A soft tap made Haley pause, her shirt halfway pulled onto her head. When the noise came again, she yanked her t-shirt down and stepped out of her closet. Her bed was still in a state of disarray and a stack of books had given way to gravity and toppled over. Another tap came and Haley moved to her balcony. Jace stood in his doorway, throwing M&Ms at the glass.

"What are you doing?" she asked, opening her door.

Jace looked surprised to see she was dressed.

"I thought you were still asleep and missed your alarm," he said. "I was waking you up."

"Oh," she said, startled with how much she appreciated his concern. "Thanks. Well, you can stop the M&M attack, I'm awake."

"Good," Jace said, pocketing the bag of candy, "want to go get a breakfast burrito with me?"

Haley frowned. "What? Why?"

"Cause it's morning and I'm hungry."

Haley opened her mouth but when no words came out she closed it.

"I'll pay," Jace added. He held up a hand. "And before you get excited this is not a date, I am simply incapable of going anywhere on my own."

"I highly doubt that."

"Is that a 'no' then?"

For a second, Haley didn't know what to say. Jace pointed at her in triumphant.

"I'll take that silence as a yes. See you downstairs in ten." He walked back into his room. "Also Haley Day make your bed."

Fighting a smile, Haley closed her door and made quick work of her tangled sheets. After roughly putting her hair up in a ponytail, she grabbed her backpack and left her room. Halfway down the hall, Matt appeared.

"I'm going to get something to eat and then we can go," he said.

Haley shuffled. "Umm...actually I'm going to go get a breakfast burrito with Jace."

Matt raised his eyebrow in surprise.

"Are you two-"

"No!...Just friends."

A smile peeked out on Matt's face. Haley scowled in return.

"What?" she asked.

Matt shook his head. "Nothing, just happy you have a friend."

"Surprising, right?"

"No." He smiled and nodded to the front door. "Have fun."

Haley gripped the straps of her backpack and jogged down the stairs. At the front door, she paused wondering if she should stop by the kitchen and see what state her parent's relationship was in. Pushing the worry from her mind, she slipped out the door and into the cool morning.

Dew clung to the grass and jumped onto to Haley's Converses as she crossed over to Jace's house. He emerged, two helmets in hand. When he saw her, he tossed her one and she fumbled a bit but managed to hold onto it.

"We'll need to work on that," he said. "That was just pathetic."

"Shut up."

Jace laughed and it somehow made the day seem brighter. As Haley tugged on the helmet, she swung her leg over the motorcycle.

"Are we going to your family's place?" she asked.

"I am ashamed to admit we don't make the best breakfast burritos. Mañanas does. We'll go there."

Jace climbed onto the bike in front of Haley and the engine flared to life. As he popped the kickstand, Haley leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him. Jace turned his head back to her.

"Look at you finally learning," he said. "Be careful, Haley Day, I might start thinking you like me or something."

"Just drive, idiot."

"A pet name, you really have it bad."

When Haley punched Jace's arm, he just laughed and angled the bike away from the curb. The air was chilly that early and sent goosebumps up Haley's bare skin as it raced passed her. Instinctively, she found herself leaning closer to Jace for warmth. The town was just beginning to wake up as they zipped down Main Street. The sun was barely cresting the buildings and long patches of shade lay across the road.

Jace pulled into the narrow parking lot of a stout, tan adobe building. A sign in loopy letters said Mañanas. Tacked onto the end of the sign was a cartoon man, slouching with a sombrero covering his face.

As they entered, Haley lifted her helmet off. The interior was simple: tables, chairs, and a counter with a display board above it detailing the menu. The whole place smelled like green onions, cilantro and a collection of spices that made Haley's stomach rumble.

Despite the early hour tables were crowded with other students that had a similar idea. They joined the line before the counter and Jace stared up at the board as if he didn't already know what he was ordering.

"Lettie and I used to come here when she started driving," Haley said, too aware of the memories to stop herself from speaking.

Jace looked at her. "Yeah?"

Haley nodded, gazing over the familiar space. The person before them stepped aside and Jace gave their order, doing as he promised and paying. They found an empty table and claimed it. Crossing his arms, Jace leaned back in his chair.

"How long were you and Lettie friends?" he asked.

"Since sixth grade. She was kind of my first real friend since I jumped schools a couple of times before that."

Jace's face was intent and he seemed to have no plan on speaking. Somehow his silence kept Haley going.

"She was the more outgoing of the two of us. She was the one that constantly dragged me to games and school activities." Without reason, Haley shrugged. "With her I actually participated in all that lame stuff. When she left I found no reason to go anymore."

She looked around the restaurant as if needing to distance herself the memories and Jace's gaze. Their order was announced and Jace retrieved it, setting Haley's burrito before her. Steam curls from the tortilla. As Haley took a bite a burst of flavor and happy times filled her. When Jace had tucked away half of his burrito, he spoke.

"Where did Lettie go again?"

Haley swallowed her bite.

"She was accepted into an advanced mathematics program up in Seattle. It's really exclusive, only about twenty-five out of five hundred students are accepted."

"Wow, that's insane."

Haley nodded, remembering how loud Lettie had screamed when she had found out.

"Yeah, it was her dream come true."

"I'm guessing with that small amount of people it's an intense program. She's crazy busy, right?"

The statement hit Haley in a way she hadn't expected. All this time she knew that to be true, she wasn't blind to that, but having Jace say it reminded her why a phone call or even a message could be seen and missed or even forgotten.

"Yeah," Haley said, her tone distracted as if talking to herself more than Jace. "She probably doesn't have a lot of free time. And if she does she's trying to get used to new friends, new school, new city."

"But I bet she's happy to be there."

A small smile tugged at the corner of Haley's lips. "Yeah. And I'm happy for her. It was what she always wanted."

With the declaration, Haley felt like a weight had been lifted. A weight that she hadn't known had been there, growing and slowly pinning her down.

She focused back on Jace, realizing her gaze had wandered off. His eyes were resting on her as if trying to decipher where her mind had gone. Rousing herself, Haley straightened, tucking away the truth she had found.

"I'm done if you want to go," she said.

"Sounds good."

They stood, gathering up their trash and tossing it out.

"Thanks for taking me," Haley said, as they headed to the door.

"Sure. I told you I'm incapable of going anywhere on my own."

Haley smiled and reached for the handle. Before she could take it, the door was pulled open and Josie and Ty stepped inside.

"Hey, JoJo. Ty," Jace said.

Josie offered a smile in greeting but Ty looked like she was still trying to wake up.

"What brings you here?" Josie asked.

Shrugging, Jace tucked his hands into his pockets.

"Probably same as you, breakfast burritos," he said. "You know what they say, breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

Yawning, Ty shook her head.

"That's not true," she said, stretching. "That phrase was actually adopted in the 19th century by two advertising men to promote their invention of cereal. If you skip breakfast or just had a glass of water and a piece of fruit you'd be fine."

"They why are you here?" Jace asked.

Ty scrunched up her face, looking like a little kid trying to stay awake. "Cause I like breakfast burritos."

Jace chuckled and Haley's lips twitched at a smile.

"Enjoy those burritos, we should go before the bell," Jace said.

Jace took the door that Josie was holding and waited for Haley to pass through before following her. The streets were more crowded as they drove and the school parking lot was almost full as Jace pulled into an open space. As Haley pulled off her helmet, she noticed a few curious glances from the surrounding students.

"Are people looking at us?" she asked Jace.

"Probably."

"Do they think we're dating?"

Jace shrugged. "Probably. But who cares? Come on."

Haley gripped the straps of her backpack, eyeing the students she passed. When Jace noticed the crease between her eyebrows, he nudged her.

"Don't let it get to you, Haley Day. People see things and imagine they know the whole story."

Haley faltered realizing she had done that exact thing. How many lunches had she spent by herself thinking she knew what was really going? Some of the times she had been right, but how many times had she been wrong? She had been wrong about Jace, Rachel, Ty, and Josie.

Seeing it from the other side she was struck with how stupid all her imaginings had been. What did they know of her relationship with Jace? And in turn what did she know of their life, problems, and struggles?

The answer was nothing, only what she thought she knew. Part of Haley wanted to cover her face knowing how completely judgmental she had been, and the other half wanted to laugh at herself for thinking she was so smart for knowing it all.

"What are you thinking?" Jace asked.

Haley started not aware that he was still walking with her.

"Nothing," she said, shaking her head. "Just that you're right, they don't know the whole story."

Jace nodded in agreement, then shrugged.

"Besides if they did, they wouldn't believe it."

Frowning, Haley stared at him. "What do you mean?"

"It's a bit of a cliché, right? Girl and boy living next to each other, girl falls head over heels for boy-"

Haley shoved Jace and he burst out laughing. "Kidding."

Shaking her head in exasperation, Haley rolled her eyes.

"Idiot."

"There you go again using my pet name."

Haley laughed and something inside her lightened as if she hadn't truly laughed for a long time. They reached Haley's building and Jace took a backward step.

"See you around, Haley Day," Jace said.

Before he turned away, Haley cocked her head at him.

"Are you going to be able to make it to your classroom? Or do you need someone to walk with you since you're incapable of going anywhere alone?"

Jace swung his arms out to the side.

"I'm perfectly capable of going places by myself, I just wanted company." He shot her a toothy grin before spinning around and walking away.

The bell rang, hurrying steps and scattering groups. When Haley turned back to her class, she found she was smiling. As she walked towards the open doorway, Rachel approached. Haley's smile dimmed to something more subdued.

"Hey," she said, cautious. "How are you doing?"

"I'm not a wounded animal, Haley," Rachel said.

"No, you're someone dealing with a lot."

Rachel let out a breath as if she had been holding it in for a long time, trying to keep herself together.

"True. Well, I've had better days," she said with a whisper smile.

In that gesture, Haley saw how each movement Rachel took was controlled. Again Haley wondered how she could have so easily misread this girl, this person who carried so much weight and never let it show.

"I'm sorry," Haley said, feeling a need to say something.

"I will have better days again. But thanks."

The second bell rang and the two girls quickly slipped into the room. Haley took her seat towards the back as Ms. Henley called for attention.

"I want to remind you that your essays for the writer's project should be completed by this weekend," she said, strolling back and forth behind her desk. "Presentations start Monday. You'll hand in all your work on the day I call you to present, so you need to be ready because I will be calling on you at random. Now let's move on."

**********************************************************************

γεια σας Spider-ham
(Greek)

(Have you seen Into The Spider-Verse? So good! I laughed for the majority of it!)

The fourth wall is broken and there are developments, what must be your thoughts? 👉🕳👈

Can we all take a moment to be happy about the fact that Haley is truly growing! Gosh it's taken so long! But hey progress is progress. 😄

We are about halfway through the book, I want to know your predictions. You know my books and how I work, what do you think is going to happen?

Okay, I'm giving you a chance to get a spoiler for who Haley goes to Prom with. Ask and I will tell you, BUT! I have the option of wording it so that it could be true or it could seem like the truth. That means you would never know if I was messing with you or not.

So tell me, do you want the spoiler?

Now let's talk about random facts! What are five random facts about yourself? (They can be things most people know or ones no one knows!)

Here are mine:

I can sing!

I own a pair of $300 Ralph Lauren jeans that were bought for $8 at a thrift store almost brand new! (Yes, they are my favorite pair of jeans)

I have hazel eyes and a single freckle in the right one!

I drink at least one pot of tea a day if not two! (But only when it's cold)

My hair looks red in the sunlight!

Another random thing to do! Vote, comment, follow but only if you feel like you want to!

It's so 70s I'm dying!! 😂