Sarah was anxious for the rest of the evening. She was concerned about how Castiel would do with Tim. Did he remember to give him water? He’d better keep him away from Ares. It would be terrible if the dog chewed on their baby. Mainly she worried if Castiel had managed to screw open the battery case and shut down the doll to avoid responsibility. She could see him doing it. The screws were so small and weird looking that he’d have to get the screwdriver from some special shop, but she couldn’t help but worry about it still. She kept glancing her phone and thinking if she should message him. In the end she couldn’t gather enough courage to do it. She didn’t want to come across as bossy or meddlesome. But Castiel didn’t messaged her either, she assumed everything was alright.

The next morning, she found out she had been wrong. When Sarah arrived at school, she didn’t see her baby carriage. Castiel wasn’t there yet, unless he had decided to leave Tim home. If he had done that, Sarah would let him hear a piece of her mind, but she had faith in him, not much but enough. She decided to wait for him outside. She sat down on a bench and watched how other students arrived in groups or by themselves, some were from her class and pushed their dolls in their carriages. She didn’t have to wait for Castiel long; he came soon after she had sat down.

Sarah struggled with keeping a straight face while she watched Castiel walk across the school yard, head down and hood covering most of his face. Really? Did he try to hide his identity? When he stopped at the carriage park and lowered his hood, Sarah noticed dark shadows under his eyes. Castiel spotted Sarah quickly and marched to her and pushed the carriage which almost hit Sarah.

“Keep it,” he grumbled.

“Hey, watch it!” Sarah jumped up and caught the carriage before it crashed against the bench. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Oh, nothing. Nothing at all. That piece of junk just kept me awake all night.” Castiel sounded so annoyed Sarah wanted to back off few steps. She felt a small sting of guilt in the back of her head. Castiel clearly hadn’t slipped away from his duties.

“This whole project is ridiculous. Have to push a doll around town, feed it and change a stupid diaper. Keeps crying so I can’t sleep. Ridiculous,” Castiel kept mumbling to himself. Had he lost it already?

“So, he kept crying? All night? ”

“Yes. All the time. I put it down and few minutes later it starts screaming again. I had to stop three times on the way here too.”

“Weird. Did you feed him properly?”

“What do you mean properly?”

“Did you wait until he stopped drinking, or did you yank the bottle of when you thought he had had enough?”

Castiel was quiet longer than a person who had done it properly would have been.

“Yes.”

“So, you took the bottle off too early.”

“I did not!” Castiel snapped back. She might’ve as well been poking a bear with a stick. “…Maybe I did then,” he said after a short silence.

Sarah sighed. “That’s why he kept crying. You need to give him water until he stops drinking it. If you don’t give enough, the censors or whatever will keep complaining about it because he’s still hungry. Even if it’s just a doll, you have to think it’s a real baby. A real baby wouldn’t be happy with three drops of water.”

“Well, good to know now,” Castiel said snidely and headed towards the school.

“You had my number. You could’ve called,” Sarah replied and followed him with Tim on her arms. “Isn’t that why we exchanged numbers in the first place?”

“I didn’t want to be asking help on the first day,” Castiel said barely audibly.

“You can ask help from me anytime. I don’t mind it. ”

“You seem to know a lot about kids.”

“Well, I have a little sister who’s nine years younger than me. I took care of her a lot when she was a baby,” Sarah explained as they headed towards Miss Cassidy’s class. Her mum had been working a lot, so helping with taking care of Steffie had been one of Sarah’s jobs.

“Did your dad leave before or after she was born?” The words slipped out of Castiel’s mouth before he could properly think. Sarah’s shoulders tensed. “Sorry,” he added quickly.

“Before,” Sarah said and hurried her steps. But it didn’t help at all. She couldn’t get away from Castiel because they sat next to each other in class.

“Good morning darlings!” Miss Cassidy chirped when she walked in the classroom. Only few students replied, but more than usually.

“How have your first days as parents gone?” She didn’t let the sombre mood in the class weigh herself down and continued to radiate almost blinding positivity. “At least everyone has their baby with them. Excellent, excellent. Today we continue talking about the basics of parenthood and I’ll give you an extra assignment,” she continued and winked. Very worrying.

Miss Cassidy started asking every pair their baby caring experiences, but Sarah barely listened. She kept thinking about Castiel’s words. He had heard Mercedes and her friends’ mockery and believed what they had said. Sarah was sure he hadn’t meant anything bad with his question, but it still stung a little.

“Miss Webster, Miss Webster,” Miss Cassidy called. Sarah didn’t hear it until Castiel nudged her with his elbow.

“Huh? What?”

She heard snickering from the back row.

“I asked what the most challenging thing for you has been when taking care of the baby,” Miss Cassidy said, still smiling.

“Oh, umm,” Sarah mumbled and looked at Tim. “Probably having to take him everywhere with me,” she said.

“True. Baby takes up a lot of your time. When you have a baby, you can’t just go to the movies or shopping whenever you want to. Sometimes you won’t find a babysitter and you’ll have to cancel your plans. That way child affects your relationships. You will have less time to spend alone with your partner or your friends, but it is extremely important to remember to nurture those relationships or they might end,” Miss Cassidy explained.

“Which is why,” she said and clapped her hands together, “this will be your extra assignment: Every pair has to leave their baby to someone else’s care and spend time together. You can leave your baby to your friend or a family member, but they must follow the same instructions you do. The purpose of this assignment is to… Actually, I’m not going to tell you. Think about it yourself and discuss it in your diary.”

They spent the rest of the lesson on listening about everyone’s experiences and Miss Cassidy commenting on them. Most of the students found it hard to concentrate on what she said. To every girl-boy pair this assignment sounded dangerously close to a date. Sarah felt nervous too.

When the class finally ended, Leon came to talk with Castiel. Amanda, who carried their baby doll, followed him and smiled at Sarah.

“Hello,” Leon said to Sarah and smiled softly.

“Hi,” Sarah replied. She and Amanda exchanged greetings as well.

“Have you thought what you’re going to do?” Leon asked from Castiel when all four of them headed outside. Sarah wanted to slip away from the group because she felt awkward. But she stayed because the topic concerned to her too.

“Not yet. How about you? No doubt you’re going somewhere we’re you can be all lovey-dovey,” Castiel smirked. Leon and Amanda both blushed.

“Mhhm, we were thinking about visiting the aquarium. They have new penguins. Do you want to come with us?” Leon said and tried to look calm, but his red cheeks gave away his embarrassment. Castiel glanced at Sarah who in turn avoided looking at him. Going to an aquarium would’ve been nice but she didn’t want to say it. And going with Amanda and Leon would’ve felt like a double date.

“Nah, you can go,” Castiel said.

“Okay. You guys have fun too with whatever you’ll do,” Leon said and headed upstairs with Amanda.

“I hope you’re alright with that. I thought they’d like to be alone,” Castiel said.

“Yeah, it’s fine.” She would’ve felt awkward anyway, being the only person who didn’t know the others, so better not to tag herself along.

“Just so you know, I’m not gonna take you to any amusement parks,” Castiel said.

“I didn’t expect you to.” She didn’t want it to be fancy. It’d only feel way more forced.

“What do you want to do then?” he asked.

“I don’t need anything special. I could just come for another walk with you and Ares,” Sarah suggested smiling a bit.

“Fine by me. Let’s pick the day later. I’ll send you a message,” he said and walked away. Sarah headed upstairs for her art class.

The upstairs hallway was quiet still. Most students were getting coffee or snacks or spending time with their friends. Only few people waited for their teachers to arrive. She spotted Leon and Amanda sitting on a bench at the other end of the hallway, but she didn’t want to bother them. She quickly looked away when they kissed. She felt like she was prying.

A tall guy with curly brown hair leaned against the window bench and was focused on his phone. Sarah smiled when she noticed him.

“Hi Arthur,” Sarah greeted and walked up to him. He raised his head and immediately put his phone away. They shared a table in art class. After sitting in complete silence for two lessons, Arthur had decided to comment Sarah’s perspective drawing. And after that there had hardly been a quiet moment between them.

“Hi Sarah. How are you? And what’s with the doll? I’ve seen a lot of them around” Arthur asked.

“It’s a project for one class. We have to take care of them like they were babies.”

“Wow. Sounds weird.”

“You’ll probably have it next year too if the teachers decide it’s worth it.”

“Ugh, I’d rather not. I don’t really want to carry something like that around.”

“All you guys do is complain. It’s just a doll.”

“Well it’s natural. We don’t play with dolls like you girls do,” Arthur protested.

“Maybe you should. Girls like it when guys show their softer side,” Sarah teased.

“Wait, really? Don’t girls like the cool guys?”

“What? No. Well, being cool definitely doesn’t hurt but showing your feelings is the most important thing. Girls love it when guys let them see their softer side.”

“Wow, I never knew that. I’ll have to remember it for the future”

“You’ll charm all the girls, I’m sure,” Sarah laughed.

Mr Roe arrived and let his students in the classroom. Everyone took out their current artwork and continued it while Mr Roe excitedly told everyone his cat was expecting kittens. After few warm up works everyone had to do at the beginning of the course, they could do whatever they wanted so everyone was currently working on a different piece. Sarah was drawing a poster based on one of her mother’s comic book characters. She hoped she could print more of them and her mum could sell them at conventions she sometimes went. Arthur’s piece was a landscape painting of the area around her grandparents’ house on the countryside.