Talking in the hallway.

Isabelle and I went to school together that morning. We met Sarah, Alice and Noelle on the fourth floor since they’d gotten there before us.

“You’re later than usual,” Sarah told me. “I don’t normally get here before you.”

I pointed a thumb towards my sister. “Blame her.”

Alice sighed. “Did you wake up late again?” she asked her.

“...Yes,” Isabelle answered, hanging her head in shame.

“I thought Cake woke you up,” Noelle said.

“She slept with Oliver last night.”

“Lucky cat,” Sarah said, laughing. Right after that, she leaned in and pecked my lips. “Good morning.”

I smiled. “Good morning.”

Alice hesitated for only a moment before she also stepped forward, pulled me by the tie and kissed me hard. She gasped as we parted and smiled shyly. “Good morning.”

“Atta girl!” Sarah laughed harder.

Noelle waited for Alice to step away before she got closer to me. She looked up at me and placed a soft kiss on my lips. “Good morning,” she said shyly.

We shared an awkward, but not uncomfortable laugh. Slowly, we were getting used to this. I looked at Isabelle, who had a light blush on her cheeks as she pouted.

“You’re all gonna get caught if you do things like these in school. Be more careful,” she said.

“I almost want to get caught,” Sarah admitted, grimacing. “I don’t like hiding. I just want to hold hands while walking down the street. Is it too much to ask?”

Noelle gasped in horror. “Pervert!”

Isabelle, Sarah, Noelle and I laughed at that, but Alice just looked confused. “How is wanting to hold hands perverted?”

“It’s an old internet meme at this point,” I explained.

Honestly, I was surprised Noelle dared to make a joke like that with Sarah. Although… Right, Sarah and Noelle did play games at my house some time ago.

“Well, that’s an interesting group there.”

We all turned towards the voice coming from the stairs. Thomas had a calm smile that turned to panic when the five of us rushed to him.

“How did it go at the doctor?” Isabelle immediately asked what we were all going to.

Thomas smiled again and rubbed the back of his neck. “They found nothing wrong with me, so the doctor thinks it might have been stress. I was told not to play basketball for a few days in case it happened again. It’s stupid, though. If it’s stress, then all the more reason I should be playing.”

“What? You want to pass out in the middle of the court?” Sarah asked him. “That’s one good way to get yourself kicked out of the starting roster, I suppose.”

Thomas flinched. “Okay, okay. Point taken. I won’t exert myself.”

Alice chuckled. “Take care of yourself, okay?”

“See, the thing is that I feel pretty well today.” Thomas rotated his shoulders and his neck for emphasis. “Maybe all the sleep did me some good. I have the strangest feeling that I had a weird dream, too, but I can’t remember what it was about.”

“Really? That’s been happening to me a lot lately,” I told him.

“Aww, look at you, you’re dream buddies,” Sarah teased.

I was about to protest, but Thomas got an arm around my shoulder and smirked at Sarah. “Jealous?”

Even I burst out laughing at that. Though as we laughed, we heard more steps coming from the stairs. A girl and I guy from Thomas’ class.

“Yo, Thomas! How are you feeling?” the guy asked.

“I was hoping I’d get to skip school, but I’m fresh as a lettuce,” the big man answered.

The girl, meanwhile, stared at our group, blinking in surprise.

“Talk to you guys later, alright?” Thomas told us. “I have to try to convince this girl to let me borrow her homework,” he said shamelessly, pointing a thumb at his classmate.

The girl’s face fell. “W-What? We had homework?”

“Um… I was just joking. I already finished mine,” Thomas said.

The guy face-palmed. “If you start now, you might be able to finish it before the third period.”

“Come on, I’ll help out. See you later, guys.” Thomas waved and went to his classroom with his classmates.

“He really is a social butterfly…” Noelle said.

“No kidding,” Sarah agreed. “Must be exhausting.”

“That girl…” Isabelle started. “She’s… not a big fan of yours, Sarah.”

“Hm? What did I do to her?”

“If I remember correctly, I think you had an argument with her brother at a party,” Alice said.

“That… sounds like me.” Sarah sighed. “And she saw you with me now.”

“But that’s what we want, right?” Isabelle asked. “And even Thomas was here. Don’t worry about it.” She smirked. “It’s all going according to plan.”

“Don’t lie,” I told her. “You’re just winging it.”

“...Winging it IS part of the plan,” she said.

We ended up betting on a bold move and stayed talking in the hallway, even when Grace and Mila joined us and more students arrived. Our big, seven-person group stood out.

Alice, the student council president, highly respected by the student body. Grace, the girl who people gossiped in hushed-tones was a blackmailer. Sarah, a girl who people thought had a bad attitude and a short-temper. And then… There was me, the only guy in the group. Honestly, the stares were making me extremely uncomfortable. I wanted to get away from the public eye, but I stayed. Why? Because as much as we stood out, people walking by still greeted us.

All the girls had their own social groups. Isabelle’s friends greeted her as they walked past, Grace’s friends did the same, so did Alice’s. Hell, even Kevin and Ben stopped by for a minute, too curious about what was happening. I wanted to believe it helped our objective.

I heard people whispering throughout the day. It reminded me of what Thomas had said, that people were too invested in school drama. Why should they care that girls from supposedly different social circles were seen hanging out together? It didn’t make a drop of sense to me.

At least most of what I heard was fairly tame. They wondered if Alice and Grace were friends, and some even believed Sarah was being questioned by the president because she hit someone again.

“I heard some guys saying you were gay,” Mila told me during recess.

“Hah? Me?” I asked.

Sarah laughed. “That’s how you know they’re full of crap.”

Grace chuckled and shook her head. “If only they knew.” She looked at me with dangerous, mischievous eyes. “Want me to tell them?”

“...Please don’t.”

It was kind of embarrassing that a rumor about me being gay was getting spread, but I supposed it would help keep our relationship a secret. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder… What would they say if they knew the truth?

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