There's nothing worse in school when a new teacher decides to set a seating plan.

I mean, the seats we were already in were fine, but apparently not to our new English teacher. She was mean. And I mean downright horrible. If you even look at her the wrong way she will send you to detention.

Ms Hardman, clues in the name I guess, had us all lined up by the door and called us one by one to sit down at desks which she had rearranged to sit two by two.

The majority of the kids protested the best they could before Ms Hardman gave them a look that could make the meanest kid to shut up.

"Eliana McCoy." She announced, nodding her head to the two empty seats near the back of the class.

Silently, I made my way to one of the empty seats and sat in the one closest to the window.

"Owen Hardy." She called next, nodding her head in my direction, indicating that he would be sitting next to me.

Owen's not that bad. He did his work sometimes, maybe messed around a little when he was with his friends but he never gave me any trouble.

Well, so far he hadn't.

His bag hit the table and he lazily slumped into the chair next to me. He seemed like he didn't have a care in the world.

Eventually, all the pupils were seated but not before the door swung open once again and my idiot of a brother burst into the room with a big grin.

"And you are?" Ms Hardman snapped and I couldn't help my let my head hit the desk.

Please don't say what I think you're gonna say.

"Oh, Harvey McCoy. I've been bumped up a set so I'm in this class for English now." He answered and I groaned out loud.

Why? What did I do to deserve this?

Ok, I don't mind Harvey at home, but by God does he annoy me at school.

When we get home and I complain to him about how he treats me he just apologizes and shrugs it off.

It's just annoying that he's a dick to me to make his friends laugh. I'm just known has Harvey's 'weird and silent sister'.

"Love you too sis." Harvey bumped his chest twice with his fist in a joking way which made most of the class snicker and look at me in distaste.

"Silence!" Ms Hardman snapped, her beady eyes darting around the room to each student and then finally landing back on my brother.

"Sit here." She snapped again, pointing to an empty seat near the front of the class.

Well, at least I wasn't going to be near him in class.

As Ms Hardman began teaching, I could feel the energy of the other students being sucked out of the room. Everyone's head gradually sank lower and lower until they were nearly resting on the desks.

Owen stayed quiet for most of the class, only talking to me when we were asked to work in pairs as we discussed Romeo and Juliet for our upcoming exam.

"Hey, you're like, super smart." Owen frowned as he glanced over to my book. I had already filled one page and was starting on my second.

"I just like taking notes." I shrugged "We're both in the same set so I can't be that much smarter than you."

"True." Owen agreed, glancing back over to my book and then to his. He'd written the date, learning objective and two other lines underneath it.

Ok, how this kid managed to get into the top set is beyond me. Our discussion felt like I was just giving him all the answers so I settled on giving him the most basic information. C grade answers instead of A grade.

Call me harsh, but I'm not just someone's tickets to good grades. I worked to be in the top sets so others have to work as well.

The lesson panned out to be particularly boring with Harvey only annoying Ms Hardman once or twice which is less than what he usually does.

When the bell sounded throughout the hallways, the majority of the class sprung up and disappreared before Ms Hardman could say a word.

"Eliana. Stay."

Shit. What did I do?

A couple of students glanced my way as I slumped back down in my seat, my eyes glued to the teacher.

Once the room was empty and it was just me and her, she relaxed slightly, moving over to my desk and perching herself onto the one in front so she was looking down at me.

"I hear you dance for the Bluebells."

I raised an eyebrow at her. The Bluebells is the name of the ballet group I was in. Not many people knew who about my dance group due to being quite a small establishment.

"Yes."

"My son has started there recently, I want to know how his first lesson was." She started and my eyes widened.

"Leo Taylor is your son?" I asked incredulously. I tried to not sound too shocked, but that caught me by suprise.

I mean, they don't even have the same last name, let alone even look similar.

"Yes. Leonidas is my son." Ms Hardman answered through gritted teeth "Something wrong with that?"

Yes.

"No. I just didn't think -" I shrugged my shoulders, lost for words "I dunno."

"Good, so, I'll ask again. How was his first lesson?"

Why was she asking me this? Why doesn't she just ask her son?

"Uh, he was fine. He caught onto the moves really quickly." I explained and she nodded her head "He's actually my partner for our upcoming audition."

Her eyes lit up for some reason "Are you now?"

I nodded my head with a confused expression.

And that's when she basically asked me to spy on her son.

"Pardon?"

"You heard me." She snapped and I raised my eyebrows for the millionth time "You don't need to hear my reasons. I'm telling you that you are to become friends with my son and tell me what you gets up to."

"Why?" I asked and she glared at me.

"You don't need to know." She glared and I looked down so I was staring at the desk.

Ms Hardman was a bitch. That's the nice way of putting it.

I stalked out of the classroom after she dismissed me, my bag slung over my shoulder and my gaze directed to the floor.

It was lunchtime but I didn't have an appetite for anything as I sat by myself in the corner of the lunch hall.

My fingers fiddled with the zip of my hoodie and my gaze was vacant, scanning around the lunch hall absentmindedly until I laid eyes on Leo and my brother.

They were sitting with the biggest group of people in the whole hall. The loudest table of them all. I always avoided their group whenever I came into lunch.

I think in the whole time my brother and I have been at this school, I've only ever sat at his table twice. Both of those times was because he needed to catch up on late homework.

With my eyes glued to my phone, I ignored the animalistic sounds of the lunch hall like I normally did.

With my right hand holding my phone, my left was absentmindedly picking crisps out of the open packet I had sitting in my bag.

I tried to focus on what I was reading on my phone but my mind was just reeling over the events from earlier.

First off, Harvey was in my class, now my English teacher wants me to spy on her son.

Speaking of which, I noticed Ms Hardman from the corner of my eye. She was standing by the water fountain as a teacher on duty. Her eye caught mine and the look she gave me sent shivers down my spine.

She glanced over the table where my brother and Leo sat and then back to me.

Was she serious right now? She was not gonna let this go.

Slowly, I finished my food, locked my phone and slipped it into my hoodie pocket. I think I took about an extra thirty seconds 'trying' to zip my hoodie up.

By this time, when I looked over to Ms Hardman, she was glaring as if her stare could kill me. Ok, time to move.

I slung my bag over my shoulder and made my way over to my brothers table. As I did this however, I caught the attention of his friends one by one.

Eventually, the noisiest table of the lunch hall went silent, which caused the rest of the room to join them.

Brilliant.

"Hey Harv, can I sit with you?" I ask, my voice small as I felt like I was on a stage and the whole world was watching.

Even Harvey looked like a deer caught in some headlights. He took a moment to answer as he just stared at me in disbelieve.

"Sure, you can sit next to me." A voice cut in and all eyes went to Leo who had shoved his bag off the seat next to him for me to sit on.

Great.

I flashed a small smile before sitting myself down next to Leo.

What the hell was I supposed to do now? I had not planned this out at all.

To be honest, I didn't know what Ms Hardman was expecting me to do other than just keep tabs on Leo.

I can't exactly confront him like 'Hey Leo, I know we've not long known each other but your crazy mother wants me to spy on you, wanna help a girl out?'

"So I was wondering if you wanted to fit in some extra practice for the routine?"

I snapped out of my thoughts when Leo brought my attention to him. Luckily the rest of the table were no longer paying attention to me and making the usual amount of noise that they did.

"Uh sure, when?" I was surprised that he would even ask about extra practice. Leo seemed liked the type of guy who would make the effort at class but wouldn't bother with anything extra.

"Dunno, after school? I'm sure I can pull a few strings to use the gym when basketball practice is finished." I wasn't even going to question him, I knew exactly what 'strings to pull' he was talking about.

I nodded in reply "So today?"

"Yea, I wanna make sure I get familiar with your weight for the lifts so I can get used to it."

Wow, he really was going all in with practicing.

"Sounds good, I don't have my clothes with me so my jeans will have to do." I explained, pulling my phone out my pocket to check the time. Thank god, only five minutes of lunch left.

I glanced over to Leo who looked like he was working out a plan in his head. I couldn't help but admire his looks in those few seconds I was staring at him.

Again, his dirty blond hair was tied up in a bun which had a few strands hanging lose on either side of his face.

Leo then turned his focus back to me and we locked eyes for a millisecond before I averted my gaze to my brother who was also looking at me.

"Harvey, I'm only gonna say this once so please listen," I spoke slowly so even my idiot brother could understand "I'm staying to use the school gym tonight so I need you to feed Loki and load up the dishwasher. I'll do the rest when I get in. Understand?"

A couple of his friends laughed at him but he just glared at them, flipped them off and nodded his head to me.

"Sure sis."

And with that, the bell rang through the lunch hall and all the students dispersed, heading in different directions to their lessons.