Who: Jules and Sebastian When: After school, Wednesday, November 29 Where: The school Status: Complete
It was a stark shift in how she was feeling from the day before to today. Staying home from school and spending it was Jasper had been something she needed. Maybe something they both needed. Jules was feeling a bit better about everything, though she was purposely still avoiding Ruby, mostly because she was afraid those bitter feelings would surface again. Plus, if she got into trouble she might be forced to sit out the game that night, and Jules didn't want that to happen.
After school, Jules hung out with some of her friends until she had to be back to change for the game. For a couple of hours it was nice to pretend like everything was normal again. Like she was Jules Cooper from a year ago, when there was no creepy shit happening to her and everything was just... well, normal. She could be selfish for a while. It was good for her mental health or whatever.
Eventually she had to drive back toward the high school, and Jules changed into her uniform before tying her hair up out of her face. Reapplying some mascara and lip gloss, Jules then knotted her sneakers and wandered out into the gym to watch the boys warm up. She spotted Sebastian who was hanging out near the benches and she wandered over to him with a small wave. She had heard about his fight with Kyle the night before but hadn’t texted him about it yet.
“I heard about yesterday,” she said, once she had reached him. “Are you going to get to play?”
It hadn’t taken long for word to spread about what went down, though even if some of the guys hadn’t talked, the black eye Sebastian was sporting would’ve raised questions on its own. At least Kyle had a bruise to match, which would probably make them look like two petulant toddlers sitting in time out as their team played. Even though he knew that sitting out one game was probably the lightest punishment they could have possibly received, Sebastian could already tell it was going to suck. If they won, there was the feeling that they didn’t need him, but if they lost it was even worse to sit and wonder if he could’ve made a difference. It was only one game, but not at all how he’d planned to start the season.
Sebastian smiled as Jules approached him, the action still causing him a touch of pain, but he couldn’t help it. It was always nice to see Jules and she looked cute in her cheerleading uniform. Not that that was a thing for him… he didn’t think. Picturing Hunter in a cheerleading uniform just made him laugh silently, so that was probably a no. He shook his head. “Not tonight. It’s just for this one game, but…” He shrugged. “I’d be playing if I’d kept my mouth shut.” That was all he could figure. If he’d not responded to Kyle, then things never would’ve come to blows. He should have known better.
She wrinkled her nose a little when she saw some of the bruises on Sebastian's face. Hopefully Sebastian hurt Kyle just as bad. She hadn't seen much of him today and honestly, Jules had been too wrapped up in her own crap to really pay much attention to anyone else. "I heard what happened," she said. "Sorry Kyle was such a dick. Want me to destroy his life?" Jules smiled innocently, though they both knew she could make Kyle's life a living hell if she wanted to. It was what she used to do, way back in the day before Jasper made her like, a better person or whatever. Maybe getting to be a total bitch to someone else would make her feel better.
“If you’d asked me yesterday, I might’ve said yes,” Sebastian said with a little laugh. He’d been feeling more spiteful then, but now he knew he’d regret it. While he was pretty sure Kyle deserved it, he’d rather it be karma than Jules. “I don’t really give a shit about Kyle, but… I worry about the others,” he said, eyes ticking to the rest of the team. He just wanted them to realize he was the same person he’d been before. Nothing had changed. They just knew something new about him. But he knew it wasn’t that easy. Even his father thought he was different. This is who you are now? The disappointment was suffocating. “There is someone else though. If you’re offering.”
Jules glanced around, aware that she couldn't really make Sebastian feel better about any of this. She didn't know what it was like to be in his shoes and she simply told herself if any of her friends gave her shit for being gay, if she were, she would just tear their hair out. It wasn't that easy though, and she knew that. She turned back to Sebastian and lifted a blonde brow. It sort of surprised her that he was actually asking for her help, or at least a favor, but it also made her feel good, all things considered. "Yeah, of course. What do you need?"
“Some of the guys are giving Phee a hard time,” he said, glancing out towards the court. It had taken everything inside of him not to approach them about it, but he couldn’t start another fight. Which was really too bad because they deserved to have the shit kicked out of them for what they were doing. If he said anything, he needed to be calm and collected and be able to walk away if they ignored him. He wanted to get along with his teammates, and he’d never had a problem with these guys before, but they’d also never picked on his sister. He looked back at Jules. “I can deal with them. But she thinks it’s coming from Victoria.”
It took Jules a second to figure out why anyone was giving Phee a hard time about anything but then she remembered Phee was dating Greg now. It was an odd couple, if you asked Jules, but not one she could imagine would be creating problems for other people. As far as Jules knew, Victoria was still with Todd, so why would she even care? She understood what Bash was asking of her, though and Jules rested her hands on her hips and glanced over at the court again where some of the guys were still warming up. "You think Victoria is talking shit to them about Phee? Do you know what they're saying?"
“They’re oinking at her, among other things,” Sebastian seethed quietly, his body radiating a tension that hadn’t been there moments ago. That they’d narrowed in on one of his sister’s biggest insecurities felt intentional and he seriously wanted to strangle them for it. But if it was coming from Victoria, that wouldn’t solve anything. In fact, it would probably make it worse. The problem was, Sebastian didn’t know how to deal with Victoria. He’d never been on her bad side and couldn’t begin to understand how her mind worked. Jules had a much better chance at getting her to back off. “She was bitchy to Phee at the bonfire and Phee told Greg, so Greg called her out on it at lunch last week. I don’t know why she’d go after Phee for it, but… It has to stop.”
Jules cringed, though she wasn't really surprised. And it wasn't like Jules hadn't been that horrible to people before. But now, it just felt mean and she felt a little guilty herself for reasons she couldn't quite figure out. But she liked Phee and it wasn't cool that anyone was giving her shit for dating Greg. "I'll talk to Vic," Jules promised. "And if you want, I'll kick those guys in their balls if that helps. Or I'll start a rumor that they've got tiny dicks, or like, an STD or something. For what it's worth, I think Phee and Greg are cute together. I mean, it's a little weird? Because she's your sister and stuff. But still. Cute."
“It’s a little weird,” Sebastian agreed with a little smile and a shrug. “But they’re both stupidly happy, so so what? If I can handle it, everyone else should be fine.” Because he was the only one having to navigate his best friend dating his sister. To everyone else, it was just Greg and Phee. Sure, they were different, she was a band geek and he was definitely a jock, but they were more than just stereotypes. They were people with feelings and Sebastian couldn’t help but want to protect them both. “As much as I love the idea of all the girls thinking they have small dicks, I’m not sure that’ll help,” he smiled. “But if you could talk to Vic, I’d owe you. I’d do it, but I might just strangle her.”
In an ideal world everyone would be fine with it. In an ideal world, Jules's mom wouldn't care that she was dating Jasper Lucas either, but the world wasn't ideal, and people sucked sometimes. Jules was honest enough with herself to know that if this had been a year ago, she probably would have been making fun of Phee and Greg too. Kind of funny that the school 'deviant' was the one making her a better person, or whatever. People just saw what they wanted to see. "I'll talk to her," Jules said again and with a small sigh. "We'll see what happens then. Have Greg deal with the guys too, since I'm pretty sure he could kick their asses if he wanted to."
“Yeaaah,” Sebastian said, drawing the word out as he made a face. “Greg doesn’t know. If he did, we’d both be on this bench. Phee asked me not to tell him, and I don’t think they’re stupid enough to make fun of her in front of him.” Or Sebastian, for that matter. The only reason he hadn’t done more about it was that Phee was hoping it would just go away. And maybe it would. Maybe they’d already moved on and he was getting ahead of himself in asking for Jules help. “So, what’s been going on with you? Anything new?” He remembered she’d been having some issues with her mirror a while back, but hopefully she’d figured that out and things were back to normal for at least one of them. A little less drama would be nice.
Greg didn't know? Jules's brows lifted at that bit of information and she was pretty sure Greg would have put an end to the teasing real fast. Then again, like Bash said, he probably would have gotten into trouble too. But that kind of stuff didn't always have to take place at school. It was sweet of Bash to want to try and fix things for his best friend and sister, but sometimes people have to stand up for themselves. That didn't mean Jules wouldn't still talk to Vic, but she wasn't sure how effective she would really be. His question directed toward her had Jules shrugging with a small smile. "Nothing super new, no." Nothing she could get into here, anyway. "What about you? Like, other than Phee and Greg."
It felt like the biggest things impacting Sebastian’s life at the moment were also the kind of things he didn’t want to talk about. Fighting with Kyle was one thing, and hard to hide when they were both sporting bruises, but his troubles at home were different and far more complicated. He couldn’t even say his father was being a dick because he never said or did anything all that bad, but Sebastian could feel he judgement that came with his father’s silence just as clearly as Kyle’s snide comments. “Not really. Things aren’t great at home, but…” He shrugged. “It’s nice not to lie anymore. And to actually go out with Hunter.”
"I get it. My mom's not super thrilled about me dating Jasper, which I know isn't like, as bad as your parents being upset about you being gay or whatever, but... I don't know, it kind of sucks at the same time." Jules wrinkled her nose a bit and looked around as people were slowly filing into the gymnasium for the game. She would have to get back to the rest of the squad in a minute. "I don't really care what my mom thinks, but at the same time, I do. Does that make sense? I haven't even told Jasper she knows we're going out, because I don't want to tell him that she tried to get me to break up with him. It'll make him feel like crap, I bet."
“That makes sense,” Sebastian said with a little nod, thinking back to his dad’s reaction to hearing he was dating someone. The questions felt invasive, even when he knew they weren’t, and his instinct had been to protect Hunter in any way possible. He wanted to say he didn’t care what his dad thought, but he did. “I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t want to tell him either. But… He’s got to know you’ve told her something by now. Like, he’s gonna take you to winter formal, right? She’d ask about that.” He knew how big the dances were to Jules and couldn’t imagine her telling her mother she didn’t have a date. She could always lie and say it was someone else, but then how did she avoid the pictures? Mrs. Cooper would want pre-dance pictures for sure.
Obviously Jules had thought about winter formal, and assumed Jasper would take her. She just didn't think much about her mom and pictures and all that. And then what about prom? She grimaced a bit, already imagining just how all of that would go over. "She'll want pictures, yeah, but it'll be like... she'll take pictures and be super bitchy but in a nice way, you know what I mean? He still sneaks into my house and sneaks out, whether they're there or not... and I kind of still make him do that, because I don't want my mom to know he's there." Jules sighed. "Is that shitty of me? Should I like, tell him she knows? I don't know. When did going out with someone get so freaking hard?"
“I dunno. Probably when feelings got involved. And parents,” Sebastian said with a twist of his lips. He’d liked Jules, but he hadn’t loved her and she knew that. She hadn’t loved him. But he thought she probably did love Jasper. She wouldn’t care so much if she didn’t. “I think you can tell him she knows, but still ask him to sneak in,” he said. “Like, my mom’s okay with me dating Hunter, but I have the feeling she’d have an issue with him staying over. His dad definitely does.” And neither of them were quite willing to risk sneaking into the other’s house yet. Sebastian had thought about it more than once, they’d even joked about it, but he didn’t want Hunter to get in trouble. And he wouldn’t put Hunter through the potential drama that might come with him staying at his house. “It’s not shitty, because you’re really just trying to protect his feelings,” he said after a moment’s thought. “But… I mean… he knows how your mom is, doesn’t he?” None of what Jules was saying came as a surprise to him, but he’d known her a long time. He knew her mom. He knew that Mrs. Cooper wouldn’t have batted an eye to him sleeping over with Jules, but Jasper was probably a different story.
Jules supposed she could understand that. She didn’t know many of her friends whose parents would let their boyfriend or girlfriend sleep over. Honestly she wasn’t sure Jasper would care that her mom didn’t like him. He probably already knew. “He knows how my mom is,” Jules said with a nod. “I don’t think he cares about what she thinks though. The sneaking around was super fun when we started hooking up but it kind of sucks now.” It wasn’t even Jasper staying the night. It was just having him come over to hang out when her family was home. Someday they would have their own place and it would be awesome but right now it kind of stunk. “I hope your dad chills about Hunter though. I mean, Hunter is the sheriff’s son, and he’s not like a delinquent so it could be worse, right? You could be dating a super old dude or a convict or something!”
“Ew, gross,” Sebastian laughed as he made a face. Maybe there were some guys his age who liked older men, but he preferred guys in his own age range. High school, maybe college. Even college guys seemed old right now, even some of them were just a year ahead of him. They had more experience with just about everything, and Sebastian liked how he and Hunter were pretty much on the same page all around. “Hunter’s about as far from a convict as you can get. Not that he’s a saint, but I’m probably more likely to sneak into his place than him into mine… I have this image of Jasper climbing up to your window, all cat-burglar-like,” he grinned. “I’m sure he uses the door.” Though he did think there was something sexy about climbing in a window. Which was probably weird. “Your mom will have to get over it eventually. So will my dad.” That was his hope, at least.
"He uses the back door," Jules said with a laugh. "I mean, he could probably climb up to my window, but he could also fall and like, die. So... I'd rather he not try it. But yeah, I like to think my mom will get over it eventually. And if she doesn't, oh well. She can't tell me what to do." Sighing, Jules glanced back at the other girls. "I should get back over there. I'm sorry you don't get to play tonight, but you also got to punch Kyle in the face, so... I'd say it's probably worth it." She gave Bash a small smile. "I'll talk to you after the game, okay?"
“Totally worth it,” Sebastian grinned. It wasn’t the first time he’d wanted to punch Kyle and it probably wouldn’t be the last. Though he doubted he’d do it again, it was satisfying to do it at least once, especially if all it cost him was a game. “Yeah, we’ll talk later,” he smiled back. Hopefully they’d win tonight’s game and they could all go out to Moxie’s afterwards. Even if he didn’t play, he enjoyed the post game celebrations with his friends.