"No way you've been busy all week,' Mercedes said, drowning her pancakes in syrup.
"Do you want some pancake with that syrup? The surgeon general is writing up a report this moment about your clogged arteries, lay off,' Sebastian said, pushing the syrup from the girl's hand and laughing. The sun was rising slowly over the horizon and shining onto their youthful faces.
"Boy, if you don't—,' Mercedes swatted at his hand. "Let me breathe."
"I'm trying,' he joked, getting a napkin to wipe his face. "It won't be long with how much high fructose corn syrup you're swallowing right now. I'm just looking out for you."
"I've been eating pancakes my entire life, Sebby. I don't need your advice."
"Sebby,' the boy mused, nodding and taking another bite of his piece of toast. He looked out the window, the light reflecting off of his sunglasses, which were on his head, and casting a glare through the restaurant. They were the youngest ones there, and it was the first day back to school. He hadn't had much time to see the girl since their conversation at her house, and while they'd talked on the phone every day since then, he wanted to spend some time with her before things went back to how they used to be: them pretending like they didn't know each other at school and every opportunity for affection slipping through the cracks. He was busy with tennis and had the feeling that most of their interactions would be over the phone from now on or on their car rides to school. The latter had become a more frequent thing, with them either arriving late or Sebastian parking somewhere illegally or him dropping her off a block down. Occasionally, he could park behind a truck or school bus big enough that it didn't matter, but that wasn't a risk he chose often. He couldn't grasp, fully, why he had to hide her. It wasn't like he had suffered long-term the few times their friendship had been brought to the surface before, but he let his paranoia get to him. Sebastian knew, deep down, that eventually Quinn, or Madison, or anyone else would get to her and make life just a little bit more grueling than it already was— and what about now? They weren't just friends anymore. If he decided to really not give a fuck, hold her hand in the parking lot, kiss her before class— fuck. It didn't matter what they'd say about her. What would they say about him?
He drew himself out of his thoughts quickly to find that Mercedes was still talking.
"What?"
"I said that I'm understanding of the tennis thing, but I'd still like to see you,' she must have repeated, syrup glistening her already glossy lips.
Sebastian furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm going to try to drive you to school in the mornings, and,' he cracked his neck. "We'll see about the weekends. Please don't act like I don't want to see you. I want to see you. I don't think you have a grasp of my parents' expectations for me as far as school and graduating and tennis right now, plus like, I think Hunter and I are fighting,' he bit his lip. "There is a lot on my plate right now, and I just need you to be delicate with me, and the time I can give to you. You can tell me that's not fair, I know it's not fair, but—".
Mercedes cut him off. "Thank you for explaining all that to me, babe."
Sebastian felt his eye twitch a bit at the term of endearment. It was sweet, very sweet but totally unexpected. Things did, inherently, feel the same between them, but now he felt he owed her something. He had agreed to try things her way, so, for the first time, he listened without thinking of himself primarily.
"It's just hard to see myself as a priority for you when you list all those things, and I'm not a part of that line up. I guess I just need to rework my thoughts, because I know I am important to you,' she started to trail off.
Sebastian gulped, nodded and leaned across the table, taking the girl's hands. "Hey. You're confident, you're sexy, you're a leader, and you want things for yourself. Those are just some of the reasons I love you, so don't let anything that I'm going through on a personal level affect how you feel about yourself, okay?"
He leaned back into his seat and took a sip of his coffee. "I am saying this out of love, though,' Sebastian gazed out the window. "I think you might need a hobby other than me."
The drive to school was quiet, Alanis Morrissette playing on the radio while Sebastian tried to navigate through the snowy traffic.
"You don't have to get upset every time I make a comment you don't like,' he said eventually, looking over at the girl who had completely turned her body away from him.
He shrugged and shook his head.
"We had the conversation at the restaurant,' Mercedes affirmed, but she kept speaking after a minute of silence. "I can be annoyed when you say things that clearly show me what you think of me. You somehow think all I do is sit around my house all day and wait for you to call me."
Sebastian shrugged. He was used to arguing with her, but he wasn't in the mood to acquiesce that easily that morning. "How about instead of being upset I said that, you ask yourself why I would think that."
Mercedes rolled her eyes before looking over at the boy. "Maybe I'll just start not picking up when you call, so you know that I have other things to be doing."
He started to pull into the parking lot, eyeing a spot between a school bus and truck with a cover over the bed. He sighed. "Just think about what I said. You seem pretty obstinate this morning, and maybe I said it in a way that you couldn't receive, so, I'm sorry for that,' Sebastian pulled the car into the parking space, parked it quickly and got out even faster. He waited for Mercedes to do the same before they started walking towards the building. It was too cold to idle outdoors, and he didn't see any students he particularly recognized getting out of their own vehicles, so he and the girl walked side by side as they approached the steps and landing to enter into the rear of the school building.
"I'll think about it,' she finally said, just as the two walked into the school building. "It was still rude as hell."
"I know,' Sebastian said, though it likely went unheard with the sudden influx of noise that the school held within. They walked together towards the cafeteria where a long sheet of butcher paper hung on the wall. It had each student's name and their classes, the room numbers of those classes and the teachers. Sebastian squeezed her shoulder when he went to find his own name, and Mercedes stood on the tips of her toes in order to find her own name. She pulled her binder from her bag and wrote down her schedule, taking a few steps back and, surprisingly, bumping into Sebastian again.
"Hey,' she said abruptly, but it was clear he was looking up at her name, written in marker on the bright orange sheet for people with last names between H and N.
"Holy shit,' Sebastian said, smirking and erupting with a laugh that could only be thought of as a giggle. He smiled down at the girl. "Guess what?"
"What?"
"We have a class together,' he pointed at the paper. "Practical geometry."
Mercedes frowned. She was leagues less interested in her classes this semester. Before, she'd been enrolled in General Biology, American Literature, Latin I and Home Economics. Now, her first period was Real World Economics, followed by African American History, Practical Geometry and then an 'Open Club Hour', meaning that she'd have to find a club at some point that week to join for the rest of the school year. She rolled her eyes. African American History sounded interesting, but if Sebastian hadn't said that they'd be sharing space for third period, she might have thought about changing her courses. She figured some of the classes she had signed up for must have been full, because she knew there wasn't a chance in hell that she had signed up for Real World Economics, but she prayed that it would come in handy… somehow.
"What's your schedule, did you write it down?"
Sebastian furrowed his eyebrows. "It's committed to memory a bit, but,' he shrugged. The paper would be on the wall for the rest of the week. He'd check it every period if he needed to, it was a good excuse to just fuck off.
"Gen bio, open gym, sociology,' he rambled, though not in particular order.
Mercedes nodded with a smile. "I'll help you with general biology. I had it last semester."
"Amazing,' he smirked. "By help, I hope you mean you're just going to give me the answers."
Mercedes frowned and whispered so no one else could hear them: "No study dates?"
Almost immediately, Sebastian realized where they were at and how much time they had spent standing and speaking to each other. Realistically, it couldn't have even been three minutes, but that was long enough for someone to have seen them and made note of it. They were standing close to each other, almost touching, and she was looking at him with those big round eyes— he took a step back.
"Class is just going to be normal, you know that, right?"
He had turned cold so quickly that Mercedes could have received whiplash, but she knew what was going on behind his gaze. She nodded, bit her lip and turned around, assuming that he would be gone by the time she turned to leave, and she was right— it was as if he hadn't been there in the first place.
Twiddling her thumbs, Mercedes walked to Real World Economics with a frown on her face and even forgot to stop at her locker. She hadn't expected anything different, to be fair, and she had even told Sebastian that things wouldn't be different— that changing the context of their relationship was solely for them— but that didn't make it hurt any less when he walked away from her or he suddenly remembered that he couldn't be seen with her. He always said it was for her own sake, but there was this sick and twisted feeling in her stomach that maybe he was embarrassed of her— but he couldn't be. She remembered the football game. He had brought her there in the first place, and that was before he even knew her. She would have spent the entire class thinking about that had she not locked eyes with Quinn the second she walked into the classroom.
The sharp eyed blonde saw Mercedes immediately, and, if almost on impulse, she watched the girl try to stifle a laugh. Mercedes wanted to roll her eyes, but what did Quinn know of her and Sebastian's relationship? She started to think of all the things Sebastian had told her about Quinn— how he couldn't stand her and had practically only used her for sex— how she was an evil girl and how covert her meanness was— and after a few seconds, Mercedes started to feel worse.
If she knew all that about Quinn, what did Quinn know of her? And why would she laugh?
Mercedes walked past the girl and headed towards the middle of the classroom, finding a seat near some faces she didn't know very well and prayed there would be no group projects. The day went by as quickly as it possibly could before lunch and after lunch, Mercedes trudged slowly to the class, not over eager to, again, be formally rejected by Sebastian. However, she was shocked to see two wide smiles awaiting her once she stepped into the classroom: a row of three chairs behind a long table, Sebastian sitting in the center, a blond male on one side, and the other chair empty. He summoned her over.
"Hey,' Mercedes said tentatively, placing her things on the table. They still had a few minutes to chat before the bell rang again.
"This day fucking blows,' Sebastian began, pulling Mercedes's chair out for her. He pointed his attention to the boy beside him. "You remember Sam, right? You met him at the football game."
The blond hair and blue eyes were familiar, and suddenly it came back to the girl. He had been the one to ask her if she was sitting with Sebastian and his friends at the game, and then he'd asked why she didn't come out more often. She remembered this vividly. He had seemed nice, maybe, but she didn't trust any of Sebastian's friends.
Mercedes extended her hand to him, reaching over Sebastian. "Nice to meet you again, Sam."
"Oooh, a handshake,' the boy said, laughing. "Nice to make your acquaintance a second time. Welcome to Practical Geometry."
"Welcome to hell,' Sebastian said, solidifying his feelings regarding the period.
"It shouldn't be too bad,' Mercedes campaigned. "It's just glorified shapes, Sebastian,' she said, cutting her eyes over at the boy with a giggle. "Plus, I'll help you boys out."
"I'm sure he just got all the answers from you the last time you had a class together, anyway,' Sam laughed and elbowed Sebastian.
Mercedes furrowed her eyebrows. "This is our first time we've had a class together,' she stated, though she instantly saw the look of grief on Sebastian's face— almost immediately, she remembered. How could she forget? When Sebastian had first introduced her to his friends, he had lied and said they were in the same kinesiology class together. Before she could cover her tracks, she watched Sebastian began to push himself back and forth from the table, almost as if he were loading a correction to her response, but Sam beat him to it.
"I thought y'all had Earl for some science class."
Sebastian responded quickly. "I lied,' he shrugged.
Sam stared at the boy for a few seconds before a smile spread across his lips, and he erupted into laughter. "That tracks."
Mercedes could tell Sebastian was a bit irritated with her, but the feeling seemed to wash away after a few minutes. They looked at the syllabus for the class together and observed the others in the classroom, though no one was overtly familiar to any of the three.
"What class do you guys have for fourth?"
"I couldn't even tell you,' Sebastian replied to Sam.
"What classes have you been to so far today,' Mercedes asked, knowing she'd probably be able to help him.
"Started the day bright and fucking early with gym,' Sebastian rubbed his eye. "Bio; now, we're here."
"Your sociology class,' Mercedes replied, matter-of-factly.
Sebastian shrugged, as if he didn't care that Sam might be put-off by the fact that Mercedes knew that information so readily. He was stoic.
"You're right,' he said, pulling himself against the counter and turning his head, so he could give Mercedes a smile. "What about you?"
"Open club hour,' she said, a bit deflated. She looked over at Sam.
"Well, ain't that something? Me too."
The class went by quickly, likely because the three students took every opportunity to crack a joke that was available to them. They swirled in their chairs and pretended to take notes (well, Mercedes actually took notes) and giggled when the teacher misspoke 'organism' as 'orgasm' (well, Sam howled). All in all, Mercedes imagined the class would be fun, and she was happy that she not only got to see Sebastian during the day, but that she got to experience him. As the ninety minutes drew to a close, she saw Sam lean onto the table out the corner of her eye.
"Hey, do you want to walk with me to the clubs' meeting?"
Mercedes looked at Sebastian briefly, who shrugged, and then she nodded. "Sure,' she confirmed. "I'll walk with you. Not sure we're interested in the same things though."
Sam shrugged.
The bell rang, and the two said goodbye to Sebastian who looked at them both with a bit of a raised eyebrow. The entire ninety minutes was spent with different advisors and presidents of clubs advertising their groups, but they didn't have to make a decision until the last day of the week. Sam and Mercedes sat beside each other, close to the back, having gotten into the program late, and just as before, berated everything they found funny between each other.
"Whatever group you join, I'm coming with you,' he said eventually, shaking his head as the advisor for 'Knitting for Kittens' walked off the stage.
"You're going to get me kicked out,' Mercedes giggled, still a bit distrustful but genuinely enjoying the boy's presence. She could only think about whether Sam was the exception to the rule when it came to Sebastian's friends, or if he was just trying to catch her up. She decided she'd ask Sebastian on the phone that night. When the class ended, they parted ways and said they'd see each other tomorrow, and Mercedes chose to ride the bus since it was far too cold to walk. Sebastian would be at tennis practice for a few hours, so it gave her time to think about how she felt. She had been upset earlier in the day, but third period had made everything okay, but one thing she couldn't shake was why Sebastian had been so bold in front of Sam? — hadn't Sebastian been the one to say that they were still playing it cool, calm and collected?
She just hoped she hadn't fucked everything up, but genuinely, she had thought she was following his lead.
On the phone that night, late, Mercedes twisted her finger around the cord for a while before finally stating what had been on her mind for some time.
"What made you so comfortable with bringing me around your friend today,' she asked, trying to decide whether or not Sebastian'd had a change of heart. Did he suddenly not mind if other people knew about their relationship? "I thought we were supposed to still be pretending we didn't know each other, Casper the Unfriendly Ghost."
She could almost hear his eyes roll through the phone. "Who? Sam?"
"Yes, him."
"Why are you asking? Is that going to be your new boyfriend?"
"I don't have an old boyfriend to replace him with,' Mercedes said over the phone with an attitude.
Sebastian laughed. They hadn't established a label, he remembered. "Because he's a jerk off. Total idiot. I don't care. He won't remember tomorrow."
Mercedes crossed her arms, her heart sinking a bit, but she still felt hopeful. Sebastian had acknowledged her in a classroom full of other people. She just hoped it wouldn't backfire on him later. "Is he one of your friends I need to worry about or is he nice, Sebastian?"
Sebastian shrugged, yawning. "He's harmless, honey."