Would you still love me?

Chapter 3: Group Work

Mia's POV

The library after school is quiet, It's the one place at Westbrook that feels like it belongs to nobody, and that's exactly why I like it.

Ines has debate practice, so I'm alone when I sit at the corner table by the windows. It has a wobbly leg, and most people avoid it for that reason, I like it for the same reason, nobody fights with you for the broken table and nobody notices you there either.

But today, three other people are supposed to sit here too, because of the group project.

Reyes shows up first, he drops into the seat across from me and starts talking about a video game before he's even sat all the way down. He's easy to be around and he doesn't seem to notice that most people at this school don't usually talk to me.

"You've read the book, right?" he asks. "Like actually read it, not just the summary?"

"I actually read it."

"Cool, then you do most of the analysis, and I'll do the poster. Deal?"

I almost laugh because it's such an easy trade for him. "Deal."

Brooke shows up a few minutes later, her phone is already out, and her thumb is moving before she even sits down. She doesn't look up when she says hi. She's like that a lot, half here, half somewhere else, always watching something through her phone screen.

"So who's doing what," she says, still typing. "I'm not doing the talking part, I hate speaking in front of people."

"Since when," Reyes says, and she kicks him under the table without even looking up. It's clear they've known each other a long time.

Dylan comes last, he has his backpack over one shoulder, and when he walks up, he looks at the table for a second with me at one end, Reyes and Brooke arguing about who has to present and something in his face shifts, just for a moment.

Then he sits down across from me.

"Sorry, practice ran late."

"You're fine," I say, and it comes out steadier than I feel.

We start working, and it feels almost normal. Reyes draws poster ideas that are somehow both lazy and too ambitious, Brooke helps just enough to not get in trouble, phone never far from her hand and Dylan is easier to be around than I expected.

I had built up a picture of him in my head to be someone distant, someone I could never really talk to but this version keeps asking me real questions about the book, like he actually wants to know what I think.

"You got all this from one read?" he asks, looking at my notes in the margin of the book.

"I read a lot. It happens when nobody invites you anywhere."

I say it like a joke, the way I always do when I'm telling someone something true but don't want it to sound too heavy. Dylan doesn't laugh, though, he just looks at me for a second, like he's thinking about saying something back, then he doesn't, and goes back to the book instead.

We're maybe forty minutes in when I feel it before I see it, that shift in the air that happens right before Madison Blake shows up. She walks into the library with two other girls behind her, she's not even pretending she came here to study, her eyes land right on our table.

"Oh my god, is this the group project?" she says, loud enough that a few people at other tables look over, her voice is sweet, the kind of sweet that always means the opposite. "Dylan, babe, you didn't tell me you got stuck with the whole library."

"It's a group project, Madison," Dylan says. There's an edge in his voice I haven't heard before.

She ignores that completely and her eyes slide over to me, like she's just now noticing I'm here, even though she isn't. Madison notices everything, she just picks when to say something. "Mia, didn't know you were still into group activities." She laughs a little, more for her friends than for me, "That's cute."

My face goes hot, It's the specific kind of heat you feel when someone makes you small in front of other people. I keep my eyes on the book, because looking up feels like handing her something.

"Come on, Madison, that's not fair," Dylan says. His voice is even but it's clear he means it, and it's loud enough that her friends hear it too.

Madison blinks, like she wasn't expecting him to actually say something back and for a second, nobody at the table moves.

"We're kind of in the middle of working," Reyes says. He doesn't sound mean about it, he just wants to get back to the poster.

"Sure, sure." Madison's already backing away, happy with whatever small damage she came here to do. "Have fun with your book club." Her eyes flick to Dylan one more time, and then she's gone, her friends trailing behind her.

The table stays quiet for a second after she leaves, Reyes goes back to drawing, like nothing happened because for him, nothing did. Brooke's thumb has stopped moving on her phone. When I glance over, she's watching me, not unkindly, just watching, the way she watches everything.

Dylan doesn't say anything for a second, then he leans in a little, low enough that only I can hear it. "Ignore her."

"I'm used to it."

"That doesn't mean you should have to be."

I don't have an answer for that, so I don't give one. I go back to the book, I pretend my hands aren't a little shaky, I pretend the sting Madison left behind doesn't feel exactly the way it always feels, and I pretend the way Dylan just looked at me like he actually meant what he said doesn't matter.

It matters and that's the problem, It's starting to matter more than I know what to do with.

By the time we pack up to leave, the library's almost empty. Reyes heads out first, already talking about the poster like it's a bigger deal than it is. Brooke lingers a second longer than she needs to, glancing at me before she follows him out, and I can't tell what that look means, Dylan waits while I gather my books.

"Same time Thursday?" he asks.

"Sure."

He nods, like that settles something, and heads out too. I sit there a minute longer than I planned, just staring at the same page I haven't actually read in ten minutes, thinking about how easily one library table managed to turn my whole week upside down.