Sarah inhaled deeply as the bell rung in her ears. She looked up at it as her classmates all hurried to shove their assignments into their bags, shuffling to their feet in a race to either the bathrooms or next class. Sarah took her time placing her books into her bag, knowing she needed to stay after class anyways. When only three students were left, she walked up to her teachers desk. "Excuse me, Mr. Yamada?"

He looked up from the papers that were turned in by his students on the way out, smiling at her. "Hey, Sarah. How did you enjoy class today?"

He didn't like to pick favorites, or he'd at least never say it out loud, but if he had to, it would be Sarah. Not only for the fact that she babysat Bruce and Amy sometimes when him and his wife wanted a date night, but also because of the type of student she was. She was interested in learning, she was one of the few students that he didn't feel like were taking him for granted. She took his feelings into consideration, realizing he put time and effort into school and fun assignments, just to help selfish teenagers learn a thing or two.

"It was great." she offered him a smile. "That's actually what I wanted to ask you about."

"Sure, what is it?" he set the pencil down, offering her his complete attention like she always managed to do for him.

Sarah hesitated. "Well, I liked it so much that I was wondering if I could...maybe stay in here for lunch?"

He tilted his head. "Again? Is something wrong with the cafeteria?"

"No, no. Of course not." she shook her head quickly. "I just like it in here, and I know it's when you have your class off."

He shook his head with a smile, picking up his papers. "Sure thing, you'll just have to share your graham crackers."

"Deal." a smile spread across Sarah's face as she set her things back down. "I'll even help you grade."

"Perfect, maybe you can see what these kids are struggling with." he held up a paper with a fat F on it. "I just don't understand. I go over it in a hip way for the teens and they still don't get it."

"Hip?" she frowned her eyebrows at the words.

"Cool." he crossed his arms in a "hip" type of way. "Swagger."

"No." Sarah shook her head but started to laugh. "Please, I can't handle more of this "hip" you speak of."

"Bruce says I need to be more hip." he laughed, pulling the top half of papers off the stack. "How do you think i'm doing?"

"My honest opinion?" she offered, getting a nod. She held up the F paper. "Sorry."

"Ouch." he placed a hand on his heart. "You use my powers against me."

"Hey, i'm just looking to win." she joked alongside him, raising her hands slightly. "How is Bruce? I haven't seen him and Amy in a while."

Bruce was just a few months younger then Sarah was. They were from completely different crowds, but that never stopped a faint friendship from forming. Bruce was always kind to Sarah when he'd run into her in the hallways, despite not having any classed together, never not making it a point to stop and talk to her. He was good like that, he was raised well and had an amazing head on his shoulders. Sarah loved the Yamada family, they were the embodiment of what she'd want in a family one day.

Sarah sometimes liked to picture it, her future. When she closed her eyes to think about it, she had two kids. A boy, who was a year or two older, and a girl. She wanted them close in age so they'd be a bit closer, possibly having shared activities to bond over. She then pictured a house. It wasn't big, but it was homey. And a green car. When it came to partners, who the other partners of her kids would be, she could never truly picture them. They had blurry faces, sat at the dinner table with her and her kids. They were there, she just hadn't figured out exactly what she wanted.

Sarah didn't think she necessarily had a type. She'd had a few crushes in the past and they all looked and acted different. So, when it came to trying to picture someone, all she could really come up with was someone who would appreciate her, love her, and make time for her. She didn't think that was too much to ask for, but then again, she didn't think she wanted to fall in love with anyone in Denver. She planned on leaving sooner or later, hopefully sooner if she got that scholarship. There was no point in becoming attached to someone here just to hold her back.

"Hey." a voice caught her attention, snapping her head up. Vance stood in the doorway of the classroom. "Jesus Christ, i've been looking for you."

Sarah gave her teacher a side eye to let him know not to be alarmed by Vance Hopper, who the teachers all very much knew about. She sat the pen down. "You found me."

"Yeah, after breaking into your locker." he held up the schedule she had tapped to the inside of her locker on the first day of school. "You're gonna need a new lock, by the way."

Sarah inhaled. "Lovely. What's so urgent?"

He held his paper out to her, the second she took it he hurried out of the classroom. That was the fastest walk she'd ever seen, stopping in confusing a moment. She shared an eyebrow raise with Mr.Yamada before flipping the paper over, allowing her eyes fo grow double in size. "Holy shit!"

"Sarah." Mr.Yamada scolded her. "Language."

"I'll be two minutes." she hurried out of the classroom, welcomed into an empty hallway. She sprinted the rest of the way, circling the right hallway to see Vance at the end. "Hey!"

He looked over his shoulder, sighing from the other end. "Let's not make it a big deal, Sheeps."

"Are you kidding me?" she seemed to no longer even be thinking about how badly he pissed her off yesterday, hurrying down the hallway with a massive smile on her face. "This is the biggest deal ever!"

Sarah didn't even think into it when she tossed her arms around him in a hug. Vance scrunched his face in disgust, clearing his throat as he patted the back of her head. "Enough!"

"Enough, got it." she backed off with her hands raised, smacking him in the arm with his paper. "You got a C+! In math! Are you kidding me?"

"Not so bad when i'm not trying to do a whole bunch of shit that doesn't need to be done." he shrugged like it wasn't a big deal, shoving his hands into his front pockets. Truth was, when he got the test back, he was ecstatic. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd seen anything above a D on any of his papers, let alone math. The first thing he wanted to do was show his Mom, but she was at home, so the second thing he wanted to do was show Sarah. "Guess I don't need you anymore."

Sarah hummed. "You've got a different tutor for History, English, and Science?"

Vance rolled his eyes. "Your point was proven."

"My point was proven." she mocked him with a smile, jabbing her index finger into his ribs as he jolted and shoved her slightly. "What's the closest test coming up?"

"History." Vance answered. "Grab N Go after school?"

"No, I don't work today." Sarah pulled a notebook from her bag, scribbling something down. "I don't live too far from the school, meet me there."

•

kylie speaks

i hate to ruin yalls day, but
sarah can't picture a partner
in her future bc vance doesn't
make it to the future. pain.