- Should I talk to her? Fuck, I'm a motherfucker if I don't talk to her! But what was I supposed to say? "Hi Jessica, I like you and Alice too." Don't fuck, Ethan! - He thought, as he saw Jessica leave the cafeteria.

"I think she's in those days, don't worry. I'll talk to her later!" Angela answered Eric.

"But who are you taking, Ethan?" Angela took up the question again.

"Oh yeah, I don't know yet. I don't even know if I'm going to the dance yet... He replied. "And you?". Ethan completed.

Bella heard the question and put her headphones back on, focusing on the book she was reading.

"I don't know yet either. I just wanted to go dancing, I don't care much about whom. We could go together if you don't get anyone, Ethan." Angela said, smiling. "As friends, of course, but only so we don't go alone!"

"It's a great idea! If we don't get a pair, then we already guarantee our tickets together!". Ethan nodded.

"Hey Bella, if you don't get anyone to go either. Go to the dance with me!" Tyler said, looking at Bella.

At the same time, Eric made an indignant expression as he looked at the scene, as if he was bothered by someone else calling Bella besides him.

"Oh no! I don't like dances. Thank you very much!". She replied to Tyler and went back to reading her book.

"Yes, you liar!". Ethan said quietly, smiling, looking at Bella as everyone went back to talking about other topics.

Bella looked at Ethan and put her index finger in front of her lips, asking him to be quiet, and letting out a small smile.

The bell rang, indicating that everyone should go back to class. Ethan accompanied Bella and Mike to biology class.

Upon entering the room, Ethan saw Bella's face fall as she looked over to where Edward should have been sitting, which disheartened him a bit.

Ethan walks over to where he sat last time and sees Alice sitting there, going through her bag, taking out some materials.

She was wearing a purple long-sleeved blouse and a black jacket over it, which highlighted the yellow in her eyes even more. It seemed that every moment that passed, Alice was more and more beautiful. It was clear who Ethan was most attracted to.

"Hi girl. Can I sit here?". Ethan said jokingly, pretending he didn't know her.

"Hi, young man! Maybe yes!". She replied, with a gentle smile.

Ethan sat up and looked to the side. At this, he saw that Mike's partner was also missing. So it was the perfect way to distract Bella a bit. Even though Mike was a bit clumsy, he managed to get a few laughs out of the others.

Ethan then reached over to Mike's desk, poking him with a pencil, and pointed at Bella's desk.

"Huh?". Mike asked, looking at Ethan.

Then he looked where Ethan was pointing and perked up.

"Oh ok! I understood!". Mike said, grabbing his backpack and heading over to Bella's desk.

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"Hi Bella, your class partner didn't come?" Mike asked, a huge smile on his face.

"So it is…". She replied without much emotion.

"May I sit here?". Mike asked, already sitting up.

"Oh sure. Maybe yes!". She responded, in the same detached way she had responded to Ethan.

He hadn't expected her to get super excited like she had last time talking about books, but if Mike could at least distract Bella's mind a bit, that would be great.

"Did you do your homework?". Alice asked, looking at Ethan with those big, round yellow eyes.

- Did you have homework? I'm screwed, Ethan thought, his eyes widening.

"AND…". He looked at her, trying to lie, while she looked at him like a kitten.

"… No. I forgot the lesson!" He replied, embarrassed

"I can't believe you forgot, Mr. Coleman!" Alice said, mocking his speech. "You need to start focusing on important things, see? If not, repeat the year". She added, fiddling with her notebooks, pretending to be fighting with him.

"If Mrs. Cullen were out of my thoughts, I would be able to focus on my studies!" Ethan replied, staring into her round eyes.

Alice blushed at the same moment and looked away to hide it, letting an embarrassed smile on her lips.

"It's a joke, there's no homework". She replied, crossing her arms as she looked at him, smiling.

Then, Professor Molina entered the room and began to explain how that day's class would work.

Ethan really needed to focus more in class. Even if there were more interesting things going on, repeating a year would be a disaster. So he didn't pay much attention to Alice in that class, and decided to be quieter.

On the other hand, Mike didn't concentrate in the slightest. He kept making jokes and trying to make Bella laugh every second. She didn't seem uncomfortable with the boy, but also, she didn't seem to find his jokes so funny, just listening to him speak for politeness.

The bell rang and everyone started to leave.

Alice grabbed her purse quickly, she seemed in a hurry with something. Ethan turned to her and asked:

"Are you in a hurry… Did something happen?".

"Oh, I'm going out with my family today. My brother is going back from his trip today, so let's go out to eat." She replied, hurrying up.

Bella heard the news and looked back, listening to their conversation.

"Where did he travel?" Ethan asked.

"Oh, he was stressed about some things, so he traveled to an aunt's house. Edward is kind of difficult to deal with. Sometimes he just decides to disappear from the world and… he really disappears!". Alice said, a bit disheartened with her brother.

Bella faced forward, confused as to why Edward was so stressed. She wondered if she could have brought it on when she sat next to him, which made her feel a little bad again, but she was happy to know that she would be seeing him in the next few days.

"Well, I gotta go… Bye Ethan!" Alice said, giving Ethan a peck on the cheek and running out the door.

"Bye Alice!". Ethan answered.

Ethan waited for Mike and Bella to leave the room. As they were leaving, Ethan saw Angela walking down the hall alone. So he approached her immediately.

"Hey Angela! Where is Jessica? He asked, confused.

"Oh, she said she wasn't feeling well and decided to leave. Apparently she was sick from the cafeteria food!" Angela answered.

She didn't seem to be mad at Ethan or anything like that, so Jessica probably didn't tell her anything. Not about today and, maybe, not about the day before.

- Should I go to her house? - He thought.

So Ethan took out his cell phone and sent Jessica a message:

"Hey, are you okay? Angela told me you felt sick and left."

A few minutes passed while Ethan was still looking at the cell phone's screen, but she still didn't respond to the message.

So Ethan decided to just go home. Maybe Jessica was really sick and he was thinking too much.

Then he said goodbye to his friends and left. That day was colder than usual and Ethan walked back almost shivering, as he hadn't dressed properly for that day.

When I got home, there was no note on the table.

Ethan was surprised, as it was common for his mother to always leave a message warning about the food.

He walked over to the fridge and looked to see if she had made him something to eat, but there wasn't anything, either.

It was strange that his mother didn't advise these things, as she was super concerned about Ethan's well-being.

He then decided to send her a message, just to let her know he was home and to ask if everything was ok:

"Mom, I'm back from school! Didn't you come home today?"

Ethan was starving, so he decided to go to the market next door to buy some junk food for him to eat until his mother arrived. Ethan could cook him something quick if he wanted to, but he didn't feel like doing that today.

So he went up to his room, looking for where he had left his wallet. He took some change he found inside it and a warmer blouse, and left towards the nearby grocery store.

Upon arrival, Ethan grabbed an orange soda, a snack, and a packet of teddy bear candy, which was his favorite candy.