"Maddie! Viens ici, we have to go!" Kyle called out to his sister obnoxiously from his place at the entryway. Kyle clearly heard Maddie's scoff and mumbling of "I've been coming, can he just wait" in French and laughed under his breath in response. Maddie appeared a few moments later with narrowed, annoyed eyes. Kyle gave her a large smile, knowing that it would annoy Maddie immensely before leaving the house and walking towards his car.

Kyle barely was able to buckle on his seatbelt before Maddie was sitting in the passenger seat but Kyle was pleased that she hadn't stalled as a way to get back at him because she had done that before.

In a few moments, the two were leaving their driveway and driving down the road towards the high school. Kyle was enjoying the quiet and calm--he liked to have no music before school unless one counted the music of honking cars--but his peaceful silence was interrupted when Maddie reached for the radio and turned to a top charts channel.  

Kyle's eyes shot to his sister and she was already looking at him with a smug smirk.

"What?" She asked, her voice innocent but her eyes laughing. "I didn't want to be late for school . . . "

Kyle sighed and turned back to the road, ignoring the snickering of his sister and deciding to just focus on driving. He could drive through some Post Malone for just a few more minutes, he would be fine.

—————

Kyle was not fine. The drive was so incredibly annoying that Kyle was still shocked when he thought about it. Post Malone honestly did not make bad music, heck Kyle even had some of his songs, but Kyle could not handle stuff like that on his way to school. Kyle had a routine and he enjoyed sticking to it. But Maddie liked annoying Kyle when he upset her and with her annoying singing going along with the already disturbing music, Maddie got exactly what she wanted.

Kyle was still grumbling and staring at the floor while he and Maddie were walking down the halls. His grumbling slowly came to a stop when his mind wandered to thoughts of Cole. 

I wonder where he is? He thought, his right hand unconsciously coming up to rub his chin.

"You wonder where who is?" Maddie asked, looking at Kyle with a puzzled expression. "Neal?"

Kyle looked down at his sister with an equally confused expression. 

"No, Cole." He told her with a frown. "And how did you know that I was thinking about him?" Maddie rolled her eyes as if Kyle had just said something really stupid.

"I didn't know. You said it out loud, smart guy." She explained sarcastically. Kyle puckered his lips in thought for a moment.

Did I really . . . ?

"Well I guess it doesn't matter, I probably had one of those dumb Wattpad moments," Kyle said with a shrug. It could not have been anything serious. Maddie nodded in agreement before her face suddenly lit up and she gasped in a gigantic breath to yell,

"Hey, Angela!" Maddie waved her hand excitedly at Angel who was beet red from the attention. Angela shuffled her way over to the two of them, using her hair to shield parts of her face until she could be guarded by Maddie and Kyle.

"Hey." Angela smiled softly and awkwardly. She was glancing at the people around us and I realized that she was uncomfortable with talking while being surrounded by our other classmates.

"Hey, Angela." I smiled, watching as her shoulders eased only the slightest bit from the gesture. "Where's your locker?" Angela seemed surprised by the question but pointed towards the end of the hall that we were standing in. 

"Just at the end of this hall, why?" She looked up at Kyle and showed her puzzlement adorably on her face. 

"I thought that the three of us could talk there while you change your books instead of in the middle of the hall." Kyle shrugged, acting as if he didn't know how that would make Angela more comfortable. Angela's eyes lit up and she smiled gratefully. 

"Yeah, great idea. Thanks." The three of them went down the hall towards Angela's locker. They were talking about Maddie and her school and club responsibilities because Angela and Kyle hadn't had any idea of what that was. Kyle smiled when he saw how well the two got along. He and Angela were lucky to click, but Kyle knew that she was not always able to become friends with people, so seeing that his sister had made her this comfortable made Kyle happier than he would admit.

They got to Angela's locker and after a few more moments of the girls talking about Maddie's assignments and teachers, Angela started to talk about her's. 

"I want to get myself to relax and not stress so much but these midterms are seriously worrying me." She was explaining, her left hand held to her brow while she rubbed it with a sigh. "All the stuff that I learned in September I have completely forgotten. I will not stand a chance against those tests."

Kyle frowned as he was watching Angela. Seeing her this stressed about the tests was getting to him as well. Maddie looked over at Kyle.

"Do you think you understand the material from September?" Maddie asked slowly with a thoughtful look. Kyle shrugged.

"I think I remember it pretty well but I could definitely use some study time," Kyle told his sister. He had been glancing at Angela the entire time that he spoke because he was worried that she would react badly to his statement, but she seemed completely fine. Kyle looked back at his sister Maddie who was wearing a small smile.

"You two are so dumb," She said, causing Kyle and Angela to look at her with raised brows. "I really don't get how you two became seniors. Why don't you just study together?" Angela turned to Kyle with wide eyes and Kyle mirrored her expression to the T. Kyle palmed himself in the face while Angela did a little hop.

"I am so dumb." Kyle groaned.

"That would be so perfect! It would help me so much." Angela said excitedly. She stopped when she noticed that Kyle was still berating himself for being thick-headed and frowned. "Please tell me that you'll do it, Kyle."

Kyle looked up at Angela who wore wide pleading eyes and a bottom lip pushed out to create a puppy dog face. Kyle smiled reassuringly.

"Of course I'll do it. The two of us could meet once a week at my house if you'd like." Kyle suggested. Angela agreed so Kyle continued to offer some options for how they could study and Angela just nodded happily throughout the entire thing. Maddie decided to check her watch and paled when she saw the time.

"Oh man!" She yelled, hiking her backpack higher up on her shoulder. "I have been with you guys for way too long. I really need to get to my locker. I'll talk to you later, bye!" Maddie was off before Kyle and Angela could even wave, racing down the halls with impressive speed.

Kyle pulled out his phone and realized that he had to leave as well.

"Actually, I have to go too," Kyle told Angela, adjusting his backpack just in case. "I will text you later to discuss when we can meet up." Angela smiled while opening her locker. The two of them said their goodbyes before Kyle walked off.

Kyle was honestly excited when he thought about studying with Angela. But, he knew that for some reason, Cole still didn't like her. If Kyle were to be studying with Angela once a week, then he would have to get Cole to agree to a day that they wouldn't get to meet, and somehow, Kyle knew that that conversation would not happen as easily as he hoped.

Kyle sucked in a breath when he saw Cole's bright head of hair enter the classroom. Kyle crossed his fingers and walked inside.