Clara's P.O.V.

(During first period)

"You're going on a date with Aiden?" Sitara asked with a surprised look, "I thought you told me you weren't interested in him."

I sighed and rolled my eyes. Why does she always jump to conclusions like this?

"Sitara it's not like that. We're just hanging out."

"My ass you two are just hanging out," she paused briefly, looking as of she came to a conclusion. "I think you like him."

"No, Sitara-"

"And I think he likes you back."

A small blush crept up on my cheeks. I tried to chuckle and play it off. "What makes you think that?"

"Well he always seems to talk to you all the time."

"He probably talks to me because he can't stand you all."

"Maybe," she shrugged, "But you're going to a bowling alley with him alone and you didn't invite us. That means something."

"Well maybe," I mocked her, "I don't have to invite you guys."

"You always invite us," she crossed her arms.

I glanced away from her for a moment while keeping my composure. I wasn't about to give anything away. My eyes met hers once more and we had a stare off. She was smirking at me while I tried to keep a serious face.

"What?" I finally said after a few seconds.

Sitara was about to open her mouth and say something until we heard Wrench slam his fists against his desk and scream, "Damn it, I died again!"

We both jumped from his sudden outburst and turned to see them playing some game on their phone.

"That's because you suck ass at this game, dude," Marcus said with a chuckle.

I saw Sitara roll her eyes before she turned back to me. "They're playing that Fortnite game again which has caused them to talk way louder than before."

"No surprise they'd be part of the hype," I chuckled.

"Well they're both geeks," she said with a chuckle, "Now, back to what we were talking about. Admit it."

"Admit what?" I groaned.

"You like him," she smirks.

"Sitara..." I try to contain my blush.

"Your face is turning red!" She pointed at me. "I should have known!"

I sighed, "Alright, maybe I do..."

Her eyes widened, "You mean to tell me I wasted all that time flirting with him? No wonder he doesn't give a flying fuck about me," she chuckles.

"I said maybe, Sitara, calm down."

She rolled her eyes, "Well at least you admit it...now."

"I wasn't sure how I felt about him before and I still don't know if I like him one-hundred percent. It's only been one week of school."

She sighs, appearing to calm down, "You're right, but I still think this could be a potential date between you two."

I shrug, "I guess."

"Well don't just say, 'I guess.' Take this as an opportunity."

I grinned before shaking my head. "It sounds like you've developed a shipping for us."

"Oh you know I have. I just need to think of a shipping name."

"You're really going to think of a name for us?"

'Sshh, I'm trying to think," she was silent for a moment before exclaiming, "Claiden!"

I laughed, "That's the best you could come up with?"

"Do you have a better name?" She narrowed her eyes playfully at me.

"I'm not going to waste time thinking of a shipping name."

"That's what I thought."

We were silent for a brief moment before Sitara gasped suddenly appearing as if she remembered something.

"You know our principal, Dusan Nemec? The one we call the 'Douche?'

"Yeah."

"Well yesterday, he said my shorts were apparently too 'revealing' and they weren't appropriate for school even though there are PLENTY of girls wearing the same type of shorts and he says nothing," she had furrowed brows and she looked angry. I would be too. "So you know what I did this morning?"

I saw a small smirk appear on her face and I knew it meant trouble. "What did you do?" I furrowed my brows.

"I may have put something in his coffee just before school started this morning. Let's just say he's probably passed out in his office."

"Sitara!" My eyes widened, "You spiked his coffee?"

"What? It's not like it'll kill him or anything. Besides he spends enough time sitting on his ass behind his desk anyway. Might as well give him more."

"Sitara, you could go to jail for that! You better not have gotten caught..."

"Don't worry about it, I was completely careful-"

Just then we heard a lady's voice from the intercom ring through the classroom. "Can we please have Sitara Dhawan to the principal's office?"

"She's on her way," our teacher answered.

At that moment, Sitara's smirk had vanished and her smug expression was long gone. Marcus and Wrench also took notice and they looked confused. My guess, she didn't tell them about it.

"Fuck..." she swore under her breath.

I just looked at her with worried eyes as she hesitantly got up and picked up her bag, knowing all too well she would be staying in there for a while. She took a quick glance at me that clearly said, "I'm fucked," before leaving the classroom.

After a few seconds of silence, the class went back to chatting. As I worried for Sitara's fate, Marcus leaned over to me and asked, "What's goin' on?"

I sighed before replying, "She spiked Dusan's coffee this morning and somebody must have found out."

"What?!" Wrench shouted.

Marcus' face went from worry to shock, "For real?"

"Yeah. I shouldn't be surprised considering how much she hates the principal."

"Shit, that's crazy, but he deserves it I guess."

"Still, Sitara could get in serious trouble."

"She's no stranger when it comes to trouble" Wrench said.

"I don't know, she looked pretty spooked," I stated. "People can go to jail for that type of stuff."

"Well if she does, her parents could bail her out, or we could break her out if we wanted," Wrench says with a wink.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. Wrench wasn't going to take this seriously.

"We all know he's a douchebag, but what did he say to her that made her so mad to put something in his drink?" Marcus asked out of curiosity.

"He apparently said something about what she was wearing."

"Was he targeting her about her scarf over her head again?" Marcus asked, now looking angry.

Dusan had called her out not once but twice for being a terrorist just because she wore that purple scarf on her head since he was stupid enough to mistake her for a muslim. Even if she was a muslim, it would still be wrong.

"Not this time. He called her out because of her shorts and she must have thought that was the final straw."

He smirked with a look of admiration on his face as he looked off into the distance for a moment before turning back to me. "That's fucking dope. The asshole deserves it."

"Agreed," Wrench chimed in.

I sighed and turned away, feeling like the only person who was worried. As I heard Marcus and Wrench's convo about how Sitara was brave enough to do that, I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Aiden, feeling like I needed someone else to talk to at this point.

"Sitara just got in trouble."

"I heard," He texted back. "The whole class is talking about it."

"So you know what happened then?"

"Yeah. People are saying different stuff about her. About how couragous or how stupid she was to do that."

"It's crazy that she actually went through with something like putting a drug into a drink," I then bit my lip before I continued typing, "Marcus and Wrench won't take it serious so I've just given up at this point."

"What was her problem with Dusan anyway?"

"He dress coded her for the hundreth time."

"Shit."

"Yeah."

We didn't say anything to each other for a minute until he sent me another text. "Does this mean our plans are canceled?"

I grinned and rolled my eyes, "No, I'm still meeting you at the bowling alley."

"Okay, same time?"

"Yeah."

After that, the bell rang and I was out of the classroom. Not much to my surprise, Sitara wasn't at lunch. The whole time, lunch consisted of chatter about how bold Sitara was. I couldn't help but be bothered by her not being here not only because I missed having her around, but because of the fear of what's to come for her.

Aiden, along with the rest of my friends were a little unsettled about it as well, except for Wrench.

"Dude, if she got in jail, she'd probably get bailed out within the next day," Wrench explained. "Aren't you guys aware that her parents are extremely fucking rich. They own a God damn mansion."

"She might..." I said while biting my lip nervously, "But will she come back to school?"

"She's got to at some point," Wrench answered.

"What makes you so sure she will get bailed out?" Josh stammered, sounding worried as well.

"Sitara has gotten herself out of trouble before. She'll be fine."

After that, I spent the whole school day worrying about Sitara. I didn't receive any texts or calls from her until I got home. My phone started going off and an unknown number came up.

I usually didn't answer unknown numbers, but I had a hunch it was Sitara or someone else I knew so I slid my thumb across the green answer button.

"Hello?" I said out of uncertainty.

"Clara!" I heard a familiar voice answer through the other end and I nearly jumped out of excitement.

"Sitara? Where are you? What happened?" I questioned her.

"Before I get into anything, I'm using my mom's phone since she took mine away so I'm gonna have to make this quick," she said a little too quickly for me to comprehend, but I managed to catch enough things she said. "Anyway, don't worry. I'm not in the slammer...at least not yet; however, I did get suspended."

"For how long?"

"A week."

"How? Drugging someone's drink can get you into a lot more trouble than that," I said, sounding surprised.

"Well, here's the thing. Someone, I don't know who, is covering for me. The person who so happened to witness me spiking the douche's drink is also in the hot seat because he's being accused of lying since there were no cameras to witness what I did."

"And how is this 'someone' covering for you?"

I heard her chuckle on the other end before replying, "He/she reported that the witness was the one who actually spiked the coffee and they're trying to frame him. Honestly, I feel bad that the poor guy has to be falsely accused, but it definitely saves my ass. I wonder who would do that."

"Sitara, it sounds like you have a secret admirer."

"Maybe, but I'm actually surprised. I thought I was dead for sure."

"Don't get your hopes up just yet. There's still a chance that you could get caught."

"Yeah, I just hope this doesn't keep me from going to prom. I didn't get a chance to go last year," after she said that, I heard her gasp. "My mom is coming back. I gotta go."

"Okay, please try to call me when you can," I attempted to rush out but the call ended.

Well this has been interesting. Hopefully Sitara does come back to school, but until then, I'll just have to wait and see what happens.

As hours went by, I received several texts from Marcus, Wrench, Josh, and Horatio asking if I heard from Sitara. I told them everything she told me and they seemed to settle down a bit. I got a similar text from Aiden about Sitara and I just said I would tell him about it at the bowling alley because I had already typed it several times.

Before I knew it, the clock hit 4:30. I needed to get ready. Rummaging through my closet, I wanted to find an outfit that would catch Aiden's eye. Maybe not something that would reveal a shit ton of cleavage, but something a little different than what I usually wore.

I decided to wear a black tank top and a pair of denim shorts with fishnet tights and biker boots that went just below my knees. I applied some dark eye shadow, mascara, and some lip gloss before heading out.

On the way there, I couldn't help but feel as if I was going on some kind of date. I mean I did like Aiden, at least I was beginning too, but I needed to treat this as if it were just a night out with a friend. Nothing more. I had to admit that I was getting butterflies in my stomach just thinking about being alone with Aiden.

Once I arrived at the bowling alley, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Aiden was already there waiting for me. He didn't seem to notice me at first as I put my car in park and stepped out. As I made my way towards him, he caught sight of me and I saw his brows raise slightly in surprise as he took a glance at my outfit.

A small smirk formed on my lips once I stood face to face with him. "Hey."

Aiden seemed to snap out of his own reverie before replying, "Oh, hey. You uh...you look nice."

He began scratching the back of his neck awkwardly in an attempt to hide his nervousness. I felt a warm and fuzzy feeling after he complimented me and my smirk grew wider knowing that I picked the right outfit.

"Thank you," I said now taking the time to study him.

He was wearing his signiture brown leather jacket (which I adored) with a white t-shirt and denim jeans. His dark brown hair was slightly messy, but in a good way.

"I'd like to say the same about you," I complimented him while looking him up and down.

He looked a little surprised that I complimented how he looked. "Thanks. Even though I practically wear clothes like this everyday to school," he said with a chuckle.

I grin widely before replying, "That doesn't mean you don't look nice, because you do."

I saw his eyebrows raise slightly in surprise and I couldn't help but grin. I don't think he realizes how good he looks in simple casual clothing. I stood there admiring him until I quickly snapped out of it after a few seconds.

I had to remember this wasn't a date. Just two friends going out. That's it.

"Let's go inside," I said while walking past him towards the building, leaving him to take in my compliment.

I turned my head after a few seconds to make sure he was following me from behind before entering the bowling alley. Once we got inside, we agreed to play for about an hour.

We went up to a lady, who looked to be in her late forties, behind the counter and I was about to pay for the both of us until Aiden set down a couple of dollars. I looked up at him surprised that he was willing to pay for the both of us, but also a little guilty that he felt like he had to.

"You don't have to pay, Aiden. I was going to."

"Don't worry. I got it," he waved me off as the woman took the money and asked what our sizes were before handing us two pairs of bowling shoes.

"You two have fun," she said while giving both of us a knowing look.

I smiled and nodded. I was a little confused by the look she was giving us, but I quickly brushed it off as we made our way towards our bowling lane.

Once we put on our bowling shoes, I began to tell him about what happened with Sitara. I was so in depth with the story I was telling him that I accidentally typed Sitara in the name box instead of my name, which I realized and quickly changed it.

"I wonder who would cover for her," Aiden said with furrowed brows, not looking to have the slightest idea as to who it might be.

"Trust me, I don't know who it is and she doesn't seem to know either. She should be back in school after a week of suspension."

"Okay. I still can't believe she went as far as to spike his drink."

"Right? She could have done something like vandalize his office or his car."

Aiden let out a low chuckle, "Those things are still a bit crazy, but I'm in no place to judge."

I sighed knowing he had a point. "I don't know. She's just had this war with Principal Dusan ever since she started high school with Marcus and everybody else. Dusan would just find some excuse to get her in trouble even if it meant nitpicking at her clothes. He's usually like that with everyone because he likes to abuse his authority."

"Has he said anything to you?" He asked with furrowed brows.

"I normally try to stay out of trouble, but I mean...there was this one time he called me out for being some goth poser."

"Really?" He said while crossing his arms.

"Yeah, but it was only because I was trying to stick up for Sitara when he tried to dress code her a while back."

"How the hell does he still have his job? Aren't people reporting it?"

"People are reporting him, but the staff thinks he's doing too good for the school to fire him, which I think is vraiment (really) stupid."

He shook his head in disbelief. "There's gotta be something that'll get him out of the school for good."

I shrugged. "Maybe that drug incident Sitara pulled off will scare him into being nicer or leaving, but we don't know for sure. Let's just bowl. This whole topic is beginning to stress me out."

He nodded and we began playing for about an hour. I was surprised that Aiden sucked at this game. He seemed so confident in playing at first as if he were a professional, but at the end of the game, he only managed to strike four pins. He occasionally would catch me laughing at his horrendous gameplay and he'd just tell me to zip it.

After the game was over (I won by the way for the first time in my life) we made our way back outside.

"I had fun tonight," I said, "Thank you for offering to come here. I definitely needed a distraction for today."

I saw a smile form on his handsome face before replying, "I had fun too. Thank you for playing with me."

I couldn't control the smile that formed on my face as well. "You're welcome, and by the way, next time we go out, I'm paying," I gave him my best mean look to let him know I was serious, but all I received was a chuckle from him.

"Whatever you say, Lille," he smirked.

And then there was silence. As I stood there gazing at him, I couldn't help but feel the need to make some sort of contact with him. Not something as sudden as a kiss, but maybe a hug. I wanted to take a step closer to him, but I didn't. I felt it might be a bit too weird and I would come off as clingy so I stayed in the same place.

"I'll...see you at school tomorrow?" I said, breaking the silence.

I caught him staring down at my lips for a brief moment before his eyes quickly made their way back up to mine.

"Yeah..." he looked as if he got caught daydreaming. Perhaps he was?

"Okay, see you tomorrow," I said before turning around and waving goodbye to him.

I saw him wave back before heading towards his car. As I made my way towards my car, I couldn't help but feel strange, in a good way. If that were even possible. There was just something about Aiden that made me feel warm and welcome, as if I could talk to him about anything and not feel judged.

Am I really falling for him? I would talk to Sitara about this, but then I remembered she got in trouble today and she doesn't have her phone. It was funny how Aiden could help me forget about it just like that.

I wonder what he thinks of me. He must have thought I looked crazy staring at him like that.