𝖇𝖆𝖗𝖇𝖎𝖊 ‣ ʲᵉˢˢ ᵐᵃʳⁱᵃⁿᵒ

𝟐 ‣ this not a drill

     "Same here," Dean retorted, causing Hartley to snort.

     "You hate you?"

     "You know what I meant,"

     "I'm not so sure I do,"

     "Cut it out, Rocky and Apollo," Lane scolded, giving them both a look.

     "Sorry," Dean mumbled.

     "Suck up," Hartley muttered, rolling her eyes.

     "You know what, Bartley-"

     "Enough, one of you walk away now," Lane ordered, pointing off in a random direction. Dean looked at Hartley expectantly, causing her jaw to drop.

     "I was here first!" She whined, looking at her friends for back up.

     "Yeah, well you started it," Dean argued.

     "They're like children," Willow whispered to Kanan.

     "Trust me, I have four younger siblings, they're worse than children."

     "Fine!" Hartley threw her hands up in the air, "I'll go."

     Although, Hartley had put on an angry front for the group, the second she turned around an amused smile fought its way onto her face. She in no way hated dean, but there was something about the way his eyebrows furrowed, and his lips screwed up when he was mad that brought her an incomprehensible amount of joy.

It then donned on her that she might just be a bitch.

     She walked until she made it to the nearby bench, taking a seat so she was facing the 'Welcome to Stars Hallow' sign. She instantly regretted not breaking the rules and sneaking her sketch pad out with her, but 'drop everything and get in a single file line' had been burned (no pun intended) into her brain since her first day of kindergarten.

     "Hey, Hart,"

     She jumped at the feeling of hands clasping onto her shoulder's from behind, Jess's voice catching her completely off guard. However, as soon as his hands were there they were gone, so he could jump over the bench and sink into the seat beside her.

    "Hey, Mariano," she smiled lightly, her lips pressed together. The pair hadn't said a word to each other in the two days since they dumped Fernando's body, creating an air of uncertainty around them.

    "What? I tell you my last name and suddenly I'm not 'Jess' anymore?" He queried, quirking a brow.

     "Yeah, sounds about right," she nodded.

     "Do you find it fun to completely ignore when someone's being sarcastic?" He asked, a lopsided smile pulling at his otherwise expressionless features.

     "Incredibly," she confessed, biting her lip.

     "So, did your groupies replace you with Rory's friends?" he questioned, nodding over to where Willow and Kanan were trying to subtly sneak glances at her and Jess, while simultaneously holding a conversation with Dean and Lane.

    "No, I just can't stand Rory's boyfriend," she admitted, "but don't tell Rory that."

     "Rory's got a boyfriend?" Jess inquired, tilting his head ever-so-slightly.

     "Why, you interested?" she teased, raising her eyebrows up and down.

    "In Rory? Nah," he shook his head.

    "Oh, I meant in Dean," she uttered nonchalantly. She expected Jess to splutter out in his own defence, but surprisingly he replied immediately.

"I mean, he's tall but he doesn't have the dark and handsome I look for in a man," he joked, causing a laugh to bubble from Hartley's throat.

"Yeah, he's got the one thing you're missing," she retorted, causing Jess's grin to widen.

"I'm going to ignore that you just called me short, and focus on the fact that you called me handsome," he commented.

She scoffed, "I'm not blind, Jess. In fact, I would consider myself a connoisseur of male beauty."

"Well then, where do I fall on a scale from Dean to Callum?"

"Uh... definitely a Ponyboy," she decided, watching as Jess rolled his eyes.

There was a lull in conversation after that, something neither one wanted. Hartley noted that they now had two things in common: One, they murdered a flamingo together; two, they hated shared silences.

"I was the one who pulled the fire alarm," Jess blurted, and he immediately wished he could take it back at the shocked look that crossed her face.

"Why?" She queried, keeping her voice low so only they could hear.

"I don't know," he shrugged, "seemed like a good idea at the time."

"You're moral compass is a mess," she told him, her tone surprising the boy.

She didn't sound disappointed or upset, she wasn't scolding him or rushing to tell a teacher. She just brushed it off with an insult that she only half meant and she was ready to move on. He thought at first, that maybe, it was because she didn't care. However, after a split second of contemplation, he realized it was because she didn't really expect anything more from him. And he couldn't blame her. After all, during the first real conversation they had ever had, he was in midst of stealing Pierpoe the Garden Gnome.

"The school's clear!" Kirk declared, now waving his arms in the direction of the school, "everyone back inside!"

"Well, talk to you later." She waved, skipping off to meet up with her friends.

He sighed, "see ya."

-

MEG TALKS !
another short one, and i completely hate it. i hope i'm doing a good job of showing hartley's character though, because i have a bad habit of putting too much focus on side characters.

1839 words