Disclaimer: The Covenant and all its characters do not belong to me.
Sarah, finally being allowed to sleep in the next day, wandered into the Cafeteria with Kate. Thankfully, on weekends, the Cafeteria sold breakfast all day. Grabbing their respective breakfasts, both girls looked for a table amongst the sea of sleepy students.
"Kate," someone cried over the murmur of students. The two girls both looked at the same time to see the very girl whose arrival they had celebrated just last night. Sarah tried not to grumble over said girl looking a little too awake, never mind that it was a little after noon.
The two girls brought their trays over to the table, which was occupied by Tyler, Reid, and Jane.
"'Sup, ladies," Reid greeted, his lips quirking into a smirk over the rim of his coffee.
"Hey," Tyler said without hesitation, grinning while he drizzled more syrup on his already buttered pancakes.
Sarah almost dropped her tray. Did he not know how cute he was? She smiled and said a quiet, "Good morning."
Jane laughed. "Its definitely almost twelve-thirty."
"Oh, shut up you… morning person – you," Kate said, stabbing a piece of her fruit salad.
"Jane just pointed out it isn't morning," Tyler reminded the girl.
For a while there wasn't any noise but that of the five teens eating. Sarah was zoning out and looking randomly around when she noticed a slight detail about their table companions.
"Hey," Sarah said, spoon halfway towards her mouth, oatmeal dripping back into the bowl. "Weren't you two wearing that last night?" She gestured with her spoon towards Tyler and Jane. Kate had to throw up a napkin to avoid being hit by a glob of oatmeal.
"We slept over Reid's house," Jane admitted. Sarah refrained from pointing it wasn't so much a house but a castle.
"We didn't just sleep," Reid said with a waggle of the brows, spearing a piece of sausage off of Jane's plate and making a show of savoring it. Jane laughed and gave him a playful shove.
"Oh, yeah," Jane said with relish, leaning back in her chair, propping her arms behind her head, "we were very naughty last night." She gave a smirk that Sarah had only ever seen on Reid's mouth.
Tyler was laughing into his pancakes. "So naughty Mr. Garwin came in to ask us to keep it down."
The three all broke down laughing, Sarah and Kate exchanged smiles but did not join in.
"So," Kate said after the laughter died down, "you were playing video games." It was supposed to be a question but came out a statement.
"Pretty much," Jane said, nudging Tyler's shoulder. The boy gave an exaggerated sigh and held his fork out. Jane took the offered pancakes into her mouth happily. She rubbed her head against his shoulder in thanks.
"Yeah," Reid agreed, tugging on his beanie. "As per usual, we kicked little Janie's butt."
Jane rolled her eyes. "How was I supposed to get better while I was in Europe? Please tell me because I'm dying to know."
"Magic, of course," Reid said. Sarah started choking on her oatmeal and Reid kicked her under the table with a glare. He pointedly opened his mouth towards Jane and she automatically placed a piece of sausage in. He chewed thoughtfully for a moment, and then swallowed. Opening his mouth in another direction, Kate thought he was asking her for some fruit salad, but apparently Jane understood the gesture and put a piece of toast in front of him so he could bite off some.
"How was Europe, anyhow?" Kate questioned, leaning away from her empty bowl.
"Pretty cool," Jane answered. "They have some pretty buildings. The architecture was fantastic."
Reid and Tyler groaned as she began a commentary on the structure of the buildings that Sarah was sure they had already heard. Jane ignored them and continued enthusiastically on.
"Girl," Kate said during Jane's monologue, "no offense, but we all know you're an heiress to a construction company. You don't have to prove it all the time."
Jane pouted and crossed her arms. Tyler rubbed her back in comfort.
"How were the boys?" Sarah asked, leaning forward slightly alongside with Kate, both in anticipation.
Jane grinned, previous put out mood forgotten. "SO CUTE!" She exclaimed. Sarah hadn't known Jane could get anymore excited than when she was describing buildings, but apparently she could. "I love them over there. They are sogorgeous. And I love how the dress over there with the waistcoats and the button-ups and," she took a breath with a dreamy smile, propping her head on her hand. "It was just lovely."
"So," Kate said, arching a brow, "any summer romances?"
Jane snorted and seemed to deflate. "You've got jokes," she said sarcastically.
"But, what about the waistcoats and the button-ups and all that Jazz?" Sarah asked, complete with Jazz hands.
Jane shrugged.
"What does that mean?" both girls asked.
She bit her lip. "I guess they just don't get my idiosyncrasies over there," she looked away, shrugging.
"Are you serious?" Kate asked. "No one wanted a bite out of the yumminess that is you?"
"Well," Jane drawled with a guilty face.
"So, there was someone," Sarah said with a smile.
"There were several someones," Jane admitted, "but not anyone I found attractive."
Kate scoffed. "Whatever," she said. "Every time you think a guy is cute you like them for awhile then you just stop liking them after they start liking you."
Jane shrugged. "It's a stigma." She threw an arm around each of the boys seated next to her. "Besides, all I need is these two." She squeezed her eyes shut and made a face when both boys simultaneously dropped a kiss on one of her cheeks.
"You don't need a man," Reid told her.
Jane gave him an annoyed face. "Yeah, I kind of do," she stated, taking a sip of water.
Reid rolled his eyes.
"Don't you give me sass, Reid Garwin," she said without looking. "Otherwise I'll forget why I hang out with you and just stop."
"My pleasant countenance?" Reid stated, posing. Sarah tried not to be surprised with his vocabulary – the entire time she had known him he had never spoken in such a way.
Jane snorted. "No, Tyler!" she said.
At the same time Tyler said, "Me, doofus."
There was a slight pause before everyone else at the table burst into laughter at Reid's expense.
Reid pouted and crossed his arms.
-
"I've never heard Tyler speak so much in my life," Sarah said later in her and Kate's room.
Kate laughed. "Yeah," she agreed. "Kind of weird, right?" She eyed her closet. "She's good for them like that. Did you hear Reid's SAT vocab' earlier?"
"Yeah!" Sarah exclaimed, slipping on a pair of jeans. "What was that?"
Kate grinned. "Well, Jane speaks that way and the two kind of picked it up." Her smile widened. "You haven't heard anything 'till you hear her speak more ghetto than Reid. Where do you think he learned how to talk like that, too?" She pulled out a casual top. "Which I'm sure you will probably hear – especially if we go to Nicky's."
Sarah groaned. "It's a school night."
Kate laughed. "Isn't it always?"
-
Later, Sarah looked up with a smile when Reid, Tyler, and Jane arrived with the bang of the door. Reid was leading her through the crowd, holding her hand and she holding Tyler's with the other. All three were dressed simply: Tyler in a dark hoodie and Reid and Jane in plain shirts. Reid and Jane were actually dressed quite similarly, the only difference was in color scheme, and even that wasn't by much. Reid was wearing a black t and loose, faded jeans while she was wearing a slate shirt and skinny, dark denim. Out of everyone there, they were the most casually dressed, besides Nicky. If it weren't for his fingerless gloves and beanie, and her dangling earrings, they'd look positively nondescript. Instead they looked effortless.
They would've looked made for each other if it weren't for the fact that he was leering at every girl that passed (it didn't help that most leered back as well). They would've made the perfect picture if it weren't for the fact that Tyler was linked to them as well and everyone knew their relationship was strictly platonic.
After greeting each one of their friends individually, Reid handed Jane a twenty and, murmuring in her ear, took off with Tyler towards the pool table.
"Be right back," she said, setting down her purse with the two other girls. She turned and headed towards the bar.
"Watch this," Kate muttered to Sarah as Jane came back a few moments later, balancing three servings of food expertly.
Sarah watched in amusement as Jane took the lettuce out of one and added it to another. Jane also took tomatoes out of that burger and the previous, putting it in the last one. Leaving the burger that now just had the cheese, meat, and buns, Jane took the two others to Reid and Tyler.
After her chore, Jane finally sat down with the now two smiling girls. "What?" she asked, before biting into her burger.
"Nothing," Kate said, all open palms in a nonthreatening gesture. She and Sarah exchanged smiles.
Wiping her mouth, Jane grinned. "What?" she repeated.
"When's the wedding?" Sarah asked innocently.
"Oh, god, not this again!" the other girl said with a groan. "I can't believe you got Sarah to believe your little fantasy, Kate! We've known each other for like two days. You guys!"
"Seriously," Kate said, not the least bit remorseful, "I didn't say anything, Sarah brought it up to me. And if you two got anymore perfect this would be Stepford."
"Yeah, you two are perfect for each other," Sarah paused then yelled, "so stop pretending and just combine with each other!"
Jane rolled her eyes as she continued to eat.
"Girl, don't give me that," Kate said. "God made you two for each other."
The smaller girl laughed. "I'm not denying that we're matched." She took a swig of water. "I'm just saying it would never happen."
"Sweetie," Sarah started, "it is waiting to happen. You two are so set it's a tennis match."
Scoffing, Jane finished sarcastically, "Score: Love-love?"
"Well,yeah," the two girls said in unison, grinning. The pair watched as Jane ignored them and sliced the bite marks of her burger and set it aside. Kate prodded Sarah and the blonde girl complied by reaching for the neat half.
"That's for Reid," the other girl said before the other could touch it. "He doesn't like other people touching his food."
"You touched it," Kate pointed out.
"That's different," Jane replied.
"Exactly!" Kate said triumphantly.
Rolling her eyes again, the girl gathered her stuff and unfinished meal, depositing it at the counter next to the pool tables. She stopped to exchange words with Reid and Tyler, who were playing a friendly game between themselves, before moving sinuously back to the two girls.
Ignoring their needling looks, she asked, "Bathroom?" Without a word, the two other girls gathered their purses and headed their way there.
-
Jane fiddled with her phone while talking to several girls in the bathroom. There were about ten girls in the cramped space, some exchanging lip-gloss, all exchanging some gossip. She kept one ear on the conversation around her, but was mostly focused on her phone.
"Tell Reid 'hi,'" said a girl Sarah recognized as Jen from her AP Physics class.
"For sure," Jane replied without looking up, texting furiously, effectively missing some of the girls in the room exchange knowing looks with each other. Laughing at Reid's reply, Jane shut her phone. "Says 'hi' back," she said to the other girl. Her cackling really wasn't encouraging to the other girl, who had frozen mid lip gloss application. Unaware of the girl's sudden anxious demeanor, Jane followed Kate and Sarah out.
Stepping out, Jane sighed when her eyes fell on Reid smirking at an irate Aaron. Swearing under her breath about irresponsible blondes, she told Kate and Sarah to go on without her. "Can't leave him unsupervised for one minute," she muttered. Nodding at the two other girls and patting Caleb and Pogue on the back to say that she would take care of it, she headed to stop the all out brawl that was bound to take place.
Reid automatically placed his hand behind Jane's back when she looped an arm around his waist.
"Are they blind?" Sarah asked Kate from the table they were watching.
Nodding at the opposing three boys, Jane gave a cool, "What's up?" She felt some of the boys' tension slip away. Reid relaxed and pulled her against him. Submitting, she clasped both her arms around him casually, coming full circle.
"Nothing," Aaron replied, his jaw unclenching. He almost smiled at the girl.
Jane, however, didn't fight the urge and quirked her lips. "I'd offer to let you win your money back by playing me but we both know that'd be a fixed game." It was no secret the girl could only participate in a sport if a controller was involved.
"Rack," Jane scoffed as several pairs of eyes darted towards her chest, "'em up, Tyler," Reid told the younger boy. Murmuring into her hair, Reid gently pushed her towards the counter in which her purse resided. Slipping onto a stool, Jane settled into the role of acting as a buffer between the two parties.
The rest of the night was spent talking to the boys when it wasn't their turn, offering them a drink at regular intervals. She even fetched refills for Aaron and his crew.
It was here Jane was most comfortable. Sure, she could relate to other girls – quite easily, in fact. However, it was in these moments when she felt the most at ease. Cackling unabashedly at something Tyler had said, she never noticed a pair of eyes staring at her happily.
Trying too hard to not get caught, Reid missed the matching content expression Jane sent his way.
Kate and Sarah missed the whole spectacle, too busy enjoying the fact their boyfriends didn't have to babysit their younger friends.
And, Tyler's wistful looks, as per usual, were missed by all.
TBC.
A/N: Wow! Really long chapter! Just kept typing and typing and it just happened. Question: Am I the only one besides alydgrl(did I spell that right?) who'd enjoy all three together? Because, if that idea excites you, tell me, so I can write it. Lol.
