“Hey,” He says coming to stop beside them. All three heads are turned towards him now, but he doesn’t let that deter him. He has already made up my mind. No chickening out now. “Would you girls mind if I borrow Vicky for a moment?”

  Tyler notices their gazes flicker between each other, an odd gleam in their eyes as they shake their heads slightly. Taking that as a yes, he smiles, turning to Vicky. She’s looking at him expectantly, a small smile pying on her lips. His mouth dries, words a little more difficult to form.

  “Actually,” he finds himself saying as he looks into those blue eyes, “I think I’ll borrow her for a little longer than that.” Then doing the most stupidly reckless thing he has done in a while, he takes her hand and leads her towards their table.

  “What are you doing,” she asks him around a ugh. It makes a part of him uncoil in relief. Gd he hadn’t ruined everything before it began he turns and shoots her the best smile he can manage.

  “I…” How should he put this? “I want to introduce you to my friends.” A flicker of panic goes through him as he sees the smile fade a little. Shit. What did he say to make that happen?

  “And I’ve been wanting to see you again for a while now.” Tyler doesn’t know what compels him to say that so bluntly, but he’s gd when the smile on her face brightens again.

  So, he doesn’t think twice before leading her to the empty table and sitting her right in front of him. “It has actually bordered on creepiness,” he finds himself admitting. Then his eyes narrow as he hears a amused huff leave her mouth. “Where were you anyway?”

  “Around,” she tells him with a lopsided smile. “And that is very nice to know.” Her head tilts to the side in what he assumes is teasing. “I didn’trealiseI’d made a strong enough impression to be kidnapped,” her lips quirk up, “Should I be fttered?”

  He almost chokes at that, fighting back a blush at the amusement in her eyes. “I wouldn’t call it kidnapping…”

  “Oh?” She makes a show of widening her eyes, “What would you call it then?” His mouth opens and closes but he can’t for the life of him come up with an alternative. It kind of was kidnapping, herealisesbetedly.

  “I…Uh…”

  “Pft,” her face breaks into a wide grin as she stifles her ugh in her hand. Sighing she leans back in her seat, pulling out her lunch. He’s going to take that as a sign she’s staying. “It’s good yourealise.”

  “Also,” she smiles, “You could have called it preemptive measures.”

  He blinks. “Preemptive measures?”

  “Or the start of a great friendship.” She shakes her head in a way that implies disappointment. “Honestly Tyler, I expected better from you.” But the smile she gives him right after confirms it’s a joke.

  He can’t help but return the smile, not even a little offended by it. If anything he finds it a little funny. “Why did you let me drag you off anyway?” He’d been half-expecting her to just punch him at some point.

  “Well you look like shit,” she says so matter offactlythat it takes him off guard.

  “Excuse me?” Should he be offended?

  She ughs, “ I don’t mean it that way. You seem more tired than the other way, so I thought you had something important to tell me.” She pauses, looking at him more seriously now. “Well, did you?”

  Tyler freezes, somehow feeling this moment was more important than herealised. It stopped him from blurting out the first thing that came to his head. Somehow…Her gaze seemed a little….

  “Hey! Sorry we’re te, we got-” Zach’s voice breaks him out of it and he turns just in time to see him skid to a halt as his eyes nd on the girl sitting at the table. He blinks and then he’s holding out his hand to her with a grin. “Hi, I’m Zach.”

  “I know,” she takes his hand after a slight moment of hesitation he only catches because he’s paying attention. “Vicky. It’s good to see you outside of css.” Then her eyes flicker to the girls, an odd look in her eyes he can’t quite decipher before it’s gone.

  “I know,” His loud mouth friend says, “Ty is ob-” Thankfully Nina elbows him in the side before he can finish, forcing him to the side gently yet firmly before moving to sit next to Vicky.

  “We have Math together,” she tells her, “I don’t know if you remember my name-”

  “Nina,” Vicky says with a smile, interrupting her mid sentence.

  “Yes.” Nina blinks in surprise, “Wow. I didn’t think we had had enough csses together for you to know that.” And they haven’t spoken that much goes unsaid.

  “I have a good memory,” Vicky shrugs, moving slightly to the side to make room for Nina’s giant bag. “It’s good to meet you all,” she shootLiaa smile as well, before unceremoniously munching on the energy bar in her hand.

  “Likewise,”Liasmiles at her, taking a seat beside me asZachtakes the one to my left.

  “Great,” He says, “Now that the introductions are over, we can move on to something else.” He turns to Vicky, “I know you have music with Jack along with the basics, but what other csses do you take?” More importantly, why isn’t she in any of his?

  “Well, I have Biology and Business too,” she pauses, “And I chose Economics as another elective-”

  “What? Economics and Business?” Lia groans. “That’s too much numbers for me.”

  Tyler would agree wholeheartedly with that sentiment if he weren’t taking Physics and Chemistry, which were both no less number heavy. So he decided not to comment so he didn’t get sucked into another repeat of that conversation. But he supposed Business was just as analysis based as those.

  “Actually,” a cryptic smile pulls at her lips, “I just moved to a different subject for that exact reason.”

  That has him pausing, and the others turn to look towards her. “You did,” his brow furrows, “which one?”

  Vicky seems to like suspenseful silence because she makes them wait for a few beats more before grinning, her eyes alight with an emotion that can only be called mischief. “Ancient History.” His eyes widen.

  So does everyone else, with Nina burying her face in her hands, and the other two turning to stare at Vicky as well. There’s a hint of anticipation in their eyes, a feeling that reflects the thumping in my chest.

  “Which css?”

  “The one with Mr Elliot. It was full when I first checked, but a spot opened up so I decided to ditch Economics for it instead.” She shrugs flippantly like she hasn’t just dropped a bombshell of a revetion on him. “I did have to switch my Business css for it though, but whatever.”

  Tyler’s mouth felt a little dry as he stared towards her now, lunch forgotten for the moment. “Who do you have it with now?” There were only two teachers for Ancient History since not many people take it. And they’re both at different times.

  “MissBckwood,” she says with a smile, before depositing the wrapper and unwrapping her sandwich. Oh. His heartbeat sounded like a drum in his ears. He had to physically stop himself from grinning, but even then he didn’t know if he quite managed it.

  To think he’d just been menting their ck of interactions with each other. It seemed some god out there favoured him and made it so he now had two csses with her. He couldn’t stop the smile this time. This meant he’d see her everyday.

  “Cool!” Zach grins as he says it, his eyes flickering between us. “That means we all have a css together now.”

  “Not all of us,” Nina raises her head to say.

  “That’s your own fault,”Liatells her, “I told you Ancient History would be better than Japanese. You didn’t listen.” Nina gives her a light gre, mouth going to open before Vicky interrupts.

  “I disagree,” she says with a small smile, “Japanese is a lot more useful in everyday application.”

  “That’s what I said!” Nina brightens up, sitting up fully and shooting Vicky a wide grin. She returns with a huffed ugh and a smile.

  “Besides,” her eyes turn back toLia, “she’s probably been taking it for quite a few years now, might as well finish with it. It would be waste not to.”

  He’s pretty sure Nina loves her now, if the bright eyed look on her face is any indication. And her next words confirm as much.

  Nina unceremoniously reaches out to take her hands, looking more serious than necessary as she stares into Vicky’s eyes. “Marry me.”

  “Sorry,” Vicky says without missing a beat, face contorting into a regretful look. “I don’t know you enough to make such a big commitment.” Then to all our surprise, she raises Nina’s hand, ying it on her cheek as she shoots her a mischievous smile. “Why don’t we discuss it after our next date?”

  Oh goodness. He has to stifle a ugh as Nina’s face turns the shade of a tomato, eyes wide and staring at Vicky’s grinning face. She’s normally the one catching other people off-guard, so this is a very new turn of events. It looks like she has short-circuited.

  “Well?” The girl who caused it says, “Is that a no?” A pout as she lets the hand go. “And you proposed so quickly as well…”

  “I…” Nina blushes more, burying her hands, “You’re so mean.”

  Vicky huffs a ugh at the whined words, holding her arms up in mock surrender when Nina shoots her a gre. “Sorry. I’m sorry. Did I take it too far?” A sheepish smile’s on her face now. “I hope this doesn’t mean you want me to leave now.”

  “Of course not,” Nina says immediately, “You just surprised me is all.” She smiles, waving her hand in front of her face. “I’ll forgive you if you do that again when I’m prepared.”

  Now it’s his turn to huff a ugh. Lia and Zach are rolling their eyes even as they stifle a ugh. She just wants her to say it again to fuel her romance fan dreams. But he’s gd they’re getting along.

  “Deal.” Vicky grins, eyes seeming a little brighter now.

  “Phew,”Zachelbows me while they shake hands to seal it. “I thought Operation Pumpernickel was a bust for a moment there.” Tyler rolls his eyes at that. He didn’t entirely remember who had decided ‘Operation Pumpernickel’ should be their code for a bet, but it had stuck.

  Because his eyes are on her, he notices Vicky tense slightly before she turns towards them with an amused smile. “Operation Pumpernickel?”

  Shit. How was he supposed to expin that? He couldn’t just say it was for bets, that was a little too on the nose. Why the fuck had Zach even mentioned it? The urge to punch him grew even further with this stunt.

  “It’s a prank we’re going to do,”Lia comes to their rescue with a smile, “it’s going to be messy and we’re going to need Nina for it.”

  “A prank?” That’s definitely amusement in her eyes, right? “What exactly does this prank entail.”

  Lia looks like a deer caught in headlights as she turns to us before turning back. “Uh. It’s better if you don’t know. Pusible deniability and all that. Besides it’ll be too messy for someone as pretty as you.”

  Fucking hell. There’s no way she’d believe that rambling mess. The bnk look in her eyes as she turns towards him confirms it. But she simply shakes her head and sighs.

  “Alright,” she huffs. Then she looks at Lia with a wide smile, “Whatever you say Cece.”

  “Cece?”Liavisibly winces, “you can just call meLia.”

  “No sorry,” Vicky keeps smiling, unphased by her refusal. “I’ve already gotten used to calling you that in my head, so Cece it is.” She turns her head and givesLiathe puppy dog eyes. “You don’t mind do you?”

  “Not at all,”Liasays through a forced smile.

  He doesn’t know what to think about the way Lia gave in so easily. He can’t remember the st time that happened. Not in a few years at the very least. But she’d caved in front of Vicky’s puppy dog eyes even though she hated being called Cece.

  “You’re my hero,”Zachtells her a little too seriously.

  She shakes her head with a huffed ugh, looking over our shoulders. “Good to know.” A smile as she pulls out of the seat, “well, I’ve got to be going. There’s still something I need to do before lunch ends.” She turns to him as she picks up her bag. “Thanks for inviting me to sit with you.”

  “You could always do it again,” Tyler blurts out, not wanting to see her go.“As often as you want.”

  “Careful,” she says with a smile, “or I may just hold you to that.”

  “I want you too.”

  “Yes,”Zachadds on, “We want to know you better too.” Lia and Nina add in their own silent agreements as well.

  Vicky sighs with another ugh, ringing with an emotion I can’t quite pce as she shakes her head. “I’ll see.”

  That wasn’t a yes, I note as she walks further away, but it wasn’t a no either. Tyler will take it. It at least gives him a hint of hope that he has a chance to win the bet. Not that it matters, but still. And he grins at the others as Zach moves to the other side of the table.

  “Why aren’t you sitting down?” Nina frowns up at him as he hesitates and just stands there.

  “I don’t know,” he says with a shrug, “it just seems wrong now.”

  “That’s a weird way to put it,” Lia sighs, “but I agree.”

  “It just feels empty,” Tyler realises as he stares at it. His eyes trail of to where Vicky was standing a few moments before.

  Her being there had added something he hadn’t even realised was missing, and now that she was gone, it had left a odd gaping hole at the table. Which was a weird thing to think since this was the first time the others had met her. So, why did it feel so weirdly right when she was sitting there.

  “You feel it too don’t you,” Nina asks quietly. Then she shakes her head. “This is why you wanted to get to know her isn’t it? This feeling of rightness.”

  Not exactly. However, it was certainly a factor in it now, even if it made him sound a little too sappy for his taste. “You could say that.”

  Just who was Vicky Flemming?