"Alright," Kat hit her clipboard with the back of her hand, "let's try this again."

"Kat, the Judge agreed they could do it their way. Throw out the clipboard, would ya?"

"Leave the clipboard alone. It has a very important job and you're offending—hey!"

She clutched at air as Dawson plucked it out of her hands and threw it over his shoulder, a small portal opening up to swallow it and disappear. He clapped his hands and rubbed them together eagerly.

"So, what's first on the agenda, kids?"

"I don't know, I'm drawing a blank," Scarlett admitted.

"Well let's figure it out faster." He scoffed and shook his head. "I still can't believe Athena was gonna send you to Limbo."

"What is that, anyways?" The girl asked, making the Cupids pause.

"Limbo is the highest security level of Cupid prison there is." Kat explained. "It's more a state of mind than an physical place of confinement. You would, of course, be behind bars, but the technology required for the Limbo mentality would cut off all of your senses. Total and complete isolation from the body's perceptions excepting the ability to breathe. If she'd gone through with it, she would have given you the time length required."

"She knows you were a Cupid-in-training and she would have subjected you to that, anyways." Dawson snapped.

"Let's just get this over with."

They were back on Earth, transported there by the relieved and gleeful Dawson himself, after the court trial and standing in the middle of the classroom where the whole accident had happened.

Judge Athena had sent out a messenger before they left with folders containing the headshots, matches and basic information of their accidental victims. While Cupid Agent Red and her team worked on the school's memory implants, Scarlett and Sebastian busied themselves with memorizing the names and faces of the students.

"Anastasia Mercer," he said aloud, flipping through her folder and pausing at the name of her match.

He looked around the classroom.

"Scar, do you have a Samuel Grant's file?"

"Uh...yeah, right here!"

She handed it to him before glancing at the duo that had locked eyes right near the front.

Kaia Roberts had her hand outstretched, seemingly in the middle of tapping on Abel Hughe's shoulder.

He must've turned right when I dropped it, she thought, shaking her head somberly.

They all had, in a very unfortunate and very unlucky way, ended up locking eyes with the wrong person.

"Some unearthly being has it out for me if you ALL got stuck like this." Scarlett muttered. "It's almost a coincidence—"

"There's no Samuel Grant in here." Sebastian said abruptly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, there's five matches in this room. Anastasia wasn't one of them and her partnering core is Samuel Grant. Where the hell is he?"

"Erm..."

"Hey, there's a kid over there outside the doorway if you're looking for one more." A Cupid Agent said, pointing over his shoulder with his thumb as he walked past.

"Thanks."

Scarlett hurried over to the door.

A boy with dark curly hair and shades over his eyes was mid-step, his hand on his left wrist where a golden watch flashed the exact minute time stopped.

"Well, here he is," Sebastian said, showing her the picture in the file.

"Why does he have such sad eyes in that photo?" Scarlett wondered aloud.

"I'd say ask him, but," he gestured to the boy's obvious state before Kat and Dawson approached them.

"It's go time, guys."

As she said that, the rest of the Cupid Agents walked into the classroom, Agent Red coming in last as the first conjured a tall portal. They all simultaneously faced them as she cleared her throat to speak.

"The time freeze will last exactly one minute after we pass through, giving you ample time to get in your places. When it's over, the school's administration, staff and student body will see you as fellow peers that have registered to Pearl Grove High earlier this week. Because of the mistake of pairings, the first effects will be...drastically different than usual but will last the same amount of time as a normal pairing. Good luck."

With a nod, she turned and entered the swirling gateway, her team right behind her. When it finally closed behind them, Scarlett and Sebastian made their way to the places they had been right before the time freeze.

"We'll meet you back at home," Kat straightened them out and took their folders as Dawson conjured his own portal before pausing.

"You two will be okay?" She asked.

"They'll be fine!" He grabbed her by the hand, Sebastian quickly throwing her a thumbs up for affirmation as they vanished. He turned to his partner who was standing in front of Jasper Woods with a nervous expression.

"Hey, you ready?"

She nodded.

"Don't worry. Improvising has always been a strength of mines."

"Oh, no doubt."

Five.

Four.

"Here we go."

Three.

Two.

One.

♡♡♡

SAMUEL GRANT

"Half an hour late, whatta surprise," the boy muttered, adjusting the strap on his watch before walking into the room.

He stopped, lifting his glasses and cocking his head at the sight of a girl with a long dark braid over her shoulder and a boy sporting dirty blonde hair that fell into his eyes like he was the before picture in a shampoo commercial.

They were standing right beside Jasper who was staring at the girl and the room was so quiet, it was giving him chills.

"What is this, a funeral?"

He seemed to snap his one of his fellow classmates out of their own personal reverie and Abel jumped to his feet, both boys laughing as they hugged.

"MIA all week and your ass shows up in detention like nothing. Where the hell have you been?" Abel asked cheerfully.

He shrugged, a smirk on his face as he looked around the classroom.

"Here and there. What do you say we skip out? I could use a drink."

Before Abel could respond, Mr. Redford walked in, Coke in hand. He stopped at the sight of Samuel and rolled his eyes.

"I knew I was missing a kid," he sighed. "Take a seat, Mr. Grant. And next time you come to school drunk, have some common decency and bring enough to share. Scarlett, Sebastian, Abel, if you could attach your butts to your chairs now."

"Tch."

"Ah shoot. I forgot my damn burger in the truck," Mr. Redford grumbled, walking right back out with not a care in the world that the kids he was in charge of looked doped up.

The Cupids took a seat at the desk near him and Jasper, the latter's eyes never leaving Scarlett until Samuel, who had dragged a chair to sit near Jenevieve and Anastasia, let out a quick whistle.

"She's not a zoo, J."

Samuel chortled before leaning over to prop his chin on his hand, giving Anastasia a wink.

"Hey, gorgeous. Miss me?" he whispered, gently gnawing on his bottom lip. She didn't respond, didn't even look at him for that matter.

It was as if she was simply engrossed with Jenevieve, the both of them blushing a lot as they stole glances at each other which confused the crap out of Samuel because if there was one thing he knew about Anastasia, she wasn't into girls like that.

"Ana—"

"Sammy!" Abel called for his attention and the boy craned his neck to look at his friend.

"What the fuck?"

Samuel Grant grew up with every single person in that room and knew enough about them, being the observant person he was.

He knew Jenevieve had an unhealthy obsession with chicken nuggets ever since she got a Happy Meal for a class birthday in the sixth grade.

Asher was a Disney nutcase that toted around a stuffed Flounder because The Little Mermaid was his favorite musical and he had some amazing pipes to go with it.

Miriam was allergic to bees when there was a fourth grade picnic and she got stung and blew up like a hot air balloon.

He knew Logan was a natural stuttering chatterbox, but was probably the smartest person he ever met with a vast knowledge of online gaming like you wouldn't believe.

There were little bits and pieces that had stuck with him as they grew up as well.

Jasper's vehement dislike of pickles.

Castiel the ferret being a major part of Melanie's life.

Stella always having a stash of sour gummy worms somewhere on her person.

The busybody lifestyle Kaia kept because of her constant need to always be giving.

The fact that Liam, his brother in another world, had a killer voice which he 100% supported.

And Abel. Sam didn't even know where to begin with Abel. They knew each other inside and out, frontwards or backwards or whatever the hell people wanted to call it.

Abel was his best friend.

So, excuse his language but once again for the sake of repeating himself—

"What the fuck?"

The boy was sitting next to Kaia now with his arm slung around her shoulder, goofy grins on both of their faces as they cuddled with each other.

Abel.
Abel's arm.
Abel Ryan Hughes's arm.

"Liam, are you seeing this?"

No. No he was not.

He was too busy making puppy dog eyes at Asher.

It was a damn straight fact known school wide that Asher was all tied up about Abel who felt the same way and wasn't afraid to show it.

And Liam, a spigot of compliments and breathy wishes about Kaia paying him any kind of attention for years on end, was ignoring them completely.

Anastasia and Jenevieve were holding hands like school kids.

Stella was gazing at Logan when Sam knew she was practically head over heels for Jasper because god forbid she didn't let anyone know.

Jasper, who from the moment he had walked in didn't even care that he was looking at the girl with the braid like she invented the stars.

Miriam smiling at Melanie who was doing the same before her head flopped onto the desk and she laughed drunkenly, muffled by the wood...he didn't even know Miriam could smile.

He pushed back his chair.

"Can someone say something 'cause this is mighty fucking uncomfortable!"

Not a single person answered, too busy in their own little worlds when the dirty blonde stood up with a gusty sigh. The girl followed, tugging on his arm and hissing at him to stop.

"What difference does it make? It's only one of them. And we can do it our way, remember?"

"I'm pretty sure doing it our way still means following the rules!" The girl growled.

"Look, they want the same thing we do. Simple as that." He pointed at the boy. "You're Samuel Grant. Mind if we talk?"

Samuel was sure he'd never seen the boy before or the girl for that matter. He would have definitely remembered her. But their faces were bordering on fuzzy recognition when it hit him.

"You're Sebastian. New kid." He said. "What do you want?"

"We need your help." He gestured to himself and the girl...what the hell was her name?

"And Scarlett," Samuel blurted out. "You're Scarlett."

"Thanks, Captain Obvious." Sebastian said sarcastically. "They aren't gonna be like this for long, maybe two minutes tops, but—"

"Like this? Like how?"

"Like they wanna eat each other's faces off." Scarlett said before turning away. "He can't help us, Seb, he's not a Cupid."

"Not a Cupid? What the hell does that mean?"

"It means you can't help us!" Her voice was sharp and Samuel immediately bristled in defense. Sebastian recognized the way his stance changed and he held up his hands, taking a little step between them.

"Alright, let's all just take a breather."

"Not until you tell me what the hell is going on here! All my friends—er, classmates look like they're under some shit that witches do! Look at them!" Samuel demanded, gesturing to Jasper as he clung to Scarlett's arm. The Cupid awkwardly tried to shake him off.

"Drastically different effects, huh?" She mumbled.

"I'm being punked, aren't I?"

"Nope. Like I said," Sebastian bopped Jasper on the head, "it won't last long, so all you have to do is say yes."

"What's wrong with them?"

"I can't tell you that."

They're crazy.

He crossed his arms.

"Tell me whatever you need to and I'll decide whether or not to help."

"Doesn't work that way," Sebastian said, "we're putting our necks on the line so either you help us help your friends or you stay in the dark."

"Seb," Scarlett whispered. He stared at them for a few seconds, the girl shooting him a death glare from behind the boy's shoulder.

"Fine." He said reluctantly, peering at Anastasia. "I'll help you."

Sebastian grinned.

"Perfect. Welcome to the club, Grant."

"Yeah, whatever."

♡♡♡

okayyy, on a good note my gifs are working again!!
on a lousy note, this chapter was a bit hard to write.
i didn't know exactly how to pencil them in like they were obsessed with each other so forgive me, this one was weak
😔✌🏽

but i hope you enjoyed it!
love you guys!! <33