Tigger Warning: Mild Dubious consent warning

Clematis flower meanings include mental acuity, wisdom, aspiration, travel, and mischief. There are some varieties of clematis flowers that are so dark they look almost black. A special color, black symbolizes mystery, formality, elegance, and rebellion. A black clematis is a fitting plant for the nonconformists among us. It's a flower for those who eschew the straight and narrow path and make their way in life. It's also a flower for those who like to get into a little bit of trouble.

August dragged Bucky from their class in such a hurry that he nearly laughed out loud by the way she had made Brook's jaw drop-amongst others. Bucky chuckled at Auggie's bold statement, especially with the painting of the Orange Lilies that he never guessed would have been made specifically for Brook. He stopped working, making his girlfriend jolt backward, he caught her in a bear hug-ignoring the few gasps and stares that they had been receiving as they walked.

"Theo, what gives?" August fumed, trying to fight out of his hold which turned into a fruitless task. "You're too strong for your own good, ya know." She mumbled, annoyed that he was playing around now.

Bucky chuckled, kissing her temple, "I know. That's why I hugged you."

August kept struggling, "oh really?"

"Nah, you're upset. Don't let this get to your head." He said, kissing her again. Auggie deflated then let him hold her as she rest her head back on his shoulder, meeting his eyes.

"It's just-who does she think she is? She acts like she's entitled to whatever she wants without repercussions. I hate it." August confessed.

Bucky poked her pouty cheek, then sighed. "I know, but she's a spoilt brat. Don't let that ruffle your feathers. You're better than she is, she still has some maturing to do. Don't be angry." Bucky hummed at her silence, "how about we go to the gym during free period and punch something, huh? Would that cheer you up?" She sighed, nodding.

"Okay. Thank you, Bucky." August said, happy that she didn't have to face Brook alone.

"Always." Bucky gave her one last squeeze then let her go. A locker slammed closed and someone fell to the floor, alerting them both. Bucky swore under his breath, now noticing that they had garnered a crowd of curious gazes.

"Are you okay?" August asked as the teen got helped to their feet. The boy nodded, then scurried off. "Huh," she pursed her lips, ignoring the stares. "Walk me to class?" She asked, turning back to Theo was seemed to have shrunk in size. August took his hand and squeezed it, "come on Coin." He chuckled as she dragged him in, wrapping an arm around his own.

Bucky's phone vibrated and he fished it out to see a text from Cory and Claude. He checked Cory's own first and rose a brow then snickered softly as he replied, 'why don't you ask.' Then check out what his boyfriend said.

'How was class? Did Brook say anything to her?'

Bucky replied with a simple, 'I'll explain later, then clicked off the phone only to catch Auggie looking at him.

"I won't ask."

Bucky scoffed playfully, "but you're curious?"

"No, not my business," August said, turning the corner.

"Isn't it?" Bucky asked then moved his arm away to hold her hand. "Shall we?"

"We shall."

》》》》》

August chose a seat in the middle of her class as Mr. Schrindo spoke of something. She had read the chapter already, so she just say drawing on the bottom of her textbook, a shiver ran up her back when a pencil tapped her shoulder. She turned to the left to see one of Mr. Schrindo's many fangirls. Did she want to copy her notes? What could she want? "What?" She whispered.

"Are you and Bucky like an item?"

August looked at this girl, trying to remember her name... Lilac Parks, her soft brown eyes and dark curly hair. She was mixed and had a cute accent. August nodded. "Yeah." The girl gasped and mouthed wow as her eyes grew.

"Did you dump Claude for him? That's so cold," Lilac accused.

August cringed and rolled her eyes at her sickening giggling, "is there a point to this conversation?" Her tone was flat and sharp. Lilac scoffed as if she was offended by the question.

"Is Claude available now?"

August clicked her teeth, "he's-"

"Ladies, is my teaching interrupting your conversation?" Mr. Schrindo asked, near August's desk. A scatter of hushed giggles erupted in the classroom.

August turned to see her teacher and sighed, "not at all sir, Lilac just had some questions for me."

"Oh really? What about?" He asked, folding his arms.

August smiled deviously, "well, it seems that she was interested in my boyfriend Claude," she turned to face Lilac, "and to answer your question, no, he's not available. Anything else?" August noticed how Mr. Schrindo tried to hide his smile and she chuckled. "Sorry for interrupting your class, sir."

Bryck nodded at her then looked at Lilac, impressed with August, "you should be listening in class Ms. Parks. August is already an A+ student, so try asking her about class work instead of boys next time."

August snickered as Lilac shrank in her seat and whispered an obedient 'yes sir'. August hummed softly and went back to her doodling, happy that Mr. Schrindo understood the situation and let her off the hook.

》》》》》

Claude was texting his twin about a class assignment since he had something to do after school. He stood near the door of the outside patio lunch space as students rushed to their next class, while others stood by idly chatting. He sent his reply and then exited the app, gasping in the next second as arms wrapped around his waist and pulled him backward. He opened his mouth to react but Theo's eyes caught his and heat bloomed on his face. "Babe?"

"Hey handsome, heading to class?" Bucky asked. Claude nodded in reply and he chuckled. He bent and kissed him, ignoring the few gasps they got then rested his head on the shorter one's shoulder as he hugged him from behind.

"How was class today?" Claude knew that Brook was in his and August's first period and couldn't stop worrying over her.

"Shocking," Bucky said, Claude's brows shot up and he nodded, "yep, Auggie handled herself quite well and I think Cory also exchanged words with Brook before we came in." The younger one let out a heavy sigh and Bucky chuckled, kissing his temple, "she's okay babe, were you that worried?"

Claude turned to face his boyfriend, his strong arms still around his waist as he nodded, not sure if Bucky knew what had happened. "Theo, Brook had the opportunity to let her cousin hurt August and God knows what else she would have done if Wes and the others hadn't come along. I was so scared when I heard that she was in the nurses' office! Brook could have done serious damage-if she hadn't already." Bucky nodded, expression somber now.

"I know, you're right, Brook went too far." Bucky sucked his teeth, sighing, "she always goes too fucking far." He muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose as he looked away from his boyfriend.

Claude frowned, what did he mean by that? "It's okay. I just don't want what she did to our girlfriend to be brushed under the rug. She could have fucked her up and knowing how strong Blair is... I was relieved that it was a minor bruise." He bit his bottom lip, shaking his head, mad at himself for not going to meet August sooner. "Are you okay though?"

Bucky shook his head, "I know that face. Don't do that. Don't guilt yourself for not being there with her. Brook is cunning and wicked. I figured that out a while back when my baby sister was still alive. No one knows this, but Brook threatened to have a younger cousin of hers beat Lucy up."

"Wait, what the hell?" Claude asked, stepping back to look at him. Brook would have stooped that low to have a kid beat up?

Bucky scoffed, clicking his tongue. "Yeah, Lucy came straight to my football practice that day and told me everything. I was fucking furious. That night I told Brook off and didn't speak with her again for months. She kept trying to stick to me so I ignored her as much as I could until Lucy's untimely death," he licked his lips, looking off for a second, "she found a way to weasel her way back into my life, and I was too consumed with anger and grief to care anymore. I shouldn't have let her dig her way back to my side, but I did..."

Claude heard the crack in his voice and grabbed his face in his hands, meeting his deep brown eyes. "Stop it. You had shit going on that no one could understand nor get through after one day. Brook used your weakness to get you to keep her close. She's as desperate as she is evil. You are not a bad person. Yeah, you did some regretful things, but you're repenting for them, you've apologized, and you've suffered the consequences. Brook hasn't done any of that. So quit it. You're better than her, especially since you've made amends with Auggie, me, and our friends. Don't discard all the hard work you've done to clear shit up. Bullies don't always get redemption, but you did. Remember that." He gasped softly when he saw the older one's eyes turning glassy. "Babe?"

"Thank you for saying."

Claude heard the thickness in his voice and it hurt his heart, he brushed swear a tear that rolled down Bucky's right cheek. "Always." He tiptoed to kiss him, smiling against his lips once they parted.

》》》》》

"Girl, is Bucky Rogers messing with Claude Mason?"

"What why?"

"I dead saw them kissing in the hallway between classes today!"

"No way! You lyin' gurl!"

"Nah, I ain't no writer, why would I lie?"

The friends squealed at each other.

"Nah, but Claude? Wasn't he with dat flowery girl? What's her name?"

"Uhm, I think it was Austin? Something with A."

Cory stopped in his tracks as he overheard this little conversation and hummed to himself, debating whether he should intervene or leave it be. He sighed and decided to be curious.

"Yeah, is he cheating? Or did he like leave her for him?"

"Wow, that would be so wild, imagine being dumped for a man!" They laughed at the idea and then jumped when a shadow appeared over them. "Holy shit!"

"Oh, my bad ladies, didn't mean to give you a fright, but I just couldn't help but overhear your little chat." Cory picked at his collar, lifting his eyes to the pair, a girl who looked like a doll, her bright green doe eyes, with eyeshadow painted in purple and pink, and her full pink lips, glossy. She had freckles over her nose and cheeks with a cute matching pink and white crop top hoodie and high-waisted sweatpants. Her curly orange hair was adorable, he rose a hand to brush off a strand of hair that got caught on her lip, and smiled. The girl promptly blushed. Cory side-eyed her friend, and smirked, he was wearing a fitted white tank with an oversized baby blue hoodie and distressed gray baggy jeans with a matching blue bucket hat over his wavy black hair. His lips were also glossy and his short nails matched his hat. His blue eyes were deep and looked him up and down. "Like what you see?"

"How couldn't I?" Cory replied.

"So what're your names? I'm Cory."

She chuckled. "We know who you are, Cory Shaw."

Cory looked back at her, and nodded, "good, then you know that I'm Bucky's best friend, right?" The friends shared a look and then turned back to him.

"What's that got to do with us?" He asked.

"I didn't get your names," Cory said.

"And we didn't give it." He huffed, folding his arms. He gasped when Cory moved in front of him, pinning him to the wall, those deep brown eyes boring into his. He gulped.

"What? You tryna kiss up on my boy?" She asked.

Cory broke their eye contact and found her face, still blushing, "wanna make a deal?" She scoffed, folding her arms defiantly, making him lick his lips as he regarded her, his fingers brushing the boy's exposed hip. Cory felt him shiver and then tilted his head back, "I promise it'll be worth your while."

She glared at Cory, that smug sexy bastard who bordered on cute with cat-like viciousness. "And what makes you think we'll take your deal?" She huffed.

Cory glanced at the shorter one, then held his slender waist and tugged him closer, he gave a short nod and the younger one blushed hot, nodding slightly. Cory ground their crotches together and the teen let out a breathy moan. Her eyes snapped towards them as her jaw dropped.

Fuck! What was he doing to her friend?! "H-hey stop that! Consent you big dummy!" She growled, throwing punches at his arm.

Cory chuckled and bent to nudge his cheek with his chin.

"J-Jolene... I did. Let's listen to his deal." He swallowed hard, gripping onto Cory's shirt weakly, still shaking.

"What?"

"Fuck, just... listen." He mewled when Cory ground against him once more.

"I still don't know your name," Cory whispered in the smaller teen's ear.

"Logan! I'm Logan," he cried when the older one ran a hand up his back, making him arch into his chest.

"I'm Jolene, gosh! Quit it." Jolene snapped, cheeks hot at seeing her friend getting fondled by Cory. She slightly regretted coming to the field to hang out behind the bleachers now.

"Jo, I'm fine." Logan panted, grabbing Cory's black denim sleeves. "I consented."

"What? When the hell?" Jolene asked.

"Our eyes... it's a gay thing. Don't worry-can you please." Logan groaned, eyes glaring at Cory now.

"Sorry." He stepped back, hands up and off Logan, who took a deep gulp of breath. Cory swore, eyes taking in his flustered composure which was shaken. "I need you two to pass on a rumor." The friends looked at him.

"What kind of rumor? We like quality gossip, Cory Shaw." Jolene said at Logan's side, helping him fix himself.

Cory smirked, "it's good quality. In return, I'll give you my body or money or... whatever you want. The Deal will self-destruct in sixty seconds." He began counting and the pair looked at each other and then back at him.

"What do you think?" Logan whispered between themselves.

"I bet it's juicy. Cory isn't the kind to gossip, so whatever he knows must be good." Jolene assumed.

"You sure? He's kind of a loner." He said, Jo, shook her head, squinting an eye at that

"Yeah, but he's mad observant though."

"Thirty-nine," Cory said counting out loud now. The friends gasped, looking up at him and then back at each other. They nodded once and then looked at him.

"Deal!" They shouted in unison.

"Perfect. If it's sex, then you're required to get a test to make sure you're clean, I'll get once also. If money. My max is five hundred each. You can't have two of the options. So sex, or money or whatever your creative minds can come up with." Cory said with a smirk.

"Hm, okay." Jolene said, "I'll take money."

"I'll take sex," Logan said in unison with his friend. They locked gazes. "What?" He shrugged.

"What? You took sex!"

"It's Cory fucking Shaw! I felt his crotch! I'm choosing sex!" Logan hissed. She was missing out on not choosing sex, but he wouldn't dare let his chance slip by. "Hey, don't you dog my morals, I respect myself, but do you see this man? He's drop-dead gorgeous. You're buggin' girl!" Jolene scoffed and shook her head.

She looked back at Cory who was waiting patiently, "can I change my choice."

"Yep," Cory said.

"Okay. But if it's wack then I'm picking money, or else I'll mess up whatever deal we're making! Got it." Jolene hissed, poking Cory's very hard chest. She tried to fight the heat growing in her cheeks and pulled her hand back.

"You're free to touch, but no sex until you get tested. That's my only condition and that the rumor I'm about to give you gets passed on all around the school. Light a match and blow it up." He chuckled when they nodded eagerly.

Jolene tsked, "look, don't insult us. We'll have your rumor reach even teachers if needed. Trust me, you won't be disappointed." She smiled proudly, folding her arms as she turned up her nose defiantly.

"Perfect." Cory reached out his hands. Logan and Jolene smiled and took them, sealing their deal.