Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Alright, class, group up!” 

90% of the class whipped their heads to Ajay. Jason slammed his palms onto the table before making a break for it, all the way from the back of the class onto the front where he immediately took Ajay into his arms. The class groaned. 

“Fuck. Close call.” Ajay sighed, knocking his head against Jason’s shoulder. 

“You’re mine, dude.” Jason said, looking down at Ajay, before he grabbed a seat next to them, “I didn’t understand anything he said.”

Ajay chuckled, rolling his eyes, “of course. Come on, we got a seatwork to do.”

Jason came out the classroom, unscathed. Keith was standing there, waiting.

“Heyyy.” Jason chimed. 

“Yeah, hey.” Keith greeted, turning on his heel to walk. 

“Where are the others?” Jason looked around. 

“Probably still in class. Table was empty so I just waited for you.”

“You make me so special, Keith!” Jason grinned. Keith rolled his eyes, then Jason turned his head back to the classroom.

“Wait, hold up.” 

Ajay came out, also unscathed. He was handing Mr. De Pleur their worksheet, and Jason’d hooked his arm on Ajay’s shoulders. “You wanna eat with us, Ajay?”

“Oh, um—“ Ajay blinked, “No thanks. I’m gonna sit elsewhere.”

“You sure?” Jason asked, squeezing gently. 

Ajay shook his head, putting his hand over Jason’s as he squeezed back. Then he let go. “Yeah. Yeah! See ya, Jason.”

“Woo.” Keith said as Jason caught up with him, “I’m starting to think the rumors are true, Jase.” 

“What rumors?” Jason blinked. 

“The—“ Keith’s eyes widened in disbelief, “Wait. You really don’t know?”

Jason turned on his heels to walk backwards, “No? Keith, you know I don’t get to hear about how famous I am!”

Keith raised a brow. “Everybody thinks you’re dating.” Jason’s eyebrows furrowed as his mouth made an ‘o’ shape.

“What? No way. Why?”

“I think you should know,” Keith stopped in his tracks, leaning against the wall. “Like, seriously.”

“I don’t know?” Jason frowned.

“You guys are such a couple, man! You got the body language, the way you guys talk to each other, that shit reminds me of my parents and it makes me sick!”

Jason snorted, “He’s my best friend, dude! If we’re married, it’s totally fuckin’ platonic, your parents are just weird. Besides.” He looked into the canteen. His vision zeroed in on a boy with a world class mohawk, pretty blue eyes and a scar on the side of his head. 

Then the door slammed on his face. 

“AH!” Jason yelped, grabbing his nose as Oliver came out and scrambled to hold Jason’s wrists, “Dude— holy shit, are you okay?!” 

“Yep, my bad!” Jason said, pulling back and trying to feel for his nose. “Ow. Ow. I need a tissue, I think, ow.” 

“It’s not bleeding, you’re good.” Keith said, then Liza and Vincent emerged from the classroom.

“Come on, guys, let’s go!” Liza said.

Ajay walked to the outer part of the school— it was a pretty well-financed school, considering how they had a statue at the center of the entrance and platforms you could sit on. He sat in the area where a table and an umbrella were, perfect for one person. But he only bit down on his sandwich and ended up feeling the weight of a hand on his table. 

“Hey, shithead.” Yuma said. 

Ajay looked back at her and sighed. “Hi.”

She wasn’t with anybody. Yuma wore a hooded croptop and jogging pants. The usual stuff. 

“Your friends…” Ajay trailed off, “Are they not with you?”

“I’m waiting for them. What is that?” Yuma looked at the food in his hands, “A sandwich? Did you make that?”

“Yeah.”

“Looks like shit.” Yuma said.

“Tastes good though.” Ajay remarked. “They don’t make it the way I like it anyway.” 

There was a pause. Then Ajay asked: “Why are you even here?”

“I said I’m waiting for them.”

“You know I don’t like eating with people.” Ajay huffed. 

Yuma leaned into him. “You know I don’t care.”

Ajay stared back. He bit down on his sandwich, but Yuma looked past him. “Aren’t those two your secret admirers?” 

Secret admirers— Ajay spun from his seat and found Yogi and Reggie getting a few dollars off someone and trading… whatever the hell that could be. Ajay cringed, then looked back at Yuma.

“Shit. Yuma, can I borrow your jacket?”

“Why?” Yuma narrowed her eyes. 

“Please, just a little bit—“ he took a quick glance from behind and dropped his sandwich to the table, grabbing the hem of his sweater, “I don’t want them to see me—“

“Whatever.” Yuma said, taking it off and shoving it to Ajay. She caught the sweater and put it on just as he did, putting on the hood.

Past Yogi and Reggie, Yuma spotted two girls waving and nodding their heads, gesturing for her to come. 

“’S my cue.” Yuma said, “Bring that hoodie back later.”

“Yeah, like we don’t have the same car going home,” Ajay scoffed. 

“I’m going out— anyway!” Yuma said, leaving and coming to Faith and Citra. 

The boy Jason zeroed in on awhile ago hadn’t noticed the way he was being stared at— mostly because he was tutoring his friends. The table was an occupied mix of papers and lunch trays. “Listen, hermano, it’s easy, it’s fuckin’ easy! Look, when it’s 35 degrees, and the bottom is 263 feet, what the fuck do you need to do to get the top?”

Said friend— Chris, blinked, and said: “Divide…?”

Vaas threw his arms up, papers flying everywhere. “YES! YOU FINALLY FUCKING GOT IT!” 

“Vaas?” Barry asked— 

“WHAT?” Vaas snapped, but then he followed wherever Barry was looking. 

“Snow White, 12 o clock.”

“Oh fuck,” Vaas’s eyes widened, smirk widening, “there he is!”

Chris looked up— “there’s who—“

“DID I SAY YOU COULD LOOK UP BEFORE DOING YOUR FUCKING SEATWORK?” 

Chris snapped back to doing his work. Barry looked back up at Vaas. 

“So what do we do?” He asked. 

“Well, since I am still fuckin’ busy with teaching dear Chris math, just make sure he’s not trying to flirt from afar— again!” 

Barry’s eyebrows knitted together, “How do I—“

“Vaas, can you help with this again?” Chris asked. 

Vaas pressed his palm against his face and settled back down next to him. “What the fuck now, motherfucker?”

“—and I was like, maaan, sir, you really had to do it to ‘em,” Oliver said, “then he got really mad.”

Keith snorted, “are you getting detention?”

“Mr. Buck is just Mr. Buck, so uh, nah. Got away with it pretty quick because the bell rang!” 

Keith turned to Jason, who was staring off into the distance. “Yo, what’s your subject after this again? Jason?”

“He’s trying as best as he can to get Montenegro’s attention right now.” Liza said.

“Is this gonna be routine now?” Keith asked. 

“Not when he’s teaching Mintz-Plasse, it’s not.” Jason said with a pout. 

Keith laughed. “Are you jealous?”

Jason paused. “… No.” 

Another beat of silence, and he continued with: “Very.”

“Wooow, how long has this been going on? Like, two weeks?” Keith asked, slapping his hand onto Jason’s shoulder. 

“16 days and counting! I think he’s into me too.” 

Everyone in the table rolled their eyes. 

“Love the confidence, Jason.” Liza said. 

“He’s not kicking your ass, which is a shock. Maybe he is.” Vincent commented. 

“So, Jason, you gonna do it?” Oliver asked. 

Jason blinked. “Do what?”

“The ‘thing’!” 

“What—“

“Jason.” A boy with an accent interrupted. Jason whipped his head to Dennis in surprise.

“Oh, hey, Dennis! Good to, uh… see ya.”

“Come with me! Citra wants to talk with you.” Dennis said, looking like he’d had better days. 

“What?” Jason asked. 

“What?” Keith asked too.

“What?” So did Vincent. 

“What?” And Liza. 

Jason glanced at his friends. Then turned his head back to Dennis. “What for? Doesn’t she have like, a lot of money, or…?”

“No, this is not about money!” Dennis said, “Just come.” 

Jason thought for a moment. Then he got up, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Uh, sure! Guess I’ll see you guys later?” He looked back at his friend group.

“She asked me to bring you to her. She just wants to eat with you.”

“Oh.. What? Uh, cool, I guess!” 

Chris finished writing an equation. “There, good. Now I can finally eat my lunch!” Vaas said, about to dig in until—

“Vaas—“ Barry came in again.

“Wait!” Vaas stabbed his food, turning back to Barry, “Wait, wait, wait, what in the FUCK, did I just say?? I-can-finally-eat-my-lunch, right—“ 

“Dude,” Barry gave him a Look, “Brody’s getting nabbed by your siste—“

“EX-FUCKING-SCUSE ME?” Vaas shot up from his seat. He grabbed his backpack and was searching for something. “Of course, Mr. Tonto del culo Rogers is escorting that motherfucker to her like some sorta Legend of Zelda bullshit! Why’s he still stuck under that ‘I’ll love you if you serve me’ shit after SO LONG?!” 

“Wait, how long?” Barry asked. Vaas pulled out his metal pencil case. It was Cars themed. 

“Too long. Guy’s supposed to be a nerd, smart! But noooo, gotta be an IDIOT, a fucking SIMP, for my sister, huh? At least Jason’s a cute simp. Cute kind of stupid, that one.”

Chris looked up. “There’s a cute kind of stupid?”

Vaas looked at him softly. “Yes, Christopher! Chris. Chrissy.” He put his free hand on Chris’s hair and stroked it. “You’re also the cute kind of stupid. Sometimes I-want-to-fucking-strangle-you stupid, but still cute, no?”

Chris blinked. “… Oh.”

“So what’s your plan, Vaas?” Barry asked. 

“Rescue his flat ass.”

“Vague.” Barry said. 

“Rescue his flat ass by kicking your motherfucking ass first and THEN kicking her motherFUCKING ASS!”

“The hell did I do?!”

“I’ll kick Rogers’ ass instead then!”

“So do we get to join, or—“

“No, I fucking got this! Babysit Chris and his math problems, please—” Vaas said, preparing his pencil case as he was making eye contact with Jason as he sat down at Citra’s table, then yelled out, “I’M COMING, HONEY!”

Ajay tossed his paper bag into the trash can. On the way back inside, he’d heard some familiar voices waiting to pass by, so he pulled up his hood and avoided eye contact from the nearby groups.

“Bro, you saw that, right? I was this close to destroying her during debate and we couldn’t finish because of the bell!” One of the guys— notably Sabal, said. 

“Yeah! Almost got her, dude!” Another guy said. 

“Did you see Shawna’s post?” 

“Uh, duh, girl’s solid.” Sabal snickered.

“She got those shoes from Shenghua!”

As Ajay snuck past them, his heart finally gave in as he let out a sigh of relief. 

Then he met eyes with amber. He took a deep breath. 

“Ajay!” Amita called out to him. God, his energy to socialize was gonna fucking blow up. Amita looked at him up and down.

“Nice hoodie!” She commented with a grin, “Are you eating alone again?”

“Uh, actually, I just ate.” Ajay said, “I’m just going to the canteen to see Jason.”

“Oh, want me to accompany you?” Amita tilted her head. 

Nope. NO, no, no— “thanks, but… I gotta talk with someone, so.” Ajay cringed at himself. 

A girl came into view and called out: “Amitaaa!” 

“Coming, coming!” Amita said, but then turned back to Ajay, “I’ll see you in science, right? Let’s be groupmates!” 

Ajay sighed, exasperated. Fuck. 

His miserable wandering ended up working him back to the canteen. In trying to find Jason, he ended up spotting the big three sitting adjacent towards him, his sister Yuma on the left, Citra Volker in the middle and Faith Seed in the right. He took a deep breath and decided to waste the rest of his energy to going back to Jason and saving him. 

“Hi.” 

Jason turned to him in surprise. 

“Are you giving my jacket back now?” Yuma asked. Ajay shook his head.

“It’s a nice crop top anyway.” 

“Uh-huh, so what are you here for?” Yuma leaned over. Citra was busy getting back Jason’s attention. 

“I want to get this straight.” She said.

“Huh?” Jason asked. 

“You are going to—“

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!” Vaas’s battle cry filled the canteen— there came the sound of metal, and Jason and Ajay bore witness to Vaas about to beat his sister with a pencil case. Ajay’s eyes widened, Faith was asleep, Yuma tried to grab Vaas away from her, and Jason simply stared in complete shock and awe. 

Ajay tugged on his sleeve. “Hey— Jason, Jason!” 

Jason blinked, then turned to him to hold his wrist. “Oh, hey man!” 

“Do you wanna, maybe like, go somewhere else? Did you eat already?”

“Uh,” Jason glanced back at the scene, “Can we hold out a little longer? I kinda wanna wait for him to,” Jason gestured back at Vaas. Ajay didn’t get it.

“… Right.”

“Hey, Vaas!” Jason called out— smooth and flirty, as tender as gravelly ground. Citra shielded herself from Vaas’s beating to grab him by the throat and pin him against the table. 

“HE’S MINE, VAAS!” Citra yelled, but Vaas’s hands were on her face. 

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Vaas screamed back— she finally let go of his throat so he took this opportunity to get up and pull at Citra’s braids. “Jason, honey, maybe you want to move out the way? Actually— you should do— HEY YOU, WONWOO!” 

Ajay sputtered, “that’s me, right—“

“GET YOUR FUCKING BOYFRIEND OUT OF HERE!” Vaas yelled, slipping on the floor and causing himself to hit the ground, but Citra pulled him back.

“Wait— wait, Vaas, I’m single!” Jason tried to call out, but he was being tugged away. “Aw, bye…” 

“Come on. I’m pretty sure it’s almost over.” Ajay said, huffing. He held Jason’s much bigger hand as they left the canteen. 

“This is why I hate the cafeteria.” Ajay rubbed his temples.

“Yeah,” Jason chuckled, “it’s like a repellent or something to you.”

“I mean… I could handle fights. Just. Not the people around us. It’s like…”

“Catastrophic?” Jason asked.

“Dude, you’re exaggerating with your overuse of big words.” Ajay replied, “Presenting in front is catastrophic. Being in crowds is ugly.”

“Right.” Jason nodded, “Do you want me to come with you to class, by the way?”

Ajay paused. He made a half smile as he shook his head. “Your friends are right there.”

“I could just tell them.” Jason said with a shrug. Ajay stopped himself from sighing. 

Then the bell rung.

“Aw.” Jason pouted. “Too late.”

“’S okay.” Ajay said. 

“Well—“ Jason said, reaching out to cup Ajay’s face and squeeze his cheeks. “See ya!”

Ajay’s eyes went wide as he left. 

“… ‘Boyfriend.’” He muttered. 

He felt his ears flush at the notion— the source of the word, still screaming his lungs out about skipping his lunch at his sister. 

And then he went back to class. 

Chapter Text

Score!

At least, that was the noise in Jason’s head as he managed to throw the ball right through the hoop. It was the fifteenth time in the past 20 minutes of their training, and Jason was right to cheer for himself if he hit twenty— (they were trying to get a really long word in for their little spelling game, Jason didn’t remember how long it was supposed to be but fuck it, anything to kick his team’s asses, right?) but his focus had been interrupted by Vaas in his peripherals. 

Fuck. He was obsessed, wasn’t he? His head whipped back to where Vaas was as his team tried to take advantage of his distraction, but they’d be fuckin’ powerless considering how Jason knew the court like the back of his hand. He swept his teammate in a matter of a second and shot the ball again, the collective groan letting Jason throw his arms up in triumph, and then glancing Vaas’s way to see if he saw that. He ditched the court to get to him.

“Vaas!” Jason called out. Vaas— he’d been wearing these shorts that ended above his knees and a big shirt that coupled with a hoodie, and he had sneakers and long socks to boot. He looked adorable.

“Dude!” One of the teammates called out.

“Let’s take 5 since coach isn’t here, yeah?” Jason called back. 

“Oh, hey, Jason.” Vaas greeted as the boy approached. Jason liked the way he said his name— his thin Spanish accent framing the whole phrase. 

“Hi. What are you doing up here?” 

Vaas looked behind him, then back to Jason. “Ah, no, no, no, don’t mind me, I’m just here for one of your teammates— yo, Julio!”

“Vaas!” Julio called out. Vaas looked around and scoped the area, then said: “Bathroom!” 

As Vaas turned on his heels, he looked back at Jason, “Come if you dare, hermano!”

Jason blinked. “Why, what’s up?”

“Let’s just say I know how to make some magia happen.”

Jason paused. 

“I failed Spanish 1.” 

Vaas stared at him.

“But— I’m trying to pass 2! That means, like, magic, right?”

Vaas snorted. “Yeah.”

“Vaas.” Julio called out, already out the bathroom door. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming!” Vaas said. Jason followed. They stood by the sink as Julio took out a roll of cash from his pocket.

“This your first time, Julio?” Vaas said, taking the roll and counting the cash. 

“No.” Julio said, then looked back at Jason, narrowing his eyes. “What’s Brody doing here? Is he part of your business?”

“No. I just fucking like him, but I’m sure he’ll benefit from our little transaction, yeah? I trust him.” Vaas finally tucked the money in his wallet. Jason was too busy focusing on Vaas’s face to care up until Julio took him by the shoulder.

“Snitches get stitches, Jason.” Julio said. 

“Gotta be the dumbest fucking threat you’ve got, Sanchez.” Jason grinned, but it dropped as soon as Julio grabbed him by the collar. 

“I’m serious.” Julio said. Vaas got in the way— he only reached Jason’s shoulder and Julio’s chin. 

“Ladies, ladies, you’re both pretty. Now get the fuck outta here, Julio, you got your drugs, I got my fucking money, vamonos!”

“Wait. This is your business?” Jason blinked as Julio finally left. 

“What the fuck else did you think it was?” Vaas said, pushing himself up to sit on the counter.

“Why’d you invite me to this thing anyway? Isn’t it like… private stuff?” 

“Well. I trust you,” Vaas said, averting his eyes innocently, “but I knew we’d have our little bitty alone time after you would kick Julio out.”

“Are you a psychic?” Jason asked. 

Vaas perked his lips up, “One of our products will definitely fucking make you one.”

Jason blinked. “… Are you just selling to me?”

“Mmm,” Vaas tilted his head, “Maybe. Maybe not.”

Jason’s eyebrows knitted together, concerned. “Vaas— I mean, I do drugs!” Lame. “But they’re probably not the type from you guys, though. That’s not why I get your attention, seriously.”

“Mhm,” Vaas said. He looked awfully cute propped up like that. “I know.”

His fingers reached out to touch Jason by the arm, fingers walking up his shoulder. 

“So.” Jason started, then forgot to continue.

“So?” Vaas looked at him innocently.

“Wanna make out?”

That caused Vaas’s arm to drop. He pursed his lips, then snorted, laughing as he looked away.

“Jason!” Vaas said, trying not to laugh, “Yeah, sure, whatever, fuck, I don’t know!” 

“What, what?!” Jason asked, hands in his hair.

“You know, Jason, you’re really fucking romantic, ah?”

“Hey, you’re the one who invited me to the bathroom!” 

“Oh, so it’s on me now?” Vaas raised a brow, leaning into him.

“Yeah,” Jason answered, voice softening, putting his hand on the edge of the counter. “Now you gotta own up to it.”

“How, hm?” Vaas licked his own lips. Jason pushed Vaas’s legs open so he’d come closer, then reached with his other hand to tip his chin up. 

“I’ll show you how.” Jason said, trying to pull back his smile. He tried leaning in— emphasis on try, because—

“Jason!” Coach Sam called out from outside. 

“Oh, shit,” Jason dropped his hand, looking out the door. Vaas huffed.

“Zero stars. Worst experience of my fucking life.”

Jason’s eyes widened, “Actually, you wanna go out? Sometime this week— tomorrow— we should totally go out!”

“JASON!” Coach Sam called out again.

Vaas closed his legs as he moved away from him. “Why not lunch tomorrow?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming— Sounds good!” Jason said, rushing out the door.

“In the canteen!” Vaas called out. 

Again, he huffed, then decided to subside the disappointment in favor of thinking on what he could do tomorrow— they could have just agreed on it, actually, but they haven’t even gotten each other’s fucking numbers. Fuck it, he and Jason could manage tomorrow, but he wasn’t going to be free for the rest of the day, not with class and his business. 

Speaking of business— 

There was a familiar and yet so foreign smell of something that was not chemistry related happening in the chemistry lab as he walked down the halls. Vaas pushed open the door.

“What the—“

“Vaas!” Yogi exclaimed. 

“Ah, shit, it’s boss!” Reggie yelped. 

Vaas’s eyes widened as he came over to see the two already having the lab’s equipment in the middle of use— “Do you not have any fucking equipment in your houses?! What the fuck are you Breaking Bad-ing for in the fucking chem lab?!” 

“Well, we thought it was appropri—“ Reggie tried, getting cut off immediately as Yogi came to Vaas.

“Boss, boss, listen! We was havin’ a little complication back in Reggie’s house with the… uh, cooking, okay? Today’s the only time we can cook up a batch for the next, what, two, three—“ 

“Seven—“ 

“Seven! Weeks!” Yogi exclaimed, “The results will be IMPECCABLE!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Reggie continued, “we got to sign this off as a makeup assignment, but really we’re brewing magia into the air and you’ll love it!” 

Vaas glared at them, “you are BOTH going to get fucking caught!”

“Well,” Yogi said, wrapping his arm around Vaas’s shoulders, “Cameras all around but they ain’t snapping, are they, boss?”

Vaas massaged his temples, “Fine. But you have ten minutes ‘til ten minutes later. The school’s only open for athletes until late so you should get the fucking fuck out once you’re done.”

“Trust us, boss!” Reggie said, “We’ll have the whole place cleaned in—“

Then Vaas’s phone rang. 

“Hello?” Vaas answered, pushing Yogi’s arm off him as he walked to the door. Then he whipped back to Yogi and Reggie, “I’ll be there in ten minutes— hold up, hold up—“

Vaas muted the call— “CLEAN THE PLACE UP PENDEJOS! My papa’s on his way, FUCK!” 

“Why can’t you say you’re elsewhere?!” Yogi said, scrambling to clean up the test tubes and bringing them to the sink.

“HE’S GONNA PASS BY THE CHEM CLASS ANYWAY!” Vaas yelled, rapidly flailing to get Reggie to join Yogi in cleaning up. 

“Shit, shit, shit, Donald—“ Reggie sputtered, pouring the last of the cylinder’s contents into the measuring cup.

“—Yogi—“ 

“Oh, fuck off, come on!” Reggie said—

“Where are we putting the—“ 

“Put it in your water jug!” 

“What?! No way in—“

“I SWEAR TO FUCK, I’M GONNA RECIRCUMCISE YOU BOTH—“ 

Yogi scrambled to grab his oversized water jug, letting Reggie pour the contents into it as Vaas unmuted his end.

“Ah, sorry papa, I was just talking to one of the boys!”

“Which one?”

“Uh, I dunno, someone from the basketball team?”

“Does that someone happen to be your boyfriend, Vaas?” Hoyt teased.

Vaas’s eyes widened, “What, no, no, no! He’s not!” 

“Studies first, Vaas, you know that!” 

Vaas sighed exasperatedly. “Yes, papa, I know.”

“Anyway, where are you?”

Vaas looked behind him, seeing the boys already cleaned up, then pushed the door open. “Chem lab, right outside.”

Citra wasn’t going home with them, thank fuck. Vaas sat comfortably at the front while Hoyt was driving. 

“Papa, what’s for dinner?” Vaas asked. 

“Whatever the household is settling for tonight, my liefde.” Hoyt said. 

Vaas’s mouth bunched into a corner. “Can’t we order again? KFC? McDonalds? Yes? No?”

“We just ordered two days ago, Vaas.”

Vaas pouted. Hoyt snorted. “Vaas, I’m driving but I know that look in your face.”

“Fine.” Vaas conceded, “Whatever the chef wants. I guess.”

Vaas rubbed his temples. Tomorrow was gonna be a long fucking day.

Hallways were always fucking messy. Kids would be bunching up against each other just trying to pass through the fucking halls, sometimes shoving went into punching and some poor kid by the lockers would either get shoved inside or unconscious with a bloody nose. Vaas hated fucking being stealthy, that was one of the things he hated when he had to be a delivery boy. He was supposed to not be doing this anymore, he was an overseer for the whole operation, fucking hell. 

The kid he was gonna give this to, some kid by the name of Paolo was waiting with an open locker just an angle away from Vaas as he left his classroom. He picked out the small packet and shoved it in his pocket, approaching the kid as the hall was slowly starting to fill out.

“Hey.” Vaas said, tapping him on the shoulder. “Paolo, right? Looks like your lucky day.”

“Oh, shit,” Paolo turned, “you’re the guy?”

“Fuck do you think— hey, wait, payment first.” Vaas said. Paolo nodded, then took out his wallet and gave him the money. Vaas counted it, put it in his wallet, but then as soon as he gave the packet to Paolo the dude’s fingers managed to slip and down came the packet and into the crowd.

“What the fuck—“

“I’ll get the—“ 

“No, stay here, motherfucker, I’m getting it!” Vaas said, quickly shoving people around only to be met with the packet getting kicked and stomped about, making Vaas hover downwards and scramble with his hands trying to get it.

Then some motherfucker picked it up.

“Vaas!” Jason suddenly appeared- teleported- materialized right in front of the fucking kid.

“Oh, hey, Jason,” Vaas’s eyes went wide, trying to look past him and glancing back to Jason. 

“So you good for lunch later today?” He asked.

“Yeah, I just wanna eat with you, honey,” Vaas said, forcing a smile, eyes widening as the said motherfucker was about to walk off.

“Jason!” 

Oh thank fuck.

“Oh, god,” Jason muttered, “that’s my cue. See you in a bit!”

“Actually, can we take a rain check— I kind of- have something to deal with—“ Vaas sputtered, “stuff!”

“’Stuff?’” Jason asked. “Can I help you?”

“Nope, no, nah, I got it covered, but next time, Jason, I’m a little caught up! See you!”

Vaas rushed off to reach and grab the kid by the shoulder, “Hey, you took something from me!” 

“What, what’d I get?” The kid asked as he turned. 

“It’s a packet of powder.” Vaas said. The kid got it out of his back pocket. “Yeah— that’s mine, hermano.” Vaas said. 

The kid narrowed his eyes, “Is it, hermano?” 

Yikes. Gross accent. Vaas already didn’t like him.

“Give it back.”

“No way, what is it?!” He moved it away from Vaas’s hands. Vaas’s eyes widened.

“I’m not telling you what the fuck it is! Stop waving it around!”

“These are drugs aren’t they?! I’m telling the principal!” 

“No the fuck you aren’t!” Vaas snapped, kneeing the stupid kid in the crotch and headbutting him for good measure (the kids around them went ‘ooooh, FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!’) before he nabbed the packet right out of his hand. 

“The fuck are you looking at?!” Vaas asked the crowd. They hurriedly moved on before he went back to Paolo— Paolo’d immediately shoved it in his bag as soon as it happened. 

“Uh. Thanks.” Paolo said, right before shutting his locker and leaving as soon as he could. 

Vaas’s forehead was stinging. 

The swimming pool’s room was empty, thank fuck. Vaas took off his shirt and shoved the contents from his hoodie into the same bunch, then progressed towards the locker room. Fuck, it smelled like axe and not even the great kind. 

He looked around, trying to look for the designated locker, then stopped as soon as footsteps echoed into the room. The sound of a man talking into his phone— a German accent, specifically, made Vaas bite back a groan of dismay. He decided to concentrate on finding the specific lockers. 

Seriously, what the fuck do they mean by their lockers? He’s banning the locker room as a designated trading spot, this shit’s impossible and even WORSE now that Coach Becker was in the same vicinity— he was talking about something, talking to someone, and Vaas hoped it was just a phone call. Vaas wasn’t even supposed to be here, but he had a free period thanks to the teacher getting sick, so if Coach Becker caught him he’d come up with some bullshit excuse that he wouldn't believe and tell papa and OHHH FUCK, he could tell Papa. 

Then the footsteps continued, and Vaas’s heart was about to stop with the way it was drawing closer. Vaas was ready to throw a fit. He hugged the bundle of clothes to himself, took to the nearest set of lockers and began opening and closing to see which one had the stuff the customers (or clients, whatever makes the whole setting more professional and adult) were talking about. 

The floor was getting wetter. Fuck this, if he slips and breaks something it’s game fucking over.

The locker clicked open. Vaas closed it shut. Another locker clicked open. Vaas left it open. Did the same pattern with the rest of the lockers he was surrounded by. 

There wasn’t another voice coming out, so Vaas rightfully assumed it was just a call but why in the hell would you call in a locker room? 

Better yet, what was he doing in the fucking locker room?

Nevermind. 

Focus, Vaas, focus. 

His hands were sweating and he hated it, he hated being nervous but the very real risk of getting caught was on his shoulders and Vaas couldn’t stop thinking about it as he went to the next row of lockers. 

Sam was closing in as he was wondering, fuck. If there was a god, he’s about to get his ass beaten. 

Then came the quiet. Vaas’s timing was horrible.

He clicked open the last locker in the row and finally found client number one’s locker, then fished for the contents in his jacket to shove it inside but immediately didn’t account for the way it was going to close shut. It shut loud. 

“Who’s there?” Coach asked. Fuck me. Fuck everything in the world, but most especially Ben. Starring Ben, in fact, fuck.

The footsteps drew in closer and Vaas had another set of lockers to get through— seriously, how big is this fucking locker room, did it have to be that large?

His feet stuck to the ground and slipped as he went for the back. He clicked open a few more lockers and finally shoved the ones he found the rest in. Finding the other end of the exit, Vaas threw his shirt and jacket back on and ran outside, nearly slipping. 

“Hey.” 

Vaas nearly slipped forward as he exited the swimming room.

“Jason?” Vaas asked, “Fuck are you doing here?”

“I was just about to say the same thing, what’s up?” Jason asked, wrapping his arm over Vaas’s shoulder. 

“Business, you know?” Vaas said. “I’m a little caught up, so sorry about canceling.”

“Hah, Jason, you’re such a stalker!” Keith called out from behind, right before Jason could say anything.

“No I’m not!” Jason sputtered, spinning around. 

“Vaas, he was waiting for you outside like a lost puppy!” Oliver called out, laughing. He disappeared into the classroom with Keith.

Vaas gave Jason a look. Jason looked sheepish.

“Is that true, Jason?” Vaas asked.

“Well—“ Jason tried, face flushing red in embarrassment. 

“Hey, Jason! Come on, class is almost starting!” Liza called out from the front.

“OH, shit, fuck, I gotta go!” Jason was frazzled, hurrying over and leaving Vaas alone. Vaas frowned, but he had to get to work with the last one. That’s gonna be at last period with the last client for the day. 

He used to do the old “pass this to someone” method back in 8th grade, but holy shit, it’s a lot harder now knowing that they were all under Mr. Buck and Vaas knew this was going to fucking suuuuuuuuuuuck.

Buck had fucking stealthy eyes, and he knew the backstory between him and his papa about the situation and to this day Vaas thinks the only reason Buck hadn’t been fired was because his papa liked him.

Fuck nepotism, this is some favoritism type of shit and Vaas despised the man more and more everyday with that stupid attitude. 

By the way, fuck American history. He was glad Buck started doing history from other countries, but that was the most gratitude Vaas could extend to the guy, and Vaas could only hope in his peripherals and occasional glances that the man wasn’t taking note that something was going on in the back of the class. 

Vaas pushed his pencil off the table, leaned down to pick it up, then noticed Carlos who’d been sweating nervously and he’d been frozen like that since 13 minutes ago and Vaas was invited to explode because what the fuck could be up?

Then he turned to his right and noticed that their client was motherfucking asleep. 

Fuck everything. 

He quietly took a page from his notebook, carefully glancing back at Buck’s direction before taking the paper into his hands and crumpling it, then took another glance at Buck as he turned his back and threw it to the kid. 

Kid didn’t respond. 

Vaas grabbed his eraser and threw it to the kid’s head. 

Kid didn’t respond. 

Just as soon as Vaas was about to grab his metal pencil case, though, Buck turned around and looked straight into Vaas’s soul.

“Mr. Volker,” he said in his stupid fucking Aussie accent, “you got something to share with the class?”

“No. Keep talking about Washington, it was getting interesting!” Vaas said, putting his metal pencil case back. 

Buck angled his head to which he can try seeing Vaas’s notebook from the distance they were in. “Sure hope those are notes you decided to take down and not your usual.”

“I like your class, B— Mr. Buck.” Vaas said with a forced grin, “You were getting to the good part, too.”

“Oh yeah, so what was the good part?”

“His death.” Vaas said. “Died December 14, 1799.” 

Buck paused. He narrowed his eyes. Vaas smiled maliciously.

“Alright.”

He turned, then Vaas turned, noticing that the kid was jostling a bit farther, and he decided not to weaponize the metal pencil case in favor of throwing his pen at him. Then the kid’s head tilted upwards, hitting him right in the eye.

“Ow!” He yelped. Buck spun around, Carlos held back, Vaas was screaming inside. 

Here goes nothing. 

He threw himself with his chair and into the floor. Vaas snapped his direction to Carlos and pointed with his head, and Buck immediately rushed to get Vaas up.

“Are you okay, kid?” Buck asked, and Vaas moved away from his touch. 

“I’m good, I’m good.” Vaas groaned, having hit his head for the second time today.

“What the hell happened?”

“I dunno, I was just leaning.” Vaas said, trying to use his peripherals in order to make sure the kid got his fucking packet. 

“Don’t lean on the chairs—“ Buck got up, then, to announce it to the class, “Class, don’t be like him! No leaning!”

Vaas rolled his eyes. 

As soon as class finished up, the kid came to him, both with a pencil and an eraser that belonged to him, then attached it with a roll of money. 

“Exact amount. Thanks.” He said, then left. 

Vaas sighed, shoving it in his pockets. Fuck, they were finally done for the day.

Though, Vaas wasn’t entirely done. 

Jason came into his field of vision and he promptly moved directions just to make a beeline for Vaas. 

“Hey, how was business?” Jason asked. 

Vaas looked at him. “I think I got a headache.”

Chapter Text

Amita’s a fast talker, that’s mostly what Ajay’s absorbed for the time they’ve had as groupmates in class. She’s a cheerleader, she’s got smarts, but she’s also dependent despite being a leader for most projects in science. What does that say about her? Ajay wondered, but he didn’t think too far ahead. Miss Barzaga just entered the class and most of everyone faced back to her except Amita.

Amita kept her elbow on Ajay’s desk as she kept talking, and as much as Ajay had been listening for the past ten minutes about who was getting at who else’s ass, he put his hand on her shoulder and pointed to Miss Barzaga.

“Your test results are in, everybody.” Miss Barzaga said, placing a few handfuls on each of the students’ desks at the front. “We have a lot to talk about given this last assessment.”

They passed the papers towards the back of the class. Ajay didn’t notice it, but Amita surely did: the grimaces of dismay, the gawks of surprise, the general… vibe of the classroom was not looking all around right and she’d noticed it on the failing marks that everybody was starting to sport.

“Hey Ajay,” Amita said, eyebrows knitting together as she scanned her paper front to back as she was met with the big E on the paper, “what’d you get for your test?”

“D minus.” Ajay said, staring at the marks. He looked up to see Amita asking around, all about getting mostly the same results. Uh oh.

“As you can see, everybody, there seems to be a lot of kids with low marks. I’m not sure what happened here, but please do remember to review your answers for the next lesson.”

“Miss Barzaga!” Amita called out, raising her hand. Miss Barzaga’s face shifted, parting her lips as she let out a sigh, then put the paper down.

“A question in mind, Miss Shukla?”

“Yes!” Amita said, walking forward, “You’ve noticed the commonality in this room, right? That everybody failed? Ajay’s the only one with a passing grade here!” 

Ajay covered his face with his hands to avoid the eyes. 

“So what do you want to do about this, Miss Shukla?” Miss Barzaga asked. Amita stood in front of her.

“We should retake the test.”

Then the class’s eyes went on her. “This isn’t fair! We didn’t have time to study because most of us had three other tests in other subjects on the day we took your test! Our lessons weren’t even finished, so we had to study those in advanced. Let us retake it.”

Miss Barzaga stood in front of her, pausing for a moment. She turned around to sit at her table. “No.”

“What?!”

“Your class won’t benefit from having seen the answers. It’s best we move on already.”

Amita shook her head, eyes widening, “But this takes 40% of our grades! We have to at least have 3 passing major assessments in order to fill that part out, right?”

“Right.” 

“That’s why I’m suggesting we do something about it rather than complain. We already had or time with the lesson, why don’t we finish it up and then get back to the test? Isn’t that how it’s supposed to work around here?” Amita put her hands on her hips. 

“You already took the test, Miss Shukla. At least by next time your class would know better. Now can you please take your seat?”

“I’m not done.”

“Well, I am. Now sit!” 

Ajay felt like chewing on his fingers as Amita stormed back to her seat. 

“Why did you do that?” Ajay said, lowly.

“’Cause it’s not fair to the class, is it, Ajay? I know you passed but everybody could do way better if we had the time!” Amita whispered. 

“… Okay.” Ajay replied, reaching to take out his notebook.

“Help me, Ajay.” Amita said, putting a hand on his shoulder. Ajay looked concerned.

“With what?” 

“We need to find a way to get back at Miss Barzaga. We’re making a coup d’etat!”

“’We’?” Ajay echoed. 

“Yes. You, me, the class!” 

“Amita, do we really need this?”

“We do. It’s a huge chunk of our grades at stake here. I trust you.” Amita said, squeezing his shoulder before turning around to take her notes. Ajay felt himself grit his teeth in fear, but this was also the first time he’d actually take part into one of Amita’s plans to sabotage the school system. If it weren’t for the cheer squad, she would’ve been known for hosting many of the protests at school, managing to successfully get through to the school, not by actual force of will but because she pestered them all enough to give it up. 

At least— that’s what the rumors say. Ajay didn’t know which one was more realistic. He tried not to think of it as the day went on. 

She turned around one last time to him, phone tucked on her lap to the class groupchat. “Class meet-up in the library. Be there!” 

Ajay’s eyes widened. Oh no.

He didn’t even need the reminder because Amita took him by the sleeve of his jumper and pulled him there as soon as they were done. As soon as they were in, a good handful of their classmates also made it there too. 

Are they that serious about this…? Maybe Ajay wasn’t to talk when he had the highest grade from the test. Albeit a D minus, it wasn’t as if it was gonna go anywhere but up.

“Okay, guys.” Amita said, letting go of Ajay. “We’re not doing a protest— but I have a plan!” 

“What kind of plan is it?” Banhi asked. 

“It’s a coup.” Amita said, fishing out a piece of paper from her bag and a pen. “We did the first three steps already, now for the last step!”

“Wait, what?” Ajay asked. 

“Yes!” Amita said. “Step one was to gather the people, step two was to negotiate, step three— if negotiation fails, then we strike with an offensive!” 

“… what’s the offensive?” Ajay tilted his head at whatever Amita was drawing on the paper.

“I don’t know yet.” Amita looked back up. His classmates were starting to talk amongst each other, but she came back up with something in the paper. “But I know it’ll help if you help out, Ajay.” 

“Me…” Ajay trailed off, “why me?”

“You’re the best student, Ajay!” One of their classmates said, “Nobody would suspect a thing if you joined us, not even Miss Barzaga.”

“You don’t have a lot to lose either, Ajay.” Amita said, scanning her paper. Ajay glanced away, accidentally making eye contact with Sabal and his gang as they approached her. 

“What’s up, Ajay?” He asked, holding out his fist for Ajay to bump it with. He and Amita instinctively glared at each other as Ajay’s knuckles awkwardly poked his own. “And why are you with her?”

“Well,” Amita said, hands on her hips, “as you can tell, me and the class are planning something against our science teacher!”

“Why?” Sabal asked, eyebrows furrowed. 

“Class failed the test. I guess everyone wants to retake it.” Ajay answered. Sabal raised a brow.

“Retake it? Even you, Ajay? What did you even get?”

Ajay eyes darted back at Amita. She was waiting for the answer too.

“I… guess. I just got a D minus.” Ajay said. 

Sabal shook his head. He held Ajay’s shoulder, leaning into his ear, “she’s getting into your head, bro.” 

“I can read your lips, Sabal.” Amita deadpanned. 

“Oh, great, and I can read why you’re actually doing this.” Sabal remarked. “Everybody, she just wants a good grade. Whatever you have isn’t in her best interest, trust me!”

“Oh, right, because apparently I’m incapable of planning for the people? What about you, Mr. I Debate With Teachers For A Credit?! This is for my class!” 

“Like you even remember your classmates’ names.” Sabal leaned into her. 

“Like you even care about them anyway.” Amita leaned back in. 

Ajay looked between them. They looked like they were about to kiss. Ajay’s face scrunched, then he shook his head and turned around, mostly ready to walk away, but someone touched his arm and he turned to see Banhi and Pranav wave at him. 

“While they’re arguing—“ Banhi said, then Pranav followed: “care to chat with us?”

“Guys, I get it.” Ajay said, raising his hand. “Whatever Amita’s planning is whatever I’m helping out with.”

“Actually…” Banhi replied, “we kind of knew this was going to happen. So we have a backup idea on how to go about this. Do you want to hear it?”

Ajay blinked. “… Okay. Alright. What is it?”

The librarian came to kick Sabal and Amita out. 

Luckily, Amita’s plan didn’t actually interfere with the others’ backup plan at all. In fact— it was more like they helped out in framing it better. The first task out of this was simple: within a day, send complaint letters from “parents” to Miss Barzaga’s desk. Unfortunately, delivery wasn’t really a thing that happened in school, so the plan had to start as soon as the faculty office was about to close. Most of the teachers left, but a lone janitor about to close the room was stopped by Pranav’s plan to crash down the stairs.

“Ow!” Pranav yelped out, faking pain and making a mess down the flight, causing the janitor to come down in concern. 

Banhi and Achal were crowding over to fuss on about Pranav’s idiocy with Ajay in the back, but as soon as the janitor helped Pranav up Ajay zipped towards the faculty office with the keys in hand and unlocked the door. 

He placed the letters on Miss Barzaga’s desk as soon as he found the family photos propped up there, then left the keys on the floor as he ran back out. 

“Okay. That’s step one done.” Ajay said, walking with the rest to the parking lot. “How long do we wait?”

“We don’t wait, she’s going to ignore the letters.” Amita said. 

“What?” Ajay blinked.

“She’s evil, Ajay. We’re doing this to cause a distraction.” Banhi said. 

“You know, one time, she hit me with her ruler so I could wake up?” Pranav said, “Then she made me answer a whole pop-up quiz on my own! While teaching!” 

“Do you remember, Ajay? When she made poor Devi make a speech even though she was super anxious and she knew?” Banhi asked.

“Of course he remembers, he was there for everything!”

“Yeah, don’t you have a gripe against her?” Achal asked, fist bumping against Ajay’s shoulder.

“… Not really.” Ajay said, “I don’t think I was there when she did that though.”

“Oh, yeah, you were in the hospital. Severe asthma attack, right?” Amita asked. Ajay nodded. 

“Oh, shit, that’s what you were there for? Glad you’re back from the dead!” 

“Nothing can kill Ajay,” Pranav snorted, “not even a bad grade.”

“Do you guys think Miss Barzaga was just on her period?” Achal asked. 

Ajay huffed. He would later come to know that their plan was coming to fruition, just a day later.

They had a kid on the inside— some kid in class who was the kid of one of the teachers visit the office, this kid named Troy Becker, who had observant eyes and walked with armrest crutches. He managed to gather enough intel on the way back and they’d found out that the trash can was filled to the fucking brim with the letters. 

“Thanks for telling us, Troy,” Amita said, handing him a roll of money. He tucked it into his pocket and nodded. 

“She goes out for lunch break at exactly twelve ten, comes back just short of one ten, so you guys have an hour to find that file and the lesson plan and to download it.” Troy said.

“Do we know how big the file is?” Banhi asked. 

“It’s big. If she gets in, you get out. She gets out, you get in. There’ll be a few teachers inside, but just don’t make a noise.” Troy said, turning away and moving. 

“Who has a USB here?” Amita asked. Pranav raised his hand.

“128 gig, holding all my old school shit from grade 8.”

“And possibly porn.” Achal added.

“Hey—“

“Just don’t get it on Miss Barzaga’s laptop!” Amita said, grabbing Pranav by the shoulders. 

“Who’s doing the downloading?” Ajay asked.

Everyone looked at him.

“… Okay.” He said, hands suddenly feeling sweaty. 

Pranav looked out to the corridor. He took a deep breath, hand on Ajay’s back, then nodded. “Go, go, go!” 

Ajay made a break for it, crouch-running and slipping inside the faculty office. A teacher came to view, so he turned to the right by the cubicle’s walls, then quickly looked up to try finding a view of Miss Barzaga’s desk. A teacher came into view and he ducked, holding his breath as he clutched the USB, then curved to the next cubicle stall as soon as another was at his direction. 

His knees were aching, but he’d eventually find the desk and the laptop still opened and running. 

He plugged the USB in and scrolled through the files, barely managing to find it for the next ten minutes up until he saw the dates written on them: then he clicked, saving them to the USB and waited. 

There was only a good handful of teachers around. He snuck under the desk and waited on his phone as the group chat was going crazy. He switched to Amita’s DMs. 

Ajay’s eyes widened.

Getting up from the desk, he ejected the USB and took a look around, right before deleting the files in the computer. He crouch-ran to the outside of the door, almost bumping into Miss Barzaga.

“Ajay!” She greeted, holding up the door for him.

“Hi, miss.” Ajay felt his throat nearly catch on fire.

“What are you doing here?” She asked.

“Just…” Ajay cleared his throat, trying to avoid the frantic flailing Pranav and Amita were signaling him with, “taking a… I took a makeup test... I’m done.”

“I see.” She said with a smile. Ajay almost felt bad for her. “Well, I better get out of your way. See you later!” 

“Wait, miss.” Ajay said. She paused, then looked at him.

“Yes?”

“I was… also concerned about my grade for the assessment. Do you think we can have some kind of do-over for it?”

“Ajay… You know what I said to Amita.”

“Just checking. But… I’m sure we still have time for a retake.”

Ajay sighed. He jogged back to the group and they all let out a resounding sigh. Amita took the USB, holding it at the group’s center.

“Look. I’ll be keeping it. The most important part is that she doesn’t get these lesson plans until she concedes.”

“We’re gonna be in so much trouble.” Ajay took out his inhaler and pressed the button as soon as it was in his mouth.

“If it’s not in the rule book, we’re free.” Banhi said, shrugging.

“Listen, she won’t find out.” Achal said. “Not even think about Ajay as the culprit.”

“What if she checks the cameras?” Pranav asked. 

“NOBODY CHECKS THE CAMERAS!” Amita threw her arms up. She pressed her palms together, put it against her face and took a deep breath. “Nobody checks the cameras.”

“Okay.” Ajay said, tucking his inhaler back in, “So what next?”

Amita squatted down. “We wait.”

“Class— so sorry about the hold up.” Miss Barzaga said, entering the class. “I can’t find my files for today’s lessons.”

Ajay pursed his lips. 

“We only have room for a lesson recap right now, so let’s just do that while I recover my files, okay?” She said, grabbing her marker and turning to the board. 

Amita pumped her fist. Then she sent the hand signal. 

“Miss Barzaga?” Ajay said, raising his hand.

“Yes, Ajay?”

“Can we do a review with the assessment? Since it has most of the lessons and all.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” She said, turning to get her files from the desk. 

Ajay blinked, then looked at the class around him— they were looking back at him too.

“You sure this is part of the plan?” Ajay asked Banhi. Amita wasn’t around for this one— they were in the parking lot just after class ended. He had a pocket full of rocks and Miss Barzaga’s engine was, according to Pranav, “hungry.”

“We make her week worse, she’ll break like a stick.” Banhi said with a shrug. “Put the rocks in.” 

“… okay.” Ajay said, putting it in.

Miss Barzaga came late this time. She looked a lot messier than before, shirt barely buttoned with messy strands sticking out of her usually controlled style, papers in the file bunched up gracelessly. Ajay tried to ignore it.

“I had to get another ride today, sorry for being late.” Miss Barzaga huffed, placing the stuff down. “Well, I at least have a lesson for you guys now—“ she scrambled through the papers, trying to find it.

Then she looked over everything. 

She grabbed her own head and looked down. “Class, consider this a free period.” She said. 

Holy shit.

“Actually, I have a suggestion,” Ajay said, trying to control his voice from shaking, “do you still have copies of our assessment, miss? We should be ready since we finished up on the lesson anyway.”

“What are you suggesting…?” Miss Barzaga asked. 

“Maybe it’s better that we retake the test?” Amita asked. 

Miss Barzaga was silent. She got up from her seat and left the classroom. 

About 10 minutes later, she came back with a stack of papers. Amita’s eyes widened.

“You have 45 minutes.” She said, having completely given up.

Ajay’s was also wide. He didn’t notice but the class was surprised too.

They won, holy shit. 

“I was wondering,” Amita said, walking out the classroom with Ajay, “which file did you delete?”

“Uh, I dunno. Something about grades, I think.” Ajay said. 

“Wait, did you delete it on the USB transfer or the laptop itself…” 

“Does that like, matter?” Ajay’s eyes widened. Amita’s lips flattened. 

“Did you or did you not?”

“I… think I deleted it on both.”

Amita pursed her lips. “… Okay.”

The next week, Miss Barzaga came back with the files recovered. 

The weight finally left Ajay’s shoulders and he sighed. 

He is never doing this again.

Chapter Text

“So it’s like, whatever, right, he talks about it, she talks about it,” Riley rambled on as they walked to Bhadra’s locker, “but then I talk about it and I’m suddenly not allowed to the party?” 

“I think that’s just because your brother doesn’t wanna be embarrassed by you, dude,” Bhadra said with a snort, “You’re like, fourteen. Of course he doesn’t want you in a party, you’re not cool!”

“I am SO cool!” Riley said, now regretting his volume, “I am so cool. What the hell.” 

“No way.” Bhadra rolled her eyes, opening her locker. A pile of envelopes fell out, so she bent down and picked it up. “Hello…?”

The envelopes all had distinct marks on them— but they were pretty indicative of being from one person and Bhadra’s eyebrows knitted together as she opened one up. Riley leaned in next to her and saw the name, pushed back in disgust and looked back at Bhadra.

“You’re not reading the rest of those letters. It’s got Misra-related cooties on them.” Riley said in disgust.

“Knew you were going to say that.” Bhadra replied, face crinkling. “Wanna help me dispose of them discreetly?”

“Duh.” Riley said, opening his bag and letting Bhadra drop the letters inside. 

“What are you doing?” Riley asked Grant as his older brothers were carrying a bunch of boxes down from the attic. The faint smell of dust was starting to fill up the house. 

“Setting some stuff aside for a garage sale. If you got any sentimentals, better get ‘em while they’re hot.” Jason said, dropping the box in front of Riley in the living room.

“Jason— bring those out, they’re dusty!” Grant called out from outside.

“I’m just getting some stuff from here!” Riley called back out, opening the box and looking through. His eyes went wide at the first item he saw. “Shit, dude, look!” 

“What, what?” Jason asked. Riley brought out a plastic slingshot. A choir of angels mentally came as the stars in his eyes shone impeccably. 

“Holy shit, dude,” Jason said, “that shit brings back memories!”

“Exactly! This one’s the most powerful slingshot ever sold at the toy stores!” Riley said, pulling at the band, “Remember when we shot my English teacher back in 1st grade for making me cry?”

“Oho, didn’t we make him fall down the stairs after that?” Jason snorted.

“Yes! And it was THIS very thing that got us banned from getting toys for like, a year!” 

“Well, you planning on keeping it?” Jason asked, “’Cause I gotta sell the rest of these.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Riley said, waving him off, “I’m sure you could profit off my beyblades.”

“I swear, you always bring the stupidest shit to school.” Staci commented, pulling at the slingshot band and aiming it elsewhere before giving it back to Riley. “Aren’t toys like, banned in school too?”

“That’s only applicable to elementary students.” Riley said, matter-of-factly.

“Handbook never said anything about high schoolers, so you do have a technicality in case you get in trouble.” Joey added.

“Why so excited about this anyway?”

“Nothing. Show and tell, for all I care.” Riley said with a shrug, waving it around, “Besides, this thing was built for self-defense.”

“Where’s Bhadra?” Joey asked. Staci looked past her, eyebrows knitting together as everybody else followed his direction and met eyes with Bhadra who had Misra following behind her. They couldn’t tell what the hell he could be saying, but Bhadra was walking faster within the crowd, forcing a smile as she stopped right in front of her friends.

“Sorry, Misra,” Bhadra repeated, “but I’m really not interested.”

“But I made those letters for you every night of the week!” Misra replied. He was gross and awkward looking— Riley cringed in disgust as he seemed to have drool leak out of his mouth. Joey stepped forward, followed by Staci and eventually Riley.

“She said she wasn’t interested, dude.” Joey said, eyebrows furrowing as she wrapped her arm around Bhadra’s shoulders, “Now can you leave? We got a class together.”

Misra went quiet, then his bottom lip jutted out before turning around and leaving. Bhadra sighed in relief. 

“Thank god.” Bhadra rubbed her temples, “He’s been following me all day!”

“You’re alright, Baddie,” Joey assured, “we got your back!” 

“You know, I’m afraid of the day that you won’t,” Bhadra said with a sigh.

“Never gonna happen.” Riley said, as he slung his arm around Bhadra’s body. “Besides, we got weapons.” 

“And you promise you’ll use them on weird dudes?” Bhadra asked with a spark in her eyes.

“Promise.” Staci said. 

The bell rung. 

The group collectively yelped and ran to the next class. 

“Where is that bitch?” Joey asked, impatiently poking at her food in the canteen. The next day was pretty peaceful up until now. 

“You know, you could just go ahead and eat.” Staci said, already eating.

“It’s rude to eat ahead with family or friends, you northern dummy!”

“Guys, come on.” Riley said with a sigh, then looked up just in case. “She could be in—“

He actually spotted her this time, leaning against the lockers as a familiar face seemed to have his hand pressed right beside her head. He was smirking, but Bhadra was making that face Riley and the other two were way too familiar with. 

“—Danger.” Riley finished. “Oh, shit, that’s one of Sabal’s guys!”

“Who’s Sabal?” Staci asked.

“Grade 10 cheerleader douche. I guess he’s taking his chances after Sabal got rejected.”

“Jesus, men just never stop going after her, huh?” 

Joey got up the table and looked. 

“Shit. Riley, do you have your slingshot?” Joey asked. 

“Yeah, why?” Riley asked— then said: “No.”

“Yo, we promised to help her with weapons!” Staci said.

“I thought that was a hyperbolic expression!” 

“It doesn’t need to be now!” Joey said, reaching for it in his bag.

“No! We could get in trouble!” Riley grabbed it.

Joey rolled her eyes, “you can pretend to stop being a good noodle when nobody’s gonna see it, dude!” 

Riley sighed. “Okay, I yield. But I’m the one calling the shots, and shooting the shot.” 

“You better hurry up before he starts trying to violate her personal space.” Staci pointed out. 

“Quick. Get me something.” Riley said, taking out the slingshot. Joey got him her fork. 

“Not that!” 

“I got a rock!” Staci said.

“Why do you even have that?!” 

“Who cares, just GET WITH IT!” Joey said, and right before Kamran could lean in to Bhadra’s ear Riley shot the rock so far it hit him directly in the nose. 

Bhadra’s eyes went wide, hand covering her mouth, and she leaned down and tried to help him up but he rejected the offer in order to run the opposite direction, right where the clinic was— because his nose was bleeding. 

She looked back for a second, then looked around, right before hurrying up to the canteen. Riley shoved the slingshot in his bag. 

“Finally, bitch!” Joey said, starting to dig in as soon as Bhadra sat down. 

“Sorry I took so long— but a miracle happened!” Bhadra said, finally grabbing her food. “Shit, I’m starving.”

Staci, Riley and Joey looked at each other. 

Damn right it was. 

Bhadra wasn’t really known to get with the camera. Sure, she’d posted her pictures on Instagram, but that was to the private audience that was her friends and friendly schoolmates— but she’d known people in the school that were just as public as she was private.

Which is why she didn’t understand why one of the public figures in the school— Colton Blake, some vlogger from eleventh grade, had been in the ninth grade halls all week. She didn’t really acknowledge the guy, but thanks to being Amita’s sister she was known all over the place and it wasn’t always a fun thing. He kept consistently making eye contact with her and talking as if they knew each other, camera in her face even though she clammed up uncomfortably. 

This guy, despite his demeanor, wasn’t a fun person either. Not that she had anything personal against him— she could just tell when someone’s not actually the real thing. 

“Hey, Bhadra!” He said— why did he know her name again? The boy enthusiastically came over to her with his phone in hand and Bhadra pulled her fake smile and jesus, her cheeks were feeling exhausted this week. 

“Hi. Um.” She said, hugging her notebook close to her— “Colton, right?”

“Yep! Just wanted to ask something, actually?” Colton said, scratching the back of his head.

“Oh, sure!” Bhadra kicked herself. 

“Wanna practice kissing later?” Colton asked. 

Bhadra’s brain shut down. She opened her mouth but couldn’t get anything out.

That was a queue. Staci passed by and she was hoping to move enough to get his attention, but then Colton kept coming in her way.

Then she noticed Staci bending down over to the top of the trash can, fishing a camera out. 

“Hey, does anybody own this camera?” Staci called out to the hall. Colton’s eyes went wide, then he spun around on his heels.

“Hey man, that’s mine!” 

“What was this doing here?” Staci asked, face scrunching in confusion.

“None of your business—“ 

Then a rock shot to his head. He dropped the camera.

Staci stepped back as Colton folded, covering his face. 

“Oh, shit, you alright?!” Staci said, holding his shoulder. “I think you gotta go to the clinic!”

“What was that…?” Colton groaned out, “A rock—“

“Shit, man, that looks pretty bad,” Staci sucked in air through his teeth, “go to the clinic!”

“Yeah— yeah,” Colton said, grabbing his camera and leaving immediately. Staci immediately walked back to Bhadra, arm slinging around her shoulder as he glanced back for a bit. 

“You good?” Staci asked.

“I am now.” Bhadra huffed. “God, I hate that guy.”

“I don’t know him.” Staci shrugged. 

“He’s a vlogger in 11th grade, dude. He’s like Jake Paul but worse.”

“Ew.” Staci said. “What’d he say to you?”

Across the hall, Colton ran past Riley as he was crouched by the pillars, seeing Staci turn back briefly with a wink as he left with Bhadra. 

He was a good shot.

“I’m a good shot!” Riley said. Then he cringed at his volume, especially after accidentally making eye contact with a certain somebody. 

Certain somebody also happened to place his hands down on their table. 

“Brody.” The boy said, as if disgusted with the way he was talking to him. Yeah, no, Foster was a shithead. He always talked mad shit and Jason usually saved Riley from the trouble, but with Jason in the middle of classes it was Riley who stayed vulnerable. 

“You need anything, Foster?” Joey said, looking up from her notebook. 

“Was I talking to you, you bitch?” Foster hissed. 

Staci pursed his lips. Joey glared at him as he turned back to Riley.

“Where’s the other girl?” Foster asked. “Bailey… Baylor… What the fuck is her name again?”

“… Bhadra.” Riley eventually said. 

“I wanna ask her out.” Foster said.

“O-kay?” Riley replied, “What are you telling us for?”

“Just wanted to let you know before I get her. Now tell me where she is.” Foster said with a grin. He looked hella evil.  

“… She’s feeding one of the cats outside.” Staci said— earning a kick from Joey. 

He walked off with his goons, and as soon as they were out of earshot Joey’s eyes went wide as she placed her palms on the table. “You know what to do.”

“Oh, I fucking do.” Riley said, shaking his head. 

“Why the fuck did you tell him that?!” Joey said as Staci rubbed his shin.

“He was scary!” 

“Oh, boo-hoo, pussy boy! Now we gotta get ready!” 

“Don’t worry, I’m good at this!” Riley said, getting up from his seat and running outside. 

He didn’t really get to make out the words Foster was saying to Bhadra. He looked like he was getting more annoyed with the way Bhadra was talking to him, and he definitely didn’t seem to like that she was apologizing and not saying anything. 

“Come on… I’m not like the other guys!” Foster said, reaching out to pet one of the cats. The cat’s back arched upwards as it approached, then as he tried to touch it the cats scratched him. “Ow!”

“Leave it alone.” Bhadra said. “I’m really…”

“Not interested? I can change that.” Foster said. “Come on. Just one chance? I’m totally different.”

Riley pursed his lips as he aimed for the back of Foster’s head. This was for the bullying back in grade seven, motherfucker. 

“Riley!” 

He shot it, accidentally shooting past his shoulder instead and turning in surprise to see Jason.

“Not a good time, Jason!” Riley said, turning back to hide from Foster. 

“Why, what are you doing— WAH!“ He was yoinked down.

“I’m saving my friend from certain doom!” 

“With the slingshot?!” Jason exclaimed— Riley slapped his hand on Jason’s mouth until he started biting it.

“Ow— yeah!” He said as he pulled back. 

“I thought you were a good noodle!”

“I’ve changed! And I swear I’m only doing it for her!”

“Okay— Foster’s about to come here,” Jason said, tilting his head, “I’m gonna crab-walk out and you’re gonna shoot him before he sees you, alright?”

“What? Jason!”

“I believe in you, baby bro!” He whisper-shouted, scuttling away.

He immediately turned to see Staci and Joey distracting Foster from doing such a thing. Riley’s breath left him with frustration, but he took the next rock in hand and finally shot Foster in the back of the head. 

He fell back into the bushes as soon as Foster let out a yelp. 

Let’s fucking go, motherfucker.

Nobody knew the next kid that walked out with Bhadra from her science class. He was an athlete— but a nameless one at that, but as Riley started snooping with Joey in tow it turns out the kid was some bigger athlete’s son by the same name. 

Freddy Fonseca Jr. 

“I sense another target.” Joey said, squinting as they spotted Freddy not leaving Bhadra’s side. 

“I dunno, she seems pretty fine to me.” Riley said. “She’s not doing the face.”

“What face?” Staci blinked.

“Yeah, what face?”

“You guys don’t see her face?” Riley asked, concerned. “How’d we all know the same thing going on then?!”

“I dunno, I just know.” Joey said. “And I know that you gotta shoot now or she’s doomed forever!”

“Okay.” Riley said, hesitating since the first time they did it. 

“You wanna watch a game sometime, Bhadra? I can take you out for lunch with my teammates after!” Freddy said, bouncing on his feet. 

“Why not just us?” Bhadra giggled, finger caught in her hair as she twirled the locks. 

“I can arrange for that!” Freddy said, chuckling. “Hold on—“ Then he glanced back, raised his hand and caught a rock.

Bhadra’s eyes went wide, looking to where the rock came from. “Where did that come from…?”

“Looks like someone wanted to shoot to kill.” Freddy shrugged, tossing the rock aside. “Anyway, I’ll see you Saturday?”

Bhadra’s grin stretched. “Definitely!” 

Joey blinked.

“What just happened…?” 

“I told you, she wasn’t making the face!” Riley said.

“No, but like the dude caught it!” Staci said.

“Because he’s a baseball player…” Riley trailed off. He was terrified at the implication— but most of all, the fact Bhadra fucking saw them. 

The next day, Bhadra finally wasn’t being terrorized by some guy. Instead she came to terrorize them, kissing Joey on the head, Staci on the cheek, and burying her face in Riley’s neck with a hug. 

“What’re you so happy for?” Joey asked. 

“I figured it all out!” Bhadra said with a grin, “You did that all for me, didn’t you?”

“The what?” Riley asked— internally, he was yelling. 

“The rocks! You guys actually used your weapons!”

“Oh, right— hey, how’d you figure that out?” Riley sputtered nervously.

“Freddy caught you.” Bhadra said, pulling back with a smirk. “Don’t worry, he’s not mad.”

“Shit. Thank god.” Staci sighed in relief. “We were about to sell Riley out!” 

“YOU WERE WHAT?” Riley yelled.

“Relax— Freddy’s totally okay. In fact, he’s really cool!”

“Is the reign of terror men finally over for you?” Joey asked. 

“I dunno. But now that I got Freddy, it’s totally gonna be different.” She said, pumping her fist. Then she saw Freddy waving at her, and she got up. “Looks like I gotta go. See you guys!”

“Well, Riley, looks like we gotta hold off the shooting.” Joey said, actually smiling. 

“And if he breaks her heart, his baseball skills have no use.” Staci added. 

Riley looked at them. “I’m just gonna pretend you guys weren’t going to sell me out— and agree.”