who knows what would've happened to me or Bill. I'm already on Henry's gang's bad side, I don't want to dig myself a deeper hole."

Nobody said anything so Billy coughed to break the silence. "It's okay Lara, I f-forgive you. I know you were going to pick me, I juh-just wish you'd said it sooner."

I smiled apologetically but Richie cut in before I could thank him.

"Yeah, I guess it's okay. We just had to learn that you aren't this super cool badass chick that could stand up to anyone, including Henry and his gang, the hard way."

"Richie.." Stan started, but Richie stopped him.

"I'm being serious. It isn't that hard to say 'no Patrick, I'm going to be partners with Billy', is it? Now poor Bill is going to be on the receiving end of so much shit because of you."

I couldn't say anything to this, because Richie was right. I stuffed Billy hard and there was nothing I could say to change the fact. My face started to fall and Eddie frowned when he noticed.

"Okay I think we're overreacting a bit." Eddie said quickly.

"I agree." said Stan. "Lara made a mistake, let's just get over it."

Everyone nodded in agreement, along with Richie who mumbled, "It was still a dick move though."

I looked guiltily at the boys I called my friends. I wished I could've told them everything about me, but it was something I knew I was never going to be able to do. I couldn't help but wonder, if I did tell them the truth, would they still stick around?