“Aw Victoria don’t be like that.” Alex pouts.

“Be like what?” Victoria asks.

“So cold, loosen up.” he says.

“Loosen up?” her voice shakes with anger.

“Anyway, I need to talk to you in private.” Alex grabs her wrist and drags her away from Krystal.

“Hey, let me go!” she tries to free herself from his grasp but his grip doesn’t loosen from her wrist. He lets go of her wrist in a hallway that’s almost always empty so it is private. “Why did you bring me here?” she scowls.

“I needed to talk to you in private, did you not hear?” Alex asks.

“What about? This is really unnecessary. What could you possibly want to talk about that you could have said months ago?”

“Simple, I want you back.” He gives her the smile she once found charming. Now it’s disgusting.

“It’s just another dare, you want to see if you can fool me again don’t you?”

“No I don’t! I like you Victoria.”

“That’s funny, you pretended to for three months. How am I supposed to believe you?”

Tao hears shouts coming from a hallway. He walks over to where they are coming from. He looks around the corner to see Victoria and a guy arguing. Victoria’s eyes are filled with tears but there’s also anger in them.

The guy is relatively tall with lighter brown hair than he has. He also has brown eyes and looks like every girl’s ideal type.

“I don’t have feelings for you anymore Alex.” Victoria says. Tao sees in her eyes that she’s lying.

“We both know that’s not true.” Alex says.

“Fine then, maybe there’s still something there. But I know that you have no feelings for me especially since you faked them for all that time.”  Tears are now falling freely down her face. Tao sees that she’s trying to not believe him but slowly her willpower is crumbling. I can't see this happen, he knows exactly what to say to her to get her to crack.

“Really? Do you really think that? I do have feelings for you Victoria.” He says.

“No you don’t! I know you’re lying to me, just please leave me alone.” Victoria turns and runs down the hall. She almost runs into Luna who is with Amber, Krystal, and Sulli.

“Woah there Victoria. What happened? I heard from Krystal that you saw Alex again.” She says alarmed. Victoria explains what happened.

“Does that idiot really think that he can get you back?” Amber asks.

“I think something is going on there. Maybe he only wants you back because you’re now really popular and he’s not.” Sulli says.

“That may be true, he always loved being popular. Almost everything revolved about that when you were together, right?” Luna asks.

“Yeah it was like that. It was annoying but he seemed to make up for it.” Victoria snorts.

“You know I saw Tao leave school about five minutes before you almost ran into Luna. “ Krystal says.

“Really? Do you know why?” Krystal shakes her head. Victoria frowns. I wonder what’s up, he doesn’t seem like the type to leave the school just like that. Well, he doesn’t seem like the type of boy to do anything I expect.

The day goes on and Victoria’s mind is stuck in between the two boys. Why is Alex all of a sudden back and where did Tao go? She’s also a bit miffed because Tao had said that he would come today to cooking class but now he’s not. He may have had a perfectly good reason to leave so she can't be too angry at him.

Finally it’s time to get to cooking class but this time she has no partner. She makes about six blueberry muffins; three for her and three for Tao.

“Is he still not back yet?” Luna asks.

“No, but I made him muffins.” Victoria shows them proudly.

“How did you get them to turn out that well? I can't get them to have that colour no matter how hard I try.” She pouts.

“I’m pretty sure yours taste fine.” Victoria reassures her.

“They actually do but can I try some of yours?” she asks. Victoria gives her a piece of her muffin. Luna’s eyes widen, “Oh my god this is so good!” she squeals.

“Thank you, but no more.” Victoria says.

“You’re like a mom,” she mutters.

“I’m not, a mom wouldn’t be smitten with a guy and rely on her friends for help.”

“True,” Luna nods, “And we do help you very well, don’t we?” she grins.

“You do,” Victoria nods, “Well I must go now, I think I might look for Tao.” She says.

She calls him once, twice, and on the fourth try she gives up and goes to the nearest café. Might as well get some of my work done here. She finishes everything she’s got including two of her muffins. He can't have gotten too far from the school, if I just stay around looking I’ll end up seeing him. She really wants to see him again. She has no idea why, maybe because she’s worried about him leaving just like that or is she is smitten with him. No that can't be, let’s not deal with that especially since Alex is back.

It’s getting dark and Tao still hasn’t shown up. It’s also getting cold and Victoria only has her wool jumper on. She walks around town for twenty minutes until she sees a figure stumble out of a bar. She keeps her distance but tries to get to an angle where she can see who the person is. They walk into a place lit by a streetlight and she can see their face; it’s Tao.

“Tao? What are you doing here?” she calls.

He turns around and his face breaks into a grin. An expression that she has never seen him wear, “Victoria! How’d you find me?” he bounds over to her.

“Uh, I just was looking for you.” She says.

“You look cold, is that all you have with you?” he frowns and takes her hands in his sending jolts of electricity through her. And of course her heart rate is picking up. Robot Panda can smile!

“Y-yeah, but I’m fine really.” she looks at her feet. She can smell the alcohol on him. Judging by his behaviour and tipsy movements he drank a lot.

“You sure? Both your cheeks and nose are red.” he says.

“Yes I am, let’s go to a bench. I think you need to sit down.” she takes his arm and guides him to one. He sits down still smiling at her, which does nothing to slow her heart.

“What are you doing here? Did you go on a date with that guy or something?” he asks.

“I could ask you the same,” she pauses, “Which guy do you mean?” she asks.

“That Alex kid. He seemed to know you from somewhere.” he says.

“Oh uh, he’s just one of my ex-boyfriends.” she says trying to make it look like she doesn’t care. He’s silent for a bit staring into the distance.

“Wait, the stupid thing that happened because of a dare. Does it have something to do with him?” he asks.

“Yes, but it doesn’t matter anymore. I’ve pretty much forgotten it.” she says.

“It didn’t look like that from what I saw. You also left the cafeteria when we played Truth or Dare.” he says not believing her one bit. He’s got her there.

“Let’s not get off topic, what are you doing here?” she changes the subject. He looks down at his hands suddenly quiet. He mutters something quietly but then pauses.

“I just felt ill so I left.” he says louder. Victoria frowns because she is positive that she heard him say, “It has something to do with what happened today.”

“But why are you drunk?” she asks.

“It was kind of a mistake on my part, I was walking around town and then found the bar. I had a drink but then it led to more drinks,” he says slightly ashamed, “But I’m glad you found me. It’s nice to have company.” He grins at her.

She smiles at him, “Quick question though, do you still know the direction to your house?” she asks. He points to their left but then to his right, “I guess that’s a no. I’ll help you get home just tell me your address.”

“You don’t need to do that, I can find my way home.” He says.

“You’re drunk. I don’t want you falling into a bush and freezing to death.” She says.

“True, let’s get going.” He stands up but then stumbles to in her direction. She steadies him and grabs his arm.

“I’ll lead you, just tell me your street and house number.” he tells her them and they walk together in silence.

“Sorry for not coming to cooking class today when I said I’d come.” he says.

“It’s alright, I made you some though.” She shows him the bag.

“Thank you, you didn’t have to.” he smiles at her.

“No problem. Is this it?” she points at an apartment building. He nods and gets out his keys.

“Well I’ll see you tomorrow, you’ll be fine going home alone right?” he asks with a concerned look.

“Better than if you had gone home in this state.” she replies.

“True, and please don’t listen what that Alex guy says. He doesn’t seem like the type to tell the truth.” Right you are.

Sorry for the late update! I have had so much to do and my mind has been on other things as well. I'll try to update sooner, but I hope you like this chapter!!!