Chapter Text
The noise of the cafeteria was usually a physical wall of sound, but one table was always the loudest. Katie’s high-top sneakers squeaked against the linoleum floor as she shifted on the bench. She cracked open her water bottle, her strawberry hair pulled into a high, messy ponytail that swayed as she spoke.
"I'm just saying," Katie started, leaning across the table toward Ewron, "the student section looked pathetic on Friday night. We were playing like our biggest rivals, and I didn't see a single neon shirt in the front row."
Ewron, who had been lazily spinning a plastic fork on the table, stopped and let out a dramatic, deeply wounded sigh. He sat back, crossing his arms and shaking his head with a look of utter betrayal.
"Kate," Ewron said, his lowered voice capturing the attention of everyone else at the table. "You hurt me. You cut me deep. How can you sit there and say I wasn’t there? I was practically the captain of your fan club on Saturday night."
Katie froze, her water bottle halfway to her mouth. "Saturday? Ewron, the game was Friday night."
"No, no, no," Ewron scoffed softly, a pitying, incredibly confident smile spreading across his face. He leaned forward, gesturing with his hands as if explaining something very basic to a child. "Katie, you *specifically* told me Saturday. Remember? We were standing by the fountain Thursday afternoon. You looked me right in the eye, your beautiful hair was down, and you said, 'Ewron, make sure you lead the chants on Saturday night.' I remember because I went home and immediately started planning my chants."
Across the table, Mike paused mid-bite of his pizza, looking between the two of them. Jeremy and Duncan both nodded slowly, completely sucked in by how absolutely certain Ewron sounded.
"Wait, really?" Tina asked, looking at Katie with a genuine curiosity. "Did you mix up the dates, Katie? You were super stressed with school stuff last week."
"I didn't mix up anything!" Katie’s voice spiked, a flare of hot frustration hitting her chest. She looked at Ewron, genuinely starting to question her own sanity for a split second because he looked so incredibly sincere. "Ewron, I literally gave you a physical flyer with the schedule!"
"And I checked it!" Ewron fired back, his blue eyes wide with fake sorrow. "It said Saturday, Katie. I drove all the way to the school gym on Saturday night. I was wearing a ridiculous, neon pink hoodie just for you. I stood outside those locked gym doors in freezing rain for twenty, maybe even thirty minutes, completely heartbroken because my favorite girl wasn't even there! I felt like an absolute idiot, Katie. And now I come to lunch, and you are yelling at me?" The look on Ewron’s face was absolutely pathetic.
"Man, you can't blame him if he got the wrong night," Jeremy said, shaking his head at Katie.
Katie stared at Ewron. He was looking up at her from under his messy fringe, his lower lip tucked in just enough to look perfectly, charmingly miserable. This was his classic move. He spun a lie so detailed, so filled with emotional bait, that he made everyone else at the table feel bad for him, while clearing his name. He was rewriting history right in front of her, and it was working.
A cold wave of clarity washed over her. She was so tired of this. She was so tired of feeling like she was the crazy one every single time he broke a promise. Slowly, Katie pulled her phone out of her pocket. "You stood in the freezing rain on Saturday?"
"It was awful," Ewron sighed, leaning his chin on his hand, sensing that he was winning. "But it's fine. I forgive you for forgetting to tell me the schedule changed."
"Funny," Katie said, her voice dropping into a dangerous, deadly calm. "Because I remember recording a voice memo on Thursday night to send to the basketball group chat, and you grabbed my phone to yell into it."
Ewron’s charming smile flickered, just for a second.
Katie tapped her screen, unlocking it and pulling up her texts. She hit play on an audio message and turned the speaker up to full volume. The noise of the cafeteria faded into the background as Katie's recorded voice played for the table: “Hey mamas, early warm-ups for the home game are at 5:00 PM—”
Suddenly, a loud voice interrupted the recording, laughing and shouting right into the microphone. It was unmistakably Ewron: “Don't be late! See you Friday night, captain! Woooo!”
The recording cut off and the table went silent. Everyone looked completely stunned, realizing they had just been totally played.
Ewron blinked at the phone. For the first time all day, his mouth stayed shut.
But it didn't last long. Within two seconds, his face lit up, and he let out a booming cackle, clapping his hands together as if he had just watched an amazing magic trick.
"Ah! You caught me!" Ewron beamed, leaning across the table and trying to playfully nudge her arm, completely unbothered by the fact that he had just been exposed as a massive liar. "Look at you, keeping receipts! You know, Katie, I love how smart you are. It is mega-cute. Okay, fine, I forgot the time and overslept. But come on, doesn't the thought of me standing in the rain count for something?"
He reached out, his hand sliding over hers on the table, giving it a warm, reassuring squeeze. He flashed that lethal smile that usually made her laugh, waiting for her to roll her eyes, call him an idiot, and move on like they always did. Katie looked down at his hand on hers. Then she looked up into his eyes. There was no anger in her face anymore. Just a deep, exhausted emptiness.
"No, Ewron," Katie said, her voice quiet but entirely firm. She pulled her hand out from under his, standing and grabbing her pink gym bag, swinging it over her shoulder. "It doesn't count for anything."
Ewron’s smile faltered, his hand left hovering in the air. "Katieee, come on, it was a joke—"
"We are never, ever getting back together," Katie said, looking him dead in the eye. "I’m serious this time."
She didn't wait for him to talk his way out of it. She turned on her heel and walked out of the cafeteria, leaving Ewron sitting at the table, the loud cafeteria noise rushing back in to fill the silence he couldn't charm away.
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The bell rang, signaling the start of last period, but nobody in the AP Biology class stopped talking. At the front of the room, Philza stood behind his desk, leaning against the whiteboard with his arms crossed over his black and green cardigan. He watched the room full of juniors with a fond, slightly tired smile, waiting for the talking and rustling of backpacks to completely die down.
"Alright, alright, settle down," Philza called out, his voice easily cutting through the chatter. He clapped his hands together twice. "Listen up, because what I’m about to give you is nearly sixty percent of your final semester grade, and no, before anyone asks, you cannot do it alone."
A collective groan rippled through the classroom.
Philza laughed, shaking his head. "Yeah, yeah, I know. But please, trust me on this one. For the next month, you are going to be applying everything we’ve learned about ecosystem stability, resource management, and survival. Only, you’ll not be writing a paper; you’re doing a field study." He reached behind his desk and lifted a pristine, surprisingly heavy cardboard box. When he set it down on the lab table, a faint, rhythmic thump-thump echoed from inside it. The class got quieter, suddenly curious.
"Inside these containers are fragile, high-risk biological specimens," Philza explained, his tone shifting into something a bit more serious, though his eyes still crinkled at the corners from his smile. "Also known as eggs. For the next four weeks, these eggs are your children. They need to be protected from temperature changes, physical trauma, and any predators." He walked along the front row, tapping a stack of fancy looking leather-bound notebooks on his desk.
"Each pair will receive one egg and one official project journal," Philza said. "Every single day, you and your partner must log at least two entries. I want photos, I want daily activity logs, and I want an accurate record of how you are sharing the workload. If your egg drops, your grade drops. You may not boil your egg, and I've written names on each of them so the cannot be switched out. If I find out your egg was left unattended in a locker, you fail the unit. I raised a few of these guys back in my day on the island, and let me tell you, they take a village. Treat them with respect, and treat them like real kids."
He picked up a clipboard, pulling a pen from behind his ear. "Now, because I know exactly how you lot operate, I did not let you choose your own partners," Philza chuckled, ignoring the immediate chorus of whines from the whole class. "You’re all getting mixed up. I want to see cooperation from you guys."
He looked down at his sheet, and began calling out partner names one by one, eventually landing on the middle row.
"KatieB," Philza called out, pointing his pen toward the window. "Your partner will be YoungMulti. Come grab your kid and your journal, you both."
Katie blinked up at her name being called. She watched as Multi grabbed the book and the egg from Philza's desk, and walked toward her table. As Multi slid into the stool beside her, Katie put out a hand to shake.
"Hey, partner," she said, offering her best and friendliest KatieB smile. "I’m Katie!"
"I know," Multi said. His voice was low, rasping slightly, like he hadn't used it all day. He didn't look at her. Instead, he flipped the egg over to reveal a name written in green ink: Nacho. He rolls his eyes and begins putting together some sort of box for it. Katie ignored the cold greeting, picking up the egg with careful fingers. She giggled at the name, her face lighting up with genuine excitement. "Nacho. Aww, that is so cute! Look at him, Multi, he's just a little guy. Aw don't worry, buddy, mama's got you. We’re going to give you the absolute best childhood."
"Don't touch it," Multi muttered, his voice tightening. "You’re holding it too tight. You will fracture the shell." Katie’s friendly expression instantly vanished, replaced by a look of sheer disbelief. Her hand stayed frozen in mid-air, her chest tightening with offense. He hadn't even known her for five minutes, and he was already treating her like some ditzy, destructive menace.
"Excuse me?" Katie laughed, though there was no humor in it. "I have excellent hand-eye coordination. I’m the point guard, Multi. I don't drop things."
"Yeah, well basketballs don't break when they hit the floor," Multi replied coolly, sliding the egg into a padded nest of cotton balls inside a small box. "I’ll handle the logistics."
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When the final bell rang, Katie marched out of the classroom, thoroughly irritated. She didn't even have time to process her interaction with the weird green-haired boy before a heavy arm draped over her shoulders.
"Katie! Light of my life..." Ewron's voice cut effortlessly through the noise of the hallway, a devastatingly charming grin plastered across his face. He didn't look even remotely bothered by the rejection he had received in the cafeteria just hours prior. "Come on, let me walk you to practice. I will carry your gym bag, księżniczka."
Katie pulled away from his grip, stopping by the double doors leading to the gym.
"Ewron, what did I say at lunch?"
"So we had a small disagreement. You said some things you didn't mean, I said some things," Ewron said while slyly trying to grab the strap of her duffel bag. "But practice is work, and I am a gentleman. Let me help."
"No," Katie said, putting a hand on his chest to keep him back. "I’m going to practice. You’re going home. We are broken up, Ewron. Stop doing... this."
"Oh, Katie, you're just stressed about the game," Ewron fast-talked, his tone dripping with affection as he refused to let go of the strap. He leaned in closer, his voice dropping into that quiet, intimate register he always used right before he successfully lovebombed her back into his paws. "I know I messed up with the game. So, I am an idiot. A lovable, and completely devoted idiot. Let me make it up to you."
Right behind them, the science lab door clicked open again.
Multi stepped out into the hallway, his pale hands carefully securing the cardboard box containing Nacho against his chest. His white, green-tipped dreads shifted over his shoulder as his gaze swept the hallway, instantly locking onto the scene unfolding in front of him. Ewron’s fast-talking cadence faltered, and the airy grin on his face fixed into something tense as his eyes locked onto Multi's. They didn't say a word.
There was a heavy, suffocating silence between them, though neither of them made a move to disturb it. Multi's jaw clenched tightly, his eyes flicking down to Ewron's hand on Katie's bag, his expression twisting into disapproval. He disliked what he was seeing, but his lips remained pressed in a flat line. Multi knew the exact cadence of Ewron's voice when he was manipulating someone.
Last year, those fast talking words and charming smiles had belonged to his best friend. It made his stomach turn. Ewron broke the eye contact first, forcing his carefree smirk back into place as he pointedly looked away from Multi and focused back on Katie. He ignored the younger boy completely, as if he weren't even standing there. Likewise, Multi also acted as if Ewron were made of thin air. He stepped forward, brushing past Ewron's shoulder without a glance, and addressed Katie directly.
"Don't be late tomorrow," Multi said, his voice dropping to a low, resolute tone.
Katie blinked, caught in the sudden tension vibrating between the two of them. "Right. I'll be there."
Multi gave a single, stiff nod and walked away down the hall, his oversized lab coat swallowing his small frame. Ewron watched him go, a faint, unreadable look passing over his face before he quickly turned back to Katie, his eyes sparkling again with his usual mischief, and his voice still in that low tone.
"Let me walk you to practice. I'll carry your bag, you can yell at me for a few flights of stairs, and then I’ll buy you something sweet."
"Shut up, Ewron," Katie snapped. She forcefully yanked her gym bag completely out of his grasp and marched toward the gym, leaving him standing by the lockers, suddenly aware that his grip on her world was starting to slip.
Ewron stood under the fluorescent lights of the hallway, his hands in his pockets, looking across the now empty hallway towards her with a perfect, wounded-puppy expression that had worked a hundred times before. "I'm just trying to be a good bestie, Katie. Is that a crime now?"
Katie didn't answer. She turned her back and walked into the locker room, the heavy steel door shutting between them with a swift, definitive clang.