“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

I looked up from my textbook to look into the eyes of the person who asked me that question. My girlfriend, Nicole Baker. Her face, normally punctuated with a sarcastic smile, sported an unusually serious look. Her blue eyes were filled with curiosity and concern. Her jet-black hair, which used to run all the way down to her butt, now stopped at her shoulders, and framed her concerned face perfectly, as if she was a painting or a shot in a movie or something.

“Huh?” I managed to ask feebly. “Why?”

Her trademark smile returned. “Roll with the question, squirt. You got your nose in a book when you could be playing with your big-boobed girlfriend. Clearly you got some weird fuckin’ priorities, Adam.”

I smiled. Something about how she used my name filled me with joy. I used to hate the name Adam Watson, but now I loved hearing it as long as it came from her. Thinking about matching her energy, I shrugged. “If I’m lucky, a nobody.”

She rolled her eyes and shot her arms out. “Ugggh, look at me, I’m so edgy,” she mocked me while shaking her body. “What a twerp answer. Gimme something better than a twerp answer.”

“I dunno, I guess I just want to pass. I’m representing the school, aren’t I? Student Council Vice President. I need to be a good role model.” I shifted in my seat. “Besides, Sleeping Dogs is a one-player game, isn’t it?”

“I offered Mario Party and some lame-o said no,” she countered. “It’s not like the MCAS is next week.” She put her hand on her chest as if she was some graceful authority figure. “As the President, it’s my duty to be reckless and irresponsible, and represent the student body accurately,” she finished in a mock-professional voice.

I snickered. “Well, I guess I like being prepared. Don’t we have midterms in late October? That shit will sneak up on you.”

Nicole rolled her eyes again, paused her game, and flopped over onto my lap, knocking my textbook off in the process. “Oops,” she giggled. “Guess you gotta study me now.”

“How am I more mature than you?” I teased.

She pouted. “Because you’re growing up too fast, that’s why,” she answered annoyedly, reaching up and playing with my brown hair. 

“I would’ve thought you’d like me more when I’m mature,” I replied, still smiling.

“I would’ve thought so too, but nope, it sucks,” she said matter-of-factly. “Good news, you’re still an immature sack of shit most of the time.” She winked at me.

“Takes one to know one,” I teased back, leaning down and kissing her. 

I was the luckiest guy in the world. To this day I had no clue why the most popular and attractive senior in the whole school wanted me, some sophomore nobody that only had a clue about the world thanks to her and a lot of the hard life lessons she put me through last year. Plus, one look at Nicole, and her perfectly sculpted face, or her full-of-life expressions, and you’d be hooked on her. I was so plain-looking, by comparison, that I sometimes cringed when I saw my reflection. My face was-

“Stop that,” Nicole ordered, pouting again.

“What?!” I asked exasperatedly.

“You’re thinking about yourself in a negative light again,” she replied, poking me in the nose. “I told you to stop doing that.”

“I was not,” I lied. 

“Okay then, smart guy, what were you thinking about?” she challenged me. “I know your facial expressions by now. I could catalog them if I wanted to.”

“And they say romance is dead,” I quipped. “I was thinking about how the freshman and sophomore elections are coming up soon. Don’t we need to prepare?”

“Nah, who do you think you’re dealing with?” she asked, getting up off my lap. “I already talked to Scott about my plan and my speech. He almost gave the speech to you. For some stupid reason, he thinks I’m gonna go off-script or something.”

I grinned. Mr. Scott was our school’s principal, and while he was actually kind of cool and friendly with the students, he was not Nicole’s biggest fan.

“Luckily, he let me go forward with it. I just told him you’d piss yourself or something if you gave a speech,” she continued, looking over some papers she had in a binder nearby.

“Hey!” I interjected.

“Oh, go ahead,” she challenged with a smug smile. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

“I’m gonna smack the shit out of you,” I warned her, picking up my textbook again.

“You can try, but I’d win,” she replied, turning away from me to put the binder away. I threw my textbook at her in annoyance. Looking completely away from me, she moved her head away in perfect timing to dodge the textbook. “Careful. That textbook is heavy. If I was human that could have really hurt me.”

“If I managed to get you in the head I could maybe find your alien skull and sell it to a collector,” I attempted to fire back.

She turned back to me and gave me an incredulous smile. “Yeah, good one, dude,” she laughed. “Really got me good with that one. Zero recovery, burned, scorched.”

“Hey, not everyone can be as perfect as you with everything,” I replied, getting up and moving over to her. I put my hand around her waist as we sat down together on her bed, eventually moving to lying down with each other.

“Hmm, yeah, perfect,” she mused. “I guess I was perfectly lucky to get you, wasn’t I, hotshot?” She gave me a quick peck on the nose. I couldn’t help but smile and look into her eyes before pouncing on top of her, giving her quick kisses in rapid succession. Before either of us knew it, our tongues were battling for dominance in each other’s mouths as I softly ground against her, feeling my hardening cock beginning to strain my pants.

“I mean, you definitely have me hooked on you now,” I replied, even though it had been minutes since she spoke. “Now I want you and only you.”

She lowered an eyebrow. “You trying to insinuate something there, squirt?” she asked me playfully. “You know I’m a more complex human than that.”

“Yeah, I know,” I replied bitterly. I looked away from her, despite being on top of her, and huffed.

“Oh, come on, you baby,” Nicole playfully yet gently told me. “Hey,” she added, grabbing my hand and placing it on her boob. “I still want you, you know that. Do we need to have a talk?”

“No, I’m still just…” I trailed off. I wanted her to answer, but Nicole just stared back at me, her hand still holding mine in place. I sighed. “Just still adjusting, I guess.”

“Yeah, well, adjust harder,” she jokingly ordered. Even though we’d go back to kissing, I remained silent. I wanted to be a good boyfriend for her, I really did. And I was willing to work with almost anything Nicole threw at me. It was just hard sometimes. Just as Nicole was never going to not be Nicole, I couldn’t just pretend I wasn’t Adam.

I didn’t know what the heck I wanted to be when I grew up. I was kind of too busy living in the now, and even then, I felt bad knowing how much my new life in Student Council was taking me away from my friends, but I’d figure all that out in time.

***

I thought homeroom was going to be worse than it was this year. It may have been math, a subject I didn’t really care that much about, but at least the teacher was nice, even if he had his… quirks.

“You see where you went wrong here, right?” Mr. Sigorsky asked the guy next to me as we did our work.

I smirked to myself. Three, two, one…

“Yeah, I let you into my personal bubble,” the snappy voice of Carson Carter fired back. “I’m still trying to figure out this shi- stuff, I need time to think.”

Mr. Sikorsky and Carson were a match made in Hell, and maybe I was the only one in the whole class that found it fun to watch. Mr. Sikorsky cared about results a lot, and even though he was more forgiving than my math teacher last year…

Mr. Graves. A chill ran up my spine.

…He still wasn’t great about the concept of personal space.

“At least you’re not swearing as much,” Mr. Sikorsky dryly noted as he walked away. “That’s an improvement.”

“I got a few improvements right fuckin’ here for ya…” Carson grumbled under his breath, just quiet enough for Sigorsky not to hear him. As soon as he saw my attention was not on my work, Carson looked right at me. “Can you believe this fuckin’ guy?”

“You think every math teacher in the world is an asshole,” I asserted, whispering back.

“Because they are,” he hissed. “Wake up, idiot, what does everyone think of when they think of math teachers?”

“I think Sigorsky is fine,” I whispered back. “He hasn’t given me any trouble.”

Carson cracked a smile. “Yeah, must be nice being every teacher’s pet. Don’t you ever get tired of having your head up so many asses?”

I rolled my eyes and returned to my work, only to have Carson reel me back in with a repetition of “hey”s. I turned to him and he eyed me seriously. “We still on for lunch today, or do you need to do more Council shit?”

I smiled. “Yeah, I’m good today,” I told him gently.

“Finally, jeez,” he replied, shaking his head and going back to his work. I went back to mine, but my smile didn’t wane.

***

Mr. Kovacs spoke with a dry, echoey, Eastern European voice. His accent was probably the only reason why he got the job of teaching World History, because he seemed hell-bent on teaching it in the most boring way possible. Last year I had a teacher who was unconventional and went off-script too much, but at least he cared. Grade Ten was definitely the year of comparing teachers, and Kovacs was not faring well.

“These are only… some of the ways… Ancient Egypt… gave us much of the modern world,” Mr. Kovacs finished. “Now, there are some questions on page… ninety-four of your textbook. Your homework… is to do questions 1, 2, 4, 5a, 5c, and 7.”

Why did school textbooks bother writing all those questions if we were only going to do half of them? I rolled my eyes and opened the textbook, noting the girl next to me wasn’t doing the same.

Megan Schneider got up out of her seat, her blonde hair practically bouncing with the rest of her schoolgirl joviality. She nearly skipped to Mr. Kovacs’ desk, holding out a piece of paper in front of her, whispering some things I couldn’t hear.

“Ah, of course,” Mr. Kovacs said in delight. “You are a very good student, Meg-han. A very good student.”

I smiled to myself. I knew it was just his accent, but I knew his mispronunciation got under her skin a lot. 

“You were also in Student Council last year, were you not?” he continued, handing the paper back to her. “Very good. I hope you win.”

She quietly thanked him and started walking back to her seat, flashing me a polite smile as she took her seat. The both of us went back to getting our homework out of the way, and twenty minutes later, the bell rang. ‘Senior lunch’ for the grade elevens and twelves wasn’t for another period, but lunch for the freshmen and sophomores, ‘junior lunch,’ had just begun.

Megan turned to me and smiled again. “Carson texted me you’re good for lunch today,” she said. “Are you actually or were you just afraid of him?”

“I lied to him once,” I complained. “Yeah, I’m good, I just was busy with Council stuff for a while.”

“‘Council stuff,’” Megan repeated, making air-quotes. “So, Nicole.”

“Well, look who’s jealous,” I teased. We got our things and took off as quick as we could out of the classroom, into the busy hallway. “Besides, that’ll be your business soon too,” I added.

“If I get in,” Megan replied uneasily.

“You were the Grade Nine rep last year,” I argued. “No one who was Grade Nine rep didn’t make it back the next year.”

“Oh great, I can set a record,” she joked with a nervous chuckle.

I smiled at her. Megan was the type of girl who needed to believe in herself more. It didn’t help much that she made a reputation for herself last year that she now kind of regretted, but hey, she was an involved, and frankly, pretty girl. She wore the shy girl-next-door look well with her blonde hair, glasses, innocent brown eyes, and conservative clothing. And, she couldn’t deny, despite her shy look, she was pretty popular.

It was crazy how Carson was her best friend, seeing as he looked like an unpopular guy’s idea of what a popular guy looked like. Ripped blue jeans and a t-shirt with short brown hair and an intense look permanently on his face, even when he smiled. It was just enough to distinguish him in a crowd, but only just. At least his personality helped – as soon as Megan and I were in the school cafeteria, he spotted us and waved us over.

I couldn’t help but look puzzled. It was always us three, and yet, next to Carson sat two people I didn’t recognize, a boy and a girl. The boy looked kind of like a guy that Carson would befriend knowing Carson would wear the pants between the two – also kind of geeky and kind of trendy, but a little more… timid-looking. The girl looked, in contrast, like she oozed confidence. She had short auburn hair and tight clothing, and even sitting down, it was clear she had curves like no tomorrow.

I felt something poke me in the ribs and turned to see Megan looking at me blankly, with no expression. “What?” I asked.

“You were staring,” she whispered, trying not to move her mouth.

“I don’t even know who these people are, do you?” I asked. It wasn’t like Carson to just let strangers sit with him.

Megan just walked towards the table in response, leaving me to catch up and approach the table. “Uh, hey Carson,” I awkwardly started.

“Yo,” he replied casually. 

I looked from side to side. “Uh…”

“Oh hey,” Megan interrupted as if she realized something, sitting down at the table. “I don’t think Adam has met you two yet, has he?”

I sat down. “I… guess not,” I replied slowly, then outstretched my hand towards the boy. “I’m Adam Watson.”

“Hey!” the boy cheerfully replied. “My name’s Jason, and this is my girlfriend, Athena.” He shook my hand, and I shot Carson a quick blank look. 

“Nice to meet you,” Athena said to me. “Carson’s talked a lot about you.”

“Yeah, I met these two in music class,” Carson piped up, addressing me. “They seemed to fit the vibe of our group, so I figured, why not?”

“Oh, cool!” I replied flatly. Internally, I was kind of bothered. I guess it was dumb of me to feel like I was the leader of our friend group, but I thought that was the way things were. In just, like, a day, things had changed this much? 

“Yeah, it’s been nice,” Jason continued. “Not gonna lie, me and Athena don’t really have a group, so until like last week, we just sort of ate lunch in the hallway.”

I was about to take a bite of my sandwich, then stopped. “Last week?”

“Yeah, Monday to be specific,” Megan added, looking at me. So, a full week ago. “We’ve kinda been waiting for you to have the free time.”

I looked back and forth between Megan and Carson. “I guess I’ve been busier than I thought lately, huh?” I said slowly.

“Nah man, it’s cool,” Carson waved me off. “You’re a busy guy. You got Council shit to do, and a President to keep pleased.”

Megan looked annoyedly at him as Jason’s eyes widened in remembrance. “Oh, right! You’re the VP of Student Council!” he declared.

“The youngest VP in Council history,” Athena added with a smile. 

Carson continued in classic Carson style. “Yeah, the President has just been on him for weeks. She’s really been riding him day in and day out.”

“Carson, shut up,” Megan quietly admonished him.

Carson sat back with a big dumb grin on his face, and Jason just looked back and forth between the three of us. “I don’t get it.”

“Nicole’s my, um, girlfriend,” I replied, feeling myself blush.

Carson cut in again. “She’s also the school s-” He stopped suddenly and winced in pain as Megan very clearly adjusted her legs under the table. “The, uh, President. Yeah.”

Jason looked at me with a big ol’ grin on your face. “No shit! You’re with an older girl?!”

“Um, yeah,” I mumbled, taking a bite of my sandwich.

“That’s so cool. I feel like I get looks for being with an older girl too,” he added, taking Athena’s hand and squeezing it. 

My look turned to puzzled. “So you’re not in grade ten?”

It was Jason’s turn to blush. “Oh, I am… I just…”

Athena smiled assuredly at him and turned to me. “I failed a grade,” she explained gently. “I should be a junior.”

“Oh,” I said plainly. “I’m, uh, sorry.” I chewed my food. “I guess at least the stigma must be, like, less there if you’re in the same grade.”

“It’s still there, but I guess,” Jason replied. “It’s so cool how you’re with a girl in grade twelve though. I be there’s a lot of stigma there too.”

Carson shot me a knowing look, and in that moment, I wanted Megan to kick him under the table again. “I mean, she’s really cool,” I said slowly.

“She is so cool,” Megan added, almost dreamily. “Like, every girl in this school wants to be Nicole. She’s just… ugh! She’s so cool. She always knows what to say, what to do…”

Carson snickered. “Megan’s got the huuuugest crush on her. She’ll deny it, but…”

“Oh, if I was into girls, totally,” Megan replied without a second thought. “But I’m not. And I don’t think Nicole is into girls either, so, who cares?”

“What?” Carson was now into this. “C’mon, Nicole has to be into girls. When a girl’s got her legs as open as Nicole does, there’s no way she hasn’t wanted to bat for the other team at least once.”

The silence at the table was deafening. Megan adopted the plainest, least expressive look in the world and just stared at Carson, and Jason and Athena looked between the three of us, not knowing what to say. Jason awkwardly coughed and said, “Well, uh, clearly she settled down with, uh, Adam here.”

I slowly breathed in and out, wanting to move on but accepting what was said. “Actually, Carson, there was a time last year when a girl tried putting the moves on Nicole and she actually did refuse her, saying pretty explicitly that she was straight.”

“What, and you were there for that?” Carson challenged me.

“Uh, yeah. This was at Phil’s party, and-” I held my tongue, realizing that as soon as I mentioned the party, I clearly activated some bad memories for Megan, who stopped looking at Carson and looked straight down into her lap, starting to blush. “…You know what? The memory is kinda foggy. Forget it.”

“Oh shit, I remember that party!” Jason replied enthusiastically. “Like, I wasn’t there of course, but that was when that whole May Stevens thing happened, right?”

Like the third domino in a line, Carson froze when May’s name was brought up, then slowly turned pink. “Uh… whatever, yeah,” he said dismissively, diving into his food. 

Jason and Athena looked back and forth between the three of us, who were now scarfing down our food to ignore any conversation. “Should… should I, like, not bring up her name, or…” Jason awkwardly started.

I cleared my throat. “Hey, weird question. What do you wanna be when you grow up?”

Carson and Megan looked up from their food in sync. “Huh?” Megan asked.

“Like, after high school. I don’t think we ever actually talked about that before,” I embellished. “Jason and Athena, you too, feel free to jump in.”

The entire table paused. “Buddy, who gives a shit?” Carson eventually cut in with a weirded-out. “That’s such a weird question.”

“Why?” I asked.

He gestured around the table. “Look at us, look at how much time we have,” he answered. “If we want me to tell you what I’m doing in ten years, the only answer I can give you is ‘I don’t know.’ You’re doing too much business stuff and living in the world of what your future is. Me? I’m living in the now.” He grinned. “And, I mean, we missed you last week.”

My brow furrowed. “Yeah, I guess I’ve been busier than I thought,” I admitted. I turned to Jason and Athena. “I’m sorry I missed meeting you two for a whole week.”

“You had Council and things, we understand,” Athena simply answered with a wave of her hand. 

“She’s being polite,” Carson interrupted with his trademark smile. “Wanna hang out this weekend? Halo or some shit? Megan, you’re not invited. I want to win for once.”

“You wish I wasn’t going to be there,” Megan replied with a slight smile.

Carson had an abrasive style of friendship, but above all else, it was loyal. “I’ll try,” I replied earnestly.

***

It turned out I had Spanish class with Jason, which provided a good opportunity to actually get to know him. I mean, if Carson decided he was in the social group, then I guess he was, and plus, Jason seemed like a cool guy. I just barely knew him was all.

It was about three full minutes into class before Mrs. Luciano burst into the classroom. “Siento!” she called out, then launched immediately into a flustered lesson about different ways to say ‘sorry,’ ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’ Jason seemed almost frightened by her, but I could only smile – I’d been here before. 

As became my habit with my other classes, my eyes started to wander around the room, until I noticed something weird. Whenever I looked in the direction of one particular student, she was always looking back at me. 

She was a pretty if bewildered-looking girl. She kind of reminded me of a lost doe. She had long platinum blonde hair, scared-looking blue eyes, and every time they met with mine, they’d hurriedly look away like looking at me was a sin. I could have taken it as a compliment, but at this point, I knew what the ‘oh wow, a boy I like’ look was – this wasn’t it. After that she’d bury her face in whatever reading material she had in front of her, clearly internally praying I’d look away.

Then why was she looking at me…?

***

English class was easy enough to find. It helped that it was the exact same class and teacher I had last year, and it helped even more that Jason had that class next too and was enough of a diligent student to pre-emptively know where his classrooms were.

“Oh!” I declared when we arrived. “I know this room. I had it last year.”

Jason nodded. “Yeah, I think we were in the same class.”

I turned to him, trying to not make it obvious I was now studying his face. I thought I had a knack for remembering people, but maybe I had too many people to keep track of. 

Still, it felt bad to admit that, especially when he remembered me, so I just blinked twice and feigned realization. “Oh my God, I think you’re right! Shit!” I replied earnestly. “Sorry, that class was like a blur for me, you know?”

“Um, hey, excuse me?” 

A girl’s voice broke us out of our conversation (not that I was complaining that it was interrupted). I turned to see the same blonde girl from last class looking at me, her cheeks burning. She was pretty short and pretty thin, and just… pretty. Even though her frame was pretty wiry, she still managed to make herself look smaller with her presence. “A-are you Adam Watson?”

“I am, yeah,” I said, shooting Jason a look of awkwardness. “What do you need, is this Council-related?” I was used to people from various clubs approaching me and asking if something could get brought up at the Council. I guess too many people were too intimidated to approach Nicole. 

“I just needed to ask you something,” she replied in a quiet voice, then looked at Jason. “A-and it’s kind of private.”

“Oh. Yeah, okay,” Jason awkwardly replied. “I’ll… see you inside, Adam.” With that, he walked inside.

I watched him leave then turned back to the girl. “You were the one looking at me in Spanish class, right?” I asked.

“Um, yeah…” she admitted. “So, I just h-have a question for you.”

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“…What?” she nervously asked.

I remained unmoved. “…Have you got one?”

“…Have I got a name?” she asked timidly.

I sighed. Nicole’s sense of humor didn’t work with everyone. “You seem to know my name, so I’d like to know yours. If that’s okay.”

“Um, yeah…” she trailed off. “My n-name is Sabrina Saigeon. S-so, um… You’re dating Nicole Baker, right?”

I stared at her, my face darkening. “Yeah…”

The closed her eyes and pretty clearly counted to three in her head. “I th-think it’s only fair you know, before school I saw her and another guy, um… kissing.” She braced herself after telling me, and bit down hard. I could see her teeth had braces and were almost chattering.

It was my turn to close my eyes, in annoyance, as she continued. “I j-just know that if it were me, I’d w-want to know.”

“Okay. Um…” I trailed off, wondering how I should put this. I looked around me before figuring I should just go for broke. “I think you did the right thing by telling me, but… it’s fine. Me and Nicole and in an open relationship.”

“What?” she asked kind of ditzily.

I played with my hands. “Me and Nicole have this kind of thing where she’s allowed to kiss other guys even though we’re dating.”

Sabrina’s eyes went wide. “Really?”

“Yup.”

“But…” she trailed off. “I think it was more than just kissi-”

I held up a hand. “Yup, yeah, that’s alright too,” I replied quickly. 

“You don’t seem really happy about it.”

I stared at the girl for a long time. We were basically the only ones left in the hallway at this point. “I should probably get to class soon, I’ll be late if I don’t go.”

“Yeah, me too.” Neither one of us moved.

I stared into her deep blue eyes for a while. “How do you know Nicole?”

“I’m in the y-yearbook team,” she diligently replied. “I see her a lot. I mean, she seems cool, but I just presumed that… I’m sorry.”

She looked actually pretty sad. I huffed and cleared my throat. “Don’t be,” I flatly replied. “Yeah, you’re right, I’m not exactly happy about it.”

Her eyes returned to mine and went wide with wonder. “So she’s cheating on you but you… let it happen?”

“No, she’s just not good with being with one guy and we both really wanted to be in a relationship. This was the best compromise we could find.”

She gave the slightest hint of a smle of understanding. It was honestly kind of cute. “Wow, so both of you can just do anything with anyone you want?”

I chuckled. “Well, only she does stuff with other people.”

“But, like… you can if you want to as well, right?” she asked curiously. 

I stared at her for a second. There was nothing conspicuous on her face. No ulterior motives, nothing conniving or driving, just pure curiosity. “Adam,” the voice of Mrs. Jackson broke me out of my trance. I turned to see her head poking out of the classroom doorway. “The bell rang a minute ago. Can you finish up your conversation and come in please?”

It was nice of her to remember my name, at least. “Uh, yeah, I just need thirty seconds,” I replied. “Sorry, this was more important than I was expecting.”

That was good enough for Jackson. Wordlessly, her head disappeared back into the English classroom and she almost fully closed the door. Turning back to Sabrina, I mumbled, “Give me your phone.”

“What? Why?” she asked, almost fearful.

“Because you were right to tell me that I wasn’t fully okay with my situation, and even my closest friends haven’t asked me or cared about it,” I honestly answered. “If you were curious, and it seems like you are, let me give you my phone number. If you don’t want to talk to me any more though, you can say no and go to class.”

Without saying another word, she reached into her pocket and produced her phone. I quickly added myself as a contact and handed my phone back to her. “Here you go. And…” I scratched the back of my head. “That was really cool what you did. Not many people would have the guts to actually tell someone’s boyfriend if they saw that. You’re, uh… you’re cool.”

She flashed me a quick nervous smile. “Thanks,” she quickly said, before outright bolting away. I couldn’t help but smile as I watched her go, then turned to get to my English class.

Even after sitting down, I realized what had been bothering me for a long time. Yeah, my friend group hadn’t seen a lot of me lately because I was too busy, but even before I was, why did they suddenly know me so little that they couldn’t see how upset I was? Maybe it was okay that I was spending less time with them. Maybe I was outgrowing them or something. 

***

“There will be no homework tonight, but remember, when we start our book unit, make sure you keep up,” Mrs. Jackson warned us. “You will be expected to read a certain amount every night, and there will be no substitute for not knowing the book. It’s very easy to fail English if you don’t read.” She smiled at us. “Put the work in and so will I. You’re dismissed!”

“Wow,” Jason mumbled as he got up. “Her smile puts a chill down my spine.”

“Seems fair to me,” I commented. “Do the reading, and you’ll know what’s going on in class. Don’t do the reading, and, well, you won’t.”

“Yeah, but you’re kind of, like, part of the school,” Jason argued. “Bye, Mrs. Jackson!”

I gave him a puzzled look as we walked down the hallways in the same direction. “Part of the school?” I asked him quizzically. “By the way, I’m going to my lockers. I don’t know where you’re going.”

“It’s cool, my bus doesn’t come immediately,” he answered. “And yeah! You’re Council. Those people are basically the same type of person as the teachers. You know, running the school, believing in the law…”

I smirked, thinking of Nicole. Calling her someone who follows the law was a joke and a half. Hell, I wasn’t an angel myself, but it was nice to know I apparently looked like someone who followed the law.

When I got to my locker, Nicole was already leaning against it, eating a green apple. “Yo,” she called out to me with her mouth full. “You good to go?”

I lowered an eyebrow, walking up to her and standing in front of my locker. “Nicole…” I grumbled. “I’m not a kid. I know there’s a meeting today, I don’t need you to come and collect me.”

“First of all, by every definition conceivable you’re a kid,” Nicole replied, getting off my locker and allowing me access.

“And second of all?” I asked annoyedly, all but turning away from her to open my locker.

She broke into a smile and hugged me from behind. The camera she always had around her neck poked me in the back. “You looked cute today,” she replied into my ear. 

I couldn’t help but smile. “You look cuter,” I mumbled.

“Well, since you’re a big strong manly man, why don’t I get going to the Council on my own then?” she half-teased, starting to slowly walk away. She knew as well as I that I’d be jogging to catch up with her before she’d reached Room 203. 

“Hi, I’m Jason!” I heard Jason call out to Nicole.

I turned around just in time to see Nicole do the same, giving Jason a puzzled yet polite look. “Hi there!” she replied back plainly.

“I’m in a relationship with an older girl too!” he replied enthusiastically.

She broke out into a smile, albeit a confused one. “I think you have me confused for someone else,” she let him know. “I’m not in a relationship with an older girl.” Without waiting for him to reply, she turned and started to walk away. 

I quickly finished putting my stuff in my locker as I heard Jason mumble, “Huh.” I turned to him in time to see him shrug. “She’s quite interesting.”

“Yeah, when she has work on her mind, she can be a little hard to engage with,” I replied quickly. “Sorry.”

“It’s cool!” he said. “So, did you want to follow me to my locker too, or…?”

I paused. “I… have Council, dude,” I replied weirdly. “It’s what she was just talking with me about. I actually should catch up with her, but I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

I was already starting to jog off towards Nicole when Jason nodded and replied, “Cool dude, later!” 

It was easy to catch up with Nicole. She was definitely walking slow enough to ensure I would eventually catch up to her. When she saw me next to her, she grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “How’s it going, hotshot?” she asked warmly, immediately letting go of my hand.

I looked behind me, as if Jason was even now following us. “I think you should have been nicer to Jason,” I replied concernedly.

“Explain to me exactly how I was being unkind to him,” she replied immediately. 

“Well, I dunno, he clearly meant he was like me, not like you, he was just trying to find common ground.”

“Right, but what am I supposed to say to that?” she quizzed me. “‘Congrats?’ ‘Holy shit that’s awesome?’ ‘Thanks for letting me know the person you’re dating is like me?’ You ask me, the dude makes ‘dating an older girl’ a liiiiiittle bit too much of his personality.”

My mouth shifted to the side. I… didn’t disagree. 

Nicole noted my silence. “Yeah, see?” she rhetorically asked. “You ask me, one of the coolest things about you is that you never really commented on that over the summer. You stopped seeing me as this older girl and just saw me as your equal. That’s rad.”

“I’m surprised you don’t use your age to get any leverage or power over me,” I replied, smiling.

She smiled back. “I have other ways of getting power over you, squirt,” she replied playfully.

We walked a little while longer and nearly reached the Council room when some guy walking opposite us in the hallway started aiming right for Nicole as he walked, clearly with the goal to make her get out of the way. Nicole was Nicole and, of course, didn’t divert her course in the least. I could barely make any auditory warning before the guy angled his shoulder back and threw it forward, hoping to hit Nicole with it. With split-second timing, she dodged it, causing the guy to stumble and nearly hit the wall.

“Can you watch where you’re going, slut?” he demanded.

“We could see what you did,” I butted in. “You clearly walked up to Nicole and tried to hit her with your shoulder, dude.”

“Adam, I wouldn’t,” Nicole told me in a voice so low the guy couldn’t hear it. “He’s just bitter because we fooled around last week, he kind of sucked in bed, and I haven’t contacted him since.”

By this time, all three of us had stopped walking. He didn’t hear Nicole, but he sure heard me, and in a tough-guy kind of way, he started laughing. “Look at the little beta pussy defending his slutty girlfriend,” he mocked me, pointing at Nicole. “I fucked her last week. How did that used pussy feel?”

I could feel my jaw clench. “After the first two inches, like an unused one,” I fired back icily.

“Hey, maybe let’s not use my genitals as the basis for our insults,” Nicole said authoritatively, then turned to that guy. “We’re on the way to a Council meeting. I can pass a motion to get you thrown out of the Boxing Club real easy for bullying. Why don’t we just keep walking, huh?”

The guy didn’t say anything more, he just shook his head and kept walking. Nicole didn’t follow suit, and just turned to me. 

“I’m not going to pretend that was fun for you to hear,” she replied. “Sometimes I make bad calls with guys.”

“Tell me you at least wore a condom,” I replied uneasily. 

“He lied, we didn’t even go all the way,” she replied coolly. “And there’s a reason I didn’t contact him again. We cool?”

If it were even yesterday I might have said yes, but the fact that I admitted it wasn’t cool for the first time to a near-complete stranger changed me. “I dunno,” I replied slowly. “I think we actually do need to talk about it.”

She looked down the hallway. “Can it pleas-”

“Yeah, of course we can do the Council first,” I replied as if it were obvious.

“Hey, you seemed kinda serious,” she replied evenly. “Kinda unlike you. Still seemed worth it to ask.”

She actually seemed kind of out-of-character-levels of serious too. “If I actually needed to talk now, would you have really blown off the Council meeting?”

She stopped again, giving me this weird kind of smile. “I know our arrangement can be hard, but like…” She chuckled quietly. “You are my boyfriend. Yeah, of course I would drop it for you.”

I chuckled, almost in frustration. Council meant so much to her. That was so sweet. Nicole was so sweet. I really was in some sort of purgatory between Heaven and Hell here.

***

“Alright, bitches, any other business?” Nicole asked, surveying the room. Like a good VP, I sat behind her. It was kind of strange, feeling familiar with Student Council, but also feeling underqualified to be Nicole’s VP in just grade ten, and also having to contend with an all new Council. No one apart from us two that were in last year’s Council were in this one. At least, not yet.

“Fuckin’A,” Nicole replied triumphantly to the silence in the room. “Now, we all know that next week is a busy one. Remember, if you signed on to help with Monday’s junior elections, I expect to see you in the gym at least a half hour before school starts. Oh, and also, if you are helping count the votes, remember to throw out any votes for any grade ten rep that isn’t Megan. She was a good help last year, and if Meganini doesn’t get in, I will be killing myself.”

A few light chuckles rang throughout the room in response to Nicole’s jokes. Me, I just shivered at the last few words. Still, it was a nice message, especially since none of the Council this year truly knew how good Megan was. She really was a hard worker, and Council would be good for her. She certainly was good for it.

“Okay, good. You all got angels on your shoulders, get out of here. Adam, I’ll need you to stay behind,” Nicole announced in her most professional voice. I had to admit, I’d have thought Nicole would be more obnoxious in Council meetings about us dating, but she actually had an insane gift for treating me only as her Vice President whenever meetings were going on.

As soon as everyone left, though, it was no holds barred. “So why am I staying?” I asked teasingly, getting up from my chair.

Nicole never had a chair. She liked to stand while she governed, She turned around, unlooped her camera from her neck and pulled me in by my ass, kissing me deeply. “Me-yow, Vice President,” she purred. “You were on fire today.”

I looped my arms around her neck. “What can I say, Madame President?” I said in a low voice, matching her energy. “I work well under good leaders.”

“Mmm,” she moaned, kissing me again, reaching her hands up and feeling underneath my shirt. “God, you’re hot.”

“You’re hotter,” I replied, reaching in turn under her shirt and grabbing her boobs. “No bra,” I observed, kneading her breasts and playing with her nipples.

“It’s been on-off lately,” she admitted, grinning. “In the summer I can’t get away with it when I only wear one thin shirt, and in the winter it feels nice having the extra layer.”

“You trying to make me hate winter?” I teased. “It’ll never happen.”

“More like I want you to appreciate fall while it lasts,” she teased back, guiding my hands to squeeze her breasts some more. She sighed in bliss as I continued to play with her, then abruptly cleared her throat. “Okay, we’re either stopping now or I’m fucking you right here.”

I snickered and retracted my hands. “If it were any other night I’d fuck you here, but tonight, we got all night,” I reminded her. 

“Your parents will be there,” she replied, not missing a beat.

“I’d still rather have sex in a bed.”

“Ugh, you’re so vanilla,” she mock-complained, readjusting her sweater and picking up a sheet. “Anyway, I actually did have something I needed to submit to the main office before we go.”

They needed to rename that room. I get that we had an attendance office, a guidance office, and I guess the principal, vice principal, and even the counselor had an office, but still, ‘main office’ was too vague. “Okay, what do you have to drop off?”

“Conduct report,” she replied, flashing me the paper. “I wasn’t just threatening Rodney. “He was being uncool to me, and really uncool to you. I don’t want him representing the school in the Boxing Club.”

Of course that dude’s name was something like Rodney. “Are you sure?” I asked uneasily. “I dunno if we want to punish him that much for one thing he said.”

“Squirt, that ‘one thing he said’ to you is a result of a pattern of behavior,” she explained calmly. “Number one, he’d say that stuff to you again in a heartbeat. Number two, he tried to physically hurt me, and Boxing Club will make him better at that. Number three, what I didn’t mention was him harassing me over text for days, including hurling any insult at me to get me to reply. Number four, the school doesn’t owe him anything more than what’s required by law. These clubs aren’t an inalienable right. They’re rewards for people that represent the school well.”

I half-smiled. “You always give like two more reasons than I needed,” I replied. “Alright, I get it.”

She smiled back. “I want to get it through your thick skull…” She flicked me in the head as she said that. “…that some people deserve to be punished for doing the wrong thing. Forgiving everyone always forever will make sure you keep getting hurt. You gotta strike a balance.” 

“‘Thick skull,’” I repeated, rubbing my forehead. “Isn’t that bullying?”

“I guess I need punishing too,” she replied evenly. She started walking towards the door and turned to me with a fully plain expression. “Once we get back to your place I can bend over and you can spank me. Sound good?” She gave me a wink before exiting the room. 

I chuckled, grabbing my stuff (and her camera) and running out to join her. We made quick work depositing the report into the submission box in the main office, and were ready to go home.

Before completely exiting the main hallway, Nicole paused, giving the side eye to a particular door. I was still walking, so it took me a good second to see Nicole had paused.

“What’s up?” I asked, walking back to see what she was looking at. 

She was looking at the door to the counselor’s office. The person that anyone with grief, school troubles, home troubles, or… or mentals disorders went to. 

I swallowed, remembering my last talk with the drama teacher, Mr. Salvador, last year. I never quite knew what happened with Nicole and whatever help she got after that. Though, from her pausing, I could guess.

I slipped my hand into hers. “You okay?” I asked in a new voice. 

“I started seeing a counselor over the summer,” Nicole almost mumbled. Her voice was higher and breathier, like she was in a trance or a dream. “I’m sorry I never told you. I should have.”

“Hey, no, it’s okay, that stuff is private,” I told her. “You didn’t have to tell me anything. I’m really proud you arranged that.”

“I didn’t. I got careless,” she replied, still looking off at the door, still miles away. “And now I have to sacrifice my time to talk to a stranger for like an hour once a week.” She looked away from the door, towards me. “It’s like I said. The school doesn’t owe us anything but the bare minimum, including our privacy.”

“Are you okay?” I asked again.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she replied, her normal Nicole tone settling back in. “Just bummed out. If we’re having A Talk, I don’t wanna have secrets.”

We started walking again. “Well, when you say A Talk, it sounds all serious.”

“You sound like you had a revelation today,” she calmly pointed out. “Like something changed.” We walked in silence for a bit longer until we got outside. “Are you jealous?”

I giggled. “Who isn’t jealous of your style?” I joked.

She stopped walking and struck a pose. “Damn right,” she yes-anded. We both chuckled, then kept walking. “But you know what I mean. During the summer it didn’t seem to be as much of a problem, but I can guess why.”

“Well, during the summer it didn’t, like, bleed into our lives,” I answered honestly. “Like, I knew it was happening but I didn’t have to see the results. Someone came up to me today telling me they saw you kissing another boy and tried to let me know you were ‘cheating on me.’” I used air quotes. “It’s just so real now.”

“Yeah, that’s basically what I guessed,” she replied, unlocking the doors to her black Ford Focus. “Interesting I got rats now. I guess I got too public with it.”

“Yeah, at the very least, maybe keep it behind closed doors,” I mumbled. “I feel like otherwise people are going to bully me a lot more.” I got in, and started doing my seatbelt.

“At the very least,” she repeated. “What’s the very most?”

“Unreasonable to ask of you,” I simply answered.

“Yeah, but I’d like to know each of our MRCs,” she replied, starting up the car.

“What’s an MRC?”

“Most Restrictive Case,” she answered. “Dad uses it for work. Basically the absolute limits each of us is willing to go before things get untenable. I have a feeling right now we’re kinda living in your MRC and that seems unfair.”

“Well, I… yeah. Thanks,” I feebly mumbled. 

“So what’s the very most I could do?” she repeated.

“Monogamy.”

“Ah.” She paused, then started driving. “Hmm, yeah, untenable.”

“I figured,” I answered defeatedly. 

“It’s just my nature and-”

“Yeah yeah, I know, I know,” I soothed. “I guess the next best thing is to, like, limit it. Nothing public, and definitely not frequent enough that I get, like, replaced.”

Nicole laughed derisively. “Adam, believe me, with the guys this year at Hazelwood, no one is coming close to replacing you.”

“Hazelwood is a good school,” I protested. “I think a lot of the guys are well-adjusted.”

She stopped at a red light and grinned at me. “Then do yourself a favor and don’t introduce those guys to me,” she said, “because most of the ones I know suck. And not in the fun way.” The light turned green and she put her eyes back on the road. “Anyway, is that good enough?”

“I don’t know,” I replied honestly. “Like, maybe, but there were two big reminders today. I thought I’d be able to just ignore it, but I think it’s going to be in-my-face that you’re sleeping around.”

“If that itself becomes too much, don’t ignore it,” Nicole instructed me. “Like, we care a lot about each other, but if you can’t handle an open relationship, we’ll have to have a talk. You can’t bottle that shit up.”

“I know,” I grumpily replied. “I can handle being open.” I wasn’t sure if that was a lie. All I knew was that I wasn’t handling things great right now, but… that could change? Or was that a bad attitude? I mean, for sure if I couldn’t handle being in an open relationship, we couldn’t have a relationship. Was being with Nicole worth being open? I truly cared about her, but-

“Jesus, I can hear you overthinking from here,” Nicole complained. “And I’m sure you know, you’re allowed to do anything, and anyone, you want too. If you want to be monogamous I won’t stop you, I don’t want you to deny your nature any more than I want to deny mine, but y’know, if you ever wanted to go back to being a slut… it has its perks.” She drove for a bit in silence before adding, “And no matter what, I will always like you the most.”

I grinned. “What if we break up and you get a new boyfriend?” I asked, teasing her.

“I mean, it’s not fun to imagine but I guess that first part is possible,” she replied, taking the situation more seriously than I wanted her to. “But the second part? Impossible. Straight-up. I will not want another boyfriend in all of high school. I can guaran-fucking-tee that.”

“Well, as long as you have a boyfriend, I guess you’d better use him well…” I trailed off, reaching across the car to grab onto her thigh and start stroking it.

In response, Nicole just smirked at me, grabbed her sunglasses from the center console, and put them on with one hand, her other hand on the wheel. She then used the same hand to grab mine and bring my wandering hand closer to her pussy. “I’m wearing jeans. I dare you, hotshot, make me feel anything.”

I quickly loosened my seatbelt and stretched my body over to have better access to Nicole’s body, but to my surprise, she waved my hands away. “Hey, hey,” she chastised me with a serious expression, only to turn it into a smirk. “Don’t be unsafe, c’mon now. Seatbelts were invented for a reason.”

I could only sputter as she drove, a smile on her face. “Pull over,” I commanded.

“Come again?”

“Find a spot and pull over,” I ordered. 

She smiled at me. “Well, look at you,” she teased, taking her sunglasses off and putting them back. “Fine, but you’d better make it worth my while.” She found some parking lot and pulled into it, muttering mockingly to herself, “My name’s Adam, I’d rather have sex in a bed.”

I made a point of waiting until she was fully pulled over and put the car in park before undoing my seatbelt, which got a laugh out of her. Pretty soon, though, her mouth was preoccupied with other things: I undid her seatbelt, grabbed her by the shoulders, and pulled her in for a long kiss.

“It seems like – someone got too – pent up from – us fooling around,” Nicole noted between kisses.

I looked at her. Despite playing it cool, her face was a little flushed, and she was breathing a little heavier than normal. Hey beautiful blue eyes were locked onto mine, and arousal was painted all over her face. She wanted me as badly as I wanted her.

“I can’t help it if my crush on you is as strong as ever,” I panted before kissing her again.

Mid-kiss, Nicole rolled her eyes. “Grow up, we’ve been together for months.”

“And?” I asked.

She looked at me and began to slowly shake her head. “And I can’t believe how lucky I still feel,” she said just above a whisper, looking at me like I was God’s gift to the world. I smiled back and pulled her from her seat onto me with one hand, using the other hand to move my seat as far back as it would go. I thought it would end awkwardly, but somehow, I pulled it off.

I wasn’t the only one to notice. “Damn, hotshot,” Nicole mumbled, settling on top of me. “That was smooth.”

She was now on top of me, with both of her legs between mine. As we resumed kissing, Nicole found a good angle to start grinding on top of me, and gradually built up both her rhythm and her hunger, going from playful kisses to kissing me as if my kisses gave her life itself. 

It was a miracle that her shirt stayed on as long as it did, but we made quick work to fix that error. Still grinding on my aching pulsating cock, she worked her shirt over her head and winked at me, grabbing and kneading her impressive D cup boobs in my face.

“God, we’ve been so boring lately,” she commented lightly. “When was the last time you actually saw them?”

“Too long ago,” I agreed, lowering her down and bringing her beautiful breasts to my mouth. Nicole’s boobs really were the picture of perfection – perfectly shaped, each crowned with a perfectly sized nipple that responded well and eagerly to any stimulation, and most importantly…

“Anh!!”

I had learned exactly how to play with them.

“Fuuuck, you’ve gotten so good at that…” Nicole moaned, doubling her efforts to grind on top of me, her left boob mashed into my face. I gently swirled my tongue around her nipple over and over before flicking it playfully twice, then sucking with a tiny bit of teeth, just to tease. It drove her wild, and I loved it. 

I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into me with each grind, smiling as I popped her nipple out of my mouth and looked down to where our pants met. It wasn’t too pronounced, but there was the hint of a wet spot growing between her legs. And it wasn’t just easily seen – I could easily smell it too.

I smugly smiled at her. “I clearly got you to feel something, and I didn’t even touch it yet,” I told her.

“Yeah yeah, you win, fuck you, kiss me,” she breathed, diving back in to kiss me, her tongue fighting its way into my mouth. My hands slid up her chest and began to play with her boobs again, and I ground my crotch back into hers, loving the smell of her arousal and enjoying the knowledge that her wet spot would grow and leave evidence between my legs too. 

Her skin always felt so soft and so warm, like it was welcoming my touch and rewarding it. The way she moved into my touch always felt so inviting, like she loved every move I made. I loved the way her hands would almost desperately play with my hair whenever she really got into the mood. We were the pinnacle of teenage hormones. We were gaga for each other. Every time she got like this, it was like I had fire in my lungs, like I couldn’t think straight. I just wanted her, so badly, and wanted to be as close to her as possible.

I didn’t care how young I was. I loved her. 

We went from making out to playing with each other’s necks. It was Nicole’s new favorite hobby to play with my neck and see how far she would go without leaving any marks. Over the course of the summer, she failed time and time again, so often that I got curious that she maybe secretly loved marking me up. But sure enough, when school started back up again, it appeared she had perfected the art, and now knew how to kiss, bite, and lick my neck enough to drive me crazy for her (as if that was difficult), but not enough to make any awkward conversations with teachers or parents.

Plus, the feeling of having a gorgeous experienced girl ruffling her hands through your hair and kissing your neck like she was obsessed with you was just… divine. I loved my life. I hastily returned the favor, realizing quickly that I didn’t make any such promise to keep her neck clear and wanted to make it clear to any boy that I was her boyfriend. I was the one she cared about. I was the one she liked most.

While kissing and sucking her neck, I attempted to run my hand down her pants and at least stroke her folds, but alas… jeans. Tight jeans. So instead, I lifted her up on top of my leg and let her desperately grind on my leg as I held onto her ass and didn’t hold back with her neck, unquestionably leaving marks as I went.

“Ahh!” she winced.

I removed my mouth. “Tell me to stop,” I calmly told her before going right back to leaving more marks.

“Fuck no, are you kidding?” she hissed, yet softly. “Keep going, mark me.”

When she wasn’t in the mood, she wasn’t the hugest fan of hickies, but get her in the mood, and she loved it. I squeezed her ass, feeling her wetness going to my leg as I alternated between leaving hickies, going back to suck on her beautiful breasts, and kissing her, sharing the flavor of her skin with her. She was breathing like she feared for her life, and yet the few times her eyes fluttered open, the sole emotion in them was pure desire.

After a while, she couldn’t take it anymore. “If we’re fucking at your place, we’re going there right now,” she rasped in a lusty haze, moving to immediately get off of me. The smell of her desire was unmistakable. She needed it, badly.

I sat back, enjoying the feeling of what we did. Having such a passionate sexy girlfriend was just the best. “So you liked it?”

Despite her lust, she shot me a weird look. “What would you do if I said ‘no’ one of these days?” she asked with a chuckle.

“I dunno. Feel inadequate,” I joked back.

“Don’t give me ammo,” she warned. “You are so trusting.” She settled into her seat, did up her seatbelt, and didn’t even wait for me before pulling out of the parking lot.

“Of course I trust you, you’ve given me every reason,” I commented, putting my seatbelt on. 

“I’ve given you a lot of reasons not to trust me, but you don’t think to remember them,” she pointed out. “And thanks for being cool today with all the… bullshit people put you through. I swear, I’m gonna make it all go away tonight.”

I paused. “Shut the fuck up,” I laughed. “I knew what I was signing up for. Don’t make it sound like I’m helpless. I chose to be your boyfriend. That came with all of this. Some days it’s just harder to adapt than others.”

Nicole was definitely not expecting that first part. She looked at me in shock for a bit, then her face adjusted. “Why the fuck do you go from ‘super mature’ to ‘the least mature person ever’ in the blink of an eye? You’re gonna give me whiplash.”

“So will you if you keep driving like this,” I pointed out.

“Sorry I’m horny?” she scoffed. “You almost tried to play with me while I was driving. Suck my dick.”

I laughed, feeling my phone buzz. I pulled it out, thinking about what Nicole had said on top of everything else that happened today. The term ‘emotional roller coaster’ was meant for days like this. Thanks to Nicole, and Rodney, and-

Hey! this is Sabrina 🙂

Yeah, her too. I stared at the text message, then back to Nicole.

Did I have it in me to be open in an open relationship? I wanted to please Nicole, and it wasn’t like I didn’t like sex or couldn’t see how attractive other people could be, and hell, I guess I had someone messaging me who knew for sure we were open. I just didn’t want to make things weird, or do something I regret. And it was good to listen to my own feelings.

Of course, I didn’t even know what my own feelings were, and as Carson said, who knew what the hell the future would be like? Trying to chase a perfect future would only bring disappointment. Maybe I needed to take a page from his book, and I guess Nicole’s, and live more in the moment. I looked back to my phone’s screen and typed out a response.

Hey Sabrina, it was good to meet you today 🙂

This was a new year after all. I wasn’t at a new school anymore. I was just a new me, and if life wanted me to grab it by the horns this year, who was I to say no?

________________________________________________________

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