AN: Hi everyone, and welcome! Before you get stuck in, I figured I should say a few words about what to expect in this story, since we dont get a lot of room for the summary.

This story is cute at first, and it stays cute for a while, but there is a turning point (around ch.18) at which point the stakes are raised - and they keep rising throughout the story. I wanted to write a story where the characters grow and change, and in the spirit of the Spy x Family genre, I wanted to explore a mix of slice-of-life with good old action and adventure. I intend to keep this series running for a while, so there will be a lot to look forward to!

I am also open to concrit and feedback, as I am continuing to practice my writing.

Enjoy - and have fun! That's what it's all about xxx

It was the beginning of the new school year, and Anya was more determined than ever for Plan B to succeed. She had been chasing a certain Desmond for nearly a decade at this point, and everyone was going to celebrate their 18th birthdays this year and Anya still hadn't been to his house! The weight of her father's disappointment was crushing her.

She just couldn't understand where she was going wrong. She had tried to follow Papa's advice, like giving away sweets, noticing small things about them, and memorising the schedules of all your classmates so that you can meticulously plan when to bump into them and make it seem like a coincidence.

Now people thought she was a creep.

She had tried following Mama's advice: always smile, and punch people if necessary, but she wondered if she also had to punch people while smiling, or if she could stop smiling to punch people? It was all so confusing.

Now people thought she was a maniac.

Finally, there was Becky. Out of the three, Anya realised that Becky's advice seemed to be the most worldly and reliable, as she never got any tonitrus bolts and it all seemed to be socially acceptable advice, although the way Anya interpreted it always got her into a lot more trouble with Damian directly. Like that time Becky said that you only go to boys' houses if you're boyfriend-girlfriend, and Anya promptly went to ask Damian if he could be her boyfriend.

His friends had to drag him to the infirmary after he hit his head fainting and got a concussion.

She had been thinking of Plan B the whole time, but now because of her random actions and one-track mind, people thought she was totally unhinged.

After that, Damian seemed to avoid her, and he always got red around her. It was so hard to figure him out since his thoughts were extremely confusing and often conflicted with how he acted in real life.

But this year.. Anya was determined to change all that. She just needed to figure out how.

She met Becky outside the school gate and walked together to the class, and the whole time Becky gushed to Anya all the details about her summer away:

"Oh Anya, you would not believe it! The prince's private superyacht was absolutely stunning, and the chef was almost as good as mine! And then they showed me these amazing diamond bracelets while Papa and the prince talked business…"

Anya nodded along politely and interjected at various intervals where Becky would pause and wait for Anya's admiration. It was a ritual Anya was used to, and truthfully one that she did not mind. She had known Becky for nearly ten years at this point, and they had remained close friends the entire time, and Anya knew that even though Becky was quite spoiled and entitled, she really did have a soft heart and she was a good friend.

As they entered the classroom, Anya dragged Becky to their usual spot on the front row, and kept an eye out for Damian.

Becky took notice of this. "Anya, do you seriously still have a crush on Desmond?"

Anya whipped her head around to face Becky, her face going red. Her immediate instinct was to deny everything, but she tried to hold that in check as she thought of her plan for the year. She needed to get closer to Damian, and even though it pained her, maybe pretending to have a crush on him was actually the perfect plan.

In Anya's silence, Becky leaped to conclusions and squealed. "Anyaa! Have you finally realised your love for Damian? Ahhh, I'm so proud!" She wiped away an invisible tear. "My girl is already growing up so fast!"

Anya breathed in a deep, shuddering breath, trying to calm her traitorous heart. Why was she so nervous? It was only Damian after all. Then she leaned in towards Becky and said in a conspiratorial whisper: "You know romance, right? How do I get his attention?"

Becky smirked, and recalled the plot of last night's Berlint in Love. "You are so lucky you have me as your best friend, Anya. Here's what you do…"

Anya's eyes widened as Becky told her that the secret of growing from Past Anya to Mature Anya was to simply ignore him. As she listened to what Becky said, she struggled to think of why ignoring a boy was the secret to getting his attention. It seemed completely contradictory. Why would she ignore someone if she was trying to get them to like her?

There, she saw him coming in with his posse, Emile and Ewan. They were as loyal as ever.

She felt his eyes on her as he entered the room, as he walked past her desk…

Past Anya would have started pestering him immediately as he walked into the room. ("Hey Sy-on boy!" What did you do in your summer? Can I come to your house yet?") But this was Mature Anya, and she had a mission to do.

So Mature Anya, very consciously, completely ignored him.

The class held their breath.

Damian sat up in his normal seat with his friends, trying to act completely but Anya could already hear the catastrophe of his thoughts.

That Forger! Is she ignoring me? This is so unlike her. But - pull yourself together Desmond, it just means I can study now without distractions… even though - argh! Why is she like this?

The rest of the class noticed too, and their thoughts washed over Anya like a tidal wave.

Wait, did I miss something?

Did they break up over the summer? Wait, were they even together?

Anya ignoring Damian? This is so juicy, he's going to go off the rails!

Anya bit her lip and pretended to ignore everything by laying out all her things for class. But she really wanted to turn and look at Damian. She was so used to making silly faces at him before class and watching him get flustered. For the sake of the mission, Anya fought to keep from turning her head, and kept her eyes starting resolutely ahead. For the first time in her life, Anya hoped that the teacher would turn up soon so she could have something else to distract her.

She gripped her pen tighter.

All through the day, Damian seethed. After some initial teasing ("Hey bossman! Aren't you going to call her out?") Emile and Ewan had noticed their boss' quiet rage and stayed silent for the rest of the class, and desperately tried to distract him with something else for the rest of the day.

"Hey bossman, let's go study for that test tomorrow!"

"Did you see the new movie-?"

"How was your summer?" (Poor Ewan's halfhearted attempt at a conversation.)

Even lunch was hell. It was just him and his two friends, while Becky and Anya went to sit somewhere else. The cheek of it! He nearly crushed his juice in his hand when they turned away from him and walked off.

(It was so embarrassing. As they initially walked into the refectory, he had waved to them and optimistically said: "Hey Anya, Becky, I already saved you a seat -"

"Hmph," said Anya, turning away with Becky.

Damian froze, and glared at them with chilling rage while shovelling down his lunch. Needless to say, it was a very frosty atmosphere in the refectory. )

Damian was even thinking about resorting to old tricks, like throwing paper at her to get her to turn around, but even he knew that was idiotic. He was in high school now, and as a Desmond he couldn't just resort to pulling cheap tricks.

All through the school years he had always relied on the knowledge that she would be there. Even if he teased her a bit, she always came right back and even sat next to him at lunch every day. Every day, he saw her smile at him. Every day for the last ten years, they were so stuck to each other that no other boys ever dared to approach her.

Damian paled as something else came to him -

If this continued for much longer, people might realise that Anya no longer favoured him.

… And that would make her fair game.

Damian's stomach lurched. No - no, he couldn't have that. He could not physically face the idea of other guys asking her out when he had already claimed her for himself.

But through the last class of the day, it slowly started to dawn on him -

He had never really claimed her. Not officially. At this point, he had relied on everyone making the huge assumption through the years that Anya only had eyes for Damian, and he had never done a fucking thing to make sure it stayed that way. He just took advantage of her attention the whole time, not even thinking that he had to do anything to keep it from wandering away from him.

Damian groaned and put his face in his hands.

He really was a coward.