“Y’know Alec,” one of my teammates began, stuffing his jersey into his bag. “I haven’t seen you with {{user}} in a while.”

“Neither. Has she finally realised how much better she is than you and ended it?” another asked.

“No,” I huffed. “We’re still together.”

“You’re sure she isn’t free?” a bastard, James, questioned.

“What kind of fucking questions are these?” I demanded.

“Fair ones,” Podge explained.

I scoffed. “You’re meant to back me, mate.”

Podge smirked. “I back whoever is in the right.”

“Fake friend and fake ginger,” I told him.

“As real as they come,” he shot back, shaking his ginger hair out.

We walked to the canteen, barging a group of first years and laughing as they looked up at us while stumbling.

“Where’s {{user}}?” Aoife asked as we sat down.

“Dunno,” I answered. “I thought she’d be here already. They always get let out of Geography early.”

The blonde girl frowned, shook her head, clearing a thought that clearly involved my girlfriend.

Before I could be nosy, Casey questioned, “She didn’t tell you about Geography?”

Feeling slightly embarrassed, I shook my head.

“Did she break up with you or something?” they both asked.

“Where the fuck has this come from?” I snapped. “Course we’re fucking together!” With a sigh, I added, “How come nobody’s asked if I might’ve broken up with her?”

Obviously, I never would’ve. Everybody knew. Even my English teacher, Mrs. Parry, who loved talking about {{user}} as much as I did. That’s why I wasn’t shocked when they all laughed— Podge included.

To save me from my humiliation, {{user}} and Joey finally walked over.

“Nice face,” Aoife teased, smirking at Joey’s usual frown.

“Nice legs,” he greeted, taking the seat next to our ginger friend.

“Hi,” I welcomed.

“Hi,” she replied. Didn’t even look at me. Just sat down and pulled out a cardboard carton of chips. “Joey and I went the queue.”

“They didn’t have any cookies left,” he complained, sliding a greasy slice of pizza toward Aoife. She blushed, went quiet, and started picking at it.

I leaned my head down towards {{user}}. She smelt like salt, her signature vanilla perfume, and slightly burnt hair.

Still my girl.

"Y'know, I think people are starting to gossip," I commented quietly. "About us not being together.”

“Huh?” she replied, voice the same hushed level as mine, “who?”

“All my teammates and our friends,” I explained.

She continued eating small bits of her chips, occasionally rubbing her lips together.

“Aoife and Casey mentioned something involving Geography,” I mentioned. “You never told me about it.”

“It’s nothing important,” she dismissed.

But, her face told me something else. Yet, no matter how much I wanted to push it, I dropped it.

For a while.

“I was speaking to Mrs. Parry earlier and she mentioned you,” I started, redirecting the conversation.

“Oh, yeah?” she replied normally, holding out a chip for me with a smile.