Great. Just great.

Kavi knew he fucked up. Before the words had left the safe space of his lips, before he could process what a horrible mistake he made, and even before the thundering clap resounded off of his cheek, whiplashing his head to the side, Kavi knew what a grave error of judgment he made by calling Chanel a bitch. Forgetting the fact that it was accurate and she was a hypocrite, Kavi still shouldn’t have said it out loud, not with how volatile the situation was. He should’ve had the frame of mind to bite his tongue or at least say it when the rest of her best friends were out of ear-shot. That would have been the smart thing to do. But then again, when was Kavi Antonio Salvador known for taking the intelligent route?

As he lamented on what he had just done and dealt with the aftermath, Kavi realized Chanel and the others of the Unholy Trinity weren’t the only ones he had to deal with. Despite the stinging redness on his cheek being fresh on his mind, it wasn’t the only mistake created by Kavi’s stupidity. There was Ryland, who conveniently departed amidst the thunderstorm of Julie’s slap. He had to deal with the two girls in his life that caused him the most grief. Both were silent, both were refusing to look at him and talk to him (he was assuming).

Kavi rubbed the back of his neck, looking between the two and trying to figure out what the next course of action was. Lord knew right now he was in a tough spot. Say the wrong thing, especially at this point, and that would make things worse but say nothing and Kavi felt he would be betraying himself. A lot of shit happened and it did so at such a rate that made it difficult to process. But he wasn’t a quitter and despite regret for saying it out loud, Kavi didn’t feel bad for saying it. At the least, though, he had the frame of mind not to say anything about it per-se to April’s face.

So with most of his options dead and gone, Kavi kept his lips shut. He knew they were a weapon of mass destruction and the best option he could make was to not say anything.

“Oh yeah?” Max whispered his voice husky as he returned all of Ariana’s kisses. He turned his head toward the exit at the end of the hall still holding on to the girl in front of him. Every fiber of his body screaming at him to just grab Ariana and go home spending the rest of the day under the sheets, just like she was suggesting… but something was stopping him.

“Man… I fucking can’t, Ari…” he said with a defeated voice. “Mr. Russo threatened to get me suspended if I missed another class. Coach would fucking hang me if that happened.” The burly young man said, letting go of the brunette's behind.

Ariana rolled her eyes and clucked her tongue in frustration a couple of times. Why was Max so hung up about missing math, out of all classes? "He hasn't seen you, right? So who's to say you weren't late because of a family emergency or something, hm? I'm sure someone in your house will back that up. And suspension, for absences? That's bullshit. That would give you a few days of detention and a parent-teacher conference at most, but not a suspension. If he'd caught us right in the middle of it as Archer did? Then yes. But for this? Nah. Bottom line: don't worry about the math teacher, Max. He can't do anything to us." she assured him before giving him another kiss.

Max let out a dry laugh. “Maybe not to you, but he seemed pretty serious.” he said in between their kisses. “Besides, this way… the wait will drive you crazy.” he exclaimed before scooping the amused girl up into his arms and practically devouring her.

It would be at that moment the one and only Jace Russo would look out into the hallway to find two students from his first-period math class. To say he was angry was an understatement.

Max had missed more than his fair share of classes, and while Mr. Russo had tried to help him, Max… he just wasn't really all that bright. Still, Jace hadn't given Max anywhere near as many detentions as he deserved. The first bell of the morning had just rung as he looked out into the hall. Most students wouldn't be arriving until the second bell or right after. Considering how Max was wrapped up in yet another girl, Jace had a gut feeling that the young man was planning to be late to class, or miss the first period entirely. Don't even get him started on the fact that the girl Max had wrapped in his arms was Ariana - Jace’s secret, not-so-exclusive girlfriend.

"Mr. Wallenberg. I hope you weren't planning to be late to class this morning," he called out.



Max quickly let go of Ariana, straightening up giving her a ‘told you so’ look. “Uh... No! Of course not, Mr. Russo! I was just about to head in!” he said, smiling brightly at his math teacher. The athlete straightened his tie and grabbed his bag up off the floor, gave Ariana one last grimace before heading for his class. “Sorry…” he whispered as he passed his teacher.

As Max made his way into the room, Jace shifted his focus onto Ariana, whose beautiful face was scrunched up in annoyance while the hazel eyes that usually disarmed him now shot daggers at him.

"Ms. Mossos, I trust that you were headed to class as well,” Jace said, an eyebrow raised in question.

"Of course! Wouldn't dream of missing it!" Ariana answered through gritted teeth, shooting him a bright, yet sardonic grin. There was quite a gap from what she actually said and what she was really thinking but holding back to protect what they had.

”Good, good. Just felt the need to double check since it seemed like you two had other plans.”

Jace knew he had to tread lightly here, but was doing his best to let his anger be known while staying within the boundaries of being a teacher. Granted he had crossed those boundaries a long time ago, but when in Rome…

The young woman rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Bet you would hate that, wouldn't you?" she mumbled under her breath, loud enough for Jace to hear but low enough for nobody else to.

Rolling his eyes right back in response, the man knew that it would be best if he didn’t respond. But Jace being Jace, of course he did just that. If it was one thing that he and Ariana had in common, it was their pettiness, and she was not about to out petty him.

“Yes, I would hate it.” he said, still keeping up the teacher persona. ”Two bright students wasting their future away because all because they felt the need to skip class and bang? Tragic.”

"But lucky we have you around to cockblock everyone and save the day, right?" the brunette talked back, clapping her hands at her teacher in a mocking ovation. "Wow, look at you go, Jace Russo! Doing the Lord's work and all that. Such a blessing. They seriously do not pay you enough for everything that you do."

”They sure don’t pay me enough to have to deal with the amounts of sarcasm I deal with daily. Keep being rude and you’re going to land yourself in detention,” he stated matter of factly.

The young woman snorted. "I'm not being rude. You're just acting all petty because what you saw is eating you alive right now," Ariana hissed, flipping back her glossy chocolate locks with such sass it was guaranteed to rile up Jace even more. She didn't care about detention. It wouldn't even begin to put a dent on her otherwise spotless disciplinary record. What the young woman did care about was that she was furious about being cockblocked, and that she needed to make sure Mr. Russo knew who really was in charge here. “Stop being jealous.”

Ariana had a way of always needing to be right. Always having things her way when she wanted them and how she wanted them. Normally, that wouldn’t bother Jace. He was more than prepared most of the time to do things Ariana's way. But right now -- no.

”Fine. After school detention, my classroom. Be there at 3:15 sharp. No excuses.” He crossed his arms, waiting on her response.

Ariana scoffed again, in disbelief this time, and shook her head, tongue against her cheek. "Sure. Okay. Fine. Whatever! I'll see you then, Mr. Russo," she shot back, an edge of fake politeness and sarcasm when she pronunched her name. Glaring, Ariana angrily grabbed her bag from the floor and stormed off in the direction of his classroom, shooting him the finger over her shoulder. He'd definitely be getting a piece of her mind later.

Quickly glancing around to make sure no one was watching, Jace returned the girl’s gesture before heading inside the classroom. She wouldn’t see it, but it made him feel better in the long run.

He knew he made the right decision to remain quiet, but on some level, Kavi wanted to say something. The part of him that caused this mess that felt the need to get the last word in, that wanted to pull Ariel by the arm and make her understand his side. He wanted to tug at the part of her that he knew would listen to him because he knew he had that effect on her. He knew that she loved him. Despite all of what she said to him, despite all of the shitty things he did to her and how much harder he was going to make her life, he knew she still loved him.

As he was likely moments away, Kavi realized something. This was exactly what they meant. From Chanel and Julie to even Ryland, this was what they were talking about. The retrospect reflection of it all, Kavi cursed himself because he was stupid. He called Ryland a tool but maybe that wasn’t it. Deep down, maybe he knew who he was referring to?

Shaking his head, he snapped out of it, attempting to walk forward and wanting to reach out for Ariel’s hand. If he could get her to understand, perhaps then she could see his side of things. Yes, that’s what he had to do. Reach out and just make her see!

But then her words echoed back, playing like a bad song in his head.

“You will never be able to make me feel anywhere near as dumb as you act.”

Those words sent fire through his heart and chills down his spine. The absence of feeling in her voice and how cold she seemed stopped him in his tracks. Not even April’s kind words and tone pulled him out of just how royally he fucked up today. He thought he could fix this. He thought he could maybe get her to see this was okay and what everyone else was saying was complete and utter bullshit. Kavi thought wrong. He wasn’t right here and it took Ariel’s reality check to send him into a state where anything spoken to him fell on deaf ears.

“Everything is fucked.”

Those were Kavi’s only words as he gathered his bag and went to his first class. There was no point in getting Ariel to see his side, not when he didn’t even believe in it anymore.

As Archer stood there, listening to Sonny speak, he couldn’t help but be grossed out by his facial expressions- showing it, no doubt. He was grossed out by not only the colorful story that Sonny was regaling them with about their morning, but the fact that they had felt the need to keep this a secret. Okay: so he hadn’t been the biggest fan when Marisol had told him that they had done the devil’s tango last summer. He might even confess to having been a little dramatic. But if she was really happy being with Torvald, who was he to deny his best friend that?

“It’s whatever you guys…” the skinny teen shrugged. “I mean… Really happy for you guys and all that but…” he paused. “You really don’t have to worry about what I think of it as long as you guys communicate better than what you have been doing…. At this rate, I’ll have to become a couple’s therapist or some shit!” He laughed, punching his small friend on the shoulder and earning himself a playful shove and a hug in return.

Sonny recognized that Archer wasn’t his biggest fan. Even after the Brad incident, there was only so much closeness they could have. Friends or not, he was still Marisol’s best friend. Sonny knew that and he never tried to get between them. The fact that Archer came around to liking him was a big plus. Still, he had to try and make things less awkward. Even if the attempt felt flat on its face, he knew he had to try.

“You’d be perfect for that job! You’re always giving us and others advice, even when we don’t think we need it!” Sonny laughed, trying to bridge the awkwardness with the new topic as much as he can.

"I think we've gotten better at communicating with each other…" Mari mused, still holding onto Archer as she tried to think of an example in which she and Sonny had improved in communicating as a couple. "Like the other day. Son was wearing a shirt that looked pretty fucking stupid on him, and I told him he looked like shit. That's communicating, right?"

“I’m not sure that’s what Arch meant,” Sonny commented, laughing. “More so we shouldn’t keep anything from our two closest friends, not you roasting my legendary fashion style.”

"If by legendary you mean stuck back in the nineties with Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park, then sure," the short girl clapped back, jokingly sticking her tongue out at her boyfriend.

Kavan smiled and tried to stifle a laugh. “As much as I agree with the whole better communication thing… she does have a point there, Sonny,” Kavan said jokingly. “Maybe you should give the Sonia Drake look another try instead.”

While Marisol snickered, Sonny glared at Kavan for a few, good long moments before relaxing his eyes a bit. “Ah, who knows what could happen in the coming months?” He shrugged, laughing it off.

“Do it once,it’s funny; do it twice, it’s a hobby!” Archer laughed winking at Sonny.

“Maybe he has a kink for it,” Mari teased, letting go of Archer and going back to wrap her arms around Sonny’s waist from the back, resting her chin on his shoulder. “That’s fine by me, though. Sonia Drake would make a hot girlfriend. Mami’s got herself a juicy piece of ass.”

Sonny’s laugh came with a cough as if taken by surprise from Mari’s comment. “You couldn’t handle Sonia! She’s a lot of woman,” he winked at her, shaking his hips and grinding his waist against hers while Mari now pretended to hump him from behind (much to Archer and Kavan’s annoyance, they were sure).

“Shit!” he exclaimed, casting a glance at his watch. “I need to get to class! See you guys later!” he turned to place a quick kiss on Kavan. “See you in the library later!” he whispered as he headed off in the direction of his French classroom.

Archer’s sudden departure prompted Sonny to give his phone a glance and he realized what time it was. Upon this realization, he quickly tugged at Mari’s arm. “Archer had the right idea. If we don’t jet, Lopez will be on my ass yet again for being late. You know he likes to make an example out of me every single time!” Sonny rolled his eyes. If that lardass calls him by his full name one more time, Sonny was going to show him the power of a kick in his fat-fucking-ass.

“Yeah, I guess I shouldn’t be late either,” Kavan said with a sigh as he readjusted the book under his arm. “I’ll see you two…” He trailed off, remembering that he wouldn’t be seeing them during lunch, “later!” And with that, he began to walk in the opposite direction.

Mari, who had given parting waves to both Kavan and Archer, was about to begin her trek to the Econ classroom with Sonny when she felt her phone vibrating. Frowning, the young woman pulled the device out of her skirt pocket, and was immediately consumed with both anxiety and hesitation when the glance at the screen said she’d received a voice memo from Ryland. “Huh…” she said in surprise, looking up at Sonny with worried eyes. “Ry’s just sent us something.”

He looked down at her phone then back to her. “Maybe he’s come to his senses and wants to apologize for how he overreacted earlier.” Sonny knew that was hoping for too much but he was hopeful. He still was a little annoyed at Rye from earlier, so there was that to consider as well.

The brunette could only shrug. “I guess we’re about to find out…” she replied before unlocking her phone, clicking on the message and pressing Play.



There was a long moment of silence between the couple after Ryland’s voice had disappeared. Mari could only stare at Sonny with wide, tearful eyes. Their best friend’s words had sent waves of relief crashing over her, washing away every second thought and negative feeling. As much as she said that people’s opinions didn’t matter, it would’ve sucked to know that their closest friends were against their relationship, and Mari knew she wouldn’t have been entirely happy. But now that she was certain that it was all fine and dandy, the girl couldn’t stop herself from grinning from ear to ear.

“Shit.”

That was Sonny’s only reaction when Mari played Rye’s message. He didn’t know what to expect when the message played back and Rye’s started to talk. There was even a moment when Sonny was certain Rye didn’t know what Rye was saying, either. But like the Aspen that he was, he found his rhythm and that sent chills down Sonny’s spine and simultaneously gave him a bad case of regret. With how he reacted to Rye’s overreaction, which it was and it wasn’t. At the time, he felt justified but now Sonny knew he wasn’t. He knew it and maybe Mari knew it too. Whatever happened this morning before getting to King’s campus didn’t matter.

Sonny exhaled with a deep breath, glancing at his girlfriend with a breathy chuckle. “I don’t know about you, but I’m buying that goofball all the chili dogs he wants.”

“I’ll make sure to get the drinks then,” she said with a laugh, wrapping her arms around her boyfriend and looking up at him with that beaming grin still in place. “God, I’m so fucking relieved now! I can’t believe this shit went so fucking well. I thought we were gonna have to do some serious damn convincing to get everyone on our side.”

“For real!” Sonny laughed, stretching his arms out. “I didn’t think so many damn people weren’t going to have a problem with it--with us!” For a moment, Sonny’s tone faded into a curious hum. “Now that I’m actually thinking about it, that was a quick change of heart for Rye. It doesn’t sound like the goof we know and love, does it?” Sonny asked Mari.

“I don’t know, but I’m not about to question it,” she chuckled with a shrug. “Not gonna tempt fate to come around and drill us in the ass or something.”

Sonny laughed to the point he nearly hacked up a furball. “You should write a book, what with your gift of painting with words!” Sonny joked of course, but he still liked to tease his beloved any chance he got.

“Maybe I will,” Mari playfully shot back. “I’ll call it Marisol’s Musings, and it’ll have a special selection of my most memorable quotes. It’ll sell like hotcakes when I’m rich and famous: mark my words.”

Sonny was not amused that she was starting to sound like the female version of his father. That didn’t stop him from laughing, though. “Oh, sure, because ‘miss me with that gay shit’ is such a PC thing to sell!” Sonny pointed out with a grin, while Mari playfully rolled her eyes and shook her head. Just as he did, he took another look at his phone and immediately rolled his eyes. “I guess we should get going too. Unless...” He wiggled his eyebrows at Marisol, smirking. “We could be a little late, if you catch my drift.”

“Just a liiiiittle late?” Mari teased with a wink. Even someone as thick as Max Wallenberg would be able to figure out what Sonny meant.

“Fuck econ!” Sonny stated proudly. “Let’s go get high in the bleachers and have some morning fun!” Sonny took her by the waist and pulled her close to him for a deep kiss: only a sampler of what their morning was going to look like. It was the perfect way to kick off their last high school semester together.

When the seniors of King’s Academy arrived at school that day, they had assumed it was just another Friday: attend their classes, give their best at practices, make their plans and eventually be dismissed into the freedom of the weekend. However, what they had not expected was to be ushered away from their third period classes and into Mrs. Sanders’ classroom. As each student took a seat, the mood in the room quickly changed from curiosity to anticipation. From numerous previous experiences, they knew that whenever impromptu meetings were called out like this, it meant they would be getting screwed over one way or another.

They were not wrong.

“Hello guys! How’s it going?” Mrs. Sanders began once everyone was sitting quietly, and was given an assortment of shrugs and hums in response. “Alright! Well, I know you guys get really nervous whenever we take you to the auditorium, so Mrs. Chamberlain was gracious enough to allow me to meet you all here instead. You know, make it a little less scary, a little more personal and all of that…” she trailed off with a small laugh. When none of the students laughed along with her, Ms. Sanders awkwardly cleared her throat and moved on to the reason why they were all there in the first place. “Right! Well, as you all know, our annual Valentine’s Day dance is happening next Saturday. I’m sure you all have plans in mind: the outfits, the hair, maybe a little someone you’d like to ask…” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively for a second. “But Mrs. Chamberlain and the faculty have decided to try a little bit of a different approach this time around. This year, the dance will be centered on celebrating friendship, rather than romance, which means that you will not be allowed to take a significant other or a current or potential romantic interest as your partner for the night.”

Judging by the way the room quickly filled up with the buzz of hissed, ouraged conversations and shared looks of annoyance, it was clear that the young adults in attendance were in complete disapproval of this idea. It was to be expected, though. They had most likely been planning to spend the evening cozying up to those who made their heart soar, maybe even paving the way to later partake in conducts that would be completely against the Christian values they had been taught at the school. And that right there had been the root of the problem for the past few months.

Unbothered by the sudden hostility from her students, Ms. Sanders continued as if nothing was going on, raising her voice just enough to carry over the angry tides of conversation. We have noticed that there’s been an unfortunate rise in conflict between you seniors during this school year because of the blossoming and culminating romances taking place, which has led some of you to engage in negative, unacceptable behaviors that we’ve had to take disciplinary action against. As such, we are hoping that this novel approach to the dance gives you all an opportunity to think outside the box, build new friendships, spend time with those who have always stood by you, or even repair ties that might have broken along the way! I’m certain that each and every one of you will deliver in the end. Remember to let us know who you’re taking by Monday, okay? We’ll see you all there!”

And with that, Ms. Sanders enthusiastically waved at the students and rushed out of the room before they could hound her with protests, effectively dismissing them to their lunch period fifteen minutes early.

Kavi felt weird coming out of a pretty eventful week. With how it started, he didn’t think he’d find himself in a decent place. After what happened with Chanel and the rest of the trinity, not to mention the tense first encounter he had with Ariel’s friend, Ryland, he thought for sure he was going to be in the doghouse a lot longer than he was. When he had made the initial attempts to talk to Ariel on that same day, he assumed the few hours spent in classes were going to be enough, that maybe Ariel calmed down.

Kavi was wrong.

So he tried again the next day and the same result happened. It wasn’t until nearly a couple of days later, that after she calmed down and after she was able to look at him without either a, forming tears in her eyes and b, wanting to punch him, Ariel was ready to talk to him. Their conversation was short, though. It only went on for as long as it needed to. When their heart-to-heart was finished, it had resulted in Ariel saying that maybe they shouldn’t have rushed into their relationship. Even though love was present and they cared deeply for each other, that couldn’t cover up that the wounds were too fresh and they had to work on themselves a bit more before they got back together.

They went back and forth about it but in the end, they both agreed to hit the reset button and just being friends was for the best.

Since that conversation at lunch, Kavi was a single boy once again. For the first time in months, he wasn’t in a relationship. Word spread about it and those who were previously staying away because of Ariel had flooded his DMs as if it was Junior Year again. From Hannah Weston from Palm Beach High to Paula Castro from Miami U (a freshman and Kavi’s ex friends-with-benefits), he was getting all sorts of requests but it didn’t matter. He told them all no and closed them off.

Even now, as he sat in the backyard in one of the lawn chairs, he kept getting DMs on Twitter. He turned his phone on silent and placed it screen side first on the table next to him. He glanced up at the sky, the clear blue skies relaxed him. He closed his eyes for a moment and opened them, only to see his sister’s curly hair cloud his sight of the sky.

“Jesus fuck, Nik!” Kavi gasped from the surprise of his sister, nearly falling out of his chair.

Nikki laughed and came around to his front and sat at the edge of the chair, forcing Kavi to scoot his legs closer to his stomach. “Jesus bro, you must’ve been in quite the trance. I never get you like that!” She snickered (much to his annoyance).

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah!” He scooted up so he could meet her at eye- level. “What’s up? Aren’t you supposed to be bothering someone else?”

Nikki absentmindedly shrugged, kicking her feet back and forth against the metal railings of the chair. She intentionally did it knowing well that it was something Kavi detested.

“Are you intent on getting on my nerves today?”

“No, not at all!” She poked him in his thigh. “Just wanted to spend time with my brother is all!” She poked him again.

As she continued to test his patience, Kavi stood up, refusing to stoop to her level. “If you wanna be a child, then I’m going to just leave.”

Nikki took his spot on the chair and giggled. “You know, everyone knows about what you called CoCo!”

Kavi’s movements halted and he turned around, glaring at his sister who was going through his phone. He snatched it out of her hands and pocketed it into the front pocket of the blue polo shirt he was wearing. “And why do you care about that?”

“I don’t.” Her response was quick and casual. “I mean, Chanel isn’t really important to us lower classmen but I’m sure it couldn’t have been fun for you and Ariel and her seeing your claims of changing were just hot air.”

Kavi didn’t know what Nikki’s deal was. She had been on the fritz ever since their parents have been having problems and it didn’t help that ever since then, she has been doing everything possible to intentionally piss him off. But he could deal with that. Kavi has been learning to have more patience. He liked to think that his time with Ariel and trying to improve himself for her (but also for himself) was starting to work, but he would be lying to himself if he didn’t suspect Nikki knew that and was doing everything she could to test him.

About every single brain cell was trying to guide him away from his little sister. Engaging her when she was being even brattier than usual was only going to drive up his stress past a healthy point but Kavi was genuinely worried for her. Whether he wanted to or not, he loved her and he had to act like the older brother she knew he could be.

“I know I asked you this last week and you brushed it off but,” he paused, looking at her not even bothering to turn his direction. So he walked over to her and stood over her until she gave him her undivided attention. After nearly a minute of silence, she gave in. “Listen, kiddo, what mom and dad are going through right now is tough, I know. If you think you’re the only one who is hurting, then look at me! I’m not okay either. My girlfriend decided we were better off as friends after I called Chanel a word I shouldn’t have. Because of that, I’ve lost friends and now I’m probably going to be shunned at school for a while.”

“I fail to see how any of that affects me.”

He shook his head in frustration. “I’m saying that we can’t do anything about what is out of our control. I can’t make Ariel want to be with me right now, not after I royally screwed up. I’ll probably never get on good terms with the trinity for a long time.” More live as long as he was breathing. “And just like I can't control that part of my life, you can’t control what happens with our parents. As for what we can do with that?” Kavi smiled at Nikki. “We can control that part.”

Kavi stared her down, hoping his words were reaching her. ”You and I need to stick together, kiddo. If you have any problems, come to me, okay?” He relaxed his hand on her shoulder.

Nikki remained quiet for a few moments, something Kavi couldn’t remember happening since they were a lot younger. Then, as she smiled, a few tears falling down her face, she spoke. “Since when did you become good at these kinds of talks, huh?” She shook her head, laughing.

Kavi hummed with a chuckle. “I guess I’m just that damn good!” He laughed and Nikki playfully punched him in the shoulder. “Ouch! That hurt, stupid!”

As Kavi rubbed his shoulder, he was taken by surprise when his little sister suddenly hugged him. Caught off guard for all of three seconds, Kavi embraced her back. She had been so on edge ever since their parents’ problems came to their attention and her acting out had gotten out of hand, but it became apparent to Kavi right now, as soon as she was silent and hugged him that was she really wanted was someone to tell her it was going to be okay and that she wasn’t alone. She needed someone to remind her that it was okay to not be in control of everything.

Simply put: Nikki just needed a hug and Kavi would give her that for as long as she needed. If everyone were to decide he was a scum human being, at least he knew he could do right by his sister. That was more important to him than any shit Chanel or Julie could ever say or do to him.

---

---

After having a heart-to-heart with his sister a couple of weeks ago, life for Kavi had been as well as could be expected. People who were in the Trinity’s corner still dogged him any chance they could get, which he fully expected. Maybe it was karma coming back to bite him in the ass for the weeks upon weeks he spent giving people like Elijah Abrams a hard time. Or maybe it was organized by two halves of the trinity. Honestly, at this point, he didn’t really care. Kavi was over it. If they wanted to pick fights with him, they could. He wasn’t going to hit back or anything. He’d defend himself but if they felt the need to punch or insult him, he’d just let them so he could go about his day.

Keeping that mentality throughout the day, right before lunch but specifically, at around third period, which Kavi had Trig, he, along with the others in his class, was hauled out of their classrooms in what felt like familiar situations. Even before he knew exactly what was going on, he began to suspect the faculty was up to something. With a big date-centric day not far away, they were bound to be up to something. What that was, however, Kavi couldn’t say with any certainty. The only thing he knew was when he and some others were escorted into a classroom -- a crowded one at that -- he took an empty seat and saw a somewhat nervous Mrs. Sanders waiting for everyone to settle in.

“Hello guys! How’s it going?”

Kavi cringed as she tried her best to ease the rest of them into some false sense of ‘nothing suspicious going on here’. Her approach had as much subtlety as a big red button flashing and a sign above it reading ‘danger! Don’t press the red button!” Kavi wasn’t gullible like some people he knew, so he was already onto her but he wouldn’t distract himself too much from thinking about what they were planning. Instead, Kavi settled into his seat and let her finish.

As if reading his mind, along with others’, she jumped straight into the deep end as she brought up the valentine’s day event next week, Kavi felt an uneasy feeling start to boil in his gut. It was a similar feeling he had last year for Homecoming and they had forced pairings on them. Despite how grateful he was for his friendship he had with April, a lot of unforeseen consequences came from that one dance. So, he was lowkey praying they weren’t gonna go down that route again.

“But Mrs. Chamberlain and the faculty have decided to try a little bit of a different approach this time around.”

“Son of a fucking bitch!” Kavi mouthed under his breath, earning a glare from Mrs. Sanders, to which he laughed, allowing her to continue.

Her explanation, while intriguing, didn’t sit well with him. He appreciated they were allowing the students to choose this time around. Given how chaotic things were at Homecoming, Kavi knew now more than ever, especially with how recent events unfolded, a forced pairing would bring a Russian Roulette effect to some people. God forbid if he had gotten paired up with either Chanel or Julie. He knew that would’ve been catastrophic.

When it was all said and done and Kavi left, he hoisted his bag over his shoulder and made a casual beeline for the door and went off to lunch, thinking occasionally about the new rules for the dance. He couldn’t help but think about Ariel and how they weren’t technically dating. He couldn’t stop thinking about Chanel and how he deeply regretted what he said to her. He could apologize but that would imply she would allow him enough time. Lord knows a few weeks wasn’t enough time to let the wound heal. So he had resigned to avoid her and even April at all costs. The less time the three had to deal with him the better.

Kavi parked himself in the quad and sat at an unoccupied table. He wasn’t even hungry, to be honest. He was mostly fixated on who he was going to ask. “There’s always Stella but I don’t know,” he murmured to himself, going through his list of contacts. “One of these people had to like me at least a little bit.”

“What a load of ass.”

Sonny walked out of Mrs. Sanders’ classroom annoyed and bordering on the state of irate. He slouched like he always did and his hands were in his jacket pocket. After the category 5 storm that was Hurricane Homecoming, Sonny was grateful for the amount of time that the faculty stayed out of the students’ affairs. Leaving them be was the best they could have done. For Sonny, it was pretty fucking beneficial since he shaped up and got with Marisol (eventually), but now as he walked side by side his idiot in love, he was pissed.

He huffed out, stopping suddenly and pulled out his phone. Staring at it for a moment, he sighed. “This is just the same shit they tried to pull.” Sonny’s eyes rolled themselves to the sight of some of his classmates echoing his sentiments with the gestures of their hands and then he spotted Kavi a bit off in the distance with Chris McAvoy, which just made him roll his eyes even more. “Not that I’m about the V-gay shit but I would have liked the option to take my girlfriend to that shitstain of a dance.”

“You have a girlfriend?” Marisol asked him, feigning surprise. When her lame attempt at a joke failed, she rolled her eyes and gently shoved her boyfriend. “Oh, cheer up, Son! You’re taking this as if we don’t have at least four other people to ask. Plus, if we really wanted to get technical here, they’re only asking you to invite and take a friend to the dance. They’re not saying we’re expected to stay with them for the whole thing. See? Genius!” the girl said with a smug expression, tapping her temple.

As he playfully shoved Mari from the side, Sonny chuckled. He found himself thinking about those four people, which resulted in the typical low humming sound he made whenever he was lost in his own head. After a few moments of silence, he looked at Mari. “Fine, if you’re such a genius, who do you recommend I ask? Maybe I’ll give Stella a ring and she can carpool with us and whoever you choose.” Sonny knew all too well how much she grimaced as soon as Stella’s bubbly nature took control of any room or space they both were in, which was the exact reason why he mentioned her name.

The short girl’s reaction was instantly visible in the way she scrunched up her face as if she’d just stepped on a rather large pile of feces. “I’d rather throw myself off a building,” she spat, glaring at Sonny now.

Sonny laughed. “Relax, I’m obviously kidding.” He was only partially pulling her leg with that one. While it would have been hilarious, he wasn’t even thinking about Stella. Not only did he like having his balls unharmed, but she was also obviously doing her own thing now and so was Sonny. “We’ll come back to my choice later. Who the fuck are you going to ask? Since, ya know, the best options available aren't allowed,” he chuckled, pointing to himself like Blake Shelton does on The Voice.

“Damn, man. If you’re the best option out there then that speaks volumes of the shitty selection of people in this school…” Mari teased, grimacing and shaking her head in mock disappointment, ignoring his question in an attempt to buy herself some time to find an answer.

”I’m just going to pretend you didn’t say that because you’re clearly not gonna find another pimp-ass daddy like me at this school..” Sonny laughed triumphantly, knowing he was right and then moved right along. “But seriously, what are we going to do? I mean, we could just cheat and get Kav or Archer to be our date.” Even though he laughed at his own suggestion, he entertained the possibility that he would get turned down by one of them or if he could deal with Archer’s comments about his truck.

“Spare. Me.” she commented with a typical eye roll, but gave her boyfriend a wink and a smile to make sure he knew she was just playing around. But when he commented that inviting Kavan and Archer as their dates of the dance was ‘cheating’, she scoffed. “That’s not fucking cheating!” she cried out defensively, earning herself a few disapproving looks from her classmates and flipping them off to show how little she cared. “All they said was no partners or love interests. And, as far as I know, Van and Archie are the furthest thing from that for us.”

“Maybe for you,” Sonny chuckled and smirked. “I’m in a position to gay it up with our friends for the good of the dance,” he winked at Marisol, unable to contain the overwhelming need to laugh, forcing him to close his eyes. A moment later, when he opened his watery eyes, Sonny could just feel the light punch to his arm and her glaring at him but this was too much fun. Once he settled down, he cleared his throat. “Well, what about Rye? Or even Marisol Lite?”

Although she was still glaring at Sonny and debating whether he meant what he was saying or not, the mention of Ryland and the sight of a red-haired beauty daintily walking past them wiped everything else from her mind. A few weeks previously, Ry had confided in them that he’d developed a raging, burning crush on none other than Julie MacMillan herself, but that his subtle attempts at getting her attention had proven unsuccessful. With this tidbit of information randomly rising back up to the surface, a lightbulb went on inside Marisol’s brain. It was much too obvious what needed to be done.

“Babe, I’ve got the perfect fucking idea!” Mari exclaimed, turning to fully face her boyfriend with an excited grin on her face.

“Oh, dear lord…” Sonny began to slightly panic. Whenever she had that grin on her face, he knew trouble wasn’t far behind. No matter how noble her intentions, something bad always happened whenever she followed through ideas barely contained within her grin. Still, he couldn’t say that he wasn’t curious, especially when it had to do with Ryland. “What’s on your mind?” He asked her with mild caution and a curiously-raised brow.

“You know how Rye told us he has the hots for Mami MacMillan, but that she doesn’t cut him some slack?” she began, waiting for Sonny’s acknowledgment before continuing. “Well, how about you invite Julie, I invite Ryland, and then we can spend the whole dance trying to prove to her that he’s worth her time and setting them up? I know all this Matchmaker shit is fucking gay as balls, but I just want him to get a real fucking shot with her. That and we still kinda owe him for when he caught us in your bedroom on the first day of school...” she added as an afterthought.

”You might have a point.”

He always admitted it when Marisol had a point. The smug bitch rubbed it in his face like a sweaty jockstrap as many times as she could- but when she was right, she was abso-fucking-lutely right.

Since finding out about them and especially after he sent that voice message, apologizing to them, things still haven’t been the same. They all still hung out, surfed when they could and fuck around the boardwalk, but Sonny had always felt things were a little off. The way Rye’s mannerisms became stiff and he was less talkative than he usually was, especially when Sonny and Marisol had moments of PDA, Sonny could tell he still wasn’t completely cool with them as a couple. People might say Sonny wasn’t observant, which most of the time they were right, but when it came to his closest friends, Sonny noticed things. He knew Marisol’s quirks and he knew when she was about to pop him aside the head before he realized it. Likewise, he knew when Rye was uncomfortable.

“So, how do you propose I do this? Just go up to the queen and be like ‘oh hey friend, wanna go to this forced-not-forced social obligation with me?’” He drolly stared at Marisol.

“And why the fuck not?” she challenged with a raised eyebrow, her hands now on her hips. “Julie knows you. She’s cool with you. What’s the worst thing that can happen: that she says no?”

As he digested what she said and what this meant for Sonny in terms of what he had to do, he rolled his eyes. He didn’t want to say that it was going to be embarrassing, at least not as much as his mind was making him believe. And it’s not like they were on bad terms. In all honesty, the unlikely friendship that he had with Julie was better than he had with most of the senior class (sans the Misfits). She has helped him out in crucial moments and occasionally they might share lunch together, but to go from that to him asking her out on a friend date seemed like one hell of a leap of faith.

“Fuck it!” He threw his arms up in defeat. “I’ll fucking do it. And when it fails, which I’m certain it will, I’m going to fucking ask Archer or Kavan. Deal?” He sternly glared at his girlfriend in a cowboy standoffish sort of way.

“Deal.” Marisol replied, sealing their deal with a defiant little shrug. She glared right back at Sonny, keeping her stoney-faced expression and holding his gaze for as long as she could before slowly breaking into a smile, running into his arms and wrapping him up in a kiss. “I love you, dickhead.”

Sonny’s hands went lower to her waist and he spanked her butt. “Not as much as I love your flat ass!” He joked, kissing her on the cheek. “Now let’s quit this for a bit and get some food. I’d hate for you to become bitchy because you made yourself late to get your burger and pizza fix.” Sonny couldn't help but remind her as they jogged hand in hand towards the cafeteria.

Nothing good came from these assembly meetings. Part of Chrissie blamed homecoming for Jason finding a Drug he couldn’t resist. Part of her already knew it was just who he was as a person and the only person that could change his character was himself. Thankfully, karma’s a bitch, seeing how his parents pulled him out of King’s and sent him off to military school. His letter to her was a form of apology but she couldn’t tell if he was sincere or if he was doing this so that he could have a clearer conscience — be able to sleep at night, or live with himself.

Regardless of the reason, Jason was in the past. Chris was ready to move on and enjoy her last days at King’s Academy. There was no point in wasting her mental and emotional energy on someone who was drowning in his own demons. She had better things to do, like par-tay. While Mrs. Sanders’ unwarranted voice filled the room, Chris quietly filed her nails in the back, sitting next to Ariana, and nowhere near Stella. Her and her cousin… weren’t on the best terms.

After that fateful confrontation the same day she had toyed with Carter, both her and the madly-in-love fool decided it was best to give each other space. Chris didn’t think there was fault in anything she did or say, and if Stella was going to act like a child, she would too. As stubborn as a mule, the primadonna was absolutely not going to bend first. This has led to awkward times at the Lambert’s, but it wasn’t she who started this cold war. It was Stella. “I can be petty too.” Chrissie mumbled to herself, as she examined her cuticles.

When the meddlesome teacher finished her spiel, Chris rolled her eyes in annoyance. She wasn’t too worried about finding a date, she was single, after all, and the school was her oyster. However, it did bother her that the teachers felt so inclined to force a positive atmosphere when it’s obvious some people would just not get along. It did bother her that they were so heavily involved in their kids’ affairs, knowing more than they probably should, when they were grown ass adults that should be focusing on their own problems. This was their last semester for crying out loud. Kids will be kids and nothing here actually mattered. It would all be forgotten the moment they aged up into adulthood.

Chris’ gaze followed one person in particular, who seemed quick to gather his things and leave. She didn’t want to lose track of him. She’d have to find him sooner rather than later, just to make sure she claimed her date. Standing up, she looked at Ariana and growled, “Can you believe this shit?” Her expression was like: why did the faculty and staff love to make them a social experiment? In addition to that, why couldn’t they go alone? Why did they absolutely have to go with someone? Once again, she wasn’t worried for herself, but there were some people she wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole. People that were more effort than not, just to hold a goddamn conversation. A waste of time and space. Those individuals, she pitied.

“Eh, it doesn’t bother me as much as it should, I suppose,” Ariana said earnestly, her expression indifferent as she shrugged her shoulders and grabbed her belongings. “There’s definitely a handful of people I can ask to go with me, so finding a date won’t be hard. But I’m not going to lie: I get slightly peeved the more I think about these pesky rules. And I’m betting my collector’s edition snakeskin Birkin bag that Mr. Big was a very big supporter of this dumb idea. He’s been acting stupid since he caught me with Casanova on the first day of school...” she added, the annoyance dripping from her words.

Ever since Jace’s untimely appearance that first day of school, things between him and Ariana had reached an all-time low. The detention period he had appointed her for after class had turned into a verbal tug-of-war: with the young woman loudly arguing that what they had wasn’t serious and he had no reason to act the way he did, and the older man trying his hardest to remain professional but eventually exploding into a growling beast demanding she keep her voice down and explaining how he felt completely differently. It seemed that the two were reenacting the Ross and Rachel 'on a break' discussion- except that they were debating over how serious their relationship was or wasn't. In the end, their heated argument had ended with Ariana swearing up and down she was done with him, Jace declaring the same and her storming out of his classroom.

Nearly four weeks later, and they had both remained true to their word. They hadn’t so much as exchanged words or text messages, and were doing their best efforts in subtly trying to get under each other’s skin. Anytime Jace walked by them or was within sight Ariana had been all over Max, hugging him, kissing him, getting on his lap… Meanwhile, Jace had been doing his part by ignoring her raised hand when asking questions in class, not answering her questions, collecting her work last so she would be rushing or late to her next class… And, of course, sharing the burden of glaring at each other whenever possible. It was quite the dumb, childish, petty game they were playing, but one they continued to engage in all the same. Waving the white flag of surrendering would mean weakness: both Ariana and Jace were too proud for that.

As they reached the door, Chris raised an eyebrow. A question crossed her mind, and at the same time, came out of her nude-colored lips, “Do you think Biggie is going to be there?” She didn’t want to say as a chaperone because she didn’t want any of their other peers to overhear. Mr. Big always had a 50/50 chance of attending events and usually the circumstances revolved around Ariana flipping in a short skirt or Ariana being in close proximity to people he knew she’d want to fuck.

"Think? Peaches, I know he's going to be there..." Ariana said bitterly, rolling her eyes at her best friend. "You think he's going to pass up the chance to cockblock me? Ne.Ver. He doesn’t want the cake but refuses to let anyone else eat it, too. _{Selfish prick.}"

“How awkward!” Just imagining her friend’s position made her mad. First, because it sucked having someone peer over you like a hawk, and two, because of bad memories with Jason. The scottish student knew her Cherry liked the attention, but still… Valentines was a day to get lost in ‘love’ or lust. Or both! It would be awful if Ariana didn’t get down and dirty.

Exiting the door, Chrissie caught sight of Kavi speed walking away, and directed herself and her friend in the same direction: toward the quad. “Regardless of who you take I’m positive he’ll cause a clitorference.” At least without having a boyfriend Chrissie didn’t need to worry about Jason taking her away from all her friends and flaunting her like she was a shiny toy rather than his girlfriend. While she did like that possessiveness, to a degree, she also loved her freedom. Ariana understood that better than anyone.

The brunette couldn't help but cackle loudly at Chrissy's comment. "Damn right they will!" Ariana whooped, smiling and playfully slapping her best friend's ass. Frankly, she was over thinking of Jace and all the ways he could try and meddle in her personal life, so she decided it was time to change the subject. "You got any idea who you're taking?" She asked her, holding the curly-haired beauty by the waist.

After giggling at the slap, even giving a reactive ‘meow’, Chris lifted the furthest hand from her bestie, made a finger gun, and pointed it to the back of Kavi’s head, “Bang. Him.” Earlier, while they were in the classroom, it didn’t take Chris too long to survey her peers, ultimately coming to the quick decision of who exactly she would take to V-Day dance. “I think it would be fun to get to know one of the most ‘talked’ about boys here, don’t you think? He’s literally drowning, and I find it hilarious, but also, I feel kind of sorry for him.” She would be lying if she said she didn’t find him… charming. She did, but for this project, she wanted to be a saint, not a sinner. She wanted to have fun and make him smile.

Well that was certainly a way to make sense of things. “You know, Kav’s not really as bad as they paint him out to be,” Ariana mused with a shrug. “Now I’m not saying I defend how nasty he’s been to people throughout the years. But we’ve all said and done dumb stuff at some point in our lives, and you can tell that he’s really sorry and regretful about the nasty mess that happened on the first day. Do I constantly question where his good taste has gone since he decided to date Ariel Gray of all people? Yes. Every day. But do I see him as this big, bad wolf? Nah. But, like, be careful, okay? You wouldn’t want that psychopathic bitch to come after you just because you’re breathing the same air as him!” she finished with a laugh, shaking her head in amusement at the absurd but possible consequences Chris could face if she decided to follow through with her plan. "I think she's, like, clinically insane."

“I’m intrigued by him!” She cheered, loud enough to leave an echo in the hall, and to her surprise, Kavi was still completely oblivious to her voice and the fact that they were still successfully stalking and talking about him. She wasn’t scared of Ariel, that’s what long nails were for, or even better, her keychain, but Ariana did have a point. Honestly, this felt more like a daring adventure than anything. Something risky, yet all around fun. A gamble that she was willing to take. High risk, high reward, baby!

Turning her gaze to Ariana, she sighed heavily, “You were my first choice, but I think I need to get myself out there and stop sulking over Jay…” Her words trailed off momentarily, before she shook his image out of her head and turned the conversation around, “Now, you. Anyone you want to bite?”

Pausing, a concern appeared in her mind. Quickly, Chris’ voice went to a whisper, “You don’t think… Mr. Big told Mrs. Sanders and every other teacher under the sun that you and Casanova snoogle, do you?” It was only natural for Chris to assume Max would be one of Ariana’s first options, assuming the teachers didn’t know about their romantic affairs.

“I don’t think he’s ratted me out just yet, but I’m sure if I say that Casanova and I are going together he’d be the first one to raise hell about it…” Ariana told Chris, rolling her eyes again in annoyance. “And, honestly? I have no idea who I want to take. I was going to say you, but since you’ve already decided to dump me for Kavi, I guess I might as well be all alone in the world...” she said, giving her best friend a fake pout of sadness.

With a mirrored pout, Chrissie thought fast, thinking of all her peers, like she was skimming their yearbook, and the person she stopped on was her dear friend, Jasper. Oh how she loved him, but oh how tragic and lonely he was. Metaphorically, she became Glinda from Wicked the Musical, during Dancing Through Life, and her friend, Boq, wanted to go to the ball with her, but she directed him to someone… in need of some attention, Nessarose, and in return, she, the good witch, could take the hot guy, Fiyero. “...you know what would be kind?”

As Ariana raised a questioning eyebrow, Chrissy pulled out her phone, went to her gallery, and scrolled until she found a picture of her with Jasper. A selfie while he played the piano. “This would be… so, so, so perfect. I worry Tavy might not have anyone ask him out and I honestly don’t know when was the last time he had a ‘good’ time. If you get what I mean.” She dorkily winked, while she finalized her proposition, “He’s tragically handsome and I find the idea of him having no one unfair. Godawful! Cruel. Why not give his lonesome self a night to remember? It’s basically charity work.”

"Huh…" was all Ariana would say before taking a moment to think this through.

Ever since her arrival at King's Academy's high school wing, Ariana had been a slut for athletes. She had a clear, foolproof type: tall, lean, dominant, with chiseled bodies and commanding personalities that called attention in and out of the court or fields they played at. Jasper Fray was, obviously, the furthest type of male from the brunette's usual prey. He was that quiet, artsy boy that would keep to himself as much as possible and only really shone when his dainty fingers worked magic in the keys of a piano. Of course, that wasn’t to say he wasn’t really fucking handsome in his own way, or that he didn’t have his charm- in that mysterious, edgy sort of way. And who knew? Maybe he’d surprise her, like Sonny Drake had done during those secret, glorious few months back in sophomore year a lifetime ago. It was the best opportunity to spice things up and try a different flavor.

"I'm into it!" Ari finally said to Chrissy, giving her that kittenish, sultry smile her friend would know so well. "He's not what I usually go for, but I can't say that I'm not curious about what he's packing under that cloak of social distancing and mystery. Who knows? Maybe he'll give me the dickdown of the century!" she snickered mischievously.

“You’ll have to tell me all about it.” As Kavi took his seat at a far table, probably in hopes to avoid people, Chrissie decided this was her chance to make her move. “Okay, lover.” Shifting her body, so it faced toward Ariana, Chris dismissed herself by giving some sugar, “Smooches.” After a delectable kiss on the lips, the theater geek swiftly returned the spank with an ass grab and then pranced off to her prey.