Archive of Our Own

Ava tapped her pen on the desk. She wasn't sure why Professor Stein was taking her class - he was already overqualified to be a high school physics teacher, so he was definitely overqualified to be their social studies cover. He was waiting for the class to quieten down, which was a big ask for a Friday afternoon. Ava could see the main culprit, and she scowled at the blonde girl sat two rows in front of her, chatting animatedly to her friends.

It wasn't like she wanted to be someone who held grudges, but Ava felt this grudge was justified; she'd spent four months crafting a perfect campaign to be Class President when Sara Lance had bowled in, with her outrageous promises and stupid pranks and won in a landslide. Ava had only got the job of Vice President because no one else had bothered to run. Now she was stuck, trying to make meaningful change with a girl who never replied to her emails and blew her off at every chance she got, just to spend time with her idiot band of friends.

Professor Stein announced class would finish early that day, as they had a three-day assignment, causing the class to erupt in whispers and giggles when Sara let out a loud cheer, which caused Ava to scowl. She looked up to see Professor Stein was lifting a large box onto the front desk, before ripping off the tape and tipping it upside down. The class rippled with confusion and laughter and as a dozen dolls tumbled out, spread over the table.

“These are state of the art robot babies - your assignment, worth 20% of your final grade, is to take care of them tonight and over the weekend, in pairs. This is meant to prepare you for life as a parent - now, nothing can truly prepare you, when Clarissa and I had Lily -”

Ava was not normally one to zone out when teachers were talking, but Professor Stein could talk for hours. She surveyed the class and sighed. Her best friend Nora was sat two rows in front, but she knew she was spending the weekend with Ray and the possibility of playing house with the boy she definitely had a crush on was too good of an opportunity to be ruined by the fact that Ava very much did not have another friend in this class. Gary, her nuisance and, at a push, her friend, had taken Spanish that year and her lab partner Nate was already high fiving his long-time girlfriend Amaya.

She blinked as the whole class got up at once; Professor Stein must have asked for everyone to find a partner. Ava got up too, unsure what she was doing, until she was left alone in the middle of the room. It was just like middle school soccer all over again.

"No! Not like that - no threes. Charlie and Zari, you two can be a pair and Sara - you can work with Ava."

"Professor!" Ava and Sara said at once, then Ava looked over to scowl at her.

"This class has an even number of people, it's not that hard." Professor Stein said, before directing the pairs to pick a baby. Ava made her way to the front of the class.

"Professor - I don't think this is such a good idea." Ava said, as gently as she could, then she heard Sara scoff behind her.

"Yeah, Professor, we don't -"

"Class President and Vice President - there's no better team!" He said with a smile and a look that said he wasn't going to be compromising. Ava sighed and picked up the last baby on the table.

Sara was behind her. "Aw, it's a boy!" She said, just sarcastically enough to annoy her.

Ava just held the baby loosely with one hand as she went back to her seat and Professor Stein started to explain the rules - the babies would be activated in one hour, they had to look after it until Monday morning, any mishandlings or neglect would be picked up and reported. He would also be offering extra credit for anyone who went above and beyond and really took care of the baby as their own, with pictures as evidence.

The class left in a rush of excitement, whilst Ava packed her things away slowly. When she looked up, she was surprised to see Sara leaning in the doorway.

"So, what's the plan, Mama?"

"Don't call me that." Ava muttered, hoisting the doll onto her hip. "And there is no plan. I'll take the baby, you can just do whatever you do on the weekends."

"Scared I'll ruin your perfect GPA?" Sara said, hands stuffed in her pockets as they walked the corridor together. "We'll share, just like everyone else. Besides, all my friends have babies, we’re not doing anything this weekend."

Ava wasn't convinced, and it must have shown on her face, as Sara rounded on her. "Look, this is an easy 20%. I'm not gonna mess this up. Promise."

She stuck out her finger and Ava raised her eyebrow.

"What?"

Sara wiggled the finger. "Like - it's a pinky promise, Sharpe, you like - stick your pinky out -" Ava did, and Sara wrapped her pinky around it. "There." Sara said, smirking. "Now it’s
settled. We're Moms!"

"Not for another 43 minutes we're not." Ava muttered and Sara grinned.

"Perfect!"

////

Ava didn't know how Sara had persuaded her to ride with her out to some ice cream place in town, yet here she was, gingerly poking her chocolate fudge chunk with the little
plastic spoon, warm under the early afternoon sun. Sara was sat on the bench opposite, boots propped up on the table, licking her bright blue bubble-gum cone lazily.

"Feet off the table." Ava blurted out, suddenly flustered. Sara raised her eyebrows. "You're teaching our son bad manners." She huffed, looking down at the baby who was partially dangling off the bench. She looked up again when she heard Sara laugh.

"We need to name him." She said as she put her legs down. "Something cool like - Fang. Riot. Baseball."

"He's - he's not having a made-up name!" Ava said, slightly indignantly, repositioning the baby so he was sat upright. "We can call him James or Michael or something."

Sara made a gagging noise. "No way! Stein was right, this little guy's part of a dynasty. He needs a cool name."

Ava scowled. "We're not exactly -"

"Bandit!" Sara clicked her fingers and grinned. "His name is Bandit."

Just as she said it, a series of beeps and whirs indicated the baby was waking up. Ava picked him up under the arms.

"Aw, he likes it!" Sara said, more excitedly than Ava could have thought possible. She'd always thought Sara was far too apathetic about school. "Is he doing anything?"

"No." Ava said, tentatively tucking him into the crook of her elbow. "The data recording starts now though, so we've got to be careful."

“Pass him to his Mom.” Sara said, making a grabbing motion with her free hand.

“We’re not doing that.” Ava said, holding the robot slightly tighter.

“What? You want to be Mom? Okay -”

“No, we’re not doing that at all. This is a fake baby; we’re looking after him for three days. We’re not calling each other Mom.” Ava said, slightly indignantly, and Sara raised an
eyebrow.

“Sure thing, Mama.” Sara said with a grin. Ava opened her mouth to reply, but Sara beat her to it. “Look, you might find this an inconvenience, but this is gonna be the easiest A I’ve ever gotten, so I’m enjoying it.”

“There’s a difference between enjoying it and making it weird.” Ava grumbled. “Also, no. I won’t pass him over; you’ll get ice cream on him.”

“Aw, now that’s the spirit!” Sara said, grinning as her tongue darted out to take another lick.

Ava looked away quickly. “We should – we should decide where we’re staying. If we have to stay together.”

“Oh, we can stay at mine tonight.” Sara said with a wave of her hand. “My dad’s on the night shift and Laurel’s back from college but she’s at some party tonight, we won’t disturb anyone.”

“Then we can stay at mine.” Ava said, and Sara just nodded. There was silence, and she almost jumped when the robot made a squawking noise. “We should go, this is weird in public.” Ava muttered as she hoisted the baby onto her hip.

“I haven’t finished my ice cream.” Sara said with a whine, and Ava just groaned.

“Finish it in the car!”

///

When they eventually made it back to Sara’s house, after a quick stop at Ava’s so she could get a bag together and another at a gas station so they could lay Bandit flat to change his diaper, Ava was apprehensive. She’d been to Sara’s house a few times when she was really little for birthday parties, but it felt different now. She clutched Bandit slightly tighter as Sara unlocked the door and flicked her shoes off.

“You’re early -” Sara’s sister Laurel was at the top of the stairs. Ava just stood there awkwardly. “Oh, hey! You didn’t tell me you were bringing someone over.”

“Oh, yeah, this is Ava.” Sara said, more focused on rooting through her bag for something.

“Should I give you two some privacy?” Laurel said with a wiggle of her eyebrows, and Ava fought the urge to hide somewhere.

“What? No, we’re doing that baby assignment together. Have you seen my World History textbook?”

“Oh, the baby thing? I’m definitely giving you some privacy, that robot is loud.” Laurel said, going back up the stairs.

“You can borrow mine, if you want.” Ava said quietly. Sara looked up, and Ava clarified. “My World History textbook. I brought it from home.”

Sara grinned. “You’ve already done the project, haven’t you?”

“It’s due in on Monday!”

“But you brought the textbook with you because …”

“I wanted to go through and double check it.” Ava said quietly, unsure why she was getting defensive about this. Sara just rolled her eyes.

“Anyone told you you’re a nerd, Sharpe?”

“You’re apparently intent on pointing it out.” Ava huffed, climbing the stairs behind Sara until they got to her bedroom door.

It was cleaner than Ava had expected, but her expectations had been pretty low. Some clothes were strewn about the floor and some work was spread across the desk, which Sara quickly set about tidying. Ava was more focused on the wall above the desk – it was covered in polaroid pictures of Sara and her friends, little mementos and inside jokes tacked to the noticeboard and spilling out from it, surrounded by fairy lights.

“There, all clean!” Ava turned to see Sara dump the clothes in the hamper, then turn back to her with a grin. “We can get something to put the little dude in, I’m not carrying him all the time.”

Ava lay the baby on the bed then just stood, slightly awkwardly.

Sara was rooting around in her wardrobe, then made a sound of surprise. Ava watched as she pulled a plastic tub from the bottom of her wardrobe and cracked open the lid. As she grabbed Bandit and settled him in her lap, Ava sat down next to her and pulled out a brightly coloured caterpillar from the box, that made squeaking and crinkling sounds as she did so.

“I’d forgotten about this!” Sara said, a little too excitedly. “We can pick something for Bandit.”

“Why did you keep all of this stuff?” Ava wondered out loud, and Sara just shrugged.

“Half of it was Laurel’s. I just sorta – have it.”

Ava pulled out a book – My First Colours and Shapes. “Oh, we can use this. Show Stein we’re interested in his academic development.”

“I mean, if he’s your son, he’ll be smart as hell anyway.” Sara said, and before Ava could reply, Sara had pulled something soft and yellow from the box.

“What is that?” Ava asked and Sara threw it at her. When Ava opened her fist, she saw it was a little yellow bird.

“His name was Canary. We were inseparable ‘til like fifth grade.”

“I used to have a rabbit named Rainbow.” Ava said quietly. “We were the same.”

“That’s sweet.” Sara said, looking at Ava with a slightly teasing smile, and Ava just ducked her head back down to the box. She pulled out a Batman figure.

“He could have this?”

“Nope, small parts. Not suitable for children under 36 months.” Sara said, then, at Ava’s raised eyebrows, she shrugged. “I made so much money babysitting last summer. You pick these things up.”

“Well, I’m glad I have you as my partner then. I don’t know anything about babies.” Ava said absent-mindedly and looked up when Sara made a noise.

“Aw, you said something nice about me! Wait – I’m gonna go write this down -” Sara said, moving to get up, and Ava made a dive to hold Bandit upright.

“That’s – now you’re being mean.” Ava said, blushing hard, bringing the robot round to sit on her lap instead. Sara started to laugh.

“You’re cute when you get all flustered, you know that?” Sara said, and Ava looked up. That sounded a lot like flirting, and Sara was looking at her with a smile that looked a lot like flirting, and Ava felt her heart skip slightly. She was saved the embarrassment of a mumbled reply when Sara reached in and pulled a tatty frog toy from the box. “He could have this?”

Ava just nodded, swallowing as her mouth had gone completely dry, and tried to focus on setting the toy in the arms of their fake baby.

Sara had ended up tipping the rest of the toys and books from the box and setting a pillow in it. Bandit fit well, but Ava was still anxious.

“Will he need a blanket? Is he warm enough?”

“I don’t think this thing senses temperature.” Sara said with a snort, but she still pulled a blanket from the top of her wardrobe and tucked him in securely. He stayed quiet, which
Ava was glad about, it gave her time to start on her calculus work, whilst Sara was leafing through her World History textbook.

///

The door creaked open an hour or so later and they both looked up as Laurel peered in, make up half done but still in sweatpants. “I’m ordering pizza, do you guys want some?”
Sara shrugged, “Sure. I’ll have pepperoni.”

“Ham, pineapple and peas please.” Ava said, head back in her book. She looked up when there was silence. “What?”

“Where did you get that combination from?” Laurel asked, seeming genuinely curious, and Ava blushed.

“It’s – it’s just good!”

“I will never figure you out, Sharpe.” Sara said, when Laurel had shut the door.

Ava couldn’t concentrate anymore after that.

When the pizza came, they clattered downstairs, Sara balancing Bandit on her chest, yelling excitedly about the arrival of food. Ava followed carefully behind, so by the time she
got to the table, the two sisters were looking curiously into her box.

“Can I try it?” Sara asked, and Ava just shrugged. She took a slice, and her eyes widened, before she dropped the offending object back in the box. “That’s – that’s so gross! How
did you ruin pizza?”

Ava just sat down, pulled the box towards her and took an almost comically large bite to try and cover up her embarrassment. Laurel sat opposite, opening hers to reveal barbeque chicken, and Sara took a slice of her pepperoni.

She stayed quiet, observing the easy chatter between Sara and her sister. She’d never wished she had siblings but seeing them together did make her a little wistful, so she just listened as Laurel told them about the party she was going to that night.

“Oli’s gonna be disappointed you’re not coming.” Laurel said, and Sara shrugged.

“Oh – uh – you can go, if you want. I can do the project on my own.” Ava piped up, but Sara waved her away.

“Nah, it’s okay, I was gonna spend tonight doing that history project anyway.” She said. “Besides, I’m not leaving you to parent alone.” There was a beat, and then Sara piped up again. “Unless you need me to come get you – then I’ll come, whatever time -”

Laurel shrugged. “I think I’ll be okay. You know how big the Queen house is, Oli’s got spare bedrooms for days.”

“Oliver Queen?” Ava said with a slight start. Laurel nodded.

“Yeah – we sorta grew up together. Sara had a huge crush on Oliver when she was like thirteen.”

Sara made an indignant noise. “I did not!”

“You did! You cried for a whole weekend when you realised you wouldn’t see him for the six weeks we were at summer camp.”

“It wasn’t a whole weekend.” Sara muttered, but Ava didn’t miss the way her cheeks had coloured pink.

Bandit chose that moment to start squealing, so Ava left her final two slices and got up and let the sisters argue. She meandered into the living room, rocking him gently. The house felt so different from her own – more lived in, with so many family photos the bookshelf was almost overflowing with them.

“I can take him, if you want to finish your pizza -” Sara’s voice made her jump slightly.

“Uh, no – it’s fine. He’s fine.” Ava said in a slightly hushed voice, as if the baby making quiet and disconcertingly robotic noises could hear her.

“Laurel’s gone upstairs.”

Ava just hummed, adjusting the baby in her arms. “You two are sweet together.” She said, absent-mindedly.

“She looked after me a lot, when we were little.” Sara said, flopping onto the couch. “When Mom left – then Dad was always at work. We’ve always been close.”

Ava just hummed, slightly too focused on the robot. He was kinda cute, if you looked past the fact he was a weirdly heavy plastic doll. She looked up again when Sara spoke.

“And – uh – the whole crush on Oliver is definitely over, by the way.”

There was something in the way she said it, something Ava couldn’t quite place, but Sara had turned on the TV, and the conversation was over. They spent the rest of the evening in front of the TV, Bandit wedged between them, watching some superhero show Sara said she’d been meaning to catch up on, only moving to wave goodbye to Laurel as she left.

///

After they’d gotten changed and ready for bed, Ava slightly awkwardly sloping off to the bathroom to do so, they ended up back in Sara’s room. Something Ava hadn’t really noticed when she’d first seen Sara’s room was that she only had a single bed.

Sara seemed to be noticing it too.

“I can take the floor, if you want.” Sara said, a little awkwardly.

“No, I’ll take the floor. I’m not kicking you out of your own bed.” Ava said, only a little reluctantly. Sara picked up on it anyway.

“No, honestly, I’ll be fine -”

“Or we can share.” Ava said it, then her brain caught up with her mouth and she started to flounder. “Uh, I mean, you’re pretty small, it wouldn’t be too bad -”

Sara pouted, a full honest to god pout, and Ava lost her train of thought.

“I’m not – look, Sharpe, you’re just freakishly tall. Who has their growth spurt in 6th grade?”

Ava blushed, just a little. In one summer, she’d gone from being slightly chubby and a little short to being so lanky she outgrew her shoes three times over. “Well, you never even had a growth spurt.”

“It’s coming!” Sara said, her petulant tone and crossed arms making her appear even smaller.

“You’re seventeen, Sara. I think you missed the boat on that one.” Ava said, smiling as Sara’s pout returned.

“Fine! You can sleep on the floor. See if I care.”

Ava sighed, a little over-dramatically, then set the pillow and blankets Sara had gotten for her on the floor, next to Bandit’s box crib. She was almost ready to settle down to sleep
when she heard a noise from the bed. Sara was still facing the wall, but she’d lifted the covers slightly.

“Get in.” She mumbled. “Before I change my mind.”

Ava did, careful not to jostle her.

The bed was even smaller now she was in it, Ava could feel Sara’s hair on the pillow next to her and the warmth emanating from her. She couldn’t move, she just lay there until she heard the little snuffles and snoring sounds that meant Sara was asleep.

She lay there, as still as possible, staring at the ceiling, wondering what could have changed in the last six hours that meant the girl she’d hated now scared her to death.

///

Ava blinked. She’d only just dropped off when a sound cut through the darkness, a baby’s cry, but it was far louder than it had been before -

“Sharpe, get up.” A groggy voice said next to her, and Ava remembered what was happening. She padded over to the box.

“What does it need?” She hissed, picking the baby up gingerly. His cries didn’t abate.

“Give him here.” Sara said, holding out her arms, and Ava passed the baby over. “Get the bottle.”

“Where is it?”

“In the -” Sara stopped. “Fuck, I don’t know, look for it!”

Ava found it eventually, in her backpack downstairs. When she got back up to the bedroom, the baby was still screaming, even as she put the bottle to his lips.

“It’s not working!”

“The cap’s still on, idiot.” Sara said and Ava pulled it off with a little more force than necessary. When she tried again, he stopped, and Sara almost snatched it from her. “Did you
bring the diapers up too?”

“Shh!” Ava said, and Sara shot her a withering look.

“He can’t hear us!”

They sat in silence as Bandit drank, Ava silently fuming. She couldn’t wait for this weekend to be over, so she could get out of this house and Sara’s life and things could go back to the way they’d always been. The robot finished and Sara burped him.

There was silence.

“Is he asleep?” Ava said in a half whisper, but she’d barely got the sentence out when the baby began to wail again.

“You jinxed it!” Sara said tersely, and she moved away and began to rock him.

“I didn’t do anything, you must have done something!” Ava groaned.

It took them twenty minutes of rocking, shushing and patting to finally, finally get him asleep again. Ava was exhausted, it was just after three am. Sara got back into bed and Ava got in next to her, turning away from her.

It had been long enough that Ava presumed Sara was asleep, when -

“Aves?” The voice was small and quiet.

“Yeah?”

“Sorry.”

“What?”

“Don’t make me say it again.” Sara said into the darkness. “I’m sorry I got mad.”

“Oh.” Ava said quietly. “I’m sorry I also got mad.”

“Maybe tomorrow night we can take shifts.”

“Yeah. That’s a plan.” Ava said, yawning. “Night, Sara.”

Sara didn’t reply; she was already asleep.

///

The house was empty in the morning.

Ava had just made herself coffee, something she desperately needed after last night, when she looked up to see Sara standing in her slightly too big pyjama pants, rocking Bandit and feeding him his bottle, hair backlit by the soft morning sun.

There was something about it, something that filled her with feelings she couldn’t describe – Ava had always known, objectively, that Sara was attractive, it was obvious, but she was still attractive here, right now, in her tatty pyjamas with dark circles and a soft smile as she whispered affirmations to a fake baby, turning slowly –

“You okay?” Sara said, and Ava jumped, hot coffee dripping onto the floor.

“Yeah! Yeah, fine, y’know, sleep deprived I guess – but, yeah, fine.”

She trailed off as Sara looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Uh – I was just saying, are you cool looking after this guy whilst I have soccer practise?”

“Oh. Yes, of course.” Ava said, trying to cover up her embarrassment by taking another sip of coffee. Sara didn’t look convinced.

Ava thought it might be awkward, turning up to Sara’s training with a fake baby in tow, but it turned out almost all her friends came there just to hang out, so they all had babies too. Ava sat shyly. She almost jumped when someone called her name.

“Pardon?”

It was Ray. “I was just wondering what you named yours. Your baby.”

“Oh – Sara named him Bandit.” Ava said and smiled when everyone else did. “I would have named him something normal, but she insisted.”

“Normal’s overrated! This is Arya.” Zari said, proudly gesturing to the baby that was in Charlie’s arms. Charlie just rolled their eyes playfully, and Ava wondered if there wasn’t something more going on there; she hadn’t known they were even friends before the assignment.

“We have Elena.” Nora said quietly, and as Ray launched into a spiel about how they’d chosen the name, Nora looked at Ava with eyes that told her she had a story to tell.

“This is Robin, he’s a dick.” Nate said, yawning slightly, and Amaya elbowed him.

“He’s just a baby!”

“He kept me up half the night!”

“Mick? What’s yours?” Ray said, interrupting the bickering couple.

“Rory.” Mick grunted.

“So your kid is Rory Constantine? That’s cute -” Ray said but was interrupted by a shake of Mick’s head.

“That dick has nothing to do with him. He’s Rory Rory.”

“Oh, that’s …” Ray trailed off, clearly at a loss at what to say. Everyone else was trying to hide their laughter, and Ava couldn’t help but grin, but just as she started to feel comfortable, Bandit started wailing and she realised she’d left his bag in the car.

Ten minutes, one change and one failed bottle later, he was still crying, and Ava made her way back to the pitch, wondering if she could just call to Sara and get her to deal with it, but they’d started a match and she felt she couldn’t barge in just because she couldn’t calm a robot baby.

“Hey, bud, I don’t know what you want.” She said, and he didn’t respond, only made the same repetitive crying sound. “Is it your Mom you want?” Ava said slightly desperately, turning the infant so he could watch the match. “I know she’s better at this whole baby thing than me, but I’m all you’ve got.”

She stood there for a minute, bouncing him gently, looking out at the game. Sara was in her element, hair flying loose from her ponytail as she ran the length of the pitch, getting stuck in where she could. Ava took a second to realise Bandit was quiet again. “You like watching her too, huh.” She said quietly. “You really are my kid.”

Ava blushed, unsure where that had come from, and jumped when a sweaty Sara appeared in front of her, just as a whistle blew. “How’s my boy?” She said excitedly, and Ava handed him over gratefully.

“I just calmed him down. He’ll need another bottle soon.”

“Are you okay here? I can slack off and we can go home if you want.” Sara said, eyes sincere, and Ava shook her head.

“No, it’s okay. I’ll do some homework whilst he’s quiet.”

“Great!” Sara said, grinning, and Ava realised lots of things all at once. Firstly, Sara had a gorgeous smile, and secondly, when she wasn’t wearing any make up, she could see every freckle on her nose and cheeks.

“Take some pictures of us? Stein’s gonna love this.” Sara’s voice brought her back to that moment with a start. Ava just nodded, pulling her phone from her pocket as she walked and snapping a few - Sara helping Bandit kick a ball, then one of him on her shoulders as she pretended to celebrate a goal.

The baby was quiet the rest of the game, and Ava got her biology homework done, one hand on his chest to stop him falling from the bench. It took her longer than usual, but between talking to Sara’s friends and watching her on the pitch, she didn’t mind as much as she usually did.

///

As they were doing their warm-down, Ava made her way to the car, but was only halfway into the parking lot when she felt a hand on her arm.

Nora was looking at her, eyes wide.

“Nor?”

“We kissed!” She said, the sound exploding out of her, and she clapped her hands over her mouth as Ava’s eyes widened. “Me and Ray – last night, we kissed!”

“Oh! Well that’s –”

“We were just talking, y’know, looking after the baby, and I was saying how much I appreciated him being here for me over the past year, and he just kisses me! Then he was so apologetic, you know Ray, and then we talked and talked and kissed again -” Nora said, her excitement almost palpable, and Ava smiled. It was unusual to see her normally reserved friend so excited.

“I’m so pleased for you!”

“Thanks. I don’t know to do now.” Nora said, her hands coming to her cheeks. “We actually kissed!”

Ava started to reply, but a sound from Bandit reminded her of a more pressing priority. “You can tell me more on Monday, when we don’t have these dumb robots.”

Nora shrugged slightly. “I mean – maybe that was part of it? You know I’m not really maternal, but seeing him – like nursing a baby -”

Ava could see Sara and a few teammates make their way across the pitch towards them, smiling and laughing, and she nodded.

“Wait, what?”

“What?”

“You nodded.” Nora said, eyebrow raised. “Like you agree with me.”

“Uh – no -”

“Sara? I thought you hated her?”

“I do! This has been the worst, seriously, I’ll tell you about it on Monday.” Ava hissed.

“Hey guys!” Sara said brightly. “Oh – if you wanna talk I can take the baby.”

“Nope! We’re all good here, lets go home.” Ava said a little too quickly, and marched off towards Sara’s car, ignoring the confusion from Sara and Nora’s raised eyebrow.

///

They made it to Ava’s house with only a minor argument when Ava had been distracted by a new noise Bandit was making and Sara had missed the turning, which resulted in them driving an extra fifteen minutes until they could turn around.

Eventually they pulled up to her house, where Sara whistled.

“I’d forgotten you lived in a mansion.”

“It’s not -” Ava stopped. This wasn’t an argument she was going to win. She took a deep breath. “Just so you know, my parents are gonna be super weird about this. Like, my dad’s getting there and my mom’s trying, maybe, but still -”

“Weird about what?” Sara said, and Ava realised she’d skipped ahead a bit.

“I came out to them like, three years ago. It didn’t go super well, so we just don’t talk about it.” She said, keeping her voice measured. “And that’s fine, it is, its just when some things happen – it just gets awkward again.”

“Like you bringing home a baby with another girl.” Sara said, and for the first time, Ava saw she was taking this completely seriously. “Don’t worry, Ava, I’ll be on my best behaviour.”

Ava stuck out her pinky. “Promise?”

Sara stuck out her own and squeezed them together, her mouth quirking up into a smile. “Promise.”

Ava carried Bandit to the door as Sara had her bag, and used her key to let herself in.

Her parents were sat in the living room, and looked up as they came in.

“Hey, Mom, Dad – this is Sara.” She said. At least the baby in her arms stopped her nervous hands twisting on her sleeves, as she gauged her parent’s reaction.

“Pleasure to meet you, Mr and Mrs Sharpe.” Sara said with a beaming smile.

Ava felt her heart drop a little. Her parents looked rather apprehensive.

“Oh, and uh – this is the baby. For the project we’re working on.” Ava said, turning Bandit slightly. Her dad smiled, and her mom just stood up.

“Well, we’ve got a prior engagement this evening, so we’ll just leave you girls to work on your project.” Her mom said, her smile a little forced. “I’ve made up the guest room. We’ll
be back by ten.”

Ava nodded and breathed a sigh of relief when her parents disappeared upstairs.

“The guest room?” Sara said, a little confused.

“Yeah, I can’t have anyone in my room overnight. Or in the day, with the door closed.” She said, more focused on unpacking Bandit’s things onto the counter, setting his little frog
toy with the spare diaper and bottle.

“Oh. I’m glad my dad doesn’t have that rule.” Sara said, setting her own bag down. “I mean, he was a bit confused when I first came out, but I guess he realised, y’know, being bi, if I wasn’t allowed anyone in my room, I wouldn’t be able to have anyone round at all.”

“What do you do now?” Ava asked, and Sara shrugged.

“He trusts me that I’ll tell him if someone’s … more than a friend.”

“Oh. Right.” Ava said quietly. “I don’t think my parents are quite there yet. I don’t really have people round.”

There was a look in Sara’s eye, but her parents had come back downstairs, all ready for dinner, and Ava decided to drop it.

///

After a rather awkward dinner, which Sara had escaped halfway through when Bandit had started wailing from the living room, they ended up in Ava’s room, door purposefully left open. Ava sat on the bed, Bandit laying between her outstretched legs, seemingly content as Ava held his tiny, awkwardly positioned hands.

“What are you doing?” She said, looking over at Sara, who was seemingly fascinated by everything in her room.

“Is your bookshelf – wait this isn’t alphabetical – did you organise this by subject matter?” She said, slightly incredulously, and Ava felt a little exposed as Sara’s hands ran over the bindings of her childhood favourites.

“I was very interested in the library when I was six. I thought I could design a better cataloguing system.” Ava said, unsure why she was blushing. “There’s no need to make fun of me for it!”

Sara looked up at her, not with the teasing smile Ava expected, but something gentler, something more private. “I wasn’t going to.” She said quietly, then turned back to look at the books. “Wait – is this -” She’d picked up the picture before Ava could tell her not to. She could feel her blush worsen, reaching the tips of her ears. “How old are you in this?”

Ava knew what photo it was. It was her at her first ballet lesson, standing tall in her pink tutu, hair in neat plaits and tied with ribbon, beaming at the camera.

“Four.” She said quietly. “Look, don’t you have homework to do?”

“And miss this opportunity? Sharpe, you don’t know me at all.” Sara said, the smirk having returned, which at least made Ava more comfortable. She could deal with snarky Sara.

“What’s this one for?” She asked, pointing to one of several cups that sat on top of Ava’s bookshelf.

“Junior Debate Champion, 2011.” She said quickly. “Most of those are for debate, they’re not very interesting.”

Sara shrugged, then started to trail slowly around the rest of the room, hand resting on the books on her desk, the fairy-lights at the edge of the mirror and then the postcard
tacked onto the wardrobe door, something Gary had sent her when he’d gone to New York with his parents. Sara didn’t say anything, just sat herself down on the bed next to her.

“Is it what you expected?” Ava asked, twisting round. They were close, so close she could have counted every freckle on Sara’s cheeks if she so wanted to – and a strange part of her, a new and terrifyingly loud part of her did want to, but she ignored it. Sara just shrugged, a smile playing at the edge of her lips.

“You’re never what I expect, Sharpe.”

Then she was looking at her, like she wanted to –

Her dad appeared in the doorway, knocking on the open door and telling the pair they were off for the evening. Ava just nodded as he reminded her about locking up the house. When he was gone and she turned back, Sara was sat against the headboard, a foot away.

“We should do some homework.” Sara said, coughing awkwardly, and Ava wondered if she’d ever said that before, but was in no mind to disagree.

///

They agreed Sara could take first watch, after she’d insisted she was going to stay in Ava’s room and Ava had made her promise she wouldn’t look through any more of her stuff, to which Sara had only winked at.

It was at midnight when Sara brought the baby in, sleepily handing him over, that Ava finally put away her geometry homework and settled down to sleep. The guest bed was different but not uncomfortable, and she was so tired she fell asleep before her head hit the pillow.

It was early, far too early, when the noise of Bandit’s cry cut through her dream and awoke Ava with a start. It had started simply enough, the diaper change seemed to calm him from a moment, but then the bottle did nothing and Ava was stuck, rocking and rubbing his back, and it just wasn’t stopping, and she was so, so tired -
Ava didn't know what was happening, the metallic screech of the baby was reverberating around her skull and she just broke. Tears were streaming down her face and she was only grateful the baby's cries were muffling the sound of her own sobs.

She looked up when a sliver of light fell on the carpet as the door opened.

"Aves?"

Ava just shut her eyes, willing for it to stop, when she felt the baby weight leave her arms.

"Easy, I've got him. Just - stay here."

The sound was muffled as the door shut and Ava moved back to lean against the headboard, arms wrapped around her knees, trying to get a hold of her breathing. In the other room, the sound of crying stopped, and it was finally, finally quiet.

The door opened.

"Ava?" The bed dropped as Sara sat next to her. "He's asleep."

They sat together in silence for a bit. Ava felt her breathing slow and she blinked, her lashes wet with tears which she wiped with the back of her hand. "I'm sorry." She muttered.

"I'm just - really tired."

"When was the last time you actually got a decent night's sleep?" Sara said gently.

Ava shrugged. "I'm fine - I just have a lot to do, I didn't need this. I'm fine."

"You know it's your own fault." Sara said and Ava looked up, eyebrow raised. She instinctively wanted to argue back, but she felt drained from all the crying, so she let Sara continue. "Like - you're Vice President, you run the newspaper, you do chess, you have a perfect GPA -"

"And Model UN." Ava blurted out and Sara snorted with laughter.

"Really?"

"I mean it's just me and Gary at the minute - but I'm working on recruitment -"

"You don't need all of it." Sara said firmly. "You need to take care of yourself."

"I can sleep after college." Ava muttered.

"Is this what - what it's all about?" Sara said, shifting so they were facing each other. "Getting into college?" Ava shrugged and dropped her knees, so she was sat cross legged. She was surprised to see genuine concern in Sara's eyes. "Ava, you'll be fine. You'll be more than fine, I don't know a college in the country that wouldn't love you. You're the perfect student."

"And I have to work to keep it that way." Ava said tersely, moving to get off the bed, but Sara's hand on her knee stopped her. "Please can you drop this? I just want to get some sleep before the robot starts screaming again."

"If you agree to drop some extra-curriculars." Sara said indignantly. "Do you even enjoy any of it?"

Ava opened her mouth, then shut it again. Truth be told she didn't, she dreamt of just sitting in bed with ice cream, watching a film, or going round to Nora's house to finally start that book club Mona had been going on about for months, or even try out for a sport. "You do soccer. And you're Class President." Ava muttered.

"Yeah, soccer is my stress relief. And you know you're the real President, I haven't done anything for that in months."

"So then maybe you're part of my problem!" Ava said indignantly, and Sara's eyes flashed.

"No, because any time I try to do anything, you've already done it!" Sara said. “And you never want to do any of my ideas anyway.”

“Your ideas include a bean bag chair for every student!” Ava hissed. “I’m trying to make a difference –”

“This is High School, Ava! It doesn’t matter!” Sara said, voice rising, but she stopped when a muffled cry came from the other room.

Sara got there first, picking up Bandit and rocking and shushing him. Ava felt slightly helpless, the dull headache that came from crying twinging every time the baby made a sound.

“I think he needs -” Sara started, but Ava was already on it, coming back from the guest bedroom with the bottle in hand. She took Bandit and put the teat to his lips.

The crying stopped. Ava breathed a sigh of relief and looked over at Sara in the semi-darkness, a tired smile on her face.

"You did it." She said, and Ava couldn't help but smile back as Bandit made the strange sounds that indicated her was sucking on the bottle. “It’s okay, baby. Your Moms just argue sometimes. It’s okay.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t sugar coat our inevitable divorce.” Ava said, using her pinky to stroke the baby’s cheek. When she looked up, Sara had an eyebrow raised.

“As a child of divorce, I find that highly offensive.”

Ava turned scarlet. “Oh my god, I’m sorry, I forgot -”

Sara snorted. “Aves, I’m messing with you.”

“Oh. Right.” Ava said, her face still pink. When Bandit made the little burp sound, she sat him on her shoulder and started to pat his back. He made another, and there was blissful silence.

“You’re a natural.” Sara said, taking the baby from her and setting him down in his pillow crib. Ava just lay down, too tired to remember she was meant to be sleeping in the guest room, and she felt the bed dip as Sara got in next to her.

“Please can you at least think about it? Slowing down?” Sara said quietly, and Ava nodded into her pillow, unable to keep her eyes open any longer.

///

Ava nestled herself deeper into the pillow, hiding from the light hitting her eyes. Her pillow was soft and warm and smelled wonderful, and Ava shifted, her hand coming up to hold it closer.

Her eyes flew open.

That was not her pillow.

Instead she seemed to have nestled herself in the crook of Sara’s neck, her arms around her waist and their legs entangled. She couldn’t be any closer, and Ava reacted on instinct, rolling over, but she didn’t realise how close to the edge she was, and she fell out of the bed with a thump. The covers came down with her, and she heard an indignant squawk from the other occupant of the bed.

“Jeez, Aves, I was comfy! Wait – Ava -” Sara suddenly appeared above her, clearly failing to hide her smile. “You fell out?”

“Shut up.” Ava muttered, climbing back in, pulling the covers up with her, trying to hide her blush. “Let’s just – we can probably get ten more minutes before he wakes up.”

Sara just laid back down, getting settled, and Ava did the same.

“Don’t think I didn’t notice you cuddling me there.” Sara said, her eyes bright and a sly grin on her face, and Ava felt her ears turn pink.

“I was not -”

“That was a full on snuggle, Miss Sharpe, don’t deny it.”

Ava ducked her head. “Shut up, Lance.” She said in a voice that was meant to be threatening, but just came out as a mumbled whine.

“Never, everyone at school is gonna know that the big bad Ava Sharpe loves cuddles.” Sara said, still grinning, even as Ava dramatically turned over to ignore her. She almost jumped when she felt warm arms encircling her, Sara’s legs coming up to sit underneath her own. “And that you’re the little spoon.” Sara said, her breath hot on Ava’s cheek, and it made her shudder, just slightly. Any snarky reply she had was lost in the space between them, and Ava just sank into the warmth of it.

When she woke, Sara was still there, and the baby was wailing.

Ava extracted herself as a groggy Sara rolled over. “I can’t even get accidentally pregnant.” She muttered as she unbuttoned his onesie to change him. “This feels like an unnecessary deterrent.” She looked up and smiled when Sara laughed. “What do you want for breakfast?” She asked, and Sara shrugged.

“Whatever. I don’t mind.”

///

“This is the best French toast I’ve ever had.” Sara said, maple syrup spread across her chin, and Ava fought the surprisingly strong urge to lick it off. “I’m serious, Aves, you’re a genius.”

Ava blushed and ducked her head. “Uh – thanks.” She said, cutting her own portion into more bitesize chunks. Bandit was laying on a pillow on the breakfast bar, seemingly content.

"We should go to the park." Sara said, her mouth full.

Ava wrinkled her nose. "Why?"

"Stein said -" Sara swallowed. "Stein said we get extra credit for doing real family stuff. We can get pictures of him feeding the ducks."

"Fine." Ava said, taking her plate and setting it by the sink. "We're stopping off to get bird seed first though. Bread is terrible for ducks."

"Whatever you say, Mama." Sara said, hoping off the stool, picking up the baby and giving a salute with her free hand.

"Also, if there are any actual babies there, we're leaving." Ava called out, and Sara turned.

"Why?"

"It's - I don't want to monopolise the ducks for our fake baby!" Ava said, blushing when she realised how ridiculous it sounded.

Sara let out a gasp, covering the baby's ears with her palm. "Oh Bandit! Mama didn't mean it!” Ava snorted with laughter as she rounded the bar, but Sara blocked her path. “Ava, say sorry.”

Ava rolled her eyes, but it was clear Sara wasn’t budging, so she bent down slightly until she was at the baby’s eyeline. “I’m sorry, Bandit.” She said, pressing a kiss to his head.

“And to me! I’m also offended.” Sara said, and Ava didn’t think.

“Sorry, Sara.” She said, as she leant forward and pressed a kiss to Sara’s cheek.

There was silence.

“I should – um – get dressed.” Ava muttered, and bolted upstairs.

///

After a rather awkward trip to the hardware store, where Sara had elected to stay in the car, they ended up at the park. The duck pond was surprisingly crowded, so they’d ended up in the play park, Bandit and Sara laying in a large round bucket swing, Ava kicking her legs gently on the swing next to it.

"Can you imagine if the real President and Vice President had to look after a baby?" Sara said nonchalantly, and Ava scrunched up her face.

"No!"

"No not like - Trump, that's gross -" Sara said, her face equally disgusted. "I mean like in a buddy movie. Or a rom-com."

Ava snorted. "How would that even work? Like how would that come about?"

"A mutual friend names them as the godparents and then they die in an accident, leaving the baby to them!" Sara said, in a voice that made Ava think she was really considering
making this. "It would be about balancing childcare with the responsibilities of being the President. It would be so cute!"

"Then by the end they fall in love?"

Sara rolled her eyes. "Obviously, Aves. That's a given."

"I'm just imagining - like some secret service guy in all black with the dark glasses and the baby in one of those carriers on his chest -" Ava said excitedly, when Sara interrupted.

"In matching black sunglasses!"

They both dissolved into giggles.

“The Rock as the President, for definite.” Ava said. “Then like – John Cena as the Vice President.”

“This is a blockbuster, Aves, we gotta find a producer to sell this to.” Sara said, shifting to better hold Bandit as she sunk further into the swing.

“Need any help there?” Ava said with a wry smile.

“No – wait, you’ve gotta get in too! This would make the cutest selfie.” Sara said, grinning widely, and Ava sighed. There didn’t seem to be any arguing with her, so she hopped off
the swing.

“Make sure you’re supporting his head.” She muttered, before depositing herself in the swing, setting it going slightly with her momentum. Sara was laughing and Ava couldn’t help but laugh too, Bandit lost slightly in the tangle of limbs they’d created. Sara managed to pull her phone from her pocket, and Ava grinned as she snapped the photos.

When she calmed down, she realised they were almost on top of each-other. Sara seemed content, leaning back and kicking so they swung slightly.

“Why do you always wear your hair in that bun?” Sara asked quietly, and Ava frowned slightly. They couldn’t seem to go five minutes without criticising each other –

“It’s smart.” She said, a little too defensively.

“It’s Sunday.” Sara said, looking at her. Ava didn’t think she’d ever seen eyes so blue, and it was doing funny things to her insides. Sara reached over and pulled out the bands that kept the bun in place, and Ava felt her hair tumble over her back and a little on her cheeks. “There.” Sara said, mostly to herself. “I think you should wear it down more often. It suits you.”

“Thanks.” Ava said quietly, grateful she now had some hair to hide behind. “We should get going – we still need to print the photos to prove to Stein -”

“Easy, Mama. We can do that later. Just – just stay here for a minute.”

Ava sighed and turned slightly so she could look up at the sky. It was the soft, end of summer blue, only marred by a few clouds and the occasional aeroplane trail. She lay there, just breathing, when Bandit made a noise and she turned. She was a little surprised to see Sara turning away quickly, as if she’d been looking at her.

“There’s no peace with this kid.” She grumbled, hoisting herself from the swing as delicately as she could and taking the baby out so Sara could get up too.

///

Bandit had started to cry in the craft store, so Ava had left Sara alone to print the photos she’d sent over and to buy some card to mount them on, which she realised was a mistake when she saw Sara skipping out of the store with two huge bags.

When she asked, Sara shrugged and smiled, focused on the road. “Don’t worry about it, Mama.”

She had reason to worry. Her dining table was soon transformed with card, glitter, stickers and glue. “We’re gonna get that extra credit.” Sara said, smiling proudly, and Ava raised an eyebrow. She was just glad her parents were spending the day at the country club and wouldn’t be home until late.

“By making a poster like a five-year-old?”

“Lighten up, Aves!” Sara said, settling herself on the chair, and Ava followed, despite herself. “This project is about looking after a kid, we can get a little childish.”

Ava mostly left her to it, mounting the pictures carefully onto card. All were incredibly adorable, but Ava was stuck of the one of them in the swing – she’d never seen herself so happy.

They’d argued for a full fifteen minutes about what to write on the artwork they’d produced, and Ava eventually caved and let Sara carefully craft ‘and Bandit makes three!’ out of glittery card. They finished the whole thing off with baby-shower themed stickers and Ava’s handwritten captions of what every photo was, then copious amounts of glitter.
Sara blew on the poster then turned it to show the baby.

“Look! Your Moms are creative geniuses, Bandit. We’re gonna win!”

“I don’t think this is a competition.” Ava said, smiling anyway.

“Parenting is always a competition, Aves. We win by having the coolest kid.”

“Then we’ve already won!” Ava said, lifting the baby and blowing a raspberry on his cheek. Sara laughed.

“I think you’re gonna miss that thing.” Sara said, looking over at her with a grin.

Ava sighed. “Sure, I’ll miss the screaming fake baby.”

“You’ve gotten attached!” Sara said in a sing song voice, and Ava blushed. It wasn’t Bandit that she was going to miss, but the truth was far too big to say aloud. Sara wasn’t paying attention, focused instead on clearing away the scraps of card and loose glitter.

“I’ll get started on dinner.” She said quietly, setting Bandit back on his pillow.

///

She made pasta whilst Sara loudly complained about her World History project, mostly to herself and a little to Bandit, before giving up and hanging around behind Ava, her hand
darting in wherever she could to steal a piece of vegetable or taste the sauce. Ava slapped her hand away.

“You’re teaching him more bad manners!” She said, faking her exasperation just a little. Sara must have been able to tell, because she darted forward to steal a bit of cheese, popping it in her mouth more dramatically than necessary.

“He won’t have bad manners, he’ll be rebellious.”

“Is there a difference?”

“Yeah!” Sara said, slightly indignantly. “Look, I’ll cover the school in tampons, but I’ll still say thank you to the bus driver. It’s a matter of principle.”

Last spring, someone had decorated every tree on the school campus with tampons, like some strange plant that had blossomed, and it was all anyone could talk about for a full week. Ava had issued a statement denouncing the prank on behalf of the Student Council and vowed she wouldn’t rest until the culprit had been caught, which had spectacularly backfired and she’d been the butt of every joke for another week. Ava raised her eyebrow.

“So, you finally admit that was you?” Ava said and Sara just winked at her.

“You can’t prove anything.”

“Give me time.” Ava muttered and Sara laughed, reaching forward to taste the sauce. Ava didn’t stop her that time.

After they’d eaten and finally settled Bandit, it was only 9, but they were both so tired they didn’t question just getting ready for bed and going to sleep. Ava didn’t even bother with the guest room. The bed was big enough for the both of them, though they stayed close anyway.

///

Ava sat on the top of the hill, the tree above sending dappled shapes of sun and shade down upon her. She surveyed her surroundings: below she could see the pond, and the park where children played, and beyond that the distance lights and sounds of the city.

She smoothed down the front of her shirt and then adjusted the picnic blanket, smiling down at the baby who was resting there. He was laying on his front, struggling to lift his head and stuff his fist in his mouth, and the effort caused him to make tiny grunting and snuffling sounds. Ava adjusted his onesie and the little bib he wore.

“Hungry, Bandit? I think your Mom’s coming up now.”

Then there she was, on the crest of the hill, her long white dress whipping in the breeze. One hand was clutched around a wicker basket whilst the other kept her hat, a straw one with a long blue ribbon, from flying away. As she got closer, Ava smiled. Her hair looked even more blonde than usual, her eyes bluer, her freckles more visible.

Ava could see the afternoon stretching before them, plaiting flowers into her hair, taking the baby to feed the ducks and hearing his laughter, staying until the setting sun sent golden rays to their happy place whilst the baby slept in her arms.

“Sorry I took so long.” Sara said, smile apologetic, and Ava found she didn’t care one bit.

“It’s okay. I’ll always wait for you.”

Ava woke with a jolt.

“Shh – shh, bud, you’ve woken Mama up.” Sara said, cradling the baby. The fake baby. The baby Ava knew was fake. She couldn’t calm her breathing, she couldn’t make sense of the mess of emotions twisting in her stomach, she couldn’t unsee Sara on the hillside, even though Sara, her Sara, was right in front of her, illuminated by a strip of moonlight from the window.

“I can go in the other room, I thought you might sleep through -” Sara said, moving quickly, and it occurred to Ava that Sara was misunderstanding why she was so upset. She took a deep breath.

“No, it’s okay. I don’t want to disturb my parents.” Ava said, holding out her arms. “Pass him here.”

At Sara’s reluctance, she wiggled her fingers, and Sara did as she asked. Almost as soon as she had him settled, he went quiet.

“Oh, well, look at that.” Sara said, slightly put out.

Ava grinned. “I think he’s picked a favourite.”

“You’re not his – he’s just a baby! He can’t choose.” Sara said and Ava laughed, the knot in her chest created by the dream loosening slightly.

“Can you put him in his basket?”

“Fine.” Sara grumbled. “See, Bandit? I’m the one who gets up for you, she just wakes up at the end -”

“Get back in the bed.” Ava said, patting the space next to her and she nestled back under the duvet.

“Miss Sharpe, buy me dinner first.” Sara said, her faux sultry tone ruined by a yawn.

“I’ve made you french toast.” Ava mumbled, already halfway back to sleep.

“I’ll take it.” She heard Sara say. The last thing she felt before she dropped off again was Sara’s hand coming up to hold her own.

///

The drive to Star City High School was mostly in silence, Bandit having shut off at 7am. Ava couldn’t bring herself to stuff him in her backpack, so he just sat on her lap as Sara drove.

Sara yawned. “I can’t wait to get rid of this so I can get a decent night’s sleep.” She muttered. “I think this should be a four-day assignment and we get one just to recover.”

“I think being sleep deprived is, y’know, part of it.” Ava said, stifling her own urge to yawn.

“Yeah. I guess so.” Sara said, and for the first time that whole weekend, they lapsed into an awkward silence.

They handed over the baby and their little project to Stein before they separated for the first time since Friday, Ava heading towards calculus and Sara running to catch up with her friends on their way to English lit, not turning to say goodbye.

Ava couldn’t concentrate, there was an ache in her arms, searching for a baby that wasn’t real and wasn’t there and a girl who was just as distant.

///

Their class on Friday was cancelled, Professor Stein’s frantic email saying he had to deal with an emergency in the physics lab that he could only describe as a ‘firestorm’, so when they finally got back into Social Studies, it was over two weeks later.

It was awkward when they filed into class, especially when Stein announced they should sit next to their partners to receive their grade. Sara was happily talking to her friends, content to let Ava just sit there, but she quietened down when Stein cleared his throat.

“Well, you’ll be pleased to know all of your babies survived.”

The class cheered, and even Ava cracked a smile. Stein started to go around, handing out the reports – Nate and Amaya got a solid 82%, Ray and Nora an 85, which was met with an enthusiastic high five from Ray.

“Ava, Sara, you got 87, which I’m going to round up to 90 owning to the wonderful artwork you produced.” Stein said, setting their poster down in front of them, and Sara grinned.

“Yes! I said we were good Moms, Aves.”

Ava couldn’t help but smile back as Sara bumped her shoulder.

“And – Mr Rory and John – John?”

John Constantine, resident troublemaker and perpetual skiver, was nowhere to be seen.

“He wasn’t involved.” Mick grunted, and Stein looked a little taken aback.

“Well, uh, Mr Rory, you got a perfect 100.”

The whole class cheered, and Ava just stared, a little in disbelief. Mick had at least two arson convictions and she was pretty sure it was him who burnt the school’s vegetable patch down last summer, he didn’t exactly seem like excellent father material, but she supposed appearances could be deceiving. He just sat back in his chair, looking a little smug.

After that as they returned to their normal seats, and had a normal lesson and Ava tried her hardest to focus on the work and not on how seeing Sara again had her stomach in knots. Nora had cornered her at Monday lunchtime and demanded an explanation for how she’d acted at the soccer match, but Ava had shrugged her off. She’d managed to avoid her since then, sinking herself into her extra-curriculars and even eating lunch in the library with Gary as he planned his next D&D campaign.

She was deliberately slow in packing her things away, as she knew Nora would have to leave quickly to make it to World History on time.

When she looked up, Sara was there, leaning in the doorway. The classroom was empty, and Ava couldn’t understand what she was feeling anymore.

“Sara?”

“I was thinking – we should go get milkshakes.” Sara said nonchalantly, as if the last two weeks of not speaking hadn’t happened.

“Right now?” Ava said, slightly bewildered.

“I mean, if you’re as down to skip AP Calc as I am -” Sara said, that sly smirk creeping onto her face, and Ava felt her cheeks redden.

“No! No, I’m not.”

“Well, Saturday then?” Sara said, eyes almost seeing right through her.

“Why?” Ava said, standing up and sliding her bag onto her shoulders.

“Why? Does there have to be a why?” Sara said with a shrug, and if Ava didn’t know better, she’d say Sara was nervous.

“Yes,” was all Ava could think to say.

“I thought – forget it.” Sara muttered, turning to go, then she thought better of it and turned, striding towards Ava with her head held high. “All that teasing - I never meant for you to hate me, I hope you know that, I just wanted …”

She trailed off; Ava couldn’t breathe.

“… I just wanted you to notice me.” Sara finished, ducking her head slightly.

Ava stood there, then, possessed by something greater than herself, she stepped forward and tilted Sara’s head up with her forefinger. Their eyes met, and Ava opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came to mind, they were so close –

Sara kissed her.

Sara kissed her, soft and slow and sweet, her hand gently tangled in the baby hairs on Ava’s neck.

It was over far too quickly; she was looking at her, eyes a little unsure, but Ava couldn’t speak. She was pretty sure she’d never understood the phrase ‘died and gone to heaven’ until that exact moment, and she was having trouble telling what way was up.

“Woah.” She whispered, and Sara smiled more broadly than Ava had ever seen. “I think – I think milkshakes sound like a good idea. Right now.”

“Right now? What about Calc?” Sara said, her eyebrow raised, and Ava shrugged.

“Fuck it. We’re late anyway, and Mr Carter is the most boring person alive.”

“It’s a date.” Sara said with a grin, and she grabbed Ava’s hand as they weaved between the desks to the door. “Y’know, I think I’ll make a rebel of you yet, Sharpe.”

Ava rolled her eyes and they made their way out of the classroom, down the corridor and into the car park, Sara’s hand never leaving her own.