Mara

Normally when I open my locker I'm not greeted with an avalanche of daisies.

But then I started dating Jerome Clark, and slowly grew used to the sweet, semi-romantic to romantic gestures that would pop up around me every so often.

I closed my mouth, which had fallen open in surprise, and looked at the white petals pooling around my shoes in wonder until my focus was stolen by a small weight dropping down on my head. I looked up and laughed to find Jerome standing next to me, looking rather smug. His arm snaked around my waist and before I could even toss up a 'How's it going?' he was pressing his lips to mine.

I brought an arm up to his shoulders and stood up on my tiptoes to bring myself as close to him as humanly possible, slanting my mouth to kiss him back harder. Euphoria pounded through my veins, and I retained just enough self-awareness to reach up and see what he had placed on my head a few seconds ago.

He broke away and winked at me, a smirk on his face. "Happy Tuesday Mara," Jerome grinned, as I pulled off what turned out to be a daisy wreath.

Wordlessly, I gestured at the flowers I was ankle-deep in as my boyfriend plucked the wreath from my hands and placed it back on my head. "What's all this?" I managed to ask, a smile worthy of the Cheshire Cat making it hard to speak.

Jerome tilted his head and pretended to consider, before giving a shrug as though it was obvious. "My wishing you a happy Tuesday. Didn't we just establish this?"

My eyebrows raised themselves up my forehead as I shook my head in disbelief and pulled my things out of my locker. "How did you even get in my locker?" I half-asked half-demanded. I'd never told anyone the combination so I was genuinely curious.

But true to form, rather than give me an actual answer, Jerome slung his jacket over his shoulder and smirked. "I have my methods."

I rolled my eyes in half-fondness half-exasperation and shut my locker as his fingers interlaced with mine and we started walking over to first period as I resolved to get the answer out of him later. "Wait but what about –" I started to turn, pointing out the mess of flowers still gracing the tiled floor but Jerome waved his hand airily and continued pulling me along. "I paid a third-year five pounds to clean them up," he explained, and I had to smile even wider because of course he'd be that thorough.

We slid into our seats and I practiced balancing equations while waiting for the bell to ring. Correction – I tried to practice balancing equations, but Jerome kept tugging on my ear and playing with my hair, and generally making it very, very, very hard to focus on anything but him.

When class started Sweetie had us finish up the coal lab we had begun yesterday, so Jerome and Alfie and I headed over to our table. If it were this time two years ago, there's a startlingly high chance that Jerome and Alfie would've spent the class using the coal to draw war paint on each other's faces or something equally ridiculous. But fast forward to the present, and Jerome convinced Alfie to – if not cease goofing off entirely – not go out of his way to distract Jerome and I while we finished taking measurements.

I was writing down the mass of the bituminous coal when Jerome tugged on my sleeve. I turned and he held out the sparker, a look of surrender on his face. "I admit defeat," he deadpanned, and I laughed as I took the instrument from him. He stepped back to let me pass, and I lit the Bunsen burner on my first try. Jerome pointed an accusing finger at me as his eyebrows drew together into a 'V'. "You cheated," he determined, looking suspicious.

"How?" I tilted my head, doing my best to be coy, and bit my lip as I waited for his answer.

He shrugged, expression not moving. "Not sure yet. But you did."

I grinned and placed the sparker on the table, holding up a hand and stretching my fingers. "It takes a special touch," I teased, unable to help myself.

My knees went weak as his face shifted into a dangerous grin. "I'll show you a special touch," he suggested, voice dropping to a low whisper. I felt my stomach clench as his eyes burned into mine and had to force myself to turn away, unless I wanted to get a detention for public displays of affection during class.

I attempted to focus on my calculations to find the percentage of water in each of the coal types, but I heard a quiet laugh as he moved up behind me, and my grip tightened to the degree that I was nearly snapping my pencil in half. "Going to ignore me are you Jaffray?" I soundlessly shook my head, eyes not moving from my worksheet. I felt his hands wrap around my midsection, and almost on instinct I leaned back into him, his body heat burning through my uniform. "That's what I thought." I swore I could hear him grinning as his grasp on my body tightened and my throat sealed off. My toes curled as he leaned down and pressed a chaste kiss to my cheek, and I ordered myself to get a grip before I tackled him onto the lab table and started making out with him then and there.

Extricating myself from his hold, I turned so we were face-to-face and put my hands on my hips. "School now. This later." I tried to make my voice as commanding as possible, but given that we were still pressed up against each other and I could see his eyes flickering back and forth between my eyes and my lips, I'm not entirely sure how well I did. But I must've somehow gotten at least part of my message across, because he smirked and gave a small nod of acknowledgement, before stepping back so that there was once again a school-appropriate amount of distance between us.

In celebration of being able to once again breathe freely, I pushed an exhale out through my lips, before jumping as there was a crash behind us. I turned around to see a defensive looking Alfie next to a broken triple beam balance scale and bit back a laugh as Sweetie rounded on him for damaging a valuable piece of equipment.

Throughout the rest of the day, Jerome took great pleasure of reminding me every so often of my promise for 'this later', often with a hand on my back or arm or leg. It got to the point that by the time French class rolled around my nerves were practically on fire and my eyes kept flitting between Mr. Duval and the clock as I waited impatiently for the bell to ring.

He ended the school day with a reminder that for those who had gotten 60% or less on the tests he'd passed back yesterday, to come and see him after class so they could finish working out a tutoring schedule and dismissed us. I haphazardly gathered up my things and shoved them into my bag, somehow managing to retain an appearance of calm as I exited the classroom and made my way back to the house, Jerome close on my heels.

My extremities were practically shot with anticipation as I thrust open the door and Jerome shut it behind us, and I barely perceived Trudy in the kitchen as I just about flew into Jerome and Alfie's room. A wild grin refused to leave my face and my fingers were tingling as I unceremoniously dropped my school bag and turned to see my boyfriend lock the door. My breath caught as his eyes locked on mine, and then before I knew it his things were on the ground and his arms were around my back and we were kissing as he drew me into him like he couldn't get enough of me.

On some level I was aware of when my hands found his shoulders in an effort to pull me even closer to him, but most of my thoughts were occupied with flying out my ears. One of his hands rose up from my back to fist itself in my hair as he pressed his lips even harder against mine, the taste of maple searing itself into my mouth. When he pulled back I involuntarily pushed forward, trying to join our lips together again before I realized he hadn't just pulled back but had stopped kissing me altogether. I barely had time to open my eyes halfway and see the dangerous look on his face before his hand was out of my hair and my legs were scooped out from under me. A small shriek escaped my mouth and I clutched at his neck as Jerome laughed as he walked across the room.

The two of us landed on his bed and as he let go of my legs I pulled them back so that I was laying on top of him as our lips joined together again. One of his hands found itself on my waist while the other pressed itself into the back of my head as a fire erupted in my stomach. Mick had been sweet, but never in a million years had we done anything like this. There was something intoxicating about being with Jerome, something tantalizingly sweet and dangerously irresistible. Maybe it was the way he said my name a thousand different ways, but each time like it was his favorite word. Maybe it was how he managed to convince me without even trying to do things like make out on his bed in his dorm room, something that just last year I would've never considered. Maybe it was that cheeky smirk he never seemed to stop wearing, or that feeling of drowning in ecstasy I got whenever he looked at me a certain way.

A series of knocks on the door startled me out of my musings and I practically threw myself off of Jerome, my feet landing on the floor as I hurriedly straightened my uniform and hair. I turned to see him still laying on the bed looking slightly amused and it spiked a surge of irritation in my chest. "Don't just sit there," I whispered desperately.

He held out his hands in a, 'well what would you like me to do?' gesture, and I sighed because I hadn't the faintest idea what he was supposed to do. I settled for whirling my hands about madly and zooming over to the door before whoever was outside got suspicious. I switched open the deadbolt and turned the knob; the door swung open and I was greeted with the only person in Anubis shorter than I was. "Hey Joy," I said in surprise, caught off guard when it wasn't Alfie. "What's up?"

The pixie-like girl rose her eyebrows and craned her neck, attempting to see past the slightly ajar door that my body was blocking. "You weren't in your room," she answered, unable to see my background. "Trudy said she thought she saw you and Jerome head this way, so here I am."

"What do you want?" I asked as I slid out of the room and shut the door behind me, sweeping a few stray hairs off my cheek.

Joy's expression melted into a combination of shame and self-resentment as she pulled a folded packet from her bag and held it out to me. "Right, so I kinda sorta maybe failed the French test," she drew out, her eyes staring at what must've been the test instead of me. "Problem is I've gone over it and I can't figure out what I did wrong, and I'd like to know before my meeting with Mr. Duval tomorrow."

I was reaching out a hand to grab the papers when the noise of something hitting a wall sounded from inside Jerome and Alfie's room. I turned in surprise, before facing Joy again, trying not to feel like a terrible person for hanging her out to dry. "You know, why don't you ask Nina?" I suggested.

The speed of sound possessed a slower travel rate than Joy's facial expressions in that moment. In less time than it took me to blink her mouth turned downwards into a scowl and her eyes morphed into a glare as she gave me the most condescending look I had ever received. "I would've thought it was obvious," she snapped, arms folding tightly against her chest.

I anxiously twisted a curl around my fingers, trying to think of a not-painful way to phrase my next words. "Look Joy. I don't know all the details of what happened between you and Fabian and Nina last year. But I do know, that out of all of us Nina's the best at French. I mean, it's not even a contest. It's been a few months since they got back together, and I know it sucks Joy, and I'm sorry I really am, but maybe it's about time you started trying to move on. If Nina can help you, then you should ask her for it."

I held my breath as she didn't move, waiting for the storm to hit before Joy simply rolled her eyes and shoved the test into her bag. "I'm not giving her anything to mock me over. You really think I want Little Miss Fluent finding out I got a 48% on what we learned last year? I'll see you later Mara."

"Joy wait," I grabbed her arm as she turned to walk away, grasping for words that would make her freeze. "It's not that I'm not sympathetic, it's just that you're my friend and I hate seeing you like this. You're just so miserable all the time."

Joy partly turned back so that I could see half of her face and gave a smile. "I'm fine Mara. Just need some time." Before I could protest again she tugged her arm out of my grip and walked back down the hall. I wanted to follow, but I had remembered what day it was and the fact that he was throwing things across the room told me it was probably already happening.

I slid back inside the room and locked the door behind me, biting my lip as I saw Jerome quietly arguing with someone on the phone. I lingered by the doorway for a while, uncertain as to whether or not my presence would be welcome. But then I decided that when he had asked for me to be near him today he had meant it and walked over, placing what I hoped was a comforting hand on his shoulder as he hung up.

He didn't speak for a while, just leaned against the wall doing a spectacular imitation of a statue, a hard expression on his face. I don't know how long he didn't move for, but I do know that at some point I shifted from keeping a hand on his shoulder to wrapping my arms around his upper body, pressing my small frame against him in support.

"Child services." I moved my hand to rub a few circles around his shoulder blades as he confirmed whom the call had been from. "My dad's apartment isn't entirely ideal for a young girl to grow up in apparently, so they're going to be taking temporary custody of Poppy until they've appraised my mum's living situation."

It took me a few seconds to wrap my mind around the enormity of the statement. I knew Jerome's younger sister had gone to live with their dad at the end of last year, but I hadn't realized she'd be taken away from her father this early in the custody battle.

I didn't say anything, just leaned into Jerome, letting him know I was there until he heaved a sigh and walked over to his desk. I bounced onto the bed, watching as he glared at his phone before throwing me a glance. "Would this break if I threw it at the wall?"

Unable to keep my mouth in a completely straight line, I raised an eyebrow as my lip curled into a smile and cast a pointed look at the textbook that was laying suspiciously at the foot of the wall with a broken spine. "Yes."

He shrugged. "Pity." His arm blurred and there was a crash and my head jerked to look at the pile of disassembled electronics underneath the new dent in the wall. My mouth dropped and I wordlessly opened and closed my jaw in shock as Jerome walked over to his bedside table, opened the drawer and pulled out a replica of the phone he had just smashed. At my even more confused look, he gave a shrug and a smirk. "Always have a backup," he winked, waving the phone at me.

After dinner that evening, I was studying on the couch with Fabian and Nina while Jerome and Alfie tried to see who could bounce the most coins into a cup. Patricia and Eddie were at the table bickering about an intense game of tic-tac-toe, Amber was across from me brushing her hair and Joy was poring over French notes on the ground, a frown of concentration on her face.

I watched out of my peripheral vision as the scowl on Joy's face got darker and the marks of her pencil got harsher until she slammed her textbook shut in frustration.

"I give up," she declared. "I can not figure out what I did wrong on this test."

Nina ignored Joy's outburst and remained focused on her science textbook, but the rest of us acknowledged in some way or another that she had our attention. "Don't be like that Joy-less," Alfie grinned, before cheering and attempting some tricked-out version of the robot when his coin went in the cup.

"What do you mean you don't know what you did wrong?" Patricia called, absently smacking Eddie's hand away as he tried to steal a chip from the bowl next to her.

Joy tucked her knees up and laid her back down on the floor. "I mean all Mr. Duval did was mark a problem if I got it wrong, he failed however, to tell me why I got it wrong." I watched as she pressed her hands over her face and suppressed a moan. "C'est impossible."

"It's not impossible Joy, you just need a…" I circled my hand, trying to reclaim the word that had just been on the tip of my tongue. "A nudge in the right direction."

Joy mumbled something into her hands and I darted a glance at Nina, who was still steadfastly marking up her science notes, ignoring the ongoing conversation. Taking a quick breath, I sent up a quick prayer that Joy wouldn't hate me for what I was about to do. "Hey Nina, what did you get on the French test?"

Our resident female American lifted her eyes to me, eyebrows slightly raised in suspicion, but answered nonetheless. "98%."

"What, not a hundred? Come on Nina I thought you were supposed to be good at this," Jerome teased, as he added a tally to his side of his and Alfie's scoreboard.

She turned a glare on my boyfriend before answering, "He took points off for the essay at the end. Apparently my hand writing wasn't legible enough for him."

"You got points docked for handwriting? Nothing else?" Alfie checked, looking envious.

Nina shrugged, the corners of her lips twitching. "Well it's like Jerome said, I'm supposed to be good at this."

"Could you tell Joy what she did wrong then?" I suggested, ignoring the looks of shock I received.

"Did you seriously just suggest those two work together? And not on each other's destruction?" Alfie clarified, looking at me as though I were insane.

I ignored him and focused on Nina, waiting for her answer. Her expression had soured and she angrily opened her mouth to reply, but before she could get a word out Fabian leaned over and whispered something in her ear. She looked at him in exasperation but he grabbed her hand and sent her a pleading look.

Nina sighed and turned to Joy. "Do you want me to help you?"

Joy, who was sitting up now, pursed her lips and glared at me, fingering her failed test. "I wouldn't hate it if you told me what I did wrong."

Nina held out a hand and Joy reluctantly passed her test over as the tension in the room relaxed. For the most part we returned to what we had been doing prior to Joy's attempted surrender, but Joy and Amber joined Jerome and Alfie's game of Cups. Fabian and I quizzed each other on vocab terms while Nina marked up Joy's test, looking increasingly confused as she did so.

"Does anyone have their French test with them?" she asked at one point, looking around the room.

I got mine from my binder and passed it over as Eddie chimed, "Want me to take a look at it?"

Nina waved him off, concentrating on the tests in her hands, repeatedly flipping pages back and forth. "Joy you didn't change any of these answers did you?"

"No, why?" she answered.

Nina frowned at the test paper. "Because like less than half of these are actually wrong."

Joy rolled her eyes. "What are you talking about?"

Nina waved her over as Fabian and I watched. "See? He took off points for questions you got right. I even checked your answers against Mara's to be sure I wasn't doing it wrong, but he took points off you for things she did. This is like, 85% at least."

"Well if I did so amazing why did he fail me?" Joy demanded, folding her arms.

Nina shrugged. "Don't know. But either you passed or Mara and I both failed, and if I were a betting man – which I'm not – I'd say the former seems more likely." She handed the test back. "Ask Mr. Duval about it tomorrow, maybe he used the wrong answer key for yours or something."

"Is a few minutes of peace and quiet too much to ask from you miscreants?" Victor barked, materializing in the doorway. At his appearance, all laughter and smiles were immediately sucked out of the room, leaving nervous anticipation in their wake. Victor's special like that. "I have a blinding headache and require calm, and serenity. If you don't keep the noise down I can assure you I will personally speak with the headmaster and have you suspended."

"Even me?" Eddie challenged, and I had to physically bite my tongue to keep from laughing.

"Yes, Mr. Miller, even you," Victor scowled, but judging from Eddie's customary smirk, he wasn't buying it. Not that any of the rest of us were either. No way was Sweetie kicking out his own son. Casting a disparaging look around the room, Victor skulked back up the stairs, muttering about 'wretched children'.

The room breathed a sigh of relief as he left. "Is it just me, or does he seem even more charming than usual lately?" Alfie voiced.

"Alfie how can you say that? Victor was never charming and lately if anything he's even more rude than usual." Amber pouted, folding her arms.

"It was a rhetorical question Ambs," Alfie assured her.

He tried to give Amber a hug but she scowled and firmly turned her back on him. "Alfie what have I told you about asking questions that don't need answers?"

"To not do it," he sighed.

I was pulled away from their conversation as Trudy shooed us away to get ready for bed. I headed up the stairs – after a kiss good night from Jerome – and jumped in the shower before anyone else could and was brushing my teeth when I heard an argument coming towards me.

"Amber I'm allowed to have a personal life." The American accent and distinctly female vocals told me it was Nina.

"Don't be ridiculous! We are best friends, we have no personal lives from each other," a second voice – Amber's – insisted. "If something Sibuna related is going on I have a right to know. I'm one of the founding members."

"It's nothing!" Came the distinctly exasperated sounding reply. "Why can't you just leave it alone?"

"See the very fact that you want me to leave it alone, implies that there is an it to leave. Spill."

The bathroom door opened and it took me a second to realize the conversation had stopped. I glanced up in time to catch Nina shut her mouth in surprise. "Hey Mara! So, you're here. That's… great!" her voice was slightly more high-pitched than normal but I let it slide.

I spit a mouthful of toothpaste into the sink and answered while washing my hands, "Yeah I was just finishing up. Hey I couldn't help overhear, but um, what's a Sibuna?"

"Uh, a Sibuna!" Amber laughed, looking at her roommate expectantly. "Go ahead Nina, tell her what a Sibuna is!"

"A Sibuna, is, Amber's, poetry group. That she formed last year. With me and Fabian. Because she was failing English. But then she wasn't failing anymore so we disbanded it but now she thinks I'm trying to start it back up again for extra credit and not include her which I'm really not but she won't believe that." Throughout the explanation my eyebrows crept higher and higher up my head as Nina rattled off a lengthy answer in a single breath.

"Oh. OK." I gave a wave as I headed out the door. "See you in the morning."

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