At lunch, Cassidy and Austin found each other and tried to make their way to the cafeteria. In the vastness of the school, they ended up in the wrong wing and in another building twice. They asked several teachers and fellow students until they finally found it.
It was just like their old school: tables laid in a pattern that was just everywhere, the stereotypical cliques, and the food. The food was something that didn't seem to be edible, a sandwich with a type of meat in the middle that looked like –and smelled like- dog food. Austin's nose crinkled at that smell and gagged.
Cassidy sent him a look that said 'just don't look at it' as they found a table in the middle and sat in the seats. They were alone, they were the other's company while they people-watched. She pointed out the obvious popular kids, the ones who walked around with a certain air. As if they ruled the school and everyone who wasn't them was beneath their acknowledgment.
Besides the cliques, they noticed that the Dominants hung out with the Dominants, submissives with the submissives. And two people that sat in the corner of the room, one reading and the other writing something down.
"Austin," she said, "Y'know how I said that I was in love?" she pointed to the boy, "He's the person I fell for."
The blond glanced at the boy, before looking back at Cassidy with an amused expression on his face. "That's the guy you fell for?" and he grinned. "Well, I'm not going to say that you have weird standards but…" and she already knew what that statement meant. He studied the other further, taking note of the lack of a cuff on his wrist. "But he's a Switch, and you know what the government says about Dom/Switch claims-,"
She interrupted him by saying that he wasn't a Switch and was a submissive. Maybe he just forgot his cuff or something, that's why he didn't have it. But the idea of him being a Switch was kind of weird. It wouldn't make any sense since the miss escaped his lips so easily.
"Switches can be submissive to Dominants. If you claim him, then he's going to have to dominate someone. Those claims can't last without a third party. He won't have a role, he'll either be your sub or someone else's Dom."
Polyamorous relationships were common in Dom/Switch or Switch/sub claims. Submissives couldn't dominate and Doms couldn't submit. It was biology and no one could change that.
Austin had a point, she couldn't bear the idea of a polyamorous claim. If Dallas was a Switch, then she'd have to find either someone else or try to wrap her head around the idea of a polyamorous relationship.
She went back to picking at her food, poking at it with her plastic fork. God, it looked disgusting.
. . .
Ally and Dallas were at their usual table, doing their usual lunchtime things that didn't involve eating the food. He read a book, while she jotted down a melody that was stuck in her head.
The lyrics on the page were being edited, as she made several exes over the words she didn't like. When she was finished, it was covered in red marks. I can't write, she thought, looking over the melody she wrote down. It was a ballad that was somewhat out of her comfort zone. A love song about a boy and girl torn apart by tragic circumstances, but they find each other again. She liked love, no, she loved love.
That was why she watched romance movies and read love stories. Why she believed in love-at-first-sight, why Romeo & Juliet was her all-time favorite play, why she cried at the end of The Faults in Our Stars, it was all because she was in love with love.
It was the most powerful emotion in the universe, to her at least.
Dallas was always annoyed with her being in love with love. When she was watching a romantic movie, he yelled for her to shut up if her 'aww's were too loud. Then she countered by saying that she never disturbed him when Doctor Who was on –and his screams or sobs were loud-, so don't disturb her when [insert romantic lead here] was going to confess his or her feelings/break up with/etc. with [insert other romantic lead here].
He would stay quiet and she would grin in triumph.
Now, she was finished with her melody and needed to work on the music project. The project was something simple: create a song with an instrument and lyrics. The words may or may not rhyme, that was up to the composer. Any foul language, if any, will be an automatic fail.
But she needed Austin for it. He was her partner and he –obviously- had an opinion on his share of the work. So she went over to their table in the middle of the cafeteria, which left Dallas alone. She noticed this and motioned for her brother to go with her. He looked wary, but stood up and went to her anyway. He sat next to her, snuck his hand underneath the table and reached for his sister's hand and squeezed hers in a sign of worry.
She sent him a small smile and squeezed back. She would be okay without him, so he didn't need to worry. "Go," she mouthed, "Go to your friends," and she saw how his eyes flitted to Austin and gave her a look that said 'not leaving'.
Austin was across from her and she opened the songbook to an empty page. A pencil by her side was pointed to him. "So, Ally," he said, "Let's get started on this project."
"Do you think we'll need the music room? I have a few ideas, but I need your input," and she flipped to the page with lyrics and a few lines of notes written on it. He reached for it and brought it to him, reading the words and humming the notes. There was this small smile on his face.
He liked it.
. . .
Dallas was by his sister's side, watching her and Austin interact with each other. They were friendly and nice, so he didn't need to worry about the blond. Even if he was a Dominant. Cassidy was across from him, and he decided to engage in a bit of conversation with her while their siblings talked.
He moved from Ally's side and went to sit next to Cassidy. In the empty space, Austin grabbed the opportunity to take it and be closer to Ally. They were huddled together, reading the songbook and jotting other ideas down.
Now, he and Cassidy were sitting next to each other. Ever since their encounter in English, they never bothered to talk to each other. Even if they had a few classes together. Out of 7 periods, they shared 3.
English, Science, and D/s 101. Not exactly in that order.
He watched as Austin and Ally stood up to go the music room across the hall from the cafeteria. (Students were allowed to roam the halls during lunch, as long as the students were the same classification. Doms and subs together usually meant… ugh, he'd rather not think about it).
Since they were alone, Dallas decided to strike up a conversation. "So…," he said, "Are you and Austin siblings? I kind of figured, since and you and he have the same last name and all. Then again, cousins have the same last names, but siblings make more sense."
Cassidy looked up from poking her food, noticing Austin wasn't there. "Where did Austin go?" she asked. He gestured to outside of the cafeteria, and she 'ohh'ed in realization. He must've went to the music room to work on something, probably with that Ally person. He was talking about her earlier, something about her and him doing a music project. "Yeah, we're siblings. Twins, if I had to be honest."
"Are you guys close?"
She nodded, and the conversation went dry after that, it was getting awkward really fast and she needed something to break the ice. And her eyes strayed to his wrist, a mark was on the left one. Meaning he was a submissive, and she reminded herself to tell Austin about this. Dallas was a sub, not a Switch. But why didn't the guy have a cuff? "Why don't have a, y'know…," and she motioned to the boy's wrist.
"Oh, a cuff?" and he looked down and muttered something. "I guess I might've forgotten it at home or something. We were late, so we had leave in a hurry."
"So that means you're not a Switch?" and he nodded, looking kind of confused by her reaction. Switches had a mark on their lower back, and his wrist clearly had one.
"Why would you think I'm one?" he questioned.
"Lack of a cuff, for one thing."
He could see her point, but still, she could've just looked at his mark. "Point taken."
"Do you like it here? At the school, I mean."
He was silent for a few seconds as he twisted the cuff, before he nodded. "Most of the time," he said, "Other times, the work can be hard and I'll be really frustrated. But… it's okay."
Cassidy had a weird feeling that Dallas wasn't telling her something, but she pushed it down.
. . .
Austin was sitting down at the piano, testing out a few chords. Ally was in a chair next to him, her songbook in her lap as she wrote down a bit more of the melody. He hummed softly, testing out the lyrics furiously scribbled in the margin. "You don't see me…," and he thought those were strong lyrics, but the way she wrote it was in a minor key. It was too sad for his liking, so he wanted to try adjusting the key and speeding up the tempo to make it happier.
Everything was silent between them, only broken by the scritch-scratch of her pencil and his fingers pressing down on the keys.
He glanced at her and saw that she was writing more to the song. Adding in a chorus and a few more verses. "I'm finished!" she declared happily, placing the book on the stand and watching him read it and mumble the tune. When he was finished, she asked "What d'ya think?"
"It's a good song," he begun, "But you wrote in a minor key, which makes it sound really sad," and played the melody the way she wrote it. "It should be in a major key, it'll sound happy," then he did it his way.
"But if it's written in a major key and the lyrics are like that, it wouldn't make any sense. Sad lyrics and a happy beat," she pointed out.
"Maybe Mrs. Lawson would give us extra credit for 'stepping outside of our comfort zone and writing some very unconventional' and we'll be the most awesome students there."
She laughed at his attempt of imitating Mrs. Lawson –speaking at a fast pace and with a dramatic tone- and he grinned at her.
This will be an extremely fun project, he thought.
Author's Notes: This is my apology chapter for the hiatus I have put my readers through. Blame real life getting in the way and other things.
