Sarah walked towards to school with stiff legs. She felt better but she was still sore. On Sunday it had been next to impossible to get out of bed. Her every muscle had ached, almost an egg-sized bump had risen on the back of her head, and she had bruises all over. But no broken bones and she had somehow avoided a concussion, a serious one at least. Her head had ached, but she hadn’t been nauseous or had any of the other symptoms. So, she assumed she was alright and with the power of pain killers and sleeping on her stomach, she had powered through. Her head didn’t hurt anymore, but she felt stiff even after doing stretches and taking warm baths. Sitting on hard benches of seven hours didn’t excite her at all.

Castiel had sent another message to check up on her on Sunday morning. Just reading the message had boosted Sarah’s mood by a tenfold. She hadn’t expected Castiel to show concern over her. It felt nice that he was worried. It made Sarah believe that he at least didn’t hate her.

“Hey!”

Thinking about Castiel seemed to have summoned him. Sarah stopped and looked behind her. Castiel walked closer, trying not to slip on the icy street. The cold stayed persistently, making freezing everything during the night.

“Good morning,” Sarah smiled when Castiel caught up to her.

“How are you? No broken bones” Castiel asked as they headed towards the school together.

“I’m okay. Everything aches still but I’m alive. I got a big bump on the back of my head though,” Sarah sighed.

Castiel looked at her head. “Oh yeah, I can see it.”

“What? No, you can’t, can you?”

“Yes, yes. It’s huge, like apple sized.”

“No, it’s… Oh, shut up. You’re just making fun of me,” Sarah grumbled and Castiel laughed.

“How mean,” she sighed, not that his teasing hurt her in any way. Castiel tussled her hair. “What’s with all this hair tussling?” Sarah asked while sorting out her hair.

“Probably just a natural reaction. Ares loves head pats,” Castiel grinned.

“Oh, so I’m just a dog to you?”

“Well, I did say you are like a puppy…”

“I’m not!”

They reached the school gate and ran into Leon and Amanda who arrived at the same time.

“Good morning,” Leon greeted. He smiled at the sight of Castiel and Sarah walking together.

“Morning,” Castiel said.

“Good morning,” Sarah smiled. She turned her eyes from Leon to Amanda who said good morning as well. Leon’s greyish hair and pale blue eyes were captivating and made it easy to stare at him for too long. Sarah had thought many times that he looked like a ghost.

Castiel and Leon focused on talking to each other and left Amanda and Sarah behind to park their baby carriages.

“How has the project gone for you and Castiel?” Amanda asked. Both stayed as far away from Mercedes’s pink carriage as possible.

“Pretty nicely actually. The beginning was a bit rough, but I think we’ve managed to work out our differences,” Sarah said. Castiel had accepted his care shifts and she trusted that he would take care of Tim. Sarah was happy they could work together and get along.

“Good to hear,” Amanda smiled. She picked up her doll from the carriage and they headed inside. “Castiel can be difficult but he’s not bad once you learn to know him better.” She and Castiel had started on a wrong foot but now they got along. Well, Amanda didn’t know if Castiel liked her or not, but at least he behaved for Leon’s sake. He wasn’t a bad guy either way, people had to earn his trust and for some it required more work than for others.

“Yeah, I’ve noticed,” Sarah said. “I don’t still know him too well but he’s a bit more approachable now.” She should put more effort in talking to him and getting to know him. “How has your project been?”

“Oh, it’s been interesting,” Amanda sighed. “We don’t really know how to take care of kids, you know. I’m the only child, and Leon is the younger of two, so we don’t have any experience. But we’re learning.”

“Castiel’s the same,” Sarah said and lowered her voice a bit because they approached the guys. “I have a younger sister, so I’m used to taking care of babies, but Tim kept Castiel awake the first night because he didn’t give him enough water. He had awful shadows under his eyes,” she whispered and they both looked at Castiel with a barely supressed smile.

“What?” Castiel asked when he caught them in the act.

“Nothing,” Sarah hurried to say and tried to hold back the smile. “Nothing at all.”

“Are you talking about me behind my back?”

“What? I could never.”

“You’ll be punished severely if I find out you’re lying,” Castiel said.

“Amanda can prove I didn’t say anything bad, right?”

“Totally. She just praised your baby caring skills,” Amanda said with the corner of her mouth twitching.

Castiel narrowed his eyes and the two girls burst out laughing. Leon followed the scene amused. It wasn’t hard to notice that Castiel had taken a liking to Sarah, who jumped out of his way when he tried to catch her. She didn’t notice Mercedes walking behind her with Victoria and Lind, and almost bumped into them.

“Watch out! Are you blind or what?” Mercedes hissed. She noticed still grinning Castiel and her eyes bounced from him to Sarah and back with a wide range of emotions from shock to rage visible on her face. She pushed Sarah out of the way and marched forward. The trio barely got out of hearing distance when they started furious talk and threw few angry looks towards Sarah.

“Gee, I wonder what they’re talking about,” Sarah said drily.

“Not today’s literature homework I assume,” Leon said.

“What homework?” Castiel asked.

“We had to read ‘Queen of Spades’ by Pushkin.”

”I knew I forgot something.”

“Maybe she won’t ask from you,” Sarah said.

“With my luck she will. Have you read it?”

“Of course, I have.”

“Made notes?”

“…Yes.”

“Cool. I’m gonna sit next to you and you can share your notes.”

“What? I don’t agree with this. Leon’s done it too. Why don’t you ask him? Or even better, take responsibility and face the consequences of being careless?”

“Because it’s dumb. And, he doesn’t borrow his notes.”

“You need to learn to do your own homework,” Leon commented.

“See?” Castiel sighed.

“Maybe I’ll side with him, so you learn your lesson.”

“Oh, come on. This one time? I’ll…buy you a chocolate.”

Sarah weighed her options. Castiel had made an extremely tempting offer. It was hard to resist chocolate.

“Fine. But only this one time.” Deciding was easy when there was chocolate to gain from it. “I’m doing this for the chocolate, just so you know.”

Castiel flashed a victorious smile to Leon who sighed.

Soon Mrs Johnson arrived, and the students moved to the classroom. Sarah wished that Castiel would’ve forgotten his idea in the few minutes it had taken for the class to start but no, he already sat on the seat next to hers when she returned from the baby corner. Tim would have to spend his time with all the other dolls there. Sarah sighed and took out the book and her notes and placed them so that Castiel could easily read them as well.

Mrs Johnson didn’t pay attention to this new sitting order. She didn’t care who sit where as long as every student was in class and they did work as told. A few others did throw surprised looks towards them, least of all Mercedes, who was fuming. She couldn’t believe her eyes. How could this be happening? Was this a trick from Castiel’s part? Was this a test to see if Mercedes really was serious with her feelings towards him? Because she was, and she thought she had made it clear too but maybe she would need to be more direct. Or maybe it was Sarah’s scheming, some kind of witchcraft. Either way, she’d have to react.

For the lesson they divided into two groups and discussed their opinions on whether Hermann’s mistake in placing his bets was rationally explainable or due to supernatural elements. Sarah was on the supernatural group and Castiel as well since his opinions were just Sarah’s notes. Mercedes joined their side because of Castiel. She seated herself as close to him as possible, so he could smell the wonderful new perfume she had and see how beautifully golden her hair was. She had gone to hairdresser’s on Saturday and got a darker shade on her blonde hair and it looked wonderful now.

“So, what did you think of the story, Castiel?” Mercedes asked while groups were still assembling. Leon was on the rational group, but Amanda and Lucy were on supernatural side. Lind had followed Mercedes, but Victoria had stayed on the rational side. She was the only one of the three who had read the book.

“I dunno. I haven’t read it,” Castiel said and leaned towards Sarah to look at her notes. Sarah pushed Castiel away and handed the notes to him. Her cheeks were slightly red.

“Yeah I haven’t either. Reading is super boring. I rather do something fun.”

Castiel didn’t reply. He was scanning through Sarah’s notes. He didn’t understand much, but he picked up a few points he thought could be useful if Mrs Johnson decided to bother him with questions.

Mercedes puckered her lips. Waiting until the end of class to talk with Castiel could be better. There were too many nosy people in the room ready and she didn’t want any extra ears hear what she had to say. She didn’t speak anymore during the class but nodded along to everything Castiel said.

During the last fifteen minutes Mrs Johnson made the two groups discuss with each other, which developed into a debate where Sarah and Amanda were against Leon and Mercedes’s brother, Justin. Pretty much everyone else remained silent but a few brave students threw their comments in the air every now and then, hoping for extra points of approval from the teacher.

Mrs Johnson stopped the debate two minutes after class ended. She congratulated them for bringing up excellent points and having evidence to justify them. She freed everyone from homework as a reward. After grabbing their dolls, the students poured out of the room. To Sarah’s delight and surprise, Castiel went to pick up Tim.

“What?” he asked when he noticed Sarah’s face.

“Nothing.”

“It’s my day today, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

“So why that face?”

“I was just surprised.”

“About what?”

“That you went to take him. Usually I have to tell you to.”

“I like to surprise every now and then,” Castiel said as they headed to the hallway. Leon and Amanda waited for them. “You’d be amazed with how spontaneous I can be,” he added and winked.

“I think I’m fine without knowing.”

While they enjoyed their fifteen minutes of freedom in the hallway, Leon and Amanda told about their visit to the aquarium. Amanda showed pictures of the animals from her phone and Sarah was ready to go to the aquarium right away. Castiel smiled and rolled his eyes when the girls gushed over penguin chicks.

But soon it was time to head to the next class. Castiel and Leon had music while Sarah and Amanda had their own classes to attend to.

“I don’t think we have any classes together anymore so I’m gonna ask now,” Castiel said before he left. “Are you fine with a walk today too?”

“Yeah, I don’t have anything,” Sarah replied.

“Good,” Castiel said and walked off with Leon. Sarah and Amanda headed upstairs.

“You go for walks together?” Amanda asked. Sarah felt herself blush.

“Yeah… Because it would be hard for Castiel to walk Ares and the baby carriage at the same time. So, when it’s his day, I join them for the walks.”

“That’s nice. A great way to get know each other better too.”

“Yeah. It is. And Ares is adorable.”

“Oh, he is. I’ve met him a few times. Such a sweet dog. What class do you have, by the way?” Amanda asked.

“Art.”

“Oh, you took the extra class? I thought about taking it too but I’m not particularly good at drawing. The other course we have is challenging enough”

“It’s a nice class. Everyone can do pretty much what they want. It’s super chill. Mr Roe talks about his cats most of the time,” Sarah laughed. Everyone in class knew all of Mr Roe’s five cats by name and appearance. He named them after different art periods and had even brought Baroque and Dada to class to be used as models for warm-up exercise in the beginning of the course.

“He’s such a sweet man,” Amanda said. Mr Roe was a great teacher. Most students liked him because he was relaxed and approachable. “Oh, my classroom is already open, I better hurry. See you later,” she said then and hurried to her French class. The teacher hadn’t arrived yet, but most students were on their seats. Sarah continued her walk to the art class where the door was already open as well. She almost bumped to Mr Roe at the door.

“Oh sorry. And sorry for being late.”

“Oh, don’t worry. You aren’t late at all. The class hasn’t started yet. Everyone was early today, so I decided to let them in. I’m going to get myself a cup of tea.”

Arthur noticed Sarah walk in and his posture straightened immediately. “I was starting to think you aren’t coming at all,” he said when Sarah dropped her bag on the floor.

“I wasn’t even late,” Sarah said checking the clock to make sure she didn’t lie. “I was talking with some classmates.”

“Nice. Have you made progress on your work?” He had the basic colours of his landscape on the paper. Many different shades of green, bright blue sky and golden fields. Sarah thought it looked beautiful already at that early stage.

“I think so. I managed to work out the hair last time,” Sarah said. She had a pile of reference pictures in the same folder with her art. Faces from different angles, eyes and hairstyles, as well as close-up shots from her mum’s comic. Drawing faces was hard, and she wanted to make hers perfect. The character’s curly ginger hair and many freckles didn’t make drawing any easier. Sarah didn’t know how mum could keep drawing something this detailed all the time.

“It looks amazing. She’s from your mum’s comic book, right?”

“Yeah, she the main character, Heather,” Sarah said and pulled her hair up to a ponytail to prevent it from getting in the way. She rustled the box of coloured pencils, trying to find the right shade of light brown for the eyes. She’d have to add a hint of green to them too. Colouring the hair would be a painful experience she didn’t even want to think about yet. “Your drawing looks great too.”

“Ah, yeah I guess it’s slowly coming together,” Arthur said. “At least it isn’t as detailed as yours. But I need to get all the proper shades down,” he sighed. “Should’ve just gone with something abstract and thrown paint on the canvas…”

“I’m starting to think that too,” Sarah chuckled. It would’ve been way easier. But she was sure she would’ve still struggled with it somehow.

Mr Roe returned with his cup of tea and seated himself behind his desk. He gazed around the class while sipping his drink, looking for something that could give him a good excuse to talk about Rococo, his sweet soon-to-be-mother cat.

“How’s your project been going by the way?” Arthur asked. “I don’t see the doll anywhere.”

“Pretty well. Tim is still in one piece and in Castiel’s care right now. It’s been kind of fun to do this. I’m learning to know Castiel better and to be honest, it feels nice to have people to talk with.”

“You can always talk with me.”

“Yeah of course. And I like talking with you. But it’s nice to have other people too, you know? Like, we don’t really see each other outside of art classes.” They bumped into each other sometimes in the hallways but usually their schedules didn’t match at all, so they rarely met. Sarah knew she’d be sad when the course ended. Would they see each other at all? She didn’t want to think about it. Maybe they’d take more art courses and meet there again.

Sarah jogged down the hallway clutching her bag so it wouldn’t fall from her shoulder. Mr Coy had kept them too long again. Sarah didn’t really like Mr Coy. He always looked like he was afraid of his students. He constantly twisted his hands and every time he broke the chalk (which he insisted on using instead of the white board), he flinched. And worst of all, he spoke slowly, and his lectures were long-winded and boring. His class was always either the first or last of the day which made them even more sleep-inducing. A sleeping student was a common sight on his lessons.

Sarah looked out of the window and saw Castiel head towards the baby carriage park. She hurried her steps and ran down the stairs two steps at a time. Her back or legs didn’t appreciate it and she had to slow down before she reached the bottom of the stairs. She fetched her coat and put it on while heading outside. Castiel had already placed Tim in the carriage and was looking at his phone while waiting. Mercedes stared at him from a short distance away.

“Hey,” Sarah said after walking closer. She buttoned her coat and tightened her ponytail.

“Finally she arrives,” Castiel said and put his phone away. “I’ve been waiting for ages.”

“No, you haven’t. I saw you walking here just a few minutes ago.”

“Nope, definitely has been ages,” Castiel grinned. “Women always make other people wait for them.”

“It’s not my fault that Coy advances the class at a glacial pace,” Sarah huffed.

“Oh, you had his class? He’s so boring to listen to. What did you have?”

“Math. But I don’t know if I understood any of it,” she groaned. Math wasn’t her best subject and if she could choose, she wouldn’t have any of it. But she couldn’t, so there she sat, writing down notes and hoping that the formulas and numbers would start making sense before the exam.

“Leon and I have him in physics. His voice has nearly put me to sleep several times.”

“I’m not surprised at all. He makes me drowsy too and I pay attention to what he says even less.”

They made their way out of school grounds while continuing to share experiences about poor Mr Coy. Mercedes looked after them dumbfounded. She couldn’t believe her eyes. During the lunchbreak Mercedes had went to talk to Castiel while he had been alone. She had asked him for a coffee, an offer he couldn’t refuse for sure, but what had Castiel done? He had stared at her for a few seconds and said he’d be busy. That would’ve been understandable of course, Mercedes was terribly busy as well, but seeing Castiel just walk away with Sarah left her speechless. How could that little mouse be more important than she was? Unbelievable. She had known Castiel for longer than Sarah had. That little girl probably hadn’t even talked to him before that stupid course while Castiel had saved Mercedes once. They had a stronger and more special connection than Sarah could ever think about having. But now she acted like she was special. Preposterous! If Sarah thought she could keep it up and get off scot-free, she was wrong.