January 22nd

Dear Future Me,

Everything has been magical ever since my birthday. No more drama, no craziness, just pure bliss. It's kind of weird having some sort of normalcy as I got used to the chaos, but I think that chaos is going to start up again later today.

As planned last week at my surprise birthday party, the "squad" is going to have a "squad sleepover" at Levi's place. I don't think they know I spent the night at Levi's on New Year's, but if they do, they're insanely good at keeping their mouth shut about it.

Since I'm going to Levi's house straight after school, I had to pack a little duffel bag the night before. I'm totally gonna look like all of the sports kids when they bring their duffel bags for practice and games, so I guess I give to live that one out just this once. I'm just gonna put it in my locker until the end of the day though. There's nothing to flex. Well, besides my amazing group of friends.

God, I'll never get used to saying that.

Sincerely,

Past Me.

•••

Balancing her backpack on her shoulders and her duffel bag hanging off her left arm, Skye gripped the handles of her bike as she rode to school on a fairly chilly winter morning. She simply couldn't wait for spring when riding her bike didn't make her feel like she would turn frozen any second.

"I can just fit your bike in the back," Levi said to her over the phone last night. Sure, with the squad sleepover finally occurring after school, it gave her a little motivational boost to keep going, but this was just ridiculous. There was no way she would leave her bike at school for the weekend, and there was surely no way she'd go with Levi's morning schedule. Skye liked her sleep, simple as that.

As Skye rode down the main road (making sure to stay close the edge by the sidewalk so she wouldn't get hit and/or die), she heard a car beep, which was odd as she wasn't even blocking any cars. She turned her head to find a familiar silver car in the lane closest to her. Squinting her eyes to see who was in the window, she knew just who exactly was in the car, her suspicions confirmed as an all too recognizable face rolled down the window.

"Xavier?" Skye furrowed her eyebrows.

"Hey!" He yelled out. "Get in the car! We won't kill you or anything!"

"What about my bike?!" She asked. It's not like Skye could just leave her bike on some random street, it would get stolen in a heartbeat! Luckily for her, Levi had more of a brain than she initially perceived him to have.

"Hey, Skye!" Levi yelled, climbing over Xavier to wave at her, making his umber-skinned best friend lean far back against the seat.

"Uh, hey!" Skye waved back, still as confused as ever.

"I'm gonna pull over!" He replied, freeing Xavier of his misery and going back to the driver's seat.

Skye stood by as Levi pulled over his car away from the lane, putting it in park and stepping out of the car to show off a bike rack, which his dad purchased for Levi's car after a post-dinner trip to Walmart last night when Levi finished his phone call with Skye. "Look what I got."

"When did you get that?" She asked him.

"Last night," Levi said.

"Oh my god," Skye muttered to herself. This morning was absolutely insane, that's for sure.

"Come on, I'll take you to school, we have time!" He insisted.

Skye let out a sigh, figuring she just accept the ride before she froze to her doom like Anna from Frozen. She then walked over to Levi with her bike, passing it over to him and not forgetting to drop a tiny threat. "If my bike falls off you're dead."

"Not with this bad boy," Levi said, which made Skye cringe to no end.

"Never say that again." She replied, making a disgusted face, passing him her bike lock, and walking away from him while he set everything up.

Skye opened the door to the backseat, climbing in to sit opposite Danny and commenting on Xavier taking over the passenger seat once more. "I see my seat has been taken over."

"I didn't know we'd spot you!" Xavier protested, but at this point, the whole who got the front seat thing didn't matter anymore.

"Don't sweat it, dude, especially now that you know who isn't around," Skye said, referencing Hunter, which was pretty obvious.

Levi, who had just got into the car, heard the mention of "you know who", and thought to ask about the card as they never brought it up again after her birthday. "Speaking of-"

"Yes, I read the card." She interrupted him. Skye wouldn't go into any sort of detail, but it would be made apparent how dumb it was when she tells them about throwing it away after she read it.

"What card?" Xavier asked as he and Danny had no clue about it. They sure were in for a treat.

"From Hunter," Skye replied. "I read it then threw it away."

"He's so stupid for that." Danny scoffed.

"Valid," Xavier said.

"It's whatever." She shrugged. "I'm not worried about him."

"Well, either way, we got your back," Danny assured her. The guy wasn't exactly a fighter, but knowing how much Skye meant to both Levi and Nini, he had her back no matter what it took.

"Thanks, Danny," Skye said.

"Um, we do too." Levi pouted, turning around to face her and Danny in the back seat and show off his whiny face.

"I knew that." She grinned.

After getting through all of the morning traffic, Levi parked in one of the few available parking spots at school, then put a stop to the car and gave everyone the okay to get out. Before Skye could go to homeroom with Danny though, she had one small request that would ease her worries for the school day.

"Um, can we move my bike into the backseat or something?" Skye asked. "Just until the school day is over. I don't want anybody stealing it or anything."

"I didn't even think of that." Levi lightly gasped. "I'll do it for you. You guys just get to homeroom."

"You sure?" She furrowed her eyebrows.

"Yeah, just go off without me." He insisted, which Skye didn't fight on.

"Uh, okay. Thank you though." Skye said, noticing how Levi didn't say his typical response whenever she thanked him for anything. Hm, he didn't say "no problem" or "it's never a problem, Skye" like he always does. Weird.

Catching up with Xavier and Danny, Skye walked with the two down the halls, noticing new posters hung up that weren't there yesterday. "Winter formal already?"

"Gee, I wonder what the theme is." Xavier joked. Totally won't be winter-themed or anything...

"I didn't tell you guys?" Danny asked. Seeing as he's involved with student council, he figured that he'd run his mouth about it somehow, but Danny only seemed to bring it up to Nini, and she must've not said anything either.

"Nope." Skye shook her head.

"Oops."

"You already know we're all going," Xavier said. Maybe this time he'll wear a Spider-Man suit under his actual suit. Now that would be epic.

"Let's just get through this weekend first, okay?" Skye giggled. If this was going to be a big to-do-like homecoming, Skye was pretty much ready to face whatever kind of chaos comes her way.

"Hell yeah! Squad sleepover, woo!" Xavier cheered, completely abandoning his friends to skip down the hallway in excitement. Someone clearly had a little too much caffeine this morning, but it was also the combination of excitement for the weekend.

"He'll calm down by the end of the day."

When the time came, that proved to be a complete lie. The squad walked together side by side through the parking lot, hearing Xavier's ramble on about what happened in his Home Ec class, aka his last class of the day (how lucky of him), which explained why he wasn't calm whatsoever.

"Dude, in Home Ec we made our own frappuccino's!" He exclaimed, way ahead of his friends. "Who the hell needs Starbucks?"

"Okay, I take back what I said." Danny leaned over to Skye and said quietly to her.

"I knew this would happen anyway." She replied, then abandoned Danny and Levi to run past Xavier and claim her seat in the car. "Hey, I call shotgun!"

"Goddammit!" Xavier yelled, stomping his feet onto the ground and letting out a groan.

"It's funny every time," Skye said to herself.

"Everybody in the car!" Levi yelled out as he and Danny caught up with the two.

Once Levi unlocked his car, Skye got in while everyone else pulled out her bike (that she was glad didn't get stolen, who knew if someone wanted to break a window to do it), and set it back on the bike rack. Levi was sure glad he got his dad to buy it, plus it would also be useful when his brother Lenny gets a bike of his own.

The boys hopped into the car and put on their seatbelts, Xavier still showing his excitement despite Skye taking the passenger seat. "To Brandywine High, we go!"

"Brandywine?" She turned and furrowed her eyebrows.

"We have to pick up Nini, remember?" Danny questioned.

"Oh, yeah." Skye frowned.

"Worried about the blonde devil?" Xavier asked. He sure knew how to read her mind, even if he didn't have the actual power to possess such a thing.

"No." She lied. Of course, Skye was worried about Megan. She didn't know whether Levi was still in love with her. Guys were notorious for being hung up on their exes and leaving the perfect girl just for the one that got away, even if they were in fact a devil.

"Good. She's the spawn of satan." Xavier snorted, which struck a chord with Levi who was focusing on getting out of the parking lot.

"Guys, it's not like I loved her once upon a time or anything." He whined.

"Did you though?" Xavier raised an eyebrow.

Upon his response, Levi immediately put a harsh stop to the car, making everyone hold on to the nearest thing due to the slight impact. Levi turned to face Xavier and glared at him, making Xavier immediately regret everything he said. The guy could be intimidating when he needed to be, and even Skye was a little scared right now.

"I take that back." He said.

Once they got back to driving, everyone stayed silent in the car for quite some time. Skye decided to be the one to break the silence, bringing back the topic of love, but this time pointing her question at Xavier since they didn't need to talk about Levi's love life anymore. Besides, she was curious if Xavier ever found his fairytale romance before. He really needed someone to balance him out.

"You ever fell in love, Xavier?" Skye asked him.

"Does getting a boner to Paul Rudd in Clueless count?" Xavier answered, which Skye wasn't expecting whatsoever.

"No..."

"But he was my awakening!" He exclaimed. Yeah, that's fair.

"Okay, then maybe." She shrugged.

Their conversation was interrupted by Levi violently beeping his car horn, aggravated by the traffic as they were nearing Nini's school. "God, I hate Brandywine traffic!"

"Philly traffic is worse, we know this already," Xavier said.

"Oh, I am never driving to Philly for any of you ever again." Levi scoffed. Long story short, Levi was once subjected to driving his friends to Philadelphia all because Xavier wanted to lick the Liberty Bell after seeing it happen on How I Met Your Mother. No, they did not end up licking the Liberty Bell, but they did have some really good cheesesteaks once they got through the monstrous city traffic.

"What about me?" Skye pouted. She had no idea about the Liberty Bell story, but she definitely had to hear it eventually.

"Come on, Skye, you know he would." Danny teased.

"Stop being right!" Levi yelled, not able to turn around and yell in Danny's face himself because he had to keep his eyes on the road while pulling into Brandywine High.

"He's a Virgo, he can't help it!" Xavier yelled back in Danny's defense.

"God, I love being the exception," Skye said and let out a sigh.

"I love being the exception." Xavier mocked, attempting to imitate her.

"I'm sure you're sister from another mister would love to smack you right now." She smirked.

"Where is she?" He asked, looking out to the right as they pulled up to the entrance, looking at all the students walking past.

Scaring the shit out of Xavier, Nini knocks on his window, making him jump so high his head almost hit the roof, which produced a giggle from Nini. "Motherfu-"

Levi unlocked the door, letting Nini open it so she could wave and say hi to everyone. "Hey, guys!"

Xavier looks scared as she's right in front of him, making her raise an eyebrow at him as she suspected Xavier was up to something like always. Lord knows what would happen if she knew about him mocking Skye whether she was offended or not (which she wasn't). Nini may look sweet on the outside, but she could definitely be intimidating when it came to dealing with Xavier's nonsense all of her life.

"What did you do now?" Nini asked.

"Nothing!" He replied, hearing Danny snicker from his seat.

"Whatever, move so I can sit next to Danny." She said.

"What's the magic word?" Xavier teased, going back to his classic Xavier ways, even if he feared Nini a little.

"Do you really wanna do this?" Nini questioned and crossed her arms.

"No." He frowned, unbuckling and getting out of his seat so Nini could squeeze into the middle seat next to Danny.

"That's what I thought." She said with a pleased grin.

After Nini got cuddled up next to her boyfriend, Levi turned to ask if she was ready to go so they could drive out of their rival school already. "You buckled up, Nini?"

"Yup, you're free to go," Nini replied, then Levi drove off as fast as possible.

"God, short people are so evil." Xavier scoffed as he watched Danny and Nini be cute together right next to him, which was like absolute torture.

"That includes you, ya know," Nini said, turning her head just for that small yet brutal comeback.

"Don't do me like that." He shook his head.

"Oh, hush." She rolled her eyes then changed her tune to hype everyone up. "This weekend is ours, people!"

"Yeah, squad sleepover!" Xavier yelled.

"Your mood sure changed quick." Skye laughed as she pointed it out.

"I immediately get excited when I hear the words "squad" and "sleepover", I can't help it." He shrugged. Now that isn't all that surprising. It's Xavier, come on.

"Why am I not surprised?" She furrowed her eyebrows.

"Because this is gonna be the best weekend ever!" Xavier responded enthusiastically.

"I sure hope it is," Skye replied.

"As long as you got us, it will be," Levi said.

Skye whipped her head and looked over at him, thinking he would be looking at her, but she just found his eyes still focused on the road. "Yeah, you're right."

"To Levi's house!" Nini exclaimed.

"To Levi's house!" Everyone said together, sharing a laugh as they drove into the weekend.

•••

MARIA TALKS!

okay, i LOVE this chapter. it's not in like my top 10, but it's definitely a chapter i like and am very proud of.

i felt the need to bring back this meme so...

i would also like to note that i have MANY more original story ideas (one being a literal trilogy), so maybe i might disclose these ideas at the end of this book? lmk what you think!

also update on my love life?? still thriving. i'm not going to give away his actual name, but i keep calling him mini ted cause he's like a mini ted mosby from how i met your mother. we have many many inside jokes. today we talked over the phone tho 🥺 HE SAID MY LAUGH WAS CUTE LIKE

i stg i will shut up about this eventually. maybe i'll fr be cuffed by the end of this book?? don't think my happiness will mean no more angst tho- THE CEO OF ANGST LIVES ON! although i should be more focused on completing the final chapter and epilogue of this story tho... romance has distracted me. oops.

ANYWAYYYYY, see ya next time <3