Lucas Garcia claps his hands together.

And with those two claps, he effectively kicks off yet another meeting of hell. Or the GSA—in respective terms.

A yawn escapes my lips. Sleep deprived, as usual. Especially after the shitfest of yesterday afternoon, which primarily consisted of me making a good portion of the house spotless. 

"So," Lucas starts, commanding the group's attention in the easy way he always does. "For the event, everyone needs a role." He reaches out for a clipboard, glancing at the group. "What are you all interested in?"

"I'll be in charge of tickets and publicity." Ellie raises a hand, green eyes finding his.

"As per usual," Lucas nods with a grin, scribbling her name down.

"Entertainment." Monday leans forward in their seat, running a hand through scuffy brown waves before waving it in the air.

"I'll be on the design, I guess." Hyun says with a shrug, raising a hesitant hand.

The pink haired pansexual girl—who I've found out goes by Avery—raises a hand with an easy, "And I'll be on venue." She glances towards Hyun, grinning at the dark-haired boy. "And I can help with designing if Hyun needs any help."

With a nod from Hyun, and a: "Sure, Aves." Lucas writes that down. Meanwhile, I plug my earbuds in, letting music consume my mind and ears, to the point where everything's drowned out.

My eyes flutter shut, and I lean back against my chair in a rare moment of peace.

At least, until my earbuds are tugged out, the music sharply halting.

"Jason." Lucas says, glancing over at me. And due to the slight exasperation in his eyes, I can tell that he's most likely been calling me for a while now.

"What?" I ask, grabbing my earbuds and placing them in my laps.

"You didn't sign up for anything," Lucas says, head tilted to the side as the rest of the group glances in my direction.

"Okay," I say, after a beat, my eyebrows knitting together.

Lucas lets out a breath, giving me a wry smile. "And decor is the only thing left on the list. So, that means you and I are working on it."

"Sounds great," I chirp, exaggeratedly, and Lucas decidedly ignores me, rising to his feet, and clapping his hands together once more.

"Let's head over to the gym," He says, as the rest of the GSA follows suite. "So, we can see what we're working with."

"Sounds like a plan." Ellie says, packing light brown hair into a low bun, urging the rest of the members to rise to their feet.

She gives me a pointed look, and with a simple exhale, I rise to my feet as well. Then in seconds, our motley group makes our way down the hall, Monday and Avery deep in conversation as Hyun talks to Ellie and a couple of other people.

We shuffle through the hall in one messy group, finally arriving at the gym, Lucas taking the first few steps in.

"Not bad," He says, glancing up at the ceiling.

"Streamers could go up there," Ellie supplies, making her way over to him, eyes finding the ceiling as well.

"And I was thinking a booth could go over here," Hyun says, adjusting his glasses as he gestures at a wide stretch of gym on the other end, Avery nodding at him, hair illuminated my the lighting.

"Look at all this shit," Monday raises their voice, and everyone turns towards the supply closet, as Monday rummages through some older decorations and stands. 

Avery makes her way over to them, followed closely by the other members. And soon, Monday is tossing ribbon at her face, the gesture returned by Hyun. In seconds, a good half of the GSA are screwing around with the supplies, letting out easy laughs.

"So, this is how you plan events?" I ask, eyes taking them in. 

"Why not?" Ellie replies evenly, making her way over to the group and slowly shaking her head, a slow smile still appearing on her lips.

Before anyone can say anything else, a slick harmony appears from behind us.

It's a vibrant swirl of music, all in acapella, and of course Quintessence appears, the five of them taking easy steps into the gym.

When their casual singing comes to an easy stop, grins are sent their way as most members of the GSA abandon the supply closet and jog over to the group of five. 

I can practically hear the gushing from the other side of the gym. Quintessence tends to have that effect. Despite the fact that any normal person would be fucking embarrassed and uncomfortable to even think of singing as they walk through the hallways— Quintessence doesn't.

They sing at the randomest times, too. The cafeteria, different classes, the library— I'd be hard pressed to find a place that Quintessence hasn't sung in. And their willingness to collaborate with the GSA for the event is most likely driving the entire GSA insane with excitement.

Conversation continues as I purse my lips, pausing when a wave from the other side of the gym cuts through my thoughts.

And it's Lucas, making a beckoning gesture to me, as I make my way over to the supply closet, where Lucas is already smack in the center of, knee deep in some ribbons.

Once my eyes catch his, he speaks up again. "Let's see what we can re-use for decor." He says simple, and I wade further into the space, glancing over all the shit Monday was rummaging through, seeing if there's anything useful to the whole decor thing.

I purse my lips at a set of multicolored streamers, startling when the door shuts sharply behind me.

Lucas' head practically shoots up from the balloon set he's been looking at, and his eyes widen almost comically as he sprints over to the door, yanking at the handle.

I'm about to ask him what the fuck he's doing when of course, it dawns on me, too.

I spring up to the door as well, yanking at the door handle with him, to no avail. "Fuck," I say, and Lucas runs a hand over his face.

"It only opens from the outside, doesn't it?" I ask, feeling like more of a dumbass than usual.

Lucas lets out a groan, running both hands through brown waves. "Yes, Jason."

Shit.

"My bad," I say instead, as Lucas sinks against the door, muttering a string of pissed-off Spanish. And for once, I'm almost grateful that my Spanish teacher hasn't taught me shit.

There's a few seconds of silence, as I offer a sheepish grin, smirking slightly afterwards. "Looks like you're back in the closet, am I right?"

Lucas gives me a blank look, not even the slightest bit amused. "I'd flip you off if I was that type of person," He says in a deadpan, letting his head fall onto his knees.

"Wow," I hold onto my chest. "Rude."

"Pendejo," I hear him mutter.

"I don't know what that means," I say, eyes narrowing. "But I'm sure it was offensive."

Lucas doesn't reply, but I can practically sense him rolling his eyes, despite the fact that he's not even looking at me.

"Wanna try the door again?" I ask, after a few seconds of silence. 

Tiredly, Lucas glances up at me, letting his shoulders fall into a shrug before rising to his feet.

We tug at the handle again.

It still stay glued shut. Not like I expected anything different, but it's still annoying as hell.

Lucas retreats back to his little corner, sitting down. "There's a reason why I didn't close the door, Jason."

"Yeah, well, I didn't know that." I say, raising both hands in slight defense.

"Asking would've been nice." He replies, before he reaches for his phone.

"There's no reception in here, so that's great." He says, setting it aside. "Thank you very much, Mr. Nguyen."

"No problem." I reply, taking a seat across from him.

"Really?" He asks, hazel brown eyes finding mine, slight irritation clouding behind them.

"Hey, look," I say, raising both hands in the air again. "I get that you hate me, and trust me when I say that you wouldn't be the first, but—"

"I don't hate you," Lucas says, eyebrows knitting together, and voice coming out slightly tired.

"Hey, you can say it," I say, easily. "I mean, I'm pretty sure everyone has a problem with me. Or hates me to some extent. Myself included, so—"

"I don't hate you," Lucas repeats, cutting into my speaking. Those four words shouldn't be as relieving as they are, so I purse my lips, eyes finding his.

"You're just..." He starts, tilting his head to the side as he answers my unvoiced question. "You're just a bit much."

"Oh, thanks." I say, eyebrows rising slightly.

"You know what I mean." Lucas says, pursing his lips. "It's kind of like you try to get people to hate you. They don't, though."

Tell that to Ms. Willis, I think. "Alright, Garcia." I say instead, letting out a breath, my lips twitching slightly.

"And how about you? Do you hate us?" He asks, before clarifying, "The GSA?"

"What clue tipped you off?" I ask, taking note of Lucas' unimpressed facial expression before amending. "I'm teasing."

"Yeah, sure." He replies, rolling his eyes. But this time, there's isn't much real irritation behind it.

"The GSA is kind of annoying as fuck," I say, watching Lucas' eyebrows fly upwards. "But I don't hate you guys."

"Nice to know," Lucas replies, navy blue converse tapping against the floor, a barely-there smile rising to his lips.

"Yeah," I cough, adjusting the hem of my sleeveless t-shirt, mindlessly playing with a thin chain. "But don't tell the GSA that."

Lucas' eyes follow my motions, eyes on the chain. 

He lets out a laugh. "Of course. We can't actually let them think that you don't hate them. That'd be completely absurd."

Hesitant laughs fill the space, as I dip the chain back under my chest, resting over the rose tattoo that's barely visible over my v-shaped collar. 

"And, Jason?" Lucas asks, as our laughter subsides. "Kinda cool what you did the other day. You know, with the assholes."

My mouth form into a small 'o' when I realize he's talking about the Chads. Initially, I'd kind of regretted the whole thing, due to the fact that I'm barely managing to avoid the Chads as I make my way through the hallways, and I'm honestly not too sure about how much longer I can keep it up.

But here's Lucas Garcia, and he's thanking me for lying to the dumbfucks—so they wouldn't beat the shit out of him, as per their initial plan, I'm guessing. And so maybe, maybe I don't regret it all that much anymore.

"Thanks," He finally says, a lopsided grin appearing on his lips.

"No problem," I reply, because I'm not sure what else to say. And it feels weird to be smiling—as in, really smiling. But before I can say anything else, the door's pulled open, and both Lucas and I whip in its direction.

We send each other a glance before rushing out of the door, practically falling through the doorway, to the point where we're fact to face with Ellie Evans, whose eyebrows are raised extremely high, as she steps off to the side, allowing the two of us to bask in the freedom of being let out.

Monday practically materializes next to her, almost wiggling their eyebrows, a smirk dusting their lips. "What were you two doing in there?"

"Fucking." I say, bluntly, Lucas kicking the heel of my foot, face pinkening with indignation.

Ellie's eyebrows fly higher, and even though I'm one hundred percent certain they can tell I'm messing with them, Lucas speaks up, clearing his throat.

"In case you couldn't tell, we weren't." He clarifies. "Genius here let the door shut behind him." Lucas says, lightly elbowing me in the side, before turning back to Ellie and Monday. "So we were stuck in there for a good thirty minutes."

"Twenty, actually," Ellie says, checking her watch. 

Lucas opens his mouth to reply, but before he can, a voice cuts through our thoughts.

"Hey," A nearly breathless Avery makes her way over to us. "Quintessence just came up with a great set-up. Come check it out."

With one last exchanged glance between the four of us, we jog after her, making our way over to the center of the gym. 

After all, we still have an event to plan.

***

The rest of the day is essentially spent scribbling into notebooks and clipboards, making calls, and taking note of plans.

We're back in the classroom that's home to the GSA— outside school hours, at least— the entire group sprinkled around the room.

Avery's legs are swung over Hyun's, Monday laying down across a table, Ellie across from them, both talking and gesturing as Ellie types things onto her phone every two seconds.

Lucas is on his laptop, propped onto another table, in a way that doesn't really make sense—as his fingers fly across the keyboard, my eyes watching carefully as I make a lazy sketch on the last page of my notebook.

It's littered with crows, feathers breaking apart into glass-like shards on the page. And technically I should be researching decor ideas, as everyone tries to formulate the overall theme for the dance. 

But there was a ball-point pen in one hand, and a notebook in the other. And let's just say that my pen went from formulating decor ideas to sketching out broken crows and angsty drawings. 

"Those are... dark," Lucas supplies, and I glance up at him as I notice him scoping my drawing.

"Like my soul." I deadpan, causing him to lightly roll his eyes in return.

"Sure," He says, lips twitching slightly. "Now, are you gonna help out, or—?"

"Thought I'd leave that to the experts," I say, letting out a string of curses when a harsh line is drawn where it shouldn't be.

"Jason." Lucas repeats, sliding down into the seat next to me, eyebrows raised.

"Fine." I say, slipping my own laptop out of my backpack and onto my lap. "Decoration ideas for dances," I narrate as I type it into the search engine, before glancing over at Lucas who's hovering over my screen.

"Happy now?" I ask.

A half grin tugs at Lucas' lips, as he glances up at me. "Very."

And you know, maybe Lucas Garcia and I have somewhat of an understanding.

I return his half grin.

I don't necessarily hate it.

***

oml they're bonding :')