E V E R E T T

"So what's next for the student council?" Mom asked while I was putting strawberry jam on my waffle by the breakfast table on a Monday morning.

I had kept mom and dad updated on the changes being made around the school by the student council and they were especially proud and thrilled to hear about to success of the Open day. They even heard good things about it from patients and colleagues
around the town's hospital where they both worked. People were praising the new student council and their president.

As the months had passed by, the grief in mom's and dad's eyes had slowly lessened. Adjusting to their new jobs and life here got them busy enough to not constantly have Emma's death looming like a grey cloud over their heads.

I felt the same about myself. Busying myself with the student council and making friends with the members and The Sirens, I was able to put my attention into something else instead of on Emma. Maybe mom was right. I guess we needed to start fresh somewhere else. So far, Lakewood was doing that well for us.

"I told Lana that we should focus on getting the elevator and the school bell fixed," I told them, taking a bite of my waffle.

"Lana, the girl who arrived here early with you a few weeks ago for the open day planning. She's the one who ended up taking the role as the finance and media manager, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah. That was her."

"How did that happen anyway? You told me you were struggling to find someone for that job. Did she just eventually turn up?" He asked, curiously.

"Well, I asked her. We have advanced math and physics together and she's just good with numbers. I thought she was the perfect one for the job so I asked her. She refused in the beginning but eventually agreed to do it," I explained, elaborately.

"Well, that's great."

"Yeah. Plus, she's in a gang like most of the students. It can be easier for the gang member students to trust the student council knowing someone like them is on the council too."

Dad choked on his juice and mom's eyes almost fell out of her face as she patted dad's back. Dad raised his brows and asked, "Lana is in a gang?"

Before I could answer, mom's expression turned thoughtful before realization suddenly broke across her face. "Lana? Lana Takumi? I've heard about her around the hospital. She's in the most infamous gang in town. The Sirens, right?"

I nodded and mom and dad glanced at each other before looking at me with equally worried faces.

"No, wait. Guys, it's fine. They seem all powerful and bad but they're really nice and understanding once you get to know them. Lana is my close friend. I trust her. I'm sure the reason why the school tolerates me as the student council President is that Lana is by my side. They trust her too."

"We understand that but gangs around here are known for drugs and picking fights. We don't want you involved in any of that. Especially not after...," mom trailed off, sadness passing her brown eyes.

Emma.

Memories of how she gradually went from being cheerful and energetic, constantly staying home, and hanging out with me and mom and dad to staying out until past midnight, coming home drunk most of the time, forcing me to lie to mom and dad about where she was going and eventually disappearing from our lives all at once after the car accident, flashed through my mind. I swallowed hard and clenched my fingers around the fork in my hand.

Dad put his palm over mom's hand while keeping his concerned eyes on me. "Listen, it's not that we don't trust you. We just want to look out for you so you don't end up doing things you regret. That's all."

I nodded. "I know but I'm not going to join any gang or get into drugs and street fights. I'm not interested in any of that."

"Are you two close?" Mom asked, gently.

Lana and me? I guess we were. After all, she considered me her friend now. "We're good friends, yeah."

Mom and dad exchanged glances again but this time looked at me with less concerned and more calm faces. Mom then said. "We're glad you're doing okay and that you're making friends. Seeing you like this again, was all we hoped for when we moved here. So we're happy for you."

Despite feeling guilty about the fact that I literally raided a candy store with The Sirens last week, I put on a smile and continued eating up the last waffle on my plate. Admittedly, I felt excited to go to school. Not for the classes because those were too stressful but to see Lana and the rest of the student council again. I was ready to make more positive changes around the school with them.

~

When I arrived at Lakewood High, I met up with Ali and Lily and we headed to our lockers together. I was elaborating my idea about getting the elevator and school bell fixed when we suddenly slowed in our steps and saw a huge crowd standing in our way and circling around someone.

I exchanged puzzled glances with Ali and Lily before we pushed through the crowd and found The Sirens on a face-off with The Lions. Jada and Arjun were standing face to face with the rest of their gang members behind them.

"You're using him."

"What's your problem? This isn't about Lana and Everett and their friendship. This isn't even about the student council. It's about you using this as an opportunity to mess with us. I told you to stay away from us."

Lana and me? What did our friends have anything to do with what was going between The Sirens and The Lions?

"Your dog-"

"-Fuck you," Jada snapped.

Before Arjun could even think of raising his fist, I jumped between them and met Arjun's gaze, startling him.

His brown eyes widened for a brief moment before he snorted. "Wow. You girls finally found some prick to come for you whenever you're in danger. Lana and Everett are both your dogs now."

I furrowed by brows. What the hell?

"That's not true. They don't need me or anyone and Lana isn't their dog. You seem to have a problem with me, so talk to me," I said, firmly with my arms crossed over my chest.

He scowled. "Your friendship with Lana is a problem."

"What? Why?"

"No matter what happens, you're always going to take their side. Trust me, The Sirens fuck up a lot. You'll let them get away with it now that your friends with one of them."

"My friendships don't affect my role as student council president. Plus, I'm not the principal. It's not my job to punish anybody when they do something wrong around here. That's the principal's job. The student council represents the students' opinions on how to make this place a better environment for the students. That's all."

"You're saying that now but just wait and watch. You'll always choose to support them instead of the rest of the school. Just like you're getting the elevator fixed for Lana when you could spend that money on something the majority of the school could make use of."

My eyes widened. "What? No. The elevator will be of good use to everyone. Not just Lana."

"What about the new tutoring system people have been hearing about? What if Lana chokes another student when they accidentally touch her while she's tutoring someone. Who's side would you take? Lana's right. Because she's your friend now."

"I'm not doing the tutoring," Lana clarified, dryly.

"That's not how it works. Why would she choke someone when she can't even-" Isha stopped herself, inhaling sharply.

Arjun only rolled his eyes before tucking his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. "Admit it, Weston. Your friendship with her will cloud your judgment on making things right around here. Being friends with any of the Sirens is a bad move. Sooner or later, the whole school will be against you."

"It won't. I'm not going to-"

"-Stop explaining yourself, Weston. He's just trying to get you worked up," Jada said, cutting me off as she shot Arjun a sharp glare.

In response, Arjun scoffed before a smirk pulled up to the corner of his mouth. Finally, he turned around and strode down the hallway with the rest of his gang behind him. Afterward, people started clearing out the hallway while quiet mumbles and whispers filled the air. Eventually, I was left alone with Ali, Lily and The Sirens.

I turned around and stepped towards Lana who wore a passive expression on her face but before I could say anything she limped past me and down the hallway before turning left around the corner and disappearing out of my sight. I sighed and glanced at Isha who touched my arm with a soft smile on her face.

"Don't worry. She'll be fine. She's probably just really frustrated right now," Isha reassured. "We'll talk to her."

"No!" I suddenly exclaimed but immediately cleared my throat and offered The Sirens an apologetic smile when their eyes widened . "I mean-uh, can I go?"

The girls glanced at each other before Isha nodded. "Okay. Go ahead."

I was about to leave but then I glanced at Jada. "I'm sorry he messed with you guys because of me."

Jada shook her head. "It's Arjun. He loves to grab every opportunity to mess with us. Don't think too much about it. Now go to talk to her."

I gave them a thankful smile and Ali nodded to me before I hurried down the hallway to catch up to Lana.

~

Minutes later, I found Lana sitting in the student council room on a chair with her legs crossed. She was hunched over the table with her Nintendo Switch in her hands, her eyes glued to the screen. All the student council members had a key to this room. Lana was certainly making good use of it.

"Hey."

Lana looked up, glanced to the side, and met my gaze. She was wearing one of her usual big size grey hoodies and a pair of black jeans along with her ratty brown Uggs. Her black hair as dark as ink was slightly messy as if she hadn't bothered to brush through it. Her calm onyx eyes stayed on me when she quietly said, "Baka."

I blinked. "What? What did I do? I swear I didn't say or do anything stupid. Did I?"

For a moment, Lana stared at me before she burst into the most unexpected and surprising but very contagious and cute laugh.
I watched her widened eyes, blinking several times to confirm that this was real. I just made Lana Takumi laugh. How did Lana's laugh turn into exactly what I needed to cheer me up after Arjun?

"Your face." She kept chuckling while pointing at me.

I smiled widely and dropped down on the seat next to her. "You know what? I think I really like it when you laugh."

Cheeks tinting pink and her laugh fading, Lana dipped her head shyly.

My smile softened. "I'm sorry that Arjun bothered you because of me."

Lana's head jerked up and she shook her head. "No. It's not your fault but you don't have to get the elevator fixed."

Taken aback, I shook my head in protest. "No. I'm getting it fixed no matter what. It won't be of good use for you only but others too. Other people can use it if they get injured and when carrying heavy stuff."

"Okay. So we can stay friends?" She asked, hopeful.

I smiled. "Yeah, of course. I have a question though. I've been breaking the one-meter distance and no skin contact rules for a while now. Why don't you react or say anything?"

Lana shrugged. "I guess I've just gotten used to constantly having you around me."

"Do you like that?" I asked, carefully. "Having me around?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I do."

I smiled as I felt the feeling of overjoy pass through me but then suddenly Lana said, "Class is starting soon."

I jumped up. "Oh, right! English lit. We should go."

To my surprise, Lana shook her head and I asked, "What's wrong? You're not coming?"

"I already know what we're reading today. I read it last year."

Puzzled, I blinked twice. "What do you mean?"

"I'm repeating my senior year."

Surprised, I raised my brows. "Wait, what? Really? So you're a year older?"

"No. I was allowed to skip a grade when I was younger because of my good grades. But at the end of last year, some stuff happened and I skipped most of the second semester. That's why I have to repeat the whole year."

Taking it all in, I slowly nodded. "Oh, okay. So you remember most of the first semester. It's just the classes in the second semester you have to pay a lot of attention to, right?"

"Yeah. That's right."

She turned back to her game, getting Shy guy back on the race track but I stayed instead of leaving. For a moment, I watched her slightly sallow face and her skinny fingers. Admittedly, I had noticed that some days she looked like she hadn't slept a wink and her body seemed scrawny while other days she looked more awake and her cheeks were chubby. I guess she had good and bad days related to the "stuff" that happened at the end of last year.

"Hey, Lana?" I said quietly but she heard me clearly and glanced at me. "Are you-are you doing okay now? You know, related to the stuff that happened last year?"

Lana opened her mouth briefly but then closed it again, dropping her gaze. "Um, I don't-I don't know. I guess am. A little. I feel like I'm a lot better compared to back then but then again when I really think about it, I'm not."

I was guessing this stuff was maybe somehow related to her phobia of skin contact with boys. She did also confess she was depressed that night at the party, which was kind of noticeable. If she was like this now, I couldn't even imagine how her state must've been last year.

I nodded. "I get it. I mean-not what you've been through but ever since I lost Emma this summer, I've been feeling lost and kinda hopeless. Since the past few weeks I've been doing a better but sometimes it really hits me that she's gone and it all comes back again."

Lana stared at me with astonishment across her face before quietly confessing, "I feel like that too."

I patted the top of her head and smiled softly. "But I've been doing better since I moved here and made new friends, including you. I hope you feel better when you're around your friends too. The girls really care about you. I do too."

Lana stared at me for a moment before closing her eyes as I continued patting her head. At first, she was tense and drew in a sharp breath, but eventually her hunched shoulders fell and she exhaled deeply. And then for a brief moment, a flicker of a smile pulled up on Lana's face. Small but full of calmness and admiration.

****

Author's note: Hi, guys! Here's a new chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. More chapters coming soon! Probably going to be around 45 chapters in total.

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