The next morning, Tyler arrived at Class 1-A to find more than half the class already there.
The room carried the usual noise of the morning chairs scraping, notebooks opening, half-finished conversations drifting between desks. Someone near the windows was arguing about homework while another student slept with his head on folded arms.
Tyler stepped inside and glanced around.
His eyes stopped at one desk.
Oliver's seat was empty.
Tyler's expression tightened slightly.
After what had happened the previous day, the empty chair was difficult to ignore. Tyler had a basic gist of what had gone down between Oliver and the others, but he still didn't know the full situation. Despite having more than one opportunity to dig deeper, he had deliberately kept his ability out of it.
"Tyler."
He turned toward the voice.
Caleb had twisted around in his seat, with Daniel beside him and Julia, Olivia, and Ryan gathered around the neighboring desks. Tyler slowed and gave them a casual nod.
"Morning."
"You're early," Caleb said.
Tyler glanced at the clock.
"Am I?"
Daniel checked it too.
"Technically, no."
Caleb frowned. "Why would you ruin that?"
"I'm just being accurate."
Tyler nodded thoughtfully. "He's got a point."
Caleb stared at both of them.
"Why did I even say anything?"
Tyler was about to continue toward his desk when his eyes drifted across the room.
Clara was sitting with her notebook open, staring at the page as though it had personally offended her. Her eyebrows were drawn together, and she kept tapping her pen against the paper while occasionally crossing something out.
Tyler watched her for a moment.
"Looks like she took all the burden of the preparation on herself."
Julia followed his gaze.
"Yeah. She really did."
Ryan leaned back in his chair.
"We suggested a few venues, but she still can't make up her mind."
Olivia turned toward him.
"Venues?"
"For the party, obviously."
Daniel glanced at Clara's notebook.
"The budget isn't helping either. She's trying to make the numbers work before deciding anything."
Olivia's attention returned to Tyler.
A small grin appeared.
"Then why don't you help her out?"
Tyler looked at her.
"Me?"
"Yeah." Her tone became teasing. "After what happened yesterday on the rooftop, I think you're the perfect person to help."
Tyler blinked.
"Um... I'm not catching up. What's so amazing about what happened on the rooftop?"
The others exchanged amused looks.
Tyler frowned.
"What are you guys talking about?"
Daniel waved a hand.
"Don't mind her. She's exaggerating."
Olivia immediately protested.
"So what if I am?"
Tyler looked around at them.
"And how do you guys even know what happened?"
Julia's smile widened.
"Oh, the whole class knows."
Tyler froze.
"The whole class?"
Julia nodded with an absurdly serious expression.
"Seriously."
Ryan nodded solemnly.
"Seriously."
Daniel did the same.
"Very seriously."
Tyler stared at all three of them before dragging a hand down his face.
"Great."
Olivia laughed.
Tyler pointed toward Clara.
"I had an argument with her the other day. Yesterday I apologized. That's it. Whatever you guys are imagining, it's not that."
That finally broke the act.
Caleb laughed.
Julia shook her head.
"We know. Olivia's just teasing you."
"Unfortunately, she's very good at it," Daniel added.
Olivia shrugged innocently.
"I thought it was funny."
"It was," Ryan admitted.
Tyler gave them a tired look.
"Glad you're all enjoying yourselves."
Julia smiled.
"Seriously, though, you should help her. She's been worrying about the party all morning."
The others nodded.
Tyler glanced toward Clara again.
She was still focused on the notebook, completely unaware of the conversation happening across the room.
He sighed, though a small smile remained on his face.
"Fine. I'll talk to her."
"Good," Julia said.
Tyler adjusted his bag and started toward Clara's desk.
Behind him, Olivia whispered, "See? I helped."
Daniel snorted.
"You created the problem first."
"Details."
Tyler heard them and shook his head.
"These people are impossible."
Caleb called after him, "We heard that!"
Tyler didn't turn around.
"Good."
A few laughs followed him across the room as he made his way toward Clara.
Clara was sitting at her desk with a notebook open in front of her, staring at several lines she had written with a deeply troubled expression.
Her eyebrows were pulled together.
One hand held a pen while the other rested against her forehead.
She looked as if she were trying to solve a national financial crisis.
Clara sighed quietly.
Ah... we forgot to decide the venue yesterday.
Her eyes moved over the notes in front of her.
We were supposed to go to the rooftop to discuss the planning properly, and then everything somehow went in a completely different direction.
Her face became even more serious.
Now I have to adjust the budget again. What if the café we originally planned is too expensive? And we still haven't decided how many people are actually coming.
"Good morning, Clara."
The voice came so naturally that Clara almost didn't react.
It was only after a second that she realized something was unusual.
She slowly looked up.
Tyler was standing beside her desk.
He was smiling.
For a brief moment, Clara simply stared at him.
His blue eyes carried that familiar calm expression Clara had grown used to seeing around other people. The strange thing was that, until recently, she had almost never seen that expression directed toward her.
Now he was simply standing there.
Smiling.
"Good morning."
Clara finally returned the greeting.
Well, yesterday's quarrel was worth it.
She immediately buried her head in her notebook.
Tyler noticed.
"What happened? Did I interrupt something important?"
"No. I mean, yes. No, not really."
Tyler blinked.
Clara sighed. "I was just thinking about the party."
"Already? It's still morning."
"I know."
"Then why do you look like someone gave you the responsibility of organizing the entire school's graduation ceremony?"
Clara looked up at him.
"Because apparently, I was stupid enough to volunteer myself to organize a party with whole class."
Tyler laughed.
Clara stared at him for a moment before a small smile appeared on her face as well.
"You're enjoying this too much."
"A little."
"You're supposed to be helping."
"I haven't even been asked yet."
"That's because I was trying to figure things out before asking you."
"Ah."
Tyler nodded seriously.
"Then I understand. You wanted to suffer alone first."
Clara stared at him.
Tyler's smile widened.
She rolled her eyes. "You're becoming annoying."
"Good. I was worried I'd lost my touch."
She shook her head, but the smile remained.
"Don't push your luck."
Tyler laughed again.
Clara looked at him for another moment, and something inside her quietly relaxed.
Yesterday's conversation had been uncomfortable. There was no denying that. Years of confusion could not disappear because of one apology.
But still...
At least now she understood.
Or perhaps she did not understand everything, because Tyler's explanation had still been strangely vague. But she understood one important thing.
He had not hated her.
And now she finally knew that the problem had never truly been her.
That alone felt strangely liberating.
Tyler adjusted the strap of his bag.
"Anyway, I should probably put this down before Mr. Parker decides I've officially moved my residence into the hallway."
Clara nodded.
"Right."
Tyler took a few steps toward his seat.
"Umm, Tyler?"
He stopped and looked back.
Clara hesitated for half a second.
Then she held up her notebook.
"Can you help me with this planning thing? I think I messed up some parts."
Tyler looked at the notebook, then back at her.
"Sure. Let me put my bag at my seat first."
Clara's face brightened.
"Really?"
"Didn't I just say yes?"
She smiled.
"Okay."
Tyler continued toward his desk while Clara quickly gathered her notebook and pen before following him.
Across the room Danny sat with one arm resting over the back of his chair, looking thoroughly unimpressed by all of it.
Miles was beside him, flipping through a notebook without much interest. Lucas had turned halfway around in his seat to face them, while Evan stood nearby, leaning against the edge of a desk.
Lucas looked toward the front.
"You still owe me," Lucas said.
Danny glanced at him.
"For what?"
"The drink yesterday."
"You never paid for yours."
"I paid."
"You said you would."
"That's basically the same thing."
Evans laughed. "Only Lucas could turn owing money into an argument about technicalities."
Lucas pointed at him. "Stay out of this."
Danny smirked.
"He's right, though."
Lucas stared at him.
"Whose side are you on?"
"Nobody's. I'm just enjoying this."
Lucas shook his head and reached for the pencil Danny had been spinning. Danny pulled it away at the last second.
"Don't touch my stuff."
"It's a pencil."
"It's my pencil."
"You stole it from me."
Danny looked at him.
"You want it back?"
"Yes."
Danny held it out.
Lucas reached for it.
Danny pulled it away again.
Lucas stared.
Danny grinned.
Evans covered his mouth to hide a laugh.
Lucas leaned across the desk. "Give it."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because now I don't want to."
Lucas shook his head, but he was smiling.
The exchange dissolved into a brief argument that had clearly happened enough times for none of them to take it seriously.
Eventually Lucas dropped back into his chair.
"Anyway, what are we doing this weekend?"
Danny shrugged.
"Nothing."
"You're always doing nothing."
"Exactly."
Evans looked at him.
"That's a surprisingly consistent lifestyle."
Danny gave him a sideways glance.
"You jealous?"
"Not remotely."
Lucas opened his mouth to reply, but Evans suddenly looked toward the classroom door.
"Teacher?"
All three of them glanced over.
A student entered instead.
Danny immediately looked away.
Lucas leaned back in "False alarm."
The conversation drifted from weekend plans to the mock exams, then to a ridiculous argument over who had performed worst on the last test. None of them seemed particularly concerned about being overheard.
Then Evans's expression changed.
He glanced toward Oliver's empty seat.
The joking mood disappeared from his face.
"We went too far yesterday."
Lucas followed his gaze.
"You're thinking about that now?"
"Did you see his eye?"
Lucas hesitated.
"Yeah."
"His parents are going to notice."
Danny stopped spinning the pencil.
"And?"
Evans lowered his voice.
"What if Oliver talks?"
Danny leaned back.
"Then we shut him up."
Lucas frowned.
"That's your answer to everything."
"It works."
"What if he tells a teacher?"
Danny's expression hardened.
"Then he better have proof."
Evans glanced toward the other side of the room.
"Chris and Noah were there."
"And?"
"They saw what happened."
Danny's jaw tightened.
"Those two idiots."
"And Tyler probably knows something too."
That caught Danny's attention.
Before he could answer, Miles dropped into the empty chair beside them. He set his bag down and looked toward Oliver's desk.
"Then don't make it our problem."
Danny glanced at him.
"What do you mean?"
Miles leaned back.
"Chris and Noah were there, weren't they?"
Evans nodded.
Miles's voice remained casual.
"Then put it on them."
Lucas frowned.
"How?"
"Rumors."
The word came out so simply that Evans almost laughed.
"Rumors?"
Miles shrugged.
"We tell people Chris and Noah were the ones who beat Oliver."
Lucas stared at him.
"People aren't that stupid."
Miles gave him a faint smile.
"They don't have to be."
He tapped his fingers against the desk.
"Say it to one person, they forget. Say it to ten, they start wondering. Say it to enough people, eventually someone repeats it as if they saw it themselves."
Evans's expression slowly changed.
"And Oliver won't deny it."
Miles looked toward him.
"He can't."
Lucas understood.
"Because of his secret."
"Exactly."
Danny smiled.
"So we let everyone else do the work."
Miles nodded.
"Pretty much."
Danny's gaze drifted toward Chris's desk.
"Then why stop there?"
Miles looked at him.
"What?"
"Tyler."
The smile on Danny's face sharpened.
"Everyone worships that guy. Smart, strong, popular. Always surrounded by the same people."
Evans nodded.
"Chris and Noah are always with him."
Lucas leaned forward.
"If Tyler gets dragged into it, people might assume the whole group was involved."
Danny's expression darkened with satisfaction.
"Exactly."
Miles didn't answer.
He looked toward Tyler.
Tyler was sitting beside Clara, going through the party notes she'd brought over. Clara was pointing at one of the numbers while Tyler quietly explained something to her. They looked completely detached from the rest of the room.
Miles watched them for several seconds.
Then a calm voice came from somewhere behind him.
"Are you sure you want to drag me into this?"
The four boys went still.
Danny turned first.
Tyler hadn't moved from his seat.
He was still looking at Clara's notebook.
Clara was speaking, apparently unaware of what had just happened.
For a second, nobody in the group knew what to make of it.
Lucas swallowed.
"Did he...?"
Danny scoffed.
"From there? No chance."
Miles said nothing.
Tyler finally lifted his head.
His blue eyes settled directly on Miles.
There was no anger in his expression.
No threat.
Just a calm, almost pleasant look.
Then Tyler smiled.
It lasted barely a second before he turned back toward Clara and continued looking over the notes.
Miles's fingers stopped tapping.
He stared at Tyler for another moment.
Then he spoke quietly.
"Leave him out of it."
Danny frowned.
"What?"
"Tyler. Leave him out."
"Why?"
Miles picked up his pen.
"Because Chris and Noah are easy targets."
He glanced once more toward Tyler.
"Tyler isn't."