Damian tried to avoid making eye contact with Emile and Ewen as he packed up his locker. He could sense them looking at him, even with his back turned. The tension had been rising sinceTuesday lunchtime, when they had all witnessed Bill asking Anya Forger out on a date. Emile and Ewan hadn't said anything to him about it yet, but he could feel it coming, that they would want answers.

Damian had never told Emile and Ewen directly that he had a gigantic crush on one Anya Forger, but after they teased him about it for a few years, Damian at least stopped pretending around them. That was progress, right?

He had been a blushing mess around her since he was six years old, but it wasn't until he was thirteen when he realised what that actually meant, and then Emile and Ewan didn't figure it out either until a few years after that. In the meantime, it was just generally accepted that Damian only had eyes for Anya. They didn't actually talk about it, and Damian was comfortable that way. (The only thing worse than having a crush on Anya Forger was admitting it.) Only, they also never talked about Damian's crush because nothing had ever actually happened between them.

Emile bravely spoke first. The tension had been killing him. "So bossman, you just gonna let Bill go out with her or what?"

And just like that, the unwritten rule of their friendship was broken.

Damian huffed angrily as he stuffed his textbooks into his locker, then he huffed even more when they tried to fall out, and he had to shove his back against his locker to close it. He turned to his friends. "I've already thought about it, guys. There's no good options here. Plus she would never want to go out with me anyway, she said so herself."

Emile and Ewan raised an eyebrow at each other. "So you actually asked her out?"

"I mean," Damian rubbed the back of his neck anxiously. "Technically… no?" God, it sounded even more stupid once he said it out loud.

Emile perked up. "Then what's the problem, dude? You're the Damian Desmond, any other girl would fall head first to get a date with you!"

Damian sighed. He was grateful for their support, really, but this was Anya. She didn't give a shit about money, or hierarchies, or social status, or even popularity. None of that stuff seemed to matter to her. She didn't even know what the Desmonds did (he was pretty sure she didn't know), and it's not like she made a habit of speaking to other kids from powerful families (except of course the Blackbells, but she and Becky were so inseparable it was obviously a genuine connection).

But Damian didn't know how to say any of this so he just scoffed and said: "Well, yeah. Obviously."

Then, he thought a little about what Anya had said. That he was mean all the time.

Was it mean of him to flaunt his status? Damian hoped it wasn't. He relied on being a Desmond in many ways, especially at Eden, where social status equaled power. He wouldn't know what to do without it. Would people want to talk to him if he wasn't a Desmond? Damian cast a quick glance at his friends - would they even be friends with him if he was a commoner like Anya?

Damian felt a pit in his stomach as he remembered that he had called Anya a commoner. Why would I be friends with a commoner like you?

Guilt and shame flooded him. He really was such an idiot.

Slam!

Damian nearly jumped out of his skin when a locker door slammed open next to him, and he turned to see Becky getting her books from the next class. At first he thought she must be ignoring him, until she smirked in his direction.

Damian reddened. It ws one thing admitting his crush for Anya and speaking about it in front of his friends, but with Blackbell it was a different matter entirely.

"Blackbell," he nodded curtly.

"Desmond," Becky returned his stoic greeting with another smirk, and without another word, she shut her locker and started walking away.

As if possessed by some unknown force, Damian's feet had gone after her. "Wait!" he called, catching up to Becky. "She's not really going, is she?" Apparently, his mouth had started working without his permission too. He half-wished the ground would swallow him up there and then.

"Who's she?" said Becky, overflowing with faux-innocence. Damn Blackbell for having the nerve to make him admit it!

Damian ignored the jab, and pressed on. (He was already in humiliation central - it really could not get any worse.) "Blackbell, I swear, don't make this harder for me than it already is. She can't really be thinking of actually going on that date with Bill, right?"

After another smirk from Becky and he squeaked: "Right?"

If she smirked at him one more time, he was gonna -

"You know Desmond, it might not seem like it, but I am actually really rooting for you. Thing is though, I heard about your little outburst yesterday. It really is a pity." It looked like she was going to turn to gloat at him, but after seeing his stricken expression, she seemed to think better of it and have a change of heart. "But - you might have a chance if you apologise."

He almost asked her to repeat herself, but the phrase rang in his head: You might have a chance.

Him?

Really?

Surely not…

Too stunned to speak, Damian could only stare at Becky as she walked away from him, back to class. It was a while before his heart rate returned to normal. Becky Blackbell, best friend of Anya Forger, just gave him some invaluable advice about how to get back in Anya's good books.

He would be a fool to waste it.