LOGINWHAT JAKE ALREADY KNEWFor a few seconds, nobody did anything. The hallway was becoming packed with students yet again, but Ethan paid no attention to that whatsoever. The sounds of their laughter and conversation formed one continuous sound, somebody shouted something from the other end of the hall, a teacher rushed up the stairs holding a big pile of documents close to his body. None of it made any difference now, all of that faded in the background, as Ethan kept looking at the message on the phone.YOU SHOULD HAVE ASKED HER.Blake was standing next to him, looking at the same screen, Maya was standing beside them."What does it mean?" she asked."I don't know," Ethan said.Blake took the phone from his hand. "This means that the guy who sent it wants us to believe that Maya knows something."Maya shook her head. "I don't.""I believe you," Blake said.She looked at him, surprise evident in her eyes. "You do?""Yes," Blake said.Blake looked at Ethan. "We can't turn on each other b
THE PHONE IN THE HALLWAYFor a few moments, Ethan and Blake only stared at the message on the screen.ASK MAYA.The message was bright against the dark background of Ethan's phone, and neither of them said anything. The air in the room suddenly felt much colder. A slight breeze was coming from somewhere – one of the windows of the old music room was slightly open, and there was a whistling on the football field, followed by the yells of kids.Ethan swallowed hard. "Do you think she sent it?"Blake was silent for a second, took the phone from Ethan and reread the message. "I don't know.""That's not what I expected you to say," Ethan commented."What did you expect?" Blake asked."I don't know. I thought you were pretty certain she had nothing to do with it before," Ethan confessed."I was," Blake stated."And now?" Ethan asked."Now someone tells us to ask her," Blake replied."But that doesn't mean she's guilty," Ethan said, folding his arms."I know," Blake answered."It could be wh
ASK MAYAEthan hadn't seen the person standing at the end of the hall, hadn't seen the phone, hadn't seen the message. All he could think of was that Blake was still walking besides him. It seemed odd. Having seen everything, Ethan had expected the rest of the day to be uneasy, for Blake to explain to him everything, or for Ethan to keep asking those questions he already knew the answers to. Instead, they managed to slip into something like old days.Something close to old days.They approached the stairs that led to the library, and Blake leant against the railing. "So."Ethan looked at him. "So?""You haven't answered my question yet," Blake said."What question?" Ethan asked."Whether you'll let me help you with the chemistry project," Blake said.Ethan adjusted his glasses. "Do you mean whether I'll let you pretend to help, while I'll do everything myself?"Blake put his hand on his heart, hurt. "That stings.""You have never opened the textbook," Ethan said."I have opened it," B
CLEAR ENOUGHFor some time, Blake didn't say anything. He barely noticed the noise of the cafeteria, the laughter of students, their chatter, the scraping of chairs. Outside of the window, the football field extended under the afternoon sun, its grass shining brightly and almost hurtfully green. Blake couldn't see any of that. He still couldn't believe what Maya had told him. He still couldn't believe that he had been living side by side with such a feeling and hadn't guessed anything."I didn't know," he finally confessed.Maya gave a bitter laugh. "Of course not.""I mean it," Blake added."I know," Maya repeated.Blake massaged the back of his neck. He wasn't used to dealing with such issues. In the football field, everything was different. Someone gave him a ball and he knew what he had to do. Someone tackled him and he stood up again. Everything had its own rules, its own boundaries. Not like this one. There wasn't any playbook to deal with someone who carried the feelings for hi
NO MORE PRETENSEThe next morning, Ethan came to school even earlier than usual. He was trying to convince himself that it was because he wanted to be the first one to use the library. This was not entirely true — the main reason why he came so early was Blake, since Ethan did not want to meet him right now, especially after what had happened yesterday.It took Ethan quite a while to forget about what he had seen yesterday — although he was sure that he had already promised himself he would stop doing that. Every time he closed his eyes, he could see Maya taking a few steps towards Blake, her hand touching his shoulder and the surprise in his eyes. Then — the kiss.Ethan tried to convince himself that he did not know enough about what really happened to judge anything. Perhaps Blake had not kissed her back? Perhaps he had not expected her to kiss him? Anyway, none of that mattered, since Ethan understood very well how he had felt seeing them kiss. Stupid, jealous, replaceable and — th
THE WRONG MOMENTEthan sat in the very back of the library with his textbook open in front of him and no clue what he had just read during the past ten minutes. It was the same paragraph, so he read the first sentence again, then the second one, and realized by the third sentence that he had completely forgotten the first. With a soft sigh, he put his pen down and leaned back in his chair.Everything around him continued to happen normally, as if nothing in his life had ever become complicated. Pages were turning, someone was whispering near the computer section, the air conditioning was working steadily above him and the librarian's cart made a squeaking noise on the floor every few seconds. It was supposed to be peaceful, but it wasn't.He could not get that message out of his mind.*I TOLD YOU TO STOP FOLLOWING HIM.*Ethan could not forget the words shining on his phone, and how Blake's expression had changed after Ethan showed him that message. At first there had been shock, and t
THE HOUSE DOWN THE STREET 2The name hit Ethan like a brick and he found himself choking on his own breath. His head snapped up instantly to Tom standing a few feet away. “…Huh?” was all that slipped past his lips as his eyes widened. Tom just shrugged again like it was nothing. "He met me after
THE TASTE OF REGRETThe house carried the strong smell of beer–one that Ethan knew too well. It mixed with the faint scent of cigarette smoke clinging to the couch cushions and curtains, welcoming him as he opened the door. Coughing, he pushed through the ash cloud as he prayed his brother was alr
THE HOUSE DOWN THE STREETThe glass door slid shut behind Ethan as he stepped into Tom's lawn. Thin sprinklers scattered lazily across the grass sent arcs of water glistening in the late afternoon sunlight, and the air held a faint smell of wet grass and mud. Somewhere over one of the fences, a dog
LEFTOVERSThe class buzzed with almost instantly. The moment Dr. Keller said they should pick their partners, the sound of chairs scraping across the floor echoed across the room as students began turning toward “Calm down," Dr. Keller shouted over the noise, slamming his palm against the desk. “G







