"I'm guessing that's a no?"

"I'll think about it. Now," Dawson moved to the front door and grabbed the car keys off the hook, turning to the teens with a smile, "who's ready for their first day of school?"

♡♡♡

SIX HOURS LATER

Scarlett lay in an exhausted heap underneath a massive banyan tree that had been planted in the middle of the school's courtyard. Sebastian was leaning against the thick trunk, his eyes closed and his head pounding like a drum.

"I thought she said this was gonna be easy," Sebastian said, his voice weak.

"Literally no one said that."

Reliving high school sucked.

But, tiptoeing around without bumping into anyone or making any kind of noise seemed like an impossible nightmare. Sebastian had accidentally hit at least four people in the face and Scarlett was one of them, so neither was in the greatest mood. She let out a huge breath and sat up to rest her back against Sebastian's leg.

"I'd rather go to hell than be stuck with this job." He mumbled.

"Take me with you?"
"For sure."

She peered over her shoulder with a wry grin, slapping his knee before getting to her feet and stretching like a well-rested cat.

"Come on, let's go see if we can catch any stragglers," she suggested.

Sebastian shook his head, but took her hand as she offered it to help him up. The buildings were practically empty by now. The very second school was finished, it was total chaos and the Cupids had taken shelter under the banyan tree to keep from being trampled to death by kids trying to get home. It wasn't at all as easy as Sebastian had thought it was going to be.

For one, matching people's cores was torture. The school was an endless sea of pastel hearts, some so light in color and others of a darker shade that they couldn't truly identify the partnering core.

For two, keeping their invisibility shields up was much more difficult than the movies made it look. They had to really concentrate on making sure it stayed in place and covered every single inch of them, which proved to be hard for Scarlett because her attention span was incredibly short.

And for three, they were dealing with teenagers. Now, Sebastian and Scarlett were very much the same age as most, but the stubbornness, the sheer level of unyielding adamancy of over a thousand teenagers from the age of 12 to 18 was....

Well, it was their own personal Hell.

Sebastian and Scarlett walked through the halls, peering into classrooms and stairwells while sidestepping those few students that stayed behind after hours of their own free will.

Not a single match walked past.

"This is ridiculous."

"See," Scarlett stuck her head in a class before coming back out, "now that's something you said. Easy? No. Ridiculous? Yes. That seems to be your favorite word right now."

"At the rate we're going, who knows if we're ever gonna get this done."

"It's our first day, relax. We don't have a time limit."

Sebastian didn't respond. Instead, he stuck his hands in his pocket and proceeded to follow his partner around in a sulking fashion when Scarlett quickly backed up, stumbling right into his arms.

The cause of her clumsiness was a couple Sebastian hadn't seen approaching that quickly rounded the corner. They were holding hands and smiling at each other, but it wasn't that which caught their attention.

A strange feeling seemed to overcome the Cupids at the sight of the couple's cores as it was the very first match they've seen before. They were both a soft shade of mint green, beating with such a strong animation that a sort of passionate understanding seemed to flow between them, strengthening what connection they had into something more personal and intimate.

It was a moment of awareness, whether they knew it or not, that what they were doing was real. That the kind of love they'd have to aid in creation was a pure and good thing meant to give others a chance at everlasting happiness.

Scarlett was still in Sebastian's arms as they stared after the couple when she finally realized his hands were placed on her waist. She promptly straightened with her back to him so he couldn't see her blushing.

"That was freaky," Sebastian breathed, running a hand through his hair with a sigh. Scarlett mumbled some sort of agreement, but she was already halfway down the hall with her hands over her cheeks. She didn't know why her heart was racing so fast when Sebastian called out to her.

She stopped in her tracks and he frantically pointed to an open classroom.

"What? What is it?" She asked, hurrying back to his side.

Scarlett let out a little gasp.

"Hey! What'd I say about talking?"

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Redford. I didn't mean to disrupt your quiet activity—"

"We have to be the luckiest Cupids ever." Sebastian whispered. "It's a room full of matching cores!"

Scarlett could only look on in silent awe at what she was seeing.

There were five—five—matches in the one room alone!

"Do you have the jar?"

She nodded, patting the shoulder bag Dawson had given her.

"You ready?"

She peered up at Sebastian. He was looking at her with a smile on his face and hair falling into his eyes—

She ripped her gaze away from his.

"Let's go," she muttered.

The both of them carefully made their way into the classroom, trying to figure out how exactly to accomplish their goal. A hubbub of hushed conversation went on around the Cupids as they mentally matched the pairs.

"Here's one," Sebastian whispered, pointing to a brown-haired boy sitting across from a nervous looking blonde. Their cores were a faint pink, like the petals of a Japanese cherry blossom.

Sebastian was so entranced by the color that he subconsciously leaned forward, his leg pushing into the desk.

"What the hell?"

Scarlett yanked him away from the girl who was staring at the desktop like it was about to come alive and attack her. 

"Seb!"

She dragged him to the corner of the room near a boy with dark hair that was heckling the teacher and enjoying every second of it.

"This room has a lot of matches, but we only have two shots. Two. Shots." She pointed to the teenagers sitting near the match he had found. The boy was in a wheelchair, blushing furiously while the girl had her nose buried in a book.

"We can't blow it, okay?" She pleaded.
Sebastian nodded humbly.

"Sorry, Scar."

His soft-spoken apology caused her to quickly drop his arm and step away.

"Just—just be careful."
"Will do, captain." He gestured to the first pair. "Why don't we start with Barbie and Ken, then?"

"Fine."

"Alright, listen up." They paused as the teacher stood. "We have an ungodly amount of time left together and I'm going somewhere so I don't have to look at you guys. I'll be back."

He walked over to the door and stopped, eyeing them all sternly.

"Don't go anywhere."

"Finally," a blonde girl with glittery blue eyeshadow said as he disappeared, "I thought he'd never leave."

"You're tellin' me. He was supposed to break ten minutes ago," the boy nearest the Cupids piped up.

Scarlett dug out the jar, trying to block out the sudden loudness, and Sebastian held out his hand expectantly.

"You're kidding."
"Come on, let me hold it. I promise I'll be gentle."
"Seb—"

"Scar," he imitated her tone before dropping his scrunched face and giving her the puppy dog eyes, "pleeease?"

"No," she hissed.

Scarlett made sure to unscrew the jar as carefully as she could. Her hand was trembling and a giant wave of nervousness suddenly swept through her stomach as she stared at the pink dust. Sebastian noticed that her face was turning a little green and he slowly reached for the jar when she pulled it out of his reach.

"Quit it!"
"Let me just—"
"Stop!"

Sebastian lunged for the jar and Scarlett, misjudging the length of her arm, a quick back step and the close promixity of Sebastian alone, felt the little glass vessel slip right off the tips of her fingers.

It was as if everything happened in slow motion.

They both watched in utter shock as the jar shattered into a million pieces and pink Cupid dust exploded like a gigantic smoke bomb. Neither of them moved, their teenage victims going silent as if they knew something had happened, but couldn't quite figure it out. They were all in various positions, none of which they had been in when the Cupids walked in, and their cores—

Their cores were gone.

A sudden hand tapped Scarlett's elbow and she jumped in surprise.

The boy that had called the teacher "P-Dawg" was looking right at her. She watched as his blue eyes shifted to a strange purple color before coming back to his own.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"I—I, um—"
"Scarlett, no!"

Suddenly, a bright flash of light engulfed the room, temporarily blinding the Cupids as they looked away just a second too late.
When the black dots finally began to subside and their furious blinking came to a stop, Scarlett realized the boy was still looking at her and he was completely motionless. In fact, as they looked around the room, they realized all of the students were stock-still.

"Oh my Cupid, they're frozen," Sebastian breathed.

"It's called time manipulation."

A Cupid Agent they've never seen before marched through the door, her hands clasped behind her. She wore a dark red pantsuit and black shades over her eyes, her hair in a slicked-back bun with an impassive look on her face. Her wings were folded against her back and they were a rose color that was slightly lighter than her suit.

"We only use it in dire situations."

"Kids!" Dawson and Kat suddenly rushed into the room with matching expressions of shock for their little protégés. Scarlett felt a sinking dread in her stomach at the almost fearful expectancy they were struggling to hide in their eyes.

"Would—would this count as dire?" Sebastian asked nervously.

"Only for one of you. My name is Cupid Agent Red. I've been called in for Rectification under Rare Ordinance 64B and the Incident Order pertaining to Case 848. RO 64B states that any Cupid in their right state of mind should, under no circumstance, reveal their true nature. The Incident Order deals with the current status of classroom Y102 of Pearl Grove High and Intermediate School on the island of O'ahu in the state of Hawai'i."

The Agent held out a cream colored envelope with a blood-red wax seal bearing a coat of arms in the form of a bow and arrow.

"Scarlett Beaumont. You are being summoned to the High Elysian Court."

"What?!"

"Wait, there's gotta be a way around this—" Dawson interjected, but Agent Red merely raised her hand in response as Scarlett's heart raced with trepidation.

"There's nothing I can do, Agent 005. You'd do well to make sure your pupil complies willingly or this will go beyond the Court. My team will deal this mess. And you," she looked back at Scarlett, "should get going. They're expecting you."

With that being said, five more Cupid Agents walked in, as indifferent as the first and dressed in black rather than red with white wings.

"What's going on?" Sebastian demanded. "Where is she being summoned to? And who the hell are those guys?"

Two of the Agents moved to grab ahold of Scarlett when Dawson stepped in front of her with his arm out.

"Move, Agent 005," the first said warningly.

"My partner and I will take her."

"That's not my orders."

"I forgot how much of a lapdog you are, Reggie."

"Let them be," Agent Red called from the other side of the room. The Cupids in Black nodded, swiftly retreating as the one named Reggie scoffed at Dawson before following. Sebastian glanced at Kat questioningly, but she only shook her head. "You'll get her there without any trouble, I assume?"

"Yes ma'am." He answered, his voice a little stiff.

Kat hurried forward then and hugged Scarlett close as Dawson ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

"Is anyone gonna answer me?!"

"She got a summoning from the Court for," Dawson gestured to the motionless teenagers, "this incident. That means she's being put on trial and the CEB has to take care of clean-up. The time trick is used for stuff like this. No time passes here on Earth as long as it takes for them to straighten things out."

"CEB?"
"Cupid Emergency Bureau. Agent Red is MidFólkvangr's top Emergency Agent. She's only called in for Pink Alerts and this is one hell of a Pink Alert."

"But it wasn't her fault!" He said frantically.

"Don't plead your case to me, kid. I'm useless on this front."

Sebastian turned to Scarlett who was still in Kat's arms and trying her best not to panic.

What sort of punishment would she get?
Did they have a place for reckless and clumsy Cupids?
Was she going to a Cupid jail?

She didn't know what to feel when the boy suddenly clasped her hand in his with a determined look on his face.

"You'll be okay, alright?"

She nodded, hoping that it would be true as Sebastian threw Dawson a dirty look when Scarlett buried her face in Kat's neck.

"Perfectly indestructible, my ass."

♡♡♡

gave myself anxiety writing this—

please enjoy! thank you so much for
all of your support, luvs!