"So, you got detention too, huh?" Brock asked as I sat across him at lunch. Just to clear things up, we didn't usually sit together during lunchtime, so that could only mean one thing...

We were both on lunch detention.

They didn't have this dumb concept of isolating children during their free time in Australia, so imagine my surprise when I was handed a pink slip by that substitute which read, 'LUNCH DETENTION'.

And to think I was going to skip it.

I'd been personally escorted out during my third period of the day, which showed they meant business. I'd even tried the toilet excuse, but the teacher wasn't having it.

"Yep." I sighed, picking at my salad. Today they were serving their famous chicken curry which looked more like chicken intestines than anything.

"At least now you have the opportunity to tell me what happened between you and John!" He chirped with a full mouth of curry. I sighed, amused. I'd hoped he would forget about that.

"Alright, so..." I started, putting down my fork and life and keeping my chin in my hands.

"It was a calm, bright day, the warm rays of sunshine enhancing the natural glow on a young Chloe's skin-"

"-And Brock couldn't care less." The rude jock cut me off with a smug smirk. I just rolled my eyes and continued.

"Alright, so John and I have known each other since we were children. We met through my older sister, Amber and her boyfriend at the time, Joe. Joe's mum was a babysitter for John, so whenever I'd go over with Amber, he was there most of the time." I briefly explained and Brock nodded, looking a bit bored.

"So why aren't you guys talking now?" He interrupted and I grabbed my ruler and slapped his hand. He looked at me with wide eyes and a pained expression.

"Whenever you unnecessarily interrupt me, I'm going to hit you." I informed him, keeping my ruler back.

"Anyway, so all was nice and calm. I remember it was Christmas, which also happens to be my birthday," I added with a slight hair flip and Brock nodded.

"Whoa, you're a Christmas baby?" I heard a voice say behind me. I turned to see Benjamin sitting next to me.

"Yeah, are you?" I asked, slightly amused at his excited expression.

"Hell yeah!" He exclaimed, and then covered his mouth with a guilty face. I burst out laughing.

"Back to my story, let's fast forward to when it was my fourteenth birthday, and my family and friends were celebrating Christmas at our house. I was trying to hang up a decoration on the Christmas tree, and my boy Johnnie was being my ladder." I smiled at the memory.

"Suddenly, out of nowhere, the song 'Under the Mistletoe' by my husband Justin Bieber-" They both groaned in disgust and I whipped out my ruler and slapped both their hands.

"Chloe!" Benjamin exclaimed while Brock just gave me a glare. I raise my ruler cheatingly again and he backed down. Nodding in satisfaction, I carried on.

"This wouldn't have been an issue, except one of the speakers was right next to my face and it was playing very loudly. So, I fell, only to-"

"Be caught by John, yes we know." Brock cut me off again in a bored tone. I shook my head, and brought out my ruler, leaning over to hit him. But Brock wasn't having it this time.

He grabbed my ruler, surprisingly me, and tried tugging it out of my grasp. I pulled back with the same strength, but the outcome was inevitable. Who worked out the most between us?

"Ah ha!" Brock cried, gaining attention from a few people as he raised the ruler in victory. I chuckled to myself as I brought out another ruler I kept in there which was twice as long.

Both their eyes widened in fear and I posed with it threatingly. It seemed to be working.

"Can I proceed?" I asked sweetly.

"Y-yeah, sure Chloe." Benjamin stuttered.

"T-thanks." I sniggered, and he rolled his eyes.

"So yes, John caught me. I know this is going to sound very cheesy, but when I gazed into his eyes, it was like everything around us just disappeared. All I could see was him. And that was when I realize that I really liked my childhood best friend."

"Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something being held above us. We both looked up to see it was mistletoe. Brock, I told you it was cheesy, don't give me that look! Anyway, obviously we kissed, my first kiss by the way, and it was a short but sweet kiss."

"So, why does he hate you now?" Benjamin inquired, then fearfully looked at my ruler. I shook my head with a small smile, saying it was okay.

"I think I know part of the reason. I few months answer, my mum told us we were moving. To Australia. This may seem random, but it wasn't as for a lot of months my mum had been talking to this guy who lived there. She thought that he was the one." I whispered the last bit sadly. Benjamin put a comforting hand on my shoulder, which I jokingly shrugged off.

"So I was really happy for her, but all you want is for your mum to be happy, right? But of course, I was still upset as I wanted to start high school here, and I didn't want to leave John. But I had to."

"I was too afraid to tell him I was leaving. I didn't know how he would react, and I was dreading it. I know it's horrible, but I never told him. I left my best friend of almost ten years without a goodbye." I finished there, not wanting to speak about Australia.

"So, no note, not even a text?" Brock confirmed. I shrugged.

"I did drop some hints that I was going to leave, but he never caught on them. I just made sure to spend as much as the summer holiday with him as possible, and my other friends. I'm pretty sure I did give his dad a note to give to him, but his mum never really liked me so she might have intercepted that." I explained.

"What about when you went to Australia, didn't you try to contact him and vice versa?" A new voice asked. We looked at the table next to us to see Cory and Elijah sitting there.

"Hold up, when did you guys get here?" I asked in shock.

"Just a few minutes after Ben here." Elijah replied and Benjamin gave him a flat look.

"Don't call me that." He said, and Elijah just winked in reply.

"Ship!" I mouthed to Brock, who just started laughing deeply.

"Are you going to answer the question or...?" Cory questioned.

"Oh yeah, I did try to text him but came to a dead end. No replies whatsoever. I was convinced he was trying to get over me leaving by cutting me out of his life, so I tried to do the same. But it never worked. There wasn't a day that went by without me thinking I could have ended things differently. It would have helped if I enjoyed my two years at Australia, but it was horrible there. I'm just happy to be back." I finished, leaning back in my seat.

They all started clapping, causing me to laugh in slight embarrassment. The teachers near us turned to glare at us, reminding me that I was in a detention, technically.

We quietened down and the boys just started talking about video games and football. I quickly lost interest and glanced around the big cafeteria. There weren't many people in my grade here as it was still quite early, in the period.

But there was one person who caught my attention. Sitting on the teacher's lunch table with them, (which meant he had done something really bad) looking roughed up but still hot, was the one and only John Allen.

Staring straight at me.

Under his cold and calculating gaze, I suddenly felt really self-conscious. Had he heard what I'd told the guys? How would he react if he did hear? Was there a piece of spinach on my teeth?

Whilst these thoughts circled around in my head, I kept eye-contact with him. Breaking eye-contact first was a sign of weakness, and based on what I'd been through in the past two years, I was the opposite of weak.

I decided to get comfortable. John obviously didn't read the rules before he signed up to play the game. He looked a bit surprised when I leaned back and crossed my eyes, all while keeping the eye-contact, but he played if off and did the same.

I fought against the smile wanting to take over my lips, it was like we were taking a trip down the memory lane.

John and I used to do this all the time. Most of them were unintentional, like if we were in class and I randomly stared at him, them he would do the same, and BOOM, staring contest.

"Chloe?" Benjamin asked next to me, and in my peripheral vision, I saw his hand raise. I caught it before he could wave it in front o my face, startling him as he tried and failed to pull out of my iron grip.

"Not today." I mumbled, leaning forward again and resting my chin in my hands, still staring.

John smiled and mimicked me. It had probably been up to five minutes now, and the whole cafeteria seemed to go silent as they looked at us with interest. This is what I loved about America, they cared about the smallest things here. In Australia, if I was having a staring contest, someone would probably push my face with their elbow while trying to get to the lunch queue.

It was so silent that I could hear the clock on the wall ticking, and as if on cue, Elijah started speaking.

"Things are getting very tense here," he started in a commenter's voice. "At this point we can't tell who's going to win- WAIT! I see John's eyes are slightly watery!" He exclaimed, and everyone gasped, even the teachers.

"Could this be an advantage for Chloe? Possibly- NO! Chloe's left eye has turned slightly red!" He was up in my face now, staring at my eyes and I shoved him away.

"It's been nearly seven minutes now, meaning there's approximately thirty five second until the lunch bell rings. Will it catch them off guard? Will we finally have a winner?"

My eyes were stinging badly. I needed to blink. But I also had to win.

You can't have everything. My subconscious told me. I sighed in acceptance, just as a tear dropped from my unblinking eye.

John's blue eyes seemed to pierce straight through my head and into my mind. He gave me a small smile.

Then he blinked.

There was a moment of silence, before the cafeteria erupted into cheers. I laughed when the guys carried me on their shoulders and chanted my name in victory. We were making a big deal out of nothing, but it meant something to me.

And when I looked at John, I knew it meant something to him too.

*****