Zoë placed her guitar strap over her shoulder. After saying a quick goodbye to her sort-of-friends Chloe and Brooke, that guy, whatever his name was...Jared, their instructor, and Alana, she left. "I'll be late, mom. I'm meeting up with one of my friends," is the text she sent Cynthia, who responded with a smiley emoji. It wasn't exactly the truth, but it was close enough that she could play it off as true.

"Evan," Zoë called as she approached the dogwood tree they had agreed to meet under after her practice. Zoë had seen Evan all scrunched up on himself, like he was super cold or something, but he straightened up immediately when she called his name.

"Z-Zoë," he responded, turning his body and obsessively wiping his hands on his pants.

"Hey," she said, quieter as she approached him. She turned up one corner of her mouth in a bittersweet half smile that was for Evan and Evan only.

"Can I hug you? If you're uncomfortable with it, then I won't," Zoë asked.

Evan looked at the ground and grabbed at the collar of his shirt with one hand and the hem with the other. "

"I-its ok-kay, I guess," was his nervous reply.

Zoë slowly put her arms around Evan's back so he would know what was coming, and gently leaned her head in his chest. Evan's whole body flinched at the hug and he became incredibly stiff, but he managed to get his arms around Zoë too without having a major panic attack.

"I wish I had told you this much sooner," Zoë started, testing the waters to see how Evan would react. She knew he was incredibly shy and nervous all of the time, definitely including right now, but she didn't know whether or not it was a mental health issue, or what she should do about it.

"Thank you," she said, pulling away from the hug, "for saving my brother's life."

"Even if I hate his guts," she added dryly.

Evan nodded once.

"I don't know how you knew he was going to try to kill himself, or why you two were fighting in the hallway, but I don't think I need to," she continued, "I know that sort of, he's already dead. He's been dead for a long time, we just didn't realize it. But thanks to you, he's still here, if only physically. Just, if there's the slightest chance he could get the help that he needs, I just..." She trailed off.

Zoë wiped tears out of her eyes. The stupid pixie dust was everywhere. She hugged Evan again so she wouldn't have to look at it.

"We used to be really close," she explained, "We used to love each other so much."

"I'm sorry," Evan whispered.

"Don't be," Zoë responded, "It isn't your fault. He's sick, Evan. I just think you and I are the only ones who realize it. He's a monster and a terrible person to me and he has no control over himself whatsoever, but I know it's not totally his fault. I hate what he is now, but deep down...he has to be my brother on the inside, right?"

"I hope so," Evan replied. Zoë could tell he was wiping his hands again without even looking.

She let him go. Zoë knew her face was all red and splotchy right now, but she didn't care. She was only wearing concealer, so it wasn't like she had makeup to ruin. Evan didn't seem like the kind to judge people, so she didn't mind him seeing her like this.

Behind them came a loud whistle sound, and it definitely came from someone's mouth. Zoë at once got angry. She did not want to deal with boys being all over her today.

"Looks like you finally got yourself a girlfriend, Evan! Zoë Murphy, too. Look at that," the person called. Evan blushed, and Zoë turned around so fast her head almost snapped off. Oh. It was only Jared.

"I'm sorry about," Evan whispered, never finishing his thought. Zoë didn't even hear him.

"Chill out, Kleinman. We're not dating," Zoë eyed back, rolling her eyes.

"Why don't you ask him out now, then, and save yourselves from the hardship of mutual pining? We both know Evan doesn't got the balls to do it himself," Jared retorted. Zoë sighed, rolled her eyes again, and turned her back to Jared. Evan's face was incredibly red and his face was in his hands.

"Ugh. What an idiot, am I right?" Zoë stated, trying to lighten the mood.

Evan smiled a bit. "Yeah," he agreed, wiping his hands again.

"I really don't like you that way, but if you want to hang out as friends sometime, that'd be pretty cool," Zoë offered, hoping that Kleinman was just teasing and Evan was just embarrassed. She didn't need ANOTHER boy crushing on her.

"I d-don't think I like you that way either," Evan said automatically, "but that'd be fun."

Zoë couldn't tell if he was lying or not, but once he said something like that, he wouldn't be able to take it back. He couldn't make a move on her now.

"Yeah. Well. I'll see you around," Zoë stated.

"S-see you," Evan replied.

The first half of Evan's name was a color with the texture of buttermilk and a bit more yellow than said milk, the second half was dark blue like Alana's. It had a nice contrast. Evan's name was comforting, although Zoë would always like Alana best.

While walking back to her car, Zoë heard the rainier cherry yellow of a cat's purr pop up in the top right of her peripheral vision. She couldn't miss it. Her sort-of-friend Brooke had a cat, so it was safe to say she was around them often. Wherever Brooke went, Chloe was usually there. Wherever they went, Zoë usually followed. They were cool and all, but whenever you have a group of three friends, two of them often become closer to each other than they are to third, and consequently the third gets left out. They sat at lunch together, but Zoë hardly did any of the talking. They went to the pool together, but Zoë stayed in the corner and watched the other two girls do their things.

Zoë looked around for the cat that made the noise. She found it sitting in some of the grass on the school lawn. She smiled. It looked like a stray, so she knew it was dangerous, but it was still cute. She didn't click her tongue or anything like that to draw attention to herself. Rather, she watched the cat groom itself while crouching down to avoid being seen. She knew this was pretty stupid, but no one was there to see her, so who cares? While absentmindedly watching the cat lick its legs, her brain shifted back to trying to figure out exactly what she felt she was to Chloe and Brooke.

She remembered the time in seventh grade that Brooke moved. She hadn't changed schools or anything, just houses. The only issue was, her new house was right next door to Chloe's. During the summer, they were always at each other's houses. Zoë had only visited each of them, like, twice. She remembered how she got so fed up with this new arrangement the next year that she snapped at both of them. She regretted a few hours later, but she had already done it. They didn't talk for days. And Zoë wasn't the social butterfly she is now, so she did everything alone from then on. Of course, they made up afterward. The two other girls had probably forgotten by now, but Zoë hadn't. So, they weren't as close as they could be, but they could complain to each other and make fun of each other and laugh it off at the end of the day. What was the word Alana Beck called everybody she knew? Acquaintance. That was it. So... Plenty of people in the school were her acquaintances, Chloe and Brooke were her closer-than-acquaintances-but-not-quite-besties, Connor was her brother-turned-demon, and Evan was the kid who (finally, she might add) got him some help.