My day was worsening by the minute. Not only was Mikey the only student I knew in my new class, but our teacher had just assigned our seats, and guess who I would now be sitting next to for the rest of the school year?
Drum roll please...
If you said Mikey, you're correct. Unfortunately.
Saying that the atmosphere was tensed at the desk him and I were now sharing at the back of the class would have been the understatement of the century.
But you want to know what was even worse than that? Mitsuki was also in my class. That's right. Mitsuki. The girl who hated me for a reason I could not explain, the same girl who had made fun of me for my sex bucket list last year.
And as if all of that wasn't already shitty enough, the teacher had just announced we'd be having a test on the book we had to read during the holidays. I was careful not to touch Mikey either with my elbow or thigh under the desk as I started filling out the answers on my sheet of paper. After a few minutes, I was already almost done. I tried to focus on the last questions of the test but Mikey was nervously bouncing his leg up and down, distracting me. I was about to elbow him in the ribs to get him to stop when my gaze slid to his test.
Empty. Mikey hadn't written a single thing down.
Well, except for his name.
Oh, and the date too.
I stole a glance at his face. He was leaning on his desk, holding his head in his hands, his eyes frantically reading the questions. And... I pitied him.
Mikey wasn't loved by the teachers of the school. He had a bad reputation, didn't care about the rules, and couldn't focus for long periods of time, but the teachers weren't trying with him either, and sometimes I had the feeling that they would rather see Mikey fail so he would just drop out.
After making sure that the teacher wasn't looking in our direction. I slid my test towards Mikey. He looked at me but I ignored his surprised stare and whispered a : "Be quick."
He took it hesitantly and started copying my answers, changing a few things here and there not to raise too much suspicion. When he was done, he pushed my test back towards me.
"Thank you." He whispered.
I hummed in acknowledgement. But after a minute, I could still feel his stare burn my cheek. I looked at him, finding him watching me.
"Seriously, thank you." He whispered again.
"You already thanked me." I muttered.
"I'm glad we're in class together."
"I'm not." I replied, but the beginning of a smile tugged at my lips before I could suppress it, contradicting my words. I didn't even know why I was smiling. Maybe it was the way he was looking at me, like we were still together, still in love. Maybe it was the fact that I had just helped him the same way I used to help him with his homework when we were still dating.
I tore my eyes away from his face, painfully aware of the fact that my cheeks were heating up. A soft chuckled slipped past Mikey's lips as he brought his gaze back to his sheet.
Maybe this year wouldn't be too bad after all...
During break, everyone started chatting as soon as the teacher walked out of the classroom. I was checking my phone when a silhouette stopped in front of my desk, its shadow looming over me.
"Looks like the whore is back from Italy." Mitsuki drawled.
I chose to ignore my classmate, rolling my eyes as I typed a text to Hina, but to my surprise Mikey flew to my rescue. He stood up, glaring down at Mitsuki.
I looked up at him, placing my hand on his arm and tugging on the sleeve of his shirt to get him to sit back down. "Mikey, it's fine."
But he ignored me and spat: "Shut your fucking mouth, Mitsuki."
She scoffed, her gaze narrowing at the edges. "I can't believe this. You're still defending her even after she fucked your friends?"
Oh, shit.
Mikey's body stilled, his gaze remaining frozen on Mitsuki. "What the fuck are you talking about?"
She had no idea what kind of dirt she'd just dug up. Or maybe she did. That fucking snake.
"Oh, you didn't know?" She cocked her head to the side, a sinister smirk growing on her face. "Oops..."