I FORGOT I WROTE THIS STORY. I'm so sorry to the EAH fandom, I really lost my inspiration to this till I reread it again and saw some potential. MAYBE. please don't hold me to it lol I'm actually a really crappy writer. Plus this was in my hard drive for the last 6 years so I thought I might put it out for you to read!

Daring Charming was usually a distracted person, he was always flashing his megawatt smile at every passing stranger or checking himself out on any reflective surface. But today he was extra distracted, with his chin resting on his palm and his eyes remaining glued to an angle Apple couldn't quite see.

He hadn't spoken a word to her all morning.

She had sat right beside him in hopes of discussing her Legacy Day shopping agenda, but he didn't even turn to look at her let alone realise she was sitting right there! Apple couldn't figure out what he was so concentrated on as he kept his gaze forward. Baba Yaga levitated at the front of the room, droning on her usual lesson of Hexonomics yet Daring wasn't one to pay attention in class.

She watched Daring adjust himself on the chair, possibly feeling uncomfortable In the same statue-like position he had been stuck in all hour. After a pause, Daring reached for his MirrorPhone and Apple felt herself lurch forward with a feeling of expectancy, a small glimmer of hope flashing in her eyes thinking he might finally reply to the hexts she had bombarded him with all morning.

But to her annoyance, he stared at the screen and slumped his shoulders slightly before putting his MirrorPhone back down on the table face flat.

What the hex?!

Meanwhile, Prince Daring Charming hadn't the slightest clue of the hole being burned on his back by his alleged one true love. He had waited outside of Hexonomics all morning in hopes of catching up to Cerise on the way in, but she missed roll call. About 10 minutes into the lesson, she managed to duck in with Baba Yaga's back to the class and grab a seat that was a couple of students in front of Daring.

He thought he had caught a glimpse of her tired eyes, and his doubts were further confirmed when she fell asleep head down on her desk. She had ignored his hexts all morning and didn't even cast him so much as a glance on her way in.

Daring wasn't used to being disregarded, it made him that much more curious.

Yet he couldn't figure out for the life of him, why Cerise Hood was ignoring him. Had he done something wrong? He reviewed the morning before BookBall practice a couple of days ago when she had first given him the cold shoulder, trying his hardest to think of any interaction he had with her that day.

His eyes cast back to her hood as she lay asleep on her desk in the middle of class. Baba Yaga wasn't one to criticise students on tardiness, so he was relieved Cerise wasn't going to get in trouble.

The bell rang loudly, snapping Daring out of his own thoughts as students began gathering their belongings to head to the next class. Daring grabbed his bag quickly, since he was too distracted to even open his book let alone take out his belongings in the first place as he weaved past the students towards Cerise's desk.

The bell had woken her up as she yawned with her arms outstretched above her head unaware of the blonde Prince with his sights trained on her.

"Cerise!" He felt her name roll off his tongue and the excitement of her emerald green eyes flicker in his direction.

"Daring," She sounded surprised to see him, and hex she definitely was. He was the last person she wanted to interact with on the lack of sleep she was having. "Can I help you?"

The opportunity to speak with her came so fast that he didn't even have a moment to collect his thoughts as he stood with his jaw slack trying to think of something. His eyes darted desperately around his surroundings, trying not to make his loitering obvious.

His line of sight caught the book Cerise had been laying her head on for her nap. Book…Bookball! The lightbulb flicked on instantly as Daring lowered his voice to sound more confident in his next words, "I was wondering if you were free some time to go over my lateral,"

She raised her eyebrows confusedly, "Your passes are fine Daring,"

He felt his confidence shatter so quickly, "Uh- no I mean, I guess," He fiddled with the strap of his bag on his shoulder. Cerise began gathering her book and he was running out of time, "My backward passes need some work, if you're free, we can meet in the field today?"

He could've waited for her to pick a day she was free, he could've let her decide but he was too forward, and letting someone else decide was definitely not in his nature.

Cerise pondered for a moment, contemplating if spending time with Daring Charming was even in her best interest. Despite the slight tingle in her stomach at his effort to speak with her, she knew this was a bad idea.

She had vowed to bury her old crush on Daring and his conceited action the other day was helping dig a hole to hide those feelings. Would something change if he made amends for those actions?

That's what she was afraid of. "Daring I-" Cerise began trying to reject his request before she was cut off by the one voice she'd rather go deaf to.

"Daring!" His greyish-blue eyes flickered in Apple's direction as she appeared beside him faster than Briar could fall asleep. Despite being the fairest of them all, Apple White definitely knew how to get what she wanted, even if it meant unsavoury tactics.

She linked her arm around Daring's bicep, locking him in place as he stood there in confusion. Daring didn't even realise Apple was in class today let alone where she had even come from. "Good morning, Cerise!" Apple chirped in the same excited tone and Cerise acknowledged her greeting with a small tired twitch of her lip.

Apple White wasn't a mean girl, at least not in the general sense. She volunteers her weekends, greets everyone with the same flowery smile and bakes her mother's famous apple pies for everyone at every school event.

There was just one problem.

Cerise felt the hairs on her neck prick up at the way she leaned her head on his shoulder, giving him a fruitful smile, "Come, we'll be late for Crownculus sweetie,"

Apple is his girlfriend.

When the guy you're crushing on has a girlfriend, there's really no room for a friendship with her no matter how hard you try. Did that make Cerise a bad person? Maybe, but it just comes with the territory.

All the more reason not to get involved with him Cerise reminded herself as she shoved her books in her bag and pulled her hood down. Daring quickly snapped out of his state of paralysis as he glimpsed Cerise's red hood disappear from his peripherals, but by the time he had reacted, she had already left the room.

Hex.

"He asked you to help him with his passes?" Raven's voice had hit an octave of disbelief as she sat next to Cerise in the cafeteria. Despite vowing to herself to never be involved with Prince Daring Charming in any way aside from teammates, Cerise couldn't stop thinking about him.

"Yeah,"

"So? Did you tell him no?" Raven inquired and Cerise felt her shoulders shrink back at her question before letting out a sulky groan. Raven Queen was exceptionally smart, but she didn't need wits to relate that groan to a definite 'no'.

"Well at least it wasn't a yes," Raven sighed, leaning her knuckles against her temple as Cerise pulled her hood down lower in between her self-loathing.

"I can't keep doing this. It's just that everything is happening all at once, Legacy Day and the book ball championship," She continued to list all of the things playing a part in her current turmoil before her voice fell to a soft hush, "Not to mention the Blood Moon,"

Cerise sighed loudly, slamming her head hard against the wooden cafeteria table with a vibrating thud. Raven pursed her lips, her eyes glazing over in thought before leaning down to be at Cerise's eye level as she continued to lay with her face concealed beneath her hood.

"Did you manage to get some information on the blood moon?" She murmured quietly.

"Not in the slightest. There's only one book in the library relating to wolves and I…" Cerise paused, her thoughts wandering back to the other day when she had a run-in with Daring Charming in the library.

Subconsciously she began recounting the way he looked that day, clad in his white shirt as he had ditched his letterman jacket on the particularly warm day. The smell of fresh pine that clung to him. Daring always smelt of the forest, it was already strong to a normal person and almost distinct to her wolf senses.

The way he spoke to her, soft and charismatic like he was putting the extra effort to appear more charming than usual. Gosh, she needed to get over him!

"And then?" Raven's voice ran Cerise's wreckage of a crush train right off its rails as she sighed.

"And then I ran into Daring and left it behind," She grumbled slamming her head again on the desk in defeat. Raven frowned, watching her friend sulk against the beaten wood of the Castleteria table.

"I'm confused," The purple-haired rebel shook her head, "Are you trying to avoid Daring or not?"

"I am!" Cerise groaned, stamping her feet on the ground in exasperation, "He's just really really hard to avoid,"

"Why don't you hext him now and say you're busy?"

Cerise pursed her lips and chuckled sheepishly, "I don't have my mirrorphone with me. Left it in my dorm in my rush this morning,"

Raven raised her eyebrow suspiciously and gave Cerise a look, much to her heightening nervous chuckles. "Doesn't seem like you want to avoid him…"

"I have to Raven!" She huffed. Cerise never willingly wanted to avoid Daring, she had a crush on him since the start of book ball season and subconsciously she wanted nothing more than to marvel at the blonde prince like every other girl in the school. "I can't let him find out who I really am,"

She liked her friendship with him, and she was terrified of his reaction if he were to ever find out his friend was part monster. The part he is destined to slay. He would despise her.

"I can't risk losing the friendship I have with him," She sighed. She would just have to settle for marvelling at him from afar. Raven moved closer to her brunette friend and placed her hand comfortingly on her shoulder.

"I'm not saying to go against your destiny or anything, but if Daring were really a friend worth keeping, he would accept you, just the way you are," She told her softly and Cerise offered Raven a weak smile.

She was right though, if Daring were a true friend, he wouldn't look down on her or misunderstand something she can't control. But given his history and his own lineage, would a friendship even be possible?

Cerise made her way back to her dorm room that afternoon, empty as usual with Cedar's commitment to woodwork after school. She sat down at her table and grabbed her mirrorphone from where she had left it to charge last night.

The moment the screen came on, a plethora of notifications blocked her wallpaper, mostly from the Mirrorblog updates and a few hexts from her friends and a name that made her heartthrob.

Morning! I have something for you, see you outside of Hexonomics – D

Cerise frowned, what did he mean he had something for her? The messages went on.

I think you're running late, see you in class? - D

Did you sleep in? Don't train so hard, they'll think I'm a bad captain – D

His last text made a soft smile tug at her lips. He had really no shame in triple hexting either. She was sure he was not very used to double-hexting let alone triple-hexting any girl.

His most recent message had pinged her mirrorphone a couple of minutes ago.

See you on the field at 6! - D

It was now 5:50pm and Cerise felt her heart thump in her chest at the thought of being alone with Daring Charming this late into the evening, even if It was for his passes as he so boldly claimed.

A small part, bigger than she would admit wanted to go and hang out with him. She genuinely enjoyed Daring's amusing company above the fact that she had big bad crush on him. But she couldn't let herself get too involved with him.

Wanting a friendship with someone you had a crush on usually just leads to you just falling in love with them. Crushing on Prince Daring Charming was a chapter of every girl's legacy book, but falling in love with him? That was a whole other story. A story meant only for Apple.

Opening his hext messages, she began typing out her reply to his plethora words.

Can't make it sorry – C

She didn't wait for his reply and turned off her phone before burying her head in her arms over her desk.

Falling in love with Daring Charming was not a risk Cerise could afford to take in her already messed up story. A risk that could be avoided if she simply stopped being friends with him altogether.