balanced.

“Fear?” Josephine repeated before trying to clear her face of any expressions. “How about now? Does this look scream fearless?” She asked. “A bit. I just can’t wrap my head around this question, it feels as if I’ve missed an entire week of school and they covered the entire chapter in that week.” 

“If you want, you can borrow my notes from last year,” Christian suggested. “It might give you a different perspective.”

@christiansohare​

“Have I ever failed at anything? No. And I’m not about to start now.” Josephine spoke with a shake of her head as she looked to her papers and back up to Christian. “Do you hear any type of failure in my voice?” 

“Maybe fear, not failure,” Christian answered. He then made a face. “Bad answer?”

“What do you mean you’ve never tried anything else?” Harvey asked, sounding horrified. “Do you not love pizza or something?”

Christian shrugged. “I didn’t really eat much pizza growing up, and then I just kind of never asked for anything other than pepperoni. Is that like weird or something?”

“Alright there old man, I won’t keep you out past your bedtime,” she rolled her eyes with a playful groan in Christian’s direction. “Happy? We’ll be back before you can say ‘bingo night’,” Marzia added in exaggeration. 

“Okay, that’s not exactly what I said,” Christian said with a shake of his head. “I mostly mean I want to get some sleep tonight.”

“Sweet!” he grinned happily when Christian agreed to pizza. “Do you have any favorite toppings?”

“I usually just get pepperoni,” Christian replied. “Then again, I never tried anything else.”

“Don’t get me wrong, naps are great–” Marzia began, shifting in her spot a little, “–but you’re unconscious. Shouldn’t you want to celebrate while awake and then nap after?”

“I guess I could break my routine for you,” Christian replied to her. “If you agree not to keep me out all night or something.”

“It’s not illegal, a bit more bending the rules.” Simona replied, a bit too quickly to be honest. “How would they remember? They get so many assignments back every day, I bet they don’t even remember my assignment from last week.” 

“I’m pretty sure it’s illegal,” Christian replied. “First of all, it’s only been a year. Second of all, if it’s the one you choose your own topic, I’m sure they don’t get the same topics very often. You’re on your own for this one, sorry.”

Max stared at the other for a good moment as he blinked several times in his direction, “Maybe I’m not as okay as I thought I was, maybe I hit my head- because did you just say your personality is like a sad version of a two-in-one shampoo and conditioner?” Max asked the other, still blinking in his direction.

“No, I was comparing the words moist and oozing,” Christian said, “but I guess maybe that too.” Christian shrugged slightly, “Though I’m not sure how a personality can be a two-in-one shampoo.”

The frown didn’t stray from Charlotte’s face, even as he tried to reassure her that it wasn’t a big deal. “Because they’re not funny. I don’t like hearing you talk like that, because it’s not true.” 

Christian put his hands on Charlotte’s arms as if to comfort her. “Charlotte, the stuff that has happened to me, was so messed up, beyond messed up, even more than I told you, because sometimes I can’t even say it myself. I joke around, because that’s how I cope. It’s the only way I can get through what I went through.”

“You’re like a little monkey,” he teased when Christian came down from the tree with apparent ease. “Oh man, I mean I feel like I always want to say pizza. So if you’re not feeling that, we might just wanna have a look at what’s left over from the lunch special today.”

“Thanks?” Christian replied, not sure whether to take that as a compliment or not. “I’m down for pizza.”

“Seriously? Of course I’m excited to be finished with an assignment,” she replied simply. “What, do you submit assignment and go ‘damn, I wish I could do that all over again. I love spending my time doing research and having to rewrite paragraphs and structure a bibliography’. because I sure as hell don’t. I’d much rather spend my time rewatching all the Jurassic Park movies,” Marzia replied. “So do you wanna grab some snacks or should I celebrate on my own?”

“What? Of course not,” Christian asked with a light laugh. “I just don’t celebrate after every assignment. Usually I just take a nap.”

Simona made a face back towards him in response, “Oh, really? Come on. Hear me out, what if instead, I just ‘borrowed’ your paper from last year?” 

“That would be called plagiarism and I don’t really want to be involved in your illegal activities. Plus, it wouldn’t even fly, because they’re probably remember and some of the teachers save the papers for that exact reason.”

Charlotte frowned in response to the comparison. She didn’t like how quickly he was able to brush it off or make a joke about his past. “Nothing’s that bad, Chris.” She replied, never much a fan of the self deprecating jokes when she didn’t agree at all. “They were both next to each other on the bench, I decided ‘why not?’ and I was right.” Charlotte answered, “Oh, please. If anything they’ll get even better.” 

Christian scrunched his nose, but also rolled his eyes at her frown. “Char, it’s a joke, it’s fine really. I don’t get why you get so upset over my jokes sometimes.”

“I can’t make that promise because they’re never bad.” Charlotte argued in response, they might be weird but Charlotte would always argue that they were all good. “You never even tried the peanut butter pickles! How would you know what they tasted like?” 

“And I never will,” Christian replied. “That just sounds like torture to me, and that’s a lot coming from me. What made you ever think of that? I would hate to see your pregnancy cravings one day.”

“Dude, you see me on my ass more times then not. Unless I’m screaming out in pain I think you need to just assume I’m a-ok.” He told the other, because he was notorious for coming home with holes in his jeans or grazes on his arms from when he had been out with his board. “Probably the same person who invented the word moist, probably did it as a two for one special or something.”

“Okay, okay,” Christian stepped back, hands up. “I’ll try my best, but you know me. Like a sad version of two-in-one shampoo and conditioner.”

“Uh- yeah.” Simona replied like it was something blatantly obvious. “Older and wiser, right? You should know it all and thus be able to write the assignment for me.” They then said, hoping that Christian would fall into the trap they were trying to set with their words. 

Christian made a face at her. “Nice try, but I’m not fallin’ for that one, Simona,” he replied. “I’m not doing your homework for you.”