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this might be the last update for a while, i need to get some more chapters ready - any ideas on what might happen next?

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The rest of my day went by fair quickly, and I didn't see Jared or Seeley during the last of school. When I got home I face-timed Molly to fill her in about Sunday night, but my evening didn't get any more interesting than that. Now, as I packed up my bag from first period maths and made my way to my double English lesson, I couldn't help but wonder how to make my evenings more interesting. Today I would be at work, and my stomach tangled at the thought.

Sitting down in my seat next to the window at the back of the room, I brought out my folder and a pencil and shoved my bag into Thomas' seat. There was the empty seat beside me, and then Otis Grainger sat in front of me, with Seeley to his left. There was a gap for people to walk through next to Otis, and then another desk for two. Mrs Goldberg soon began talking about iambic pentameter and then set up a slow slideshow that was on automatic, meaning it would switch every 7 minutes, which meant that she go return to her desk and sext her husband.

I was scribbling notes down, when I heard the door of the classroom be opened slowly. Ignoring it, I only looked up when someone tapped on my desk with a ruler. Looking up, Toby Sutter was grinning at me from his seat on the desk next to Otis.

"Hey, can I borrow a pen?" He asked, and before my mind could process the low voices from the front of the classroom, I nodded, and reached into my bag to get one. As I rummaged around for my pencil case, I caught Seeley's eye. He had one elbow on the table, and he was looking back at me over his and Otis' shoulders. He just stared, and I didn't know what to make of that. Quirking the side of my lip at him in a weak smile as I tried to ease the tension, I grabbed the pencil case and handed Toby a pen. It wasn't until after I had given it to him that I realised that was my good fountain pen. It was fine, he only needed it for one lesson, and I was happy to help him out.

"Thanks, gorgeous." My stomach twisted at his words. It wasn't that I didn't want to be complimented, or that I was confident enough not to need validation from others, it was just weird to hear someone I saw everyday say something like that so out of the blue. A dark red blush flooded my cheeks, and I put all my attention on returning the pencil case to my bag when a voice spoke up.

"Can I sit here?" Sparing a glance, I found Thomas standing over my desk, a guilty look on his face, to sport his swollen and bruised nose that had a strip of white over it to reduce the swelling. The nervousness in my stomach only intensifying, I gave him a grin and nodded, moving my bag on to the floor at my feet.

"Are you okay?" I asked quietly as he began unpacking his stuff, but I kept my gaze lowered to the desk.

"Yeah, my nose was fractured in two places but I'll live." Thomas tried to add a feeble laugh in at the end, but it only added to the burning tension that was surrounding us. I just nodded and resumed taking notes from the board. The rest of the double period went by painfully slow, endured in silence by me and Thomas. It was only when I was packing my bag and getting ready to walk downstairs to the canteen that someone addressed me.

"Evangeline?" I turned from looking at the door waiting for the teacher to dismiss us, and came face to shoulder with Toby again. I gave him what I hoped wasn't a too nervous smile. "I've got double history next, you don't mind if I keep your pen for the rest of the day, do you gorgeous?" It wasn't really a question though, he was just telling me what was happening. Despite that being my last black pen, which was the only thing you were allowed to write in in Mrs Stuber's modern studies class and I knew she was going to get me in trouble for it, I nodded numbly.

I heard Mrs Goldberg dismiss us, and I turned around and followed the group of students trying to usher out the door. Making my way down the hall, I didn't see where Thomas disappeared to. Normally he would walk down with me, but I didn't know how to act around him. I didn't like what he did on Sunday, and I definitely didn't want it to happen again. As I entered the near empty stairwell, since I was a slow walker and everybody always rushed to get to the break, my thoughts were scattered and all over the place. Someone tapped me on the elbow, and my blonde hair flew about my face as I turned to face them. Seeley was towering above me as usual, a blank look on his face. He was looking down at me, and I realised he had my black fountain pen in his hand, and it was reached out towards me.

I took it from his grasp and tucked it into my shoulder bag, resting it on top of my books. Looking up at him, I realised how close we were standing, and how deserted the stairwell was. My stomach surprisingly wasn't knotted, well, more than normal.

"Thanks." I said, but my voice was quiet, and my hands wondered down to fidget with the sleeve of my yellow striped top.

"Don't let him speak to you like that again." Seeley said, a dark, unreadable expression on his face, and then he was off. Walking down the stairs, probably to meet Jared out at the wall.

I let out a gush of breath that I had been holding in. That boy was so confusing. I shouldn't let Toby ask for a pen? I wasn't about to stop lending people things just because they were slightly rude to me about it.

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