Noted

TWO

June won't see her friends until lunch — recess is always dedicated to prep work, and that's a rule she thoroughly believes in. Her dad always makes sure there's a brief moment after homework where she goes over her tasks and highlights what she'll focus on next. Phoebe thinks her dad is crazy and Kim only prompts her to get her nutrition up before periods three and four.

Period three — biology. And there's no book. Good thing Micky returned the Jane Austen novel. At least she's partially prepared.

In the grand scheme of it all, it's not a huge deal. Though, June will make sure not to allow this type of behaviour to befall her again. While biology isn't a particular favourite, it's imperial to learn in her eyes.

She pulls up at one of the labs in the building and moves to sit with Maeve, checking out the guy in the seat in front of her — the infamous Ryan Shcudis.

June can't help herself. "How's the life of R?"

Maeve jerks her head so fast, June cops a whip of her curls. "June." She hisses the voice out in a warning. "You're so loud."

"And you're not being mysterious enough. Also, I need to borrow your textbook."

"For sure." She flops it between us, following the back of Ryan's head like a cat and a red laser beam.

Mr Rodroy enters, immediately asking everyone to take their spots. June sits up straighter, waiting for further instructions.

Maeve whispers, "Do you think it'll be weird to ask him to partner up for the assignment we have coming up?"

"Partners have already been picked out," June reminds her, turning to page sixteen.

Maeve and I slump over the pages together. Whenever Ryan makes a comment or laughs or moves his head or nudges his friends or shifts in his seat — Maeve's eyes are there.

"Don't know what you see in him," June mutters as Mr Rodroy writes on the whiteboard in a pale green pen, then overwriting it once someone points out that the sunlight is blurring out the words. "He's just another guy among the crowd."

"But he likes festivals, and he's funny."

"So am I, but you're not into me."

Maeve scrunches her face. "No, because your humour is dark and pretty messed up."

"Comparing to your bad dad jokes?" June tries her best not to scoff. "No competition there."

"Well, he is into dad jokes. I messaged him a joke through messenger when he asked why I added him on Facebook, and I said it's because he's into dad jokes and so am I, and then he asked me to share a dad joke, and then I said—"

"Do I need to move you two?"

Mr Rodroy's call-out leaves June's skin-crawling in a thin layer of sweat. She hates the way all eyes fall on her and Maeve, her stomach rolling into a tight compression that's threatening to start a supernova...

The corner of a piece of paper stabs June's hand, waking her up from the minor panic building in her mind. She waits until Mr Rodroy turns his attention back to the lesson before glancing down at Maeve's folded piece of paper.

Hey, you know what prison has in common with biology? Cell culture.

June withholds the desire to roll her eyes at her friend. "He liked it?" she mouths.

Maeve nods eagerly, then faces the front of the — no, wait, still on the back of Ryan's head. She glances between the two, then at the folded piece of paper sitting between them. She carefully places it in the back of Maeve's biology book and keeps her attention on the meaning of Mitochondrion.