Sasha was still set on her mission to ignore us. I think the rest of our group got a whiff of the huge scene yesterday because the lunch table was peculiarly quiet , everybody trying to subtly switch their gazes between the three of us.

The silence was deafening and I had such a hard time just spooning food into my mouth because of how uncomfortable I was with the situation.

But that was when I felt a tap on my foot below the table. I looked up and saw Leon, his attention on his meal but I knew it was him who did it. And that was all I needed to exhale loudly and release the tension building inside my body.

Something changed between us. Not sure in what way, but I definitely felt it.

And it wasn't just me who thought that, Mia noticed it as well. It was so obvious from the way she was eyeing both of us suspiciously during the whole car ride to school. I sincerely hope Sasha doesn't figure it out, because I cannot fathom how she would react considering she was right with her rant.

I did reject Pat and now I was getting closer to Leon.

I just want us to be all friends again. Was that too much to ask?

When the bell rang, I have never seen a more relieved group of people. Everybody stood as fast they possibly could from the table and rushed out of the cafeteria, and that included Sasha. My shoulders slumped and I groaned, leaning my head against Mia's shoulder, "This sucks!"

"I can talk to her," Pat offered, waiting for us two girls to stand up, "Besides, it's partly my fault."

Mia shook her head, patting the top of my head in comfort, "I think at this point, that will only make it worse."

Leon walked around the table so he was standing next to us. He reached down and tugged on my arm lightly, "You guys did say that it's better to wait until she cools down."

Though I was afraid that with yesterday's events, we might as well be waiting for nothing.

I frowned deeply and stood up, slinging my bag on my shoulder and taking Leon's hand so we could finally make our way to class, "She might never cool down."

"She will," he reassured, tightening his grip as we both started walking.

Though we only managed to take a few steps before we both realized what we did. We stared at each other, our eyes wide in surprise, before slowly looking over our shoulders to see our best friends gaping there in disbelief.

We immediately let go of each other, taking a huge step away from the other person. I tried to think of an excuse, but my mind was blank because Mia, who always had something to say in every situation, was speechless.

And then there was Pat. At first, I was so afraid that he might look hurt but there was no other expression on his face but pure and utter shock. I could practically see the gears turning in his head as he tried to comprehend the situation.

"So..." I trailed off, clearing my throat and marching to where they were, looping my arm with Mia, "Let's go to math!"

Oh dear god, how can I explain something that even I was confused about?

Thank heavens though that we did it in front of Mia and Pat only. It would be far easier to explain if it was just the two of them.

"Will you tell me what's going on?" Mia whispered harshly as we rushed to the classroom.

"Would you be mad if I say no?" I tried to say jokingly, but it was definitely half meant as a way to gauge her thoughts.

Unfortunately, she was in no laughing mood, "Yes!"

I flinched slightly and I was terrified to look behind us because I knew the boys were following. I could hear their low whispers and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't understand anything they were saying.

"I'll tell you later," I shot back to her and due to the grace of all things good with the world, we managed to get to the classroom. I zoomed towards my seat by the window, immediately slamming my head on my desk because of how exasperated I was.

But also because I felt the butterflies just from holding Leon's hand.

Can I hope, even for the miniscule chance, that he liked me back? I mean, he did go back several times to the past in order to save me.

It was hard to get rid of this crush now that I've learned what he had done for me. Scratch that, we were way beyond crush level at this point. I warned myself not to fall any harder, but he was making it really hard, impossible even.

I like Leon, hopelessly so.

The teacher came in and I straightened my posture, grabbing my notebook a few sheets of paper so I could at least do the math notes that I promised Leon. I wonder what Zoey would think if I told her everything – well, minus the time travel part.

How would she react if she knew that I ate dinner at his house twice now? How would she react if I said that I already met his parents? How would she react if I told her that I liked him this much?

One thing's for sure, she would be elated. That look of excitement she showed me when she thought we were more than friends when Leon and I ran into each other at the restaurant? I could imagine it doubling if I reveal everything to her.

I also knew that Leon would handle Pat for me. I didn't owe the guy an explanation after turning him down, I'll let his best friend take care of that. Besides, I still had my own friendship problems.

I slowly let my gaze travel to where Leon, Pat, and Sasha were sitting. The two boys were still talking in hushed murmurs while Sasha had her eyes on the board, but the loose grip on her pen while her other hand mindlessly tapped on her desk made it look like she wasn't really listening.

While I didn't want to imagine it, perhaps I should get used to the thought that it was just going to be Mia and I from now on.

When the class ended, I packed all of my things except for the notes. I stood up and walked to the boys, handing Leon the papers while I watched on as Sasha marched out of the classroom alone.

"Thank you," he said, taking the notes before noticing what I was looking at. He sighed, sharing a fleeting glance with Pat, "Are you sure you don't want Pat to talk to her?"

My eyes switched to Pat, who was now staring down at me expectantly. This whole situation was bad, and while I was grateful that he acknowledged that this whole thing started because of his fantastic idea of asking me out in front of everybody, the whole blame wasn't on him. Sasha made it perfectly clear that she had been harboring these feelings for a while and this was just the trigger.

And besides, I felt like I had no right to ask Pat for any favors especially after what I did to him.

"I'm sure," I nodded, "But thank you for offering."

"I'm really sorry," Pat apologized, scratching the back of his neck and looking down to the floor in shame, "Because of me, you got into a fight with your friend."

I shook my head and shared a small look with Mia. Neither of us was upset with him, the only thing we were mad about was that we felt so hopeless in this situation, "It's really alright."

But if there was one thing I was honestly impressed by all of this, it was Pat and Leon's unwavering friendship. Those two were the epitome of inseparable, if there was an argument, it will be resolved so quickly that I was amazed by it.

Seriously, if they were going to give a crash course on friendship, sign me up please.

"Well, there's not much we can do now aside from go to class," Mia spoke, "We'll see you boys later at practice."

While they were hesitant, we went our separate ways since we didn't share our next class together. Although during the whole time we were sitting at the bleachers while watching the boys train, I could feel Mia's piercing gaze on me.

"There's nothing going on between us," I groaned, trying to sway her off.

Though she was not having it.

"Yeah and you're also in love with Pat," she rolled her eyes, "Next lie, please."

Well, technically it wasn't a complete lie since I did love Pat. Just not in that sense anymore.

"But I'm serious," I frowned, "I like him, that part you know about, but I'm not sure if he even feels remotely the same way."

I was sure that he at least cared for me. But was it the same way that I did? Did he want the hand holding, kissing, and dating shebang?

Or this was just something severely misinterpreted.

"I hate meddling, more so after what happened," she told me, "But Avs, I am almost certain that he does like you. You're the only person that Leon Colten treats differently, he practically hates every single human being except for you and Pat."

"Should've seen him with his parents though," I remarked with a low laugh. My words registered inside my head when I saw Mia's eyes slowly widen.

Oh no.

"You've met his parents?" she gasped and I could see just how much effort she was putting to make sure her voice was leveled, "What's next, you've been to his house?"

I didn't reply. Actually, I didn't need to because my refusal to say anything else after was all the confirmation she needed.

"Avery!" she yelled, throwing caution out of the window, "There is something going on between you two."

The only thing going on between us was we both shared this weird time travel experience.

Also that he saved my life, but this was not the time to go into details.

I was just so thankful that Sasha wasn't here – she probably already went home. It was a good thing though because at least there was no possible chance she would hear this conversation.

"I wish there was," I replied, looking out to the field and watching Leon run towards the ball. If he has done this at least thirty times, then I could just imagine the amount of trainings he had to attend. No wonder he was so good, I remember Pat mentioning back then that Leon was in the running to become the next captain.

Handsome, smart, rich, a happy family life, and a good athlete to boot. What did I bring to the table? An infinite amount of stress to the both of us.

It was awful being this insecure.

After a while, the coach called the end of training and instructed everybody to clean up. I pulled Mia with me as we went down the bleachers, heading to where Pat and Leon were packing up their bags.

"Here you go," Leon said, handing me the keys to his car, "I'll follow after we head to the lockers."

"Alright," I smiled, "You did great today."

While Mia did say she hated going poking her nose into others' business, Pat had no shame. He went to Leon's side, slung an around his shoulder and pointed towards him then to me, "So are you two dating now?"

"Pat!" Leon yelled, but it didn't faze his best friend.

Meanwhile, my own friend was trying to hide her cackles behind her hand while I stood there with my cheeks slowly getting red.

"Avery, do you like Leon?" Pat continued on, repeating the same question he asked me once.

Thankfully, I didn't need to answer that question because Leon grabbed his wrist and twisted it so he could release him. Pat let out a yelp and jumped backwards, successfully freeing Leon from his hold. The latter rolled his eyes and marched towards the locker room while Pat had no other choice but to follow, snickering under his breath.

"Yes," I whispered once they were completely out of earshot.

Mia laughed loudly and tapped my back, signaling that we should go, "Come on, at least he's chill with it."

Because Pat was never the type to make a big deal out of something like this. Maybe that was the reason they were best friends – they handle things the same way.

"So what did Zoey say when you said that you liked Leon?" she asked, trying to open up a conversation as we made our way to the parking lot.

Oh right, I still had to tell Zoey

***

"I'm ready to listen when you're ready to talk," Zoey said, one hand on her coffee mug and the other still holding her fork, "You've been staring at me in silence for a full five minutes, Avy."

I had no idea how to approach the subject.

I've had crushes a lot of boys before and usually, I have no problems with talking to her about them. However, when I really liked a guy – like really really like someone – then I become shy and bashful.

Alright, let's do the roundabout way again because apparently, that technique worked with her the last time.

"So there's this guy..." I started off cautiously, first pausing to see how she would react. She only hummed in response, gesturing for me to continue, "And I kind of, sort of, like him."

She placed her mug back on the table and she looked at me with that new twinkle in her eyes – one that screamed excitement and enthusiasm. You know, the usual way that Zoey looks like when I talk about my love life.

"And we've become pretty close recently, but I don't know how to move forward."

"Avy, if there's one thing I learned while being your best friend," she started off with that usual sweet smile, "It's that guys will beg a shooting star just for you to look their way. Every time you have told me about somebody you like, they always end up reciprocating your feelings."

Somehow, this was similar to what Sasha said. The difference was, Sasha's words were wrapped in disdain, while Zoey's was filled with pride. Instead of filling me up with guilt and doubt, she was trying to inject as much confidence as she possibly could into me.

"I don't know about them, but I thank the lucky stars that I'm best friends with someone who is so kind and beautiful," she continued on, "You're a catch and everybody knows that."

Does she have a single clue that people looks at her the same way she described me?

That even though it made me a little bit insecure, being best friends with someone like Zoey was my pride and joy? Sure, she was far prettier than me and had a heart of gold, but she never allowed me to feel inferior to her.

She always made it clear that she loved me just as much as I loved her.

And Leon's story, of how she looked like a complete mess when I died, made me want to hold on to her tighter than ever before.

But I would rather want her to be blissfully unaware of what I've really been through. Happy Zoey was my favorite Zoey.

"Now who is he?" she pressed, now looking at me expectantly.

I should have known that it would end up with this.

As they say, speak of the devil and he shall appear.

From where we were sitting, I saw the glass door of the restaurant open and both Pat and Leon strolled in. My first instinct was to hide, like I did the last time by rushing to the restroom, but I stayed perfectly still on my seat. In fact, I stared at them while deep down hoping that they would see us.

But hold on, this meant that Pat would see Zoey for the first time.

"Earth to Avy?" she asked, her eyes knitted in concern. She quickly picked up that I was looking at something else and she slowly followed my gaze. Whatever excitement she was displaying earlier, it was now multiplied when she saw who managed to grab my attention.

She turned back to me, her mouth wide in a grin, "Is it Leon?"

I blinked once, then twice, refusing to give her an response. However, we have concluded that Zoey barely needed any words to understand me so she quickly knew the answer.

"Are you going to invite him to our table?" she questioned, or more like encouraged.

I was honestly considering it and I had to kick myself for even thinking about it.

All that worrying was unnecessary though because we heard Pat's loud call, "Avery?"

Well, this was happening.

I watched as they started weave their way through the other tables to get to us. From behind Pat, Leon flashed me a small smile and that was all I needed to relax. I shot them a welcoming nod, waiting for them to get here.

Zoey had her back turned to them so at this point, Pat hasn't had a single glance of her yet. Right now, I was waiting for them to finally see each other. Actually, I was quite curious as to how I would react to his reaction.

Did that make any sense?

"Hey fancy seeing you here," Pat chuckled lightheartedly, finally reaching us.

Alright, here were go.

I gestured to the person sitting right across from me so that he could place his attention on her. Finally, even though I've been dreading this for a while now, I introduced them, "Pat, this is Zoey. Zoey, this is Pat."

And just like before, only we weren't in a relationship this time, he was unabashedly mesmerized by her. I could see his eyes slowly widen, his jaw subtly gape open, and his face turning pink at the sight of the objectively beautiful girl sitting there.

You know what was surprising thing of all? I felt nothing. No pain, no heartbreak. I just stayed there completely unbothered and watched on.

"H-hi," he stammered an awful attempt for an introduction. She, on the other hand, wasn't fazed at all.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you," she smiled politely.

You know that exact look of someone completely falling in love at first sight? Like it was so painfully obvious that his heart has started rapidly beating inside his chest. Well, that was Pat – he was the perfect example. It was as if the whole world around him disappeared and all he had eyes on was her.

I felt a hand on shoulder, causing me to jump in surprise since I was so invested in them. Leon was staring down at me worriedly and he had a reason to – last time I saw those two together, I had a massive breakdown.

But right now, I was alright and I knew that it was because of him.

So I pressed my cheek to his hand affectionately, trying to get my message across.

Zoey was making a huge effort to hide her giddiness when she saw me do that. She cleared her throat to compose herself and turned to the boys, "How about you two join us?"

Pat was on a seat in a flash, trying to play his chances. Leon was far calmer and slowly sat on the chair next to mine.

"Hi," I muttered to him quietly and he chuckled, drumming his fingers on the back of my hand until I flipped it over and allowed him to hold it.

Good thing this was all under the table or else Zoey would have been acting over the moon by now.

Although I would understand if she did since I, myself, am over the moon right now.

-----------------------------

Did I completely forget that it was Friday and had to speed proofread this? Yes. Am I head over heels in love with Avery and Leon's relationship? Also yes. 

Excuse me while I squeal over here because my babies are so cute together.

Questions: Pat and Zoey, a yay or a nah?

Hope you guys still liked the chapter and please vote, comment, and follow.. Thank you so much for reading and I'll see you on the next one!