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In the Last Chapter…

Jason gets his computer taken away by his overly controlling parents, and while he’s in lonely agony, his little sister Hailey suggests he do an extracurricular activity. After some deliberation, he decides to join his high school’s Quiz Bowl team, led by the physics teacher, Mrs. Chadwick. Most of the members – Ryan, Jack, and Candy – are pretty friendly to him. One girl on the team, Rose, seems to be fairly standoffish. Another girl, a redheaded hipster named Sarah, seems interested in him, and talks with him at the library. She ends up revealing more than she planned, like that she and Ryan occasionally fool around on the side. Jason boldly admits he’s curious about her, and while Sarah doesn’t say no, she doesn’t promise anything. It still doesn’t stop a little light flirting between the two…

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I spent my weekend doing shit-all in my room. I didn’t know (and didn’t care) if my parents took the computer away to have me spend more time in the kitchen or living room or something, but if that was their plan, it totally backfired. Luckily, my trip to the library on Friday provided me with enough books to spend my weekend at least feeling like I was productive. 

I didn’t have any social media and my phone wasn’t able to easily text, so I was just kind of on my own. I expected to think about Sarah once or twice, but once Monday rolled around, I only remembered then that we had our conversation. I could only hope that she wouldn’t be weird about it.

The first person I locked eyes with when I entered the physics room was Rose. She was sitting down at the main desk, eating some kind of pasta. She didn’t meet my gaze with her trademark look of disdain, which I guess was nice, but there was definitely zero warmth in her eyes either. Next to her was Ryan, who gave me a small wave. I waved back, then went to sit at the alternates table.

“Where’s Chadwick?” I piped up.

“She’ll be here,” Jack answered casually, his powerful voice filling the room even with such a nonchalant statement. “Hey, what’s your at? I wanna add you.”

I shook my head. “I’m not on anything.”

Jack looked at me with surprise on his face. “Anything?” he repeated. “Instagram, Facebook, even Discord?”

I laughed. “Okay, yeah, I’m on Discord, but uh… my parents kinda just told me I’m not allowed on the computer.”

Ryan was now in this. “For how long?”

I shrugged. “They didn’t tell me. And when they don’t, you know it’s serious.”

“That sounds unfair,” Sarah added. Oh shit, Sarah was here too. I didn’t even notice. I looked at her to see a smile and the slightest hint of a blush on her face. “So it’s for a long time?”

“Maybe the rest of the year, I dunno,” I replied.

“Holy crap, what were you doing on that computer?” Jack laughed. “Launching nukes?”

“Or watching some serious porn,” Ryan laughed.

“Gross,” Rose grumpily cut in. “Don’t say that.”

Rose clearly held some kinda control over the group. As soon as she piped up, the group fell into a silence. “Anyway,” Jack began awkwardly, “isn’t there a mobile app for it?”

I reached into my pocket and flashed him my flip phone. He gawked and guffawed at the sight. “Holy shit!” he laughed. “Bro, how old are you?”

“How old are my parents?” I corrected him with an annoyed tone. “They come from the Dark Ages.” I rolled my eyes, putting away my phone, watching as the door opened and Chadwick hurried in.

“Hello, everyone. Sorry I’m a little late,” she began, unlocking a desk drawer and taking the buzzers out. “Are you all ready for Quiz Bowl today?”

“I’m running on five hours of sleep and have nothing to lose. Get ready to be obliterated,” Jack quipped, rubbing his eyes. 

Rose decided to give the rarest gift to Jack – the hint of a genuine smile. “Sarah’s going to wreck you,” she told Jack, smiling at her. Her smile was almost alien on her face. “She’s been going to the library to practice.”

Jack moved his arms out in an ‘oh wow, I’m so impressed’ way. “Wow, going to a building with books in it. That changes everything.” He smiled at her. “Nah, I’m kidding. You’re gonna destroy me.”

“Maybe he will too,” Sarah replied, pointing at me. “I saw him at the library too. He was reading all these trivia books and stuff.”

I blushed, but not for the reason everyone probably thought. Jeez. She was just gonna talk about seeing me, huh?

Rose’s smile faded when she turned from Sarah to me. She looked away and kept eating her pasta. Jack couldn’t help but cockily smile. “Tryhard,” he teased.

“You’re just saying that ‘cuz you’re gonna lose,” I teased back.

“I already know I’m gonna lose,” Candy said with a pout. 

“There won’t be any losing today,” Chadwick interjected, “because we’ll be playing as a team from this point forward.”

“Let’s go!” Jack cheered, voice full of enthusiasm.

“Oh wow, this is real. We’re practicing for it. Our first Regionals,” Sarah murmured.

I paused. “…So Hazelwood has never actually gone to a Quiz Bowl event?”

Chadwick looked at me, puzzled. “Yes we have,” she replied.

Sarah nudged me. “I meant, like, our first Regionals,” she added quietly. She met my gaze for a bit, then looked away. Jeez, I almost wish we hadn’t talked in the library. Being next to her, being able to smell her perfume, it just made me want to sneak another look at her ass.

“So, let’s have the first game be… Rose, would you like extra time to finish your food?”

“No, it’s okay,” Rose diligently replied, putting her tupperware away. “I’m ready to go.”

“Okay, the first game will be Rose, Jack, Ryan and Candy. Sarah and Jason, you two will be out, but one of you’ll be in next game.”

I shrugged, leaning against my chair. Sarah chuckled. “Guess you’ll have to wait until next game to see if going to the library beats getting less sleep.”

Jack laughed. He clearly saw himself as the main character of the group. Hey, if I had a voice like his, I’d like hearing the sound of my own voice too. Better than Ryan’s high-pitched voice. Or Rose’s…

Yeah, I couldn’t lie, Rose’s voice was hot. It was this lower almost scratchier voice, the voice of a girl you wouldn’t wanna mess with. Sarah’s voice was a lot higher, and always uncertain and dainty, but not in a ditzy way. Candy’s voice was like an excited kid, and that was cute. All three of the girls were cute, in their own way.

“Okay, so, you’ll still all have buzzers, but this time, your score isn’t tied to the individual. So if you aren’t sure of the answer, you can rely on your teammates instead of feeling the need to buzz in anyway. There will be another team during the competition, but remember, you aren’t playing against each other.”

I couldn’t help but look at Rose. She was too focused to look back at me.

“So, 40-point snap start to begin the round,” Chadwick began. “Who directed the films ‘Serpico’ and ‘12 Angry Men’?”

Jack buzzed in. “That would be Sidney Lumet.”

“Correct,” Chadwick replied, noting the score on her paper. “Although the largest of its zoological group, what shark species eats only plankton and small fish, and therefore is harmless to people?”

Rose buzzed in. “The whale shark.”

“Correct! If I scramble the letters of a word meaning ‘to specify or enumerate’, I will get a second word meaning ‘to swell, distend and expand’. What are these two words?”

The group paused. I wasn’t faring any better – nothing was coming to me. The ‘scramble the letters’ questions were dumb. All of a sudden, I felt a hot breath on my ear. “‘Detail’ and ‘dilate,’” I heard Sarah whisper to me. I couldn’t help but shudder slightly.

I hoped she didn’t notice. I turned to her and nodded. “Nice one,” I whispered back. She smiled.

***

“40-point open question. Periodic table,” Mrs. Chadwick read. “Give the symbol for zinc.”

“Give the…?” Jack piped up, clearly confused.

Candy buzzed in. “Zee en.”

“Correct, well done,” Chadwick replied. “Give the symbol for lawrencium.”

Candy buzzed in. “Ell arr.”

“Correct again. Give the symbol for cadmium.”

“See dee?” Candy asked without buzzing. She covered her mouth and hit the buzzer, while a few of us laughed. “See dee.”

“Correct,” Chadwick replied with a giggle of her own. “Finally, give me the symbol for zirconium.”

“Zee arr,” Candy answered.

Mrs. Chadwick smiled. “You’re clearly paying attention in chemistry class, well done Candace,” she told her. “That’s the round. The team scored 470 points.”

“Not even half,” Jack noted bitterly. “Well hey, I like this system. Now you all don’t know how bad I truly did.”

“You did pretty bad,” Rose pointed out.

Jack laughed. “Yeah,” he admitted. “Whatever. Nap time. Someone sub in for me.”

Sarah paused, then looked at me, then at Mrs. Chadwick. “Is one person going in, or two? I don’t know if we’re doing the two-person thing again.”

Ryan, Rose, and Candy all exchanged looks. Eventually, Candy broke into a nervous laugh. “I want to end on a high note. I’ll never get four questions in a row again. I’m happy to swap with someone.”

I glanced at the pride pin on her backpack, then noticed the way she looked at Sarah. I bet she’d like to swap something with someone. Y’know, like spit.

Sarah and I got into place and tested our buzzers, and the second round of questions began. “Again, this is a team game,” Chadwick reminded us. “All of you have your strengths, so remember, you’re no longer trying to compete to be the first one to get it right.”

“But also,” Ryan cut in, “when we do compete, there will be another team all trying to get their answers in, so don’t take too long either.”

“Um, yes, that’s true,” Chadwick awkwardly replied. “Okay, 40-point snap start to round one. In geology, what is the term for liquid water moving over the land surfaces without evaporating or infiltrating into the ground?”

I had no clue. I looked down at the desk in thought as Rose buzzed in. “Runoff.”

“Correct,” Chadwick replied. “Jamie Lee Curtis has a famous film star mother. Who is she?” The table paused. “Nobody? Three, two, one… The answer was Janet Leigh. On Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, what facial feature-”

Sarah buzzed in. “The eyebrows?”

Chadwick paused for a beat. “Correct.”

Rose gave Sarah the second appearance of her rare smile while Sarah just blushed. I guess Rose was cool with people buzzing in before the full question was read now. I glared at Rose, but she wasn’t looking at me. It was so clear how this was just Rose not liking me or whatever.

“What country has jurisdiction over Puerto Rico?”

I buzzed in. This one was stupidly easy. “The United States.”

“Correct! 40-point team question. Whichever team is first to answer the first 10-point question correctly will be eligible to answer the remaining ten-point questions in part two.”

I looked around the table and took advantage of the pause. “So how will that work here? Will it just be normal questions now that we’re a team, or should we simulate it by breaking into two teams of two, or-”

“Or maybe you could let Mrs. Chadwick tell us instead of always needing to talk over everyone and make it all about you,” Rose angrily replied, leaning in to look at me.

Okay, that was the fucking limit. I banged my fist down onto the desk, causing Sarah to yelp in shock, and turned to Rose. “So first it’s talking during games, which I’m not allowed to do but Candy is. Then I have to wait until Chadwick reads the whole question, but Sarah can go ahead. Now it’s this. I’m fucking curious, do you hate all men or are you just a bitch to me?”

The room set off like a box of fireworks, with everyone speaking at once.

“Jason, calm down,” Ryan said sternly.

“Woah, woah, dude, it ain’t that serious,” Jack called from the back of the room.

“Of course you just assume I hate men, why am I not surprised?” Rose sneered.

“…Stop…” Sarah said weakly.

“There’s no need for that kind of – everyone, please, can we settle down here?” Chadwick said, projecting her voice to make sure she was talking over everyone else. “Jason, there’s no need for that kind of language. Even if you’re frustrated, that’s no excuse to call another student that word. If we’re going to continue here, you’re going to need to tell Rose you’re sorry.”

“But she-!”

“Jason,” Chadwick cut in forcefully. 

There was a small pause and Jack piped up again. “You’re a gamer, aren’t ya?” his dry voice penetrated the silence. “It’s a rule of the game, man. You gotta show decent respect. And here, the b-word falls outside of decent respect.” Chadwick’s lack of a rebuke to his statement communicated she seemed to agree with what he said.

I thought a guy like him would take my side, but I guess it was nice he tried to explain it to me. Whatever. I turned to Rose, who I thought would have a triumphant smile, but still had a scowl on her face. I sighed. “Yeah, I’m sorry,” I told her with very little feeling in her voice. She said nothing in return.

Another heavy silence carried throughout the room before Chadwick spoke up again. “And Rose…” she continued, making Rose turn towards her in alarm. “…While Jason’s use of language was not acceptable, it is true that you’ve been policing his behavior in a way that singles him out. It’s true that you keep letting your friends do things and calling him out when he does it. You don’t have to like him, and you don’t have to like her, but you do need to treat each other as equals.”

“Um, I was just letting him know about the rules,” Rose rebutted with a tone like what she was saying was obvious.

“Yes, but that’s not what I’m talking about. You were telling him what to do while letting your friends get away with the same thing. Jason was not right to get angry at you, but he’s right to feel confused or frustrated. And if he just let you know that this hypocrisy was frustrating him without using such harsh language…” She turned to me and looked at me meaningfully. “…He’d have made a great point. It’s unfortunate he let his anger get the best of him.”

My face scrunched up in anger. Seriously?? That was her fucking argument? I looked around the table, expecting my eyes to focus on Rose, but instead, I eyed Sarah first and saw… something unexpected. Her eyes were closed, like, squeezed shut, like she was trying to stop herself from crying. She was breathing heavily, and one of her hands was down by her side, nervously opening and closing again. She looked really not okay.

I looked at her for a bit, then had a weird revelation. I guess how I felt wasn’t really that important if I wanted to get justice. I didn’t need to show I was pissed. I could be pissed, and I fucking was, but even just to get what I wanted, I needed to paly by the rules of the game, as Jack suggested. Maybe taking the high road (even if it was lying) was the best option.

Since no one had said anything yet, I turned to Rose and shrugged. “Yeah, okay, I was totally out of line to call you a bitch. I don’t think you hate men or whatever, I just get angry and say whatever. I’ll work on that. But yeah, this stuff feels really unfair to me.”

“There we go, that was much better, Jason,” Chadwick supportively said.

“Good for you, bro, that was nice,” Jack called from the back of the room. All eyes then turned to Rose.

“Seriously?!” Rose snapped, clearly losing her own cool in that moment. “He calls me a bitch, then gives an apology for it and now it’s like he’s even better than if he never said it at all?! Can’t you tell he’s just trying to make himself look good?”

The guy who loved the sound of his own voice decided to address Rose. “Well, I mean,” Jack started, “Even on the first day the guy was asking why you hated him or whatever. And if I’m bein’ completely honest, from his POV, I can kinda see it,” he admitted.

Rose looked incredulously around the room, then rolled her eyes. “I think I’m just going to go home,” she half-heartedly announced, picking up her backpack and gunning for the door. All around the room, everybody was vocal about making her stay, but nothing deterred her. She went out the door, and that was that.

“Jeez,” I scoffed. 

“D-do you think we won’t see her again?” Candy asked timidly.

“Nah, I bet she’ll be back next practice,” Ryan said assertively, arms folded. 

I wasn’t sure about that, but it wasn’t like I wanted her gone or anything. I just wanted her to stop being such a bitch. It was a reasonable thing to ask. Chadwick sighed and shook her head. “I guess we should just continue the game for now,” she admitted, then looked at me. “Before we do, can I please have your assurance that we won’t be having any more moments like those?”

“Yeah, yeah, no problem, I’ll keep it under wraps,” I promised. Again, not because she didn’t deserve to be told she was being a bitch, but because that’s the rules of being in Quiz Bowl. 

“Good,” Chadwick replied. “Because even if you’re getting angry at her behavior, communicating that you’re upset and why will always be better than resorting to name-calling.”

Jeez, I already promised. What did she want, blood?

“Okay, so, 40-point team question. Whichever team is first to answer the first 10-point question correctly will be eligible to answer the remaining ten-point questions in part two. Since you’re all a team, and since we’re a person down, Candace, you’ll go back in, and it’ll just be treated as a normal 40-point scramble question for now. Part one, scramble for ten points…”

***

The Quiz Bowl meeting never really recovered after that. The awkwardness hung in the air like a big thick scratchy blanket. Even though there were a few laughs and moments of triumph, it was still kind of quiet. Plus, I could sense that despite my, to be honest, pretty great apology, the people there were still kinda pissed at me. 

Candy was the first to leave after we’d begun to wrap it up, quietly picking up her backpack and leaving. Shortly after, Sarah asked Ryan if she could get a ride with him, and the two left together. I couldn’t help but sneak a look at her backside as she left behind him. God, Ryan was one lucky bastard.

That left just me and Jack. Chadwick had to lock up the room, so the two of us went to the hallway, and Jack put on his backpack and gave a really loud yawn. “Ugh, son of a bitch,” he mumbled to himself sleepily.

“Hey, woah there dude, don’t use that word around here,” I joked with him, hoping to inject some humor into the situation. Unfortunately, he only responded by giving me the ‘Really?’ face.

“Oh, come on,” I complained.

“Jason, you’re neat, but you really gotta learn to read the room, dude,” Jack told me. “You’re sure as hell not doing any favors for the gamer stereotype by banging your fist on tables and accusing women that don’t like you of hating all men. I get along with Rose just fine.”

“I’m so happy for you,” I grumpily replied. “I already apologized. Twice.”

“Yeah, and the second time, you actually put in effort to boot,” he replied, giving me a cheeky smile. “These things take time, man. And in the meantime, if you’re gonna pretend like everything is fine, I got no problem being the one to tell you that, uh, you can’t just pretend everything is fine and all is forgiven. This was one of our first times even seeing you, dude.”

“So what are you saying?” I asked, now walking with him towards the front of the school.

“I don’t even know. I’m too sleepy to make, like, good thoughts,” he admitted, running his hands through his hair as he walked. “I guess I’m saying that Clementine will remember that.”

I chuckled. “Wow, you’re really making an effort to appeal to like, one part of me.”

“Yeah, y’know, being a gamer is like, your one personality trait, right?” he asked with a wink. “Nah, I’m just fucking with you. But you get it. I know a lot of us are down to be your friends, but you gotta understand that for every red flag you throw up, you gotta throw up two green flags for us to feel comfy letting our guards down. It’s just how people are.”

“And why do you think I need you to explain to me how talking to people works?” I asked grumpily.

“See? Red flag,” Jack retorted with a joking tone. “Nah, fair enough. Sorry if I’m being condescending. I’m sure you get it. Your first meeting, it was actually really cool how quickly you immediately gelled with us.”

“I… did?” I asked. I didn’t even think about that. That felt good. “Cool, thanks.”

“Aaaand bam,” Jack continued.

“Huh?”

“I just offended you with the whole ‘how talking to people works’ thing, so I apologized and highlighted how cool you are at the first meet. One red flag, two green.”

I chuckled. “So you’re back to being condescending.”

“Nah man, you’re my equal, I’m just demonstrating my point since the first time I said it, I clearly said some shit wrong,” he explained. “I’m not trying to talk down to you, but I am trying to say some stuff younger me might appreciate. Plus, I like you, and I want the rest of the Quiz Bowl team to like you too.”

I scoffed. “Yeah, okay. Rose might be a lost cause.”

“Might,” Jack admitted, then stopped and looked at me meaningfully. “Might not.” He paused, looking ahead at the front doors, then looked again at me with a sly expression. “Besides, it’s obvious that Rose isn’t the one you wanna impress.”

“Huh?” I asked, confused.

“I could be wrong, but it sure seems like you got it bad for Sarah,” he told me.

“Uh… jeez. That’s a weird thing to say,” I replied, weirded out. 

“Hey, if I’m wrong, my bad,” he said casually. “Anyway, I think I see my ride. I’m gonna jet. Later!” He waved to me and I lazily waved back as I watched him jog away out the school doors. I didn’t know what he meant by me ‘having it bad for Sarah,’ but at least I set the record straight. I didn’t have it bad for Sarah.

***

With no computer and nothing to do after school three days of the school week, I decided to get really familiar with the library. I didn’t even see myself as one of those ‘oh, look at me, I like to read books’ type, and yet, here I was, reading a trivia book.

“Excuse me,” I heard a gentle voice from behind me. I turned around to see it was the library. “Sorry to disturb you. Just letting you know that the library will be closing in about ten minutes,” she added in a hushed voice.

“Got it,” I flatly told her, then lazily watched as she went around to other people, telling them the library was closing. I raised my eyebrows when I recognized a particular backside – I had practice looking at it – Sarah’s. 

I stared at her for a bit, then shrugged. Why not? With a sigh, I got up and approached her. “Uh, hey,” I awkwardly began. “I’m surprised we didn’t sit together again.”

“Hello,” she told me, and gave me a polite smile. “Did you need something?”

“Uh, no,” I replied, my eyes shifting.

“Okay then,” she replied gently. “Well, the library is closing soon, so I should probably get my things.” She began putting her books into her bag, avoiding eye contact with me the whole time.

“Um, okay?” I replied, a little weirded out. What, she could approach me but I couldn’t approach her? That was weird. “Is something wrong, or…?”

Sarah looked at me with a stern face. “Um, yes,” she replied. “I didn’t really like how you talked to Rose yesterday.”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh come on,” I sighed exasperatedly. “I apologized for it already, and plus, Chadwick herself basically agreed Rose was treating me unfair.”

“Yeah, and that part is fine,” Sarah replied, nodding. “I just… I dunno.”

We paused for a bit. I looked around me. No one was nearby. “We were pretty open with each other on Friday.” I shrugged. “Go ahead. Be open with me now.”

“Yeah, but that’s different,” she argued. “Telling you about my personal life on my terms is, like, way crazy different than telling you that you… that I didn’t like something you did.”

I chuckled grimly. “I mean, it’s obvious you’re pissed at me,” I argued back. “Whatever. Tell me. I won’t hit the desk or anything.”

I tried to say that as a joke, but clearly, she didn’t take it like that. She hunched her shoulders in. “It’s just that… well, I dunno. If a girl is being unfair to you and your first reaction is to hit a table and say she just hates all boys… like, that was your first reaction. And what she was doing was, like, probably annoying, but not all that awful. So what does it look like when you actually get mad at someone?”

I opened my mouth, and then paused. I thought about my mom the last time she got really angry with me, then closed my eyes and shook my head to clear the thought away. “I dunno,” I eventually said.

“Yeah,” she replied, punctuating her own point. 

I sat down on the chair next to her. “But I mean, it wasn’t the first time. She pulled that shit three different times.”

“Look, I…” Sarah cupped her hands over her face and breathed a few times, then put her hands back into her lap. She continued to speak with her eyes closed. “If that’s the first time you got angry and that’s how you reacted, it kind of makes you… scary.”

“So what, everything that happened before just doesn’t count?” I asked.

I expected her to scowl at that, but to my surprise, she smiled and rolled her eyes. “Come on, Jason,” she laughed. “Of course everything before that counts. This just counts too.” Her smile faded. “You’re nice to talk to when you’re in a good mood, but at the same time, you’ve kind of made it clear you’re not nice to be around when you’re in a bad mood.”

I cocked my head. “…Isn’t that just… doesn’t that apply to everyone when they’re in a bad mood? That’s what being in a bad mood means.”

She shook her head. “Believe it or not, some people are still kind and respectful to other people when they’re in bad moods. They’re patient and sweet and-”

“Doesn’t sound like me,” I pointed out.

She laughed. “I think I can agree with that,” she murmured.

“Well hey, I said I’m sorry, and plus, I’m in a good mood now,” I told her. “Do you wanna try again?”

“Try again?” Sarah repeated.

“Yeah. You know, hang out.” I paused. “…If you want.”

Sarah didn’t say anything for a bit. Eventually, someone cleared their throat from behind us. “Excuse me,” the librarian’s voice greeted my ears. “The library is closing now. I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you two to leave.”

“Of course,” Sarah replied politely and quietly, nodding her head. “We’re sorry.”

I wasn’t sorry, but sure. The two of us picked up our things and walked out of the library before Sarah spoke again. “Well, we’re out of the library. What do you want to do?”

“Actually?” I asked. I couldn’t help but be surprised.

She nodded. “You’re right, to some extent. You’re still intriguing, even if you had that scary episode. Plus, maybe if you get to know us better, events like that won’t happen anymore.”

“Well, I don’t want them to happen anymore regardless,” I replied instinctively. 

She smiled at me. “Good,” she replied, then looked around. “I dunno… Cafe? There’s a cafe over on the next street.”

“What’s it called?”

“No idea,” she replied. 

And that was that. We didn’t need to say anything more. Before the two of us knew it, we were heading to the little cafe with no name. Even when we got there, we didn’t bother to learn what its name was.

***

“30-point open question, classic literature,” Chadwick began. “Who authored the novel Dracula?”

Rose buzzed in. “Bram Stoker.”

“Correct! Who authored the novel The Hobbit?”

I buzzed in. “J.R.R. Tolkien.”

“Correct. Who authored the novel To Kill a Mockingbird?”

I buzzed in again, and by the looks on everyone’s faces, so did the other three. “Harper Lee.”

“Correct again. Well done, everyone. This concludes the round. Your total score comes out to 590 points.”

“Over half,” Jack announced, then shrugged. “Not terrible.”

Rose looked at Jack and nodded, then looked at everyone at the table, one by once. Except for me, of course. So, I decided to play by the rules of the game, and cleared my throat. “Rose, you, uh, you did really well today. You’re really smart.”

Rose finally looked at me, completely blankly. “I know,” she eventually said, and paused. “You’re really fast on the buzzer. I wish I was as quick as you.”

“No one’s as quick as Jason,” Jack added enviously.

“There’s a joke there,” Ryan thought out loud. 

“Let’s not,” Sarah replied, half-laughing, half-serious. “Great game, guys. I don’t feel as bad about not doing great when it’s a team game.”

“You did great, Sarah,” Ryan added coaxingly. I bet he only said that because they were fooling around on the side. Everyone started packing away their things and leaving, with Candy leaving first, then Jack, then Ryan and Sarah, which just left me in the room alone with Rose. I guess Chadwick was there, but she was a teacher. It was her job to blend into the background. 

“Hey, Rose?” I got up the courage to say.

“What?” she asked, stopping packing her bag with a hand on her hip.

“I’m sorry for saying that stuff a few days ago. I just got angry. I actually think you’re a pretty cool person, it’s just that sometimes I don’t know what to say.”

“What, you’re saying I’m intimidating or something?” she asked, weirded out.

If I were being honest, yes, in every sense of the word she was. But something inside me told me not to mention that part. “No, you seem… approachable? Maybe trustworthy. Like, you don’t waste time, but that’s cool. I just don’t know what to say sometimes in general so I feel like I need whatever I should say to you to be important.”

She lowered an eyebrow, and smiled sarcastically. “And this is what you deem is ‘important,’ huh?”

I shook my head. “No, but apologizing is, and letting you know I respect you.” I didn’t know what had come over me, but it felt necessary to say.

She paused. “You already apologized,” she finally told me, and scooped her bag over her shoulder. She started to walk out of the room and then stopped, turning on her heels. “I just get angry sometimes too. It happens. It’s nice that our team is able to go to regionals this year, so I guess, thanks.” She turned back and walked out of the room.

When the room was closed, I turned to Chadwick. “Hey, look at that, we’re talking like human beings,” I quipped.

She laughed. “It’s nice to see, Jason. Thank you for putting in the effort.”

“Thank Sarah,” I honestly admitted. “She put the idea in my head to actually talk to her.” Chadwick nodded in acknowledgement and I left, casually saying goodbye to Chadwick as I left. Hey, progress was progress. Rose saying “thanks” to me felt more exhilarating in a weird way than Sarah giving me that “maybe in the future” speech she gave. Not to mention, even though nothing could replace my online friends, it was nice to have some friends in my life again.

***

“What is it?! Are you not trying? Are you just stupid? Is it our fault for raising a stupid son?” My dad demanded, looking at my midterm report card.

My mom sighed. “Dear, I think he’s just trying to punish us for taking away his computer privileges. He’s not stupid, but he is…” She looked right at me. “…Unkind.”

I looked down at the floor, not saying anything. I hated this. I always hated this time of year. Why were C’s and D’s even bad? I was going to pass. When it comes down to it, that’s what matters most in school anyways, right? Wasn’t it the school’s job to make sure every student does their best, anyways? Mom was half-right, I wasn’t stupid. 

I looked up, and decided to forego my usual strategy of banging on the table to get their attention. “I’m tryin-”

“Not hard enough!” My dad roared. “You’re not trying hard enough! Don’t you dare tell me you’re trying when this is what you come home with!” He waved the report card in my face.

“Maybe…” My mom began thoughtfully. “Maybe we’re giving him too much flexibility. Maybe if we make him get right home after school, he-”

“Wait, that’s not fair!” I cut in worriedly. “I have no computer, and now I can’t see my friends?! That’s like, deliberately cutting me off from everyone!”

“Do not interrupt your mother!” Dad chastised me.

“What friends, Jason?” Mom cut in, like she was making some great point.

I breathed in and out. “After school, I go to meetings for the Quiz Bowl team.” I paused, and was met with blank stares. “You signed a form, remember?” More blank stares. “Anyways, I’ve been talking to them, and even hanging out with them at the library. You wanted me to make real friends, and now I have! So, if you make me come home right after school, isn’t that going against what you wanted in the first place?” I normally was yelling at my parents by now. This was new.

My mom paused, then looked back at my dad with purpose. Was this it? Was this the moment she was going to see fucking reason?

“Do you recall signing a form?” she asked my dad. He shook his head, and she turned back to me. “We would like to see this form, Jason.”

I looked at her weirdly. “I already submitted it. I don’t have it anymore. That’s the… that’s the point of a form.”

Mom looked at me for a second, then her eyes widened in anger. She reached over and smacked me on the back of the head. 

“Ow!” I instinctively wailed, moving forward and hunching my shoulders up.

“Do not talk back to us!” she exclaimed. “If we said we want to see the form, then get it for us! If the teacher has it, you can ask the teacher. You do not get to talk back to us like we’re fucking idiots, Jason!” She struck me on the back of the head again. “Now tell us you’re sorry!”

“I’m sorry!” I practically screamed, clutching the back of my head. 

She sighed angrily. “Why do you always want to debate and nitpick every little thing? Why can’t you just say, ‘okay, I’ll do this, no problem’? Is that so hard?”

“I’m sorry!” I repeated again. It sure seemed like that was the only sentence they could ever hear from me. 

***

I shuffled into the Quiz Bowl meeting on Monday, dreading the equal parts uncomfortable and awkward conversation. After greeting the group, I turned to Chadwick. “Hey, um… you know that form I had to sign to be here?”

She looked at me weirdly. “Yes?”

“Yeah, uh, can I please have it back?” I asked awkwardly. 

Her look didn’t get any less weirded out. “Uh, I’m sorry, I can’t do that. It’s with the school documents now, they need to keep tabs on these things.”

“Oh, okay. Could you, um, photocopy it maybe?”

“I…” She paused. “Why?”

“Uh, so, there’s this thing. My, uh, parents, don’t remember signing the form, and they…” I started rubbing my eyes, pretending I was sleepy. “They, uh, d-don’t remember signing the f-form, and if I…” Rubbing my eyes wasn’t working. Plan B. Open backpack, turn around. “Hmm, where was the…?” I pretended to search for something as I cleared my throat and continued. “I-if I don’t show them the form, they’re going to forbid me from coming back t-to Quiz Bowl.”

No one said anything for a bit. “They think you’re lying about going to Quiz Bowl, the most geeky club of them all?” Jack asked. Now was not the time to joke around. I looked around to shoot him an angry look, only to see him with a deadly serious expression. What the hell was he playing at? 

“I’ll, uh… that sounds unusual, Jason. Is everything okay?” Chadwick eventually asked.

“Yeah, everything’s fine, of course it is,” I instinctually replied. “So can you just do it?”

Jack cleared his throat. “Sounds like a reasonable request to me. Hey Jason, I just remembered this one thing, mind if I talk to you in the hallway real quick?” I didn’t even turn around. I felt his hand pat my shoulder once in a friendly way as he casually sauntered outside. What the hell was his game? Not wanting to wait to find out, I followed him and shut the door behind me.

“What’s going on?” I asked, still rubbing my eye. 

Jack was leaning against the wall, looking straight forward. He breathed in and out a few times, then spoke. “Just wanted to say, if you ever needed to get away from the house, you can crash on my couch. Any night. No questions asked.”

I gave him a weird look. “…Huh?”

“Bro, stop pretending,” he told me assertively, looking me in the eye. “I dunno if the others can tell, but I sure can. Whatever’s going on, it’s clearly a lot. Offer’s open anytime.”

I didn’t know why, but I didn’t want to give up my facade. “Um, okay?” I told him with a weirded-out tone. “Whatever that means. I don’t even know you, dude. Thanks, but I’ll be fine. I have a house already.” I gave him a little polite smile and walked back into the room. He quickly followed.

Chadwick let me know she would do what she could, and started to set up the first game. I elected to stay behind as an alternate with Sarah. I watched as the first few questions were asked, and out of nowhere, I felt an intrusion at my shoulder. A strike. Immediately, I hunched in my shoulders and threw my hand up to deflect the blow.

It was Sarah’s finger, tapping on my shoulder. I stared at it. That’s all it was. A silly little finger, gently prodding me. She clearly had a smile on her face when she started tapping on my shoulder, but as I looked at her now, her smile was fading fast, giving way to a concerned stare. I looked at her, then at the game – thankfully no one playing the game noticed – then down at the floor.

***

“I need to talk to you,” Sarah chased me down as I speedwalked down the hallway towards the exit. 

“Isn’t Ryan giving you a ride home?” I dismissed her, not stopping. 

“Not that it’s any of your business, but he isn’t,” she rebutted, sighing angrily and jogging to get in front of me. “I need to talk to you,” she repeated, stopping in front of me, forcing me to stop too.

“About what?” I spat, trying to move around her.

She blocked me from passing her. “To say I’m sorry,” she informed me.

I didn’t care. “Sorry about what?”

“I don’t blame you for getting mad at Rose,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “It wasn’t even Rose you were mad at, was it?”

I looked at her weirdly. “No, it was,” I told her. “She was mean, I called her out, and yes, it was a bit much. Jeez, you overthinkers love to make a huge deal out of everything, don’t you?”

She closed her eyes and stood in place in reaction to what I said. Whatever. I took it as an opportunity to continue walking towards the exit. I maybe made it ten seconds before I heard frantic footsteps and her huffing to catch up with me again. Jeez, she was insistent.

“Jason, I’m trying to help you and understand you here,” she insisted, keeping up her pace.

“Well, I don’t want either of those things,” I barked. “Just leave me alone.”

“Do you just never want to talk about it?” she asked.

“There is no ‘it’ to talk about! There is no ‘it’! What’s with you people?! You and Jack?!”

Something in Sarah’s eyes made me stop and wait for her answer instead of continuing to walk away. She took a slow inhale. “Jack’s going out with a girl whose parents are… y’know…” She hit the back of her hand against her other palm. 

“That must be awful for her,” I told her dismissively. I started to walk away, then stopped. “You know what, suppose that even was happening with me. Did it ever occur to you to actually think and realize some people don’t want to talk about it? Maybe it’s, jeez, I dunno, a sensitive topic?!”

She closed her eyes but nodded. “And that’s where your anger comes from. I get it.”

I shook my head at her in disbelief. “What are you, my fucking savior? Just leave me alone!! Why can’t you just leave me alone?! Are you just stupid or are you trying to be unk-”

Shit.

I looked at Sarah and saw her standing there with clenched fists and eyes squeezed shut. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I didn’t know what to say. So I did what anyone in my situation would have done; I turned and ran away.

***

I hoped I wouldn’t see Sarah at the library. I even sat at a new spot, hoping she wouldn’t show up. The second floor. No one but uber-nerds and old people ever went to the second floor. So when I saw Sarah emerging from the staircase, I kind of suspected that she was looking for me. 

I rolled my eyes when I saw her, but secretly, some part of me was kind of grateful to see her here. I was trying to avoid her, but I also… wasn’t. It would have sucked if she never talked to me again after that whole episode in the hallway. I put my book down and hesitantly waved to her, earning myself a little hesitant wave right back. It was like we were mirror images of awkwardness. 

“Hey,” she eventually said when we were close enough to each other.

“Sup?” I asked her as casually as I could.

She sat down across from me at the table, eventually sighing and putting her hands in front of her, like she was gripping the table for dear life. “So… I’m sorry,” she began.

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “I was the dick and you’re telling me you’re sorry?”

“You were right. Some people want to keep things private, and I totally wasn’t respecting that,” she admitted.

“So what?” I spat. “Maybe that’s true, but it doesn’t give people the right to just yell at people.”

“You were just stating your boundaries!” she argued.

“Yeah? Well, you were just curious!” I argued back.

“I shouldn’t have insisted like that!” she continued.

“And I shouldn’t have yelled at you or Jack when you were both trying to help me, or yelled at Rose that one time, or done like half the things I did when I was pissed off. We ‘shouldn’t have done’ like half the things we’ve ever done in our lives, Sarah. But where the fuck would we be if we didn’t do them anyway?”

I looked at her. She looked back with this sparkle in her eye. “Where did that come from?” she asked quietly yet with intrigue in her voice.

I shrugged. “Dunno,” I replied honestly. “You came here for me, am I right?”

She leaned back in her chair, scoffing at me yet with a smile on her face. “Um, where did you get an idea like that?”

“What else would you be doing on the second floor?” I challenged her.

Her smile faded. “So… were you on the second floor because you wanted to avoid me?”

I shrugged again. “I wanted to avoid talking about it, but I guess sometimes you just gotta face y-”

“No, it’s okay,” she admitted. “You don’t have to say anything you don’t want to. I want you to be comfortable, and I guess I already made a mistake there once.”

I paused. “If that’s the case, would you mind not interrupting me? I kind of have a thing about that.”

Sarah reacted instantly, sitting straight up in her chair. “Oh, uh, yeah. I’m sorry.”

“Cool. I’m sorry too for being a hotheaded dick,” I admitted with a nod. “We good?”

“We’re good,” she confirmed. We didn’t say anything for a bit, and her eyes began to wander around the library. I waited for her to say something, but she just… didn’t. At one point she even met my gaze and just smiled, like she was just happy to be there or something. I couldn’t figure this girl out.

So instead, I opened my mouth. “Yeah, so, my parents aren’t the best,” I admitted. “They don’t even bother to see things from my point of view. They raise their voices, they cuss, and m- dad sometimes…” I raised my hand and did a slapping motion. I didn’t know why I chose to say “dad” at the last moment. It was a complete lie.

She nodded sorrowfully, her face transforming in empathetic pain when listening to my story. “You know there’s people you could call if you…” she trailed off. I waited for a bit for her to finish and she added, “…if it’s really serious.”

I shook my head. “It’s not that bad. They’re just dicks, to be honest.”

“Yeah, you say that, but what if…” She trailed off again, but this time, she squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. “Sorry, I’m doing the same thing again. I’ll stop.”

I looked at her for a while. “It’s cool,” I eventually told her. “Like, it’s fine. You can even keep doing it if you want.”

She smiled at me like we were sharing some kind of in-joke. “What were you reading?”

I picked up my book. “It’s, uh, a book about video game art design. It’s kinda dumb. Not your thing.”

“Hey, you don’t know that,” she replied warmly. “Video games are neat.”

“Do you play video games?” I asked her, gingerly picking up the book.

She moved to my side of the table. “Uh, not, like, a lot, but I play one or two,” she admitted. “I was kind of into Nintendo when I was a kid. And there’s this one game that came out in February called Stardew Valley…”

“Oh shit, I know that! The one with the pixel-y art style, right?” I asked excitedly.

“I mean, it has pixels, yeah,” she laughed, and leaned into the book I was reading. Her shoulder touched against mine. It felt really nice. “I don’t recognize any of these though. You must be, like, one of those hardcore gamers.”

I laughed out loud. “I don’t even know what that means,” I admitted, daring to not pull my shoulder away like my instincts told me to do. 

“Yeah, guess I don’t either,” she admitted, then looked from the book to me. She didn’t move in, but didn’t pull away either. “You okay?”

“Uh, yeah,” I admitted, shifting back to reality, pulling myself away from her. She smiled, and even started giggling. “…What?” I finally asked.

“I shouldn’t say it,” she admitted.

“No, I’m serious. What?”

“You’re, uh, blushing really hard over there,” she admitted, a smile painted on her face.

“Well, you were all close to me and…” I trailed off, mumbling the whole way. Shit, I felt my face get hotter. I was totally blushing. 

“Oh, is that why?” she asked with a twinkle in her eye and something in her voice. Jeez, she could at least pretend she wasn’t enjoying this. 

I mean, whatever. We had this conversation once, kinda. I guess I could push the envelope. “Well, yeah. You’re cute, and you were leaning in like that.”

“I’m cute, huh?” she asked, smiling again.

I felt my face get hotter. Jeez, it really needed to fucking stop with that. “Yes. I already admitted to that stuff the first time we were in the library.”

“Oh, I remember,” she practically teased. “I don’t recall you calling me cute before.” We both paused. “Hey, not saying it’s a bad thing. I bet most girls think a guy being confident is pretty hot.”

I looked at her again, and watched the smile on her face slowly fade. I stared at her the whole time. I hesitated, then leaned in, and next thing I knew, I was kissing her.

It wasn’t anything huge, just a simple closed-mouth kiss. It lasted a few seconds, then our lips slowly parted. “Shit,” I mumbled.

“What’s wrong?” she asked in a quiet voice.

“Nothin’,” I admitted. “That was just… really good.” It almost didn’t seem real. We just kissed. Out of nowhere. Just like that.

“Yeah, this is nice,” she admitted right back in a quiet voice. I grabbed her face and kissed her again, my hands going to her shoulders and pulling her in closer to me. Our lips parted again, and both of us looked each other in the eyes, both of our chests moving with our breathing. Both of us were out of breath.

“Is Ryan gonna be mad?” I breathed.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” she breathed back. “I can do whatever I want with whoever I want.”

“There’s not much we can do in a library though,” I admitted, wanting to look around but never losing eye contact with her.

“Weird way of asking if we can go back to my place, Jason,” she admitted with a nervous chuckle.

“I didn’t-” I nearly yelped, causing her to burst into a fit of giggles. We finally broke away from each other, with me giggling too. I was definitely blushing, but at least by this point she was blushing too. “Shit. I mean, if I did ask you if you wanted to go back to y-”

“Jason, I- oh wait, sorry. Interrupting. I’m sorry. Go ahead.” Sarah started playing with her hands and looking away.

“Uh, no, hey, no, it’s cool. It’s cool, really,” I told her quickly. “You knew what I was saying anyways.”

“Yeah, but you told me not to-”

“It’s different when – shit, now I did it. Well, hey, there, we’re even. Anyway, you knew what I was asking, so, uh, go ahead.”

She chuckled again, eyeing the floor. “You really want an answer, don’t you?” She looked back at me, her eyes gleaming. “Well, I hate to disappoint, but no. Not today.”

I nodded. “Yeah. Totally. Jeez, I didn’t mean to…” I trailed off, then motioned to her to speak.

“Trust me, the faster you get into this shit, the worse it gets,” she admitted. “And it can blow up soooo fast.”

“This shit?” I asked.

She looked down at the floor in giddy exasperation. “This whole… ‘doing things’ thing.” She looked up at me, frustrated by my silence. “Like when you kiss your friends, dinkus. The faster you go with it, the worse it ends up.”

“I guess you’ve got experience,” I replied, nodding.

“Well also, just look at the popular kids and how much drama they get up to,” she reasoned. “And it affects, like, everything. Remember that thing that happened a year and a bit ago? The Double Down or whatever they called it?”

Yeah, I remembered that. I would have called that way more than ‘drama.’ I couldn’t help but give her a look. “Jeez. Kinda tasteless to bring that up, don’t you think?”

She shrugged. “I’m just saying, they were the type.”

I didn’t lose my look. “And what, we’ll end up just like that?”

“No, I was just – okay, yes, it was a bad example,” she conceded, rolling her eyes. “But yeah, hard ‘no’ to going back to my place. Sorry.”

I shrugged. “Don’t apologize. This is… this is cool ‘n shit, but… you know.” I started fidgeting, and looked away. When I looked back at Sarah, she was smiling again.

“The blush is back,” she reported. 

“Thanks for the update,” I scoffed, then looked around. Almost nobody was up here. Slowly, I looked back at Sarah. “So, no to your place, but like… there’s still a lot of space around here.”

Sarah gained an intrigued look on her face. “Go on.”

“Well… jeez, this is weird… maybe this is dumb.” I looked back at the table, and didn’t say anything more.

“I think I heard once that girls like when boys are confident,” Sarah said out loud, a bit of a teasing flair garnishing her voice.

“Yeah, from you, like, a minute ago,” I grumbled, scratching the back of my neck. “Aren’t you older than me? Maybe you should take charge,” I added, still looking at the table.

“No,” she told me flatly. I looked up at her to see she was smiling. “What are you going to do about it?”

I paused, looking at her. “If I go too far, will you get upset?” I asked.

“I’ll tell you when I’m at my limit, but if you’re good to me, no, I won’t get upset,” she replied diligently, her smile only getting bigger when I grabbed her hand. We left our bags at the table and went to the reference section, the most boring and underpopulated section in the library. I barely needed to drag Sarah along; she was happy to walk practically alongside me in the library, never letting go of my hand the whole time.

“Fuck, this is crazy,” I admitted, allowing us to lose ourselves amongst the shelves of books. “I never thought I’d be in this situation with an older girl.”

She rolled her eyes. “When’s your birthday?”

“March ninth, why?” I asked her with a weirded-out expression.

“I’m a December baby. We’re basically the same age,” she pointed out with a smile. “If you need to, pretend you’re older than me. What would you do if you were?”

I looked around us. We were in a pretty sectioned-off area of the library. Shelves hid us on two sides, and tight walls flanked us on either side. It was poorly designed for people to walk around in, but just perfect for two silly kids to try and see what they could get away with in a library. 

“I guess I would do… something like this…” I breathed, trying to ignore how nervous I was. With every inch I got closer to Sarah’s face, my heart went from beating faster to ‘attempting to launch itself out of my chest.’ But still, I needed to look good in this situation, and plus, she said she’d tell me if I went too far. Before my lips even touched Sarah, I snaked my hands around her waist until they reached her lower back. She was standing next to one of the bookshelves, but with a single motion, I pulled her by her back away from the bookshelf, towards me, with her stopping just an inch away from my lips.

Her eyes took on a new look as they looked into mine. “Oh, wow,” she murmured.

She really did like confident guys. Well, it was time to pretend to know what I was doing. I pulled her in and planted a full kiss on her lips, leaning in and closing the space between us, keeping our lips locked the entire time.

Sarah may have been shy, but she was not new to this. After what was I guess her shock wore off, she slipped her arms around my neck and pulled me into her right back, while we kissed over and over. My inner cynic thought she would pull her body away from mine, but instead she assisted in closing the gap, with both of our bodies now pressing against each other. She definitely was shy in some ways, but here and now, she was giving me a run for my money.

So what else could I do? I wanted to be bold, and she and I both knew I couldn’t get her butt off my mind anyway. Slowly, waiting for her to pull away any second, I slipped my hands lower and lower down her body until my hands were filled with her amazing thick ass, barely contained in her jeans.

As I suspected, she broke off our kissing, only to look at me smugly. “I knew you’d go for my butt,” she told me gently. “You look at it so much.”

I blushed and looked away. “Jeez,” was all I could think to say.

She laughed. “Maybe make it less obvious during Quiz Bowl, but hey…” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “We’re not at Quiz Bowl right now, are we?” She raised her eyebrows twice, giggled, and we immediately went back to kissing, now with my hands on her ass.

Even in my fantasies – and at this point there were a few in my head – I didn’t think her ass would feel this good. I thought it would feel full but kind of loose, but her ass was surprisingly tight and firm, especially for its size. It was like it was made to be grabbed, and based on the little eager noises Sarah was making into the kiss, she wouldn’t exactly disagree.

I couldn’t help myself. I was already throbbing hard and probably leaking precum, and my hands were on her ass anyways, so as we kissed, I started moving her ass forwards into me while grinding back onto her. I felt a few of her muscles tense up and opened my eyes to see her eyes open too. She looked at me for a few seconds before rolling her eyes playfully and fluttering them closed, grinding back against me. As if it wasn’t hot enough, I felt her tongue prod at the entrance of my mouth.

Holy shit. I eagerly accepted her tongue and began to battle it with my own. I didn’t want to tell her, but I’d never even made out with a girl before. I like to think I learned the ropes pretty quick, and soon, we went from me pressing sarah against one bookshelf to Sarah pressing me against the other, desperately grinding on me like she wanted to fuck me right then and there. God damn, she was a slut in disguise.

My hands roamed curiously and eagerly all over her body, with her following suit, doing the same to mine. Even with our bodies normally so close together, her hand managed to find itself on my leg, working its way closer and closer to the center. I won’t say I have the biggest dick on the planet… I was probably average? Average at… best? But hey, girls said size didn’t matter. We broke off from the kiss, recognizing this line being crossed, and just looked at each other. I didn’t say anything, and even though she bit her lip while looking right at me, neither did Sarah.

Every nerve felt hypersensitive to her touch despite the two layers of clothes between her fingers and my cock. She exhaled slowly, feeling my dick imprint and trying to wrap her hand around it as best as she could. “Wow,” she murmured. “I caused this, huh?”

Despite her tongue being in it mere seconds ago, my mouth felt dry as I spoke. “You sure did.”

“Nice,” she murmured, trailing her fingertips up and down my shaft a few times. “Let me know if I should stop before I give you blue balls. We can’t… you know… not in here.”

“You’re fucking amazing.” I couldn’t stop myself from saying that. Sarah chuckled, never taking her eyes off of me, still lightly stroking my shaft with just her fingertips. 

“You’re pretty surprising yourself,” she admitted, finally taking her hand off of my cock. She lightly laughed as her eyes remained on it and she watched it bob and jump in my pants. “That’s… the second time I’ve now left you in the library with an obvious erection. Whoops.”

“Yeah, but this time I left you wet too,” I boldly countered.

She definitely wasn’t expecting that, but from the moment I said that, I saw her brain work quickly, knowing she had a rebuttal in there. She giggled and I swear I saw her pupils change size a little. “Um, to be honest, nope, second time there too…” she admitted shyly.

“Really?!” I asked, surprised, and she just shrugged. “But-”

A sound from behind the shelf snapped us back to reality and took us out of the magic bubble we’d conjured. Sarah coughed in discomfort and adjusted herself, breathing in and out a few times. “I guess that’s the downside of doing this in a public library,” she whispered so quietly that she was next to me and I barely heard her.

“Yeah…” I trailed off, looking her in the eye. She gave me a confused look and I chuckled nervously before quickly kissing her on the lips. “Sorry. Just wanted to do that.”

She quietly chuckled. “No catching feelings,” she instructed. “I’m off the market. Okay?”

“I mean, I feel like I wanna fuck you,” I admitted, half-sheepishly and half-hungrily.

She rolled her eyes. “Boys,” she said to herself, then chuckled. She started to walk back to her bag, then looked back to see I wasn’t following. When her eyes trailed down and saw why I wasn’t following her, she laughed out loud. “Oh, wow,” she laughed. “Yeah, sorry. My fault.”

This was the best kind of inconvenience to have. I laughed too. “Do it again sometime.”

“Oh, if you want me to, I absolutely will,” she said in a flirty voice before turning away. I swear, she jutted out her as so that I could get a good look, and looked back at me. “I’ll be back at the table. We can study or look at your book or something. No need to hurry, take all the time you need.” With that, she flipped her hair and walked back to our table.

Quiz Bowl was a lot of fucking fun.

---

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