𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐏𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐋𝐄 ✰ v. hacker

eighth ❀ irl

| MAISY |

i noticed something was off when maddy immediately stopped talking and her eyes widened, looking behind me. before i could turn around, an arm wrapped around my shoulders and moved me away.

"vinnie-?" i turned around to face him with bewilderment. "what the heck is hap-"

"sorry. please give me a second." he whispered to maddy as he pulled me aside. her confused eyes met mine as vinnie proceeded to drag me away.

"hey." he said finally, as we disappeared into the other hallway.

"...hey..?" i furrowed my eyebrows at him in confusion. "you want your calculator back?"

he looked back around the corner and then back at me. "can you, uh, just pretend to be engaged in a very important conversation for just a second?"

"huh?"

"i'm trying to get away from emily." he whispered harshly. "please help me."

i laughed and vinnie shot me a glare. "okay, okay." i relented, "uh-"

footsteps sounded behind him, and emily's fake voice began to cry out. "omg, there you are!"

"okay, so my mom made this terrible soup yesterday," i spoke up loudly, cheeks flushing red. his back to emily, vinnie's eyebrows raised with amusement as he watched me make up a random story. "it was literally disgusting. i threw up and i have never had that terrible vomit before. i'm so glad i made it to the toilet first."

emily stopped in the middle of her way over. "um, what?"

"oh, i was just telling him about the food my mom made and how it was so gross. i threw it up and it was like orange and-"

"what the heck, ew. no one wants to hear about that." her face scrunched up in disgust. "why are you telling him?"

"no, i think this is plenty interesting." vinnie turned around to face her, his eyes laughing. "if you don't think so, you can go."

"okay, i will." giving us both a really odd look, emily rolled her eyes and disappeared down the hall. as soon as she was gone, vinnie got really excited. "oh my gosh that actually worked. you're a miracle." he threw me a celebratory fist bump. "thank you so much, stella!!"

"yeah, no problem." i laughed. "vinnie, you just gotta tell her to get lost. it's easy."

"yeah, to you." he scoffed. "i'm too nice for that."

i raised an eyebrow at him. "and i'm not nice?"

vinnie's cheeks colored with embarrassment so fast. "woah, no, i didn't mean that!"

"it's cool, i'm kidding," i reassured him, laughing. "hey wait, i have something for you." remembering suddenly, i dropped my backpack and pulled out his calculator to return it to him.

"thanks," he took it gratefully, dropping it in his own backpack. "and thanks for rescuing me again."

"you kinda forced me to," i pointed out, and vinnie shrugged in agreement.

"still. i couldn't use jordan since she interrupts us all the time. you were great at improvising."

"lucky for you."

"yeah." he breathed out heavily. looking down at his watch, his eyes widened. "we have to get to class now. can i walk you to class? where are you headed now?"

i laughed. "chemistry."

"lucky us," groaned vinnie as we started in the direction of our class. "you know those girls who sit in front of us? they're always staring at me and it makes me uncomfortable."

"i don't blame them." i stopped and blushed, unable to believe i'd just said that. he laughed a little as i clapped my hand over my mouth. "i meant...i'm not surprised they do, like, you're a famous tiktok star," i explained, desperately trying to preserve my dignity.

"it's fine," he reassured me. "i mean, you're right, in a way."

looking over at him, i tried to gauge his emotions. "you don't seem like you enjoy the fame and attention," i attempted cautiously.

he grimaced with a weak smile. "did it make it too obvious?"

"a little," i laughed with a shrug.

"don't get me wrong, i appreciate the attention," vinnie started, biting his lip. "i just wish there was a way that all the attention stopped when i got to school. i just want to be treated like a normal kid and live a normal life without so much pressure and all. everyone here is so fake and it's like i can't even do anything to change their perception of me. i wish people had a different opinion of me beyond just what they saw on the internet."

he stopped, realizing he was ranting and apologized. "sorry, i didn't mean to dump all that on you."

quickly, i shook my head. "no, i get what you're saying."

i understood him perfectly; that's exactly why i wanted to move to seattle after my show ended and why i haven't wanted to tell anyone about the stuff i've done. honestly, i felt the same way back when i went to school in la while we were filming.

vinnie shrugged. "i wish we lived in a world where our worth and image weren't so defined by what other people thought of us."

"that's deep," i nodded my head, reflecting on what he'd just said. "i could write a song about that."

his head shot over to my direction. "you write songs? that's awesome."

oh shoot.

"no, uh, i-" i let out a breath, trying to remedy this situation. "i mean yeah, but i meant more that...that would be a great song topic."

"oh, right." vinnie dropped the eye contact, nodding. as we came up to the classroom, he turned to face me again. "thanks for being understanding," he said, with a genuine smile on his face. "and just for...treating me like a normal person. i appreciate that."

"oh," i almost blushed and caught myself. "of course. i really do understand, and to me you are just a normal person."

he didn't answer for a long second, just standing there, nodding his head slowly like he was thinking over what i said. finally, he straightened his back and cleared his throat, opening the classroom door for me. as i passed him, entering the room first, he looked me in the eyes.

"thank you."

❀