Chapter 13

I'm not very tall.

I'm not necessarily short either. 5'7 is a few centimeters taller than my mum and a few inches taller than Kaia. Still, I wear heels to school almost every day – magically growing from 5'7 to 5'9, 5'10 or even 5'11 whenever I feel like it. And with heels, I'm tall. Taller than a lot of girls and even boys. Taller than the freshmen, even taller than Logan (ha). Being tall makes me feel confident, cool, aloof even. Kaia says it makes me look even more unapproachable, but that's what I like.

This morning though, I'm wearing flat shoes, so I'm nothing but 5'7. I thought about wearing my platform sneakers, but I know people would judge me, so I don't. Instead, I chose my oldest converse, paired with dark leggings and a zip up hoodie.

My mum prepared me lunch box consisting mainly of cut up fruits and veggies, since I told her we're going to prepare pancakes.

She smiles and pats down my hair, which is easy for her in my shoes. I feel tiny.

"Have fun, honey."

"It's a cleaning event, but I'll try," I smile and wave over my shoulder.

Kaia already waits for me at her doorstep when I reach her house, also dressed in leggings, but also a long white blouse and matching apron.

"I'm super excited," she squeals while getting in my car, "I woke up at six in the morning and couldn't fall back to sleep. I'm sure today is going to be amazing."

She doesn't bring up what happened yesterday, which is very Kaia. She can be mad on my behalf for ages, but isn't able to hold a grudge herself for more than five minutes.

"Sure," I say and point at the bag she's carrying, "What's in there?"

"Water bottles, cleaning supplies my mum gave me, my make-up bag and look, I even brought salt."

"Because?"

"Because salt is best to remove red wine stains," Kaia says, "I saw it on TikTok."

"Why do you think there will be red wine stains in the green & gold room?" I say and stop my car in the empty parking lot, "This is a high school."

"Oh June."

We take our bags and enter the school, which feels weird on a Saturday. Maybe because I never joined any extra-curricular activities before. The green & gold isn't exactly brimming with students, but there are quite a few, mostly freshmen, but also giggling sophomores, and very laid back looking juniors and seniors. Kaia runs to say hi to people from her classes and I panic and search for people from the club.

"June!" Liling calls me immediately.

She's wearing matching red and white plaid aprons with Agatha, both of them carrying two large bowls.

"It's for the pancakes," Liling explains to me and nods to where Duncan and Carlos are busy setting up something that looks like portable stoves, "We're going to prepare them while you guys start with the cleaning."

"Means you weasel yourself out of all the hard work," Duncan says.

Liling throws a dishtowel at his head.

"Please. I'm so sorry you have to do your job for once."

Carlos grins and wipes his hands on his sweatpants before going in to hug me. I accept it.

"So I heard something happened."

I make a face. "I don't know what Kaia told you, but Logan and I only talked –"

"Logan? I thought this was about Matthew?"

"What?" I stare at him, "What about Matthew?"

Of course Matthew chooses this exact moment to materialize next to me, his dark hair brushed back and a wide smile on his face.

"Hey! Are you talking about me?"

"Kind of," Carlos says slowly and looks warily from Matthew to me, "I heard something happened between the two of you. Yesterday."

"Something happened?" Matthew repeats and seems totally clueless, but I start to suspect where this came from.

Sure enough, I find Liling and Duncan watching us, and when I catch their eyes, they don't even have the decency to look embarrassed.

"Sorry, but if you don't want us to know, don't cuddle in the middle of the hallway," Duncan says with a shrug.

"You looked cute," Liling supplies helpfully, "I'm glad Matthew finally found a girlfriend."

I'm going to kill them.

"Girlfriend?" Matthew repeats and laughs, "What – you mean June?"

Okay, it's not true, but does he have to say it like that?

"Yeah, no," I say quickly, "I slipped and Matthew helped me. I don't know what you think you saw, but it wasn't romantic."

"Looked pretty romantic to me," Liling grins and shrugs, "But okay. A girl can dream."

Matthew laughs and follows her towards the stoves, "You really dream of me getting a girlfriend?", and I stare after him. I feel embarrassed and I don't even know why.

Carlos and Duncan also leave to help Agatha with the set up for the pancakes and I'm find myself in the middle of a group of sophomores I never saw before. Johnny told us to mingle with the other students, explain them the schedule for the day and the cleaning process, but I don't feel ready for that yet. Instead, I rise on my tip toes to find Kaia, but only end up spotting Logan at my opposite site of the green & gold room. He's wearing surfer shorts, paired with a hair band to keep his blonde curls out of his face, and seems to be teaching a group of freshmen how to use a steam cleaner. Where he has this knowledge from completely beyond me, and also why the freshmen seem so excited.

"June!" Kaia waves from her own group of over excited students, "Can you help us with the furniture?"

They're gathered around the mismatched assortment of couches in the middle of the green & gold room, which all fit at least five people and definitely don't look like something I enjoy carrying in my free time. I reluctantly walk over next to Kaia and try to look at least a little motivated.

"Sure."

"Okay, great," Kaia claps her hands, "We'll do the leather couches first, then moves on to the rest. Everything will be carried out on the hallways, but not like too far away, so we can easily move it back after we're done. Let's split in two groups of four and let's go!"

Some of the other students cheer as they all look genuinely excited, which I can't relate to, but it's fine. I tell myself to be glad I'm at least not stuck in Logan's steam clean team, or Johnny's, which seems to be tackle the dust and spider webs over the long ceiling, which – ugh. Duncan and Carlos are still busy with the tech, while Agatha and Liling moved on to take care of the everything that needs to be washed, carrying baskets of curtains, pillows and blankets with another group of students towards the washing rooms. Meanwhile, Matthew's at the far end of the room, cleaning the tables with his group, and Vivian – is right next to us.

"Wait, I'll help too!", she announces brightly, looking unfairly energetic in a pretty baby blue tracksuit and with her blonde hair pulled up in a high ponytail, and the other students get instantly all excited.

"Here, move over." Vivian smiles at a freshman and takes the place next to him. He almost faints.

Kaia looks at me and I roll my eyes. She giggles and shakes her head.

"Okay everyone, let's go!"

Even though carrying one leather couch with four people doesn't seem like the most difficult task, it still takes us some time to maneuver it out of the room, and after we're done, there's still four more waiting for us. I wipe my face with the hem of my shirt and wonder if the fact I only ever do sports in PE is something I should seriously reconsider.

I still try to not let it show too much, especially after I spot Vivian laughing with her group while they carry only chairs and what nots. There's this moment where she passes us with nothing but a single flowerpot in her hands while we're carrying the large green couch, and I feel like throwing the pot right at her face. Instead, I smile sweetly and shrug, because this is nothing. I regret it a moment later, since shrugging while lifting a couch isn't the best idea.

We finish with the couches and the rest of the furniture after what feels like ages, and my knees are so wobbly I have to steady myself on the nearest window ledge.

"Here you go, June," Kaia smiles and hands me a water bottle.

We sit down on the window ledge and I lean my head against the cool glass as we watch the rest of the students.

There are a few freshmen girls on their knees, scrubbing on dark red stains of questionable origin on the floor, even though Kaia claimed it's red wine and tried to make them use her salt. Needless to say salt doesn't do much on parquet floor.

The students led by Johnny prepared buckets with hot water and liquid soap and are ready and set to wipe the whole room after the girls are done. Duncan is amongst them, though I can't imagine him with a mop in his hands wiping the floor. Kaia props up her legs and waves in Johnny's direction, who waves back and almost falls over his feet.

I nudge Kaia's side and she giggles behind her hand.

There's a faint smell of freshly baked pancakes coming from the hallway and raise on my and I can't help but smile, which ends just a few minutes later when I find myself with a mop in my hand next to Duncan.

"This is not the work I signed up for," Duncan complains and gives the bright pink mop in his hands a glare, "And who chose these things?"

"Well, what do you think," Johnny says from my other side, "The girls."

"Yeah, why? It's not like they're actually helping us clean," Duncan complains and twirls his mop around like a sword, "Agatha and Liling are only doing their pancakes thing and Vivian is, I don't know, supervising I guess."

"Vivian's supervising?" I ask, "Why?"

"Vivian askes for a break after helping to move all the couches," Johnny shrugs and shoves Duncan's mop aside, "She offered to supervise the cleaning instead. I told her it's fine."

I really can't believe her.

"Why can't I supervise?" Duncan asks and twirls his mop, "Setting up the tech was really exhausting. I feel like no one's plugged anything in in this room for ages."

Johnny rolls his eyes and they continue sword fighting with their mops.

I turn around to check up on the rest, maybe find someone else I can hand my mop to, when I suddenly notice Matthew staring at me – or in my general direction. Kaia is next to him, apparently telling him a story with big hand movements and exaggerated expressions, but when she notices me, she quickly throws a peace sign and leaves. Which isn't suspicious at all.

I furrow my brows and tilt my head and Matthew stares at me, hands wrapped around an equally bright mop and large yellow cleaning gloves all up to his elbows. There are a few other students around him, wiping the floor with extreme seriousness, and Logan slips on a piece of soap right next to Matthew. But all I can do is stare at Matthew, and he's doing nothing but staring right back at me. It starts to feel really awkward, but suddenly the corners of his mouth curl upwards. I give a little wave. Matthew's smile widens and he waves back, which looks almost comically with his bright yellow gloves.

Duncan's snort brings me back to reality.

"June, what is this."

I thwack him with my mop.

"Shut up."