A week after the night Ryker came over to apologize or whatever, it was time for final exams. I had told myself over and over that I was going to study but honestly, who was I kidding? I wasn't gonna study at all.

My mom had come home from her honeymoon with Christopher in Mexico and I was so excited she was home. They'd come back with souvenirs for me, such as a shirt, necklace, ring, and a bag. I loved them all.

I'd also gotten my cast off which felt amazing, might I add. I could do anything I wanted now, not that I actually did stuff, but you know what I mean.

Moving on, Xander was in my living room right now with a copy of every novel we read in English class this year laid out in front of him with a stack of notecards. He set everything up on the coffee table as I sprawled across the couch with my limbs hanging off, sucking on a Jolly Rancher. He sat faced towards me, asking questions to try and help me study.

"What is the name of the guy who created the monster in Frankenstein?" Xander asked as he kneeled in front of the table and flipped one of the notecards over.

"Uh, wasn't it Benvolio?"

Xander stared at me as if I had two heads. "Benvolio is in Romeo and Juliet. We read that story sophomore year, not this year. Come on, Eve. This is probably the easiest question you will get. It most likely won't even be on the exam because of how straightforward it is."

I groaned and picked my body up so I was sitting up straight. "X, I'm screwed. Just let me copy off your test."

"Mm-mm. No way," he said, shaking his head.

I gave him my puppy dog eyes and pouted, folding my hands together. "Pleeeaaaseee."

"Only if you answer this next question."

"Alright, ask away," I said, sweeping out my arm.

Xander shuffled through his index cards and looked up once he was satisfied. Without reading off the card, he asked, "How are you and Ryker doing?"

I choked on my candy and quickly swallowed it, grimacing when it painfully slid down my throat when it had still been too big. "Uh, we're fine."

The truth was, we were doing really well. We hung out all the time and I found my love for him grow more and more. He's shown me the real him who's kind and caring and loving.

And here Xander was, cheering me on. He'd broken up with Riley and she took it very well. They were now really good friends and still did things together. It was basically the same relationship they had, just without the whole dating aspect.

"That's good," he said, keeping his eyes on mine a second too long before turning back to his notecards and continued to ask me questions that I didn't know the answers to until he decided it was time for him to go home for the night.

I hugged and kissed my mom goodnight before heading upstairs to get ready for bed. I changed my clothes and sat on my computer listening to Two-Strings as I searched for some posters I could buy to cover up the remaining wall space in my room.

My phone buzzed next to the computer and I picked it up without looking at who was calling since it really could only be from Xander or Ryker.

"Hello?"

"Evangeline, I need your help."

"Hannah?!" I yelled, incredulously.

"Mhm. Now you really have to help me," she said and I could tell she hated every second of asking for my help.

I was so curious as to what she wanted me for so I asked, "With what?"

"You're like super close with Xander Nash right?" She asked, hesitantly. Her change in tone made me second guess answering her call.

"Yeah and?" I prompted her to go on.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but would you help set me up with him?"

Woah, I had not seen that one coming. She hadn't even shown any signs at all of liking my best friend. I'd thought she had been so deeply and utterly in love with Ryker. I sat there gaping at my phone screen for such a long time that Hannah thought I had hung up. She had spoken through my phone saying, "Are you there?"

"Oh, uh yeah. Wait, so you're telling me you like Xander? The completely average kid who sits next to me everyday in class? Are you sure you didn't get his name mixed up with Ryker's since you always seem to be throwing yourself at him?"

She sighed dramatically. "Evangeline, I'm being serious here. You think I want to ask you out of all people for help?"

"That's true, but I don't understand why you like him. I mean he's a great guy and all, but he told you off and you usually go for guys more-"

"I get it, okay? I can't believe I'm saying this, but I always thought Xander had the hots for you. I was jealous of you and saw the way you looked at Ryker, so I wanted to make you jealous of me by going after the guy you liked. Then maybe if Xander saw me with someone else, he'd get jealous as well."

Well holy crap. There was a whole lot of jealousy going around, huh? Everyone was hooking up with each other to get everyone else jealous when it would have been so much easier in the first place to just admit your feelings to that person. Damn, if I had known that then none of this mess would've happened.

"Well shit. I don't really know what to say about all that, so I just won't make a comment. I can't believe I'm saying this either, but if what all of you just said is true, then I know how you feel and I don't exactly blame you for doing it. I don't forgive you by any means, but I guess I understand where you're coming from and for that reason alone, I'll talk to Xander for you."

"Really? You'll do that for me even though I was a bitch to you?"

"Sure, why not? You just admitted you were a bitch to me, so I'll do it. Just promise me one thing."

"Of course."

"Don't go near Ryker again, you got that? And also, tell your pumpkin friend to leave me alone and you got yourself a deal."

"Okay, deal. Thanks, Evangeline," she said sincerely and hung up.

Whew, talk about the strangest conversation I've ever had. I bet if you asked anyone else, they wouldn't have seen that bombshell coming either, right?

Who would expect the head cheerleader to have a crush on the most normal kid in school? Because I sure as hell didn't.

But a promise is a promise. So, I called Xander next.

"What's up, Eve?" He answered in his way of trying to sound cool.

"Hey, I was wondering what you thought about Hannah?"

"Schmitt?"

"No, Montana. Yes, of course Schmitt!"

"Well, she's a bitch for one. For two, she's a slut. For three, she's probably done it with the entire school already."

Ugh. This was going downhill faster than I had thought. "Yeah well, this is awkward."

"Why?"

"How would you feel about, how should I put this? How would you feel about, I don't know, going on a date with her or something?" I asked, nonchalantly.

"Please tell me you're not trying to set me up with the one person you hate the most because I have no idea what's going on here."

"Hmm, well I guess you could say that she, uh, asked me to set you guys up-"

"What the hell? I thought you guys hated each other? Is this some type of joke, Eve?"

I waved my hands in the air even though he couldn't see and tried to calm this whole situation down a bit. "Okay, let me start all over. She said that the reason she was so wicked to me was because she wanted to make me jealous of her because she knew that you...you know liked me," I ended, hurriedly, "If that makes any sense to you."

Xander was silent for a few moments before he said, "That doesn't justify everything else that she's done to you. She's been really awful to you and I won't forgive her for it. I'm sorry, but I don't think I can do this. I just got out of a relationship and I...whatever."

"Yeah, I agree with you about how she was terrible to me, but she realized she took it a few steps too far and apologized for being such a bitch. I think she's trying to become a better person to be with you so this might actually be a good thing. And who knows? Once she changes, you may even find yourself liking her."

Damn, I was good at giving advice.

Xander sighed and said, "I'll do it only because you think it's a good idea. I, for one, do not agree with this whole thing, but you seem to like it so I'll do it. What's Hannah's number?"

"Wait? You're going to call her? I thought I'd be the one to set you guys up."

"No, I should do it. It doesn't feel right to have someone else set us up, you know?"

"Oh, okay," I said and gave him Hannah's number. "Good luck, X."

"Mhm, let's hope this doesn't become a disaster," he said, hanging up.

I hoped so, too. Or else there would be hell to pay and we'd all feel Hannah's wrath. I still couldn't wrap my head around her having a crush on my best friend. I wondered if Tracey knew or what she would say about it.

Was I being a bad friend for sending Xander off on a date even though I knew who he really liked? Ugh, this was so complicated.

And the main thing that had made this whole situation so complicated was one word: jealousy.

**********

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P.S. Thoughts on Hannah and Xander??