The day started as it normally did for the seniors in high school, of course, this story mainly focuses on two characters although, in their French class as their last block of the day. The heiress and the boy who always seemed to be tired and scribbling in his notebook.
The young Peixes girl always had her hair draping down her shoulders like brown waves of endless curls, and her eyes matched as they shimmered like the stars, always seeming interested in what you were talking about. The girl always wore tank tops but followed the dress code by having a light long sleeve covering up her freckled shoulders; speaking of freckles, they lined her face as well. This girl almost always wore skirts, even in the winter, almost as if she never got cold. A straight A student who never seemed to pay attention in class and always decided to doodle in her notebook, some come to think she has tutors, others think it just comes to her naturally. This girl? This girl is Feferi Peixes.
Now the other main character is a pale boy with jet-black hair and always wearing heavy clothing. His eyes always lined with bags and pen always in hand, this boy basically seems to only write and stay up all night, doing who knows what. Everyone used to pick on this boy for being short, although by senior year, he had grown, taller than most. He used to be the little ball of fury and rage, but now all the Vantas boy has to do is shoot a glare and the younger classmen know to back off. This young man, Karkat Vantas.
The two classmates almost never talked to each other, never getting in group projects, but always sat in the back (even if their desks were in the corners away from each other). Sometimes you would see the young heiress glance at her classmates before going back to her doodling, no one ever seeing what she was actually doing in that notebook although. But today was the day she decided to look at the 'lower class' her mother called them, but this was one interesting muse, the way his arm was used as a pedestal, hand cupping his chin as he stared at his pencil. Just as the tip of the pencil touched the notepaper, a hand shot down on her desk and her eyes shot a small but sweet glare at the teacher before her.
The paper had an A on it, of course, this wasn't something unusual for the girl, so she slid the paper into her bag quickly but as soon as her attention turned to the ruby-eyed boy, his paper was shoved in his face. He gave it a look of disgust and crumpled it up, as if not caring of the grade whatsoever. Was it that bad? This intrigued her, maybe she should help him instead of secretly watching from a distance like some olive-coated girl she knew, always getting people into the right relationships but never finding one for herself.
As soon as the bell rang, Feferi took action, although Karkats legs were longer and his strider took him further, she did not care. She hated these moments though, holding her binders in hand while bag slumped over her shoulder, feeling like a schoolgirl in a show trying to look cute for the boys. Her bag was empty, so why need to carry the binders in hand? It was the last class anyways, but she needed to catch up to this interesting senior. Her quick steps got here there quickly, walking through the halls next to him, giving small glances at him every so often.
"What the everlasting fuck do you want?" his voice, cranky and annoying as ever, came out in a soft whisper, like he was actually trying to hide the fact he was talking to her.
"I saw your reaction to the French quiz, I was just… Wondering if maybe…" they finally made it to a clearing, their feet telling them to finally stop now as they turned to one another. The urge to try and intimidate the boy by pressing a hand on the locker next to his shoulder and get in his face was hard to resist, but the Peixes managed not to do it. Her sister really was starting to rub off on her, wasn't she? Instead she tilted her head and let her eyes move to the floor, letting out a sigh "Maybe you wanted to let me help you study. I mean, it would kelp both of us by practicing more and all…"
There is was, the fishpuns. Karkat knew this girl had a tendency to make those, no matter how much the teachers tried to correct her, she would always let the puns slide, annoying as hell honestly. His furrowed brow softened at her request. Now why would this smart girl want to help him? A bit odd, but sweet. Sweet… Ugh, no, this is not what he needed. He could not be seen with a sweet, innocent, good, straight A girl, this was just something that would not be able to happen. But the way she gingerly moved her silky hair behind her ear before letting it fall back into her face once more, it caused something.
Panicking he glanced around, losing his cool for a second before their eyes locked once more. He swallowed hard before letting a smile tug at the corner of his lips for a second or two, but soon let it return to its normal state of blank anger. "Yeah, sure, whatever. When and where?"
"After school, today." She called back at him, her feet already moving towards the library. Wait, it was after school though, so she meant… Now? How did she know if he did or didn't have plans already? Maybe he wanted to hang out with his best friend, who… got together with someone he thought he loved. No. Best not to think about that. He soon started walking after her, pace quick to catch up but not too close to her, just in case of any wandering eyes.
Feferi had chosen a table in the library near the window, the light dancing off of her as she already had her French textbook opened to a specific page in front of her. Karkat looked around, not many here, of course it was after school and in the library, who really came to this place anymore anyways? He then noticed the girl staring at him, waiting for him to sit down as well, so he sat across, not sure were to sit. Not next to her, that would mean close reading, no, he did not want that; upside-down reading was better.
The lesson had already started and the pale male already wasn't paying attention, he had his notebook out and was writing. Now of course, every kid in school knew not to touch this notebook, no one but Karkat knew what was in it and that was how it was going to stay, until "You minnow," a hand slid across the table and swiped the notebook away, the freckled girl standing up and trying to read "maybe if you didn't have your nose stuck in this fin all the time we would actshoally get some progress done with this."
In the processes of trying to get the stack of paper in the rings back, he stood up so quickly that his chair flipped backwards and the table almost as well. Now he really wished he was sitting on the other side, even his long arms outstretched towards the notebook, she kept it out of his reach. Her eyes darted, everyone had left, even the librarian, this was her chance, she ran, and he followed. Hiding herself among the many books, Feferi opened the notebook, finding perfect cursive in it.
Karkat made a mad dash to her, pinning her in the corner.
"I didn't know you wrote romance novels, Karkat." she smiled a warm smile, eyes tracing over the pages before he snatched it away.
"I do not. Now shut up about all of this and-"
"I would love to draw a picture of you, when you concentrate during class, your features are very interesting and the facial expressions would make the picture come to life." This caught him off guard, but he couldn't help but let that small tug of his lips get painted on his face once more, this time, it was just a little bit bigger. The Peixes girl wore a smug expression, now they both shared a secret with each other, that was a good sign of trust that she hoped would stay. "Okay okay… Lets get back to studying, okay?" with a nod she left him standing there, stupid grin still plastered onto his face.
Meeting back at the table, notebooks put away, all focus was on French now.
"No no, you have to purse your lips." she giggled, showing him what he had to do with her own set of pink lips, making an 'oo' sound.
Not being able to help but chuckle at her, he tried to do the same. Although the time was short and her sister was already there, waiting at the door. Karkat knew that he was going to get an earful at home from his older sibling as well for not getting back home on time, but this was worth it.
Once she stood up, she gave him a kind smile and pat on the back "Sea you Monday, okay Crabby? You're going to need all the kelp you can get if you want to pass the next test."
A small nod and smirk was shown to her as she walked off, his eyes wandering to his bag as a hand snuck into it. There was something Feferi didn't know, only his family and Gamzee knew, that romcoms were something he watched, and some of them… Some of them were in French. His fingers moved around the crumpled paper, feeling the edges and sharp points in the paper. His fist then clenched the lifeless object before loosening and opening it up, an A painted the page in red. Looks like Monday was going to be another fun study date, all was going according to plan.