Khan had no time to talk to anyone after practice. Immediately after he changed out of his uniform, he left to drive home. He was set on one thing and one thing only: fixing things with Lian. Being around Fernando after the stunt he pulled on Friday was embarrassing and awkward enough, but being icy with Lian as well was just too much for him. He hated going through school feeling like he was walking on eggshells around his friends. Khan wanted everything to be normal again, or at least, make everything seem normal again. Right now, the best he could do was to make up with Lian. Fernando was a battle for another day.

Khan parked in front of his house. It was already starting to get dark out. He pulled out his phone to text Lian. He really didn't want to do this, but he knew if he didn't do something first, she would stay angry with him.

"How long do you take to get ready?" After a minute of waiting, the speech bubble with three dots appeared. She was typing a message back.

"Depends on the occasion, why?"

"How long do you take to get ready for a date?"

"Depends on where I'm going."

"What about a restaurant in the city with me?"

"Are you asking me out?" Khan paused. Was he really about to go on a date with Lian? He was tired, dirty, and he had homework to do. He didn't really want to spend time with her, either, at least not at a stuffy restaurant. But he knew Lian well enough to know that she wanted to feel important, and that she felt important when someone was buying her fancy things or taking her to nice places. He sighed, telling himself that he had to, even if his heart wasn't fully in it and his wallet would take a beating.

"Yes."

"I'll be ready in an hour."

"Alright, I'll be waiting out front in my car." Khan got out of his car, then got into his house, jumping in the shower right away to wash off the sweat left over from practice. When he got out of the shower, he went to his closet to decide on an outfit. He chose a burgundy dress shirt with a black tie under a dark gray suit jacket with slacks to match. While Khan was looking for his dress shoes, he found a bottle of expensive cologne he'd gotten as a gift. It reminded him of how his bed smelled like Fernando's cologne after he left his party. He ignored the memory and sprayed some on before putting on his clothes, just as an extra surprise for Lian. After that, he went to his mirror to comb his hair and style it with gel. By the time he was ready, he had 15 minutes left, so he went to sit in his car and wait for Lian. In the meantime, he called several restaurants in the city looking for a reservation. Most of the places he called had pretty long wait times, since it was already fairly late, but eventually, he found an upscale French restaurant with a 30 minute wait. He had just thanked the host and hung up the phone when Lian stepped out of her front door and walked to his car. She was wearing a short asymmetrical magenta dress with one long sleeve, golden high-heeled sandals, and some gaudy earrings and bracelets encrusted with magenta stones to match. Her pearly-white hair was tied back in a bun. Khan got out and opened his car door for her. She sat down in the passenger seat, silky fuschia clutch purse in hand. As he got back in, he noticed her glaring at him expectantly.

"You look really nice," he said. She indeed looked nice, but he didn't really care. No matter how much makeup, jewelry, and fancy clothing she put on, it was still Lian. Her scowl had not disappeared.

"Just nice?"

"Pretty, too." She rolled her eyes.
"Where are we going?"

"Le Petit Paris. I got a reservation at 8:45." She perked up.

"That place is supposed to be really nice, how did you get in there?" He shrugged.

"Luck, I guess." She seemed more enthusiastic now. He pulled away from the curb and drove through the neighborhood, onto the highway, and into the city. After they found parking, they got out of the car and started walking to the restaurant, passing by other crowded establishments. There were lots of people wearing nice clothes, drinking expensive drinks and eating delicious food. This was exactly Lian's idea of a night out. He watched as a slight smile formed on her face, which disappeared as she turned to face him. Her nose was scrunched.

"Are you wearing… cologne?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Who are you, Fernando?" she teased, snickering. Khan's face flushed at his mention.

"I thought you would like it," he answered. She turned away again, entranced by the sparkling city. Glass buildings and shiny metal tables, fences, even jewelry of restaurant patrons and Lian's own slightly shimmery dress reflected the light from the headlights of cars and street lights. By the time they made it to the restaurant, their table was ready, so they sat down and browsed the menu. After ordering their food, he thanked the waiter and decided to talk to Lian. He needed to get rid of the tension between them eventually, so he figured talking to her while she seemed like she was in a good mood was a good way to start.

"So, how have you been?"

"Just fine."

"Well, have you done anything?"

"Well, you would already know if you had spent some time with me for the past 3 days," she snarled. He sighed.
"I'm sorry I didn't spend time with you. I didn't think you wanted to." She started to open her mouth to speak, but she had nothing to say in response.

"Look, I know you're still mad about Skye. It wasn't my fault, but if I knew she was there, I would have kicked her out, okay? I'm really sorry about what happened on Friday." he continued.

"Whatever." Khan was relieved that she did not continue arguing. She seemed to appreciate when other people expressed that they would put themselves on the line for her. Khan knew it was just the way she was, self-centered, and he knew he had to play to this trait.

"So, anyways, what have you done? I'm curious to know." He wasn't, but he wanted to pretend to care. She proceeded to tell him about her trip to the mall the day before. Although he was bored by her conversation, he listened to her, nodding and occasionally commenting so that she wouldn't get angry at him. In the midst of her rambling, something she said piqued his interest.

"I went to get some iced coffee after stopping at Banana Republic. Guess who I saw at the coffee shop?" she asked.
"Who?" Khan asked.
"Fernando!" He perked up. He hadn't talked to Fernando much since Friday.

"Oh, did you say hi?"
"No, but you'll never guess who I saw him with!" She was excited, both hands on the table and eyes wide. She always got like this when she was sharing something saucy. Khan was anxious to know. Maybe he was with a friend? That's good, I wouldn't want him to be sitting around alone.

"Who was he with?"

"Cassie!" Khan's jaw dropped. What the hell was he doing with Cassie?

"Didn't they break up?" he answered, shocked.
"That's what I thought! Maybe they're back together or something, you know how people can be sometimes where they're on and off."

"That doesn't sound like him… but maybe you're right." She continued to talk, but he could barely pay attention to what she was saying as his mind started racing. He pondered the possibility of Fernando's confession being fake, and that he and Cassie were just going through a rough patch. But then, he remembered that Fernando mentioned his sadness about Cassie was fake, and he began to worry that Fernando hanging out with Cassie confirmed that. If Fernando was gay for Khan like he said, it wouldn't make sense for him to be sad from breaking up with Cassie. Cassie seemed like a nice enough girl that she would understand and still want to be friends, too. Even though Fernando was drunk when he said all these things, it made a little too much sense, and it scared him. Eventually, their food came, and he took his mind off of it, instead tuning back into Lian's gossip.

After finishing their meals, they shared a dessert, Khan paid the bill, and they left. If he had been tired at the beginning of the night, he was exhausted now, having been worn out enduring Lian's endless chatter. Luckily, he didn't need to drive anywhere to drop her off, so he simply drove home, pulled into his driveway, opened the door for her, and walked her to her front door. They said good night and parted ways. Khan got into his house and changed into his pajamas so he could go to bed, so tired that he didn't even bother to put away his clothes. After doing that, he barely had the energy to brush his teeth and wash the product out of his hair. He didn't even have the energy to stress about Fernando, Lian, his team, or his homework as he had for the past few nights; the sleep deprivation it caused having contributed to his current state of exhaustion. He collapsed onto his bed and fell into a deep slumber.

/

Khan yawned as he sat down at his table in English Honors. He had barely made it through History and Biology, having not gotten enough sleep after going to bed late the night before. Everyone else was chatting while he absent-mindedly looked down at his desk, leaning back in his chair and trying not to fall asleep. He didn't even have the energy to chat with Viktor, who sat at the same table as him. He looked up when the teacher, Furia, started talking. A petite girl with short lavender hair standing by the teacher's desk caught his eye. She wore an oversized t-shirt with a black long-sleeve shirt and leggings underneath. For some reason, she looked familiar, but he'd never seen her at school before.

"Okay everyone, we're welcoming a new student today, everyone say hello to Rei!" Khan's eyes went wide. The second they made eye contact, he knew. Those lavender colored eyes, her button nose, and her large round glasses that put John Lennon's to shame gave it away. It was her, the same Rei he and Lian had been so close with as children. She lived in the house behind him, and she used to climb over the fence to play with him and Lian. But when they got to middle school, her parents sent her off to an expensive boarding school, then to a prestigious high school, from what he had heard. From there, they drifted apart. He hadn't seen her in years. So why was she here now?

"You'll be sitting over there at that table in the back, with the extra chair." Khan turned to see an extra chair at his table, which Rei walk to and sit in. Viktor, along with the other people at the table, Ying and Jenos, all said hello and introduced themselves to her. After that, Rei looked to Khan, her lilac colored irises meeting his amber ones yet again.

"Khan?" She was just as soft-spoken as he remembered her being.

"That's me."

"It's been so long, you've gotten so…" she adjusted her glasses and looked him up and down, now that he had sat up in his seat, "Tall." He chuckled.
"Wait, you know her?" Viktor butted in, facing Khan.

"Yeah, we were friends when we were younger," Khan said, "Her, Lian, and I." The russian nodded.

"How is Lian?" Rei asked, "She goes here too, right?"
"Yes, she does. She's doing well." Khan answered.
"Did you guys make up?" Viktor interrupted again.

"Yeah, I took her out to a nice dinner last night. I think she had a good time."
"That's good to hear."

"You and Lian are together?" Rei asked.

"Uh, yep, have been for some time now."

"Good for you guys." They stopped chatting when the teacher asked everyone to take out their copies of the reading book for the unit so they could begin class. Rei, not having her own book yet, shared with Ying. When class ended, he went up to the front of the classroom because Furia requested to speak to him afterwards. She expressed her concern with Khan's grades. He had been blowing off homework in that class, along with all his others. The stress from his situation with Fernando with Lian had gotten to him. He assured Furia he would get back on track, hoping now that he had improved things with Lian, it would be easier for him to focus on homework. Khan walked out of the classroom to go to his next class, only to find the lilac-haired girl waiting right outside the door.

"Hey, Khan, sorry to bother you, but do you know where this class is?" she asked shyly. She was pointing to a classroom on her list of classes. It was Inara's classroom.

"That's my next class. Just follow me."

"Great." She timidly gripped her books as she walked next to him, clearly overwhelmed in this new environment. Khan wanted to talk to her about many things, so many things that he couldn't decide what to say.

"So, why are you here, anyways?" he asked awkwardly, immediately realizing how rude he sounded.

"Oh… um… I transferred from Crosswind Prep." She looked away.

"Wow, really? I hear that's a really nice school."
"Yeah, but I wanted a change so I decided to transfer to Realm High this year."

"No problem with that." Rei gave a weak smile as they walked into art class. Inara approached Rei, and Khan sat down at his normal table. Fernando was fidgeting with his pencil, not looking at Khan, and Lian was looking at Khan with her eyebrow raised.

"Who was that?" Fernando looked up.

"It's Rei, remember her? She goes here now."
"Oh, her! She lives behind you, right?"
"Yes."

"It's been a minute." Inara silenced the chattering class to introduce Rei once again, then told them that today's class was for working on their drawings. As everyone took out their work, Rei sat down at their table next to Lian.

"Hi Lian. Hello again, Khan." Fernando looked up.

"Hi, I'm Rei," she said, facing him.
"I got the memo," he answered coldly, looking back down to his sketch.

"That's Fernando," Khan said. She nodded, peering over to Lian's sketch.

"So, what are we doing?"
"Drawing a person."
"Just any person?"
"Yeah, it's for a grade." She nodded, taking out a pencil and a piece of paper from her notebook. She put the eraser to her lip and stared down at the paper.

"Look at her, actually trying on her first day," Lian teased. Rei chuckled nervously.

"I'm not the best artist, it takes me lots of effort."

"It's okay, here, we are all united under not being as good as Fernando." Khan looked to see him intently working on his sketch of a man, his small, careful strokes implying intricate detail work. Rei had started etching some rudimentary shapes onto her paper, while Lian lazily added some lines to the sketch she had started the day before, stopping to check her phone or chat with Rei and Khan. She was behind, but didn't seem to care. Rei, meanwhile, tapped her pencil anxiously when she was not adding shaky, messy lines to her drawing. He could tell she was struggling, which was only emphasized by how she would peek over to Lian's drawing to follow what she was doing. She probably didn't have to take any art classes at her old school, he thought.

"So, what was Crosswind Prep like anyways?" Khan asked. That seemed to startle her, because he jolted her face up and knocked her glasses out of place.
"Uh, it was alright, not too different from here," she answered, adjusting her glasses.

"You went to Crosswind Prep? Isn't that where all the smart kids go?" Lian asked.

"Yes, I was going there for the past two years. I switched this year."
"Understandable. It seems like everyone there would be boring as hell. They probably all wear sweater vests or something. Did they make you wear a uniform?" Lian asked.
"Uh, yeah," Rei answered quietly, clearly overwhelmed by Lian's excessive questions.

"Ew, uniforms are disgusting, no offense. I can't stand wearing stockings and blouses, especially together." Rei chuckled nervously.

"Do they have sports?" Khan asked, changing the subject.

"We actually have lots of teams," she answered.

"That's unexpected."

"I didn't expect that either when I first went there. We're really just like a normal high school, just we have expensive tuition and academics are really competitive," Rei answered. She and Khan continued chatting for a bit, and then the bell rang for lunch. They all walked out of the classroom and headed towards the cafeteria. Lian invited Rei to sit at their table, which surprised Khan. Lian usually didn't let new people sit at their table, especially someone as mousy as Rei, but he figured she was just being nice to an old friend. They all sat down, and Lian introduced Rei to the rest of the table, which was just Lex and Vivian. She timidly said hello, then started eating her lunch.

"So, Rei, were you on any of the sports teams back at Crosswind Prep?" Khan asked, trying to make her feel welcomed.
"No, I've never really been an athlete," she said. She was right; for as long as Khan was friends with her, he remembered her having her nose in a book whenever she could. She asked him a question quietly, so quietly that he could barely hear her over the loud chatter of the lunchroom. He raised an eyebrow.

"What about you?" she asked, louder.

"Oh, I'm on the football team," he answered.

"Not just on the football team," Lian interrupted. "He's the captain of the football team!"

"Wow, really? That's awesome!"
"Yeah, and I'm the cheer captain. Isn't that just perfect?" Rei nodded quickly, clearly nervous. Lian went back to chatting with the other people at the table. Rei was quiet after that. Only when the bell rang again and everyone got up from the table did she linger to ask Khan a question.

"Khan?"
"Yes, Rei?"
"Are you guys… the popular kids here?" He paused. He didn't want to make Rei feel out of place. But there was no denying their nearly polar opposite statuses.

"Most people would say so, but I hang out with whoever I want, really."

"What about Lian?" He knew Lian wasn't the most inclusive, but she had been unusually kind towards Rei, which he saw as a good sign.

"I don't know about her, but I wouldn't worry. She seems to like you still," he reassured.

"Thank you Khan. See you later." He said goodbye as well, and then got up to go to gym class. He sighed. Once again, he would have to endure the awkwardness of being around Fernando's friends.