WEDNESDAY | 01/08/2020

Eve ate lunch in the library the same day she decided it would be a good idea to throw a heavy, paper-filled binder at another student out of anger. He deserved it, sure, but it wasn't really worth it in the end. Maybe she shouldn't hang out with that group. They must all dislike her now, right? Hidan probably told them all what went down in incredible detail.

She'd only known them for a day, she'd be fine.

That being said, why did the silence of the library tear away at her entire being?

"Hey."

A familiar voice pulled her from her toxic thoughts. In the middle of a pathetic bite of food, the brunette looked up, seeing the stone-cold face of Konan looking a bit softer than usual. She ripped her gaze away, looking back down at her lunch sitting on her lap.

"What is it?" Eve quietly asked. The embarrassment from earlier was already beginning to come back. Why was she such an idiot?!

Konan settled in the seat next to her, careful to not get too close to respect the girl's personal space. "Hidan told us everything that happened, and I get it, his exaggerations aside. Are you alright?"

Eve bit the inside of her cheek.

"I—I didn't mean to flip out. I'm not...normally like that. He just...his tone..." Eve felt her heart race, her hands twitching. Swallowing, she looked up at nothing in particular. "I get...why he hates me, I guess."

Konan was silent, carefully piecing together what to say. She barely knew this girl, only knowing she was the daughter of some rich politician-she was force-fed that information by Hidan. She also knew that she was shy and weak. It was the only reason she approached her in the first place.

"Kakuzu is a good person, I promise. He's...um, rough around the edges, but he really is. Look, Eve, none of us care about how or why you're here, and obviously, you don't want to talk about it. He just...he's been going through a lot, and so has Hidan."

"Both of them..?"

"They're twin brothers." Eve barely contained her look of surprise. "Anyway, you can trust me. I think you two would actually get along really well if you got to know each other."

I highly doubt that.

"Are you two close?" Eve found herself asking despite not really wanting or caring to know.

"Not as close as we used to be, but we dated a bit back then."

It was only Eve's second day and she already knew too much about the group of kids she sat with once. Once!

"Oh."

"Anyway...you aren't banished or anything," Konan laughed. "Shit happens. Come on, there's only fifteen minutes left."

Konan took Eve's bag and carried it out of the library with Eve trailing quietly behind the taller girl, holding the remains of her puny lunch.

Why was she so kind? Caring? Eve smiled, wiping away a tear that threatened to fall with the back of her hand. The same five people were there, talking, finishing their food, and looking in their direction.

"Oi, you can't just not show up! I need my stats answers," Eve grimaced at Hidan speaking in her direction, sitting next to where Konan set her bag down. The first thing Eve instinctively looked for was Kakuzu, and he was sitting in the same seat as yesterday, Hidan keeping the two of them separated, which was probably for the best. He seemed to be focusing on finishing up the work from today, which was probably her fault. She had more time to finish than him because she'd left the office first.

Of course, Eve failed to notice a certain white-haired boy staring at her, awaiting a response. Her face flushed.

"H—huh?"

"The work. Give me yours."

"Why..." Eve frowned.

"Why not? Hand it over, girlie."

Defeated, she slid her binder over to him. She looked at Kakuzu again, noticing he'd been staring at nothing for a while. "Does...he need help?"

"Hm? Oh, I think he's just thinking about how to—"

Kakuzu whacked him in the head with his binder, gently setting it back down. "Worry about yourself. She gave you the work, be quiet and copy it since you can't do it yourself."

"Geez, chill out. Thanks, Eve," Hidan smiled, and it seemed to be genuine. Her cheeks warmed a bit, causing her to look away so she wasn't seen. Konan smiled at the sight, continuing to talk with Yahiko and Kisame.

After calming herself down, Eve turned back to look at Hidan, but he did the same at the same time, causing her to flinch backward.

"I'm not gonna punch you, fuck." Hidan gave her the binder back. "You got me an A yesterday, so I'll pretend you didn't just jump when I looked at you."

"Y—"

"Don't tease her too much, she's fragile," Konan teased, adjusting her hair a bit.

The bell finally rang after what seemed like forever. Eve still had two more classes with Kakuzu and Hidan. AP Bio and AP Government. Having Mr. Umino twice wasn't fun, especially after today. He probably thought she was some feral, five-foot-tall girl. In fact, that's probably the opinion the rest of the students in AP Stats had of her.

Before actually making it to the hallway that led to the stairs, Hidan caught up to her with Kakuzu not far behind, but he purposely stayed behind the two so he wouldn't have to be near them.

Eve looked at him expectantly while walking.

"Oh, I wrote my number down in one of the pages in there," he tapped the binder she held. "I'll be needing more answers." The look on her face caused him to burst out laughing.

"I can...actually help you if you need it," she offered sweetly.

Hidan swore he felt his heart skip a beat, but completely ignored it. Damn heart palpitations. "I mean, yeah, I might need help before the exams come up."

They made it into Mr. Umino's class once again. Eve only had two small classes after stats, and before lunch, so the padding wasn't really enough to keep her from feeling ashamed from even entering the classroom.

Eve sat down again in her usual spot. They were supposed to be assigned lab partners today. She knew she wouldn't be stuck with Kakuzu after what happened, but...what if she was stuck with someone like Hidan?

Ten minutes later, she held back the urge to groan and slam her head into the concrete counters that surrounded the room. Hidan was her partner.

Why.

He gave her a slightly too hard pat on the back. "Guess we're stuck together until exams."

Guess they were.