Serendipity

by Florexandra

Seveteen-year-old Kay Daniels lived a perfectly normal boring life that she was content with. That is until Cameron Black and his brother Jonathan moved to town. Kay would do anything to get Cameron off her back. Soon she realizes that all this newfound chaos might bring her more peace than she thought possible but as Cam would say, "Nothing's impossible" Collab with SandfireKat :3

1. Chapter 1

People liked to say that your junior year of high school was the best year out of the four.

Freshman were just panicked and transitioning from middle school to high school, so that year was just confusing and hectic. Sophomore year, and you still had a majority of the class being too immature to really have fun or escape petty drama that never mattered. Of course, senior year was filled with college hunting and stress over picking what you wanted to do with your entire life, and just hoping you don't make a wrong decision when you do. Juniors, though...they were just kind of there. Fully mature...or as mature as you were going to get in high school, and it unfortunately did differ between people. You didn't have to worry about college or trying to fit in...you were just kind of there in high school, but you we're already established and you already had everything figured out. All your friends, your classes...the works. So, when you look between the four years, your third was definitely the best.

Well, whoever had thato opinion had obviously never met Kay Daniels.

If this year was supposed to be the least stressful, she had nothing but fear for what was to come. Every single one of her core classes were AP. Not only was she involved in the wind ensemble, but she was involved in the marching band after school, and student council. She had a planner in her bag that was so full that if anyone else picked it up and looked inside, it would just look like she'd taken a pen and scribbled all the way down the page, and it actually all meant absolutely nothing. She'd highlighted the most important events she had to make...but everything was highlighted. She wrote down tests, project deadlines, extra credit opportunities, meetings she had to make, band practices and contests that would follow, concerts to perform, family stuff she had to do, and about a million other things. Other juniors in her class might be taking this year as the last year to really have a lot of fun. To slack off a bit and just coast. But she just didn't have the time.

Time was the one thing she was all out of, no matter what day it was. Take the night before. She'd stayed up until one studying for the test she would have later today in government. Now, it was 6:55 in the morning, and she was sitting in her literature class, in the back corner of the room where she usually took to if there wasn't assigned seating. She was still half-asleep, but she was trying to force out some last-minute studying before the test. Government was second hour, for her, still bright and early. She still had some time to use to prepare for it, if she could keep her eyes open. And if she could manage to focus around everyone else already gathered in the classroom.

There weren't too many just yet. But it was around seven when people really started coming in, so it was close enough. Friends were clamoring to say hi to each other, to give each other hugs like they hadn't seen each other in years when really it hadn't even been twenty-four hours. Students were sitting on desks talking to each other, or rifling through the bookshelf in the other corner to "Find a book that doesn't suck" they could add to the next roster of books to choose from. Apparently One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest wasn't their cup of tea, because that was what they were reading now. Other students were talking with the teacher. Mrs. Shockley was one of the more laid-back teachers (she was two years from retirement, so there wasn't much math to that equation) and currently she was humoring a group of them who were trying to propose 'Bagel Tuesdays.'

"Panera sells bagels for fifty cents on Tuesdays!" Mike was proclaiming. Kay glanced over at the shout, irritated, and tried to redirect her attention back down. But his voice was way too loud to ignore as he went on. "Monday, we can all give you a dollar, and you can pick them up on the way. I think it'd do wonders for...morale." He had to stretch for the word. Which was sad. Because this was an english class. Shockley was nodding very dramatically, still scrolling through her email. "I'm serious!" he pressed. "And think about it: we'd give you a dollar! So if you add it all up, you'll be making a profit. And we'll be getting some really good bagels."

"Well, when you put it that way…" she sighed, very clearly not paying attention.

"You torture us with all these timed writes," he grumbled. "The least you could do is give us bagels."

"I have my own idea for what the least I could do is," she mumbled. "...It's nothing."

Kay had half a mind to dig out her headphones and block everyone out that way. In fact, she was just beginning to draw the line and lean down to fish them out, when a new voice joined the clamor that was already digging under her skin. And it was a particularly obnoxious one. She ducked her head and held it in her hands, staring down dismally at her study guide and knowing for a fact that now there was no hope for her to cram anymore, when she heard Lexi's voice waltz into the room. She was talking very loud and very importantly, like she usually did. And her voice had that annoying lift it sometimes got whenever…

"Here it is! This is your first hour; we have it together, how perfect is that?" Kay looked up. Lexi was grinning from ear to ear, looking much more awake than she usually was in the morning. And Kay would know; she sat right by her every day. Sure enough, there seemed to be a reason for her alertness, and for how loud she was talking, and the way she was talking. The reason was in the form of someone Kay had never seen before. A boy, with light brown hair and blue eyes that were also much too awake for what hour of the day it was. He was practically radiating excitement, it looked like. He was wearing jeans and a jacket, and still had his backpack slung over one shoulder. He was holding a schedule in his hands. He was new. Which explained why Kay had never seen him before this very moment.

Lexi gestured to the room with a big flourish, before she turned back to lean over and look at his schedule. Very pointedly making it so that she was only a few inches away from him when she did lean over. She was still wearing that stupid grin on her face. The one she always wore when she was around the football team. "What's your next hour?" Kay made a face again, and rolled her eyes as she looked down down at her study guide. She still heard Lexi when she made a pouty kind of whine. "Oh. I have math next...looks like we don't have that one together." She was quick to rush on, though: "But I can still show you to your class! I'll make it to both!"

"Well, thank God!" the newcomer huffed. "Don't want me wandering right off campus. I'll end up at the middle school across the street." Lexi started laughing immediately, and he grinned when she did. Kay was digging for her headphones again. It was 7:07. She only had thirteen minutes left to study, if she could even manage that. If she lost her A in Gov, it was all going to be their fault.

But the second she shifted her bag closer and started to rifle through it, Lexi was piping up even louder, to those who were already in class. "Hey, everyone!" 'Everyone' being a little more than half of who was usually here. But all the same, they looked up. "This is Cameron!" she introduced. Again, with a very noticeable flourish. Kay didn't look back up; her headphones seemed to have gone missing. "Cameron, this is everyone." Cameron cracked another smile. "He moved here from New York!" There was a small mumbling of 'ooh's with this. "I'm showing him around, today." Lexi made it sound like she'd won the lottery.

But it wasn't hard to tell why. And it wasn't hard to tell why the girl in the desk in front of Kay sat forward a lot more and grinned wide at the new kid. "Hi, Cameron!" she gushed. "I'm Amanda." Lexi led him over, chattering along the way that Amanda was her best friend and she sat by her, but there was a seat right behind her that he could take, if he wanted. That left everyone else to gravitate over and follow. Kay wasn't having any luck this morning. "How come you moved here? New York is probably so much more interesting!"

Kay glanced over at Mrs. Shockley. Wouldn't they do this song and dance once class started? But no. She wasn't even paying attention. She was too busy arguing with Mike over the bagels, still. Because of course she was. She looked back down, and watched out of the corner of her eye as Cameron took the desk directly to her left. Zeroing all the attention there the second he did, and cementing it into place, too. "Well, you see, I killed a man," he sighed conversationally. "And I hid his body perfectly, but...his cat saw the whole thing. So. I had to duck out." Every single girl that was in that classroom burst out laughing, like it was the most hilarious thing anyone had ever said. He smiled too, but was quick to offer a much more serious: "It's nice to meet you, Amanda."

Lexi did the honors of pointing everyone out. "This is Max, that's Lilly, that's Mike over there trying to get Bagel Tuesdays to be a thing again…" Cameron looked over at the mention, mouthing a silent but confused 'Bagel Tuesdays?' to himself. "That's Kay!" Kay looked up at her name, tearing her eyes away from her papers when she realized Cameron was turned towards her, now. "Kay, this is Cameron, he's from New York."

"Yeah, I heard," she said lightly. She offered him a tiny, polite smile. "Hi."

"Hi," Cameron returned, laughing a little bit when he did.

"If you wanted a neighbor that's super quiet, that's the perfect spot," Lexi chirped, teasing as she flashed Kay a big smile. Kay kept her own grin, but it was quickly becoming less and less polite. "Kay's always studying...she's probably said a total of twenty things since the school year started. She's got perfect grades because she never looks up from her study guides."

"Well, the school year's still young," Cameron offered good-naturedly. Kay's smile dropped entirely as he leaned over and plucked up the study guide currently on her desk. "What are you looking at now?" The moment she started to say 'Give that back' he was talking again, over her on accident. "AP US Government?" he demanded. His eyebrows rose and he looked at her like she'd just sprouted rabbit ears. "So like…" He looked from her to the paper. "Do you just really hate yourself, or are you super passionate about filibusters?"

"I'm just super passionate about filibusters," she sighed a little shortly as she grabbed it back.

Cameron eyed her with an odd kind of grin as she tucked it all back close to her. He snickered again. "Okay, well, that's good, 'cause I'd hate to stage an intervention my first day here." She offered a dull smile, being more polite than anything else as she made a point to look back down at her paper. Hoping he'd get the message and just leave her be. She was running out of time. He did not get the message, though. "So, Kay, is that short for something?" Her eyes flickered up to stare straight ahead with growing frustration. He kept going. "'Cause I have a brother, his name's Jonathan, but I call him Johnny. And he calls me Cam, 'cause we're both too lazy to drag ourselves the extra syllables, you know? So like...is your name Cadence? Or...Katherine?"

She looked back down. He started to smile more, and leaned over the desk, closer to her. "How about...Karmen? Kameron, your name could be Kameron too, you can spell that with a K if your parents were feeling particularly pretentious that morning! ...Please tell me your full name is Kameron, then we can be like-"

"I have a test next hour," she interrupted. She looked back at him and grew even more irritated when she realized he was still biting back on a smile. He was doing this on purpose. "So if you could just…" She trailed off, letting the silence fill in the blanks for her. Then she looked back down again.

And for a second, she thought he'd actually listen to her. Until, after about five seconds of silence, he added a cheeky: "You know, 'cause if you're Kameron with a K, and I'm Cameron with a C, they could call us KC." She scowled now, blowing out a short huff of air. He was trying not to laugh when he tacked on: "We could be Kansas City, that could be our duo name." She looked at him with a very brittle stare, practically begging him to shut up. He just balanced his chin in the palm of his hand and grinned even more. "I'm gonna call you Kansas," he declared.

"You won't," she corrected swiftly.

"I have a feeling we're gonna be friends, Kansas," he foretold.

Her irritation was just mounting. "Why?" she found herself snapping.

He kept that dumb grin on his face. "Because for someone that hasn't said more than twenty words all year, you've sure said a lot to me just now. And it's only been about five minutes."

She glared at him. "I've just tried to tell you to be quiet," she objected. He seemed awfully confident that he was someone special. He had an air of...maybe it wasn't arrogance, but it was something, and she didn't like it. It got on her nerves. Or something. All she knew was that he was getting on her nerves. "But you refuse to listen." She turned back to shuffle her papers together as she grumbled: "Must be a New York thing…"

"Is doing nothing but studying and sleeping and eating a you thing? Because if we're gonna be friends, that's not gonna work out, Kansas."

"Looks like we can't be friends then, oh no," she grumbled.

He laughed. Outright laughed, like he found her hilarious, when she was actually being fairly serious. When she looked back at him, he was grinning from ear to ear. She picked up her small stack of index cards she'd made a week before to flip through before the test. She was going to flip through them again, at least a couple more times, when he suddenly leaned over, holding out one hand. "Here, wait a second, let me see those." She shot him a look, but was tired of fighting. Maybe if he handed him the index cards he'd be distracted enough she could actually read through more than a couple bullet points at a time.

He plucked the tiny stak from her hands and shifted through them a bit. "You seem like the kind of person that keeps studying even though they can recite everything from the lecture," he snorted. She didn't argue with him. But she also just waited for him to be finished going through her stuff. Did he just not have any inhibitions whatsoever? Or any awareness enough to realize he was bugging the crap out of her? She had a test. And now it was 7:13! He was just going through, reading all the terms very dramatically and pronouncing most of them very wrong. She eventually reached out with an impatient look for him to give it all back.

He looked from the cards to her. Blinked a couple times, and then...the cards were just gone.

Kay did a double-take, frowning as she looked down at the ground, for if he'd dropped them somehow. "Where…? Where did they go?"

"Oh, I made them disappear." He said this as simply as he'd confessed to his murder, before.

"You what?" she snapped, really drawing the line with this kid, now.

"I can do magic," he chirped, very happily. "Wanna see me make something else disappear?"

"No, I want my flash cards back!" By now, Lexi and Amanda were watching them and laughing.

"Well, why would you want that?" he asked. "Now you can enjoy the last…" he glanced at the clock, "...two minutes of freedom before public school sucks away all your happiness. Although, I think you've fallen into the trap of just never having any fun ever. Which is unfortunate, if you ask me."

"Well I didn't," she hissed. "Give them back!"

The bell rang the very second she demanded this. While they'd been talking the classroom had filled, and now everyone was seated, and Mrs. Shockley was standing up from her desk and going to the front of the room. Cameron flashed Kay another cheeky smile, ignoring the way she was glaring at him, before he looked at the teacher. "Alright," she was sweeping into the morning. "Today I was thinking we'd just get with our reading groups and talk about the first couple chapters of Cuckoo's Nest; over the weekend you were supposed to have read the first four chapters. Remember we'll have essays due over this along the way, so don't fall behind in your reading. However! We have a new student in class today." Cameron beamed, and Kay scowled at him more. "Cameron, why don't you stand up and tell the class a bit about yourself?"

Of course, he was hopping up immediately. She could already tell that he had a thing for attention. Sure enough, he clasped his hands dramatically behind his back and rocked between his toes and his heels. "Welp," he sighed. "I'm Cameron Black. I moved here from New York. I have a twin brother Jonathan Black, but we're very easy to tell apart because he's the grumpy one. If you see me in the hall and I'm frowning, it's not me, it's my brother." Oh, there were two of them. That's nice. "Uh...I can do magic!" The instant he said this, he whipped out an arm, and all of a sudden, Kay's index cards were back in that hand. The entire class 'ooh'ed again. He was awfully proud of himself when he offered them to her. She snatched them back, fighting the strong urge to roll her eyes.

He kept going, sighing his way nonchalantly through his own introduction. "I skipped a grade," he offered, as if it was just reoccuring to him, and he'd forgotten. Kay jerked, sitting up more at this. "Just decided I didn't wanna do eighth grade. Me and Jonathan, 'cause if I can skip a grade, my brother can, because he knows literally everything. But he's the math and science guy. I'm the english guy. And I've been told drama, as well, is a good realm for me. Mostly sarcastically, though, I think. Uh...I play the trumpet?" She stiffened at this. Looked at him so fast she almost got whiplash. He didn't notice. "That's pretty much it. There's not a lot to me."

Shockley smiled. "Well, we're happy to have you here, Cameron. Just a couple weeks late, but that's alright. I can get you a copy of Cuckoo's Nest here before we split into groups. You just choose a group to sidle into. Next reading cycle you can pick which book you want to read, but for now we're all starting with this one."

She moved to fetch it for him. Kay would have asked him immediately to not join her group. But something else was troubling her more. She hissed over at him, and he looked to her the instant she did. Looking awfully innocent for someone that'd been bugging her for the past half hour. "You play trumpet?" He nodded. "Are you in concert band?" she demanded, stiffening even more.

"No."

She breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm in something called Wind Ensemble."

She went stiff again, frustration and irritation clawing at her throat. "You're in Wind Ensemble!?" He nodded again, eyeing her. That was the harder band to get into. Concert Band was where she would have pinned him as a new student. And more importantly, it was the one she wasn't in. But just to be sure: "Third hour?" There was only one hour for that band. So when he nodded it was just grimm affirmation. Her entire posture drooped. "Why are you in Wind Ensemble?" It came across sounding as more of a whine than anything else.

"I dunno!" He put his hands up in something akin to surrender. "Yesterday I played for a guy whose name sounded like mayonnaise, and he put me there!"

"...Mister Messerli!?" she snapped impatiently. He'd be the band director.

"Yeah, that's it. I knew I was close," he sighed, looking away.

She sat there fuming for a second. Staring at him hard. Before she got to her very last resort. "You're not in the marching band, though, right?" He hadn't been there over the summer practicing with them. If he was there, he would be awfully far behind, on top of being the most annoying member in the entire group. It wouldn't work.

But…

"Yeah," he whispered. She had to fight the urge to slam her head down on the desk. He must have registered this, because a smirk traced its way slowly over his face. "Why?" She could hear the laughter he was hiding under the surface of his voice. It made her grit her teeth even more. "Are you?" he pressed. His smile just grew when she said nothing. He definitely couldn't hide his laughter when he chirped: "We've got Lit together, and Wind Ensemble together, and we're both in marching band!? Kansas, we're gonna see each other all the time! Not just in school, but every day after it, too! And weekends, with competitions!" Her eyes were slowly narrowing. He only laughed more. "How great is that!? Aren't you so excited!?"

She was already done.

(~**~) (~**~) (~**~) (~**~)

She had no idea how she did on the exam in government. But she knew for sure that if Cameron Black hadn't bothered her so much this morning, she likely would have done a lot better. She knew for a fact she missed a couple of questions (which, of course, she remembered had been on the study guide, but she couldn't recall their actual answers), so those couple were solely on his shoulders. So she was walking down to band with a scowl already on her face. And that scowl only tripled in loathing once she walked inside. She knew what she would see. But the moment she walked in and looked towards the brass section, and the moment her eyes landed on him, she was feeling the anger seep back underneath her skin. Practically burning her from the inside out, just because she was already so frustrated with today.

He was standing with the rest of the trumpets. They were arranged at the back of the band, in front of the percussion, just those seven chairs at the far end of the curve. Beth was saying something, handing him a large black case. It was one of the school-owned trumpets...the ones that were given when someone didn't have their own. She was smiling as she handed it to him. Of course she would be the welcome committee; she was the first chair trumpet, usually. This year, they hadn't yet had their first playing test to decide chairs...that was in two more weeks. But it was always pretty much guaranteed that Beth would be the one at the top.

The rest of the trumpets were gathering around him, too, all saying hi. A lot of them were laughing, and for some reason it just made Kay even more irritated. She veered for the woodwind closet to fish out her flute. Kayla was already there, getting out her own, and when Kay ended up standing by her in order to reach up and get her own instrument, she turned and gave her a smile. "Good morning!" she chirped. "How was the gov test? I have it in sixth hour…"

"It was alright…" Kay sighed, having to get on her toes to hop up and get her case out. She always put it on the lower shelf, but it always ended up way up here for some reason, by the next day. "It could have gone better, but...oh well," she sighed. She gave her a smile. "But you'll be fine. It wasn't too bad."

Kayla smiled. She did a small twirl and trailed after Kay as they started for their own section. Unfortunately, the second they did, Kayla's eyes caught on Cameron, and the conversation was horribly redirected. "Ooh, is that the new kid?" Kay looked off to the side, just barely managing to avoid rolling her eyes. "I heard about him...someone said this morning he got Mister Cissell to smile, doing a card trick for him." Mister Cissell smiled just as often as pigs flew. Kay didn't believe it for a second. "I wanna tell him to stop by Mrs. Fay's room and do one for her. You remember in homeroom last year? Someone did that pick a card thing, and she was practically screaming. Imagine what he'd make her do," she snickered. Kay just nodded slowly, not saying much else. Her next roll of the eyes was even harder to avoid when Kayla whispered much more coyly: "And he's so cute! Like, look at him! And he's got a twin somewhere, apparently. That's double the odds."

"Right," Kay huffed. "Sure." Cameron was putting the mouthpiece into his trumpet. He must have just finished saying another wildly funny thing, because Beth was laughing again. She was ignoring them the best they could, but it was difficult to, with the fact that the trumpets were right behind the flutes. Because apparently she wasn't going to get any peace and quiet today. Apparently she was forced to keep being in the presence of the new kid that everyone thought was perfect and great, but had so far just dropped her Government grade about three percent.

"You don't like him?" Kayla kept hissing.

Kay kept her voice down too, glaring at her instrument as she pieced it together. "I don't have an opinion about him!" she whispered. "I sure don't love him like everyone else does, I just-"

"Hey Kansas!"

She felt her nostrils flare. She wasn't sure if it was because of the name, because of how loud it was yelled, or because she immediately knew that name meant he was talking to her. She ignored him, knowing was easier said than done because of this morning, but figuring she may as well give it a shot anyway. She shoved her case under her chair and sat down, crossing her legs very stiffly as she glared straight ahead. Band still didn't start for about ten minutes, when you take into account that people still had to set up. Only half of them were here, as it was. She didn't hear Cameron again. She was relieved he got the message, this time. Still scowling, though, she leaned forward and started to get out her music and set herself up for class.

Or, she was trying to do so, before Cameron was suddenly popping up from behind her, grinning that stupid ear-to-ear grin like he had on this morning. Did he just inject coffee into his veins? He was still just as awake as he had been three hours ago. His voice was still just as bright when he leaned over to catch her eye. Or more or less force her to look at him, because she certainly wasn't doing it herself. "Kansas!" he chirped, and her eye just twitched. He didn't seem to mind. "Long time no see! Would you believe that I got here all on my own?"

"Hm," she grumbled, clearly unimpressed. "Didn't have an entourage?" She busied herself with flipping through her papers. Trying to find the piece they were going to work on today.

"No, I flew solo!" he exclaimed, like it was some huge achievement. "'Cause this is the only room that says Band. AndI just followed the sound of people warming up. I got here faster than you did, though, so…" She didn't reply. He grinned even more and leaned out so that he could hang over her stand, blocking her folder in the process. She closed her eyes briefly, before she looked at him with a stare that clearly begged 'Please take a long walk off a short pier.' "How was your big test? Couldn't have been super hard, it's like, what...the third week of school?"

This made her flare up. "It was hard," she snapped, with enough reproach in her voice to get a little bit of the grin off his face. She felt a severe sense of satisfaction when she did, and she yanked her stand closer, Cameron getting off it to avoid capsizing. He was looking more put-out by the second. It wasn't like she cared, though. "I don't know how I did. I didn't get to study as much as I wanted to. Thanks to you, this morning."

Cameron weakened. His face fell even more. He hesitated, before he asked: "Was it...really bad?"

She went back to rifling through her papers. "No. I still did fine," she grumbled. "Not that you'd be concerned at all. Don't you have to get warmed up? And be in your section? Hate to break it to you, but that's not a flute in your hand."

He looked down at his trumpet, and then back behind her where the others were. But when he looked back at her, what came out of his mouth wasn't an apology or a goodbye, like she was hoping it would be. Instead, he just asked: "Hey, what lunch hour are you?"

Oh, hell no. "4C," she growled shortly. If God loved her at all, or even remotely cared about her wellbeing, he would-

"That's what me and Johnny have!"

Jesus Christ.

"I could introduce you to him," Cameron kept going. "And we could sit together, to make up for this morning. You'd probably really get along with my brother- you two seem to be more on the same wavelength. He hates everything too." This was said very teasingly, of course, but it still rubbed her the wrong way. Everything this kid was doing today was rubbing her the wrong way. She gritted her teeth even more and didn't even look up from what she was doing. Her voice came out thin and curt.

"No offense, but I'd rather not. Thank you, though."

He blinked. He seemed surprised. His face fell again, and this time it stayed there. His eyebrows knitted more together, and he hesitated, just looking at her awkwardly. After a second, he tried: "I...okay, I...just thought-"

"Well, don't," she said, just as stiffly.

Cameron stared at her, unsure. He thought for a moment, and started to open his mouth to say something, when there was a sudden voice to interject between them. "Cameron Black!" They both looked up to see Mister Messerli making his way over to them. He was wearing a huge grin, like he usually was, and Cameron regained his own when he saw it. The band director came to a stop in front of him and shook his hand. "It's good to see you again, especially in this band," he said. Kay looked back down at her stand, sighing slowly through her nose. "You're getting to know some of your new band members?" She looked up with this, realizing he was looking at her, now, expectantly.

She started to scramble for something to say. But Cameron beat her to it. "Oh, yeah," he said. She glanced at him, and he smiled at her. "Kay was telling me where to go for practice after school. I have no idea. She's been really helpful." Messerli smiled at this, and nodded approvingly at Kay. She blinked a couple times, before she looked back at her teacher and smiled a little uneasily. "Everyone's been really nice, I'm really looking forward to all this."

"Well, good! Good! We're all a family, here," the teacher replied approvingly. Kay felt a certain sting of something akin to embarrassment spark to life in her chest. "I'm glad you're excited." He took in a quicker breath and moved on more to business. "Alright, uh...you can pick wherever you'd like to sit in your section, for now, I'm sure Beth's given you the rundown. It's exactly a week until our first playing test, so- oh, I should get you the piece you'll have to play. Give me one second, I'll be right back."

The pair watched him head back into his office, to fetch the music. Kay looked back at Cameron, awkwardness and tension between them, now. She frowned, and started to try and scrounge something up to say. Before he, once again, beat her to it. And, surprisingly, just grinned at her a little teasingly as he said: "I really don't know where to go for practice…" he hinted. His smile was back to growing over his face again. Like he couldn't go very long before it came back like a boomerang. "So if you could help me out a bit with that little tidbit of information...family."

(~**~) (~**~) (~**~) (~**~)

She was just going to get a salad for lunch; she wasn't all that hungry. Usually she didn't even eat in the lunchroom. She brought her own lunch, and she went to the library instead, where it was much quieter, and people weren't screaming back and forth at each other. But she'd been in too much of a rush this morning to pack one. She'd overslept by ten minutes, which had thrown it all off. So, it was obvious that her day had started out crappy, and it had only gotten crappier. At least she was a little more than halfway through it. She only had three more hours to go, after this. Biomedical science, Algebra, and then she tutored for the last hour of the day.

But then again, she had marching band afterwards…

She just sighed and kept walking for the lunch line. However, she stopped short when she realized who was currently at the back of it. She held back a sigh when she instantly recognized him by the color of his hair. She had never run into someone as much as she was running into Cameron, and it was just his first day. She soured a little, but sucked it up, just dismissing it as she went to stand behind him. Crossing her arms over her chest and looking sourly off to the side, praying he wouldn't turn and realize she was behind him.

For a while, he didn't. He was too focused on his phone to notice really anything at all, it seemed. He was wearing headphones, too, so he was blocking out the noise. Something that was actually pretty smart. Maybe that would help the headache she'd had ever since second hour. He looked up just a little bit to check how close they were to actually getting to the less-than-gourmet food, and he caught her accidentally sneaking another look at him. He did a small double-take, looking back at her briefly. Their eyes locked and she stuck her tongue hard into her mouth, irritation already flashing off of her. He blinked a couple times before he looked back front. She jerked back in a bit of surprise. Confusion spread over her face. She hadn't known this kid for very long, but she was already awfully aware of how invasive he was. Now he was just looking away? Was he touchy about what happened at band?

Cameron looked at her again. She was still looking at him, and now he looked a little miffed. He reached up and plucked out one earbud, eyeing her very oddly. "Yeah, can I help you?" he asked cooly.

She jerked again. She was going to get whiplash, with how many double-takes she was doing. "Can you help me?" she echoed. Cameron just made a face, gesturing vaguely, but it looked awfully similar to a 'hurry up' motion, and it made her even angrier. "No, you can't help me. It's been your mission today to bother me every chance you possibly get; if you wanted to help me, you would have started four hours ago."

Cameron was still looking at her with that blank look that somehow still managed to come off as smug. "What the hell are you talking about?" he demanded dully. She just glared at him harder. He blinked a couple times, before he suddenly took in a deeper breath, understanding flashing through his eyes when he nodded a couple times. "You're talking about my brother," he corrected. Kay's shoulders drooped a little. She looked over him a second time, and she connected the dots, remembering what he had said in passing this morning during Lit. "He's more the 'bothering you every chance he gets' kinda guy. That's Cameron." He gestured to himself. "I'm Jonathan."

Kay's face fell. Embarrassment started to crawl over her face instead. "Oh...I….sorry, I just-"

"It's fine." He cracked a crooked kind of smile. A smile that was distinctly different than the sloppy one Cameron always wore. "I don't blame you. Whatever Cam did, he probably deserved it, if I know my brother. And, unfortunately, I do." He looked back down at his phone. She kept staring at him, and it was growing increasingly obvious she was only getting more perplexed. Cameron practically radiated energy; he was like a seven-year-old that had just downed four tubs of frosting and seven liters of Mountain Dew. Jonathan looked exactly like him, but he was so...calm. He was...overly collected. Even the way he talked seemed muted. She was accidentally staring again. He looked at her and raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"Oh- no, I...it's just weird, you're…" She made a face. "You're a lot different from your brother."

He snorted, and smirked again. Went back to scrolling through his phone. "Yeah, if I had a dollar for every time I heard that one, I could buy a house…" he sighed. "Cam likes to say it's because we're two halves of the same person. He claims he got all the...well, he calls it 'fun' traits, I call it the horribly annoying ones." Kay smiled a little. "I'm the boring twin, he's the one that never shut up. Together we make one halfway-decent person."

She nodded a couple times, figuring it at least made some kind of sense. Jonathan turned back front and this time he put his earbud back in and returned to whatever he was doing on his phone. Her eyes flickered to him a couple more times, but she never said anything else. She walked the rest of the line in silence and got her food. She went to get a drink she could keep with her until the end of the day. She checked out and started to maybe head for the library. When she stopped a little short, her attention catching elsewhere.

Jonathan had headed out more towards the middle of the cafeteria. He was holding two plates of food in his hands, and she watched as Cameron rushed towards him. Seeing them both together, the differences were highlighted and neon signs seemed to flash. She could see the difference between Cam's huge beam and Jonathan's smaller one. Cam was talking in a rush, using his hands as he did and immediately launching into a story she could tell was long-winded, his eyes practically gleaming. The look Jonathan wore was a patient one.

They turned and walked away together, Cameron still droning on as he took the second plate from Jonathan. She wondered what he was talking about. He certainly had a lot of stories he could tell, and it was only after fourth hour. She shoved the curiosity away, turning and heading the opposite direction they were going, to make for the library.

She didn't care what he was talking about.

As long as he wasn't talking about her.

(~**~) (~**~) (~**~) (~**~)

It was hot. But, as usual, despite the heat, they were still out on the football field for marching band. They'd gathered up all their instruments and yard markers and some of the band had gone out to fetch the props. The rest of them were just waiting on the track, for the band director and the drum majors to get down here. It was taking them longer than usual. Well...it was taking them a long time. The 'usual' part unfortunately...was pretty usual. For them, at least. The thought got Kay sighing with impatience. "I just wish they'd kick him out already," she complained, looking down at Kayla, who was stretching before practice actually began.

"Eric?" she asked, but the clarification was pretty moot. Of course it was Eric. There were three drum majors that led the band, and had been voted in by everyone else. Janet was a senior, and she conducted the second movement of their show. Mike, the very same genius that had been trying to coerce his way into Bagel Tuesdays, took the third movement. And Eric had been voted in as the third, with, ironically, the most number of votes. He conducted the first and fourth movement. At first, the team had been perfect, and the most picks.

To most people, at least. Kay hadn't voted for Eric, and this was exactly why: he wasn't cut out for any responsibility at all. He was constantly missing school and practices, and when he wasn't on the field he was off doing stupid stuff like drinking or partying or who knew what else. That's why he'd gotten the most votes; it was just because he was popular. Now they were all paying for the stupid decision with a drum major that wasn't even bothered to get to his own practice or learn his own conducting. Half the mistakes they made were because of him, and the fact he couldn't conduct. The tempo got all mixed up, he started to stumble through it, and the next thing you know, the brass is knocking right into the woodwinds and there's a pileup. He'd started out well, but it was just getting worse and worse. The entire band was in denial so far, thinking that it would get better. Kay was just frustrated the season had just begun and they were already doomed.

"Yeah," she huffed. "They need to find someone to replace him."

Kayla laughed. "'Replace.' I'd like to see them try and replace him this far into things."

"The season just started," she argued. "We could switch people up." She shrugged. "Or just kick him out anyway. There doesn't need to be a replacement."

"Yeah, but three is better than two," she pointed out, flopping back so she was just laying on the track, staring up at her. Kay made a face, but Kayla only shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe. Something should happen...but you know Messerli. Odds are he won't do anything."

Kay huffed, looking down and nudging her water bottle with her toe. Her eyes flickered up towards the brass section. Beth was with him again. Along with being the usual first chair trumpet, she was leader of the trumpet section, here. It looked like she was giving him a crash course on all things marching band, in the time they were taking to wait for the drum majors to actually work together and get down here. She was gesturing to the field and pointing down at the small piece of paper Cameron was holding that had every single direction he would be in in the show. Messerli had had to write him in, she was guessing. He'd be stuck on the end of some line...hopefully at least near the other trumpets. He wasn't grinning like he usually was...he actually looked pretty overwhelmed.

Kay made yet another face. Well. What did he expect? Hopping right into the middle of things?

The sound of a call got her attention elsewhere, as well as everyone else's. Messerli was on his way down to the field, and the three students that were in charge of conducting were trailing behind. Janet was glaring daggers at Eric, not even trying to hide her irritation. Kay wondered what happened. Not that it really mattered...all that mattered was it was ruining their practice. Again. She just sighed and scooped up her flute to head to the middle of the field.

And the practice went just as smoothly as she figured it would. They skipped doing the first movement altogether, because Eric was doing so poorly. Kay had her misgivings...she was almost a hundred percent certain that he was high, but what did she know? All she knew was every single time they got a five minute break he was just sitting there and staring off into space. And that there was one time, right in this middle of the third movement, he just stopped conducting, and started staring then, too. Janet and Mike were pissed off, and so was everyone else. The trombones started yelling at each other over something stupid, and everyone was tired halfway through, and whining about the heat. The trumpets were on the other side of the field; she had no idea what was going on with Cameron. But there were a couple times they had to stop because there was a mishap, and some kind of collision. She could only guess he was the reason. Wandering around trying to find his spot amongst other people that already knew where they were supposed to be.

One of their breaks, she was heading to the fountain to refill her water bottle, when she heard a muttered voice underneath all the other ones. Mostly people were talking to friends, trying to ignore how frustrated they were getting. Others were just openly complaining, sounding ticked off. But she heard someone else, and they were out of the ordinary. She turned and looked in its direction, side-stepping around someone else. She realized it was Cameron. He'd just sounded so different, she couldn't really identify him at first.

He was leaning against the fence that surrounded the track. He looked tired and sullen. Very different from this morning. On the other side of the fence, she was surprised to see that Jonathan was there. Had he been here the entire time? It was going on their second hour out here. Cameron was grumbling, holding his head in his hands. "I suck at this," he was growling. Kay deflated, feeling a little bad as she started to eavesdrop. She felt bad...but she didn't stop. "I keep running into people. I don't know what I was thinking coming in here; I'm just making everyone around me mad."

"Oh, so then they know how I feel 24/7," Jonathan mused. Cameron flashed him a glare, and he smirked. But the smirk was quick to fade into sympathy. "C'mon, Cam, you're doing fine. I've been watching...kinda." Another glare, and another smirk. "It might take you a week or two...but looking at the dude conducting this band, I don't think you're the one dragging this band down. You're gonna get better, but I don't think he's got much of a prayer. So...I don't think this band in general's got a prayer. You won't make much of a difference."

"That's such a comfort," Cameron gushed. "What would I ever do without you?"

"I dunno...I know without you, I'd be much more relaxed."

Cameron sighed, shifting and messing with the jacket he was still wearing. "I'm so hot," he complained under his breath.

Jonathan blinked, looking him up and down. He sighed and leaned more against the fence, shrugging his shoulders and delving back into his phone. "Well," he sighed. And shrugged again. "You know."

Cameron huffed, rolling his eyes and pushing himself back up to stand. The five minutes was ending. He turned and started to plod back to the field, his arms swinging around loose. Kay heard him growl as he stomped back: "Yeah, I know…" Jonathan watched him go, his eyes flashing. He began to turn to go back to the bleachers, when he jerked and caught her eye. He looked at her and frowned, and she stiffened, shaking herself and rushing back the way she'd come. Feeling a rush of embarrassment she'd been caught snooping. Completely forgetting to refill her bottle, and just wondering what in the world that last part had meant.

(~**~) (~**~) (~**~) (~**~)

The week had dragged by slowly. It always did. But eventually it got to be Friday, and here they finally were. Kay had a test in Biomedical Science, and a paper due in Government...but it was Friday all the same. She could at least sleep in past five, tomorrow. It was the little things that you had to treasure. Like the peace and quiet she only got now in her room. Because no matter where she went, now, Cameron seemed to be everywhere. He was in her first hour, her third hour, he was in the lunchroom, he was at marching band, he was always in the halls; she felt like she saw him every single passing period. He was laughing with a new group of people every day. Or running to catch up with someone if he didn't have anyone yet. Or if none of those, he would always be with Jonathan. The two of them sticking together like they were tied at the hip.

If she didn't see him, she was hearing about him, too. If the school was a newspaper, Cameron would be front page news. Apparently on Wednesday, Kayla had acted on her threat and she had introduced Cameron to Mrs. Fay. He'd done some kind of 'mind-blowing' magic trick for her, and she'd screamed and dragged about three other teachers in the room for him to do it again. Of course, he had been more than happy to oblige. Thursday, he'd joined Mike in the attempted persuasion of 'Bagel Tuesdays' in Lit. He was just one of the many people that Cameron had been getting along with swimmingly. And they hadn't exactly persuaded her yet, but they were doing their best to work on it, and they were certainly closer than they'd been before. That was also the day Lexi was there to 'watch the marching band practice.' She'd sat up with Jonathan in the bleachers and waved to Cameron every five minutes. Jonathan had been staring at her the entire time, with a very clear 'Oh my God' look.

Not unlike Kay's, whenever she'd noticed.

It was only a week, but Cameron had cemented itself into the school like he'd been in their class throughout his entire educational career. Jonathan had too. He kept to himself, more so than Cameron. But still, the librarians knew him well because he spent so much time there. He was there before and after school, after sometimes because it got too hot while he was waiting out Cameron's practice (she guessed they only had one car between the two of them) so he ducked in there, instead. He was already a favorite of his teachers, too. He was in her Biomedical class, and she hadn't even noticed until Wednesday, because he sat in the other corner and didn't make a single peep.

She wished she could say the same for Cameron. He was still just as irritating as day one. In fact, the fact that he was already so instantly popular with practically everyone was just making him even more irritating. He was the best thing since sliced bread, to everyone else. To her, he could still take it down a few notches. He was constantly at a ten; she needed him more down at a three. Maybe four, if she was being generous. He constantly pestered her before first hour...so much so she just started to get to class about five seconds before the bell rang, just so she limited their time together. He still grinned at her in band and waved, like he hadn't just seen her that morning. He still did random tricks for her...the other day at band practice she'd lost her phone, and he had proceeded to pull it out of her ear.

It'd been hard to resist the urge to smack him, then. An urge that was ever-present.

But Fridays were better. Fridays had shorter practices. Only two hours, instead of the usual three. She could take that. She could take it and run with it. This practice, they were spending the first half hour in their sections. They'd been told it was so that they could get their basics all covered again before they went into practicing for the show. But everyone knew it was because Eric hadn't made it yet, and they were just stalling until he decided to show up. Kay didn't know what his excuse was this time. She'd seen him in the hall earlier, so he had to be around here somewhere. She decided not to worry about it. There was other stuff to focus on. She was co-section leader of the flutes, along with Jordan. They were running through their usual warm ups, when Kay was tapped on the shoulder. She turned to see Beth standing behind her. Beth and about half the trumpet section. That half including…

"Kay, can we steal you for a second?" Beth asked. "We're gonna teach Cam the square dance but we need one more person."

Kay frowned. But immediately, Cameron was beaming. "There's a square dance in this show?" he practically whispered.

Kay shot him a look. "You've been with this band for a week, and you didn't know there's a dance in it?"

Cameron gave her a mournful look. "I don't know quite a lot of things, Kansas. If you wanna go over all of what I don't know, we're gonna be here for quite some time."

"We just need one more person," Beth hedged. "Jordan can take over the section, right?"

"Well...yeah, but…" Kay glanced at them skeptically. Jordan was already stepping in for her. Her shoulders slouched, and she held back a sigh as she turned and looked back at them. "Fine," she relented, and Cameron brightened. "That's not until the fourth movement, though. And it's not like we're going to get there or anything." Beth just shrugged, and Kay broke away from her own section. She trailed after them and waited as Beth arranged all six of them into pairs. Placing Kay by Cameron and ignoring the way she crossed her arms immediately.

As Beth arranged the others, Cameron inquired softly: "How was your test?"

"My what?"

"You had a test in your science class today. Did it go over okay?"

"Oh…" She frowned. "It was good. I don't...remember mentioning it."

"You did on Tuesday," Cameron recalled. "And you were studying a lot in Lit. So." He was focusing more on Beth, who was starting to walk them through the dance. It was very simplistic, once you learned it and went through it a little. But she remembered learning it during band camp, and she remembered it had been awkward the first couple times. He was paying close attention. Kay studied him for a moment more, before she shook herself and let it go. Before she turned back to Beth and started listening herself.

"Cameron, for where you're standing, you're just gonna wait while the other person in the pair goes into the middle, and they all spin around together. And then you'll meet whoever's closest to you...for now it'll be Madi, but your real dance partner will be someone different. I'm not really...sure who your partner will be yet, but...it doesn't matter right now, they'll figure something out, I guess. Anyway, then you're gonna grab their hand, and…" She tried to explain as best she could. And to her credit, it was almost as good as the original coaching they'd gotten from their instructor during camp. But it was a lot at one time. Cameron was frowning more and more the longer it stretched on. And when they went for a practice run-through, he was clearly daunted.

Kay filled in for whoever Cam's partner would end up being. She was usually the opposite side of the dance, but it wasn't rocket science. Cameron watched her a little blankly as she went into the middle and grabbed the others' hands, to spin in a circle. She saw Madi reach out at the last second and grab Cameron's hand, yanking him out of his standing position. He stumbled and whirled around and tried to do what they'd told him...grab the person's hand next to him and swing through the next person and so on. But he stumbled and staggered. He got confused. By the time he and Kay met back together on the other side of the circle he was completely at a loss.

Nevertheless, she tried to save him, and grabbed his hands. She took the lead and started to cart him back around the square, and promenade back to where they'd started in the first place. They came to a stop and she could tell he was baffled. Kay nodded down to their instruments on the ground. "Then you have to pick it back up in four counts and turn back to the audience. That's all there is."

He stared at her, his eyebrows raising. "That's all there is?" he demanded. He looked down at his trumpet like he'd never seen it before. "This is Swan Lake."

"It actually isn't," she sighed.

"It's complicated."

"No it's not."

"Not for you, I have two left feet. I don't even remember the first step."

"That's why we're going to practice it!" Beth cheered, ever the one to brighten up her section.

And they did. They went through it over and over again. They certainly had the time to. And Cameron gradually got better. With each runthrough, it was smoother. Cameron was still a little clumsy, but he was getting better. He wasn't stumbling or fumbling. He was at least following everyone else's lead, and always getting to Kay by the end, which was the most important part of the entire thing. He'd grab her hands and swing around with her the way he was supposed to, and dance back to their spot in time to snatch his instrument back up. By the end, the baffled look on his face was gone, and he was grinning again the way he usually was. It only took about six or seven times to drill it in. Or at least drill it in more than it had been in before.

They finished their eighth go, and ended perfectly again. When they stopped, Cameron cheered and did a little fist pump. Kay eyed him when he did, and she only eyed him more when he jabbed a finger at her. "I am slightly better than I was five minutes ago!" he said smugly, like it was something to celebrate. She rolled her eyes, and it just made him smile more. "That dance is so fun, though! Why haven't we done it yet?"

"We haven't even touched the first or second movement because of Eric," Kay grumbled.

He frowned. "Who's Eric?"

"Yeah, exactly," she huffed.

"The drum major for those sections. He's terrible," Beth groaned. "He went off the deep end halfway through band camp...nobody really saw it coming." Kay rolled her eyes again, because she had. But she held her tongue. "Now Messerli is just trying to figure out what he wants to do, I guess. But there's not much he can do. The season already started. Everyone's already written in...you can't take anyone out unless you want holes in the forms. Or asymmetry." Cameron frowned, looking towards the three podiums spaced out along the edge of field. "And Messerli always has this thing about three drum majors. Three drum majors with one bad one is better than two drum majors half the band can't see on the far left of the field." She hesitated before she doubled back and shrugged. "Well...that's what he's probably been thinking up to now. Not really holding…"

"So replace him," Cameron offered.

"Well yeah," Madi piped up. Now they were just loitering. Kay had half a mind to get back to her own section. "But with who? He was voted in. We'd have to redo the whole tryout process. But it wouldn't even be worth it because the people who tried out for drum majors were given roles as section leaders instead. They can't leave. And if they did it'd be way too much trouble reshuffling people. And, like Beth said...everyone's already been accounted for."

Cameron made a face. He paused for a second or two. Kay was just about to turn and leave when he suddenly pointed out: "I'm not accounted for." She whirled around at once, looking at him like he'd just announced that he was actually a rabbit in disguise, and this entire time they'd been none the wiser. Everyone else kind of stopped short, too. He wasn't blind to the reactions. "I just...I haven't been," he laughed. Nobody said anything. "I got here...late. I had to just get kinda written into the show wherever I could fit. I wasn't planning for when they were writing it, I could be taken out just as easily as I was put in. Plus...I mean, I know I've been driving all you guys crazy trying to play catch-up." He looked back at the podium, seeming entirely unbothered. "If I was a drum major...all I'd have to do was figure out the tempo and...flail my arms around." As if to demonstrate, he literally just waved his arms around like they were limp noodles. He almost smacked Beth. She hopped away, and he looked at her with a tiny jump and a, "Oh, sorry."

Kay blurted out the first thing that came to her mind. Which wasn't very tactful. "You can't just become drum major to a band you just joined."

He looked at her and frowned. "Why not?" he asked simply.

She was stretching for something to say. All she managed again was a stuttering: "You...you just can't become drum major to a band you just joined!"

Everyone was looking from one person to other, like they were watching a tennis match, when Cameron just met it with another tiny: "Why not?"

"It...it doesn't make sense!" she blustered. Nobody else seemed to agree with her.

"Well, nothing's impossible," he reasoned.

She spluttered, looking at him like he was speaking Spanish. She looked at everyone else for help, but they weren't offering anything of the sort. In fact, Beth was smiling when she looked at Cameron, and a few other people were starting to take her lead. Kay looked at all of them and deflated. She looked back at Cameron, and she blew out her cheeks. Again, she just got out the first thing she could think of. And again, it wasn't that stellar. "What about a talking marshmallow?" she demanded. Cameron blinked rapidly at the unexpected question; she didn't care. "What about a talking marshmallow, Cameron, is that not impossible?"

He stared at her, saying nothing at first. Before he tilted his head to the side and mused: "Well, it just depends on what language the marshmallow is speaking." The group laughed at the response, but Kay just blew out a huff. "Because if it's Portuguese, then yeah, of course, but if it's German, then we might have run into an issue here."

"You're infuriating," she blurted out, without thinking.

He smirked. "You're cute when you're angry," he countered, staying that bubbly cheerful.

She glared at him. Her glare only grew sharper when she realized that she was blushing. She opened her mouth, and held it open for about five full seconds as she looked for something to say. She didn't quit manage it. Cameron's smile started to grow. "You- you're…" She was fuming too hard to get anything out. Eventually she just shook her head hard and let out a groan, turning and stomping her foot hard into the turf before she turned and stalked away. Her groan was so loud it almost covered up Cameron's laughter as she did so.

Almost.

(~**~) (~**~) (~**~) (~**~)

"Hey Jordan?"

Jordan's eyes flickered to Cameron; his voice came out in more of a mumble, because he was currently trying to balance a pencil on his nose. "What's up?"

Cameron pursed his lips. He wasn't quite sure how to word the question. "Does Kay…?" He couldn't ask if she had any friends...that would just be rude. A tad bit too on-the-nose, even for him. It was clear that people liked her, there was no reason to not. But even still, she seemed to be...kind of a loner. He eventually managed a wording that made him sound the least horrible. Hopefully. "Does she hang out with anybody? Like...usually?"

Jordan thought for a moment. He and Kay were cool with each other...they kind of had to be, considering they were both at the head of the flute section. But come to think about it, he never really saw her hang out with anybody. At least in particular. Going out of her way to. "I'm…not sure actually. She kinda likes to keep to herself. She talks to Kayla the most...but I think that's just in band. Just 'cause they're by each other. She doesn't go to any parties, either. She's not that type of person, I guess."

He frowned at the answer. He figured that was what he was going to get, but still. The moment the frown weighed over his face, his eyes were catching elsewhere. He straightened at first, before he just stood all the way up. "Thanks Jordan. I'll see you later," Cameron said as he picked up his school bag.

"No problem. See you later, Cam."

Cameron walked over to Kay's locker. She was juggling so many books and trying to cram them all into her shelves at once, that in the process, her hands fumbled and she dropped her pen. He reached her in just enough time, and, like the speed of light, Cameron had caught it before it hit the ground, "Ta-da!" He waited for a reaction of some sort...the feat was kind of impressive. But she just looked at him oddly, kind of like she was a deer in headlights at his sudden appearance. He beamed and offered her pen back to her. She took it back without saying anything. He did the honors of breaking the ice. "Do you have a ride home?"

She eyed him. Turned back to her locker to finish putting everything away. "No, I'm walking."

He frowned a little, just watching her quietly. It wasn't until she was shutting her door and making sure it was locked before he asked: "Mind if I walk home with you?"

Kay jerked at the question. "What?"

"I mean, it's a small town. I guess...any town is small when you compare it to New York, but...I doubt we live that far away from each other," he tried to say. "I mean...if you don't have anyone to walk home with, that is." There was another brief pause, before he pressed: "...Do you? Have someone to walk with?"

"I don't," she said bluntly. Immediately kicking herself when she realized she had just rashly given him the perfect opportunity to talk to her.

Cameron lit up. "Well then! I think that works out nicely! I can tell Johnny to go on ahead and we can just walk together!" His grin seemed to triple, which made Kay bite her tongue to avoid saying something she'll regret. But her self-chosen silence wasn't sitting all that well with him. Silence hardly ever did. "So wadda you say, Kansas?" She twitched at the very undesired nickname. "Want to walk home with me? I live by Jadu Avenue." Jadu Avenue? That was just a few blocks from her street. Oh no, were they neighbours too? "What about you?"

Well, there was no use lying. He'd figure it out eventually. He may be annoying but he certainly wasn't dumb either. Most of the time. When he actually wanted to help it. "Regina Road."

His grin somehow widened even more. "No way! That's only three blocks from my place! Kansas, are we neighbours?"

"We still have three blocks between us," she was quick to remind.

"Meh." He shrugged. "Close enough." That stupid dimpled grin didn't seem to be leaving his face any time soon "This is great! This means we can walk home together everyday! Well...maybe not everyday, I simply can't have Jonathan getting jealous on me. Maybe we could give you rides sometimes." Kay didn't really know what to make of his enthusiasm. It make her think that maybe she should start using her car to get to and from school.

"Thanks but I do have my own car," she said, giving him a polite smile.

"Do you have it with you today?"

"No."

He placed a hand over his heart. "Then far be it from me to allow a lady to walk home by herself."

"I'm sure you could make an exception just this once," she attempted. Probably in vain.

"Oh no, my fair lady." He spoke in a fake posh accent. "I couldn't possibly allow you to brave these suburban streets on your own. Who knows what dangers lurk?" Kay raised her eyebrows at him. She had a few more choice words to say, but she figured they would all be wasted. She just gave up and turned for the front exit of the school, sighing that if he wanted to walk with her, he'd better keep up. She barely wanted him there in the first place; she wasn't going to slow down for him. And maybe if she walked just a little bit faster than normal it'd be over quicker...

At first they walked in silence. Not entirely uncomfortable silence. But...it was a little uncomfortable. Eventually, of course Cameron was the one to speak. Trying to pump conversation into the quiet that existed between them as he so often did. "So… Kay. Where ya from?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa Dimples...I don't do backstory."

Cameron let out a chuckle. "Dimples?"

Kay shrugged, "Well, you have dimples, don't you? Can't I give you a stupid nickname you don't want?" He made a face, before he tilted his head to the side as if to say 'Well, ya got me there.' She quickened her steps, slightly proud that she had come up with that so fast. "What about you?" She wasn't a fan of the limelight, but Cameron was. She didn't want to talk about herself...maybe if she redirected the focus to be on him, he'd talk for the rest of the trip and that'd be that. "Where are you from?"

The blue-eyed teen shrugged. "Johnny and I were born in New York and raised there...but we were always being moved around different parts of the state, so Johnny and I never really...settled anywhere, you know? Our lives have always been on the road, I guess you could say. We never stayed anywhere too long for anything really long-lasting."

Kay felt a twinge of empathy. She had lived in this town most of her life...but she'd never felt she had anything "lasting" with anyone. She could almost relate. Almost. "That sounds lonely," she finally said.

Cameron gave a little side smile. Not one of his usual ones. "No. It was kinda fun… besides, I had Johnny." Kay gave him a quick look. Cameron cleared his throat. To her surprise, he was shouldering the attention back to her. "So what about you, Kansas? Any brother or sisters?"

The question was innocent, but it smacked her across the face. Kay's walking halted for merely half a second before she started walked again. "No," she said, and her voice accidentally ended up coming out crisp and cold. Her steps quickened. Cameron had noticed the slight falter in her steps, and looked at her a little close for a second or two. But he decided to ignore it it and sped up to match her brisk pace again. "It's just me and my parents" Sometimes not even my parents. She was surprised that that last part had almost slipped out. She looked away, focusing on the trees instead of the way Cameron was looking at her.

"What are they like?" Another innocent question that got her feeling more on-edge.

Couldn't really tell you if I wanted to. She shrugged. "They're parents." She had to wonder, if Cameron was so…Cameron, and Jonathan was so… Jonathan… then what exactly were their parents like? Were they polar opposites too? Split straight down the middle? "What about you?" Again, she was just throwing his own question right back at him. "What are your parents like?"

Cameron was surprisingly quiet. She looked at him with the unexpected gap, and realized he was studying the concrete. "Uh..." A frown started to trace over Kay's face. For once, it looked like Cameron had nothing to say. Which was...odd. "They're parents too… I guess," he managed after that pause. "There's not really...too much to say!" He ended this brightly, and with another smile. But both of them seemed weird. A little forced, if she knew him at all. But...Kay reflected she didn't really know him all that well. Who was she to wonder what he was talking about? She had no idea. And it wasn't like she had much of a leg to stand on...considering she was just as averse to talking. If she questioned him, he'd question her right back. She didn't want that.

So she didn't say anything else. And, even more surprisingly still, neither did Cameron, for the most part.

The rest of their walk ended up being in an uncomfortable silence. Cameron tried to make a few funny quips now and then but there was just a murky air around them now. Each one was a little weaker...not as bubbly, or genuine. Once he realized Kay wasn't laughing, he stopped trying. Neither of them knew what to say, or think. Neither of them knew if they had the right.

It was funny that just by saying so little, they both learned a little more about each other.

(~**~) (~**~) (~**~) (~**~)

It was the very end of September when it finally happened. When the ball finally dropped, like they'd all been waiting for. The second it happened, it was like a fuse was lit, and the entire thing was burned up throughout the entire marching band. Eric was caught with weed in his locker and he was suspended. Or...at the very least he was suspended. Some kids were muttering about expulsion, some were whispering about jail time. But whatever the outcome would be, that wasn't being worried about as much as the other concerning topic was being discussed. In very panicked tones.

They were missing a drum major. And their first competition was in two weeks.

It wasn't like they were doing fantastic with Eric. But they were getting better at working with him. It was nice to have drum majors on every space of the field, and as long as he was paying attention and just followed the lead of the other two, they did pretty alright. The whole show was done, by now, and they could go through and polish stuff, now. Cameron wasn't causing pileups in the back, so that was nice. They were just beginning to find their actual stride, and now the rug was pulled out from under their feet. Now what were they supposed to do? Now they had to get used to a blind spot on one end of the field. Now they had to reangle themselves and adjust to only two drum majors, now Janet and Mike had to figure out who was getting those parts and how they were going to switch.

But as soon as the news was whispered, and as soon as the worries started to crop up, something else started to crop up too. Other whispers, that she should have seen coming but was still surprised at its instantaneousness.

"You know…Cameron had a point, way back then…"

"Maybe Cameron could be a good replacement...can he conduct?"

"If he could conduct, I'd vote for him."

"He seems like a good fit."

"He is kind of just shoehorned in, there...I mean, it might work."

By practice, it had spread like wildfire. The instant Cameron was walking through the door, everyone was on him, asking if he'd heard the news. He'd made a lot of friends, so far...at this point, she was fairly certain he got along with everyone in the entire band. He was so annoyingly charming that he was probably making good pace in getting to know the entire school. If he figured out he hadn't met someone, or someone didn't like him, he went insane. Which was probably why he constantly bugged Kay. Who watched from the sidelines as everyone encouraged him to talk to Messerli. She didn't join in; she just listened. Cameron was surprised, though he really should have heard everyone gossiping about this before now. Surely it had gotten back to him somehow. Maybe he was just playing it off.

She got her things together and just set down for the field. It wasn't until she was halfway there that she heard a call echo its way over to her. "Kansas!" She tipped her head back in clear frustration, but she knew there was no outrunning or ignoring him. She might as well be trying to avoid the plague in medieval Europe. She turned around to see Cameron running up to her. He was juggling his trumpet case, his water bottle, and about three yard markers, helping tote it all down from the band room. He was going to fall and break his neck, but Kay wasn't so lucky. He made it to her, puffing overdramatically to get his breath back. He gave a her a toothy grin. "The rumor mill's a'runnin'."

"It always does," she returned. She looked behind Cameron to see Jonathan wandering up after him. People joked that he might as well be in the band, for all he was attending practices. Ninety-nine point nine percent of the time he was sitting on the sidelines waiting for Cameron to be done, very patiently, either buried in his phone or in a book, or doing homework. He was doing his part in helping...by carrying one yard marker. He looked very disinterested. But when he eyed his brother, there was a certain softness to his expression Kay didn't typically see any other time. "Wasn't really a huge surprise," she offered, looking back at Cameron.

"It's true, then? Eric was caught with the ol' Mary Jane?" The way he asked this made her think of some outdated grandpa.

"Yup." Her voice was a little flat.

"The Bammy? The Blanket? The Doobie?"

"Cameron…"

"He had that Broccoli? The Flower? The Hot Stick, the Jolly Green?"

"Please stop," she grumbled.

"The Chronic? The Blunt?"

"Why do you know all of these." It wasn't even a question, that's how flat her voice was.

"He had the Devil's Cabbage!?"

"Cameron, okay, enough!" He burst out laughing at her yell, and she found she had to make a significant effort not to smile, and glare at him instead. But the way he grinned, she could tell she wasn't as effective as she might have hoped. She shook her head, turning and picking up on walking to the field. He hopped after her, and Jonathan joined. "He was...and now we don't have a third drum major," she sighed, once they did. "Which is going to be weird...we've always had a third." She looked at Cameron as she said this; his expression didn't change at all. There was a stretch of silence before she hedged: "But...you wouldn't believe how many people are talking differently." Still, he was quiet. She glanced at him again when she prompted: "Are you really gonna talk to Messerli?"

"I dunno…" He looked at her too, and she was surprised to see a bit of nervousness on the edges of his expression. He wasn't smiling, he actually looked on-edge. She hadn't seen him like that very often. "I was just...talking, that one day. You probably have a point, I can't just...waltz in...probably."

She hesitated. Before she studied the ground. "I don't know," she said a little off-handedly. "I think...I probably couldn't do it. Not when I'm…" He frowned, looking at her a little closer. She shook her head. "But...everyone likes you. To a fault. Probably." This was said only half-jokingly. His nervousness broke into more of a smirk. "I don't know, if you could conduct it...I mean, that's all that matters. You'd be easy to take out...you're already forcing some of the guard to stop their routine just so you have people to dance with." Silence cropped up between them. Before she cleared her throat and shrugged one shoulder. "It wouldn't hurt to offer. Or ask what Messerli is thinking of doing."

"You think I'd be good?" The question was soft, and hesitant. It caught her off-guard.

She looked at him, looking a little awkward. He was staring at her so solemnly, that for a heartbeat she didn't really know what to say. She paused, and they just looked at one another as they walked. Suddenly she was very aware of how close they were walking. She straightened up and walked a pace out and looked back front. Her voice was stiffer when she amended: "I think you'd be okay."

Cameron smiled.

Jonathan piped up from where he was on the other side of him. "Well, I think you'd suck, Cameron."

He immediately grinned even wider, when he turned to him. "Aw, thanks, Johnny!"

"Hey, I'm only here to help."

"You're only here to be eye candy," Cameron drawled. "Look at you, you're not even carrying anything, really."

Jonathan remained just as aloof. "This is true," he reasoned aloud.

It made Cameron burst out laughing.

Kay cracked her own smile, and a tiny giggle.

(~**~) (~**~) (~**~) (~**~)

Eric was gone on a Wednesday, and it was Friday when practice was cancelled and the auditions for the new replacement drum major was scheduled, instead. There weren't as many people trying out. Most of who hadn't made it now had sections to run. All that was left were the truly bottom-of-the-barrel contestants they'd had before, who hadn't had a chance of making it then...and Cameron Black. Going in, everyone knew who they were voting for. Kay could practically feel the disinterest in the air when the other students did their sample conducting them through the Star-Spangled-Banner, and then did their question and answer section. Hardly anyone even had any questions for them at it was.

But everyone perked when Cameron approached the podium and gave that smile he always gave when he was nervous. Distinctly different from his normal one, but still somehow the same as before, too. Kay didn't know how he would be, conducting. She'd never seen him even try, before. But she should have known it would come easy to him, just like everything else seemed to. He conducted them fine throughout the anthem...there weren't any huge mistakes or slip-ups. All of the contestants were pretty much the same, it really just came down to a popularity contest. After all, that was how Eric got through. Before he'd gone off the rails, he was the most popular person in band, so he was a shoe-in. Now that Cameron was here…

Jordan was first to raise his hand to ask Cameron a question. He asked the first question that was always asked, and he knew it, too, as he pretty much sang: "How do you think you can make this band a better band?" The students snickered a little at this, and Cameron cracked a smile, too. The longer he was up there, the more comfortable he seemed to get. Surprise, surprise, he loved the limelight.

"I'd make this band better by getting off the field," he returned, and everyone laughed again. "I kinda messed you guys all up in the first place, by coming here; the least I could do is fix it."

"You think you can get the hang of it all fast enough before our first competition?" Janet demanded, a little more roughly. "You think you can replace Eric?"

"I mean…" Cameron mumbled awkwardly. "Pretty sure anyone could replace Eric." But he was quick to sober and reassure: "Yes, I can. Easy peasy."

Kay raised her hand. He smiled a little as he pointed to her. When she asked her question, her voice remained even and in check. Not hostile, by any means, but she thought it was an important inquiry. "What do you like about our band?" she asked. He straightened. "You haven't been in it for very long. And it means quite a lot to all of us, who have been here. Why should we let you lead it?" She gave him a silent look, as she asked this. She thought she already knew the answer. She was fairly sure, anyway. She'd encouraged him to do this in the first place. She was asking the question so everyone else could hear his answer.

And sure enough, silence met the question that was very different, and not run-of-the-mill. They looked at Cameron intently, waiting for his response. It took him a second to gather his thoughts enough for it. "Well...you're right. I...haven't been here for very long." She looked at him steadily, and he didn't look away. "But...in the time I've been here, it's been really nice. It's a lot of work and a lot of effort, and so far there hasn't been any payoff for it...but I like it. I like being with...all of you guys. And I've seen how tough it's been for you all, and I feel like if I could just...do something to fix it, I would want to. Or if I could be a part of the reason we start to get that payoff...that'd be nice…"

He hesitated before he defined it some more. "I like the people." His smile grew warmer when he said this, and Kay found that she was smiling back at him a little. "You all are really nice, and welcoming, and I've already made so many good friends. Still working on a couple," he added, a little slyly as his eyes flashed. Kay opted to ignore the small jab. "But yeah. The music is nice...and the marching is fun. But...I just like you guys. I like this band. Just...the whole thing. The whole enchilada." He shrugged. "And if I don't get the position, I don't get it. I'm just happy to be involved as it is."

It took the band less than three minutes to vote. And thought they wrote their choices on slips of folded-up paper, there was no wondering what your neighbor wrote down. The instant they were released, and Cameron untangled himself from all his friends that rushed for him, he rushed out into the hall. Kay was just leaving when she caught sight of him running at Jonathan, who was waiting by their car, and crashing into him with a big hug. She could hear his excited voice all the way from over where she was. "I did good! I think I did good! I think I maybe got it!"

She saw Jonathan smile, from ear-to-ear this time. Not quite exactly like Cameron's, but closest it's been yet.

When she turned and made for her own car, she'd worn the tiniest grin as well.

The very next day, results were posted. And Cameron Black had officially become the third drum major to their school's marching band.

(~**~) (~**~) (~**~) (~**~)

There was a learning curve. But there was always expected to be some. The first two practices, give or take, and Cameron was rocky. He was mostly okay, but he would make a mistake here and there. He'd give the wrong cue or stumble over a beat, but he would immediately be apologizing and shaking his head. Mumbling to himself to shape up, like that would do the trick. But he got better and better. By his fourth practice, he could fake his way through the movements so well that anyone would think he'd been there the entire time. The other movements, the second and third, he could just watch Janet and Mike, the main conductors, which was easier. The first and second, which he lead, would have to be worked on, but it would be. And it was.

It was just a lot better...everything-else-wise. Nobody was angry or irritated anymore. Nobody was snapping at each other or waiting on the drum majors or blaming other people for their mistakes. Cameron was a tiny sun radiating cheerfulness all the time as it was; this way, he was just radiating straight down on the band, now. When they were on their sixth runthrough, and burning up, he was still smiling, loudly and happily declaring that his arms were dead. He was the first one into practice and the last one to leave, helping set up and tear down. He constantly jumping down from the podium to run to his friends when breaks were called. Kay even caught sight of him a couple times in the lunchroom looking over their music. It was a very good change. She was happy it was this way, now.

Currently, Kay was standing behind the percussion at the front of the field. Messerli had paused practice to go backfield and help sort out some issues that the brass were having in hitting their spots. It left her up here, seperated from her section with nothing to do, and she was just taking to staying at the microphone they'd set up in front of her boredly. She hadn't gotten much sleep last night. She was hoping the rest of the practice would go by fast.

Cameron was sitting on the podium so his legs were hanging over the edge and swinging a bit. He was looking down at her curiously, and piped up after a second or two. "So when you do your solo, can I like...cue you in by pointing at you like this?" He made a huge show of practically flailing his arms down towards her.

She cracked a dry smile. "Please don't."

"I'm the drum major, you can't tell me how to cue people," Cameron argued, and she just shook her head. "Okay, how about this...I just straight-up fall on top of you." He said this very nicely.

"No," she returned, just as sweetly.

He grinned. Then nodded towards the microphone. "You're really good," he said. She looked up at him with a bit of surprise, and he hurriedly elaborated. "With your solo. The music? You're really good, I don't think I've told you yet. Which is a little rude of me. So. Sorry 'bout that."

"Oh." She shuffled her feet. Tucked her hair more behind her ear. "Thanks."

He nodded a couple times. Messerli was still working way back there. Kay was suddenly wishing she could go back to the rest of the band. Her eyes flickered back up to Cameron, and she frowned a little when she saw that he was fidgeting with his jacket. He was tugging at the sleeves and fanning it out with a bit of a pinched expression. She hesitated, before she piped up again, earning his attention back down towards the ground. "You know, if you're always hot, maybe you should consider not wearing a jacket. And jeans." He always wore something to that effect.

He stared at her for a second, not reacting. Before he cracked a small grin. "Now that's just crazy talk," he chirped. She only raised her eyebrows. He gave up and shook his head. "It's not hot, it's getting colder out," he reasoned. She couldn't argue with him, really. But still, she was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and she was a little warm with all this moving around they were doing. Cameron wasn't marching, but you worked up a sweat conducting, she knew. "All the leaves are changing color, and pretty soon it'll get even colder, and then the leaves will fall, and I don't mean to alarm you, but Halloween is practically tomorrow."

She snorted. "I bet that's your favorite holiday. Plenty of candy for you eat and then you'll never come off it. That's probably why you're always so hyper; you're still riding the high from last year's Halloween."

"Do my ears deceive me?" he demanded, sounding horribly aghast. "Did...did Kay Daniels just...did Kay Daniels just make a joke?" She rolled her eyes and looked away to hide her smile. He caught it anyway. "I think she did! I think Kansas Daniels just told me joke! I am going to mark my calendar! October fifth, 2018, Kay Daniels told me a joke...and it was almost funny, but I'll still give it to you." He paused a second before he corrected: "And anyway, you're dead wrong, my favorite holiday is Christmas, so. Check yourself."

"Ah, I'm so sorry, please forgive me," she implored sarcastically.

He only shifted to cross his legs, and shake his head. "I'll have to think about it, let me get back to you," he sighed. She smiled again, and this time she wasn't as bothered in trying to hide it. And Cameron saw it, but he didn't draw any more attention to it. He just flashed her one last smile before he looked back over to where Messerli was, to see if he was almost done with his instructing. She watched him as he did, and she watched as he tugged the sleeves of his jacket down more over his wrists. Her smile faded a little as more thought seemed to cloud over her face instead. But she quickly lost it as Cameron stood up and Messerli could be heard calling the band back together.

It slipped her mind.

(~**~) (~**~) (~**~) (~**~)

Kay had gotten up late on accident. She slept straight through her alarm. She'd tried to make up time by literally flooring it to get here, but she was still running to her locker and practically tearing everything out. She had less than two minutes to make it to class before the bell rang. Now was when the hallways were mostly cleared out, just a most obvious reminder that you were horribly late and the odd person out. She was hardly ever this close to the bell, and, a little irrationally, her heart was hammering. She hadn't been late before. Not since freshman year. Here she was, being irresponsible. A junior, and she was going to be late, this was just perfect.

The hallway was completely empty as she tried to rush as fast as she could to Literature. Shockley was a laid-back teacher, Kay was certain she wouldn't have too many bad things to say about this, especially to her. But still, she was already guilty. It was a complex. And as she rushed along, practically tripping as she went, she was grumbling to herself, gripping the strap of her bag with a death grip. "Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap-"

"Kay!?"

She jerked, skidding to a stop at her name. She blinked and looked all around, but there was nobody to see. She spun in a tiny circle, scanning the entire hall. It was empty. She made a face, just beginning to think she was hearing things, when the voice came again. "Kay, is that you?" She turned, deadpanning as she recognized the voice. And deadpanning even more, somehow, when her eyes landed on the spot she could have sworn the voice was coming from. She was staring right at a locker. And sure enough, after a couple seconds, Cameron's voice leaked out from the inside of it. "Kay?"

"Cameron, what the fuck," she growled, and despite her curse, he was immediately brightening up. Or...she thought so, anyway. She couldn't see him.

"Kay! I knew I couldn't mistake your constantly-stressed voice!" Her scowl worsened. He was oblivious. "Hey, buddy, could you, uh...could you help me out of here? I seem to be...and this is just my expert opinion...but I seem to be a stuck in a bit of a pickle, here. Just a small one."

"Cameron, I'm late!" she whined, stomping her feet on the ground.

"Hey, what a coincidence!" he cheered. "I'm late too. And I'm gonna stay late. 'Cause...Kay, I'm in a locker."

"Cameron, why are you in a locker!?"

"Jonathan bet me I couldn't get out of his locker if I was put in it!" he yelled. Two full seconds of silence passed, before he mumbled much softer: "And I'm starting to think he was correct…"

"Oh my God," she hissed under her breath. She glanced down the hall, towards where their class was. Closed her eyes tightly, and hung her head. Before he sucked in a sharper breath and stomped over to the locker his voice was coming out of. "Well, what am I supposed to do!?" she demanded. "I can't get in there. Don't you know magic tricks or something? Can't you just...get out of there?"

"Aw man, why didn't I think of that!?" he wailed, being awfully sarcastic for someone that was depending on her at the moment. He must have sensed her displeasure, because he righted himself and kept going. "I'm trying to text him and ask for the locker combination! You can put it in."

"Oh my God," she just repeated. The bell rang. She grimaced and whined and hit her head on the locker with a dull thunk. She scowled at the tiny "Ow" that resulted. She waited, not at all patiently. A full thirty seconds passed in complete silence, before she was snapping: "What in the world is taking so long!?"

"I'm sorry!" Cameron yelped, whining himself. "He's being mean!"

"What?" she hissed through clenched teeth.

"He's being mean, he says he won't give me the combination until I admit he's the older twin."

"Until you…" She picked her head back up, to stare at the locker like it was the stupidest thing in the world. Rather than the truth: it was just containing the stupidest thing in the world. "Until you what!?" she demanded. Cameron said nothing. She smacked the locker this time, and he yelped even louder. "How in the world is that a difficult thing to do!?"

"Don't hit the locker, the noise scares me," he piped back. She kicked it. He yelled back once he recovered: "He's not the oldest, though, I am!"

"If we're going by maturity level, you are not."

"I'm going by time and physics, and the position of the moon and the sun."

"Cameron, I swear to God, if you don't just get the combination from Jonathan I am leaving."

Another tiny space of silence. Before she got a very sullen and short: "Fine."

She rolled her eyes, grumbling under her breath as she glared down the hallway, wishing she'd just kept walking. Sure enough, what felt like ages later he was muttering a very put-out set of numbers to her. "38-2-15," he pouted. She immediately started to put in the combo. She messed up once because she was so angry. She had to restart, shaking her head hard as she did. She'd have a couple choice words to say to Jonathan in their science class later. But for now she just yanked open the locker and Cameron literally fell right out of it. She didn't catch him. She just stepped to the side and watched him hit the ground, still with that same scowl.

He picked himself up off the ground, grinning huge, completely unbothered. "Thanks, pal!"

"I hate your guts," Kay growled, shrugging past him hard. He stumbled a little, before he spun around and rushed after her.

"You don't hate me," he objected. "Otherwise you would have kept walking. You try to pretend you do, but I don't think you hate me, Daniels."

She rolled her eyes. She was fostering that habit, with him, she knew. "Then you're even dumber than you look."

"I don't look dumb," he argued. "I may be dumb...but I don't look it. I look cute. Like...throw-up cute. When something looks so cute you wanna be sick, that's how cute I am."

"You made me so late," she ignored.

"We're both late, we will suffer this trial together. Never let go, Daniels."

"You've made my life so complicated," she muttered, mostly to herself.

However, he had a counter: "The word you're looking for is 'fun', and you're welcome."

She had a particularly stinging retort to throw back at him. But just then he was reaching out and opening to the door to their classroom, and they were stepping inside. The entire class was scattered around the room, and already talking up a storm. Kay checked the clock and realized they were seven minutes late, somehow. Class had started a long time ago, and it was clear by the way everyone was everywhere. She had no idea what was going on. She was trying to remember if there had been anything scheduled today. A timed write? A book discussion? An activity? What?

Nothing was planned, except for that they were…

Oh…

Oh no…

"Mr Black. Ms Daniels. How nice of you to join us." Mrs Shockley was sitting at her desk, but upon their entrance, had turned to throw the pair a small smirk. The attention of the class went to them immediately, and reflexively, Kay weakened under the scrutiny. She tensed and just ducked her head a bit, wasting not time before making her way to her seat. Cameron only gave his stupid smile and flashed a peace sign as he made his way to the seat next to her.

Their teacher, of course, didn't seem mad. It wasn't a shock. She hadn't been mad that time Mike wrote a poem about macaroni and cheese that could be taken as something very different if read in the correct way. She hadn't been angry then, so why would she be angry now? But still, out of sheer habit, Kay was attempting to apologize. "I'm sorry Mrs Shockley, you see-"

She stopped talking when the teacher raised her hand and gave a tiny amused smile. "It's quite alright. Sometimes things can be out of our control. Considering that this is the first time either of you have been late, I'll let it slide." Kay sagged with relief, blowing out a tiny sigh. However the respite was quick to leave as their teacher went on. "Unfortunately, by now, everyone's already split into partners for our next assignment." Kay looked at Cameron with wide eyes. He wasn't yet putting the dots together, apparently, but she was. Shockley smiled even more at her reaction. "Awfully convenient the two of you were late together. You two are the only ones that don't have a partner, now. I hope you two can get along."

Kay's stomach dropped. No. No, this wasn't happening. She turned, realizing that Lexi was sitting at the other end of the room with Amanda, and she was currently shooting jealous daggers at Kay. She wanted to argue in any way she could. She wanted to tell Lexi she could have him if she wanted. She wanted to beg anyone else to switch partners with her. She even wanted to beg her teacher to let her do the project by herself! But Cameron was already answering, before she could do any of those. "Oh, we'll get along just fine. In fact I'd say we're already the best of friends." Kay whipped her head to face him. Since when were they friends? Was his head just full of so much fluffy hair that there wasn't any room for a brain?

When she said nothing, just sitting in mute horror, he turned and flashed her a very, too-wide grin, and prompted: "Am I right Kansas?"

She didn't know whether to slap that stupid dimpled smirk off his face, or to scream.