I woke up to the muffled sound of voices. The voices of mom and dad. It sounded like they're fighting again. I know Rebecca told me not to listen since it's none of my business but.. how could I not?

How could I not listen?

I pressed my palms and one ear against the door, trying to get a clearer idea of what was going on without opening the door and startling them.

"NO. You don't understand. This is completely out of my control!" I heard my dad yell.

"No, John. It is within your control. You were the one that quit, you weren't fired. Do you know how dangerous this could be for our family?"

I heard my dad slam his hand on the kitchen counter.

My mom continued. "We're barely hanging on. I don't even know if we can afford to pay for Ellie's tuition, do you know how serious this is? Honey, this really isn't the time to start chasing your dreams."

"Yes, yes I know! But you don't get it. Just please, give me a month and I'll find myself a new job. I promise."

My mom sighs. And there was a long pause.

"Please, John. Let this be the last time, okay? It's around time Ellie's going to wake up. I don't want her hearing this."

"Yeah...okay." I heard my dad mutter, barely audible.

I turned around to the clock, it was 6:30. Usually around the time I head downstairs and eat breakfast. As fast as I possibly can, I got dressed, washed my face and brushed my teeth and I hurried downstairs. But by the time I got downstairs, Rebecca had headed to school, dad had just gone back to sleep and it was just mom staring back at me. Waiting for me to start eating.

Her gentle smile was the same, but wrinkles had started to appear and they framed her eyes and mouth, her hair was no longer that rich, beautiful dark brown I was used to and now it was streaked with gray hairs.

I shook my head, trying to push the conversation from my mind as I rushed to get ready. It wasn't my problem, but it felt like everything around me was falling apart, and I couldn't do anything about it.

I tried to focus on the morning, but the weight in my chest didn't go away. By the time I finally made it downstairs, Rebecca had already left, Dad was back asleep, and Mom was waiting at the table with a soft smile. The pancakes she made were my favorite, but even that couldn't shake the unease gnawing at me.

"Go on sweetie, I made your favorite blueberry pancakes." Mom said lifting her chin to point me in the direction of where the pancakes were.

"Thanks mom." I smiled back but my voice felt thin, even to me.

~At school~

By the time biology rolled around the weight in my chest still hadn't disappeared. Maybe that's why I hadn't noticed Aaron was once again, sat next to me. Oh the perks of having last names that are so close to each other in alphabetical order...

Aaron watched me intently before beginning.

"Couldn't keep your eyes off me yesterday, could you?"

My eyes widened and I snapped my head to turn to him.

"HUHH?!"

Aaron put his hands up in the air and shifted backwards a little, as if I was going to beat him up or something.. which to be honest, I would've done if we weren't in the middle of biology.

"Woah! Calm down Baker."

He said before muttering, and putting the back of his hand over his mouth.

"It was pretty cute."

Cute.

Cute.

CUTE?!!

Did Aaron just call me cute?! Like I'm his pet or something?! Or even worse...GIRLFRIEND! My heart was racing again, DAMN IT. It was like it was his superpower or something! I hate it! UGH!

To make it even worse, the entire time I was freaking out, Aaron just sat there! Staring at me as my face got redder and redder. Ugh, the audacity! It was like he was admiring a masterpiece he'd made, expect for the fact that his so-called "masterpiece" totally wanted to shred him into pieces right now.

"Ellie, why do cells have Cilia?" The teacher called out.

I stood up and...my mind went BLANK. "Uhh.. well...the..."

I looked down at Aaron, and of course he was grinning. "Need help?" He mouthed out. I nodded furiously. I should know this, I remember getting a question like this on an exam before and I totally aced it! So why was I blanking out now?

Aaron's grin grew even wider. "Surface area." He whispered.

"SURFACE AREA! It's to increase surface area."

I announced, maybe a little too enthusiastically considering the fact that it was Aaron that gave me the answer.

The teacher blinked twice, before saying "Good job Aaron. Ellie...maybe next time." He said making a that's really embarrassing face to me.

UGHHH. That was so degrading... I can't believe I just let Aaron help me on such a simple question! I glared at him again as I sat down. He was still grinning.

Now the entire class thinks I'm stupid and that I need help from good ol' Aaron.. this day is off to a horrible start.

Something happened, and people are talking. I thought to myself as I headed to the library right after third period had ended.

Maybe it's because of my newly painted nails, or maybe it's because of Noah's (Aaron's best friend) new haircut because something is different, something feels different. There's something in the air that I can't quite grasp.

I don't know... maybe I'm just overthinking?? But people have been staring at me down the entire way to the library. If only my Liv, my best friend was here. Too bad she's on vacation with her family in Venice. I'm SOOO freaking jealous...

Just as I was about to fall further into my overthinking spiral again Aaron appeared right beside me with the room key.

"People are talking." He announced suddenly, spinning the key around his slim fingers.

I raised an eyebrow.

"About what?"

"Us."

What the heck??

"Huh? What did we do?!" I said, annoyed that I'd been grouped together with him.

"They're saying we kissed. In that room." He responded, pointing to the room at the back of the library.

No freaking wayy..

"WHAT?!" I turned to him, shocked that someone had come up with that. "What makes them think we kissed?! Just the thought of that sends chills down my spine."

"Ehh, I don't know. It doesn't matter anyway, I just felt like telling you." He shrugged. "You don't think I'm good enough to kiss?" He questioned suddenly, unlocking the door and walking in.

"No. It's not that... it's just uh—"

HELPP. What am I even supposed to respond to that??

"I'm just kidding baker!" He smirked. "Calm down. I feel the same way about you. Now get in." He said as he hurried me in with his hand pressed against my back.

My heart dropped. "He doesn't want to kiss me?"I wondered to myself, before snapping out of it.

DUHHHH. Of course he doesn't want to kiss you! You hate him and he doesn't like you either! Perfect! Don't overthink! Plusss... it's only natural for him to not want to kiss you when he knows you totally hate him. RIGHT?? Fuck. I'm doing it again! Overthinking about Aaron...

"Baker?" Aaron said, waving his hand in front of my face. "You tend to zone out a lot, don't you?"

"What?" I snapped. Annoyed yet relieved that he'd once again, got me out of my stupid spiral.

"Woah, you're grumpy today." He leaned back.

"Sorry, I'm just... a little grumpy today."

"No worries."

I sit down and immediately start munching in the delicious burger mom had secretly packed for me after she saw my horrid tuna sandwich I left in the bottom of my bag. She even wrote a little note for me!

I watched as Aaron pulls out and ticks off two books from the plan/checklist he brought to our first battle of the books meeting.

God damn he reads fast, for the past few days I've been watching him read books at the speed of light. It's CRAZY. And even more crazy when you consider the fact that one of the books he read was "Anne Frank's diary."