The most popular kid in the school was, as everyone knew, Sebastian Moran. Something nobody knew? Why the kid bothered with Jim Moriarty and Carl Powers. The pair was the textbook definition of 'nerd', while Sebastian was that of 'cool'. Sebastian was extremely athletic, and had such a presence when he entered a room that everyone knew 'hey, that kid's a big deal.' He had a 'don't-care' attitude, and still managed to keep his grades no lower than a B. He cracked jokes in every class, but he didn't pick on anyone- the closest he ever got was lighthearted teasing. Yeah, that was cool.

Jim and Carl, however... well, Jim was smart. Really smart. But being a straight A student at Claycrest Middle School was not necessarily a good thing. It essentially screamed, 'hey, look who's a teacher's pet! Hey, look who tries too hard!' Jim hardly even talked, always thinking about this, that, or the other thing.

Then you had Carl. Now, while getting straight As isn't cool, that didn't mean getting all Fs was, either. All Fs meant, 'wow, look who's stupid.' All Fs meant you were an idiot and you were hopeless. Carl was the kid that was always babbling on about his limited edition action figures and comic books. He had rectangular, metal glasses that always slid down his nose- worse, they were transition lenses- and even his name seemed to scream 'nerd'. You could only find the pair eating in the cafeteria at lunch on a rare occasion- more often than not, they would be in the computer lab, just messing around with the computers.

It was one of those rare days that Carl and Jim were in the cafeteria. Carl blabbing on about some nerdy thing that Jim couldn't honestly care less about. Jim didn't even like Carl, he just tolerated him because he was practically the only person who liked Jim. Sebastian sauntered over to the pair, shoving Carl to the side so that he was seated between the two. "Hey, Jim; Carl," he greeted, flashing Carl a quick smile before grinning over at Jim. "What are you guys talking about?"

Jim gave a pointed shrug, and Carl- who mouth had been his mouth open to answer- closed it, glancing down. The pecking order of the three boys was obvious- Sebastian was in charge, and Jim his second-in-command. Carl was sort of there just to be there.

"Hey, Jim, you know Sally?" Seb asked, beaming.

Jim took a moment to rack his brain. "Oh, her? Yeah, what about her?"

"She was just hitting on me earlier. But you know what that means? She's single. You should try to get her interested," he suggested, smirking. Sally was full of herself, the girl who would walked around in a skimpy tank top and miniskirt that violated the dress code whenever there weren't teachers around, and managed to fix her outfit and make it barely acceptable when there were. If Jim even was interested in a relationship, it wouldn't be in one with her.

"No, Seb, I... No, I don't even like her like that," he replied in a slight mutter. "I don't even think she's cute or anything."

"So? She's kind of cool. Dating her would seriously boost your popularity. Maybe you could actually sit with me at my table without everyone looking daggers at you," he pointed out.

"Listen Seb, I hardly even eat in the cafeteria anyway. It's fine."

If Jim didn't know any better, he'd assume that his comment had offended- or even hurt- Sebastian. But of course, his usual response, 'Jim, stop being ridiculous, this is Sebastian Moran,' echoed through his mind, and he brushed away the assumptions without a second thought.

"Jim, no offense or anything, but don't you want to be cool? Hardly anyone likes you," the boy replied straightforwardly, frowning slightly and not sugar-coating anything. "I mean, I think you're pretty cool, but nobody else'll give you a second thought. Not, anyway, until you do something daring; something noteworthy."

Now, unlike most people, Jim could clearly pick out the meaning behind Seb's words. Not, 'hey, Jim, even I think you're a loser,' or, 'you're not cool enough,' but he had a drive behind what he said, and it was obviously caring. He hadn't spoken to be mean or to convey that he didn't really want to hang around with 'losers' anymore. Heck, even, 'I want you to be cooler because it'll make me look even better than I already do,' wasn't even close. It was more like, 'Jim, I like you as you are, but being 'cool' is really fun, and I think that you would like it and deserve to be part of it. Here's some advice to get you there,' and that was something that Jim really, really appreciated.

"I will, then," Jim firmly replied. "Do something daring and noteworthy. But that something is not dating Sally Donovan."

"Your call, mate," Sebastian responded. "Maybe you should try sports, then. I hear swim team's coming up next quarter. If you get practicing now, you could be pretty good by tryouts. Not my type of sport- luckily for you- but it's pretty easy to get the hang of and a good workout."

Jim shrugged, which, essentially, meant 'no.'

Hey, Jim. CP

Sent at 3:57 PM

Hey, Carl. Done with HW? JM

Sent at 3:58 PM

Yeah, but, ah, I can't come over. CP

Sent at 4:00 PM

Why? JM

Sent at 4:00 PM

Taking Seb's advice. CP

Sent at 4:02 PM

What? JM

Sent at 4:02 PM

Swimming. CP

Sent at 4:03 PM

Jim stared at his phone for a moment. Well, that was surprising. Carl was a chubby kid, and Jim couldn't see him in any kind of sport. Besides, the suggestion had been aimed at him, not Carl. But, whatever. Not like he cared. Though, the thing Jim did care about? The fact that Carl just would completely blow him off for it.