ᯓ★ Drew Starkey had spent most of high school being one of those guys.

The popular guy.

Football games. Parties. Friend groups that took up half the cafeteria.

The kind of guy everybody knew. Then he met you.

And suddenly he was spending more time talking about old movies, music, and random stupid stuff than football.

You got him.

And somewhere along the way—he fell for you.

Hard.

⋆˙⟡ —

His friends thought you were weird. Not because you actually were. You just weren’t popular.

You didn’t go to parties every weekend, you weren’t one of the girls everybody talked about, and the girls in Drew’s circle especially couldn’t stand you.

Mostly because Drew clearly liked you.

Madison was the worst.

Pretty, popular, mean, the kind of girl who smiled while ruining your whole social life.

⋆˙⟡ —

One afternoon you were walking through school when you heard your name.

Immediately your stomach dropped.

You recognized the voices.

Drew’s friends.

You stopped before turning the corner.

“Seriously, Starkey?” one of the guys laughed. “You’re still hanging around that weirdo?”

Madison rolled her eyes. “Oh my God.”

The group laughed. “What’s even special about her?”

“Nothing,” another girl said. “She’s literally invisible.”

You hoped Drew would say something.

Anything.

Instead—he laughed too.

Madison smirked. “You actually like her or what?”

Drew immediately shook his head. “What? No.”

The group laughed. “Then why’re you always with her?”

Drew shrugged. Trying to look cool. Trying to look like he didn’t care.

“I don’t know.”

He smirked. “She’s smart. Does my homework when i ask.”

“That’s it?”

“Yeah.”

Madison laughed. “She definitely thinks you guys are gonna date.”

The group immediately started laughing again.

And Drew—Drew laughed with them.

“Honestly?”

He ran a hand through his hair. “I think she does too.”

“Bro, imagine actually dating her.” One of his friends laughed.

Madison immediately made a face. “Ew, loser alert.”

Then somebody looked at Drew. Waiting.

And Drew grinned. “C’mon.”

He laughed. Like it was obvious. Like the answer should’ve been obvious to everybody. “I have standards, dude.”

Laughter echoed through the hallway.

Meanwhile your heart felt like it stopped.

Because just last night—he’d stayed on the phone with you until midnight, telling you about his day, telling you he missed you, talking about movies you wanted to watch together.

And now he was acting like the idea of dating you was ridiculous? You turned around and left before anybody could see you standing there.

That night around seven, somebody knocked on your bedroom window. It was a friday night.

You already knew who it was. Drew.

Like always.

You looked outside.

There he was standing on the grass with a DVD in one hand and a bag of snacks in the other.

A huge smile on his face.

The exact same smile that made girls fall for him.

“C’mon.”

You didn’t move.

Drew frowned before he opened the window himself. “Why’re you looking at me like that?”

He climbed inside and droppng onto your bed. Throwing the snacks beside him. “I got your favorite.”

Then he pulled your waist to lie down next to him. “You miss me?”

And somehow that hurt even worse.

Because Drew wasn’t pretending, not completely.