Lucas ✔️

Twenty-Two

**Dedicated to @QueenKatrina15 for reading, voting, and commenting on the entire book!**

The school was eerily somber as we walked through the halls, Janie silent and weary on my right and Cole looking like a walking zombie on my left. His eyes were drawn, and his appearance was haggard, dark circles under his usually clear eyes a sure sign he barely slept last night. I was surprised he had even managed to pick us both up today.

"Okay you two, what are we going to do with you?" I asked loudly, stopping and placing my hands on my hips.

"What?" Janie asked at the same time Cole said "Huh?"

"You guys should go home! It's obvious you're not going to be any good here today," I remarked, pointing at them both. "Cole, you're practically sleep-walking, and Janie, you're struggling to keep it together. It's okay to go home!"

Janie and Cole looked at each other and appraised their equally horrible appearances before they nodded at each other. I let out a sigh and pulled Janie into a hug tightly before doing the same to Cole.

"Take it from me, you need to sleep and eat and relax."

I knew because until a couple of weeks ago I looked like that all the time. At least now I was semi-functional, even if I didn't eat enough and my sleeping schedule was still out of whack. I pushed them both back towards the school doors, sending them a look that told them to get away before the first bell rang. Cole nodded and grabbed Janie's hand without hesitation, pulling her out the door.

I let out a deep sigh and made my way to my locker, feeling oddly out of place. It was the first time I had been at school alone since coming back and I was suddenly hyper-aware of all the looks I was still receiving. I quickly unlocked my locker and shoved my head inside, letting out a breath of relief as I pretended to look for the books for my classes.

"Does that mean we're not close friends?" I heard Shax's voice echo towards me and I turned to see him trailing behind Amy with a sad look on his face.

"No, you idiot," she snapped, rolling her eyes and him and brushing her short hair back. "I only tolerate you because of him."

"But Lilith told me yesterday that we are good friends," he countered back, pulling a hand from his pocket to list the reasons on his fingers. "We're always together, we joke together, we drive together," he listed, looking at her. "That means we're good friends!"

"It doesn't," she scoffed. "It means we're good co-workers."

Shax's eyes met mine and he grinned, using his long legs to stride over to me as I tried to hide in my locker again.

"Lilith! Tell Amy what you told me yesterday about friends," he said, grabbing my arm and turning me towards Amy who was scowling at me.

"I think you already told her, haha," I laughed awkwardly, grabbing my books from the locker when he let go of my arm. "Is there something wrong with being good friends?" I asked them both, cocking my head to the side.

"I want to be good friends," Shax muttered and Amy rolled her eyes.

"We're not friends."

"Well..." I said softly, looking up at them. "Are we friends then?"

Amy paused and eyed me over, before looking at Shax who looked equally unsure. I let out a small laugh and shook my head at them. I wish I could say I was hurt they didn't think of me as a friend, but they didn't even think of each other as friends – what could I expect?

"Well, for the record," I said with large grins, taking a step back as the bell rang. "I think of us as friends."

With that, I headed off down the hall, leaving them to decide our friendship status.