"Em!" I whipped my head around as I continued walking to my class, "Can you hold up for a minute? Jeez!" I slowed my pace and Hanna ran up to me, "Where were you during lunch? I couldn't find you,"

She walked side-by-side with me, "I was in the library," I hugged my textbooks closer to my chest, "With Paige,"

I had braced myself for it; most of my friends were subtle – they generally kept their opinions to themselves unless it was detrimental, but not Hanna. "Paige? Again? Don't you have like half of your classes with her and go to her house like everyday?" She questioned. Hanna was right, for the most part, I did spend a lot of time with Paige, but she was my best friend, and we were so close to each other.

"I don't go to her house everyday" I countered as we stopped before my next class, Chemistry – with Paige. "And I don't have any control over… the classes that we share – we're on the same academic level," For the most part, I mentally add, remembering that she's not in any of my AP classes.

"You spend so much time with her," Hanna whined, "When are we going to have our girl's night again?" I ended up shrugging, which was a terrible habit that I had picked up from Paige, "Well, Aria wanted to know something – if you made up your mind about coming to Noel Kahn's party with us on Friday,"

"I…" No, I actually forgot that Aria asked, "I'm still thinking about it, I mean, I don't have anything to wear, and I might have homework,"

Hanna rolled her eyes, "Homework, shomework, it's just one night, Em," Her eyes had a small twinkle to it, "I bet you would go if Paige was going," I blushed, in a sense, confirming her answer, "Why don't you just date her already,"

"It's not even like that, Han, we're just friends,"

Hanna wasn't convinced though, "Right, just 'friends'"

The school bell rang, indicating that everyone should be at their classroom at the time, "Fine, I'll go," I said quickly, earning a bright smile from Hanna.

"Good! I'll tell Aria then," Hanna said just as quickly, "I gotta go," She left speedily, and I turned to walk in the class, taking my usual spot beside Paige at our table.

"Hey," Paige greeted, resting her casted arm on the table, "I thought you were going to be wild and skip class," I chuckled

"Like I would skip Chemistry, it's my favorite subject," And of course I have my favorite subject with my favorite person, "But Hanna asked if I was going to Noel's party,"

Paige raised a brow, "Noel? Noel Kahn?" I nodded, "Are you going to go?" I could hear the concern in her voice, but I gave another nod anyways, "And you're going to be with your friends?" I nodded once more, "Okay,"

"Should I not go?"

She shook her head, "I just want to make sure that you'll be okay, if you do go… Kahn's parties are pretty big…" I slowly nodded, I would only imagine that his parties were huge – Noel was amongst those who everyone knew. But I had never been to a party, much less a big party.

"I'll be fine," I said, "But… you can come with, if you want to," And I really want you to come along.

"I don't know," Paige answered vaguely, "I kind of…" She waved her hand, and I wondered what she was about to say, "Do you really want me to go?"

Trying not to seem too eager, "Yeah," I answered coolly

"Alright, then. I'll go, only because you invited me," She gave a small smile, and I repressed a sigh, "I just wish that I didn't have this stupid cast on," Automatically, my eyes fell down to the cast on her arm, before looking back up, making eye contact.

"I'm still sorry…" I said quietly, "About your arm,"

Paige shrugged, "I told you that it's fine, Em. Plus, it actually feels kind of good not being expected to swim all the time,"

"Still…"

"Don't worry about it,"

Just as I was going to respond, our chemistry teacher, Mr. Williams, stood before the class, "Alright everyone, today we are going over the different bonds of chemistry," I bit the inside of my cheek, feeling as though our conversation was unfinished. Paige turned her attention to our teacher, and I found myself staring at her cast again.

Still…


"Are you sure that this is safe?" I asked as I took the last step up the ladder, pulling myself onto the rooftop. Paige was grinning in the dark, "And that this isn't trespassing, because you know my dad will kill me if I ever got arrested, and then he will kill you after he's done with me,"

Paige rolled her eyes, "Don't be so dramatic, this is perfectly safe,"

"And legal?" I pressed, entirely serious, but Paige didn't answer, "Paige?"

"And… maybe just a tad illegal," I instantly turned around, about to climb down the ladder. Paige would do something like this, and to tag me along? No way. "Hey, wait!" She pulled on my arm, "I just wanted to show you something," She read my face, "And you won't get in trouble, I promise, Em,"

"I swear to God, Paige, if we get arrested, I will never speak to you again," This was a lie, and she knew as well as I did, that it was, "What are you going to show me?"

"So, you know how you like all the science junk?" I huffed loudly at Paige's choice of words, "Oops, I called it 'junk' again, didn't I?" She smirked, "So, I learned that you can't really see things in the sky beca—"

"Because of the light from the city," I interrupted, finishing her sentence, as she nodded, already figuring that I would know this piece of information

"Exactly," She pulled my arm gently, bringing me further onto the flat rooftop and away from the ladder as if I were going to suddenly leave.

Then it dawned on me. Here we were fifteen miles out from the city, on a rooftop, in the middle of the night, "Paige,"

"I just thought that since I care about you a lot, that I'd actually do something that you would appreciate," I was surprised that I didn't catch on quicker; we were heading down the road, darkness growing darker as we left home, but I didn't think that Paige actually listen to me whenever I talked about anything science related… and actually look up information about it on her spare time – which, I knew she had very little of.

"This is…" I couldn't find the right words, "I…"

"You don't have to say anything, Em. You know, sometimes, silence is better than words. So, since I brought you out here, wanna see if you can pick out any constellations or whatever?"

There wasn't anything that could wipe the stupid smile off of my face as I nodded, then looking upward. I really could've kissed Paige at that moment – the timing seemed impeccable. Who would've thought that she would be this thoughtful… for her friend?

She had Shana. As much as I didn't like her, she had Paige and I didn't. And this act, was purely an act of kindness – an appreciative gesture of our friendship. Though, I wished, god only knows how much, that one day Paige would be mine, she would only be my friend. My best friend.

I cleared my throat.

So, there was something that could wipe my smile away after all.

"See anything in the stars, Einstein?" Pulled me from my thoughts, and shook my head

"You mean Galileo," I corrected, "Einstein was a physicist,"

"I knew that, I was just checking to see if you were still a geek,"

"You're unbelievable, Paige,"

"I know, I'm unbelievably awesome," She corrected, that being the last of words we spoke until later.

Two hours had passed easily, we had sat comfortably on the rooftop, wordlessly watching the stars and moon change positions in the sky as the earth rotated. Paige took her phone out, "Oh crap," She said, "It's past three,"

"We should head back,"

Paige nodded, standing up, offering me a hand, which I gladly took, "Did you enjoy yourself?"

"I did," I said simply, "Thank you,"

She shrugged, "Anything for you,"

You can't say things like that.

"Uh, yeah," Was the only thing I could say

"So, how about you head down first, and I follow?" I nodded, walking back to the ladder. I started to climb down slowly, cautious of not missing a step. A few moments after, Paige joined, heading down the ladder quicker than I was, until…

"OW!" I shouted, when she stepped on my fingertips, almost causing me to fall back

"Oh shit," She said, taking a step up instead of down, "I'm sorry,"

"It's fine," I muttered, flexing my fingers before I proceeded down again. Paige had stopped climbing down, I assumed to give us distance. I touched the concrete of being at ground level, "Alright, I'm down,"

She resumed her speed, almost making it down, until she lost footing. It was as if the speed of the world slowed down; despite the fact that she was almost down, it was a hard thud when she hit the ground.

I had ran to her, "Paige?"

"Jesus fucking Christ," She yelled, slowly sitting up, cradling her arm. I could see pain written all over her face. I didn't know what to do.

"Are you okay?"

Instinctively, I waited for a sarcastic remark, but I knew that it wasn't coming, instead she groaned loudly, "My arm," I could barely understand her, "I… I think I broke it," I took out my phone, ready to dial 911, but I didn't have a single bar of signal, "My dad is gonna flip a fucking chair,"


"Ms. Fields," Paige nudged me, and I looked to her, but it wasn't her voice, so I turned my attention to my teacher, "Can you please tell the class what a covalent bond is?"

"Uh, electrons shared by atoms," I said vaguely

"Right," Mr. Williams looked to another student, "Ms. Wu, can you tell us what a ionic bond is?"

Paige nudged me again, "You okay?" She whispered, I nodded, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," I whispered back

"You're lucky that you're smart, Mr. Williams probably thought that he'd dethrone the genius of the class for a second,"

"Ha, ha," I said dryly

"Are you sure that you're okay, Emily, you kind of seem off,"

"Paige, I'm fine,"

"If you say so,"


"Are you doing anything later today?" Paige asked as the final bell rang, "I'm just curious,"

Why?

I shook my head, "No, not really,"

"Do you think your mom would mind if I stopped by?"

"You already know that my mom won't mind, she practically thinks of you as family,"

"I know, I know, I think I come by too much," Paige admitted, "But I was actually wondering if you…" She stopped herself, "Ah, never mind," She waved her hand. This is the second time she's done that today, I thought, finding it odd, "It's a stupid thought anyways,"

"What is?"

Though I could see her nervousness clear as day, she smirked, "Wouldn't you like to know, Einstein,"

"Einstein was a physicist,"

"Yeah, I know," She grinned, and I could feel tiny butterflies angrily flapping around in my stomach, "Just checking if you're still a geek,"


Guest asked for Emily's POV. If there are mistakes, I apologize, I wrote this rather quickly. Feedback is appreciated, and keeps me motivated.