When the bell rang for closing, summer still seated took out her phone and texted Elsie

[Be there in 10 minutes]

She got up and made her way to her locker, where she bumped into Angel. "Hey,"

Summer greeted, but Angel seemed lost in thought, staring off into the distance. Summer followed her gaze and spotted Jaden and Kate making out like they were the only two people in the world, totally oblivious to the fact that they were in a school.

At one point, Jaden even gave Kate a playful squeeze, and Summer noticed a few girls nearby watching them with wide eyes. Turning back to Angel, Summer waved her hand in front of her face to snap her out of it.

"Do you like Jaden?"

she asked, noticing how distracted her friend was. Angel shook her head.

"No, I have a crush already, but I don't think he knows I exist."

"What were you staring at them for, then?" Summer probed.

"Just imagining what it would be like if Dave did that with me-maybe even in the library,"

Angel replied, leaving Summer puzzled.

"The library?"

"Don't worry about me, let's just get packed up and head out."

Since their lockers were conveniently located next to each other, they chatted as they finished up. Once they closed their lockers, they stepped outside together, glancing around for Kate and Jaden, only to discover they had already left.

"Want to join me for a ride?" Angel asked as they reached her car.

"I've got my ride, just waiting for my sister" came Summer's response.

"Wait, you have a sister?!" Angel exclaimed, clearly surprised.

"What's her name, and what grade is she in?" Summer looked at Angel to gauge her excitement.

"She's a freshman. Her name is Elspeth, but everyone calls her Elsie."

Just then, they spotted Elsie walking out of school with a few girls who were laughing and chatting together.

When she spotted her sister, she quickly informed her friends that she needed to leave. Summer then said goodbye to Angel and made her way to her red motorbike.

"Hop on, let's hit the road," she called out, offering her a helmet.

"Did you make any friends? Why the hurry?"

"I did make some friends, but today was just too much. I really just want to lie down," she replied. As they continued their conversation, each holding a helmet, Jaden and Jackson stepped out of the school with Kate and Princess. Princess was the first to spot Summer.

"She looks really cool," she remarked to Jackson. The others turned to see what she was looking at and noticed Summer chatting with another girl who bore a striking resemblance to her, apart from a few differences like Elsie's hair was a deep, ink black.

As they stood there, their attention was drawn to a striking red motorbike parked nearby. The guys exchanged approving glances, while Kate kept quiet, biting her lip and revealing nothing about her thoughts.

"Let's move out, Elspeth."

"Sure, but I prefer Elsie," she replied.

"Maybe I'll stick with Elspeth until we get back home."

With a red helmet secured on her head, Elsie jumped on the bike right after Summer. The engine roared to life, and as they sped away, the vibrant red of the bike caught everyone's eye in the sunlight.

"Mum, Dad, are you here?"

No answer.

"Is anyone home?"

Elsie called out again, a hint of frustration in her voice as she glanced at Summer, who was already making her way toward the stairs. "Are you kidding me? They said they'd be back by the time we got here so we could share about our first day,"

she huffed, following Summer up. Summer turned around and silently mouthed, "Shh!" Just then, they heard the noise coming from their parents' room. It felt a bit awkward, but Summer quickly coughed to break the tension and said,

"They're busy, so-" She trailed off, unsure of what else to say, but Elsie, with a playful grin, chimed in, "Let's just wait by their door for them."

Summer shook her head but still followed her because she didn't want to miss this.

Ten minutes later, the door to their parents' room opened while they heard their mother's voice from behind the door.

"Let's head down and wait; they should be nearby now."

Their father was about to reply while they were still facing each other, not noticing their children until Elsie's loud voice interrupted.

"Mum! Dad, I hope you enjoyed yourselves,"

she said with a smile that was creepy. While the mother was startled by her voice, the father composed himself and asked,

"How was your first day at school?" He was trying to sound casual, but he totally failed when Elsie just kept smiling while Summer looked like she was holding back her laugh.

"How long were you both here?" their mother asked when she couldn't hold back anymore.

"10 minutes"

Summer replied quickly, knowing that Elsie was going to say something stupid if she didn't. Their mother's face turned red while the father just scoffed and said,

"Both of you should get a life. Make friends and go to parties. Don't bring your boring selves home early every time to disturb us."

As he was talking, his wife kept nudging him to keep quiet, but he didn't stop. Instead, he came out of the room fully and closed the door, then started walking down the stairs, and they all followed.

"Wow Dad, that's your excuse for us after hearing our parents - especially Mum by the way - scream each other's names!"

Elsie said, and their father immediately shot back,

"Well, if you had any friends, then maybe you could be at their place right now, and your mum wouldn't be so embarrassed. It's cute though."

He reached the couch and Mr. Collins sat down, pulling his wife into his embrace and saying, "Don't mind them; I like hearing your voice."

"Andrew!"

Summer shouted when she couldn't take it anymore, while Elsie was focused on a completely different thing.

"Does this mean that I can have a boyfriend?" Elsie said, trying to take advantage of the situation, but her mom cleared her throat and replied,

"No way."

"Why? But you allowed Summer."

"Yeah, and when you're sixteen, you can, under our supervision, of course."

"It's just a one-year gap."

The father turned his face to the side and started whistling when Elsie looked at him.

She scoffed, then smiled. "But you said yourself that I can go to parties." "Dad, no taking it back!" She then ran up the stairs while her mother was speechless.

"How was your day, honey?" Andrew said, deciding to let his troublesome daughter Elsie have her way just for today.

"It was okay; I made a friend."

"Girl or boy?" Andrew asked, and his wife hit his arm.

"What! She's had only one or two guys who could catch her interest in all her teenage life. In my day, my looks drew them in; I was totally irresistible. Girls were all over-"

"Shut up!"

"Sorry, darling, I got carried away for a moment. But the point is that I want her to have fun and enjoy herself. Summer, you still have time, just do what makes you happy."

"Thanks, Dad, I will."

After saying that, she ran up the stairs.

"Elsie! Come have breakfast!"

"Two more minutes, Dad."

Andrew sighed and looked at Summer. "Yesterday, She's the one who said we should go early. She's probably doing something irrelevant."

"Okay, I'm ready," said Elsie while coming down the stairs. "Dad, how do I look? Since you said that I could go to parties, I decided to start looking cool so that they would invite me to a party."

"You look good, but I want you to be yourself. If they don't think you're good enough, then Just throw a party and don't invite them."

"Andrew, stop indirectly giving her permission to throw a party when we aren't around."

Eve Summers' mum said,

"I just want what's best for them. If Elsie doesn't do it, Summer never will, so it's a win-win situation."

"Summer, won't you say something?"

"Dad is really cool, Mum. He will win the best parent award this December if you don't step up your game."

"Don't forget I bought you that bike when your mother refused."

Eve was speechless, looking at her daughters.

"We need to go, Elsie, come on."

"We have to take a car tomorrow because you ride too fast."

"Sure"

Once they arrived at school, they parted ways. Summer spotted Angel at her locker.

"Hey, what's up?" she greeted as she opened her locker.

"Not much, just scrolling through Instagram for some interesting news," Angel replied.

"I'm thinking about trying out for the cheerleading team. Are you a cheerleader?" Summer asked.

"Yeah, I am. We can check it out later. I'm not sure if there are any spots available since tryouts wrapped up last week. But they haven't announced the final selections yet, so you might still have a chance."

"Sounds good, thanks! But no pressure, I'm really just doing this to get my dad off my back."

At that moment, the bell rang, signaling the start of class.

In one of the empty classrooms in Thinkers High, Jaden and Kate were staring at each other.

"I have somewhere to be, Kate, so don't waste my time. What do you want?"

"I just wanted us to talk."

"Then talk. I don't have time for this."

"Calm down. You kissed me yesterday in the hallway, and I noticed that Summer was there-" She paused, then bit her bottom lip before she continued. "Are you perhaps interested in Summer?"

"Is this the reason you brought me to this empty class during lunch?" Jaden replied, sounding pissed.

"What the fuck is your problem, Jaden? For the past two months, you've been treating me like shit. I'm tired of being treated like garbage."

Kate shouted when she couldn't take it anymore.

"So do you want to call the relationship off then? Because I don't mind."

Her eyes widened in shock, and then she laughed. "Why? So you can go fuck Summer, huh? Two months, Jaden, two fucking months! And you haven't touched me, not even a kiss. And yesterday you kissed me just because she was watching; I should have expected this. You just want to use and dump me."

"Shut the fuck up before I lose my mind! You don't have to play the victim here, Kate. You whore."

Fear gripped Kate, and her heart started thumping rapidly in her chest.

"W-What are you talking about? Why insult me like that, Jaden? What did I do to deserve this?" she said, trying to convince herself that he didn't know and just said it without meaning.

You think I don't know Kate? Why do you think I stopped touching you?

It's not true; whoever said that was lying, trying to break us apart," she said, fear consuming her.

"You're a whore, Kate. I was faithful. I wasn't seeing or sleeping with anyone when I was with you. But you're just a slut that can't be satisfied, sleeping with Max, thinking I won't find out!" he scoffed.

"Don't even think of showing your face in front of me again!"

As he turned to walk out, Kate caught hold of his hand and gripped it to say,

"You love me, Jaden. You can't live without me! If you knew since two months ago, then why didn't you break up with me? Then why wait so long to do it?"

She added, trying to convince herself that he loved her. Jaden looked like he had just heard the joke of the century, then pried her hands off his, adding, "You're delusional. The only reason I didn't do it was that you helped me chase away girls. You know that I don't give a shit about you."

Then he walked to the door, but before twisting the handle, he turned back to look at her. "You are going to make it up to me. Keep pretending to be my girlfriend until I get the girl I want; then I'll know what to do with you."

He then walked out, leaving her frustrated. Kate screamed at the top of her lungs, not caring if someone heard her. Then she started to wonder how he could have found out. 'Think, Kate, think' she thought, 'it has to be... no, it must be when Princess walked in on me and Max at that Party while we were still at it. Princess, that bitch, dared to snitch on me! Ugh! I can't believe I am going to lose Jaden like that. Even if I don't want to admit it, before those two months when he stopped touching me, he was already tired of me. I just gave him a way to get rid of me completely. It doesn't really matter; he is still going to get tired of her. That's how it has always been anyway. For now, I'm just going to meet Princess.'

She then calls Rose on the phone.

"Where are you, Rose? Is Princess there with you?"

"No, she isn't. Is there a problem?"

"I'm fine. But we have practice after school, right?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks."

She ends the call and leaves the class. Even if she barely wants to confront Princess, she just has to wait a few hours.

Jaden goes to the library to chill, and after greeting the librarian, he proceeds to the deepest part of the library. But before he can reach it, he sees Summer trying to reach for a book on the top shelf. He can't help but admire her and her fashion style. Today she is wearing a white baggy jeans that are barely hanging onto her waist, with a pink crop top and black booted heels. He can't help but laugh when he sees her hitting the shelf in frustration, and she even starts cursing at it.

"I don't think the shelf can hear you."

She stops and turns as red as a ripe tomato when she recognizes the owner of the voice. Clearing her throat, she asks, "H- How long were you standing there?"

"Long enough to see you kick and curse the shelf," he replied as he walked over to her.

"Which book are you trying to reach?"

"That romance novel that is out of place on the shelf," she replied grudgingly as she saw him reach for it with ease, as if all her suffering was child's play.

"He's just a little bit taller than me," she muttered and scoffed, but he heard every word clearly and smirked at her.

"Are you the new librarian? Do you want to read this or arrange the library like a model student?" he teased her while waving the book in the air.

"I'm reading it. Give it to me."

"You couldn't reach it, but I did, so I can read it if I want," he stated. Even though he said that, he stretched his hand was there for her to take. When she reached for it, he retracted his hands, making her angry. With a small smile, he added, "On one condition."

"What?"

"Since you want to read, I'll use your lap as my pillow. Deal?"

Summer wanted to refuse but couldn't find it in herself to say no to him, so she nodded rapidly.

"Words...?"

"Yes, but don't do anything creepy. I'm warning you because I know karate."

He didn't answer. Instead, he handed her the book, grabbed her hand, and led her to the end of the lab where a long bench was located with a wide table.