---

In the Last Chapter…

Athena gives Adam oral sex at the party, and afterwards, Megan talks to Adam, knowing that he cheated but not judging him. Adam visits Nicole, and lies about not having sex there. Nicole reaffirms her position, confirming to Adam that they’re monogamous now. Adam tells Sabrina, cutting her off from him sexually, and attempts to tell Athena, but fails, having sex with her. Nicole drives him back home after, then reveals she knew what he did, and drops the bomb – she breaks up with him.

---

I stumbled back to my house in a daze. I didn’t want to talk to my parents, I didn’t want to eat food, and I didn’t want to pretend like I had a life anymore. Even if Mom said something when I walked inside, I didn’t hear it. I would have ran up to my room, but I didn’t have the energy, so instead, I walked like a zombie up the stairs, closed the door to my room behind me, texted my mom that I had a rough day and would like to be left alone, then shut off my phone, throwing it in the corner. Shortly after, my head hit the pillow, and I started to cry all over again.

Even though I was in bed way before anyone else, I probably didn’t go to sleep until way after both of my parents. I couldn’t have slept even if I wanted to. I just lay awake, staring at the ceiling, thinking about everything and nothing.

***

Same time, same place? I need to talk.

I sent the text before I even realized I had the thought. On some level, Megan was the last person I wanted to talk to, but on another, deeper level, it just felt right. 

Within minutes, she replied with a confirmation, and I got up and started walking right then and there. I was a zombie anyway. It was like some kind of disaster. It felt like my life was over. Maybe intellectually I knew there were other things in my life, but emotionally, it felt like there was nothing. Nicole was my life. Now that Nicole was gone, she had taken my life with her.

Luckily, it was a weirdly warm night, especially for the awfully cold winter we got, so I was able to go with a slightly lighter jacket and thin gloves. I got there a good chunk before midnight, and was surprised to see Megan already there. As soon as I saw her, I stopped in my tracks.

“You’re here early,” I nearly croaked, clearing my throat afterwards.

“So are you,” she said in an indifferent-yet-happy voice. “Good to see you.”

“Yeah,” I mumbled. “You too.”

“You look, uh…” She fidgeted with herself. “…Troubled. Did something…?”

“Yeah,” I chuckled sadly, nodding and starting to walk into the woods. “You can probably guess what happened.”

“I’m not going to presume, but I’m listening.”

“Nicole, uh… we’re not… I mean… Broke up. We broke up.” I held back tears as I spoke, which got difficult as I pushed the truth out. By the end, I was standing there, in the woods, with my eyes squeezed shut and my fists clenched. 

I felt a hand coax one of my fists open, and a hand slipped inside. “Adam, I’m so sorry,” Megan replied, her voice full of concern and sympathy. “I know she means the world to you.”

The tears started coming. Finally, the tears were there. After so long, shock holding them back, I was crying, and Megan was there to hold my hand through it all. I squeezed her hand in sympathy as I cried, just standing there like another tree in the woods.

Eventually, I stopped crying and was able to open my eyes again. I didn’t really want to look directly at Megan – it felt weird crying in front of someone else, especially when poor Megan didn’t even do anything. So instead, I just walked, with Megan following me. We didn’t say anything for a bit.

“I’m really sorry,” she eventually repeated. “Did you want me to ask how it happened, or…? I’m really sorry, I’m so bad at these kinds of things.”

“No no, it’s fine,” I soothed her, exhaling. I paced around for a bit, and leaned against a tree, folding my arms. “So, first of all, she knew about me and Athena.”

Megan scrunched up her face. “Oh no,” she said sympathetically, then let my words hang in the air. “Well… not to be a jerk or anything, but…”

“Yup, whatever you’re about to say, I agree,” I said with a sigh. I’d had enough time to process it. “I was a douche. This is what happens to douches.”

“Well, I wasn’t going to word it as strongly as that,” Megan said to the forest floor, then looked back up at me. “But that kind of thing is… wait, did she explicitly say-”

“Couldn’t have been clearer. ‘Starting now, we are monogamous’ or something like that.”

Megan’s eyebrows shot up in slight disbelief. “And you still went for Athena at the party? Kinda bold, Adam.”

“No no, she said that after the party. After I got home. So I met up with Athena to let her down easy and-”

“Adam’d up the situation?” Megan asked with a slight smile. 

“Oh come on, I’m not that bad,” I said, with a sour tone at first. Eventually, I had to smile.

“You are a horndog, Adam,” Megan replied with a giggle. The humorous tone faded fast. “But yeah, I get it. You start something, it’s hard to stop. Believe me, I get it.”

“Yeah, but you’re stronger than me. You quit cold turkey. You just stopped – I mean, is it a sore spot to bring her up, or…?”

She waved it off, indicating it was fine.

“Yeah, you just stopped even talking to Zelda. Y-”

“It helped that we were in the closet and got found,” she scoffed, cutting me off. “I mean, try having intercourse with Athena ever again. I bet you’re going to realize that you’d rather throw up.”

I digested her words silently. The more I thought about it, the more right she seemed. I wouldn’t be able to have sex with Athena again without thinking about how not being able to resist her cost me my relationship… Except…

I shook my head. “It wasn’t Athena,” I said in a low voice. “It was just me being me. I was being a douche. Like, not just during the whole Athena thing, but, like, the whole time.” I glanced around me. “I think I kinda felt… invincible. Girls found me hot, I was the VP, people loved me, I could do anything. So I… did anything.”

“You were already disrespecting Nicole,” Megan inferred with a non-judgmental tone.

“Yeah, I was.” I banged my hand against the tree. It actually really fucking hurt. Gingerly rubbing my hand, I continued. “I kept fucking around on school property even though she told me not to, and I kept ignoring what she told me to say, but… can I be a hundred percent honest here?”

She shrugged, coaxing me.

“It’s always about whether I listened to her,” I continued, beginning to pace again. “Like, I loved Nicole – love her, but man, that relationship was one-sided. She always got to set the rules. I had to follow them. Like, sure, I was being douchey, but why did it have to be like that? And I know I could have just not followed them, but Nicole… she made it like…”

Megan cleared her throat. “You had to play by her rules or not at all?”

“Exactly!!” I replied with enthusiasm, pointing at her. “Like, why couldn’t we just have a relationship? Why did it have to be that I’d need to be okay with her sleeping around or we just weren’t a couple? Why did she get to say, ‘do this’ or ‘do that’ and when I finally got to have some kind of control, suddenly it was all about her again?”

Megan looked around, crossing her arms. “To be honest, I don’t know about that.”

“Huh?”

“Well, Nicole was just letting you know what relationships with her are like. When you say, ‘why did I have to be okay with her sleeping around or we weren’t a couple,’ first of all, that just sounds like you wanted to change who she was. Second of all, she did stop sleeping with othe-”

“Yeah, but on her terms,” I replied emphatically. “She got to tell me to do something or not do it, but I never got to tell her to stop doing things because she would just say ‘that’s me in a relationship. Take it or leave it.’”

“Couldn’t you have said that same thing? Take it or leave it?” Megan argued.

“Yeah, but she would have left me in a heartbeat if I did,” I argued back.

Megan just stared at me, and I digested what I said. I stared back, eventually looking away. “I’m allowed to be upset at her double standard,” I said weakly.

“I’m not arguing that,” Megan replied soothingly. I felt her hands rub my back supportively. “But do you want me to lie?”

I scoffed. “No,” I admitted. “Your hands feel really good. Keep doing that.”

Megan laughed. “That’s all my hands are going to be doing tonight, horndog,” she joked.

I looked back to grin at her. “Shut up, I know,” I laughed back. Megan kept rubbing my back supportively as I sighed. “I didn’t even want her to change. Or, like, yeah, of course I’d selfishly prefer it or whatever, but I wouldn’t have asked her to do that. But I would have liked it if there was give and take in the relationship. Nicole runs relationships like she runs Council.”

“And how’s that?” Megan asked.

“You ought to know,” I replied slyly. “You politely told her to just call you Megan and she stopped Council and made a song and dance about it.”

I felt Megan’s hands stop. Even then, I didn’t look back at her. Eventually, the hands started up again. “Okay. I see what you mean,” Megan’s now-dry voice told me. 

“Yeah, so imagine that, every day. Every date, every time you have sex, every time you even talk. You behave a certain way for Nicole, or Nicole breaks up with you. If you don’t like how Nicole asks, too bad, maybe you should break up with her. Maybe you can roll the dice by talking to her about it, but odds are, she’ll just suggest breaking up. She calls herself free-spirited or independent or whatever, but honestly, that’s just code-talk for people who are so used to getting everything their way that they view even compromising as a fucking personal attack.”

Megan’s hands stopped again. “I have an opinion,” she began. “But you’re not going to like it.”

“Hit me with it,” I sighed.

“I don’t think you and Nicole would have lasted long anyway. I get you’re attracted to her, bu-”

“Attracted? I love h-”

“Let me speak,” Megan cut in. “I get you’re attracted to her, but you two aren’t a good match. Definitely not right now. Look at how you’re talking about her.”

“We just broke up. Everyone talks shit about their ex after they break up. I bet she’s doing the same thing to Sydney or whoever about me right now.”

“All the more reason you’re a bad match right now,” Megan continued. “What do you want me to say? If you’re looking for some magic words to say to Nicole, I don’t have them. I can only go off of what I see, and you’re clearly feeling like you’re not having enough say in your relationship. Like, if you want sympathy, I’ll even tell you this: I get why you cheated.”

“It’s wild you’re saying that to me,” I replied, feeling my mood drop again. “Y’know, since I-”

“I’m over it, Adam. Why aren’t you?!” she asked, raising her voice for the first time since we got to the woods.

I turned around to face her, with her dropping her hands from my back. I eventually nodded in understanding. “I’m sorry,” I admitted.

“It was a genuine question,” Megan persisted. “Do you want me to yell at you or something? I’ve said I’m over it, but that doesn’t seem to be enough.”

I stared at her for a bit. “I guess, if you’re making me say something – and keep in mind this is just me thinking about it now, so my words might not be great – it feels weird that you can understand why I cheated on Nicole, if that’s even the reason why, but she tore me a new asshole for it, and I basically was just weak when I cheated on you, and you barely got upset at me.”

“I barely got upset at you to your face,” Megan corrected me with a humorous tone. “Well, can’t we just let it be? It actually upsets me more when you bring it up at this point.”

“Okay. I’ll do my best not to bring it up.” I grabbed one of her hands and started to play with it. “I’m surprised you’re this okay with the stuff I’ve done.”

“Forgive the sinner, not the sin,” she said with a shrug. “Whatever. People cheat on other people all the time. There’s a lot of stuff I’ve heard about since coming to Council. If Nicole gets hurt because she’s over-controlling and you act out, maybe that’ll show her what being over-controlling does.”

I cocked my head in interest. “So there’s your angle,” I observed.

“Shut up,” she laughed, and we started to walk, with me letting go of her hand. “I dunno. If I’m speaking a hundred percent freely-” She glanced at me, then back forward. “-then this is just a win-win. You’re right, you were acting like a jerk, and you got a huge wake-up call. Plus you’re out of a relationship which was clearly causing you a lot of trouble. Yeah, it might hurt because you’re still attracted to Nicole, but Adam, there’s a whole world out there. Even without romance, a whole world. If you think you were being a jerk, and you wanted to pick up the pieces and become Adam again, you know what I would do first?” She paused for effect as we walked. “I’d start by thinking long and hard about what ‘being a good person’ is and try to change to be that person. Heck, I bet if Nicole would ever take you back, she’d only do it if you mastered that. So whether you want to move on or get Nicole back, for both of those, becoming a better person again is your first step.”

I was genuinely impressed. “Wow, Megan,” I mumbled out loud, and said nothing more. I took a few steps before remembering something. “You said this was a win-win.”

“Yes, okay, I didn’t like how Nicole was acting either. I just don’t want to lead with that because, no offense, I don’t want to make you think you can just pin this on her controlling behavior.”

“I won’t think that. I promise,” I told her sincerely. The two of us reached that rock that overlooks the town, and just stared into the distance. 

“Then yeah, Nicole likes to live exactly how she wants to live. She thinks she’s immune to consequences, and it’s getting annoying. I want her to feel like she can’t just boss people around. I want people to enable her less, and push back more. And I don’t want her to feel like she can make this ‘my way or the highway’ style of hers apply to everything.”

“So that’s why you told her to stop with the nicknames,” I clued in.

“Kind of. I also just don’t get why she does that. It seems like she wants to control me, or like, keep me as a pet. But I’m not a pet. I’m… I want to say I’m her equal, but I know she’ll never accept that. Especially since she gets to be the President, so she gets to decide what tasks I do, and she gets to decide if I did a good or bad job, and she gets to decide if I’ve been a disappointment or not. When she thinks I can do better, it’s like she stops seeing me as her equal. Or even… like we were never equals at all, and this just brought it to light. She clearly thinks of herself as way better than anyone else.”

She definitely had more thoughts on Nicole than she initially let on. I let her words linger for a bit, before chewing on the side of my tongue for a bit. “I mean, Nicole also clearly doesn’t like herself…”

“Self-loathing is still self-obsession,” Megan replied, her tone visibly changed. She riled herself up with that speech. “She’s still just always thinking of herself.”

“Well… I mean, yeah, to a small extent I guess, but I mean… she’s cutting, Megan.”

“That’s just another way she thinks she’s immune to consequences.”

“Woah,” I said disapprovingly, tearing myself away from the cityscape to look at Megan.

She just shrugged, her eyelids and eyebrows lowered, clearly ticked off. “Judge me. I don’t care. She gets caught up in her own emotions, and it means she gets all of her friends to fawn over her. You drop everything for her. I bet when she’s at her worst she tells you to do things and she threatens to cut herself if you don’t do it.”

I stared at her silently, my breathing becoming louder through my nostrils. 

“Thought so,” she lazily added. “So she tries killing herself, and if she doesn’t succeed, she gets attention and leverage. And even if she does, she just leaves a huge hole in other peoples’ lives. She leaves a mess. Her parents will have to clean it up, you will have to clean it up… We all have problems. I’m trying to deal with mine. Is she trying to deal with hers?”

“Maybe she is,” I replied in a low, angry voice. “Maybe there’s more happening behind the scenes.”

“Oh, I bet there is,” Megan replied genuinely, unfazed by my shifting tone. “In fact, I know there is. But it doesn’t change the fact that she’s doing everything in the most selfish way possible. Why wouldn’t that also be the case for her cutting?”

I breathed heavily. This wasn’t fair. I couldn’t articulate it, but Megan wasn’t being fair somehow. This was over the line.

“I’m sorry, I’m not trying to upset you,” Megan continued, reading my mind. “I get that’s a hot take. And it’s not great to hear it. I’ll stop talking about it.”

“I appreciate it,” I replied back simply, my low voice not leaving.

“Are you mad at me?” she asked, turning again to face me.

I paused. “I’m mad, but just at what you said, I think,” I slowly said, processing my own emotions. “This has been a fuckton of a day.”

“Yeah,” she agreed, looking at her watch. “We should probably go home soon. We still have school tomorrow.” She started to walk back, and I followed. “If you need anything, you have me. And Carson, and… well, yeah. Us.”

I laughed. “Yeah, can’t imagine Jason or Athena really sticking with the group now,” I admitted. “Thanks, Megan. I really appreciate the support.”

She smiled. “It’s what friends are for.”

***

Megan may have changed, but she was still a really important friend. With Nicole out of my life, at least for now, Megan had quickly become my best friend. Even with that weird thing she said about Nicole, and our… flirting, I guess, at the party, things weren’t awkward or tense between us. We weren’t fighting, and we didn’t feel like we needed to air out the sexual tensin. We could just be… us.

Carson was over the moon to discover Megan hanging out with us again. He didn’t even mind that Megan had clued into his crush on her and made it clear that she didn’t feel the same way. Clearly, Carson had some sort of epiphany in that time, because he didn’t even mind. He was just glad Megan was back in his life again. And speaking of epiphanies…

“It’s called being ‘stoic’ or something,” I explained as Megan and I walked out of history class. “You basically just don’t pay attention to the world or what other people think about you. You just keep on going, never showing anyone anything.”

“Doesn’t sound like you,” Megan pointed out.

“Exactly!” I exclaimed with a happy tone. You got to reinvent yourself, so I was thinking, this would be the perfect way to reinvent myself. I’m just gonna stop caring. No whining about Nicole, no whining about… I dunno, anything.”

Megan chuckled, shaking her head. “Adam, you’re the exact opposite of stoic, and that’s not just a bad thing,” she pointed out. “Why can’t you just embrace it and work on yourself instead of wanting to reinvent yourself?”

“I dunno, I’m just excited!” I replied. “Like, this is a new chapter for me. I can feel it.” The two of us reached her locker, and I leaned on the one next to hers. Megan opened her locker, then looked at me, shifting to look behind me. She started smirking, and looked back.

“What?” I asked, knowing that smirk.

“Someone wants to get into their locker,” she said softly.

I whipped around to see some timid girl with black hair, brown eyes, thick glasses and braces looking timid as all get-out. Even as soon as I made eye contact, she cringed a little in nervousness.

“Oh hey, sorry. Is this your locker?” I asked, gesturing behind me. The timid girl nodded, and I pushed myself off the locker. “My bad, was just talking to a friend. My name’s Adam.”

“Hi, Adam,” the girl said, in a voice that was interestingly non-timid, contrasting her timid appearance. “I’m Sophie. Nice to meet you.” She walked past me to get to her locker.

“Sophie, huh?” I asked, trying to keep up the conversion..

“Down, boy,” Megan joked. “Roll over.”

“Hey,” I replied, half using the same tone, half in annoyance. Megan gave me another smirk then shut her locker, walking away towards the cafeteria. I tossed a “Nice to meet you, Sophie,” over my shoulder before catching up to Megan.

“See, that?” Megan asked me as we walked. “That was the exact opposite of being stoic. You’re a politician through and through.” She lowered an eyebrow and smiled at me. “And girl-crazy.”

“I was just saying hi,” I defended myself. “It’s not like I’m gonna even see her again.” I passed by Jarrod in the halls and made eye contact. “Hey, buddy! Good luck during the performance today. Don’t let Salvador see you sweat, huh? Give him hell.” I didn’t break my stride while saying my piece, and by the time I ended, Megan was giving me a look. “Alright, I can be a politician sometimes,” I conceded.

***

I chewed on my pencil eraser. I really did think I was invincible, didn’t I? I barely studied at all for my math final, and even though Sikorsky was no Graves, it didn’t mean that this stuff came easy. I looked around me – I was one of the last people left in the classroom. 

Sikorsky glanced at his watch. “Ten minutes, guys,” he informed us.

“Asshole,” Carson grumbled under his breath, his arms on his desk. He was clearly struggling even more than I was. I looked back at my final and sighed. One more problem, but I had zero idea how to do it. I did my best guesswork and looked over the pages before standing up and handing in the paper. 

“Sorry for taking so long,” I whispered sheepishly to Sikorsky. Technically, our time ended ten minutes ago, but Sikorsky gave the rest of us an additional twenty minutes.

“As long as you did your best,” he diplomatically answered.

I shrugged. “Enough for a pass.”

“Did you study?”

I sighed. “I had things to do,” I mumbled half-assedly. Sikorsky gave me a ‘tsk tsk’ look and put the final on his desk, returning his attention to the rest of the students. Once I was out of the classroom, I shut the door and leaned the back of my head against the wall, sighing. The final was one thing, but what was about to happen was the true test.

I remained against the wall for a solid minute, eyes closed, trying to let my mind go blank. I knew I was already in trouble for being late, so I tried to steel myself, repeating any mantras I had learned, before I pushed myself off the wall, making my way towards room 203.

Sure enough, by the time I got there, the meeting had already started. Dave was mid-sentence when I opened the door, and cut himself off.

“Ah, the VP decided to join us,” Nicole replied, a cocky grin on her face.

Internally, I shivered. It was so real-looking. She was so committed to looking like nothing had happened, like we were still joking around. I shrugged and smiled back. “I’m not gonna claim to be the world’s best at math,” I countered, getting to the desk in the back. “What did I miss?”

***

“Everything except for the Art Club,” Rick confirmed. “But Advertisement has agreed to help with that.”

“And you can get that done for this week?” Nicole turned her attention to Eugene, the rep for Advertisement.

“No problem,” Eugene diligently replied.

“Like clockwork,” Nicole replied happily, checking over her little agenda. “Oooookay, that seems to be it from me. Any other business from anyone?” She was met with silence. “How’d everyone’s first final go?” She was met with an unenthusiastic “enh” from the crowd, which gave her a chuckle. “Alrighty then, so, biggest fire is, we wanna make sure students next semester know about the changes. Extracurrs, keep on it. VP, you’re responsible for coordinating the newbies on day one.”

“You got it,” I replied, nodding.

“Okay all, you got angels on your shoulders. Get home and rest up, you all have another final tomorrow.” Nicole’s voice barely had time to leave her mouth before people started packing up their stuff and leaving, with the most dedicated among us staying behind. Megan gave me a smile and a polite wave before she left, which I returned. I went back to packing my stuff up, and I clearly was slower at it than anyone else; by the time I slung my backpack over my back, it seemed to be just me in the room.

Correction – Nicole was lingering in the doorway. Something made her stop. She was looking right at me. I caught her gaze, and stopped in my tracks, but said nothing back. She cleared her throat nervously.

“You, uh, you’re…” she trailed off. Her voice was flat, but… meaningful. “You were respectful today. You’re putting in effort. I see that.”

“Thanks. I’m, uh, trying,” I replied, matching her tone. 

“You’ve got a ride home, right?” she asked.

“Oh yeah. I’m all set. No need to worry,” I said, as casually as anything. Well, I tried to be casual, and so did she, but… it was that ‘we’re pretending to be casual’ tone. Both of us knew. Both of us felt the meaningful awkwardness in the air. 

“Right on. Keep it up, VP,” she said, locking the door and walking out of the room. The entire time she looked at me, it was both really sweet and… nothing. Like we were rebuilding from nothing. It hurt, but… it was a hurt I kind of deserved. Hell, it was Nicole. I was kind of surprised she was kicking her heels around as much as I was. I expected her to be… well, more like Nicole.

Not bothering to hang around for much longer myself, I quickly went for the exit myself. Before shutting the door, I glanced down the hallway, and chanced upon a particular sight. Nicole, walking alongside…

“Are you sure it’s okay?” Jarrod asked as he walked beside Nicole.

“Hundo,” Nicole replied flatly. “I give people rides home all the time.” The pair of them turned down the hallway and walked off together. Nicole and the unsuspecting grade nine that fell for her.

Nope. Nope nope nope. Be stoic. It doesn’t affect me. It doesn’t… it… fuck. Fuck. Fuuuuuck. I paused for a few seconds, my hand on the door handle, gripping it hard enough to possibly change the doorknob’s shape. It was impossible to stop my mind from coming up with vivid ideas of what those two would get up to. The way I met Nicole was from me getting in a car with her and her nearly immediately flashing me. It was not the craziest idea ever that she would do the same to him. Maybe she just did this. Nicole Baker just found young would-be Council material in grades below her and offered them rides home, seducing them along the way. It was just a pattern with her. Hell, maybe her entire backstory was bullshit. Jeff Love and all that. Maybe it was all made up. Maybe I wasn’t the first, and clearly, not the last, young boy she seduced just for fun. The fucking hussie. 

I finally exhaled, releasing the doorknob. On some level, I knew this was going to happen. I dated the school slut. Of course she was going to rebound. I just didn’t want it to be someone…

…exactly like me.

I don’t know how long I stood there like an idiot. All I knew was, at some point I just trudged back to the main hallway, where I ran into a friend.

“Jeez, you look like death, buddy,” Carson observed as he walked into the main hallway from the other side. “I thought you were better at math than me.”

“The final kind of kicked my ass,” I said with a shrug. “And plus, I got a lot on my mind. Nicole b-… I broke up with Nicole. I’m a free man now, so hey!”

“No shit?” Carson asked, shocked. “Dude, never thought you’d do it. Honestly, congrats.” He offered me a high-five, which I readily accepted. “She wasn’t good for you anyway. Plus, I’m sure you could get any girl you set your mind to here. Any of ‘em.”

I paused. I had a real opportunity to just slip back into the old Adam here, didn’t I? I could have really ran with what Carson said and let my head get so full of hot air I’d sail away into the clouds. I already instinctually lied to him that I was the one to break up with Nicole and… I don’t even know why. It was time to unlearn some bad habits.

I slowly shook my head. “Nah, man,” I admitted. “I need to work on myself. Honestly, you didn’t see it, but I wasn’t my best self there. If I didn’t break up with her, she woulda broken up with me. If I’m gonna get with anyone else, I need to make sure I actually care about the woman’s needs too.”

My response clearly caught him off guard. “Well, sure, I guess, but look out for number one first, right?” he asked, nudging my shoulder. He pulled out his phone, looking at it. “You got plans? Let’s do some Halo, I’ll text Megan. Dad can drive you home.”

“Honestly, that sounds amazing,” I admitted.

***

While Carson was in the bathroom, I caught Megan up to speed, although she was less worried than I was about Nicole and Jarrod.

“She gave me a ride home several times last semester,” Megan pointed out. “She didn’t try anything on me.”

“Jarrod is a boy,” I pointed out. “A naive boy that will likely go along with everything she says. The dude even kinda looks like what I looked like last year. You yourself said Nicole wants to be around people who will bend to her will and just agree to her opinions and her methods and all that.”

“Did I say that?” Megan asked, sniping me.

“You implied it,” I replied swiftly. 

“Just because the person she’s driving home has a… thingy doesn’t mean she’s going to jump on it like she’s in heat,” Megan countered again.

I chuckled. “You have definitely said ‘cock’ before, or ‘penis’ or something.”

“I feel like even mentioning a phallic word in his house summons him,” Megan replied with a dry tone.

“Alright, what’d I miss?” Carson asked, swaggering back into the room.

“See?” Megan asked.

“See what?” Carson asked.

“Megan beat me again,” I replied, conceding the match. At this point I could beat Carson once in a blue moon, and Carson beat Megan exactly once, but she was still the undisputed champion. If anything, we started playing at this point knowing what the outcome of the match would be, almost comforted by it. It was routine. It sure as hell beat the unpredictability of the real world, at least for me.

***

Even though I was fine with Kovacs’ easy version of the history final, it didn’t change the fact that this year’s finals felt different. I struggled with math this term, but Spanish was probably my worst subject. Ms. Luciano was super kind, but not the best teacher, and I didn’t have a gift for it, so it was very possible my grade was low enough to threaten my Council standing here.

And then I would have to face Nicole’s wrath. Fuck Mr. Scott, I’d have to get a speech from her. Why the fuck was everything making me think of her?

I answered everything as well as I could, and I finished within the time given, but… finishing earlier was actually more of a death knell than finishing later, in this case. I handed my final to her, thanking my lucky stars that if I passed, I wasn’t required to take any more Spanish. Dios mio.

I went back to my locker after the exam, dragging my feet a little more than usual, when I heard footsteps approaching me. I turned around to see Sabrina walking up to me. “Oh hey,” I casually said to her. “Sorry I’ve been so bad at texting. Just had a lot on my mind lately.”

“No worries,” she said back, walking up next to me. “Anything I can help with?”

“Enh, just life and all that,” I admitted, rolling my shoulders. I had a few hours until the bus came – that was customary at finals – so I was probably just going to go work out for a bit. “How about you, everything going alright?”

“Oh yeah, Spanish was easy,” she replied, as if everyone knew that. I could only internally chuckle. She was so innocent. “I just have a yearbook thing today. Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me. I thought it could be fun. We wouldn’t, uh, do anything, obviously, but I like the way you think, and…” she trailed off.

I groaned. The silly thing was, that actually sounded like a lot of fun. I did kind of want to get to know Sabrina a bit better, but… it was yearbook. There was a huge snag there. “So, uh, Sabrina,” I began, realizing I had to rip the bandaid off. “I really want to do that, trust me, but, uh, it might be awkward. Nicole and I kinda… broke up.”

Sabrina’s hands flew to her mouth. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry. Did I do it??”

That was not what I was expecting. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “No, Sabrina,” I laughed, “You didn’t. Nicole and I both… we were becoming a bad match, that’s all. Things are okay. I think she and I are on… okay terms, but if I went into Yearbook with another girl, especially a girl where… y’know… we have history.”

Sabrina was eagerly nodding. “I understand, I totally understand,” she repeated, then slowly looked off towards the yearbook room. She looked back at me and bit her lip. “Okay, honestly… if you really mean it, did you maybe want to… I dunno, maybe walk around or something? I can be late for yearbook, it’s not that big a deal.”

I blinked twice. “Um, yes, totally,” I replied, a smile growing on my face. “You sure?”

“Yeah! I… feel bad,” she confessed, playing with her hands. “I want to get to know you more as, like, a guy I know, and not… you know. I was kinda worried we’d just stop talking when we couldn’t have sex anymore.”

“Fuck,” I marvelled, realizing this was just what I wanted to. “Well, where should we go? Let’s walk and talk.”

“Um, there’s a pizza place near the school, do you want to grab a slice there?” Sabrina offered.

Pizza after finals. A yearly tradition. I could go there and forget all about Nicole, and hang out with a cute girl while I’m at it? Sounded amazing. I quickly agreed, and the two of us promptly left. The walk there wasn’t that much fun, since it was still incredibly cold, but the pizza was great and Sabrina was… fascinating.

I had her pegged as this shy awkward girl that had a secret sexual side, kind of like Megan, but as Sabrina talked and opened up to me in person instead of over text, it became clear that Sabrina really was as outgoing as all of the popular girls, and could come back to any joke I said with something funnier. 

“How about you?” she asked, playing with the crumbs on her plate. We’d finished our food a long time ago. “What do you like doing for fun when you’re out of school?”

“Uh…” I replied slowly, scratching my head. “I work out a fair bit, I guess.”

“Yeah, but that’s at school too, right? Like, what do you do at home?”

“Um…” Wow, for the past little bit I kinda didn’t do much at home alone. I was always around Nicole or something. 

“Do you play any sports?” Sabrina offered.

“No, but I do karate twice a week,” I replied instinctually, then immediately realized that I hadn’t gone since the breakup. Sensei Sparrow was probably going to have some strong words fro me when I came back. If I came back. But going back and facing Nicole was… off-putting.

“Hey, that’s pretty cool. I guess Hazelwood doesn’t really have good sports teams… though I heard the Boxing Club used to be amazing. Do you do that?”

“No, but… maybe I should…” Honestly, the shift from karate to Boxing Club would be easy. Maybe in the new semester, that could be a thing to look out for. Experimentally, I held my hands up, trying to mimic what boxing would look like. It felt decently natural. Maybe. I went “hm” and lowered my hands, with my left accidentally landing on top of Sabrina’s.

She didn’t move her hand, and neither did I, at least for the first few seconds. We locked eyes, and couldn’t help but smile. My mind flashed back to her on her knees devouring my cock as if her life depended on it, and I started throbbing in my pants. I tore my eyes away from Sabrina and chuckled, moving my hand back. 

“Can I say you’re cute?” Sabrina asked shyly, reverting away from her more outgoing nature again.

I chuckled nervously, looking outside the window. “Coming from you that means a lot,” I admitted, not looking at her. “But it’s definitely too early to try anything with me. I’m not looking to get into anything romantic anytime soon.” I turned back to see her nodding.

“Oh, that definitely makes sense,” she agreed. “I’ve been through a few breakups. It’s hard, but… hey, you’ve got a support network, right?”

“Yeah, Carson and Megan and other cool people,” I replied, then gestured to her. “You, I guess.” 

“Definitely me,” she agreed, now bold enough to reach forwards and grab my hand across the table, stroking her fingertips across the back of my hand. 

“Hey now,” I said playfully. “I said I wasn’t looking for anything romantic anytime soon.”

“Yeah, you did,” Sabrina agreed, looking up at me. “This doesn’t have to be romantic.”

I sighed, though it probably came out as a little more of a moan. I was still throbbing, and Sabrina’s touch wasn’t doing me any favors. “If you keep doing that, I’m gonna say some things I can’t take back,” I pointed out to her. “You know, I’m pretty vulnerable right now after the breakup and all.”

“Oops.” Sabrina’s tone was undeniably smug. My cock threatened to tear through my pants listening to her voice and watching that sexy smirk of hers. 

I experimentally gave a little moan-sigh and Sabrina responded by biting her lip and shifting around in her seat. We were, luckily, a little out of the way, and almost the only ones there, in a nice little cozy booth, so it was okay. But still… “You say that, but… we can’t do anything on school property anymore. I don’t have the key, and plus, Nicole has, like, psychic powers or something. She will find out, and she will make our lives hell. We can’t do anything at school.”

“That’s probably true,” Sabrina admitted, shifting something below the table. I looked at her, confused, until I felt something on my leg. She took her shoe off, and now the little minx was sliding her foot up my leg! She could definitely tell when she made contact with my rock-hard cock; it was hard to miss. “But… with all this time we have, I bet we could walk to my place. In fact, I bet my parents would even drive you back.”

I grunted, feeling her foot massaging my cock over my parents. Christ, it had been a while. “And are your parents okay with you… you know…”

“Probably not,” she laughed. “So we’ll have to figure it out. Are you in?” She retracted her foot, slipping it back into its shoe, and the two of us got up. I didn’t agree or disagree, and instead, waited until she stood up fully before grabbing her by the waist and locking her into a deep kiss. Not a romantic kiss, but a hungry one. A kiss not between lovers, but between two people who were going to fuck.

***

I think I was hard the entire time we walked back to her place, despite it being a decent walk in the cold. Despite our horniness, when we arrived, the first thing we decided to do was to warm up. The second thing Sabrina decided to do was to hatch her plan.

Her dad, a buff blonde guy with a good-looking hairdo and a trimmed beard, was bumbling around the kitchen, and she approached him shyly. “Hi Dad,” she greeted him. “So, because I have my Chem final tomorrow, I’ve asked Adam here to come over and peer tutor me. I really want a good grade, so we’re just going to study for a bit, okay?”

Her dad looked over at me, definitely not giving me a kind look. “Hello Adam,” he greeted me.

“H-hello, sir,” I replied, trying to show in my voice that he had nothing to fear.

“Uh… you know the rules. Keep the door open,” he told her.

“But daaad,” she whined. “If I hear the TV I’ll get distracted. He’s not even a boyfriend! He’s just my peer tutor!”

“Then you should have gone to the library,” he gruffly replied. “I’ll keep the TV off for the first lil’ bit. Door open. Now go study.”

Sabrina quietly huffed, then the two of us walked off towards her room. Despite the house being a pretty good size, her room was on the ground floor, and the door was sadly in the middle of her wall, so there was little room for ambiguity.

We stepped inside her room and I sat down on her bed. It was a teenage girl’s room alright. Band posters, cute little decals, an air freshener in the corner, a shelf with wooden blocks saying “live laugh love” on it… and the bed was surprisingly comfy. It was a shame we couldn’t use it.

“Sorry about my dad,” she started, moving to her closet right next to the room’s door, and opening it. She had a wide selection of clothes. “I think he kind of forgot that I’m, you know, growing up. He was always like this with any boyfriends or even male friends.”

“Uh, no worries… I trailed off. I expected her to put her jacket inside the closet or something, but to my surprise, she was shifting things around. “…What are you doing?”

She gestured with her head inside the closet, making a space just barely enough for two people. I smiled in disbelief, getting the hint and following her inside. Once I was in, she closed the door, and we were both swallowed by darkness. She giggled, the turned on her phone’s flashlight, angling it away from us and putting it on some shoe shelf.

“It’s a bit tight, but…” she trailed off. 

“I suppose that’s the idea,” I said back at her with a wink, grabbing her waist with one hand, her ass with the other, and diving in to kiss her neck. If my boner was ever gone, it was now back with a vengeance. “What if your dad peers in and sees the room is empty?”

“We can just say I took a break and went outside,” she said with a shrug. “He thinks the only place I can fuck is in a bed. Let’s prove him wrong.”

“I like the sound of that,” I agreed hungrily, resuming my kisses. I kissed and licked and sucked, realizing only halfway through the kinds of marks I must be leaving. “Definitely wear turtlenecks tomorrow,” I laughed. 

She laughed too. “You won’t be the first tutor who ended up giving me hickeys,” she admitted.

Interestingly, my cock throbbed thinking of that too. I guess despite everything, Nicole really had tempered my jealous nature. “Hot,” I admitted, quickly getting her shirt over her head, as she fumbled with my zipper. 

There was no ceremony. We had seen each other naked before. In under a minute, the both of us were fully naked, kissing and grinding up against each other, enjoying the feel of each other’s bodies. Thanks to our height difference and some other factors, my dick nearly reached her tits. 

“God damn,” she breathed, now whispering. “Okay, no matter what, we have to be quiet. Dad never comes into my room or even cares, unless we make noise.”

“I’ll do my best, but it’s going to be harder for you,” I teased her, thrusting against her. My dick traveled up alongside her stomach with my thrust.

She moaned softly. “I know,” she groaned, then turned around, arching her back. “Fuck, finally…” Even in the darkness, she looked behind her at my cock, and at me lining it up with her. She practically had hearts in her eyes. I moved the head of my cock against her puffy pussy lips – she was wet beyond belief. She whimpered at my touch. “I’ve wanted this for so fucking long, it already feels amazing,” she panted in a whisper.

“Oh, already, huh? I guess we can stop then,” I teased, grinning cockily at her.

In response, she thrust back, getting to be the one to finally unite us. It clearly took all of her energy not to scream out her pleasure to the heavens. The anticipation definitely built up for me too – she was everything I wanted her to be. Tight, wet, warm, and eager. I started moving my hips in a circular motion, starting slow, though eventually, we started picking up speed, and eventually, I was drilling Sabrina in her tight dark little closet. 

“Goddd, fuuuuck…” Sabrina moaned, doing her best to whisper. “Doesn’t that feel good, Adam? Isn’t it good to be inside me?”

“Fuck yes it does,” I whisper-moaned, realizing only then that we totally didn’t use any protection. I thought about stopping, but… but fuck me, it just felt too good. After the last little bit, I wanted this. Even so, I needed to do the right thing. “You do know… we started… without… a condom…?”

“Just be careful,” she moaned. “I’m on birth control. That was… the better consequence of… dad catching me with… an ex.”

“Nice,” I groaned, slapping her ass. It made a clear sound.

“Sssh!” Sabrina giggled. “No slapping sounds, Adam!!”

“Sorry, couldn’t resist,” I laughed, grabbing her hips and driving my cock balls-deep inside her. After a hilariously few amount of pumps, Sabrina emitted a low, guttural sex moan. 

“Hey,” I cautioned.

“I… know…” Sabrina replied, looking back at me. Her eyes were almost crossed in pleasure. “It… just… fells… so… fuck, Adam, let’s do this every day. I love your cock so much.”

I smiled, drilling her pussy, enjoying the feeling. It had to be said, it felt like we were born to fuck each other. Something about it just felt so right, so good. 

Despite our need and horniess, we lasted a long time with each other. Halfway through, I got a bold idea and made Sabrina turn around, then reached around to her thighs and lifted her up so that her legs could wrap around me, her pussy mashing against my cock. It took a bit of maneuvering, but once she’d managed to make me slip inside, she threw her hands behind her head and pushed against the wall, providing support as I gripped her thighs and thrust my hips forward, mashing into her. Sabrina looked me right in the eyes, biting her lip, her face showing nothing but absolute lust. She could have done anything I asked her to do right then and there. She was under my spell, and to be honest, I was under hers.

Thanks to my training, I was able to keep up this exerting position for a good few minutes, though it wasn’t like I was timing. Eventually we went back to doing it from behind, with me experimentally pulling her hair (that just made her moan more, so that was a non-option) and gripping her by the back of the neck. Eventually, I felt my balls tighten, knowing the show was about to reach its finale.

“Gonna… unh…” I grunted, and Sabrina showed no signs of stopping. She gleefully thrust herself back into me, wanting my load inside her. I grunted one last time, thrusting fully against her, feeling my spunk shoot out of me, splashing against her inner walls. She cooed, needing my load, grateful for it, reveling in it. Slowly, my thrusts subsided, getting shorter and weaker, until finally, we both came to a stop, with me pulling out of her pussy with a long exhale. She winced and made a little noise as my softening dick left her, stumbling around, finding her footing.

“Fuck,” she murmured. “Are you free after your final tomorrow?” We both laughed, and got dressed, quickly moving to the bed. Since both of us brought our books, we pulled them out, figuring that we should at least keep up the facade of studying.

There was a bit of silence before Sabrina pulled out an agenda and checked something. “Actually, genuinely, do you want to come over and study tomorrow? I’m free.”

I didn’t even bother to check. I just looked her in the eyes. “Yeah,” I admitted. I knew that Sabrina was my rebound at this point, but it looked like neither of us cared. She wanted dick and liked mine, I wanted sex and wanted to take my mind off of sad stuff. And plus…

“And, uh, you know, given my unique ‘now I’m single’ situation, let me know if I, uh, ever accidentally make you feel like, I dunno, like I’m using you or something,” I told her. “You know, I want to make sure I respect you. And I’m trying to, but I might slip up, so I just want you to know that if you did feel weird about something, tell me and I’ll make sure I treat you right.”

Sabrina smiled at me. “You’re really sweet, Adam,” she said slowly. “I didn’t think – well, no offense – actually, I didn’t think I’d hear that from any boy, you know? I’ll let you know, but this is really nice. And yeah, I know, you just went through a breakup, it’s in here, don’t worry.” She pointed to her forehead.

Wow. This was… communication. This was actually really nice. Sabrina started talking about her Chem final tomorrow, and instead of thinking about Nicole, I just… listened. I cared. I wanted to care. This was really nice. Maybe I was a bit douchey, but wanting to make an effort actually felt good. Fuck being stoic. Megan was right. Not feeling was overrated. Feeling and caring and giving and getting respect felt a thousand times better.

“When did you want to go home?” Sabrina asked me after we talked about movies and classes and relationships for a bit. Life chats.

I shrugged. “Before supper, I guess. I didn’t tell my parents I would be away, and plus, I don’t want to be a burden on your dad. He doesn’t seem to like me that much.”

She waved it off. “Like I said, boys,” she insisted. “Well, I should pr-”

A phone call took us out of her conversation. Sabrina looked at the screen, then at me. I should take this. Don’t talk, it’ll be speakerphone.” She hit the screen. “Hey!”

Don’t talk? Seemed like a weird request, but-

“Hey Sab.”

Nicole’s voice. Wordlessly, I nodded, not even knowing what expression was on my face. It was weird to hear her voice.

Nicole’s voice continued. “I just wanted to check in. I noticed you weren’t at Yearbook today.”

“Oh, sorry, didn’t Jennifer tell you?” Sabrina asked, feigning shock. “I wasn’t able to make it today. I had a family thing.”

Nicole laughed from the other end of the line. “You know her, she doesn’t tell me anything,” she replied in a light tone. “Okay! You’re a bit behind on the staff section, but it’s the easiest to do, just drag-and-drop the pictures in the staff folder. You can either do it on your own time, or put in a lil’ extra next meeting.”

“I’ll probably just stay a little late next meeting if that’s okay,” Sabrina replied.

“Right on. So… okay, that takes care of that.” Nicole’s tongue clicked. “Um, can I ask you something a lil’ weird?”

Sabrina gave me a look, one I returned, then looked back at her phone. “Uh, yeah?”

“So, uh… real weird, out of the blue… you haven’t seen Adam today, have you?”

I was glad I had just breathed out, otherwise I would have loudly exhaled in surprise, and Nicole would have somehow known it was my breath or something. Me? Nicole was asking about me?

Sabrina, refreshingly, was a convincing liar. “Adam? Like, your boyfriend Adam?” she asked.

“Well… I… Sure. Yeah, Adam Watson. Have you seen him at all today?”

Instinctively, I checked my phone. No messages from Nicole.

Sabrina paused, looking at me. “…Nope. Haven’t seen him all day. Is he missing or something?”

“Nope, just curious. Sorry to bother you about it. I’ll see you next week, alright?”

“Alright, see you,” Sabrina replied, then Nicole hung up. Sabrina made sure the line was dead before giving me an incredulous look. “What was that??” she asked me rhetorically.

“She wanted to know where I was?” I asked, just as incredulously. “Why?”

“Well, you did say she had psychic powers,” Sabrina replied. “Maybe she knows what we got up to.” She rolled over on the bed, reflecting to herself. “But even then, I mean, why ask about it?”

As much as I didn’t want it to, the seed had been planted, festering in my mind. Nicole suspected I’d go to Sabrina? She suspected I’d fuck her? And what, ask if we did? Get mad at me about it, get mad at me for moving on so soon? I mean, fuck, she might have done it with Jarrod, so who was she to judge?

Unless… she wanted to know if I did it with Sabrina so she could feel better about doing it with Jarrod. Made sure I moved on so she could. In a way, it was sweet. But if I had to be fully honest, I wouldn’t have slept with Sabrina if it meant Nicole didn’t fuck Jarrod. In the past. Before I even fucked Sabrina. Alright, so that theory didn’t hold water.

But then, why? Nicole made it clear she wouldn’t give a fuck about me, and it wasn’t like her to just flip-flop on that. Sure, she was nice to me, but what would make her just turn on a dime like that? Was it something I needed to know? 

Trouble was, I couldn’t text her and ask. Doing so meant I was basically telling her that I was hanging out with Sabrina. So…

Sabrina snapped her fingers. “Got it,” she casually said. “Text Nicole, tell her I texted you asking why Nicole asked me where you were. Bam.”

I stared at her for a bit. While I was overthinking, Sabrina was solving. Moreover… everyone always told me I thought too much. Told me to leave things alone. But Sabrina… Sabrina was just as interested as I was. She made a plan. She cared. She felt as much as I ddi, and wanted to know things and explore. I really had misjudged her. I dismissed her as someone who just wanted me, but…

Fuck, were these the rebound feelings people told me about? I knew we just had sex, and I just went through a breakup, but… maybe Megan was right, Nicole and I weren’t right for each other. There was a whole world out there. Was someone actually right for me hiding under my nose this whole time?

Sabrina eventually broke out into a little smile. “No? Too obvious? I can come up with another idea,” she offered.

“You’re amazing,” I mumbled.

She chuckled in confusion. “Huh?”

“Nothing, I just really like that,” I replied, composing myself. “It’s, uh, clever. I’ll do it now.” I pulled out my phone, and as I did, Sabrina got up close to me, next to my face. I looked from my phone to her, and she looked back at me, giving me an innocent smile and raising her eyebrows. 

I don’t know why I kissed her. Maybe it was that realization I had about her. Maybe it’s because I just went through a breakup and I was lonely. Maybe it was the same reason we had sex minutes before. All I knew was that even though she clearly didn’t see it coming at first and froze in place, she eventually melted and wrapped her arms around me, returning the kiss eagerly. Within seconds, we were on the bed, with me on top of her, our tongues wrestling, our hands needily groping each other, but hey, we still kept the door open, and thankfully, her dad never caught on. Even after we finally separated our mouths, with red and blushing faces, we were back to kissing almost immediately. And it would be another fifteen minutes before I ended up texting Nicole.

---

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