Soooo we're back. Meant to upload this sooner but writers block and busy and…

Disclaimer: We do not own Jessie.

Chapter 12: Uncensored

Dana 11:17 A.M

Hey are you coming tonight?

Ravi stares at the message displayed on his lock screen. He's not used to getting texts from anyone other than his family members, so seeing a new message from someone outside of the Ross family is surprising. His heart does a little excited flip at the message. It makes him feel a little good about himself. Getting messages from other people besides his parents and Jessie.

Ravi unlocks his phone, but his fingers hover over the keyboard on the iPhone screen. He doesn't know how he's going to answer her. He completely forgot about the open mic night Dana invited him to the day before. But he's been pretty dead set on not going, his mind being made up the minute she asked him. He knows he promised Dana he would think about it, but in all honest what is there to think about? There's no way Ravi would be able to survive any school event at the moment, what with his crippling anxiety and constant panic attacks. Not to mention how socially awkward he is and how his actual existence is suddenly of interest to everyone. He'd much rather spend the night in his room doing homework, reading, watching Netflix, or thinking about topaz ey— uhh he means thinking about how he'll survive the upcoming week.

Yup. Exactly that.

But Ravi can't bring himself to type up an excuse. Everything he comes up with sounds too dishonest. Plus, Dana has been so kind to him this past week. She looked so happy when she asked him to come, like she genuinely wants him to be there (although she always looks happy). He feels like by telling her no, he'll be letting her down in some way. And he doesn't know why but that bothers him.

He closes the texting app and locks his phone. He'll think of an excuse later. Or maybe he might reconsider and go. But the latter is unlikely. He turns back to the chemistry homework he had moved to the side—

—but then a knock at his door distracts him yet again. "Ravi can I come in?" It's Luke.

"It's open!"

Luke comes in holding his laptop, looking much better than he did a few days ago. The bruising around his eye has faded a bit even though his eye is still red and purple, and he no longer has the bandages wrapped around his knuckles, revealing small cuts and bruises. He doesn't seem as down either, but that might be because of the coffee he snuck a sip of this morning when Jessie wasn't looking. If Jessie knew he had some coffee, she would flip several times.

Some things never change.

Luke sits on the edge of Ravi's bed. "You busy?"

"Well, I'm doing chemistry homework so…" Ravi gestures to the chemistry book open besides him.

"So that would be a no."

Ravi chuckles and closes the book. "No, I'm not busy right now."

"Good because I think I've made a breakthrough." He excitedly beckons for Ravi to come closer to him. Ravi curiously leans over to look at the laptop screen. "Check this out. I'm still not too sure what I did but somehow I got into this GED website for Detroit." Luke clicks on one of the internet tabs and displays the website. "And I looked around and found a list of colleges the GED applicants ended up going to and everything." He then clicks on the link that takes him to the list. "And I went through each school and looked through some alumni records until I found," He clicks on a link that brings him to a new tab, "this. Detroit Community College. And look at the name that's on this list." Luke scrolls down a list of names and pictures until he lands on the one name he was looking for.

Olsen, Vanessa.

"Luke that's incredible!" Ravi exclaims, taking the laptop in his hands. "Olsen comma Vanessa. Graduated June third, 2008 with an Associate's Degree in Education." He reads. "How did you even find this?"

"I don't even know. I just clicked around until I got somewhere."

"Well this is still great." Ravi says. "You're one step closer to actually finding her. I'm impressed Luke."

"Thanks." Luke smiles. "The only thing is… I don't know where to go from there. Everyone else on the list has a picture of them, or where they went after that. Or, y'know, some type of information. But Vanessa Olsen has nothing there. So even though it's more than I knew before, it's still a dead end."

"At least you have more to go off of than you did before. And this new information will probably get you more answers. Like for one, she studied education. So we can assume she's a teacher of some sort."

"Yeah I guess." Luke sighs. "I wish this wasn't so frustrating and time consuming. Why can't I just type her name in Google and boom, she pops up?"

Ravi chuckles. "Anyone worth looking for isn't easy to find."

Luke rolls his eyes. "Yeah, yeah whatever Aristotle." Ravi gives Luke the most perplexed of looks after what he says, to which he looks back in confusion. "What?"

Ravi smiles in amusement. "You know who Aristotle is?"

Luke really rolls his eyes now. "Shut up will yah?" He playfully shoves Ravi and the Indian boy laughs in amusement.

Luke's laptop suddenly dings not even a second after he speaks, indicating a new iMessage. The message pops up on the screen and Luke's eyes grow wide and his heart rate quickens upon reading the message. He rushes to grab the laptop, but Ravi is too quick and moves out of his reach.

"Wait," Ravi hovers the mouse over the iMessage, "who's this?" Doug 11:26 A.M. Brenna? followed by the several eye emojis. "Who's Brenna?" His mouth twists into a lopsided smile.

Luke finally snatches the laptop from Ravi and frantically slams the lid shut. "Nothing. I mean no one."

Ravi raises an eyebrow in amusement. "Okay. And why is Doug texting you about nothing, I mean no one?"

Luke splutters a series of unintelligible sounds. "I-sh-wh-I, don't you, uhh, don't you have chemistry homework to get to?"

Ravi laughs at the shade of scarlet that spreads across Luke's freckle-clade face. He's never seen his brother so flustered over a girl before. Cocky, yes. The older boy usually flaunts about girls texting and DMing him on a daily basis, or he usually talks about girl like he was talking about food. He prides himself with it actually, his ability to attract so many females. But to see him literally embarrassed and speechless over the mention of a girl is new behavior. Luke must really like this girl if he wants to hide it so much.

Or he's actually growing up.

Luke gets up to leave at the same time Ravi gets another text from Dana, this time two question marks being in the message. Okay, maybe he kind of wants to go to open mic night, but at the same time he's afraid to. The only people he talks to at school are Dana and his siblings. He can't put himself in a situation that's going to call for him to interact with more than just four people. Especially if only one of those people will be present.

But wait. What if…

"Hey Luke," Ravi starts, causing Luke to stop in his tracks and turn around, "can I, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure man, what's up?"

Ravi starts fiddling with his fingers. "You're probably going to say no…" Luke gives Ravi a look that urges him to continue. "Well…, it's just… there's this event going on tonight. For, for the poetry club at school. Someone invited me to go." He pauses and looks at Luke's slightly blank expression. "And I, I want to go. But I don't think I can handle going by myself…" Ravi looks down sheepishly. He doesn't know what he's thinking. Of course Luke out of all people doesn't want to go to some stupid school affiliated poetry slam. The teen would probably rather acquire head lice. He braces himself for the "no" he's sure to get and the disappointment that will follow.

"Oh…" Luke mutters before realization hits him. "Ohhh! Sure, Ravi I'd be happy to go with you." Ravi looks up in surprise.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'll go with you if you want. Why did you think I was gonna say no?"

"Well," Ravi begins, "it's a poetry event. For school. I didn't think you'd want to go to something like that."

Ravi's not wrong. Luke doesn't necessarily like poetry. He sometimes detests it in fact. Well not sometimes. All the time. And he'd rather avoid it at all cost. But at the same time, he'll do anything he can to make sure Ravi is happy and comfortable and doesn't feel what he felt that dreadful night. And if that means having to endure nonstop poetry that he doesn't understand on a Saturday night, then that's exactly what he'll do.

It's for Ravi…

"Don't worry Ravi." Luke gives him a reassuring smile and a pat on the back. "I don't mind going with you."

Luke's heart warms at the smile that grows on Ravi's face. A genuine smile. "Great!" Ravi sends a quick text to Dana confirming his attendance tonight.

"And who knows." Luke says before he leaves the room. "Maybe I'll even enjoy it."

At around 6:25 p.m., Ravi and Luke enter Delphine's, a vibrant, Italian and French fusion restaurant that opened about a year ago a few blocks away from the school. It's grown to be a typical hang out spot for Walden Academy students with the majority of its customers being said students. The cozy atmosphere paired with the affordable pricing, the great food, and the closeness of location attracted the students of Walden Academy the minute the restaurant opened. And the management is always overly happy to host school parties and events, and quiet frequently show their affiliation and allegiance to the school.

They might as well change the name from Delphine's to Walden Academy Café.

Luke and Ravi show their school IDs to the makeshift bouncer at the door (a rather large member from the football team), and make their way into the dimly light restaurant which is buzzing with life and talk. It's actually pretty full, a great turn out in fact. Students walk around the restaurant, going from table to table to talk to their peers. Waiters and waitresses walk up and down carrying trays of drinks. Music plays softly in the background but doesn't stop the chatter from the people in the restaurant. A small stage and microphone are set up in a corner, and a girl with black hair is talking to someone who looks to be the manager of the place.

"So I guess we should find somewhere to sit." Luke suggests as he and Ravi stand near the door awkwardly. Ravi nervously plays with his hands. His heart rate has sped up and he feels himself starting to tremble and he honestly feels nauseous. The amount of people around him is making him feel like passing out. He's debating whether he should just go back home and hide in the confines of his room. But he's already here. He already got to this point. He really shouldn't go back. Plus he already told Dana he would be here so he's sure she's expecting him.

But Ravi doesn't have to worry much more because in about five seconds flat, Dana runs up to him and Luke in a happy, purple-haired heap. "Yay you came!" She exclaims. She's wearing a gray t-shirt with the word UNCENSORED on it and she looks like she wants to hug Ravi, but she doesn't.

Ravi forces a smile which he feels looks more like a grimace. "Yup. Here I am." He feels Luke besides him eyeing Dana questioningly and he stutters out an introduction. "This, er, this is, er, my brother. Lu—"

"Luke Ross." She finishes with a tight smile. "I know. And I'm quite surprised you decided to come since the last time I invited you to one of these, you told me you'd rather eat a live tarantula than come to a loser fest like this." She crosses her arms, but the tight smile doesn't leave her face. Her attitude deviates from the usual jovial one she sports.

Luke's face pales in shame at the memory of the remark he made almost a year ago. "Oh, you, uh, you remember that…" he gives a sheepish laugh. "Sorry about that…"

"I bet you are." She dismisses him, turning to Ravi. "Come. I saved a booth for us to sit in." Her cheery attitude is back. She beckons for them to follow her to an empty booth next to a window. Ravi and Luke slide in on the same side and Dana sits across from them. Ravi's nervous have somewhat decapitated but he still has the nauseous churning in his stomach. Luke is sitting at the end of the both, blocking Ravi from being able to run to the bathroom if the feeling worsens (or out of the restaurant if the temptation comes up).

"I see you've been let out on probation." Dana says eyeing Luke's still bruised eye and knuckles with a pointed look.

Luke frowns as he hides his hand in his lap. "Temporarily yes…" And it wasn't an easy process. Since Luke is still indefinitely grounded and isn't supposed to leave the house except for school and wherever Jessie drags him too, the process of getting permission to leave the house wasn't an easy one. Luke begged and pleaded with Jessie and their parents for him to come to open mic night, but they wouldn't budge. They couldn't believe that Luke would ever want to attend a poetry event, and accused him of trying to sneak off to some party or whatever. It wasn't until Ravi explained to them the situation that they finally allowed him to go.

"Doubt it was because of good behavior." Dana mumbles but both Luke and Ravi hear her. Luke looks like he's shrinking in his seat from Dana's cold shoulder, and feels pretty out of place.

"So," Ravi, sensing the unusual tension, chimes in so the conversation isn't on Luke anymore, "what exactly goes down at one of these?"

"It's an open mic." Dana explains. "So anyone who wants to go up and say something, a poem, a song, a letter, they have the opportunity to do so. It's not limited to club members. Everyone is welcome to speak their mind. And it's completely uncensored, so you can say whatever you feel without repercussions or fear of judgement."

Say whatever you want without repercussions or judgement? Sounds like a dream land to Ravi, who's had to feel repercussions and judgement his whole life.

"It's more crowded than I expected." Ravi says. He honestly pictured a small, lowkey type of night. But the turn out looked equivalent to if the basketball team won a game. But then again, Ravi doesn't go to school events or parties so what does he know?

"I know!" Dana looks like she's bursting with pride. "It's such an improvement from last year when we barely had anyone. We were a brand new club, so we barely had any support. But I think the poetry club is finally starting to reach more people and get the recognition it deserves."

"Or maybe the free food is what's bribing more people to come." Luke jokes as a waitress places a plate of assorted breadsticks and butter on the table.

That was the wrong thing to say because Dana's face instantly fell at the comment and is replaced by an annoyed look. "People were coming to open mic night before it was held in a restaurant, so no. It's not the free food." The breadstick Luke is about to take a bite out of hovers in the air for a few seconds before he deflates and puts it on a napkin and pushes it away, mumbling something unintelligible under his breath.

Ravi sensed the tension between Dana and Luke (mainly from Dana) the minute she walked up to them. He's not sure why she's acting so harshly towards him, but he doesn't like it. He doesn't want there to be any bad feelings between his brother and the only friend he has. "H-he was only joking." Ravi quickly says in an attempt to defuse the situation. "I'm sure people will come whether there's free food or not."

Dana opens her mouth but doesn't get a chance to answer because the same black-haired girl taps on the mic to get everyone's attention. The feedback from the mic rings throughout the restaurant and everyone turns to the stage.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen." She says with a smile that lights up her face. "I know we're supposed to start now, but we're running a little off schedule since our president is stuck in train traffic. MTA's a bitch, amirite?" A few people laugh. She jumps off the stage and the chatter continues on as if it was never interrupted.

"Ugh! This literally happens every time." Dana says with an eyeroll. "We never start on time because of this."

"Why is he always late?" Ravi asks.

Dana shrugs. "Nobody knows. He blames it on the subway system, but come on! You don't have to be a doofus to know that the trains aren't bad this much." Ravi notices how her eyes twitch to Luke on the word 'doofus'. But he doesn't comment. Nor does he think Luke notices. Or maybe Luke notices and chooses to ignore it.

The black-haired girl suddenly slides into the booth next to Dana and Dana instantly makes room for her. "Can you believe Billy's late again?" She asks Dana, the most irritated expression on her face. "We have a set time for a reason! If he wants to be late all the time, then why not make all our lives easier and change the time of open mic? Or, I don't know, make someone else the president who can actually be here on time!"

"I know, right?" Dana says. "But maybe he'll give us some type of explanation this time."

"Doubt it." The girl mumbles. Her blue eyes perk up, however, after finally noticing Ravi and Luke's presence. "I see you've brought more people to Uncensored's Open Mic Night." She smiles and her whole face lights up, much like it did on the stage.

"Oh! Right! This is Ravi and Luke Ross, both very eager to be here. Ravi, Luke, this is—"

"Brenna Monroe." She extends a hand to Ravi which he shakes. "Vice president of Uncensored. Nice to meet you Ravi." She seems nice. She doesn't mention his cast which bulks underneath the sleeve of his hoodie. Nor does she ask about the state of his health. Ravi already likes her. Her smile widens when she turns to Luke. Ravi glances at his brother. Luke's face has turned several shades of deep scarlet and his eyes have become the size of saucers. "I already know Luke though. We have History together, right?"

Luke's mouth opens and closes a few times, the heat in his cheeks spreading to his ears. "Uhhhhh…" He looks frozen, like he might be sick. Or explode. Whichever comes first. Ravi's brows furrow at Luke's odd behavior and he elbows the boy to bring him back to the current. Luke blinks a few times. "I-I, y-yeah. We have, er, we have h-history." Luke gives a weird sort of smile before looking down at the breadstick on the napkin.

Ravi eyes Luke's demeanor suspiciously. A demeanor he has never seen from the freckled boy. He's fidgeting and playing with his hands, his cheeks are bright red, and he's stuttering worse than Ravi does. Ravi looks from him to Brenna before it finally clicks.

Brenna was the same name that Doug mentioned in the iMessage earlier.

So this is the girl Luke likes. It all makes sense now. Ravi snickers to himself, having never seen Luke act this way in front of a girl before. His cocky and rather douchebag-y attitude is replaced with nerves and embarrassment. He can't blame Luke though. Brenna is actually a beautiful girl with long black hair, bright blue eyes like crystals, and a smile that just makes you want to smile with her. He can see why Luke has completely lost all his cool due to her presence. And honestly, it's kind of amusing.

The four of them sit and talk for the next fifteen minutes or so, with Luke blushing madly every time Brenna addresses him. Ravi has to fight to keep a straight face every time this happens, and does his best to fill in the blank spots Luke leaves in the conversation due to his inability to form words. Dana still hasn't warmed up to Luke, making a point to show how she disapproves of his presence, but Ravi brings the conversation away from his brother as much as possible. Luke looks as though he regrets coming, and Ravi asks if he wants to leave. But to that Luke musters up a smile and tells Ravi that he's fine and that he'll stay as long as Ravi wants to stay. Ravi knows Luke is only saying that because he knows Ravi wants to be there. And he's grateful for that. But he still feels bad for dragging Luke to a place that he's not enjoying. He'll have to find a way to make up for it later.

A waiter takes their order, and the four of them show their student IDs so they can eat for free. Finally, at 6:45, a senior rushes into the restaurant and hops onto the small stage, and taps the mic, bringing the restaurant to a slow quiet.

"Hello everyone!" He says. "Welcome to Uncensored's first open mic night of the year!" The restaurant starts clapping and a few people whoot in excitement. "I am Billy Tiseo, your very own President, and I'd like to apologize for the slight delay." Billy wears the same gray t-shirt Dana and Brenna are wearing. His long sandy hair is pulled into a low ponytail, and he looks like the type to have a band in his garage that doesn't make really good music. "We're going to begin in a moment, but I need to go over some ground rules, do some house-keeping. First of all, no prejudice. Uncensored is a safe space for all of us to speak or minds, even if some of us disagree. No bullying any one because you don't like them or what they have to say.

"Second of all, respect everyone who steps up to the mic. No talking, laughing, yelling, stomping, or any other noise making while someone has the mic. Give everyone here respect and you shall get respect back.

"Third, this is open mic and everyone his open to speak. However, this is not a free for all. If you have something you want to talk about or a piece you want to recite, we have a list right next to the stage. You can write your name at any point during the night and we will call you to the stage. However, since we need to end by 10:00, we won't be adding anymore names to the list at 9:30 so we can be out of her on time.

"And lastly, have fun. Enjoy yourself. Take advantage of the ability to discuss whatever you want without any teachers giving you detention for 'being rude'." He says the last part with quotation marks. Despite his tardiness, Ravi can already see why he's president. He has a way of grabbing everyone's attention without trying too hard. And he looks like the type to love poetry.

"Before we begin," he continues, "let me just say how great the turn-out is tonight!" More clapping and excited cheers. "I feel so honored to be the president of a club that generates so many souls and brings so many people together. You are all so awesome for being here.

"Alright, no more cheesy speeches. Let the open mic night begin! First act up, Andi Cho!"

And with that, Billy walks of the stage and the night begins. The first person to walk up to the mic is a short Asian girl who seems to be a freshman. Her hair is styled in a pixie cut and she looks more nervous than confident to be in front of everyone. "H-hi. My name is Andi. This is my first open mic, and I'm really nervous so please bear with me." She unfolds a piece of paper from her pocket and clears her throat.

"I used to think that love was like

a new grown tree, with fresh leaves

and branches that cradled and nestled

living things, and on sunny days brought breeze.

I used to think love looked like

a blazing sun as it illuminated

a clear blue ocean floor. I thought

love was warm and fuzzy and irradiated.

I used to think love felt like

red velvet. Tasted like a warm cake

being pulled out of your mother's oven as

she places it in front of a window that viewed the lake.

I never knew love felt like

a blazing blue fire eating away

at your childish heart. Flames ignited by

a crippling desire that breaks your soul, but you so

desperately want it to stay.

I never knew love could be

a butterfly and a spider at the same time.

A dream and a nightmare wrapped up in a

bundle and handcuffed to you like a repugnant crime.

I never knew love would break my heart.

I never knew it would shatter me,

stomp all over me, chew me up and spit me out

and make a memory of what I used to be.

They said I'm too young to know what love is.

My teenage heart isn't mature enough.

Yet, love still found me, and showed me it's true meaning.

And it broke me. And I say this without a bluff."

Andi releases a breath she was holding the entire time. "Thank you." The entire restaurant erupts into snaps. Not applause, but snaps. Ravi and Luke look to Dana in confusion.

"Snapping is the preferred way of doing things in the poetic world." Dana states as she snaps. Ravi and Luke nod, both making a mental note of this.

The night continues, with more and more people going up to the mic to recite whatever came to their mind. They took a thirty-minute break to eat dinner, which gave Ravi the opportunity to pretend to enjoy the Fettucine Alfredo he ordered. He forces himself to eat it all even though his appetite would rather otherwise. Once dinner is finished, the mic is open for more people to speak, and more people step up to the mic and voice their mind. Ravi watches in amazement as each person bravely walks up to the mic and either reads of a paper, from their phone, or just speaks off the top of their head. He listens intently as they each spill their minds and emotions out to everyone sitting in the audience, and each time is surprised by how enthusiastically the crowd snaps. Each poem is about something different, but each filled with the same amount of emotion and meaning. Some people even talk about more personal things, but talk about it with the utmost confidence. Some people get emotional. Some ask the audience for a prompt and make a poem off a random word. Some even use profanity.

"So people can just talk about anything?" Ravi asks Dana at some point. "And say whatever words they want?"

"Yup." Dana says with a smile. "That's why we call ourselves Uncensored. We don't censor anyone's freedom of speech here."

Ravi nods and thinks about what that would feel like. Being able to speak without having to censor what he feels. Something he's always done, and continues to do. He wonders what it would be like to write a poem that describes fully and in depth exactly what his inner turmoil has been, and exactly what being unclosed in a dark room is like. He wonders what would happen if he too spilled himself onto a piece of paper and wrote anything and everything that would sum up to what his life has been. He pictures himself walking up to the mic just like these people have been doing, and reciting his demons to the entire crowd, unleashing the troubles within him. He wonders what they would think. What would their reaction be? Would they understand? Would they cringe or shun him? He shudders at the thought, the nausea in his stomach returning. Even if he were to ever write poetry, there's no way he'd be able to survive standing up in front of 30+ people and saying it. He'd have a panic attack before he reached the stage.

Still. It's something to think about. Something to keep his mind busy. Maybe Ravi will start writing poetry to get some things off his chest. Maybe he will use that journal Dr. Phillips gave him for something after all.

Maybe.

Over all, Ravi enjoys the night, which is not what he thought would happen. He actually has fun, and eventually feels a little more comfortable around all these people. He might even come to another open mic night, or any other event Uncensored has.

Maybe…

One of the best parts of being a Sophomore honors student (in Ravi's opinion) is being able to choose an elective, something no other Sophomore is allowed to do. Actually, only Juniors and Seniors are allowed to choose elective classes, or a class that they actually want to take and have interest in. But since Ravi and Dana are ahead of the rest of their class having taken a few of their Sophomore classes in eighth grade and in their freshman year, they were allowed to take a Junior elective their Sophomore year.

Both Ravi and Dana chose Astronomy as their elective and, unsurprisingly, are the best students in that class. While every other Junior seems to be struggling with the different concepts, Ravi and Dana have no issue with the subject and seem to pick up the material quickly. It seems to come at ease to them, just like every other subject, but honestly who's shocked by this? The Juniors in the class usually look at Dana and Ravi in awe every time they ace a test or answer a question right, and beg them for tutoring (Dana usually does the tutoring. Ravi just sits quietly). It's the only class Ravi has never been taunted or bullied in, mainly because the upper classmen wanted his help more than his demise.

Dana and Ravi have Astronomy last period on Wednesday and Ravi almost always looks forward to it. He sees it as a highlight too his usually glum days. They both opt for seats in the back as usual right next to each other. They listen intently and pretty much understand exactly what Mrs. Houts is explaining while the rest of the class seems to be lost and confused. It gives Ravi a weird satisfaction to know that he's better at them in Astronomy. At least he's good at that.

"Okay everyone." Mrs. Houts says when there is twenty minutes left before the final bell. She seems unusually excited. "Put your books away. It's time we start talking about our first project." A bunch of groans follow her words as much of the class looks stressed and deflated by this. "Oh stop that! It's not that hard of a project trust me. I've done it before with previous classes and even the worst of students managed to pass.

"Alrighty then." The class finally quiets. She gives a stack of papers to a Junior girl in the front who starts handing them out. "Your project is going to be on the lunar phases. You're all going to explore the effect of the lunar phases on various events on Earth; things like temperature and birth rates. You're going to do research on this, explain to me in detail your findings, and you're going to do both a paper and a power point explaining your observations." More groans and cries and people saying 'I'm gonna fail!' "Wait, wait! You didn't let me finish. You are going to do this with a partner to alleviate some of the stress. So you'll have someone to help you succeed on this project. I promise you it won't be that bad. And it's not due until December, which gives you a whole two months to complete it."

The junior girl hands Ravi and Dana the paper with instructions on what to do for their project, along with its due date and expected requirements.

"You wanna be partners?" Dana asks Ravi. "With the two of us together, we'll totally sweep the floor with everyone else's project!" She gives him a sly smile.

Ravi opens his mouth to reply but is cut off by Mrs. Houts voice. "Before you do anything else, no, you may not choose your partners." The groaning intensifies, this time Dana joining in as she scoffs in disappointment. There goes their killer project. Ravi's expression quickly takes on a stressful look at the notion of being paired with someone he doesn't know, someone who is a Junior, older than him, and probably ready to tear him apart. He already feels anxious and he doesn't even have a partner yet.

"I have already picked your partners. When I call your names, please go sit with him or her, and start working on the project. Or sit there and talk about your weekend plans. I really don't care. Just do you." Some students chuckle. Ravi sinks a little in his seat at the prospect of having to work with someone besides Dana. The room starts to feel hot suddenly. He swears if he has another panic attack…

"Shelby Diaz and Louis Fleur."

The students get up and move around so they can sit together. Neither Shelby nor Louis look happy to be partnered with each other, and very reluctantly take seats next to each other. Ravi prays whoever is his partner doesn't have that same dreadful look on their face.

"Marcus Hall and Freddie Shaw. Cindy Katz and Ivana Davis. Melvin Alberts and Dana Ramon."

Dana rolls her eyes so hard Ravi is sure they'll get stuck in her brain. She reluctantly grabs her things and drags herself out of the seat. "Wish me luck. I'll be needing it." She grumbles. He doesn't blame her. Melvin is probably the worst in their class. He, however, looks over the moon to have Dana next to him.

Mrs. Houts continues to read of names from the list on her desk, every name filling Ravi both with relief and anxiety as he waits to hear his own name and partner. "Sarah Seltic and Melina Lopez. David Cravitz and Christina Taylor. Ravi Ross—"

Ravi's stomach completely drops upon hearing his name, his eyes growing wide in irrational fear. He feels his breathing involuntarily quicken and his hands tremble. It's happening again. A panic attack. Right in the middle of his Astronomy class in front of all these Juniors. He's probably going to pass out and they'll just laugh at him because he can't even keep it together long enough to get assigned a partner and the walls feel like they're closing in on him and dear God he wants to disappear—

"—and Grayson Sinclair."

—and as if it never happened, everything snaps back to normal (as normal as it can get). His stomach abruptly stops churning as if whatever toxins that upset it disappeared. His hands grow still and somewhat sweaty. He's breathing at a normal rate again which shocks his lungs. The walls have gone back to where they were before. Ravi stares at Mrs. Houts as if she spoke Korean, not yet understanding her words, yet understanding them all the same. It takes what might have been a few seconds or an hour for Ravi to process the name she called. The name he never even realized was in this class.

Grayson Sinclair.

Ravi feels the piercing gaze of those eyes on him before he sees it. He feels like life has been set in slow motion as he turns his head towards the front of the room, his eyes landing on the two pools of topaz that have been in and out of his mind all week, the gold and brown flecks dancing in the orbs. His heart pounds stronger. Not faster. Not rapidly. Stronger. Like a deep base playing in his chest. It's all weird and out of the blue and he doesn't know how to explain what's going on with him, but he can't bring himself to question why he's feeling this way and why Grayson's gaze makes him feel like honey. All he wants is to keep looking at those pools of topaz for as long as life permits him to and why god has he never noticed that he was in this class?

They're coming towards him now, the pools. And he wants them to come towards him, but Ravi finally blinks out of his stupor when he realizes what's going on. Grayson is walking towards him. Grayson is walking towards him! Ravi feels a different type of panic as the hazel eyed, brown haired, dimpled basketball-playing junior makes his way to the empty seat that used to be occupied by Dana. Ravi wishes Dana was still sitting there because then at least his insides wouldn't feel like goo.

Ravi watches as Grayson takes the seat next to him with ease. He flashes a pearly white smile at Ravi who gives the junior a really awkward one back. Ravi's eyes graze over his smooth olive skin and the chiseled muscle of his forearm, and he nearly slaps himself to stop from staring at Grayson like a creep.

"So," Grayson starts in his raspy voice, "I guess we're partners, huh?"

"Y-y-yeah." Ravi's voice cracks very embarrassingly. He'd give anything for a glass of water at this moment. He clears his throat. "Yeah, we're p-partners."

Grayson nods. "It's a good thing we are, or I would completely fail."

"What, what do you mean?" Ravi's voice cracks again and it's like the puberty brick is repeatedly hitting him over the head.

"I mean, I'm slow as a turtle in Astronomy and you're probably the smartest dude in this whole school." Ravi blushes despite his dark complexion. "I'm pretty much a dead weight at this. Don't know why I chose it to begin with…"

Ravi's heart sinks. He knows where this is going and he's almost disappointed. Grayson is going to use his good looks and suave to persuade Ravi into doing all the work while he sits back and relaxes, and Ravi will have to work on the project by himself. And Ravi will sadly let Grayson get credit for all the work he didn't do, and Grayson will smile in satisfaction because he successfully took advantage of Ravi's brain. He's not new to this. He's been down this road before. It's what happens every time he has to do group work."

"Whatever. I'll do my best to contribute but you'll have to be patient with me because Astronomy makes me feel stupid." Grayson chuckles.

Ravi blinks. He blinks several times. He wonders if he heard right or if his ears are just messing with him. Grayson wants to contribute to the project? Like, he actually wants to contribute? Not put off all the work on Ravi and take the credit? He actually wants to help?

"Umm, o-okay sure." Ravi stutters, his tongue growing heavier and heavier by the second. "No problem. So, er, when do you want to get started?"

Grayson bites his full, pink bottom lip as he think's and Ravi has to forcefully tear his eyes away from the older boys' lips. But it's the most distracting thing he's ever seen in his fifteen years of living. "Well I don't have practice today, so how does today sound?"

"Great." Ravi says too eagerly. "Sounds great."

"Cool. Where do you wanna go to start things off?"

"My house." Ravi blurts out without thinking. It takes a moment for him to realize that he just offered the basketball play to come to his house and Ravi feels like flinging himself out of the window for being so mindless. He feels his eyes becoming saucers and he wishes he could take back the invitation because honestly what was he thinking! But it's too late. It's already out there in the atmosphere.

"Your house." Grayson repeats, giving it a thought as he bites his lip yet again. Ravi can't help the open-mouthed expression as his eyes stay fixated on the lip bite as if it's a warm cake placed on a table, freshly baked and iced. He can't even think straight to question why he's feeling like a million butterflies fluttering everywhere. He's suddenly overcome with desires he's never had before, but he doesn't feel like shaking it off. "That's cool with me. Do you want to go straight there, or do you want to set up a time?"

"Uhhh," every intelligent thought leaves Ravi's mind, the image of Grayson's bottom lip still playing itself through Ravi's mind. He's barely aware of the question asked of him and he scrambles to find words to say that don't make him sound like a buffoon. "Uhh, not, umm straight, not straight." Ravi clears his throat and blinks because the sentence he said made Grayson's eyebrows raise to his hairline and Ravi's cheeks burn. Pull it together Ross! "I mean, let's set a time and met up. H-how is 4:30?"

Grayson smiles, two dimples slashing his cheeks. Ravi nearly melts into a puddle. "Perfect. Here." He scribbles something down on a piece of paper in his notebook and rips it out, followed by another piece of blank paper. He places both papers plus the pen on Ravi's desk. Ravi looks down. The first paper has a number scrawled on it, followed by the name Grayson in neatly printed hand writing. "My number. So, you know, you can text me about the project and your address and stuff." Ravi feels the strangest excitement at the thought of texting Grayson, but he pockets the paper.

The second one is blank however. "Do you, er, mind giving me your number too? So y'know, I can have it?" Grayson's voice is suddenly small, and shy even. His cheeks have a slightly pink tint, but Ravi doesn't notice because he's trying to control his hand as he shakily writes his number on the paper (he messes up and has to start over). He hands it back to Grayson who flashes his perfect smile as the bell rings.

"Thanks." He mutters as he picks up his bag. "See you later Ravi." Grayson stands up and walks around Ravi's desk towards the door. Ravi's gaze follows him as he goes, and he catches himself before he can stare to intently at the way his back looks stronger than Ravi's soul.

The slam of books on the table next to him makes Ravi jump, bringing his attention away from Grayson (finally). He turns back to the desk Grayson was at and Dana is now standing there looking like a raging bull. "I need a new partner." She growls. Ravi quickly gathers up his books in his bag. "I cannot spend another minute partnered with Melvin or my IQ level might have to suffer."

"It can't be that bad." Ravi says as he stands up.

"He thinks Mars is a city in Africa."

Ravi snorts. They get to the door of the class room where Luke stands waiting for him. Today was his first day back from suspension, and boy has the school been excitedly gossiping about the fight and his return. He can't go anywhere without someone pointing at his black eye or whispering something about the incident. Paired with Ravi and his drama, the rumor mill must be having a field day. Evan Carter is back too, but neither Ravi nor Luke have seen him all day and want to believe he's avoiding them.

"Hey man." Luke greets him. "You okay? You look kind of red."

Ravi's face does still feel hot from the amount of blushing he did when he was interacting with Grayson. "Uhh, yup. Peachy." No way is he about to admit how talking to the topaz-eyed Junior made him feel like singing and hiding under a rock all at the same time.

"Well I gotta go." Dana says, not really looking at Luke. Still giving him the cold shoulder Ravi sees. "I'll see you tomorrow Ravi." She turns and walks in the opposite direction, her purple pony-tail swinging as she goes.

"Why does she hate me?" Luke asks as they begin walking towards the exit where Emma and Zuri wait.

"What?" Ravi says in mock shock. He knows that Dana doesn't seem to be too fond of Luke for whatever reason, but he doesn't think she outright hates him. Ravi's hoping that Dana's just sizing him up maybe. Figuring him out. And he is hoping Luke wouldn't notice her harshness. "She doesn't hate you."

"She doesn't seem to like me that much either." Luke mutters.

"I'm sure she'll come around. She doesn't even know you yet."

"I don't think she wants to know me."

"Who wants to know you?" Emma and Zuri walk up to them, both girls looking more than ready to leave school.

"Dana Roman. I'm pretty sure she hates me. And I don't know why."

"Are you kidding me?" Emma snorts as the four of them walk down the hall. "She's one of the nicest people at the school. She loves everyone. She's basically a gummi bear and a lollipop put together."

"Well she's more like licorice to me."

"Luke, you probably did something to annoy her and now she thinks you're a joke." Zuri rolls her eyes.

"Can you for one minute not assume that I did something to make someone hate me? I'm not that horrible!"

The four of them continue their conversation and small bantering. Well, Ravi tries to converse, but his mind keeps wandering. It keeps wandering to the fact that in an hour, Grayson Sinclair, the topaz-eyed, dimpled cheeked, basketball playing, pretty boy Junior would be entering his home. His home. And would be in close proximity to Ravi.

And Ravi is nowhere near prepared for it.

Don't even know how this is 16 pages… Like how does this happen again?

So yes, the vision behind Brenna Monroe in this fic comes from Brenna D'Amico from Descendants. And Doug is also from Descendants. And Andi is from Andi Mack. Will these people be important in later chapters? Maybe… Honestly the only reason we decided to use characters that exist in other places is because thinking of all these OCs is a lot of work and we're lazy lol.

Someone who reviewed asked if Connor would be in other chapters and my answer to that is maybe…

Thank you all for reading. Also we have two stories up in the My Babysitter's a Vampire section so if you want to go check that out then pleeeeeeease.

Thanks for reading. Please review. The more reviews we get the fast we upload.

-Bye Felicia.