"So then what happened?"

"Nothing else, that's all."

"He so totally likes you!"

"We partnered together for the English project, it's not like we got married. Jeez."

I let out a large sigh. Ever since we sat down under our tree for lunch, Maddie has been asking me questions until I retold the whole story of last night and this morning. It seems she saw us holding hands before school.

"Wait, if all this happened, then where is he now?"

"I guess he decided to still hang with his new friends…" My voice trails off as I spot Finn across the field. He's sitting in the group he was with yesterday, only this time Marina is sitting close, her arm on his bicep, shamelessly flirting. Maddie follows my gaze and makes a gagging sound.

"Whore."

I burst out laughing, never hearing a word like that pass Maddie's lips before. Sure, she cusses from time to time but other than that she's pretty sweet about her language. My loud laughter catches the attention of Finn. He smiles widely at the sight of me trying to recover from my laughing fit. I return the smile. It's at this exact moment that Marina decides it would be perfect to crawl over Finn's lap to 'talk' to her friend, clearly exposing her chest to Finn's vision. I don't blame him for looking although I am a little miffed at Marina's actions. Finn turns his eyes back to me, crosses his eyes and sticks his tongue out to the side; I can't help but smile again.

After school, I meet Finn at my locker again. I found out that Maddie has been getting a lift home with Jack Andrews for the past week, and after a long History lesson of teasing her about it, I made her promise to call me with details as soon as anything happened.

"Hey," Finn greets me as I grab my board. "What are you doing tonight?" I open my mouth to answer but out of the corner of my eye, I see Marina glaring at me. She then puts on a fake smile and approaches us.

"For the love of Merlin, don't come over here."

"Hey Finn!" her sickly sweet voice rings in my ears. The scowl that graces my face 99% of the time returns in an instant. "How are you, Rye?"

"Fine," I growl, through gritted teeth.

"Finn, there's going to be a party tonight, wanna come?" She bats her eyelashes and sticks out her chest. I smirk at the ground remembering what Maddie called her at lunch and how excruciatingly accurate those words actually are. Marina has probably slept with half the boy population in our school.

Finn flashes her a charming smile and says, "I'd love to, but I was going to hang out with Rye tonight."

Jealousy flashes behind her eyes and her smile drops a little. Knowing full well what will happen if I don't, I say, "I'll be fine. Go to the party."

"Really?"

I just nod. Marina smirks and puts her hand on Finn's bicep.

"I'll see you tonight then." She leaves with a wink and a flirty smile. I let out a large breath I didn't know I was holding and turn to leave, Finn following close behind.

"Hey, wait up. Jesus, Riley, why are you walking so fast?"

I hadn't even noticed how fast I'd been walking but when I stop and turn, I see that Finn is several paces behind me. I laugh awkwardly and rub the back of my neck. "Sorry about that, I just had to get out of there. Long day."

Finn nods, muttering something like, "Sure, whatever you say."

The walk feels different to what it did this morning, though it has nothing to do with Marina. I feel different. I feel like something's missing. We walk in silence, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but something feels wrong. I look down and automatically realise what it is. We're not holding hands. I shake my head and try to ignore these feelings but Finn seems to be feeling the same, or is reading my mind, though I'm sure it's probably not the latter.

The backs of our hands brush as our arms swing and a shock jolts up my arm. Then I feel Finn's fingers run gently over the palm of my hand before entwining our fingers. I fight the smile that wants to cover my face. Still no words are said, but the feeling has faded. Now there is just a feeling of electricity running up and down my arm, coursing through my veins.

I say goodbye to Finn when we reach our houses, but as soon as I let go of his hand, I miss the warmth. I'm confusing myself as much as he's confusing me. One minute I don't want anything to do with him because he forgot about me, the next I'm feeling empty when he's not holding my hand. I feel like more emotions are running through my head than there are in a teenage soap opera. I sigh and lay back on my bed.

There's only tomorrow and Friday and then I'm free for a whole two days. I might go hunting or put in some extra hours at the bakery, even though Dad gave me the week off, I don't care really; its two days away from School and heck I'm going to enjoy them.

It's around 12:30 when there's a tapping at my window. Frowning, I put down my book and go over to my window. And there in the moonlight, clad in blue jeans and a leather jacket, stands Finn, smiling like an idiot.

"Did you just throw a rock at my window?" I ask.

Finn smirks. "Maybe."

"What do you want, Romeo?" I say, sarcastically.

"We aren't doing Romeo and Juliet, dumbass. If anything I'd be Lysander and you'd be Hermia," he states. I roll my eyes.

"Well, Lysander, why are you calling on this ungodly hour?" I ask in a Shakespearian accent.

"I wish to enter your chambers, my love. The moon is bright in the sky, illuminating your beauty and I am blinded by it, but I'm freezing my tits off down here!"

I laugh. "Lovely twist on Shakespeare, you should consider writing plays," I say with mock seriousness.

"I'm not kidding, Riley, it's fucking freezing. Can I come up?"

"Why don't you just go into your own house?"

"I forgot my keys and my window is locked, now are you going to let a needy prince in or does a bro have to sit out here with blue balls all night?"

I roll my eyes, muttering, "More like damsel in distress. Sure, climb up the trellis." After many failed attempts, Finn manages to climb in and falls face first on my bed. "Why are you back so early? Don't these things go on 'till like… 4 in the morning?" I ask casually, trying to sound as if nothing's bothering me.

"It's still going on. I wasn't having much fun though, so I came back."

"How come?"

"You weren't there."

A blush creeps its way onto my cheeks and thankfully, Finn is still facing down so he can't see. I press the back of my hands to my face hoping to cool them down.

"Although, I'm confused. Maddie was there, how come you didn't go?" he asks.

"Maddie is friends with the popular kids. God knows why she chooses to hang with me every lunch when she could be with them but I don't call her out on it. I tried asking her before but she shoved jelly in my face so I haven't made that mistake again," I chuckle quietly.

"Why do you do that?" Finn asks, looking at me.

"Do what?"

"Put yourself down."

"Because it's true," I shrug. And it is. I don't feel ashamed or upset that I'm not popular. Maddie chooses to hang with me, she's not obligated to. I've always known that there's a difference between being liked and having friends. Finn doesn't say anything to my last answer, just stares at me. I decide a change of subject is in order. "Was Maddie with a guy called Jack Andrews by any chance?"

"Tall, dark brown hair, broody and mysterious?"

"That's the one," I laugh.

"Yeah, she was. He had his arm around her waist most of the night,"

"Remind me to tease her about that tomorrow. She has a massive crush on him." We both smirk.

"Can I have lunch with you tomorrow?" he asks suddenly. I'm taken aback by the question. Why did he feel the need to ask?

"Why? Bored of your new friends already?" I ask jokingly. Just like he was bored of you, the voice in my head whispers.

"No, I just want to. Maybe I could bring Jack along too," he smiles devilishly. My smile matches his.

We spend the rest of the night talking about meaningless subjects. We didn't get a wink of sleep and at 6:30, Finn climbs back down the trellis so he can go and get ready for school. We meet up outside our houses, not looking tired at all and make our way to school, our hands in each other's again.

I'm staying at a friend's house for the next three days because I'm going to the HARRY POTTER STUDIO TOUR ((OMFG IM SO EXCITED)) so that's why I'm updating today:)

I hope everyone is having a good Easter

Review and maybe I'll update quicker;)