"." marianne said, catching amélie off guard.

"who?" amé nervously asked. she knew who it was. it was obvious. she knew he'd probably be asking for her.

"neil. he wanted to know if you liked him." marianne smiled, making amélie recoil with nervousness. she was so anxious.

"and?" she asked, motioning for marianne to finish her train of thought. every second marianne didn't tell her what she said, she could feel herself being eaten alive by anxiety.

"i said you did! you do! it's obvious! you two need to get your act together!" marianne huffed. she was right. she usually was. amélie didn't want to admit anything. but she knew. she knew she had to, because it was too late. everyone already suspected something, so she shouted it out to the world in her quietest voice.

"i like neil perry."

"yeah you do!" marianne squealed giddily, hopping onto the bed beside amé. mari shook her with excitement, as amé blushed with pride.

—————

"hi mom." todd quietly said into the phone, his voice low so no one could hear him.

"it's amélie." amé laughed. she could hear how flustered and embarrassed todd got when he heard her.

"sorry, do you want me to give the phone to neil?" todd nervously said.

"please don't."

"okay.. i won't. what do you want?"

"i need to talk to him." amélie hesitated. her voice strained as she spoke the sentence. she felt like crying just thinking about seeing him again, but she knew she had to make things right.

"okay, do you want me to hand the phone over to him because i could get him-"

"no, not like that.will you ask him to meet me in front of welton tonight, at like 8?"

"why? you can just-" todd asked, confused he still didn't raise his quiet voice.

"i want to talk to him in person." amé said awkwardly. she didn't expect todd to be the one to pick up the phone, and didn't want to create any 'suspicion' by asking for knox, who was the one she knew the best.

"okay, will do." todd nodded.

"thanks todd." amélie smiled, and quickly hung up.

todd went back to the bedroom, and sat beside neil, who was reading quietly.

"amélie called." todd said quietly.

"did she ask for me?" neil replied, not taking his eyes off the pages.

"no, she wants to see you."

"when?" he lifted his head, and looked at todd in disbelief.

"8pm. she wants to meet in front of the school."

"okay." neil quietly said.

"do you think you'll meet her?" todd nervously asked, not expecting neil's annoyed answer.

"what good will it be? she's probably just coming to tell me that knox and her are together now." he snapped, scaring todd.

"why would she do that? i think she's far nicer than that..."

"you rarely know her todd!"

"i know her enough to know that she has had a big crush on you since she started coming to our meetings." todd said, raising his voice. the conversation was done after that. neil was stunned todd even stood up to him. they both sat in silence, neil reading and todd doing homework.

———————————-

neil stood in front of his school. it was a bit after 8, and he was getting ready to go back inside. it was windy. he just stood there quietly. amélie could see him, and hesitated before walking towards him.

"hi." she quietly waved.

"oh, are you coming to meet knox?" neil sneered. it came out a lot more rude than he intended.

"god, just because i'm friends with one of your friends it means that i'm in love with them?" amélie rolled her eyes. she walked closer to him, but backed away once he began arguing again.

"you guys went out to a fancy dinner last night, sounds like a date to me."

"i'll have you know nothing remotely romantic happened! he just bought me dinner, as a friend!" amé argued back, emphasizing the friend part.

"i find that very hard to believe." neil scoffed.

"we talked about how much i messed this up!"

everything went silent. neil couldn't utter a word.

"i'm sorry. for that night. i had a lot on my mind. i just, physically can't open up about my mom with others." amélie slowly came closer towards him. "but with you, with you it's different. you make me feel safe. i guess, things got heated quickly and i didn't know how to react."

it took neil a few seconds to comprehend what she had just said. "i understand completely, i'm sorry i put you in that position."

"i really, really really like you, neil." she turned towards neil again. she couldn't help but notice that all of neil's friends had their faces pressed up against the glass doors, peering out and staring right at her and neil. they all fought for a spot.

"just because i didn't kiss you then doesn't mean i won't kiss you now." she quietly said. she'd never kissed a boy before. she'd only read her sister's romance novels she kept hidden in a shoebox under her bed.

neil ran his fingers through amé's hair as they kissed. while neil's eyes were closed, she flipped off the boys looking through the glass, causing them all to run away laughing.

when they finally pulled away, neil was stunned. he had a goofy grin on his face. "how many men have you kissed?"

"none." amélie blushed and turned away. she wore the same royal blue plaid pajama bottoms every other girl at aurela had to wear, and her matching button up was under her coat.

"but you offered me a kiss, why?" neil skeptically asked. of course he'd kissed other girls. he was fairly attractive, or so he thought. this time, he felt so different about it. it gave him butterflies thinking about it, which he rarely got.

"such a foolish reason i'm afraid. i just, wanted to kiss you." amé turned to face him again. she couldn't help herself from smiling.

"you should go back to aurela before it gets cold, you still have a bit to walk."

"yeah i know, you should get back to your friends. they sure do love to watch us."

neil laughed. "yeah, they do."

"goodnight amélie." he nodded, watching the girl of his dreams walk away. although this time, it ended exactly the way he wanted it to.

"goodnight neil." amélie blew him a kiss, which he graciously accepted, pretending to catch it in his hand.

once amélie was fully out of view, he ran to the glass doors and greeted his friends excitedly.