Sarah walked slowly towards the school and yawned. She had stayed up late in the morning thought she had slept too long and hurried up without even looking at the clock properly. Only after dressing up Tim and herself in outdoor clothes she had realised she was almost an hour early. But since she was ready to go, she had decided to just head towards school. Walking slowly would hopefully pass the time. All the roads were covered in ice so she couldn’t even walk very quickly because she was worried, she would slip. Having ice skates would’ve been more useful than shoes.

She tried her absolute best to walk slowly but still arrived at the school forty minutes early. She parked the baby carriage and headed inside with Tim. Coats in the hangers revealed that other people had been even earlier than Sarah but when she walked down the hallways, she didn’t see anyone. She heard some noises from upstairs, so someone was clearly there, but she guessed that most people were in the library, maybe doing last minute homework.

Sarah sat down on a bench and adjusted Tim to sit nicely on her lap. Slowly more students arrived and made their way inside, trying to avoid slipping on the icy school yard. Sarah peeked out of the window many times to see if Castiel had arrived. She didn’t need him for anything since he’d take Tim in the afternoon, but Sarah found herself looking out repeatedly, trying to spot the reddish-brown hair. After the fifth time she realised what she was doing and focused on staring at the wall. Some of the paint on it had damaged after someone had probably slammed the door against the wall too hard. She tried to think why she looked forward to seeing Castiel so much but couldn’t figure out the reason. She didn’t feel as nervous as the day before, but some sort of anticipation welled inside her and made her restless. She wanted to look out again but forced herself to keep her eyes on the wall. It would be dumb to be constantly looking out. Castiel wouldn’t be as excited about seeing her so there was no point.

Sarah focused on staring at the wall and didn’t hear the approaching clacking of high heels. She shifted her attention to her surroundings when three pairs of legs appeared in her line of sight and blocked her view at the wall. Sarah raised her eyes to Mercedes who looked at her with her hands on her hips.

“Oh, would you look at that. The little mouse is all alone. Did your bodyguard abandon you?”

“Bodyguard?” Sarah was already lost.

“Tsch. First she runs after Castiel like some lost puppy and then pretends she doesn’t know anything about it.”

“Maybe she doesn’t pretend? Maybe she’s just actually dumb?” Victoria suggested. Mercedes laughed.

“That would make sense. Maybe she is just dumb.”

Sarah remained silent. Mercedes was clearly trying to pick a fight and she didn’t want to participate in it. She also didn’t know what Mercedes was talking about. Castiel wasn’t her bodyguard and she hadn’t been running after him.

“Well? Did a cat get your tongue? Or can’t you even speak anymore? You’ve been a wallflower for so long you’re actually turning into a plant.” Mercedes and her friends snickered. She was proud of her last remark. Sarah rolled her eyes.

“I just don’t want to waste my voice on people like you,” she said.

“Do you think you’re smart or something? Do you think you’re somehow special because Castiel pays a little bit of attention to you? Because you aren’t. Castiel just pities you. You’re such a boring person. You don’t deserve his attention.”

Sarah lowered her eyes. Mercedes was vicious today. Usually she paid little attention to Sarah but working with Castiel had made her a prime target of bullying. It wasn’t a secret that Mercedes had a crush on Castiel. But Castiel stopped her advances time and time again, and it annoyed Mercedes enormously. She was used to getting what she wanted.

“Hey, leave Sarah alone.”

Sarah turned her head quickly. Arthur was standing next to her. She hadn’t realised at all that he had arrived. Mercedes took a step back so she could look at him properly, without having to look up too much. Arthur was over a head taller than her.

“Oh, who’s this? Are you trying to have a boy on every finger now? A bit ambitious. But I guess he isn’t bad looking. He just has terrible taste,” she grinned.

“Arthur what are you doing?” Sarah ignored Mercedes completely. She was worried about Arthur. She didn’t want him to get mixed up on this.

“I’m trying to help. Is it alright? You looked upset.”

“I… Thanks. I’m alright. Just waiting for them to stop running their mouths.”

“Wha… Listen you little brat. I’m just trying to make you understand that you better not even imagine going after Castiel. He’s way out of your league. If you get too familiar with him I…”

“You what?”

Now it was Mercedes’s turn to nearly snap her neck by turning her head too quickly. Castiel was leaning at the wall with his arms crossed.

“Castiel… I… I…”

“Yes?”

“I… I’m just making sure she doesn’t bother you.”

“I can do that myself if I need to. You should know that I hate people who stick their nose to other people’s business.”

Mercedes’s cheeks reddened. She didn’t say anything but just waved at her friends to follow and marched away. Sarah sighed. Finally, they had decided to leave.

“About the time they left. What an annoying bunch,” Arthur said and sat next to Sarah. He placed his hand on her shoulder. Castiel narrowed his eyes. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks for sticking up for me,” Sarah smiled.

“Not a problem at all. You’re my friend.”

“She could’ve taken care of it herself though,” Castiel commented

“What is that supposed to mean?” Arthur asked. “I should’ve just let her be and listen to that crap?”

“Yes. She could’ve dealt it with herself. She has enough snap in her to do it.”

“Well, sometimes it’s just nice when someone stands up to you.”

“But when you defend someone who doesn’t need it, you just look stupid.”

The guys glared at each other. Castiel’s attitude stunned Arthur. How could he say that? Defending friends was important. Arthur wasn’t going to leave anyone in trouble if he could help, least of all Sarah who was a good friend.

Castiel was annoyed. He had seen the vultures bothering Sarah but before he was able to step in, this Arthur had appeared out of nowhere. Even seeing the guy irritated Castiel. He was too familiar with Sarah. She didn’t flinch and edge away if he touched her or sat too close, and Sarah smiled to him a lot. It pissed Castiel off for reasons he didn’t understand.

“Hey, calm down. I appreciate both of your help. I didn’t want to get invested in a fight with Mercedes, so that’s why I stayed quiet.”

“That’s smart. If you ignore the bullies, they’ll get bored eventually,” Arthur said. “Well, depends on the situation but I doubt those three would do anything else but run their mouths. They seem like the typical rich girls who think they’re better than others.”

“She’s been like that as long as I can remember,” Sarah said. She had been in the same secondary school as Mercedes and few other of their current classmates, and Mercedes had always been acting like she was better than others. Her parents were rich and apparently spoiled their daughter quite a bit. And seeing what Mercedes was like, Sarah wasn’t surprised. Some of her behaviour was most likely just pretending and trying to be tougher than she was, but Mercedes did think she was better than others and didn’t try to hide it either.

“Yeah, she has. But it just gets worse every year,” Castiel sighed. Mercedes and her friends were annoying. Their babbling and gossiping were annoying as well, and Castiel would’ve happily stayed away from them but sadly he wasn’t allowed such privilege. Mercedes kept trying to talk to him no matter how many times Castiel turned her down. Luckily after this year they’d finally part ways. Hopefully at least.

“I think I gotta go. My class is starting soon,” Arthur said. “I’ll see you in Arts later today, right?”

“Of course. I have too much work to do to skip classes,” Sarah laughed.

Arthur smiled and got up. “I’ll see you later then. Bye.”

“Bye.” Sarah waved her hand to him, and Arthur waved back. Castiel didn’t do anything.

“Is he like your best friend or something?” he asked.

“Well, I probably wouldn’t say best friend… But we’re friends. Why does it interest you anyway?”

“It doesn’t. I was just wondering. He seems so eager to talk to you all the time.”

Sarah raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that what friends do?”

“I guess. But at least Leon isn’t touching me all the time.”

“What does that have to do with anything? I would touch a friend if it made sense in the situation”

“Oh, how innocent can you be? Do you really think he does it just because you’re friends?”

“Why else then?”

“Seriously? You don’t realize? Oh lord, you really are clueless…”

“What? Stop beating around the bush and tell me!” If Castiel wanted to say something, he should just say it. But before he managed to tell what he meant, Miss Cassidy arrived.

“I guess I’ll tell you later,” Castiel grinned as they headed to class.

They sat down at their desks while other students arrived. Sarah took out her notebook and made sure Tim was sitting comfortably. They didn’t have baby corner in this class because Miss Cassidy wanted to see how everyone was taking care of their dolls. Although Sarah wasn’t sure how much attention the teacher actually paid to any of the dolls. She always seemed to get carried away by whatever she was talking about.

“Today we will focus more on the theory of childcare,” Miss Cassidy told the class. “I’ll tell you about the most common children’s diseases and health issues most parents will have to deal with. Luckily for you these dolls don’t get sick but real babies do, and it’s good to know what to do when that happens.”

Castiel sighed and prepared to take a nap. There were few things less interesting to him than some kids’ diseases. Based on sighing he heard from around the classroom, others weren’t interested either. At least a lecture was better than talking about their experiences with the doll. Miss Cassidy would probably get less side-tracked when she had a presentation to follow. Castiel slouched to a more comfortable position and spaced out when Miss Cassidy started talking about diaper rash.

Castiel’s focus shifted back to reality when Jaime, who was sitting behind him, bumped his desk against Castiel’s chair. He muttered an apology but Castiel didn’t pay much attention to it. He grunted as a reply and looked around. Miss Cassidy was talking about colic, and Sarah was writing notes as quickly as she could. Castiel snorted. Why did she take notes? They didn’t have a test on this course.

Miss Cassidy interrupted her speech to tell a joke. A thought about a baby screaming for several hours a day made the class serious and she wanted to lighten up the mood. It was a terrible joke, but Sarah smiled while writing. A smile climbed on Castiel’s face as well. His brow furrowed slightly when he realised it, and he turned his eyes away from Sarah. Castiel tried to focus on spinning a pencil between his fingers, but his eyes wandered back to Sarah. She wrote notes quickly, but her handwriting was neat. When Miss Cassidy went over something too quickly or mentioned a word Sarah didn’t catch, a small wrinkle formed between her eyebrows. She wrote the entire sentence before adding dots on the words that needed them, but sometimes she forgot, and the i’s were left undotted. It distracted Castiel a lot.

“You didn’t do those,” he said quietly so Miss Cassidy wouldn’t hear.

“What?” Sarah flinched from the unexpected voice close to her ear.

“You didn’t dot those i’s,” Castiel repeated and pointed at the letters. “It’s bothering me.”

“Why are you even reading it?” Sarah asked but started to add dots on the letters.

“I just happened to look.”

“Are you happy now?” Sarah asked when the last i received its dot.

“Yes. Thank you. Now I can sleep at night.”

“Please, do let me know if there’s something else that might make you lose your sleep.”

“Well, now that you mention it… Sometimes when the word has double t, you use a single line to cross them both but sometimes both have their own line. So inconsistent.”

“Oh no, how will you ever survive that? You must be distraught.”

“I really am. I think I need a coffee to survive from this.”

“Good thing there’s a coffee machine downstairs.”

“That’s it for today’s lesson. Next time we meet you will be returning your babies. Time sure has flown past. Remember to write to your journals. Have a wonderful day.”

Miss Cassidy’s speech interrupted their discussion. Sarah looked up to the clock and realised it really was end of the class.

“I missed the rest of my notes,” she muttered. Her last sentence was left unfinished.

“It’s not like you really need them,” Castiel said and shoved his pencil in the bag. He hadn’t even taken a notebook out. “We don’t have an exam.”

“It’d still be useful information. You never know when you might need it.”

“Where would you need this? Are you planning on having a kid?”

“Definitely not. Not in the next ten years at least. Probably. But you know, just in case someone needs to know about it.”

“Wouldn’t they go to a doctor in that case instead of a random teen?”

“You really try to find reasons for me to not take notes, aren’t you?”

While they walked, both headed downstairs like from an unspoken agreement. They stopped at the end of the short line that had already formed at the coffee machine.

“I just don’t see why you’d like to do extra work,” Castiel said.

“Maybe I like to learn. Might be an unknown concept for you but that’s what people do in schools.”

“Really? I though we come here for the shitty food.”

“The chicken and rice thing is good…”

“I guess. Not the worst. Do you want anything?”

It was their turn on the machine. Sarah shook her head.

“No. The tea is awful from that. I don’t even know why I came here to be honest,” she laughed. Her legs had walked on their own probably because Castiel had talked about coffee.

“Another reason to drink coffee then. And you came here to spend some quality time with me of course,” Castiel grinned and blew in his coffee to cool it down.

“Yeah, sure.”

They moved to lean on a windowsill. The sky was light grey, and snowflakes slowly danced down from the clouds.

“Are we going for a walk today?”

“If you want to. I don’t have anything to do so I don’t mind. And it’s the last day when we need to, so…it’d be nice.”

Sarah sighed. Two weeks had gone past incredibly quickly. It was hard to think she would have to watch Tim only for one more day. Then she wouldn’t need to carry it around and wake up to feed it in the middle of the night. She wouldn’t have to go for walks with Castiel and Ares. The thought made Sarah sad. She had enjoyed their walks even if they didn’t even say anything to each other during them. It had been relaxing to sit on a bench and watch Ares enjoy himself in the park. And after Friday, she didn’t have a reason to join him and Castiel anymore.

“I’ll wait for you then.”

“Okay. I have art so I might be able to get out a bit earlier.”

Sometimes when Mr Roe was in a particularly good mood and they had art as the last class of the day, he let them out a bit earlier which was appreciated. The class was so relaxed that following the schedule didn’t even feel right.

“Cool. And don’t look so depressed. I might recruit you as our dog walking buddy,” Castiel said.

“I wouldn’t mind that. Purely because of Ares of course,” Sarah replied. She turned her head away because her cheeks started to get warm.

“I’m sure he’d be happy about it too.” Castiel smiled and sipped from his coffee. It tasted terrible.

“I have to head to class now. I’ll see you later today,” Sarah said after checking the time. The break had passed so quickly talking with Castiel. She handed Tim over to Castiel.

“See ya.” Castiel stayed behind sipping his coffee. He had a free period which meant he’d head to the music class. He wanted to practice for the approaching band contest. Once this stupid doll project was over, he’d be able to fully focus on it with Leon. He gulped the rest of the coffee and threw the crushed paper mug in the bin. Time to get to work.

Sarah was packing away her art supplies when Mr Roe walked to Arthur and her table. He had just returned to class after getting a phone call. He beamed with excitement but twisted his hands nervously.

“Sarah. Could I ask for a favour from you and Arthur? My... my husband called to tell that Rococo is giving birth to her babies right now and I really need to get there. I was supposed to get some art supplies today, but I can’t go now. Would it be possible for you two to go? You don’t need to do anything else but to go pick them up and bring here. I’ll leave the classroom door open and you can just lock it when you leave. Could you do it? Please.”

Sarah looked at Arthur who shrugged. He didn’t have anything against it and his cats were important to Mr Roe, so he wanted to help.

“Of course, we’ll help. Just hurry home to your cats,” Sarah smiled. Mr Roe sighed in relief.

“Thank you. Thank you so much.” After saying that he grabbed his bag and jogged out of the room.

“He’s so sweet,” Sarah said and stood up. They’d better go pick up the materials right away. She’d have to let Castiel know that they couldn’t go just yet. It was a shame, but he’d understand. Sarah was sure of it.

Castiel was leaning against the wall when Sarah walked down the stairs with Arthur. Sarah noticed him and smiled. Castiel’s lips turned to small smile as well. He pushed himself away from the wall and took few steps towards Sarah.

“Are you ready to go?” he asked and ignored Arthur.

“About that… I can’t come just yet. Sorry.”

“Why?” Castiel’s eyes immediately shot to Arthur. He’d better not have anything to do with it.

“Well, Mr Roe’s cat is giving birth and he asked me and Arthur to go pick some art supplies because he had to hurry home to see her.”

“We were supposed to go for a walk. How am I supposed to do it with this thing?” Castiel waved Tim in front of Sarah.

“It’ll only take an hour so you could wait... And don’t wave Tim around like that.”

“Shouldn’t a guy of your age survive through a walk without someone keeping you company?” Arthur asked and Castiel shot an icy look at him.

“And shouldn’t a guy your size be able to survive carrying some art stuff by yourself? Or are you so weak you need girl’s help with it?”

“Mr Roe asked us both. We can go for a walk later, right? It doesn’t have to be right after school.”

“Yeah, you can go later.”

“Shut up. You’re just jumpin on this opportunity so you can try to hit on her.”

“Castiel!” Sarah hissed. “What’s wrong with you? This isn’t that big of a deal honestly. We just go for a walk a bit later, okay? I’m not trying to cancel our plans. Just moving them a bit.”

“Yeah, don’t be so rude, Castiel.”

“You know what? Do whatever the fuck you want. I don’t care.”

“Castiel…”

“Don’t need to come for the walk either. I’m fine by myself,” he said and marched away. The nearby people started whispering to each other. She sighed.

“Did you really have to annoy him on purpose?” she asked Arthur who shrugged.

“He was being rude to you. And acting like an ass in general. I think he deserved it.”

“I don’t like when my friends fight,” Sarah muttered. This whole scene had left uncomfortable lump in her stomach. Castiel had been so angry. Unnecessarily so in Sarah’s opinion but she was sure there was a reason for it. He must have a bad day.

“Let’s just go get the supplies,” she said. She wanted to talk with Castiel soon.

“Okay. Let’s go then. I want to get home soon too.”

It had taken longer than Sarah had thought to get the art supplies. She had got the impression that there would be just a few things to pick up but once they had walked in the store, they had received two boxes full of something heavy, a big paper bag and two rolls of carton. Arthur had taken the boxes and Sarah was holding the bag in one hand and balancing the carton rolls under her other arm. The items were difficult to carry, and they had to stop for breaks regularly. Sarah was embarrassed over how weak she was. Arthur didn’t seem to have any problems with his boxes, but she had to switch hands for carrying the bag constantly and it made holding the carton more difficult as well.

“Are we there yet?” Sarah groaned when they turned from another street corner. She felt like they had been walking for hours.

“Two more blocks,” Arthur said. He could hardly wait for the chance to put the boxes down. His arms were screaming but if he put the boxes down, he might not get them up again.

“Uugggh, so far away.”

Sarah was tired. She wanted to go home. But first, she’d go to see Castiel. The argument had left a sour taste in her mouth and she wanted to make sure there wasn’t any kind of misunderstanding. She also wanted to see Ares, and she had promised she’d come for a walk and she was intending to keep the promise. Or at least offer to keep it.

“Do you have any plans after this?” Arthur asked. “I think we deserve some cake.”

“Thanks, but I think I’m gonna go see Castiel and ask if he wants to go for the walk,” Sarah said. Arthur looked at her surprised.

“But he said he doesn’t want to see you.”

“I’m gonna try anyway. He might’ve just been angry and not mean it. And I’d like to make sure things are alright. I don’t like arguments.”

“Are you and Castiel a couple?”

Sarah nearly dropped the carton rolls. “Wh…what? No. We’re just friends. I think. I think we’re friends.” She considered Castiel as a friend, but she didn’t know if Castiel liked her enough to think the same of her. She hoped he did.

“I thought so but just wanted to ask.”

“Why would you even think about it?”

“Well you spend time together. And he seems kinda defensive about you when I’m around. Kind of angry most of the time. So, I thought he might be jealous.”

“Whaat? Not at all. He’s just like that, temperamental.” Sarah said that but she didn’t remember an occasion where Castiel would’ve been angry at her. He was quick to snide and make fun of her, but he had never been angry. But when Arthur was around, he was always grumpy… But then again, in those situations something else had also happened. First, the discussion about avoiding Castiel’s parents, then Mercedes being there and now delaying the walk. All the situations had been annoying, so it didn’t mean it was related to Arthur. Castiel was just annoyed in general and it projected itself in his behaviour towards Arthur, that had to be it.

“Maybe. And to be honest, you probably really aren’t his type anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I don’t know him of course but didn’t he date that Rachel? And she was more…how do you say it…bolder and uhh, more feminine. Kinda like Mercedes is.”

“What do you mean more feminine? I’m feminine too, aren’t I? I wear dresses sometimes.”

Arthur’s cheeks flushed. He shouldn’t have said anything.

“Yeah you are but you know, more feminine in, uhh, the chest section…”

“Oh.”

“N-not that there’s anything wrong with yours. Some guys like flat chests and, no, that didn’t sound right... I mean that it doesn’t matter what size you are… And you aren’t that flat anyway. I think you look good. I mean…”

Arthur’s face resembled a beetroot and even his ears were red. He listened to the words that dropped from his mouth in horror. He wanted to shut up, but his mouth just kept going, digging his grave deeper.

“Sorry,” he mumbled then, managing to stop the flow of words.

“It’s alright.”

Sarah’s cheeks were burning when she glanced down. Her coat covered her shapes so she couldn’t even confirm Arthur’s words. She hadn’t really paid attention to her appearance on that regard but was she really that flat? Was it bad? She had never been bothered by it herself but now that she thought about it, quite a few girls in her class were more… feminine than her.

“So, you think he’d like Mercedes because of boobs?” Sarah asked. Arthur’s face reddened even more.

“I…I don’t know. I was just saying that she looks more to his old girlfriend than you do. And guys usually have types… Like some like blonde girls and some like sporty girls, you know. But I don’t know really. I don’t know what I’m talking about really. Just spewing some nonsense. Don’t think about it.”

“Mhhh.”

“Sorry, I just sound awful don’t I? I didn’t mean to hurt you. Just forget I said anything.”

“Mmmmh.”

Arthur closed his eyes for a second. He had messed up. Why had he even started talking about this? Luckily, they reached the school and they were closer to a relief of this painful experience.

The school was empty from students when they walked in the art room. Sarah didn’t even bother to turn on the lights and just dropped everything to the table with a relieved groan. Her arms ached so much she was sure they would just drop on the floor. Arthur set down the boxes on another table and stretched himself. His shoulders popped.

“Oh, ew. That sounded awful,” Sarah said. It couldn’t have been healthy.

“Oh, it’s nothing. This happens all the time.”

“I don’t think that makes it any better.”

“Probably not,” Arthur laughed. “But it feels nice so I’m fine with it.”

“If you say so…”

Sarah took a few steps towards the door and adjusted her bag’s strap.

“I think I’ll be going now. Thanks for the help. See you later,” she said and hurried out.

She walked down the hallway and stopped in front of a mirror. She didn’t see any better from this angle. Sarah bit her lip. Why did this bother her so much now? She sighed. It shouldn’t matter. Castiel didn’t look at her like that anyways. She was just someone he was forced to work with for school.