"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Elly asked, his voice still low with the remnants of our secret conversation.
"Yeah," I promised, offering him a small, weary smile. "I've spent half the day staring at that ceiling. My head has finally decided to behave."
We split up, the three of us heading back to our respective lives. Elly stood in the hallway for a moment, his gaze anchored on my back as I disappeared into my classroom. The memory of my pitch-black eyes was etched into his mind, and the thought of me collapsing again made his chest tighten with a dull, physical ache.
When he finally stepped into his own room, Alex and June were on him in an instant. Alex practically tackled him, his eyes suspiciously glassy. "I heard what happened! Is she okay? Is Shaine alright?"
June let out a bark of laughter, shaking his head at the display. "This guy has been a mess, man. He's asked me every five minutes when you were coming back. Total lover boy."
"I'll tell you everything," Elly groaned, struggling to breathe, "but please let go of my collar first. You're wrinkling the only clean uniform I have left."
Alex let out a massive sigh of relief, his hand resting over his heart as if he were physically settling his pulse. The girl he liked was fine; he could finally breathe.
"You act more like a boyfriend than an actual boyfriend," June chuckled, nudging Alex's shoulder until a deep flush crept up his neck.
"Shut up, June."
"I actually agree," Elly added, his voice dry. "You could've just visited her in the infirmary. It's not like there's a 'No Alex allowed' sign on the door."
"Oh, I told him that!" June grinned, leaning in to deliver the killing blow. "But he said, and I quote: If I go in there, I might not be able to control myself from hugging her. Which is funny, considering he didn't have any 'control' issues when he carried her to the infirmary last week."
Elly's head snapped toward the two of them, his eyes narrowing into a blank, icy stare. Carried her?
"Don't look at me like that, Elly! It was an emergency, okay? What was I supposed to do?" Alex sputtered, throwing his hands up.
"Maybe wait for the medical team," Elly suggested, his tone flat.
"Sometimes I really wonder if you're actually okay with me liking your cousin," Alex muttered. Elly didn't answer; he just let out a heavy sigh and sank into his seat, his protective instincts warring with the exhaustion of the morning.
"I'm okay with it," Elly said, his voice dropping into a rare moment of sincerity. "I know she'd be in good hands with you. It's just... sometimes you're a bit unreliable, Alex."
Elly wasn't just worried about Alex's clumsiness; he was worried about Shaine's density. She was the type to mistake a heartfelt confession for a well-timed joke, and if that happened, Alex's fragile ego would crumble like a house of cards.
"The hell, man!" Alex barked back, his competitive streak flaring. "I'm reliable—especially when it comes to her!"
The words were out of his mouth before he could catch them, ringing through the classroom with accidental authority. The room went dead silent for a heartbeat before exploding into a chorus of "Oohs" and whistles.
"Wait, Alex likes someone?" a girl from the front row chirped, spinning around in her seat.
"Who's the lucky girl?" another chimed in, grinning.
"We didn't know you were interested in anything besides soccer!" June added, practically vibrating with the joy of Alex's public embarrassment.
The classroom erupted, the other boys picking up where June left off until the air was thick with whistles and redirected jokes. Alex was a lost cause, slumped in his seat and blushing so hard it looked painful. The chaos only died down when the door creaked open and the teacher marched in, silencing the room with a single sharp look.
The lesson began, a steady drone of facts and figures, but Elly didn't hear a word of it. He sat perfectly still, his eyes locked onto the chalkboard, but his mind was miles away—drifting back toward the cold roots of that twisted tree. The white chalk lines on the board started to blur, looking less like equations and more like the jagged cracks in a massive, ancient gate.
A soft flick against his cheek snapped Elly out of his trance. He blinked, the grey cobblestones of his vision dissolving back into the hum of the classroom. To his left Alex was leaning over his desk, nodding frantically toward a small, crumpled ball of paper that had rolled onto Elly's lap.
Elly smoothed out the creases. I'm reliable, the messy scrawl insisted.
A small, genuine chuckle escaped Elly's throat—the first real one all day. He uncapped his pen, the ink bleeding slightly into the cheap notebook paper as he wrote his rebuttal: I know. But I'm looking out for both of you. She's too dense and you're just too... in love.
He balled it up and flicked it back. Alex caught it with the practiced reflexes of a striker, but as he read the reply, his confident smirk vanished, replaced by a dramatic, exaggerated pout that made Elly shake his head.
The wind battered the glass panes, howling with a speed that made the building feel small, but the sun remained bright, a lucky break for a Friday. The school bell eventually cut through the teacher's final words, echoing across the campus in a long, vibrating screech that signaled the end of the day.
"See you next week, class," the teacher called out over the sound of shifting desks and zipping bags.
It was finally Friday, that hallowed day of the week where the weight of classes was replaced by the promise of the mall or the comfort of a quiet bedroom. June stretched his arms over his head, looking as calm as the clear sky outside. "Are you visiting your grandfather again this week?"
"You know the drill," Elly replied, swinging his bag onto his back with a practiced motion. "My brother will probably be waiting to pick us up later. Family tradition, I guess."
Every weekend followed the same routine, almost like a tradition: a trip to their grandfather's farm just outside the city limits. With nothing to occupy their time in the cramped suburban neighborhood, they traded the noise of the town for the salt-heavy air of the coast. It was a weekly escape, a chance to waste time with the old man under the vast, open sky.
As the boys stepped out of the classroom, they found Shaine already waiting. She was leaning against the cold, white-painted wall. She was lost in her phone, her thumbs dancing across the screen, completely oblivious to the three pairs of eyes watching her from across the hallway.
"You can ask her yourself now," Elly said not in a teasing tone but more of a supportive kind.
"Yeah, sure," Alex murmured, his voice trailing off into a shy, uncertain whisper. He stepped toward Shaine, stopping just inches away, a move that finally pulled her focus away from her screen.
"Hey, Alex," Shaine said, sliding her phone into her pocket. She offered him a casual fist-bump, which he returned with a hesitant, almost reverent touch.
"Hey... um, how are you feeling?" the brunette asked. He started scratching the back of his neck, his eyes darting toward the hallway filled with students, as if the heads of unrecognizable faces held the answers to his nerves.
"I'm fine, thanks for worrying," Shaine replied. She flashed him a bright, toothy smile, the kind that seemed to radiate a warmth that didn't belong in a drafty school hallway.
A matching smile crept onto Alex's face as he stared at her. In that moment, the relief was physical, washing away every bad memory and stressful thought he'd carried since her collapse.
"You ready to go?" Elly interrupted, breaking the growing romantic tension. They both nodded, and the group began the trek downstairs to find Abby, who was busy wrestling with her bag just outside her classroom door.
"Where's Sam today, Abby? She's usually glued to our side," I asked, glancing around the thinning crowd of students.
"Extracurriculars," Abby sighed. "She had to stay late."
Shaine crossed her arms, a smirk tugging at her lips. "That kid is brilliant, but she slacks off way too much. You need to be a better influence on her, Abby."
The group erupted into laughter. They all remembered the "Tutor Incident" from Abby's freshman year. Sam's older brother, a graduate and a senior when Shaine was a junior, had begged her to tutor Sam, hoping some discipline would rub off. It hadn't. If anything, Sam had taught Shaine more about how to dodge homework than she had taught her about algebra.
We grabbed our final belongings from the lockers, the metal doors clattering in the quiet hallway. As we stepped outside, a sudden, piercingly cold breeze swept across the courtyard. It wasn't just a chill; it was the kind of cold that felt out of place for the season.
"Geez, why is it so freezing all of sudden?" Shaine complained, quickly pinning my skirt down as the wind tried to whip it upward.
Elly shucked off his coat without a second thought, handing it to Abby, who tied the sleeves around her waist with a grateful, shivering nod. Beside Shaine, Alex was already peeling off his own blazer. He didn't just hand it over; he paused, his face slightly flushed as he met her eyes with a silent, questioning stare.
She gave a hesitant nod, and in one gentle, sweeping motion, he wrapped the heavy fabric around my hips. He tied the sleeves tightly, secure enough to block the wind but soft enough to feel like a lingering touch.
"Thanks," she whispered, her voice sounding smaller than usual. Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, acutely aware of how warm her skin felt despite the cold.
"Yeah..." Alex replied. He offered a sly, lopsided smile, though he couldn't quite hide the deep crimson blooming at the tips of his own ears.
Behind the unfolding drama, the three of them stood frozen, not from the cold, but from the sheer, sugary weight of the atmosphere. Abby let out a tiny, muffled giggle, her hand locking around Elly's forearm to keep him from stepping in and ruining the tension. Beside them, June was a different story; his grin was filled with a mischievous glint, stretching from ear to ear as he watched Alex struggle to maintain his "sly" composure. They were like spectators at a high-stakes play, holding their breath as the two leads finally stumbled into their roles.
"Ahem," Elly voiced out, the sound dry and pointedly forced.
The spell broke instantly. Shaine and Alex fumbled, practically tripping over their own feet to put a respectable few inches of distance between them. Alex went back to aggressively scratching the back of his head, while Shaine became intensely focused on the sleeves of the jacket knotted around her waist, smoothing the fabric.
"Let's get going," Elly stated, his voice a dry wedge that drove itself between the two. He marched past them without a backward glance, his ears likely still ringing from the awkwardness. June, never one to miss a kill, erupted into hysterical laughter and jogged over to Alex, immediately launching into a barrage of teasing chatters that made Alex's shoulders hunch.
Abby, meanwhile, hooked her arm through her sister and pulled her along with a conspiratorial giggle. She looked at her, a glimmer of sweetness and a heavy dose of mischief in her stare.
"Finally seeing it?" she asked softly.
Shaine hummed, her mind still half-buried in the warmth of the blazer around her waist. "See what?"
A long, dramatic sigh escaped Abby's throat, a sound heavy with disappointment and utter disbelief. "Nothing," she muttered, shaking her head as if her sister were a lost cause.
They reached the intersection of the 2nd street, the place where the group usually split for the day.
"You... you can hold on to my coat for a while, Shaine," Alex said. His voice was shy, but there was a flicker of hope in his eyes.
Shaine didn't argue. She just looked up and gave him a smile that made the cold wind feel like a distant memory. "Thanks, Alex. See you."
They exchanged their final goodbyes, the boys' footsteps echoing in one direction while the three headed toward the end of the block. It wasn't long before Shaine's and Abby's front yard came into view, a peaceful sanctuary of clean-cut green grass and a winding cobblestone path leading to the porch. The patches of roses and lilies near the fence swayed gently, their colors vibrant against the darkening afternoon.
A sleek blue car was idling in front of Elly's house, a vibrant splash of color against the suburban street. Leaning against it was a man in his early twenties, looking every bit the high-class businessman in a sharp black suit and polished shoes. His dirty-blond hair was swept back, revealing a forehead creased with the slight impatience of someone used to a strict corporate schedule.
"Well, he's earlier than I expected," Elly noted, waving a quick goodbye to his cousins before jogging toward the driveway. "Look who decided to show up on time for once," he teased.
His brother smirked, checking his watch. "I pulled some strings for an early leave. Now move it, I don't like waiting."
"Said the guy who makes everyone wait for him," Elly shot back with a laugh, ducking into the house to prep. Ten minutes, a quick shower, and a change into a comfortable yellow hoodie later, he was racing back down the stairs.
"Be careful and look after the girls!" his mother called out.
"I always do, Mom!" Elly yelled back. Outside, Shaine and Abby were already waiting, dressed for the farm in practical sweatpants. As they piled into the car, Elly claiming the shotgun seat, the engine hummed to life.