𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐄𝐗, 𝖼𝗁𝗋𝗂𝗌 𝗌𝗍𝗎𝗋𝗇𝗂𝗈𝗅𝗈 ✓

002, 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐟𝐟, 𝐦𝐚𝐧

"dude, i thought you got over her, like, a few weeks after the breakup." matt furrows his eyebrows at his brother as they move down the hallway together. nick and matt had always caught him fiddling with a bracelet that had stars dangling from it, a bracelet that they recognized easily.

"i'm over her. it'd just be nice to keep her as a friend. she changed." chris exhales.

"and who's fault is that?" maia asks.

chris nearly rolls his eyes at her comments. "out of all people, you should hate her the least."

"not really," she shrugs. "i'm really into this pizza, though."

"could you not quote tyler right now?"

"quoting tyler the creator in serious situations is something that should be normalized." maia shrugs.

"i bet scar would still be herself if it weren't for you." chris blurts out in a murmur, surprising even himself as maia stops walking, causing the triplets to do the same.

maia stares at him, then rolls her eyes as she walks by, purposely bumping into his shoulder.

"good job, chris." nick retorts.

"what?!" chris exclaims as they continue to walk down the hall to the one class they all have together. "it's not my fault. she was shit-talking scar even though it's all her fault she's all preppy and popular now."

"it's okay to take the fall sometimes, chris." nick says as they walk into their first period.

"whatever, nick." chris goes to his table where he's seated with three other people. erin shoeman, paige strape, and none other than chase fenton. who always flirted with paige and erin, usually ignoring chris.

chris always sat quietly in that class, scoffing to himself when chase would give erin or paige a subtle pick-up like and they'd just giggle. though he didn't want scarlett with chase, he wondered how she would feel if she knew.

but today, chase saw chris staring at her in the hallway earlier. he heard he and his group talking about her.

"yo, chris," chase leans forward as chris looks at him with furrowed brows. "i heard you talking about scarlett, just chill man, okay?" he winks and leans back into his seat.

chris stares at the douche, dumbfounded. the two keep eye contact. "i talk about who i want." chris replies.

chase raises his eyebrows at the response. "just not about scar."

"don't call her that."

"excuse me?"

"i said don't call her that."

"why? aww," chase fake-pouts. "was that your old nickname for her?"

chris keeps his eyes locked with chase's. "no."

"it totally was."

"just screw off, dude."

"whatever, man, just lay off." chase stands up, walking away. he doesn't even bother asking to use the bathroom before slipping the hall pass into his hand and walking out of the room, only one minute before class actually begun.

chris sighs as matt approaches him. "are you good? what was he talking about?" nick also comes beside the two.

"he overheard us talking about scar. told me to lay off." he looks at his brothers with a scowl, then looks down.

"our table is literally only us and mia lee, mr. altree isn't strict. we'll talk to him." nick pats his brother's back and he and matt walks away, approaching their teacher. chris sighs.

scar has to be wrapped around that idiot's finger.

"come on, chris," matt says, and chris stands up, grabbing his bag and moving to their table in the corner of the room, sitting in the open seat next to mia and across from nick. "you okay?"

"yeah," chris says. "i rock the hairstyle better than chase. so it's okay."

matt nods. "yeah, you do." nick reassuringly nods, causing chris to gently smile at nick's comforting.

as class begins, chris hardly pays attention. he can't get his mind off of how utterly different, and in a bad way, she is now. and as nick says.

chris takes the fall for it.

scarlett sits at her desk, next to liam as they do a partner project together. "i think if we add—"

"i saw chris today, we made eye contact." she interrupts him, considering the situation was bubbling through her mind and she couldn't focus.

"what?! it's been 3 months and 12 days! finally." he exhales in relief.

scarlett pauses, hey eyebrows gently furrowing. she slowly turns to liam. "lee..." she says. "you kept track more than i did."

"uh—"

"you're weird!"

"no, i'm not'l

"liam."

"scarlett."

"i miss chris." she sighs and slumps into her chair.

"i kno—" he starts, but immediately cuts himself off. "WHAT?!"

"you knew this!" she exclaims in a whisper, motioning for him to quiet down.

"you haven't admitted it in four months and 23 days."

"i am so done with you, liam." she shakes her head with a light laugh, continuing to do their project.

"i'm just saying!" he shrugs, writing something down. "hey, are you going to the party tomorrow? at dante's?"

scarlett doesn't bat an eye at him before asking, "are they coming?"

and, of course, liam knew who she was talking about. NMCM (she loves acronyms). "yeah," liam says. "but not even maia is looking for drama. you should go."

"i'll go," she nods. "i have a new life, i should be able to be in the same house as them."

liam stares at her, in honest shock, but he nods once and pats her back with a proud smile. "you get it, girl."

a/n

this is literally such a short chapter im so sorry 💔💔 anyways hi guys