As They… 15A

=Two days worth of pages summarized…

The second day of school, half the school's population was looking for a girl with blonde hair thanks to Trip's clue. After denying being his sister again, she watched almost every other blonde girl being asked the same question. Even in class, the search was still on. With each passing hour, she was more and more eager to just blurt it out. The third day, the hair color to look out for had changed thanks to David. Interest was beginning to dwindle.

On the fourth day, while attendance was being taken, her name was called. "Aren't you Tanner's sister?" Her teacher asked.

Would there be any point to keeping this up? What is the point anyway? And isn't this better than announcing she's Peggy Wade? And also, how would she go about doing that? Game is over. "Yes I am." She smiled a sweet smile while the rest of the class murmured in disbelief and belief and all the things in between.

After her first class, she was more than surprised to come out of class and see other students staring at her. How did the news spread so fast?

Blake came up to her and her two friends. "You're really his sister? Why did you lie to me?"

"I didn't lie."

"She just didn't tell you." Jenny defended.

"I just wanted to go along with it. And no offense Blake, but we didn't know you then. We still don't actually." She spoke for her friends. "We do want to get to know you. I do."

Aida pat Blake on the back. "Don't be upset. I'm sure you would have done the same thing. It's not like we know your favorite color and that's not a secret is it?"

Three pairs of eyes looked at Blake almost hypnotically. "N-no it's not."

The whole school was looking at her everywhere she went. Even more so in the lunch bar when Christopher and Bradley graced her table with their presence. "Peggy." Bradley called with a smile and his hands in his pockets. "You spoiled our fun." He shook his head, a smirk on his face.

"I did?"

"You did." Christopher nodded. "We were hoping someone else might steal your identity. Or maybe everyone starts looking for green eyes." He tilted his head, his eyes darting from Aida to Jenny to Blake.

"It had to end sometime right?"

Bradley chuckled. "We were hoping to decide that."

"How?" She looked from one to the other.

"We hadn't figured that out yet. Maybe at a party I'm throwing this weekend or something." Christopher answered.

"Tanner would cause a riot before he lets me come out to a party with him."

"Crap that's right!" Christopher realized. "Would you really miss your first high school party cause Tanner won't let you? Come on Peggy."

She shrugged. "I don't know." "Thanks for a slice of entertainment Peggy." Christopher said, tapping the table. "Bye girls."

"See you around Peggy."

"Bye."

"Okay, we gotta go to this party." Blake announced.

Peggy laughed. Something else on her mind as eyes looked away from her. Is she the girl with the cute outfits, or is she Tanner's sister? She stopped laughing. A smirk on her face. She's Peggy Wade, the girl with cute outfits.

Someone else made it to her table, furious that she'd lied about who she was. "You lied to me."

She'd seen too many faces to remember who this is exactly. "About what?"

"I asked you if you were Tanner's sister. You lied to us."

"The boys wanted to play a game. I went with it. It's not my fault they didn't point me out to you is it? I didn't tell you to look for a blonde girl did I?"

Her questions were enough to rip up every other complaint the girl had. This speaker for all the furious students who took the time to search for Tanner's sister. She turned around and walked away. She wasn't the only one to come demanding an explanation. They all got the same questions.

She also had those who found her adorable. Because she is Tanner's sister and they want to keep her close? She couldn't say. But they kept on coming. By her locker, "Peggy right? You're so pretty. I like your dress. It's AnnieSteph's fall collection right?"

"Yeah." She smiled. "Thank you."

"It's nothing. See you around."

Peggy nodded, her smile still on. One out of many such occasions.=

One knock and he pushed the door open. "Well well…" Otto started, assessing his friend as he walked in. "Look who graces us with his presence."

Sawyer raised his brows with a smile, giving a slow nod. "Ten days later." Noelle pointed out.

"It can't have been ten days." Sawyer shook his head, looking back to close the door.

"How long do you think?" Sitting up from his relaxed position on his bed.

Noelle, close to his long legs, her legs folded with a pillow over her thighs. She leaned forward, stretching out her hands, both watching Sawyer rack his head for an answer.

"I-it's not ten days."

Noelle looked at Otto. "He gets a girlfriend and now he's too good for us." Otto clicked his tongue, shaking his head in disapproval.

"We hung out last Tuesday."

"Today's Friday. Wait," Otto looked from him to Noelle. "Are you being held hostage? Are you only let out to make it seem like you're okay? Do you need help?" Noelle started laughing. "Do you have to be back before midnight? Blink twice. She might have people watching."

"Blink twice? For what?" Sawyer shook his head. "What will blinking twice mean?"

"That you're being held hostage." "I was just busy."

"The Wade I know never went that long without seeing us."

He pulled a chair and took a seat. "Oh yeah sure, I'm the bad guy. Did either of you come to make sure I wasn't being held hostage? I go missing for ten days and you're in here sitting" He waved his hand at them on Otto's bed. "Talking and… what even are you doing? Nothing. You're doing nothing."

"Wait, I-I'm confused, is this still a joke?"

"You started it!" Noelle and Sawyer barked.

"Whoa! Jeez, my bad. It started to feel real."

"But seriously, you must be super into each other for you to have been gone for so long."

"I had assignments and projects. The first two weeks of school and there's so much to do." He ran his hand through his hair. "But I'm done now. Hannah's practically living with me. It's pretty unexpected."

"What do you mean practically?"

"She's in a three person room right? Fourth floors are for three beds. So she's probably using your room as a getaway place or something." Noelle answered. "You don't like it?"

He scoffed then shrugged. "I don't mind."

"With you so busy, she'll probably feel like she has the room to herself." Otto pointed out.

"Yeah. The other day, we were looking at pictures on… Instagram or something and I fell asleep."

"You fell asleep? Were you tired or do you just find looking at pictures boring?" Otto asked.

Sawyer started to chuckle. "I don't know." "You barely look at yours so that makes sense." Noelle suspected.

"You think he found it boring?" "It's him. It's very possible."

"I'm right here." "We know." Noelle looked at him. "We're trying to figure out which it is." She looked at Otto.

"He was bored." Otto concluded. Sawyer sighed.