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“What?!” Hanbon’s smile fell immediately and was replaced with a look comparable to genuine dread. Coy would’ve found it hilarious if he wasn’t also confused.
“That way I’ll know you’re both mature enough,” Their dad replied calmly, “Coy won’t date anyone until he’s ready to; ergo, giving you time to reflect on whether you actually are.”
“Dad! That… that’s so unfair!” She protested.
“I don’t know Bon, I think it’s fair enough…” Coy commented as an attempt to calm her down.
“It would be if you were capable of falling in love with someone.” She complained.
“Now that is exactly why it’s brilliant!” Smiling to himself, their dad left the room.
The two sat in an uncomfortable silence before Coy let out an awkward laugh.
“I can’t believe he somehow managed to make the rule worse.” He said lightheartedly to his sister.
She didn’t take it well.
“I can’t believe this is actually happening to me right now.” Hanbon said to herself, her voice was slightly exasperated, “I’m gonna be a single, virgin hag in college and then I’ll die alone. Oh my God.”
“Bon…” Coy replied, his words coming out as a laugh, “I genuinely don’t think it’s that serious.”
She paused for a minute, seemingly lost in thought.
“Can’t you just… I don’t know- Go out with some random guy for a bit so that I can date?”
“I’m not gonna choose to be in a relationship that doesn’t mean anything so that you can… What? Go out with a guy for experience? For brownie points with your little future college friends?” He was starting to get irritated, “I’m not about that life, Bon. I’m not gonna force myself into something just so you can reap the benefits of it.”
Hanbon stood in the living room for a while, her face contorting in annoyance.
“It’s not… It’s not just for brownie points.” She finally said, her face flushing.
“Then why are you so desperate?” He probed gently.
“It’s not important.” She scoffed while storming upstairs to her room. “You suck.”
“You suck!” Coy called after her in a mocking tone.
❀
The small pink analogue clock in Hanbon’s room displayed 8:30am but she’d been up for 2 hours, just to get ready for school. Halfway through her second coat of mascara, she stared at herself in the mirror.
Despite using copious amounts of concealer, she still thought her eye bags were too visible. Sleep hadn’t come to her easily, she was too worried about her cute new tutor. She tossed and turned all night, it showed in her weary expression and her anxiously bitten bottom lip.
Jesus Christ. I’m such a loser.
Deciding to go back to putting mascara on, Hanbon placed all of her worries in a dark corner of her mind and chose to think about it another time.
Right on cue, Coy burst into her room, causing her to smudge the makeup.
“Coy!”
“Shit- sorry!” He was still in his pyjamas and had clearly just woken up, “Can I borrow your hairbrush?”
“…I guess?” She sighed and grabbed a makeup wipe.
She glanced at Coy brushing his messy hair and wished that she could be as free as him.
❀
10 minutes later Bon was about to leave her house before stopping to stare at her reflection in the mirror.
She hoped Will wouldn’t notice the flaws she could see so clearly.
❀
The library at Patterson High was never truly silent with all of the students coming and going, the endless study sessions and the troublemakers sneaking in to cause a ruckus. Will’s eyes skimmed across a French textbook with the same urgency as a wild animal darting away from a predator. She was definitely going to know that he couldn’t speak a word of French.
Luckily for Will, Hanbon happened to be in his English class which led him to approach her and tell her that he’d heard she was looking for a French tutor.
For some reason, he had genuinely believed that he could memorize at least a small portion of the French language in 24 hours. Curse wishful thinking. Due to this assumption, he was now waiting for her to walk through the library door and realise that he wasted her time.
“I’m never going to live this down.” He muttered to himself.
As if on cue, a ray of sunshine began to peek through the clouds and Hannah Bondalo walked up to him.
“Hey! You’re my new French tutor, right? Will Mahony?” With the grace of a goddess, she wrapped the strap of her handbag around the chair across from him and sat down. She gestured to the open textbook in front of him, “Getting some practice in, I see?”
Will just stared at her in awe. She was even more gorgeous the more he looked at her.
She was gorgeous and she was talking to him.
Bon let out a small laugh.
“Sorry, I’m overwhelming you with questions,” Looking at him with a kind smile on her face, she cleared her throat, “Let’s just start.”
Will took in a deep breath. She waited patiently for him to gather his thoughts.
“So…” He flicked through the pages of the textbook, “I was thinking we could start with pronunciation.”
“I’m not sure the hacking and spitting part of French will be great for your first impression of me.” She joked.
“W-well… Maybe instead we could go over French food?” His face flushed as he gathered the courage to keep speaking to her, “We could even try some! You could come over to my house. We could eat them and-” He realised she was waiting for him to finish, “Now you speak please.”
Her grin widened and he was sure that he could see a faint blush on her cheeks.
“Are you asking me out?”
“…I mean technically yes,” He muttered, “I know that your dad doesn’t let you date, but I thought that if it was for French class-“
“You know, the craziest thing happened to me yesterday,” She cut him off, “My dad actually changed the rule. Now I can date when my brother does.”
Will’s eyes lit up.
“That’s perfect!”
Hanbon frowned.
“Unfortunately, that will never happen because Coy is a particularly hideous breed of loser.” She replied flatly.
“Yeah, I heard he was kind of antisocial.” He sighed in response, “But I’m sure there’s lots of guys who wouldn’t mind going out with someone difficult. It would be like… extreme dating!”
“You think you can find someone that extreme?” Her eyebrows furrowed as she questioned his suggestion, “And you’d do that… for me?”
The notion that Will wouldn’t do something for her almost made him laugh.
“Of course!” Realising he was probably coming on too strong, he cleared his throat. “I mean- Yeah I could probably find someone.”
Hanbon beamed the most sincere smile Will had ever seen and he felt warm all over.
❀
In Shirley and Will’s shared science class they were tasked with dissecting a frog so he took this opportunity to catch her up.
“I wouldn’t even bother trying. It’s pointless,” Her conclusion hit like a slap in the face, “I can’t think of anyone who would go out with him.”
“Shirley, please,” He begged, “I’m desperate and you know the people who go here better than I do.”
She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Fine. There’s one person I can think of who might be up for it.”
Shirley gestured to a student sat a few desks behind them. He was a fairly muscular guy, his black tank top showing off his arms; his brunette hair was messy in a way that looked almost purposeful and he had piercing blue eyes.
Oh, and he was currently trying to light his cigarette on a bunsen burner.
He was perfect.
“That’s Anthony Potero,” Shirley explained, “Infamous for allegedly going to juvie for a year, but who truly knows? All we know is that he didn’t go to school at all last year.”
“He can definitely handle going out with Coy.”
“Yeah. You just need to figure out how you’re going to ask him to do it.” She challenged, her eyebrows raising and a smirk forming on her lips.
❀
“Touching story,” Anthony feigned concern, “Not my problem.” He said, deadpan.
Will and Shirley had cornered him on the bleachers that looked out at the soccer field. They had explained the situation and pointed Coy out, who was currently sat on the bleachers across from them.
“I’ll give you $20.” Will blurted out after realising that he had no other options. Shirley gave him a look of disappointment.
“You’re gonna pay me to go out with some guy?”
“Yeah. Is that a problem?” Shirley asked.
Anthony considered this offer for a moment.
“You see, the thing is…”
“Will.”
“The thing is Will, that dates are expensive,” The brunette boy explained, “If I take him to the movies that’s $30 for both of us, and if he wants popcorn that’s $40 all together. Oh, and don’t forget that I would still need to make a profit; so let’s say $60.”
“That’s so expensive!” Will spluttered.
“Okay then, $50 or nothing.”
Will and Shirley shared a glance. She gave him a look that said it wasn’t worth it.
“Fine.” He grumbled and pulled out his wallet.
After being handed the money, Anthony gave the two a wink and started walking across the field.
“$50?!” Shirley whacked him across the chest.
“Ouch!” Will cried, “I did what I had to do, okay? Don’t judge me.”
❀
Finally getting a moment to himself after a stressful first half of the school day, Coy pulled out his book. It was such a relief to find time to indulge in his hobbies, especially during a busy week so he was happy with himself. With it being lunchtime on a summer’s day, the heat was at its peak and Coy couldn’t decide if he was enjoying it or finding it extremely uncomfortable.
Unfortunately, that peace was disturbed very quickly by Anthony Potero.
“Hey there, how you doing?”
Coy had no clue how to react to this situation. Anthony wasn’t the kind of guy who would just go up to people, and especially not boys like him. He opted to say the first thing that came to mind.
“I’m sweating like a pig, actually.”
“That’s one way to get a guys attention.” He laughed easily. What was happening to him right now?
“My mission in life,” He rolled his eyes, “But I obviously struck your fancy, so it works! The world makes sense again.”
“Pick you up on Friday then?” Anthony flashed a charming smile.
Coy refused to let that work on him.
“Oh yeah right. Do you even know my name?” He accused.
“I know a lot more than you think.”
“Doubtful. Very doubtful.”
Packing up his stuff, he decided to move somewhere else. Far away from this strange interaction.