Paulo walked with Sue back towards the direction of her house. He had offered to walk with her, not so much forgetting how late in the day it had become but because it felt like it was the right thing to do. Sue had initially refused, it would mean he would be late home himself and he would need to explain to his own parent why he was out so late. That didn't worry Paulo as much to deter him, it was normal for his father to come home late, even on a Sunday. If by chance his dad managed to get home before him…. well, Paulo supposed he could always lie to him. Sue gnashed her teeth when he told her about it; the idea was outrageous. She became adamant about him going home and not worrying about her. It was only a fifteen-minute walk. But Paulo had made his mind up, he told her he'd follow her anyway just to make sure.

Completely arrogant! Sue muttered to herself. He just refused to listen! She almost had no choice in the matter. He was almost like a lost pet. But the idea was comforting to her given what happened prior. She gave in, she told him to at least walk alongside her so he didn't come off looking like a stalker to anyone coming from the other direction.

Sue's hand would rub against his own during the journey. Paulo felt her pull it away, but it happened again a few short steps further down the road. He let his own hand push gently into hers that time. Sue didn't voice an objection, he looked over, there wasn't any reaction either; Sue just kept walking forward. Paulo wondered if this was in the lightest sense comforting to her, but a different opinion inside himself thought otherwise; he gently let go of her hand. There was still a fear inside of him; he was certain Sue still reserved some misgivings. He would need a while to forget about his previous attitude about her; he'd need to be more understanding and open to her about his own feelings. He couldn't take the interaction he did just before for granted, he realised. He was sure being able to hold her hand that one time was a 'this time only' moment between them. They were a long way away from being the kind of friends they wanted to be.

They would eventually reach her home. Paulo wasn't sure if there was anything that he could say or do at this point, they could only see each other at school tomorrow and start anew.

Sue thanked Paulo as they arrived. As she went ahead and stood on the porch of her house, she turned to him. 'I guess I'll see you tomorrow.' She told him, there wasn't anything more to add, she didn't want to make it any more awkward than it had been. She returned towards the door and put her hand on the door knob, then she remembered, and quickly retreated to her bag; flicking it off her shoulder and rummaging inside of it with a hand, before extracting an object and holding it out for him. 'Here, I wanted to lend this to you. I was going to lend it to you back at the library.'

Paulo took note of the cover as he took it off her hands, he recognised it. 'This is the book from the movie we saw last night?'

Sue twirled a finger in her hair when he asked. 'I thought you might be interested in what they had changed. I would've given you the book from last night but—'

'You're seriously giving me a dumb nerd book to read when I'm already got another book?' He grinned. She glared back, but before she could react further, his cheek disappeared; the grin softened into a sincere smile. He read her face contort into anger, it screamed death. Paulo apologised; he was only testing the waters. He understood she didn't like to be played like that; at least, with things she enjoyed. No, he realised. He'd need to stop doing that altogether.

He placed the book carefully in his bag like some sort of sacred relic and zipped it up right after. He didn't stand up immediately, but thought quickly again for a moment before standing. He still needed to know; 'Why did you bother?' He asked. Sue tilted her head in reply, Paulo continued, 'I've given you nothing but shit for as long as I can remember. I'm clearly not going to pass this year, but you were still there. Did Lucy put you up to it?'

Sue felt sad at the question, was it still not obvious at this stage? 'No, she didn't. I've always been there to help friends, Paulo.' He smiled at the response, she still considered him a friend even after everything. He supposed he just never noticed her before, was she just waiting for her time? The more he thought about it, the nicer it felt inside. He didn't know what part of him did it,,but his hands obliged, they gave her a light friendly push; Sue lost her footing and ended on the grass.

She didn't find it amusing at all. 'Paulo! What the hell!' She screamed.

'S-Sorry! I don't know what came over me!' He apologised. Of all the laziest excuses… He held his hand out to her to help her up. When she was back on her feet, she returned the favour in kind. When Paulo hit the grass, he couldn't help but stare back up at her. 'Holy— …asshole!'

'An eye for an eye. You didn't see that one coming, did you?' She mocked as she stood over him. He stared at her at the betrayal. He tried holding it but he just couldn't keep it inside of himself, he burst out laughing. Sue would join. Even if it was for such a small moment, it would be the first time they ever laughed at something together. When the laughter died down Paulo couldn't ignore the orange hue taking over the sky; the sun was setting. He would really be getting home late at this stage.

'I guess it's about time I start heading back myself' Paulo said, his duty was done, he escorted her home.

Sue looked out to the sunset. 'Well, you're going to be late no matter what time it is now, why not stay a little longer?' She asked him. Paulo looked to her as she held out her hand to help him back up.

Sue had been meaning to go inside ever since she got home, but she put it off. She didn't want to rush the sunset. It wasn't every day she found herself staring into the colourful shifting gradients. She found something peaceful about it, she savoured it, not having noticed previously before that there was something soothing. She peered over to Paulo who sat beside her on the porch, he did the same thing; resting his head on his hands staring into nothingness. She invited him to sit with her, the least likely person she would have thought of up to a point, but he agreed. She wondered if it shared any significance with him as well, or maybe he just wanted to stay with company. She knew he didn't want to go home, she kept with him as long as she could until he was happy again.

It was sad, this felt like it had some romantic significance. She didn't look too deeply into that feeling, she wouldn't let it be known either. It was fine like this as it was; with a friend.

'I'd be happy just getting a C-Minus this year, a bare-pass would be better than failing.' Paulo finally muttered to himself.

Sue scolded him on the spot, 'No, aim higher. You don't have an excuse not to give it your all.'

He struggled with the words inside himself, he still felt the urges to reject the words, so he tried desperately to convince himself otherwise. 'I'm just struggling to find the reason to try as hard.'

Sue thought about the words, she found it hard to inspire Paulo, it was always like this in the past. She told the truth just as it was back then, but…what would such a competitive kid at heart want to hear instead? A thought came to her, 'Just do it to prove to the world you can do it. You said earlier nobody has any faith in you to pass this year. Don't you want to prove them wrong?'

Paulo stared at her, 'You have absolutely no idea how much I want to rub it in their face.'

Sue smiled, 'Then make that your motivation; we'll prove the school wrong about you.'

'It still seems like a bit of a long shot. I'm still so far behind.' He said again, he still couldn't find the motivation to land higher than the pass.

Sue sighed, she wondered what Daisy would try to say to him to provide some inspiration. 'No. You can do it so long as you put your mind to it! You fine today, really! Tomorrow just show the teacher what you have and ask for any input, take any notes they give you about it, then next weekend let's meet up for study again. We'll finish them off and then start working towards mid-terms.'

Paulo was visibly shocked at the idea, 'M—Midterms? Already? The year only just started!' He complained.

'And…we're getting started early to prepare for it!' Sue continued. 'We'll meet in the library during lunch tomorrow and make up your study schedule so that you have a path to catch up with everyone else with, you were certain you were far back in our studies, so we'll focus on that!' She stopped. 'Don't make that face at me, Paulo. You have to make some sacrifices to catch up.' She put her hand on his arm. 'You'll be fine. You just need to show a bit of discipline with it.' He was quiet, somewhere in the back of his mind the words started to bite at him, he started to have doubts about himself again, but he felt Sue's arm rub against his shoulder, a light nudge. It caused him to look over to her smiling face, she was trying to be reassuring, like the message.

Paulo felt he was connected, he understood; he just needed to display the courage himself to work towards what he wanted. He wanted to prove everyone wrong about him, he really wanted to come out on top in a way. It felt nice hearing it from Sue, it was inspirational if anything. But he couldn't help but feel slightly worried. 'But you mostly worked on my assignment today. I'm going to bring you down if this goes on for too much longer.'

'Never mind about that. We're going to get you an achievable outcome from this.'

He couldn't help but give a snicker, did she just actually say that? How many years had it been? 'I can't wait to be shaken up by Sue.' He replied in jest. She blushed at it, she remembered why that catchphrase didn't quite work during their sophomore year. She groaned, that was it, the moment had passed, she had enough of him tonight.

'I'm going inside now.' She told him. As she got up, as her hands went up for the doorknob to the door, Paulo did as well she found his arms around her stomach, and he pushed into her in a hug. She let them stay like that for a second before she felt the need to have to push him off.

'You're getting a bit too close there. I made a bit of a concession for earlier.' She told him.

'Sorry.' he replied. 'That was just for everything. I couldn't count on a better friend.'

For someone who carried a no-contact rule, Sue responded with a tight hug of her own, reassurance that things would be OK between them from now on, and hopefully for the future. 'This is the last time we can openly hug like this. I don't want this becoming a distraction from school or your goal.' She told him. Paulo reluctantly nodded. They said their goodbyes, and Paulo turned towards home as Sue disappeared behind the front door.

As soon as the coast was clear, Sue quietly opened the door again and tip-toed up to the street and watched Paulo made his way home. She continued to watch him from behind a nearby tree until she couldn't make out his silhouette in the street lights.

Sue sighed. What a day, she thought to herself. It had all almost ended in tragedy; two would-be acquaintances who never understood each other came close to putting a nail in each other's coffin's just a few hours ago. What would've happened if Paulo never followed her back at the library? She shook her head, it didn't matter; he followed her to make sure she would be okay after all. He cared somewhere deep down inside. Inside, she felt a bit of warmth thinking about it.

She didn't imagine things would have turned out so well despite earlier. To think she just wanted to leave him alone back in the classroom. But when she saw him crying on the floor, it took her back years, she didn't want anything like that happening again. Her hands went to her arms. It felt nice; the hug. It felt colder without them, but she wasn't sure if that was because it was getting closer to winter.

She went back inside and was going to help her mother cook dinner. Her mother had gone on ahead without her and made it early, Sue thought to just go to her room and see if Amaya was online.

She heard her mother call out just before she could leave the kitchen. 'So, who was that boy you were sitting with on the front porch?' Her mother asked.

Sue flinched a bit. 'Just a friend from school, you might remember him from a couple of years ago.' Sue told her.

'Ah, now I remember who he was again. Was that him at the movies too?' She started to chop some carrots on the counter. Sue started to turn to make her way up the stairs to her room, but her mother didn't quite finish; 'You should have at least had invited him stay for dinner.'

Sue's fur stood on end at the idea. 'Mother!'

'What?!' She asked back.

'We aren't like that.'

'Oh? I could have sworn I heard a lover's quarrel outside.'

'And that was definitely not like that.'

Her mother laughed, 'Huh, is that right?' Sue didn't know how to take that, she never raised the concept of boys around her mother, she usually didn't tell her anything about her life at all. 'What a shame, "Just a friend."' She repeated as Sue made for the doorway, 'You're maturing quite quickly, Sue.'

Sue groaned at it, she made her way up the stairs and went into her room. That night she thought about what her mother said, what did she mean? Wasn't she already mature?

Paulo spent a good half hour thinking back to the events of today from his bed, again staring up to the cracked ceiling above. He realised he didn't need to anymore, he lent over and grabbed his bag off the floor and fished for the novel Sue had given him to read. He opened it above him, that turned out to be a mistake as one hundred post-it notes slipped out of the book and fell everywhere. Some had looked like they'd been there for years, the adhesive had run dry, they were all in some disastrous handwriting. Was this her handwriting when she was younger? Did she know they were still there? He sifted through them all, most of them pointed to plot holes, and questions about the author. One note caught his eye.

'Romance is a challenge.' it read. He smiled as he read it.

He made his way through several chapters that evening before he put the book down and fell to sleep. He dreamed that night of where he wanted to be in life.