“No, I won’t choose a car movie.”
“Or that one when guys fight each other for some weird-ass reason—”
“Fight Club? No.” I clap my hands together. “I’ve got it. Let’s watchOcean’s 11. Have you heard of it?”
She squints at me. “I … think?”
“It’s about a heist. There are eleven dudes robbing casinos in Las Vegas—”
“Wait, eleven guys? Are there no women?”
“Julia Roberts is in it.”
Eve perks up. “Like fromNotting Hill?” Her mouth falls open. “After your movie, I’m going to make you watchNotting Hill.”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “We’re ending the movie swap after this.”
“Yes,” Eve says, grinning. “Notting Hillis so good. It’s a nineties rom-com, and it’s British and it’s funny and cute and it has Hugh Grant—”
“Hugh Grant?” I echo. I know Hugh Grant.
Eve’s eyes light up. “Oh my god, we’re going to binge-watch Hugh Grant movies!”
I put my hands up in protest, but Eve grabs them. “Guess what? Hugh Grant is inSense and Sensibility!”
“That title sounds likePride—”
“It’s another Jane Austen adaption!” Eve squeals, shaking my arms.
Mr Patterson’s voice cuts through our chatter. “Eve and Noah,” he says from his desk. “That doesn’t sound like work.” The chatter of the rest of the class silences at Mr Patterson’s voice. I can feel the gaze of classmates on us.
Eve drops my arms. “Sorry,” she says, before turning to look at her book. A minute later, when the chatter of the class resumes, she hisses at me, “there’s no way you’re getting out of this, Noah.”
Later, Mr Patterson goes over some questions and repeats some confusing parts of the theory he taught us (I find the whole topic confusing) before giving us the rest of the double to catch up with bookwork.
Eve turns to me. “Areyou caught up with bookwork?”
“Of course,” I lie, and from the expression on Eve’s face, I can tell she’s seeing right through me. “You are too, right?”
She nods. “Although, I can go over some questions with you.”
I don’t know how to respond. I don’t want to be an embarrassing burden, but Eve’s not looking at me like I’m stupid.
“We don’t have to,” I say.
“Come on,” she says, leaning over to flick through the pages of my book. “This is good revision for me too. Let’s do questions for twenty minutes, then chat for the rest of class,” she says. “Should we begin with this exercise?”
Doing questions with Eve isn’t as terrible as I expect it to be. Sure, maths is boring as hell, but every time I get a question right, Eve congratulates me, boosting my ego. She’s too nice, but still. It makes me feel smart.
Twenty minutes pass, and I lean back in my chair with a loud sigh and look at my classmates behind me. Henry chats to John. Sitting in the row behind us, Tiana, Alison and Sana glance at us, before shooting looks at each other.
I poke Eve. “The girls have noticed us,” I whisper.
Eve glances back. “They’d be blind not to,” she says, but she’s smiling.
We talk about what the girls might say, and how the news and speculation will spread through the Year 11 cohort. While we’re discussing plans for the Jealousy Pact, the bell rings.
“That was fast,” Eve says.
