I turned back and told him "I will not be at school tomorrow. It is my dad's funeral."

"I am very sorry for your loss."

I nodded once and then swiftly changed the subject "I probably will not come in Friday either. It is my birthday and I think Lana and I are going to call in and pretend to be sick."

Mr Dankworth smiled "My present to you is that I will not tell the principal."

"Thank you." I said as I matched his warm grin before walking to the door.

"Ella." The old man called before I could leave.

Turning back around, I tilted my head "Yeah?"

"I am your kindred spirit but I am not your soulmate." He chuckled while referencing my inside joke with Lana "Your soulmate is the one who makes you feel at home. Who challenges you and loves you for who you are. The one that will never give up on you."

Embarrassed about the last thing he said, I rush out the door with an awkward laugh.

I exited the classroom and found Lana leaning against the wall waiting for me.

"You did not have to wait for me." I mentioned while we started to walk along the corridor.

"It was either me or Stone." She stated before letting out a small sound of amusement "His words. Not mine."

I kept quiet as I was not sure how to reply to that.

Lana picked up on my awkwardness and tried to steer the conversation away from him "I have got all the decorations for your birthday planned out."

"We agreed a Halloween party." I scolded her "I do not want anything birthday based. No birthday balloons. No birthday banners—"

"No birthday cake?" She questioned with a mischievous smile.

"Of course I want cake!" I blurted out "What kind of question is that?"

She giggled and I joined in with her laughter until we both stopped as we got closer to the lunch hall.

"I have to ask..." She said before trailing off.

"What?"

"Do you want to be with him?" Lana asked slowly and tenderly before she then went on to threaten "If you do not then I do not care how freaking scary he is, I will tell Stone to go away."

As much as I would love to see that, I decided to be honest with her "I do. I really, really do. I just cannot."

"Then you need to understand that I really, really want him to win this bet that you two have because I want you happy." She expressed to me "He makes you happy."

I changed the subject "Would you really tell him to go away if I asked."

She stayed quiet the sighed "Well..."

"I do not think he is one to mess with today." I mentioned while laughing "He has not been in the best mood lately. He has been even more irrationally angry."