Austin laughs with his friends as they show each other funny videos on their phones, not caring the slightest about the performances taking place on the field. He'd half listened to the marching band, and fully tuned out the poppy, sound-effects-filled cheer performance.
Such a supportive brother, he was.
"Aye, I'm hungry. Let's go get food," Jackson says to Austin and their other friend, Tobias.
"Yeah, sure," Austin nods in agreement before following them down the metal bleacher steps and into the main concourse of the football stadium.
Of course, by now, half-time had ended and the area was filled with band and cheerleading members who had just started their fifteen-minute break. The boys hop into line for snacks, oblivious to the rest of the world as they continue to talk and laugh.
"Hey, isn't Nicole supposed to be here? Where is she?" Austin asks, looking around for their friend and Tobias' girlfriend.
"Her mom wouldn't let her. She had to watch her little siblings," Tobias says with a sullen face.
"Damn. That sucks," Austin says, stepping forward as the line moves. He didn't need to look at the menu, he already knew what he wanted. Same thing every game, like a tradition.
Soon enough, they are at the front and Austin approaches an available cashier.
"Hey, can I just get an order of fries and a Dr. Pepper, please?" At least he has manners, his friends on the other hand didn't even look at their cashier when they ordered; too preoccupied with their phones.
"You got it. Food will be down there when it's ready," the cashier says, handing Austin back his change and pointing down the long counter.
"Thanks," Austin says, quickly joining his boys again as they lean against a brick pillar and wait.
It doesn't take long and once a mom and her two kids turn away from the counter, Austin comes up and reaches for his fries.
The paper tray is sharply pulled in the opposite direction as another hand grabs it.
"Hey! Those are mine!' Austin quickly protests, looking up at the other person.
"No, I think they're mine," she says.
The girl - short blonde hair, silvery blue eyes, and wearing a cheerleading uniform in their school's colors - instantly catches Austin's attention. If not for her beauty, then for the sharp way she defends her actions. He knew she wasn't going to let him get away with stealing the fries.
She's about six inches shorter than him and he has to look down to meet her eyes.
"I didn't see a name written on them," he says. In fact, he didn't even recognize the girl from around school. And he knew a lot of people at their school.
"What are we in Kindergarten and need everything labeled for us? No! Finders keepers, losers weepers," she retorts.
"Wow, who's in grade school now? I haven't used that come back since like fourth grade!"
"Oh, so like yesterday. Good to know," the girl replies with a laugh.
He could play that game all day, but somehow knew he'd never win with her around. And he liked it; never wanted it to end. He gives in, lets the girl take the tray. "Fine: you win. The fries are yours. But I'll have you know those would have been the first thing I've eaten since breakfast." He tries the pity card just to see how she takes it.
"Well, thanks," the girl smiles. "And you better eat something. Wouldn't want you passing out on us, Princey." she slyly smiles at him, using the nickname written on the back of the letterman jacket he's currently wearing.
"No, we wouldn't," he agrees, returning the smile. "But I'd gladly let you come to my rescue."
The girl scoffs, letting out a huff of laughter. "In your dreams."
She's walking away as Austin calls to her, "That can be arranged!"
[][]
At the end of free period, Austin, too cheerful for a Monday, hustles down the athletic hallway and bursts through the door to the training room.
"Hey, Ms. Trish! Hope you had a good weekend," he says to the athletic trainer. He pays no mind to the girl Trish has on her exam table and instead makes a beeline for the ice maker.
"I told you a hundred times, you can't keep coming in here to steal my ice! I pay good money for this ice!" Trish scolds half-heartedly to the boy.
"But it's the good ice! And you love me," Austin replies, turning his eyes on Trish, giving her a dimpled half-smile.
"I do love you." Trish pauses to study his face; even she was powerless against it. "Alright, this is the last time. Fill your cup and get outta here."
"Thank you!"
The sounds of ice hitting a metal water bottle fill the room and then the door opens again and Austin is gone.
His prized green and gold letterman jacket lies crumpled and forgotten on the floor.
Trish lets the teen on her table go and the girl replies with a kind "thank you."
As she leaves, the girl bends down and scoops up the jacket, laying it over her arm as she turns down the filling hallway.
[][]
Wednesday morning arrives in the Castle house with its usual chaos.
Lunches are made, bags are packed with the required materials for both school and afternoon activities, and four teens sit in a row along the breakfast bar all in matching uniforms of solid-colored polo shirts and khaki pants.
"Hey, have you guys seen my letterman jacket? I was gonna wear it today," Austin asks from where he stood in front of the open front hall closet. He, too, wore similar clothing to his siblings and his white and black backpack occupied his usual spot at the bar.
"Nope, sorry," Finn tells her brother.
"Did you check the closet in our room?" Liam offers, standing to deposit his empty plate in the dishwasher.
"Yeah, that's the first place I looked!" Austin answers. His quick reply is filled with rush and anxiety.
"Maybe it's in the laundry room! Dad was washing your lacrosse stuff last night," Danielle supplies.
"Yeah, maybe," Austin agrees, biting his thumbnail in a similar fashion to their mom. He crosses the kitchen and enters the laundry room only to exit a moment later empty-handed.
"What's up?' Kate asks as she comes into the room, taking stock of her kids.
"Austin can't find his letterman jacket. You haven't seen it, have you?" Danielle says.
"No, sorry, bud," Kate says, looking sorrowfully at her son. "Is it in the cubbies in the mud room?" Those cubbies were always a cluster of shoes and jackets; it had to be there.
"Nope, already looked three times," Austin says.
"Sorry," Kate shrugs, laying a soothing hand on his arm. "Why don't you pick something different for now and we'll look again tonight, okay?"
"Okay," Austin resigns.
"Good. Alright, guys, we're leaving in ten minutes!"
.
.
.
The second-period Honors English 2 class buzzed with conversation and activity as the class of sophomores entered and completed their warm-up.
Though they all wore similar uniforms, Austin Castle stood out as the only person at his table not wearing a letterman jacket. The table of teen boys made no comment on it as they were all too busy gossiping about who talked to who on social media the night before.
"Alright, my dudes! I'm gonna give you like three more minutes to finish and then we'll get started!" the young teacher announces as she crosses to the podium next to the front board, letting the door close behind her, only to have it open again a few seconds later.
The movement catches all their attention for a moment but keeps Austin's as he takes in the girl coming in
Short blonde hair, silver-blue eyes, a purple backpack slung over one shoulder.
It's the same girl from the football game!
Austin scrunches his face as he mentally slaps himself. Of course, that girl would be in his class.
But then in the next second, he smiles to himself. He'd been given another opportunity to talk with her; to flirt with her some more and see how she took it. Because if he recalled, she was dishing it out just as much as he was.
"Oh! Hey," their teacher calls, smiling at the girl. 'Welcome! Guys, this is Christine. She just moved here, so make her feel welcome. There's an open seat at Elena's table, why don't you take that."
Austin follows Christine as she takes the empty seat and pulls out her computer. He notes that her screen saver is of a hockey player in an orange and blue jersey skating across the ice.
A girl who likes sports, he could get behind that.
He's quick to pull out a loose piece of paper and scribble a note on it, tucking it into the sleeve of his hoodie until the coast was clear.
Once notes were given, their teacher sends them off to work on their own and after a flurry of movement as students pull out headphones and word documents, the class quiets down to a din of productive noise. He uses the guise of needing a tissue to cross the room and deposit the note onto Christine's keyboard.
Her confused look and scan of the room stops on him and he's met with a cocked eyebrow. He answers with a lift of his chin, throws away his tissue, and returns to his seat, miming typing as he passes her.
A moment later, a chat box opens on his screen, and he chuckles at her short message.
You.
Me!
Are you following me?
I mean, there's only one Honors Sophomore English class. Where else would I be?
I just meant I didn't expect you to be here.
Well, here I am! Surprise!
Austin tops off the message by sending a gif of a party hat-wearing dog, smiling at the camera.
Awe! Cute!
Of course, you would notice the dog first.
Don't roll your eyes at me!
I didn't!
Uh-huh, sure. Don't lie! I saw you.
Austin looks up from his screen, turning to face Christine. He raises an eyebrow at her and she smirks back, calling his bluff.
Okay, fine. You got me.
Ha! I Win!
Okay, don't gloat, it doesn't look good on you.
Come on, Princey! You got the fries last week. Let me have this.
Deal.
So. I see where the nickname came from. Clever.
I mean, you usually don't get to pick your nickname in sports. At least now, my brother can't have it!
Brother?
Yeah, brother. My twin. He plays soccer.
Oh. Interesting.
My turn, Christine. Do you have siblings?
Yes. Two. Brothers. Both older than me. Grant is a Senior and Ben is a Sophomore up at Vassar.
Oh. Fancy.
LOL you could say that. It's the furthest away our mother would let him go. She wanted him to go to NYU or Columbia and live at home. But he needed to get away.
Yeah, I feel that. You can't stay home forever.
Exactly!
Christine looks up as their teacher walks the room checking on their work. She's quick to open her essay document and appear to be working on it.
You don't have to worry! As long as we get our work done, she doesn't care what we do.
Oh! Good! I was scared, lol!
Why?
Because I'm new! I don't want to get in trouble my first week!
You'll be fine. It's chill.
So, did you just walk on to the cheer team? Because I asked my sister and she said you only joined like two weeks ago.
I mean…bascially? They needed a flyer and my audition stuff was at the top of the pile. So, coach Erin emailed me and one thing led to another and now I'm here.
Your sister?
OH MY GOD! Danielle's your sister! I literally just made that connection
Austin's burst of laughter gets him looks from his classmates and a tisk of disapproval from their teacher.
Ooo, you are in trouble!
Am not.
Better be careful, Princey. Don't want to anger your kingdom.
Eh, it will be fine.
Yeah, I picked up on that. You think you're something good, huh?
I try. It seems to be working.
No, but seriously: why are you here? It can't be just the cheer thing.
That's part of it, sure. But my last school was like really toxic. It was a private Catholic school.
Oof.
Yeah. All three of us went there. It goes up to 12th grade, but I had to get out of there or I was gonna go crazy! Grant's still there, tho. So, now I'm here and so far, it's been pretty nice.
Well, I'm glad!
Thanks.
Now, back to you.
A brother and a sister. Triplets?
Good guess, but alas you're wrong.
Oh?
We're quintuplets. There's five of us. I have two other sisters too.
Oh my god!
Yeah, I know.
Wow.
Yeah. I mean, it's not really a big deal anymore. Most of these kids have known us since Kindergarten.
Wow. Good to know.
So, Danielle. I know her name. What's your brother's name? The one who has to find a new nickname.
Ha! Yes, he does! And don't ever let him forget that. He's Liam. You can't miss him.
I'll be on the lookout.
And your sisters?
Ah, beating around the bush, huh? Good choice, Christine.
They are Miyana and Finn. But don't use Mia's full government name.
Good to know.
Finn. Isn't she in marching band? The one up at the front on the xylophone thing? Danielle pointed her out to me at the game last week! She's really good!
Thanks! Yeah, she and Liam both are. It's one of her talents. You should see her in the kitchen. She's just as good there.
Well, I'm excited for the chance.
Okay, go ahead and ask it. I know you're dying.
Ask what?
You know what.
Okay.
What's your name, Princey?
Because 'acastle ' is a horrible hint.
That it is.
And why ruin the mystery by telling you?
Because you already know my name. Fair is fair.
Touche.
There's a long pause between messages and Austin watches as Christine waits on bated breath. Totally enjoying holding the information over her like a prize to be won.
I'm Austin.
Nice to officially meet you, Austin.
He can see her smile from across the room and it fills him with such love and joy that even something as simple as sharing his name with her could make her smile like that. He never wanted to stop making her smile.
You too.
The bell rings, and both teens realize they'd spent the entire class talking. But it felt like no time at all had passed.
"See you around, Princey," Christine whispers into his ear as she passes him in the hall. It makes a shiver run down his spine and the hairs stand up on the back of his neck.
Oh, he was so done for.
[][]
Austin arrives at school Friday with a spring in his step. He scans the halls, saying hello to his friends, but mostly looking for her.
They had been talking almost nonstop since that conversation in English class Wednesday morning. Exchanging quips and sarcastic remarks was apparently their way of flirting. And it excited him and made him so happy every time they talked.
It's not long before he spots her by her locker. As he walks towards her, he notices she wearing a very familiar green and gold wool jacket. His pace quickens until he's nearly on top of her.
"You! You're the one who took my jacket! I've been looking everywhere for it!"
Christine doesn't even turn around from putting her books away, though she does shush him when people turn in their direction at the noise.
"Took? No, I found this jacket. Someone left it on the floor of the training room on Monday. Right by the ice machine." Christine turns to face him, cocking her head and giving him a pointed look. "I didn't want it to get messed up—"
"—So you took it."
"I may have picked it up, yes."
"And you could have just left it there or even taken it to the lost and found. But you didn't"
"Nope," she smiles, raking her loose hair back.
He knew she knew the implications of her wearing his jacket.
"People are going to start talking. I'd hate for the rumor mill to start your first week." Now he's whispering, quickly looking around to watch for eavesdroppers.
Austin watches as Christine takes in that fact; watches as her face changes.
She really didn't want to be the topic of rumors in her first week. She was just trying to have a bit of fun.
"Okay, fine. You win. God, do you always have to be right?"
"Not always. But the times I am are that much sweeter."
Christine quickly slips off the jacket and hands it back to Austin who stuffs it into the crook of an arm. "When will I get it back?" She asks.
"How do you know I'm gonna give it back?"
"Touche." But she smiles up at him. It was only a matter of time before she was sporting that jacket once again.
"We'll see," Austin shrugs as he turns back down the hall when his friends call him over. "See you around, Christine."