Lila ✔

15I Partner

"Guys! Guys! Guys! Guys! Guys!" she exclaimed, practically jumping up and down in her seat.

Everyone at our table stopped talking and turned to face Sophie, causing me to lower my head so that when she said the news, I wouldn't have to see their reactions.

"My Lowen ship has sailed!" she grinned.

All of my friends already knew what the 'Lowen ship was' because of the amount of times Sophie had mentioned it since Owen came up to our table at lunch on the first day we met.

Apparently, it was a combination of mine and Owen's name and it was our official 'ship name'. People were acting as though Owen and I were a couple.

I could instantly feel everyone's gaze on me even without looking up. "Are you dating?" Jin asked skeptically.

He didn't sound jealous, but more disbelieving since I had made my dislike for Owen extremely obvious.

"Nope but they've been paired together for a project! And that's a lot like studying! You don't get much work done," Sophie smirked and instantly my eyes widened at her suggestive tone.

Fuck you. A quick reminder I'd never even had a boyfriend before.

"You go, girl!" Kaya exclaimed and I felt my cheeks heat up even more.

"Nice! You're finally getting some action!" Maddie smiled.

I groaned and banged my head on the table, hoping that I would get amnesia and forget the past few hours of my life.

This was the most embarrassing conversation I'd ever had. Well, for me at least. The girl's seemed to be enjoying my pain.

"Just tell us if he does anything," Lucas said firmly, causing me to look up with furrowed brows.

"He's broken plenty of girl's hearts and we want a reason to beat him up," Jin explained before Lucas could finish.

"But seriously. Good luck," Melody giggled and I rolled my eyes at how, along with everyone else, she was acting as though I was about to make a baby instead of doing boring Biology homework.

"When are you going to meet?" Kaya asked.

I considered this for a moment, realizing that I hadn't even thought about it.

"I don't know," I said honestly.

"Well maybe you could text him," Lucas suggested.

"I don't have his-" I began, before stopping. Wait... I did have Owen's number. I may have blocked him but his text will be saved into my message history and I could access that and contact his number.

I pulled out my phone and put in my passcode, opening up the right app.

I ignored the looks of confusion my friends were giving each other and instead found Owen's number and saved it into my contacts.

I then typed in my message and pressed send.

Lila: when do u want to meet up four the proj?

Owen: so ur talking to me now stuart?

Lila: sadly

Owen: damnnnnn I feel special

Lila: you rly shouldn't

Owen: too late

Owen: sorry :D

Lila: i give up

Owen: awwww minions don't give upppp

Lila: well this minion does

Owen: i've just realised

Owen: you're mini like a minion

Lila: just answer the damn question 🙄

Owen: which one?

Lila: when do u want to meet up for the proj?

Owen: friday after school?

Lila: ur house or mine?

Owen: ur's

Lila: k

I turned off my phone and slipped it back into my pocket before looking back up at my friends.

"Friday after school," I sighed.

"Nice. We'll prepare you for what to do," Maddie winked and I'm pretty sure my face turned as bright red as a tomato.

"Nothing's going to happen," I groaned.

"You're damn right nothing's going to happen," a voice said sternly from behind me.

I whipped around to see Cole standing there with his arms folded.

I closed my eyes for a second and let out a long breath. "Don't worry, Cole. I don't like him. Besides, it'll be at our house so you can constantly check up on us if you're worried," I suggested.

Cole seemed to scrutinize me for a second while I just stared back at him slightly uncomfortably.

After a moment he gave a small nod.

Unfortunately for me, he decided to slip into the seat beside me at the end of the table. Great. Just great.

"I'm assuming Noah told you," I said, looking over at Cole.

"Yep. And Liam and Jayden," he replied, causing my eyes to widen.

I remembered how pissed they were when they found out from Devon that Owen had talked to me at lunch.

But then suddenly a thought occurred to me. Were they being protective? Were they acting like those overprotective brothers you might read about? Did that mean they cared about me?

My heart swelled at the thought.

I hid my excitement and happiness and kept my gaze locked on Cole. "What did they say?" I asked, a small amount of hope creeping into my voice.

"They said that as long as your door is open the entire time and Liam is in his bedroom because his is right next to yours, then he can come," he said.

"I can live with that," I shrugged, hiding the smile threatening to make an appearance.

"That's all. See you later," Cole said, standing up.

He walked back over to my stepbrothers table and I watched as he sat down opposite Jayden, beginning to talk to them.

He would occasionally look over in my direction and I realized that he must have been telling them about our conversation.

I turned back around to face my friends with a small smile on my face. However, my expression changed to a mock glare when I saw the girl's staring at Noah, Cole, Liam and Jayden.

"Stop crushing on my stepbrothers!"

1574 words

I've changed some of the cast in the characters chapter so you can go check those out if you want :)

Thanks for reading! 💖

-Elin