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A voice broke me out of my trance of sleep.

"(Y/N), sweetheart, we gotta go to school." Baldi whispered, pulling the covers down a little.

Sweetheart? He's never called me that before...

"It's my first day as Principal."

I rubbed my eyes and turned to look at him. He was looking down at me with a smile.

Grumbling, I sat up and pushed my hair out of my face. "I don't want to go to school..." I looked at him closer when my eyes cleared.

He was wearing a casual black suit and dress shoes.

"You need to get ready," he laughed and leaned forward, kissing my forehead. "We're gonna be late if you stay in."

I sighed and pulled the covers off completely, yawning. Something seemed... different about him. Not that he was the new Principal, but his manner. He seemed a lot more gentle... domestic. Was I that tired?

"Fine..." I crawled out of bed and reached over to pick my phone up from the nightstand.

Dozens of texts from my mother sat in my notifications.

(Y/N)!!

Answer me!!

Please tell me where you are.

You aren't answering my calls.

Did you get kidnapped?

Are you even there?

Hello?

I rolled my eyes and put the phone face down on the bed.

"What's wrong?" Baldi asked. I don't know how he knew I was annoyed. Did he hear me roll my eyes or something?

"My mom just keeps texting." I said quietly, turning to him. "She never gave a damn about me my entire life, but now she notices I'm not there and seems to care all of the sudden. It's just... frustrating."

He frowned and sat next to me. "Does she know where you are? What you're doing? I mean, we took some things from your room but..."

"I don't tell her. I haven't. I've just been ignoring or making up fabulous excuses for why I'm not there. I'm in hiding or something."

Baldi looked away, then back at me. "Does she know about us?"

My cheeks flushed. "No." She'd kill me if she found out. More, she'd kill Baldi, if she could. I've had a boyfriend here and there but never spoke much of it. But he's... way more than that. I don't even know what to call our relationship at this point.

"Just tell her the truth. She'll find out eventually." His voice was quiet and brutally honest. "And if she doesn't approve... then oh well. Because whatever anyone else thinks,"

He reached down to take my hand and gave me a genuine and comforting smile.

"I'm not leaving you. Ever. The only way that will happen is if you make me."

I stared at him and replayed his words in my head. I wanted to hear them over and over again. Even small things like that made my heart leap.

"You're being so sentimental," I laughed and smiled, interlocking our fingers. "It's not like you."

He shrugged and chuckled. "I have my reasons why. You'll find out eventually."

"Okay, okay. I'm telling her and then I'm getting ready."

"Why don't we send her a picture," he asked with a smile. "We haven't taken any pictures together."

I picked up my phone and ran my finger across the camera. Nodding, I opened it and saw my bed head in the front camera. I sighed and ran my fingers through it. "Not photo-ready."

He took the phone from my hand and leaned in, kissing my cheek.

A snap sound emitted from my phone.

"It doesn't matter," he handed it back to me. "You look great all the time."

I looked at the picture and a smile spread across my face.

"The picture is cute," I admitted. I opened my messages and sent the picture with the vague caption, "I told you I'm doing fine. Don't worry about me. 💞"

~

Everyone was standing outside the school's main doors, some pounding on the glass, others leaning against the wall.

"We're late," I breathed, getting out of his car quickly. "On the first day of your principalship."

"It's fine," he locked the car, but the worry in his voice was obvious.

We made our way to the main doors, heads turning as they realised that we were there. The Bully, in his classic orange shirt, giving us a scowl. Reese, Alice and the others with a confused expression. Other schoolchildren whispering, 'Why are they together?' 'Is he really the Principal?' 'Who's gonna teach math?'

Baldi walked up to the main doors and unlocked them with keys I didn't know he had. He must've taken them when he checked the school yesterday...

"Sorry we're late," he apologised, throwing the doors open. "We got a little caught up this morning." His tone was shaky yet still held a hint of authority.

"It's okay, Mr. Baldi!" A little boy shouted from the back of the crowd. "Are you still teaching Math?"

I simply stood next to him and watched the events unfold.

"Well... um..." he trailed off and glanced at me. He didn't really plan this out.

"He'll be teaching Math still," I chimed in. "But he's the Principal. I'll..." I looked at him and gave him a panicked expression. "Fill in for his Principal duties while he's teaching."

Murmurs spread through the crowd. Some people shrugged and just walked into school. Others turned to their friends and talked. Despite all of the commotion, I heard Playtime's tiny voice call.

"He will be coming back," she drug her jump rope on the ground. Everyone else turned to her. "Then you have to fight him again. He wants you crazy."

Baldi shot her a dirty look, and I elbowed him in the side.

"Then..." he sighed loudly. "I'll do it again."

The remaining children stared in confusion.

"Go on, now. School needs to start." Baldi commanded, shooing them away with his hand. Once everyone was inside, he turned to me and put his hands on my shoulders.

"(Y/N), you can't be the principal too, that's not how this works." He said desperately. "I don't want you to have to deal with responsibilit-"

I got on my toes and kissed him quickly, smiling. "Assistant principal."

"But you need to finish school," he shook his head, walking towards the door. "I know that summer is soon and then you'll be done with school but..." He trailed off and stared off into nothing.

"Exactly," I laughed and put my hand on his arm, entering the school. "Let's get started already."

~

Everything seemed to be going a little too smoothly, like a dream. I attended math class and still sat next to Reese, who seemed on edge the entire time. It was hard to focus when he was teaching. He seemed so confident, and kind of cute giving out the quarters.

He didn't give out any punishments.

Lunch time came around, and I skimmed the room. The only seat open was with my old friends. Sighing, I trudged over to the table and sat down.

"Oh, it's (Y/N)." Alice said quietly, shyly scooting closer to her sister.

I looked at Reese who gave me a blank expression.

"Baldi hasn't given out any beatings the entire day!" Luke said happily, breaking the silence. "I guess it really was the Principal after all..."

I gave him a small smile. "He's going to do his best."

Reese grabbed her fork and stabbed the table, catching our attention.

"Hey, (Y/N)." she said quietly, looking deep into my soul. "I thought about it. A lot. Too much, actually. And I wanted to tell you something."

The rest of them looked at her as if she was insane.

"What is it?..." I played with the ring on my finger nervously.

"I'm sorry." She blurted, pulling her fork back. "About what happened yesterday. All of the mean things I said to you. Sneaking and watching you and... him."

Alice snapped her head to look at her, along with everyone else giving confused noises and frustrated gruffs.

"It's really not like me to do that stuff." She sat back and her confidence weakened. "I just can't get it through my head that the bald-headed mathematician has an ounce of kindness in his body. And I didn't want you falling along with him."

Blinking, I let the words sink in.

It wasn't a bluff. She meant it. I could tell.

Reese put her elbows on the table and looked away. "If you want to, we can put the entire situation behind us and start over again. I understand if you don't... after everyth-"

"I forgive you." I grinned and put my hand on her arm. "And I'm sorry too, heh, I should be the one apologizing."

She looked back at me and her eyes filled with hope.

"The rest of us too." Kira said, raising her hand.

I just pray that they really mean what they said.

~

Hmm, Reese redemption?? Question marks are important. Also, thank you guys for 12k reads holy shittt