September 21st

Skye and Levi had their first big chemistry assignment. Well, their first one outside of school.

After spending a week discussing lab safety and basic review because there's always that one kid that never fails to fuck up, their teacher decided to give them a lab to do in class, and then after that, they would have to write a lab report based off of their results. Skye and Levi divided their work evenly, so that meant each of them would be doing half of the lab report, but there was a bit of an issue.

The issue for Skye and Levi was that Levi had football practice Monday through Thursday for three hours unless there was rain, but unfortunately, it was sunny and bright today. Skye opted to wait after school for Levi's practice to end and informed her father what was going on. Thankfully, Skye's dad offered that Levi could come over and have dinner with them, but she said she would have to let him know when it came to that part.

What Skye learned while waiting on the bleachers was that Hunter and Danny were also on the football team with Levi, but Xavier was not. He was involved with the marching band at one point, but that failed miserably after an, ahem, "incident" with the instruments. Xavier was actually with Skye now, keeping her company while the practice went on.

"So the band teacher walked in right- are you listening?" Xavier asked with a pout. Currently, Skye was typing away on her laptop, going back and forth between her chemistry notebook and her laptop. Although the lab report wasn't even due tomorrow, Skye just wanted to get it over with, and she would hope that Levi could relate considering his busy schedule.

"Not really, no." She replied and looked up at him. "What were you saying?"

Xavier let out a sigh as he was disappointed in Skye for not listening to his story fully, but went on with it anyway. "I was just getting to the part where the band teacher walked in and yelled at me for the mess I made."

"But like, how could you mess up all those instruments?" Skye furrowed her eyebrows.

"Dude, it's so cramped in there!" He exclaimed. "It's like a hoarding situation, I swear."

"Good thing I never picked up any interest in music." She said, letting out a small laugh.

"Never again, man. Never again." Xavier shook his head.

Skye continued typing on her laptop, occasionally looking away from her screen to see what was going on during practice. The coach blew his whistle almost constantly, yelling anything and everything at his players, even his star captain, Levi.

Whenever something went right, Levi would do a handshake with Hunter and Danny, even bumping helmets sometimes. Skye could never understand football and the hype around it, but maybe she could one day see what it was all about if she bothered to care. To her and practically anyone who doesn't like sports, it looks like a bunch of dudes running like wild animals and attacking each other, but to sports enthusiasts, it's everything.

While Skye's head flooded with thoughts all over the place, the idea of learning more about Levi came to her, and since his best friend in the whole world was right next to her, the opportunity was right there. "So, how long have you known Levi?"

"Levi?" Xavier perked at the mention of his best friend. "Since kindergarten! Same with Hunter. Danny moved here in fourth grade and we've all been friends since."

"Hm." She pursed her lips. "It's crazy how you've been friends with him for so long."

Xavier knew Skye was right. It was crazy that he had basically known Levi all his life. He couldn't imagine his life going any other way, and if he were being honest, Xavier didn't know where he would be today without him. "Well, he's a good guy. He's been there for all of us. I know it sounds super corny but I'm like forever in his debt."

"Really?" Skye questioned.

"Yeah!" He replied. "He's helped me through so much, you wouldn't believe."

Skye could see the look in Xavier's eyes when he was talking about his best friend. At first, she thought that he was just hyping Levi up, but when she saw that look, she knew this guy genuinely had love for Levi. It kind of made her feel guilty for how she first acted towards him, but she wouldn't say anything about that. "Hm, I would've never thought that."

"Look, Skye, you're really cool," Xavier said. Was he onto something now? Absolutely.

"Oh, well, thanks, I guess." She smiled a little.

"But give Levi a chance. I promise being his friend is worth it." When Xavier said being his friend is worth it, he really meant that being more than his friend is worth it. He could easily tell by the way Levi would talk about Skye that he was already hooked by her whether they were strictly friends or not.

"Huh?" Her smile faded and changed into a look of confusion. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Well, I'm probably not supposed to tell you this," he looked around, hoping nobody would eavesdrop, so he whispered to her the rest of what he was going to say. "but Levi was in a bit of a funk after Megan dumped him last month."

"And?" She raised an eyebrow.

"And you've kind of like brought the real Levi back. I didn't know when he'd stop being so down in the dumps." Xavier rolled his eyes at the end, annoyed by the thought of having to knock on his best friend's door and beg him to get out of bed. Nobody ever wanted to see that version of Levi ever again.

"I did?" Skye questioned, so unsure of how to feel or even respond to that. Xavier sure knew how to drop bombshells on her, which she might have to start getting used to.

You see when Levi met Skye, every bad feeling he ever had about the breakup quickly disappeared. She came at him with a fire that he had been missing. Sure, he's not exactly over Megan, but damn, Skye sure knew how to heal the guy without even trying nor realizing it.

"Uh, yeah!" He exclaimed. "I know it's crazy to say because it's only been a couple of weeks, but trust me, I just know."

Before she could respond, Skye and Xavier's little deep conversation was interrupted by Levi, who was running towards them whilst taking off his football helmet. "Hey! What are you guys talking about over there?"

"Noth-" Skye began to say but got cut off by Xavier.

"We were talking about you, quarterback!" He yelled back at Levi, who chuckled at the response.

"Better be good things!" Levi replied.

"Definitely not!" Skye yelled out.

Levi proceeded to run up to the bleachers, climbing up them so he could be more eye level with them, but mainly Skye as he was trying to talk to her more. "You gonna go to the first game of the season this Friday?"

"I don't plan on it." She said, making a face at the thought of going to a football game. It was traumatizing enough watching her dad yell at the TV when he watched the Philadelphia Eagles games.

"You'll change your mind." He smirked, which made Skye a bit flustered.

"Daniels, get your ass back here!" Levi's coach yelled at the top of his lungs, waving for him to come back.

Levi looked back at his coach then back to Skye as he had one last thing to say to her. "Say, how about if we get an A on this assignment then you have to go?"

"And if we don't?" Skye questioned.

"I'll do whatever you want." He offered. Now they're talking. Skye didn't mind having Levi be her obedient servant for a little bit if it meant losing out on an A.

"It's a bet." She grinned.

"Daniels!" His coach called out, and he knew he couldn't keep him waiting, so Levi climbed back down and waved goodbye.

"You're on, Simmons!"

Levi ran back to the field, putting on his helmet and getting back to his practice. Skye looked out and watched him, completely distracted from her lab report. Xavier got her out of her trance with a comment that grossed her out though, so no worries.

"That-" Xavier paused. "-was the hottest thing I've ever seen."

"God." Skye rolled her eyes and got back to her schoolwork.

•••

Levi dropped off Xavier, Danny, and Hunter at their houses, and since it was just left to him and Skye now, Skye saw this as the opportunity to bring up her dad's offer while embarrassing herself the least amount possible. Considering how his friends began to view Levi and Skye, it would be incredibly embarrassing to talk about Levi potentially meeting her dad in front of them. So, she brought it up while she sat in the front seat of his cars, twiddling her thumbs and trying to be as nonchalant as possible.

Skye turned to him in her seat, mustering up the courage to tell Levi about the offer. "Hey, so, my dad offered that you could come over for dinner-"

"Awe, you tell your dad about me?" Levi interrupted, looking over at her with a cheeky smirk, which made Skye feel unexplainably flustered.

"Well, n-no." She stuttered. "I had to tell him why I wouldn't be home right away and he said you could come to the house to finish the lab report and said you could have dinner for us, jeez."

"You know I'm just teasing you, right?" He raised an eyebrow. Always one to tease.

"Now I know that. God, you can be so annoying sometimes." Skye rolled her eyes and crossed her arms then proceeded to look out the window.

"Only sometimes? Wow, I'm stepping up." Levi chuckled.

"I take that back." She looked back at him, arms still crossed.

"Awe, I was just stepping up!" He fake whined.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Keep your eyes on the road." Skye said, lightly hitting Levi's arm then pointing out to the road.

"Well, I surely will now knowing that I'm gonna meet the fam!" He exclaimed.

"Don't get too excited." She replied.

Despite Skye telling him to keep his eyes on the road, Levi couldn't help but catch glances at her as he spoke to her. Everything about her was just captivating, and he would surely continue to be as the school year goes by. "Parents love me, Skye. I can't help my excitement."

"Good luck with my dad then." Skye laughed. Practically everyone who met Skye's dad was afraid of him at first sight, that is until people got the chance to actually know him. Even Nikki was scared when she met him at the mere age of five, but even adults got scared. It was an appropriate reaction upon meeting a super tall and burly man who looked like he could snap your neck, but Skye never feared her father one bit growing up.

Levi had yet to know about what would occur when meeting her dad, but he was definitely going with the classic "I'll kill any man that hurts my daughter" assumption. "What about your mom?"

"Nothing to impress." She shrugged. "My parents are divorced."

"Gotcha, gotcha. It's no biggie, I'm sure your dad will love me." He replied. It made Skye feel a little better that he wasn't pressing her on the topic of her parent's divorce, but she was going to put Levi in complete fear in a second.

"People fear my dad." She said plainly.

"Uh, why?" Levi questioned. "Is he like big and scary or something?" Boy, he was in for a treat. A real big one.

"Yeah, but he has a soft spot for his family," Skye replied.

"Well, that's nice. I'm a little scared now, but that's still nice." He said with a nervous laugh at the end.

A few minutes later, the two pulled up to the front of Skye's house, so she decided to mess with Levi some more, instilling more fear into him even though there wasn't really much to worry about. "Ooo, we're here."

"Okay, I'm scared," Levi said, clinging onto the steering wheel.

"Ah, don't be." She assured him. "I've just been teasing you a little as payback."

Levi looked at Skye with his jaw dropped, baffled that she would mess with him despite him always teasing her ever since they met. "So you lied about him being big and scary?"

"Not exactly. My dad is six foot five." She replied. It was the truth, but Skye obviously knew it would scare Levi more, which was exactly what she wanted to do.

"Jesus Christ." He gulped, knuckles turning white as he tightened his grip on the wheel.

"Don't be shy. You'll be fine." Skye said, taking off her seatbelt and getting ready to get out of the car.

"I sure hope so," Levi replied anxiously.

Skye opened the car door, lugging her backpack onto her shoulders and climbing out of the passenger seat. She turned around with a grin on her face to face Levi who was still in the driver's seat, urging him to get out of the car. "Come on, we got a lab report to finish."

"You are so lucky we do because I would've driven away the moment you stepped out of the car." He said, letting out a sigh as he unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the driver's seat.

Levi walked around to catch up with Skye, who was pulling out her house key from her lanyard as they walked up to the front door. "How flattering."

Right about now Levi was sweating bullets, tugging on his shirt to feel more freeing as Skye unlocked the front door. Who would've thought going to your lab partner's house to finish a lab report would be so nerve-wracking? Definitely not Levi Daniels, but although he wasn't aware of it yet, he'd do anything for Skye Simmons.

•••

MARIA TALKS!

when i tell you writing this chapter took me ages, it took me fucking AGES! and i literally had no real excuse to not write?? i was just being a lazy bitch and playing the sims or watching tiktoks?? like girl?? you capable?? i wrote a whole book in two weeks once! shoutout to drive me crazy despite how bad the quality is- i was like 16 when i wrote it tho give me a break

btw today is AFTERGLOWLUKE's birthday!! everyone say happy birthday taylor!! i waited to update a little bit longer just so the next update could fall on her birthday. thank you so much for your support on this story from the very moment i told you the plot and continuing to do so and most importantly thank you for being a cool ass friend <3 I LOVE YOU BITCH 🥰

anyways shoutout to the people who are still here! i keep on losing readers each time i update BUT i came to the conclusion over a week ago that the hating ass bitches who doubt me will simply get bit in the ass later when they see this book on store shelves purr 💅🏻 oh and when i get that tv adaptation deal cause i'm manifesting that shit! the haters can be jealous all they want idc

also PLEASEEE don't forget to vote! i really want this to get as much recognition as possible and how is that gonna happen when not enough people are voting or even commenting?? i always got like the same few friends boosting my shit but it can't always be like that LMAO

but next chapter levi meets skye's dad!! it's definitely going to be interesting...