It was almost weird how normally Derek and Melissa were behaving around us, even though they were officially together now.

It was as if nothing had changed, except for the occasional leaning on Derek’s shoulder that Melissa did. They seemed to smile more often at each other, too, but that was really all. I honestly didn’t know what I was expecting, but I just knew that it wasn’t this.

“Why do you keep staring at me?” Melissa said, finishing the last bite of her meatball pasta.

Oops, I got caught.

“I’m not staring,” I said, quickly turning my attention back to my half-eaten dessert. “I’m just … looking.”

“Isn’t that the same thing?” she said, rolling her eyes. “What’s up?”

“It’s nothing,” I said. “Don’t mind me!”

I could already picture the unimpressed look she’d give me if I told her what was on my mind.

“What?” Melissa’s eyebrows drew together. “You were staring at me for nothing? That doesn’t even make sense.”

That got Ashley’s attention. She raised her head from her food.

“Well, yeah, it’s really nothing,” I insisted, using my spoon to scoop out a large chunk of my chocolate pudding.

I quickly stuffed it into my mouth so that I wouldn’t be able to say anything else.

Melissa eyed me skeptically. “You’re really weird sometimes, you know that?”

I couldn’t help my snort. “No, but thanks.”

“I can’t wait for classes to be over,” Derek said, flopping his arm across the table and resting his cheek on it. “This weather is seriously making me feel sleepy.”

It was colder than usual today, and Derek had been moving pretty sluggishly this whole morning. His eyelids, which had already been half-closed, slid shut as he sighed.

Ashley yawned. “I feel you. I can’t blame Nolan for choosing sleep over food today.”

“Yeah,” I echoed, although deep down I really wished he’d done the reverse.

In a rare show of extreme sleepiness, Nolan had gone to the library instead of coming down to lunch with us.

I was already missing his presence next to me.

In fact, I really wanted to go up to the library now that I was almost done with my lunch. The only reason I wasn’t already on my way was because I didn’t want to be obvious about it. All my lunch periods were reserved solely for cafeteria time with my best friends. Judging from the way Derek teased me when I was picking out a cap for Nolan a few months ago, I was pretty sure he’d pounce on my leaving as evidence that I had a thing for Nolan.

I could live without that happening, especially since I’d accidentally ruined his moment with Melissa just a few days ago.

Nobody—except for Ashley—could ever find out about my crush on Nolan, especially since I had no idea yet how he felt about me.

Sighing, I looked back down at my phone. Maybe he would be willing to eat dinner with us tonight.

“Hey, I don’t think I can study with you guys later,” Nolan said.

“Oh,” I said. “Oh, okay. No problem.”

Our last period had just ended, and we were walking out of the classroom together.

“Sorry, I’m just too tired,” he said, raising his hand to the back of his neck. “I haven’t caught up on my sleep debt yet. I think I need to nap some more.”

“But you were asleep in almost every class today. And—” went to the library for a nap during lunch instead of eating with us.

I shut my mouth. There was no way I was going to say that to him. I didn’t want him to know that I was missing him even for that short period.

“And what?” he prompted, squinting at me with his half-open eyes, after I cut myself off.

“Nothing,” I said. “I was just thinking you must be exhausted.”

Sighing, he rubbed his eyes. “Yeah, I am. I’m going to head right back to sleep. What about you?”

“We can walk back to the dorms together. I need to get some things from my room,” I said, moving aside to let a harried-looking guy pass. “Oops—”

I accidentally stepped on a bit of my shoelace that had become undone—when did that happen?—with my other shoe.

Just as I stumbled, a hand wrapped around my arm in a firm grip and steadied me. I turned back to see Nolan frowning down at my shoes.

“Be more careful,” he said. “You should retie your shoelaces.”

“Thanks,” I said, trying to ignore the burning sensation growing in my cheeks.

It seemed like he was always saving me. Somehow, that thought made me really happy.

Fighting off the urge to fling his hand off my arm, because I was pretty sure it was playing the most important factor in my sudden heart palpitations, I took a step backwards while still facing him.

“I’ll tie them now,” I said.

He let go of his hold on me. “Okay.”

I quickly strode to the nearest wall and stooped down to retie my shoelaces. When I got up again, Nolan was leaning against the wall with crossed arms and closed eyes.

Whoa, he really wasn’t kidding about needing sleep.

I walked up to him. “I’m done. Let’s go.”

“Okay,” he said, before letting out a groan and rubbing his eyes again.

I hadn’t seen him look this lethargic in a long while.

“Hey, are you okay? Have you been sleeping late recently?” I asked.

“Not more than usual. I think it’s just—” He looked down at his hands. “I think I just need more naps.”

Humming, I studied his profile. He didn’t look any different from usual. “Well, as long as you’re sure you’re alright. Go to the infirmary if you start feeling sick, okay?”

He snorted, and then he caught himself when he noticed my sharp glare. “Yes, I will. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

“Good,” I said.

Nolan didn’t join us for dinner, either.

I wondered if he was eating elsewhere by himself. I couldn’t imagine skipping both lunch and dinner in a day, no matter how tired I was. Regardless, he hadn’t replied to my previous text yet, so I was guessing that he was still asleep. We still had frequent text conversations even after coming back to school, and I liked that we usually sent ‘good night’ messages now.

“I’m pretty full. I’m going to walk it off first,” Derek said as we stepped out of the dining hall.

“You’re having that snowball fight later, right?” Ashley said.

With a grin, Melissa nodded. “Can’t be too full for that! Are you sure you guys don’t want to come?”

“Really sure,” I promised, shaking my head. “Thanks, though. You guys have fun!”

“Try not to get caught,” Ashley said, grimacing. “See you tomorrow.”

“See you!”

They walked ahead of us.

When they got some distance away, Derek reached out and held Melissa’s hand.

I couldn’t help but smile. That was too cute.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they were using the walk as an excuse to get some alone time, since we were always together as a group.

If by some miracle I managed to get together with Nolan, I would want to spend some quality time with him, too.

Startled by that sudden random thought, I cringed inwardly. I really needed to stop daydreaming.

“Chels, you go ahead first,” Ashley said, staring down at her phone. “I need to meet someone from the student council for a little bit.”

“Okay. Are you still coming to hang out in my room later?”

“Yeah, I shouldn’t take too long,” she said. “I’ll text you!”

“Alright!” As she began to leave, I waved back at her.

For the rest of my walk back to the dorm, my eyes were glued to my phone. Nolan still hadn’t texted me back yet.

It felt like he’d been sleeping for almost all of today, except for the intervals between periods where he had no choice but to stay awake enough to get to his next class. Yesterday, he had gone to lunch with us but declined studying together or having dinner. He seemed fine then, except for the fact that he’d fallen asleep in most lessons. I had no idea he was feeling that drained.

I was halfway up the stairs in the dormitory building when my foot bumped into something on one of the steps.

As I stowed my phone away, I peered down at what I’d just kicked.

“What?”

It was the bat again. It stirred and gradually got on all fours.

“What are you doing here? What if someone steps on you?” I said, bending over at it.

Sure, I’d kicked it just seconds ago because I was distracted by my phone and going up really slowly, but at least I hadn’t stomped down on it.

With a quick flap of wings, it took off into the air in a hurry and flew up the stairs.

Oh no. The possibility of it getting hurt or even killed if someone saw it or it got into someone’s room flashed across the forefront of my mind.

“Hey!” I raced up after it.

I’d seen this bat several times now, and I felt pretty bad for it getting lost all the time. If I was seeing it for the first time in my room, I had no doubt I would freak out and probably try to get a teacher to help me get rid of it. What if someone just smacked it dead at first sight?

I should probably try to shoo it out of one of the windows on the stairs landing.

As it continued, it flew in the most unstable manner—occasionally it dipped down as if falling, before rising up into the air again with panicked flapping. It looked like it really was having the hardest time finding its balance. Poor thing, it was probably flipping out about being stuck in a manmade building and having some huge unknown monster in hot pursuit of it.

“Hey, little bat,” I called out as I made my way up the stairs. “Slow down, I won’t hurt you!”

Since it was running so hard from me, maybe it’d be easier for me to chase it out through the next open window instead of getting too close to it. I definitely wasn’t interested in grabbing a wild animal with my bare hands, anyway.

When it reached the next landing, I pushed myself even harder to get there before it could start going up to the next floor. Managing it just in time, I ran to block the bottom of the next flight of stairs.

“Get out of here,” I said, flapping my hands at it in the direction of the single window in this landing. “Shoo!”

It turned away from me and began flying unsteadily towards the window, just like I wanted.

Perfect.

The window was unlatched and left slightly ajar, but I was worried that it wouldn’t be able to figure out how to leave. I’d seen insects fly into the glass and then promptly decided that there was no way out despite the obvious gap below in the open window.

With the intention of opening the window a little further, I ran over as fast as I could while keeping an eye on the bat to make sure it wasn’t going anywhere.

In the middle of its flight towards the window, the bat faltered and began falling down.

My mouth fell open slightly and I felt my eyebrows furrow. What was happening to it? Maybe it really was ill.

Right before my very eyes, the bat morphed into something that was rapidly growing larger while it was still in the air. The transformation was almost one big blur.

If I hadn’t seen it happen, I wouldn’t have believed it.

It turned into a person, who crashed to the ground with his legs sprawled out under him. I sucked in a breath when I saw his face.

Nolan stared back at me, wide-eyed. He was looking at me with an expression that I’d never seen on him before.

Was that fear?

Silence hung in the air as we gazed at each other. It felt like time had stopped right here. My entire body certainly felt paralyzed.

What did I just see? Was I just imagining everything? How, of all things, could I even manage to hallucinate something like that?

“Nolan?” His name felt like an alien word coming out of my mouth. “Did you just—”

Instantly, he snapped out of the frozen state he was in. Leaping to his feet, Nolan went straight for the window.

I knew what he was going to do before he even did it.

“Are you insane? This is the third floor!” I reached for him, but he was already shoving the window wide open.

He didn’t even respond.

He clapped one hand on the windowsill, hurled himself out in one swift movement, and was gone.

LotteStarburst

i mean, everyone saw it coming but it's how it's revealed that really matters, right? haha. it's almost Christmas so i'll just say in advance to everyone reading this: merry Christmas! i hope you'll have a lovely holiday and take care of yourself. stay safe, all!