AN: I'd like to continue making this a sort-of light novel in the same vein as Maze, so there will be a drawing in this part! NGL...I really haven't drawn properly in forever, so I'm rusty. I tried, tho LOL. That's Sebastian up there btw (or supposed to be), and he's my favorite character in Maze/Labyrinth (if you can't already tell).

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Aly wasn't in class today.

Rena hadn't seen her at her locker before homeroom period. In the subsequent class that they shared Aly hadn't shown up either.

As she watched her calculus teacher begin his lesson, she frowned and wondered just where her best friend was. Her phone didn't even receive a single text. Surreptitiously, she got her phone out of her bag and began typing a text under her table.

Rena: Are you in school today?

Her phone vibrated after a few seconds. That was quick.

Aly: I'm on my way to the doctor's now. I think I have food poisoning T^T

Aly: It might have been something I ate yesterday.

Rena: Oh no! I'll collect any handouts or assignments for you.

Aly: Thanks, you're the best ⸌̷̻( ᷇ॢ〰ॢ ᷆◍)⸌̷̻♡⃛

Rena: I'll drop by your house after school later :)

With that settled, Rena texted Naomi and Samantha, who were in her other classes, to get Aly's homework for her.

"Serena!"

Her heart nearly leaped out of her chest.

Her head snapped up at Mr. Henderson's voice to see him scowling at her. She felt her whole face flush with intense heat.

"Why are you looking down when you're supposed to be looking at my blackboard? And you aren't taking notes—your hands aren't even on the desk," he said, striding down the row of tables towards her. "Are you using your phone?"

Unused to any sort of drama taking place in the classroom, her fellow students' heads all swiveled towards her as their teacher approached her.

She stared at him, almost trembling from the panic that had crept up into her lungs. She couldn't even open her mouth to form any words of apology. Her hands couldn't seem to move fast enough to slide it into her backpack—in fact, her fingers felt frozen.

In horror, she watched her phone slip out of her hands and onto the floor. As he raised an unimpressed eyebrow, Mr. Henderson bent down and retrieved her phone ... only to say one word that rang in her ears for what felt like a long time:

"Confiscated."

Rena gaped at him like a goldfish. A couple of her classmates coughed and looked away.

Rena, just calm down. Apologize to him.

"I'm s-s-sorry, Mr. He-Henderson," she said with another sharp intake of breath.

Aly. She needed her friend's assurance and comfort. Unfortunately, Aly wasn't even in school today. As it was, the only other option she had was to lower her head and try not to die from embarrassment.

"Come to me after class to get it back," he said, already turning his back on her.

As she sank in her seat, desperately wishing to burrow into the ground without having to surface again, Rena avoided the pitying looks her neighbors were shooting her.

❀

When Rena stepped out of Mr. Henderson's classroom after being slapped with an after-school detention, she was surprised to find Sebastian leaned against the wall outside. He perked up and turned his head upon noticing her presence.

"Hey, Ren," he said, giving her a gentle smile.

"H-hi, Seb," she said, returning it with a weak one of her own. "What are you d-doing here?"

Sebastian shrugged and straightened up. "I just wanted to see if you were alright, you know, after Mr. Henderson spoke to you. Did you get your phone back okay?"

He was waiting for her. She didn't know whether to feel more panicked or embarrassed.

"Ah ... y-yeah," she said, looking down at the textbooks she was clutching to her chest. "Thanks. He g-gave me detention today, though ..."

He frowned in sympathy as they began walking again. "What? Detention for using your phone in class? I know he has a no-phone policy in class, but I didn't know he was that strict about it. Anyway, I'm sure other students use it secretly too."

Were they headed for the cafeteria? Rena was fairly certain it was lunch period now. While that meant she didn't have to hurry off to her next class, she and Sebastian usually ran in different social circles. The only times she had even seen him at lunch was when she managed to sit with Edward the past few weeks. Actually, had she even seen him? She wasn't sure she had paid all that much attention to where he was.

Laughing shakily, she brought a hand up to smooth her hair. "That's true, b-but I'm probably the only one he's caught so far."

He chuckled and shook his head. "I guess you're right. It must have been important for you to risk it in calculus."

"Well, A-Aly was telling me that she's sick today," she said, flicking at the cover of her textbook. "I didn't see her in school today, s-so I thought I would text her to ask."

Sebastian made a face. "Oh, she's sick? Yeah, I wondered why I hadn't seen her so far. You're usually with her."

He offered no well-wishes, but then again, Aly was basically his sworn enemy and Rena wasn't her mother or anything like that.

"Y-yeah," she said.

"You know," he said, flashing her another friendly smile, "I was wondering if you wanted to come and sit with us for lunch today."

Concern replaced the quickly fading look of hope on his face as her own drained of color. The thought of sitting at a foreign table surrounded by many strangers threatened to drown her in overwhelming anxiety.

"U-um..."

He was quick to reassure her. "It's fine if you can't, Ren. I just thought that it has been a while ... I thought you might want to chat with Ed for a bit."

Her cheeks were instantly flooded with warmth once more. "What?"

"Well ..." he began teasingly, "it's been a few days since you've talked to him, right?"

Did the whole world know about her crush on him? Even Sebastian knew.

He was right. She hadn't spoken to Edward in four days. The only real opportunities she had to interact with him was during gym, lunch period, and outside of school. Now that a certain awkwardness had eased its way into their friendship like a fine crack through glass, neither of them had really initiated any sort of conversation during these few days.

The temptation ate at her. All she wanted to do was to jump at this opportunity that was shouting in her face to take it, take it, seize this chance before it passes you by even though it was the equivalent of jumping into a tank full of sharks with a bleeding stump for a leg.

Maybe it was unfair to compare the rest of the basketball team to sharks, but Rena was sure that everyone who even talked once to her could smell the fear on her. Talking to people she was unfamiliar with had that effect on her.

No, she told herself and shook her head.

It was time to take the bull by the horns. She had to step out of her comfort zone eventually. Sooner was better than later, right? This was an even better chance since Aly wasn't even at school. She wouldn't be able to use her best friend as crutch and hide behind her the second things got tough.

"It's okay, I totally understand," Sebastian said. "You probably want to eat with your friends, anyway."

"I'd l-like to join you," she said, forcing the words out before she could regret it.

The surprise on his face at her affirmative response was fleeting—it quickly turned into a pleased expression. "Great!"

As they turned a corner, a couple of girls they passed by giggled at the sight of Sebastian. He grinned at them and waved. Promptly, their faces turned red and they scurried away.

Rena blinked. She hadn't really noticed that Sebastian was kind of popular before. Sure, he was good-looking, but it was a different kind of handsomeness compared to Edward's. When she learned that he was a fashion designer and had quite a following, it made sense that he would have fans—it just never occurred to her that it would translate into real-life interactions like the one she had just seen.

They reached the cafeteria after a couple more minutes of walking in silence, and Rena halted as Sebastian headed towards his usual table.

"I-I have to talk to Naomi and Samantha first," she said, nodding at her friends who were sitting at a table nearby.

"Sure, I'll go with you," Sebastian said, already switching directions.

That wasn't what she had expected. She glanced at him in surprise, but rapidly turned back and brisk walked towards her friends. When she reached their table, they waved politely at Sebastian and turned to Rena.

"Hey, Rena," Samantha said.

"Hey," Naomi echoed mid-bite of her pasta. "We got Aly's handouts for her. Do you want them now, or should we pass them to you after school when we've gotten everything?"

"Hey guys," Rena said, offering them a small grin. "Sorry, I actually wanted to t-tell you that I g-got detention. I can't go to Aly's place later."

They both stared at her with wide eyes.

"Oh no, what happened?" Samantha said.

"How did you even get detention?" Naomi said.

She sighed. "My calculus teacher c-caught me using my phone in class. I was texting Aly and a-asking her where she was. Is it okay for one of y-you to bring the handouts to Aly instead?"

Samantha's face fell. "Sorry, I have a student council meeting after school today."

"And I have volleyball practice," Naomi said, shaking her head apologetically.

"Oh no," Rena said, dropping her head. "Maybe I'll just give t-them to her tomorrow. She p-probably won't be able to come to school tomorrow, either. Thanks anyway, guys. I'll c-collect the rest of the handouts from you when school ends."

Food poisoning wasn't something a person usually recovered from in a flash.

"Sure," Naomi said, nodding. "Why are you just standing there, though?"

"Yeah, aren't you going to sit down?" Samantha said, looking a little bemused.

Rena felt heat rise in her cheeks again. "U-um, actually, I'm going to sit with S-Sebastian today. He invited me to sit at his table."

With Edward.

Her unspoken words must have been evident in her expression because both of them oohed and shot her mischievous looks.

"Oh, you're sitting with Edward today, aren't you?" The wink that Samantha sent her made her want to faint—Sebastian was standing right there next to her! "Have fun!"

Grinning, Naomi clapped enthusiastically. "Yeah, go for it, girl! Enjoy your lunch!"

"S-stop, you two!" Rena said in horror, but the damage was done.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she will," Sebastian said.

He was eyeing her with an amused smile. Well, okay, so Sebastian already knew about her huge crush on him, but she didn't need anymore teasing on her plate.

"I'm going now," she announced stiffly, as if she could retain whatever was left of her dignity by keeping it cool.

"Alright," he said, waving to her friends. "See you around."

After Sebastian turned around, Naomi mouthed at her, "Erena!"

"My ship," Samantha whispered with another shameless wink. "Go, go, go!"

Rena wanted to stick masking tape over her lips. Instead, she held back a groan and followed Sebastian to his table.

She was already regretting her decision.

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AN: MUAHAHAHA now aly's outta commission for a few days. and also i just made rena blush in the pic bc i like when she blushes at seb so there. LOL fanservice for myself XD