𝐦𝐲 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 | 𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐦 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬

"adam lied"

It was the calm before the storm.

"Adam," Rowan whispered, his grip pulling her closer.

"No."

"You can keep sleeping," She told him. "I'm just getting up."

"No," He protested for the second time, his voice raspy from sleep. "Let's stay here all day, just like this."

"Very tempting, truly," She quietly sighed. "Either I get up and you stay here, or we both get up."

Adam slowly started to sit up, stretching as he placed his feet on the ground. "It's not even worth sleeping without you, so I guess we're both going."

"Okay, let's go," She said, grabbing his hand.

The two walked down to the cafeteria to find any leftover food from lunch. As they entered, Adam scanned the room and quickly dropped Rowan's hand. She sent him a confused look -- he didn't even return a glance towards her.

"Rowan, I think everyone's over at that table," He gestured with a nod, still not meeting her eyes.

"Okay, are you coming?" She asked when he didn't follow.

"Yeah, I'm just gonna look for chips first."

Rowan nodded before walking off to the table of hockey players. "Hey, Ro!"

"Did you just wake up?" Goldberg slightly smirked at her.

"Yeah, Adam was pretty tired," She answered, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I bet," Jesse said but was immediately whacked by Connie.

"Shut up," She mumbled to him.

"When did you guys wake up?" Rowan asked.

"About an hour ago," Luis said, his eyes following Adam as he joined them. "Been here ever since."

"Did you find your chips?"

"Yeah, even got one for you," Adam confirmed, tossing her a small bag of salt and vinegar chips.

"How sweet of you," She laughed.

"Charity work."

"Matt, have you been seriously sleeping this entire time? It's like almost 3," Rowan asked the boy, staring at his dark blue pajama pants.

"And what have you been doing with Adam this entire time?"

"...sleeping," She mumbled.

"Right," Matt nodded, proving his point. "So I was.

"Where's Brady?"

"I think another practice with Jen," Matt answered.

"Let's find Mabel and Harper."

"They're probably watching a stupid film again," The boy groaned. 

"Their movies aren't stupid," She shook her head.

"Yes, they are! They're all like love stories that try to make you cry."

Rowan didn't answer. Instead, she pulled him off his bed and dragged him down the hall towards the girls' dorm. They burst through the door, and to no surprise, they were watching a movie.

"Why are we watching the saddest movie of all time?" Rowan asked as she sat down next to Mabel.

"Oh, come on. It can't be that depressing," Matt said, sitting beside Harper.

It was that depressing.

"I can't believe he just died like that!" Harper cried into Matt's shoulder.

"Bray and Jenny should be back soon," Mabel stated, drying her cheeks.

Only minutes later, they two walked into the dorm -- seeing the train wreck that their friends had become. "What the hell happened to you guys?"

"This screwed-up movie happened!" Matt exclaimed.

"No way you actually cried, dude," Brady laughed.

"You watch it, man, and tell me this isn't the saddest shit you've ever seen."

This had been the most Rowan Pierce had ever cried in one day, and it was yet to be over. 

"Nice going, idiot," Brady chuckled as Mabel spilled her water all over the floor.

"You look like a ketchup packet," She insulted back, looking up and down at his red sweatshirt and shorts. He gave her an evil glare before Rowan broke the tension.

"It's fine. I'll just get paper towels. Try not to kill each other, alright?" She told them. "I'm leaving Harper in charge."

"What? Why not me?" Matt questioned. 

"Matthew, she specifically said she wants to come back to us all alive," Harper responded. "You would kill us."

Rowan walked down into the lobby and asked the front desk for spare napkins or paper towels. As she waited, a brown-haired boy walked through the elevator. "Charlie?" She asked, grabbing his attention.

"Oh, hey," He smiled once he had recognized her voice.

"Aren't you supposed to be at a team thing right now?" She questioned.

"What?" He asked, panic and confusion laced within his voice.

"Adam said..." She started, slowly coming to a stop as Charlie's face altered with realization and regret.

"Adam lied," She sadly whispered, watching the sandy-haired boy walk through the front doors -- with another girl.

A/N- I hate to do this to y'all but fair warning that these next few chapters are heavily inspired by Olivia Rodrigo's Traitor