I woke up on Monday feeling awful. My throat itched and burned, I could barely breathe out my nose, and my head pounded. I had been up late facetiming Finn over the weekend. Last night we talked until 5am just listening to music together. Finn showed me something he was working on with his band from Vancouver and we listened to some other songs to get inspiration. Despite how tired I looked and how sick I felt in the morning, my mom insisted I go to school. I made it through half the day before being sent home by the nurse, proclaiming I was a "walking infection." I was doing my homework in bed when my phone buzzed. Looking down, I saw I had received a text from Lilia Buckingham. Lilia was a girl in my grade, who was nice enough, but we weren't close friends or anything.

Wait where did you go today

I need to ask you something

I assumed it was about homework or something, so I responded,

i went home sick lol

whats up

Did you kiss Finn?

My phone slipped through my fingers and landed on the floor, making me jump. Did people know? Finn asked me over the weekend if we could keep our relationship between us for a little and I agreed. We both knew drama could kill the feeble beginnings of any relationship, no matter how strong.

???

what makes you think that?

The three bubbles to indicate popped up and disappeared multiple times before she finally texted.

Mille saw you guys at the movies

Shes kinda mad

why does she even care lol

Ok please don't tell her I told you but like

Millie has a thing for Finn

thats weird

She said they have a 'connection'

lol ok

Well??

Did you kiss him???

ya lol

i gtg srry

I slammed my phone down on my bed angrily. Of course someone had seen us. And of course it was Millie Bobby Brown. Millie was Lilia's best friend, and the nosiest person I've ever met. I was almost certain Millie was forcing Lilia to text me and beg for details. Sure, Millie was nice, but she seemed to think she deserved everything. She moved here from England a few years ago, and somehow never lost her accent, something I found very suspicious. Not to mention she seemed nothing like Finn's type anyways.

I attempted to shrug it off and resumed my homework, pausing periodically to blow my nose or cough. It grew dark out and I hadn't moved my position much except to grab a snack from downstairs. I couldn't stop thinking about Millie and Finn. I was more confused than anything.

An hour later, I heard a quiet tapping on my window. I thought it was the wind nudging the trees outside against my window until it grew louder and more fervent. I timidly walked over to my window and pulled back the curtain.

"Jack?" I thrust open the window and Jack spilled into my room, carrying two plastic shopping bags and a huge smile.

"What the fuck are you doing here? It's a school night," I asked him. When we were younger, Jack used to climb up a tree in my backyard and into my window when he needed to see me. He hadn't done it in years.

"You're sick and I know when you get sick you get lonely and sad so I brought some stuff to cheer you up!" He explained. "Here, I got you twizzlers, mallomars, oreos, and ice cream." Jack pulled each item out of the shopping bags as he said their names. I grinned. Sure, Jack can be annoying sometimes, but when it really came down to it, he was so kind and caring.

"I don't deserve you." I hugged him, and he pulled my head into his shoulder. We stood like this for a few moments, enjoying each others company. That's something we hadn't done in a long long time. "Ok that's enough, I don't wanna get you sick," I drew away from him. His hand lingered on mine for a moment before he let his hand fall, the bond broken.

"Let's eat!" he exclaimed, and handed me the pack of twizzlers. We sat on my bed, stuffing ourselves with junk and talking. It felt so good to just be with Jack away from everyone else.

"Oh! I forgot to tell you. Finn wanted to come, but he's working on a new school project with Millie of all people. He said she begged to be his partner since you weren't there. What a weirdo," Jack said with a mouthful of oreos. I choked on my twizzler and started coughing intensely. When I recovered, I showed Jack the texts Lilia had sent me.

"Well that explains it. Fucking weirdo. There's no way Finn would pick her over you. I always see her staring at him in class. But I mean who wouldn't stare at him. He's beautiful," Jack said. I breathed a sigh of relief. Obviously Millie wasn't a threat to me, if Jack didn't seem fazed.

"Guess what! I keep forgetting to tell you things. Ok you're gonna love this. My friends from acting camp are visiting for christmas!" he exclaimed. "You'll get along with them so well, I'm sure." When Jack started his sentence, he sat up a little straighter and fixed his hair. I knew him well enough to know what when he did that he was very excited about something. I tried to hide a smile.

"That's so cool! Tell me about them," I responded. I'd already heard a little bit about the kids at camp, but nothing actually substantial.

"Well Jaeden, Wyatt, Jeremy, Chosen, and Sophia are coming. Finn's bandmates can't make it, but we're planning on facetiming them when we're all together. Anyways, Jaeden is super shy at first, but awesome once you get to know him. Wyatt is pretty much the same way. I annoy Wyatt a lot, but I know he loves me." A natural smile broke upon Jack's face as he recounted each of his summer companions. He described them all very precisely, making sure to tell me every important detail about each one. Hearing Jack talk so excitedly and freely made me feel a whole lot better; my headache receded and I only coughed once during Jack's speech. We continued to talk and laugh and snack, lost in time and conversation. A knock on my door brought us back to reality, and checking the time, I realized Jack had been over for hours. It was 10:37 and the moon had long ago settled over the trees.

"Sweetie, can I come in?" My mom called from the other side of the door. I said yes, and she entered.

"Jack! How lovely to see you! I must have missed you on your way in! It's definitely been a while," she remarked.

"Always a pleasure, Mrs. Moreau," he responded politely.

"Jack, call me Tina, please!" She said. Jack and I were family friends, but for some reason Jack always gets nervous when he's around parents. Probably because he doesn't want to get caught breaking the rules, which he is always doing. As if to emphasize my point, he got up off my bed and collected all of the wrappers we had left scattered all over, shoving them into his plastic bags.

"It's getting late and I have school tomorrow, I should actually probably be heading out. Great to see you, Mrs. Morea- Tina, sorry. Text me Mads," Jack said with a wink, and showed himself out of my room, the correct way this time, downstairs, and out the door.

"Get some sleep, baby. You want to get better for Christmas, don't you?" My mom told me. I nodded. She exited the room and I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. All thoughts of Millie and Finn were out of my head, which was instead filled with the serene image of Jack Grazer grinning.