Chapter Seven

The next day I was standing at my locker taping a photo of me, Cody and Rosa to my locker door–one from last winter with us huddled with our to-go drinks–when I'm surprise attacked by Alex. He snuck up behind me like the sneak that he was, catching me in a weak moment between classes when I was completely distracted.

"Yo, Mae," greeted Alex from behind me.

His voice startled me, and when I spun on my heel, I jumped a second time. He was standing close enough that I could smell that he'd had toast for breakfast that day. I stepped back so that I was almost inside my locker.

"Yes Alex?" I replied, eyeing him anxiously. This was the first time we'd been alone since he came to my house on the morning of my birthday to end things. I wasn't keen to chat. In fact, if he wasn't basically cornering me in my open locker, I'd have probably made a run for it. "Can I help you?"

"Actually, yeah you can," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. He actually had the gall to look uncomfortable, when he was the one approaching me. What the actual heck!

I sniffed, and looked past him, hoping to see some kind of obvious way out of this situation.

"You know we obviously know a lot of the same people, so we'll probably see each other at the same parties and stuff." He hesitated, glancing briefly back over his shoulder as if he expected somebody to be there watching our conversation. "Well anyway, Carly's worried you're going to make a scene or something and I just wanted to make sure you're going to be cool. Like, I wouldn't want you to embarrass yourself or anything, you know?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but nothing came out. Was he being serious? Did he really believe I cared about what Carly was worried about? There was no way I would make a fool out of myself, especially because of either of them. But to think that he had the right to come over here and tell me any of that was completely insane.

I managed to regain my composure enough to splutter out, "What?"

"It's just, that you can be a bit emotional Mae and I don't want you to upset Carly."

I felt my eyes fill with tears and I quickly turned back to my locker to brush them away. Hell if I was going to prove him right. I fisted my hands at my side as I tried to come up with a hard-hitting comeback. Something more fitting than you suck or I hate your stupid face.

Before I could come up with a response, Elijah peeked his head around my locker door.

"Hey Locker Buddy, do you have a sec?" he asked, looking between me and Alex questioningly. "Or are you busy?"

I tried not to smile, thankful for his sudden appearance. I turned my whole back on Alex, pretending he wasn't there and hoping that he just might magically disappear. "Sure Elijah, what do you need?"

"I didn't know you guys were friends," murmured Alex from behind me.

I saw Elijah smile in his direction, his brows raised expectantly.

"Ugh..." Alex stuttered for a second. "Bye Mae. Think about what I said, okay?"

Elijah turned back to me, his smile now blinding me. A funny fluttery feeling passed over my stomach. "What's up?" I repeated, breathing a sigh of relief. Elijah had really saved me from Alex and from the expression on his face, he literally had no idea.

Elijah stepped around my open locker door with a Tupperware tub in his hands. Through the clear plastic I could see it was packed full of cookies.

"I was hoping I could trade you a cookie for your maths book," he said, stray hairs falling over his forehead as he looked down at the tub and peeled off the lid. A strong scent of sweet chocolate filled my nose and I began to salivate. "I lent mine to my friend and I haven't been able to track him down before class."

"Sure," I said, reaching into my locker for my book. I'd just had math so I wouldn't need it today, but even if I hadn't, I'd have probably still have given it to him. "I'll definitely take a cookie, I'm starving."

I handed him the book and he offered me the open tub. Taking a cookie, I took a big bite. It was soft with that perfect amount of chewy. I closed my eyes, appreciating the flavour. "Mmmm. That's so good, where did you get these?"

"Someone just gave me them as a 'Welcome back' gift," he said watching me with the corner of his mouth turned up.

"Someone just gave you these?" That was so weird. "Does that happen a lot? People baking for you?"

He shrugged. "Kind of." He paused, glancing down into the tub. "So, it tastes okay right? Do you feel funny?"

My hand flew to my mouth. "Did you just use me to test the cookies for poison?"

"Maybe... I mean, you can't be too careful with these things," he said, closing the lid of the tub and putting the whole thing into his locker.

I stared at him in surprise, the half-eaten cookie dropped from my fingers and created a crumby mess on the floor between us.

His lips stretched into a wide grin. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding," he said, beginning to laugh. "I've already had like five."

I let out an awkward giggle. Wow did I feel stupid. I'd genuinely believed him.

"You know our trade didn't include loss of property, and I'd hate for you to feel like you got the crappy end of the deal," he said, gesturing at my half-eaten cookie on the ground. "Do you want another one?"

I shook my head at him fervently. "No thanks." As tastey as it had been, I wasn't willing to risk my life for a cookie, even if he was only joking.

**Authors Note**

My husband says I talk about food a lot in my writing lol. Can you tell I haven't eaten lunch yet? What I wouldn't give for a cookie! Don't forget to Vote and comment below <3