"Seriously?!"
"Shh!"
"Sorry," Scott whispered. "Seriously? She was… on top of you?"
"Yeah." Cosima looked around to see if anyone was paying attention to them. Everybody was either dozing off, on their phones, or somehow managing to pay attention to the calculus teacher drone on about the syllabus. She turned her attention back to Scott. "We were lying there like that for probably like… two or three minutes, maybe. Well, we talked too. We laughed and introduced ourselves and then we got up."
"Woah," Scott seemed at a loss for words.
"Woah, what?"
"Woah as in I'm going to have to give skateboarding another try."
Cosima had trouble containing her giggles. "You tried once and you barely stood up on the board. As soon as you started to lose your balance, you gave up. Said your hand-eye coordination was limited to video games." She paused for a second, then grinned her Cosima-grin, equal parts cheeky and teasing. "Even though I still beat you at that, too."
"I didn't want to die a virgin."
"So what's changed? Not your status as a virgin, that's for sure." She poked her tongue out between her teeth. Scott narrowed his eyes at her in an attempt to be menacing. But Scott was anything but menacing. Gangly, messy cow-licked hair, glasses, Star Trek t-shirt, and just about the nicest guy you could meet.
"Well if skateboarding helps with the ladies, then it's sort of worth the risk, right? Impress the ladies or die trying.
"No dying, Scotty. Maybe some scrapes and bruises… slight chance of broken bones. But no dying. We'll teach you. The whole group," Cosima said. Scott nodded in agreement, though he seemed nervous.
"So… this girl… she's the French transfer, right? Delphine? I've heard a lot of the guys talking about her already. Not that they include me in their conversations."
"Yup, that's her," Cosima replied. Her smile then started to melt into a frown. "Wait… what are they saying about her?" She didn't like the idea of what the guys were saying… what she KNEW guys would be saying.
"Just the usual stuff that you'd expect. Hot. French. Cheerleader. Parents are loaded. And then more about her being hot and French." Scott thought for a second and then sighed. "Man, we had to sign up for German freshman year instead of French!"
Cosima echoed Scott's sigh. "Ugh, I know! And yeah, I know it's my fault… it was my idea to take German because of my family name being Niehaus. Man, it would really be awesome to impress her with some knowledge of French. Well… at least Katja thinks it's cool we can hold semi-intelligent conversations with her in German."
"Yeah, at least there's that. Do you… do ya think Katja will be one of the group teaching me how to skate?" Scott seemed very shy all of a sudden. Well… MORE shy than he usually was. The gears in Cosima's head started turning and she smiled a little. Scott apparently noticed her smile. "Hey no looking at me like that… I just… okay, she's really, really cool and she doesn't make fun of me or anything. Plus she's really hot and I don't want to look like a total doofus in front of her. WHY ARE YOU SMILING AT ME LIKE THAT?"
"Nothing! Nothing. I just… it's cute, is all. And I don't mean that in a patronizing way, which is shocking for me, I know. I figure it will just be Tony and me teaching you, for the most part. But don't be surprised if Fe, the Twins, or Katja show up." Scott nodded in understanding just as the bell rang to dismiss them to second period. She gave Scott an encouraging hug and then they headed off to their classes, Scott to history, and Cosima to English.
The next few classes went pretty smoothly, though a lot of people were still talking to her that never had before, and some even asked Cosima to sit with them. Most of the time she couldn't really refuse without being rude. The only exception was history class, which she had with Sarah and Helena, whom everyone just called the Twins. Helena was still kind of upset that Sarah had left without her that morning, but she never stayed mad at Sarah for long.
Then came lunchtime. She sat down with the Twins, Scott, Felix, and Katja. Tony wasn't there yet, but she knew he'd been scheduled to have shop class right before lunch, so he was probably running a little late.
"Hey guys, I'm gonna go get Tony a sandwich or something. Be right back," she said. They all nodded and hummed around mouthfuls of food. She was halfway across the lunchroom when she heard someone say her name, and then a second later there was a hand on her arm. She turned around to see Alison Hendrix smiling at her, all perky and dressed almost head-to-toe in pink.
"Hi Cosima!" Alison said. She stood with a posture that was unnervingly perfect… too perfect to be comfortable, in Cosima's opinion. But her smile seemed comfortable enough.
"Hey Alison," Cosima paused for a beat, not really sure what to say to this girl who was practically a stranger to her. "Umm… what's up?"
"Oh, we…" she turned to motion toward her group of friends sitting at the table behind her. All of them were sporty, beautiful, popular to the extreme. They tried to look casual as Alison gestured toward them. "… were just wondering if you wanted to sit with us. If you'd rather sit with your friends, I understand. But they're invited too. I know Felix from theatre class. We're doing our first scene together." Alison smiled again and it seemed a little less forced that time. Cosima knew Fe was rather fond of Alison as well (at least "as far as normals go" he would say), though he'd never formally introduced her to them.
Cosima looked past Alison to the group of popular kids, and then back over toward where her friends were sitting. All of them were paying attention. As a matter of fact, most of the people around were paying attention. She was just about to tell Alison she'd have to think about it when someone bumped into her back. It wasn't a hard bump, but it did jostle her a bit.
"Merde," she heard someone mutter. Cosima was smiling before she could even consciously connect all the dots. Delphine was busy kicking her foot free of someone's backpack strap when Cosima turned around. Once she was free of it, she looked up to see it was Cosima whom she'd run into. Her cheeks got pink, but her smile was automatic and completely radiant.
"We've gotta stop meeting like this," Cosima teased. It was out before she could stop it, and she mentally chastised herself for flirting while literally the whole lunch room was watching.
"Oui, people might get the wrong idea," Delphine teased back. And she winked. SHE WINKED! Cosima thought. SHE FREAKING WINKED AT ME!
"Wrong idea about what?" someone asked. It was Aynsley Norris, who was co-captain of the cheerleading squad with Alison. You only needed to be at Sheldon High for a few minutes to know that she was a major douche. Well, Cosima thought so anyway. Aynsley had gotten up from her seat and was now standing beside Alison, who looked none-too-pleased about her butting in. "Do you two know each other?"
Cosima didn't like the accusatory looks Aynsley was shooting Delphine. Everything about her body language, facial expression, and tone showed a complete disdain for "mingling with the commoners." So Cosima was about to jump in and say something that would hopefully diffuse the situation, when Delphine did instead.
"Cosima is just referring to my secret clumsiness. Earlier today I slipped on her skateboard and I could have been seriously hurt, but she… helped me. And now I bumped into her again." Delphine put her hand on Cosima's shoulder then, and Cosima had never thought a touch to the shoulder could induce butterflies.
"Yeah," Cosima agreed. "Wouldn't be good for such an acclaimed athlete to be thought of as clumsy, right?"
"No, not at all," Alison chimed in. "It was very nice of you to help Delphine, Cosima."
"Never pegged you for clumsy, Delphine," Aynsley said. "We might have to be careful with you on the squad."
"I think she's pretty graceful," Cosima said firmly. "Her clumsiness is my fault." Then she gave her best cocky smile. "I just have that effect on people, y'know."
Everyone got a kick out of that. Alison even had to bite back a smile. Aynsley didn't know what to say. Her boyfriend Chad, however, was never at a loss for words. He wasn't nearly as douchey as Aynsley. Well, he WAS a douche. But a likable one, for the most part.
"I believe that," Chad said from his spot at the table. "Bump into each other all you want, ladies. Cool with me!" Another round of laughter, and a serious blush from Delphine, but the tension was gone. No one was paying attention to Aynsley, who was going back to her seat.
"So!" Alison began again. "The horrible manners of my colleagues aside… would you like to sit with us?"
"Umm… I don't know. This isn't some Mean Girls kind of thing, is it? Because pink looks good on you, Alison, but I don't even think I can do it on Wednesdays."
Alison looked mortified. "Pink looks good on anyone at any time! But no… and I'm also inviting your friends, so I'm no Regina George."
"Non, that would be Aynsley," she heard Delphine mutter behind her. Cosima practically snorted with the effort to hold her laughter in. Alison looked confused, so Cosima tried to reassure her.
"Let me ask my friends, and I'll come back and let you know." Did she want to join them? She looked at the group of people seated at that table, and then she looked at Delphine. She knew the answer was a definite yes if Delphine was going to be there.
She made her way back over to the table where her friends were sitting. Tony was there now and, from the look on his face, he'd witnessed the scene at the popular table. He'd also eaten the rest of her lunch, but she couldn't bring herself to be mad at him. She'd never gotten him his sandwich, anyway.
"Woah, blondie's a total bitch, right?" Tony said as Cosima sat back down.
"What?!" Cosima said, already on the defensive. "Delphine?"
"Nah, not sexy French goldilocks. The one who looks like she's constipated… she's got the quarterback boyfriend."
"Oh, Aynsley!" Cosima laughed. "Yeah, she's a total bitch, alright."
"I hear we're invited for tea," Sarah said.
"Yeah…" Cosima didn't know how to talk them into it, if they were even against it. "What do you guys think? I mean, we could just give it a try tomorrow. If they're all a bunch of tools, we can just come back here and sit and it will all be fine."
"Ja, zat sounds gut to me. Vhy not?" Katja said. "I'm looking for new members for my band, anyvay. Maybe zey have some talent over zere."
"Yeah, I'm down," Scott piped up almost immediately after. Cosima bit back a smile.
Felix sighed and dramatically rolled his eyes, but Cosima could tell he really wanted to do it. "Oh alright… I need to discuss my scene with Alison anyway."
"I'll go too," Helena said. "They are closer to the food… and there is jello tomorrow."
"Well shit, I guess I'm in too if this meathead is going," Sarah nudged Helena playfully.
"Do not call me this," Helena said, even though she smiled and nudged her sister back.
"How about you, Tony?" Cosima asked.
"You know I'm down for whatever, dreads." He smiled, flashing his silver tooth at her. He still had a smudge of dirt on his face from shop class, but it did nothing but add character to his already scruffily handsome face. "I take it Delfiiiine is spoken for, though? From the way you're drooling over her. No judgment, though. Frenchie's got it goin' on in all the right places. You go for it, girl."
"Can't fence this shit in, right?" Cosima said laughingly.
"You know it babe!" Tony laughed with her. That was their thing. It had been Tony's first. But it just sort of fit them both… fit the whole group, really. They were weird, and they loved it.
"Okay, so I'll tell Alison we're sitting with them tomorrow, since lunch is almost over anyway." Cosima got up and headed over to the popular table again. She tapped Alison on the shoulder and informed her of the news. She seemed genuinely happy to hear it, as did most of the other people there. Especially Delphine. God Cosima, at least TRY and let your eyes wander to other places besides her.
The bell rang signaling lunch's end, and she got hugs from some of the people there. Chad even picked her up, much to her surprise. Delphine hadn't left yet, though most of the people were already filing out. Cosima was about to say something to her when Tony passed by with Cosima's bag (complete with attached skateboard) and handed it off, wriggling his eyebrows at Delphine in the process.
"Sup Delfiiine," he said goofily before sauntering out of the lunchroom, chuckling at his own joke.
"Quoi?" Delphine said, confused.
"Don't worry about him," Cosima said, smiling. "He's just a giant dork. But I love him."
"Oh! Is he your… boyfriend?"
"Tony? Oh no… more like, he's my wingman and I'm his. We're best buddies. Though we do flirt shamelessly… it's just part of our charm." Cosima flashed her best grin.
Delphine smiled in return, nodding. "Oui… c'est bien."
"What's good?" Cosima asked.
"Quoi?" Delphine said again.
"You said 'Yes, that's good.' What is good, exactly?" Cosima was pushing her luck, flirting more openly now, but she figured why the hell not?! "Is it good that he's not my boyfriend? Is it good that we're friends? Or is it good that we're charming?"
Delphine seemed to think about it seriously for a second. She started nibbling her lower lip, and Cosima thought she was going to forget what she even asked in the first place when Delphine finally said, "I think it's all good." Cosima was certain Delphine realized she was looking at her lips, but neither of them realized they had instinctively moved closer to one another.
"You know what I think?" Cosima said, a hint of daring in her voice.
"What is it you think Cosima?"
Well first of all I freakin' LOVE how you say my name. Don't do that while I'm trying to be seductive, woman!
"I think…" she moved in slightly, until they were basically toe to toe, "that we have a habit of ending up alone together." Cosima noticed the hitch in Delphine's breathing, and that she'd started to nibble her bottom lip again. Cosima wasn't so subtle about noticing it this time. Her eyes held there a few seconds before flicking back up to Delphine's. And then she leaned in, but instead of going up on her tiptoes to kiss Delphine (like she really, REALLY wanted to), she leaned around her to grab Delphine's bookbag off the table, their bodies brushing together in the process. When she pulled back, she saw the disappointment and desire written on Delphine's face. "And this is the second time today we've made each other late for class. Another habit we've already established."
"Oui, but habits can be bad or good, right?" Delphine ventured.
"Sure," Cosima said, grinning cheekily. "And this is only the second occurrence of both, so… I can't say which it is, or if it's even a habit yet. However…"
"Quoi?"
"I would totally like to walk you to class again. And that's a habit I can definitely dig."
"Dig? Is this… good or…?"
"Oh yeah! It means I would really like to."
"D'accord. Then… oui, I would totally dig that too."
They were both grinning and blushing like total dorks, but Cosima had seen that look on Delphine's face. She might regret this one day, but for right now… she had her sights set on the hottest girl in school, and her aim was pretty freakin' sweet.
