Once chemistry class ended the next day, I shot up from my seat. I had to get to Derek as soon as possible. This was one class we didn’t share with either Ashley or Melissa, so it was the perfect moment for me to talk to him.

“I’ll see you at lunch later!” I said, waving at Nolan.

Having just woken up from the bell, he nodded at me before slowly getting up from his chair.

Derek was sliding out of his seat when I reached him.

He glanced up at me, blinking.

“What’s with the stampeding?” he said. “It’s not lunch period yet, just in case you saw the time wrongly.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “I know it isn’t! Not everything is about food for me, you know.”

He snickered and began walking with me towards the door. “I kind of doubt that, but sure.”

It really didn’t seem like he was trying to avoid interactions with me. It was as Melissa had suspected—he was probably really only avoiding her.

“You have English after this, right?” I said as we followed the small crowd of students streaming out of the classroom.

“Yep,” he said, adjusting the binder that he was clutching in one hand. “We’re going there together, aren’t we?”

“Yes, we are,” I said. “Hey, have you been avoiding Melissa lately?”

I had originally planned to ask him in a very tactful manner, but whenever I was in Derek’s presence, all diplomacy flew out of me. It was just that comfortable to be around him. He just wasn’t the kind of guy anyone ever needed to tiptoe around.

His hand, which had been on the way to brushing aside some fringe that fell into his eyes, froze mid-air. “What?”

“You heard me. It’s not that noisy here, so don’t pretend you didn’t,” I said, crossing my arm.

As he turned his head away from me, his eyes darted from side to side. “I … Why?”

Well, that was suspicious.

“Melissa said you’ve been off for the past few days. Apparently, you told her to pay attention in class when she tried chatting with you. That doesn’t sound like something you’d normally do.”

“I mean, I did,” he said, still not looking at me as we made our way down the hallway. “We’re just a few weeks away from our exams. We shouldn’t be talking during class anyway, right?”

I stared at him with my mouth agape. “I would agree if you were Ashley, but unfortunately, you aren’t. Who are you?”

Clearly offended, he frowned down at me. “Hey, I’m finally doing what you guys are always nagging me to do! Shouldn’t you be happy?”

“Look, the point is that you only seem to be doing that when it’s Melissa you’re interacting with,” I said. “She said you didn’t even want to study with her. Did something happen?”

He spluttered. “I … I—!"

I gave him a tiny smile. “You can tell me, you know. You’re my best friend too, Derek. We’re also worried about you. If there’s something wrong, I don’t want you to feel like you can’t tell us. I can keep it between us if you want.”

Shaking his head, he let out an enormous sigh. “Alright. Since you said you wouldn’t tell anyone, I’ll just say this, okay? I needed space and time to think about some things, but I didn’t think that Mel would notice. I didn’t mean to make her think I was avoiding her, but I’m fine now.”

“What things?” He left it so vague, I was suddenly overwhelmed with curiosity.

Derek waved his left hand at nothing in particular. “Just, you know, things. It’s nothing, really. Anyway, don’t tell Mel or Ashley, okay? I don’t really want to talk about it, but I promise that I’m okay.”

At least he was returning my grin now.

“Yeah, I won’t,” I said. “Don’t worry. Are you sure you don’t need to talk about it?”

“I’m sure.”

I kind of wished he needed to, but all I did was nod. “Okay, then. As long as you’re okay. You’re not still going to avoid her though, right?”

“No,” he said, “I’ve figured things out.”

What was he thinking about? Why couldn’t he share it with us? It seemed like Derek never had anything to hide, much less from Melissa, so this conversation felt completely bizarre to me.

“Good to hear that,” I said, despite the lack of content in this little exchange. “Take your time eating your dinner tonight, alright?”

A reluctant smile pulled at his lips. “I guess I was a little obvious, huh?”

“Honestly, that was probably what gave you away the most.”

With a solemn expression, he said, “No worries, I’ll even eat my own dessert tonight.”

“Actually,” I said quickly, “it would be even more normal for you to give it to me. Feel free not to finish it!”

Derek laughed.

---

After Thanksgiving break, the first half of December flew by in the midst of my intense revision. Our final exams were starting tomorrow, and my anxiety was refusing to come down from the roof it’d gone through.

Groaning, I flipped through the thick stack of revision notes I’d made over the course of the past month. The information seemed to just leave my mind the moment I thought had it memorized. The delicious aroma of various savory foods in the cafeteria wafted to my nose, but I didn’t care.

“I’m starting to feel like I’ll never be ready,” I said, burying my face into the papers.

“Finish your lunch first,” Ashley said, attempting to tug my notes from my hands. “You have plenty of time to continue studying afterwards.”

I held on tightly. “No!”

Melissa poked a piece of cucumber out of her California roll. “I don’t understand why you always get like this when our finals are near. It’s not like you haven’t been studying all year. You’ll be fine!”

“What if my mind blanks out on me once I actually look at the exam paper?” I said. “Do you remember what happened last year? I wasted fifteen minutes doing absolutely nothing during our math exam!”

“But that was because you were freaking out,” Ashley said. “You wouldn’t have blanked out if you calmed down.”

Nolan, who was sitting beside me, spun around the small cap he’d taken off his water bottle on the table. “Why are you so nervous?”

He looked as unconcerned as ever. I was still a little surprised that he agreed to come down to have lunch with us since we didn’t have classes today. He did look like he’d just woken up when he reached our table, though. I was fairly certain he’d slept the entire morning away.

Knowing that he would probably score well as usual merely caused me to glare at him harder. “How are you so calm?”

“I’ve spent the past few weeks studying with you,” he said pointedly, tilting his head in my direction. “I’m pretty sure you’ve already covered all you could possibly cover in your preparations. If you know your material, you’re fine.”

It just felt like no matter how much I revised, it wasn’t enough. There was just something about final exams that were way more heart-pounding than class projects or tests. The fact that they had such a high weightage in our overall grades didn’t help.

“I guess,” I said, burying my face in my notes again and sighing.

“I can’t wait for everything to be over,” Derek said, finishing the last spoonful of his soup. “I’m already sick of all this studying.”

I squinted at him. “You only started cramming the past couple of weeks.”

“And it’s been a couple weeks too many,” Melissa said.

“I think I’ll go back to my room to revise after lunch,” Ashley said, checking the wall clock nearby. “Unless you want me to study with you, Chels?”

“Thanks, but it’s okay,” I said, shaking my head. “I think I need some time to stress out alone.”

Melissa snorted as she tied her brown hair up. “Please, you’ll be stressing out either way.”

“Exactly.” I pointed my pen at her. “I’m being considerate by not subjecting others to it.”

Nolan said, “Are you sure there’s nothing we can do to help you be less dramatic about this?”

While Melissa laughed, I glared at him.

“Hey!”

His expression didn’t change. “What? I was offering help.”

“You were poking fun at me under the guise of offering help!”

One corner of his lips pulled up into a half-smirk. “Well … I can’t deny that you’re amusing.”

“Nolan!”

---

After lunch, we headed back to the dorms, with Derek and Melissa leading the way out of the dining hall.

It took me several seconds to realize that Nolan’s pace had slowed significantly. He was now lagging behind us. Since Ashley’s attention was occupied by her phone, I decided to hang back and see if something was up.

“Hey,” I said quietly when I was finally beside him. “What’s up?”

Nolan’s regular walking pace was way faster than mine, so there was no way it could be because he couldn’t catch up with us.

“Hey. Hold out your hand.” He gestured at my arm.

Startled, I did as he asked. “What is it?”

His other hand came out of hiding from behind his back and placed something on my palm. It was a small metallic box of peach mints from my usual brand.

“For you,” he said. “I know you eat them by the case whenever you feel sleepy. You only have one box left, right? I thought you could try another flavor.”

He noticed. I hadn’t thought that he would when I was complaining about it to Ashley a few days ago.

I felt myself smile as I looked down at it.

“Thanks, Nolan. I appreciate it,” I said, and then my brain fully registered what he’d just said. “I don’t eat them by the case!”

“No problem,” he said, adjusting his blue cap so that it fit more tightly on his head.

“When did you get it? I thought you didn’t go out on weekends,” I said, eyeing him curiously.

“That’s for me to know,” he said, shrugging. “Anyway, sleep early tonight, okay?”

It was fall, and the air surrounding us was cold, but the blooming warmth spreading from my chest to the rest of my body was undeniable.

“Yeah, I will,” I said, tightening my clutch around the box of mints. “You too, okay?”

Nolan’s ungracious snort made me roll my eyes. “I can’t, but I appreciate the sentiment.”

Oops.

I shook my head. “I mean, you obviously know what you’re doing, so … Anyway, all the best tomorrow!”

“Thanks. Don’t stay up all night worrying. You’ll be fine.”

“Okay,” I said, suddenly really wanting to believe him. “I’ll try not to.”

Nolan’s smile was warm, too.

“All the best for tomorrow.”