"I bet your Mom likes that you keep your hair long." Sarah said honestly after Robin had asked her to braid it for him. "It really helps you sleep when it's like this?"

"Yeah, doesn't get all in my face." he said from the ground, his bandana in his hands. "My Mom likes it. She doesn't like the hair balls in the drain, though."

"Yeah, I know about those." Sarah hummed, using the hair tie once she made it to the bottom. "Okay, you're all set. How'd I do?"

"Great. Thanks, Sarah." he got off the ground, holding his fist out. She stared in confusion for a second before raising her fist and bumping it with his. He smiled and went back to the table with Finney, defending himself when he was accused of only doing that so he could get out of math.

"I wish you got to come over all the time." Gwen crawled into the couch, going under Sarah's arm. "I miss having another girl in the house."

Gwen and Finney had lost their Mom about two and a half years ago. Sarah had met her a few times but it wasn't until after her death that she'd gotten close with the Blakes. That's when things got bad, when Sarah worried so much that she decided to volunteer to hang out with them. Sarah couldn't imagine loosing her Mom though, she didn't know how Gwen or Finney did it at such a young age. Sarah petted Gwen's head slightly as she laid on her shoulder. "You can always move in with me when you're eighteen."

"Are you kidding?" Gwen sat up. "Do you know how long that is?"

"Oh, come on. You gotta pass the time." she made her point with a little shrug. "It'll go by fast as long as-"

A knock hit the door.

Finney turned to Sarah from the kitchen. "Is he back already?"

"He shouldn't be. Stay there." Sarah held her hand up to keep him and Robin in the kitchen while Gwen turned on the couch to look out the window.

"No way!" she yelled out.

Sarah gave an odd look, pulling the door open before she shared the same expression as Gwen did. "Vance?"

"Vance?" Finney whispered to Gwen with a wild look.

"What's up, Sheeps?" Vance rose his eyebrows at her.

Vance Hopper was the last person she expected to see. She had to laugh. "What are you doing here?"

"Lost my house key, figured you could make my time useful and teach me something." he shoved the history text book into her arms, pushing past her to walk into the Blake house. Sarah gapped in panic as she shut the door. "I thought you said there was only two of them?"

"There is, Robin is a friend." Sarah checked the clock. "And it's late. Let's go troops."

"Already?" Gwen pouted as she got off the couch. "It just got interesting."

"Yeah, but if you wanna be up early enough to tell me bye, you gotta get to sleep." she waved the boys from the kitchen, flashing Vance a look over her shoulder. Finney and Robin went into his room as Sarah walked with Gwen to hers.

"I can't believe Pin-Ball Vance is at our house." Gwen said as she got into bed. "I bet he's your boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend." Sarah pulled the blankets over her and tucked her in. "Make sure you save room for me. I'll be in here soon."

"What do you guys even talk about? Grab N Go? Older kid stuff?" she gave a dazzling look up at her. "Come on, Sarah. Let me in."

"I don't know." Sarah sat down with a little smile. "I guess we talk about all kinds of stuff. Whatever sounds right."

"That's so cool." Gwen gushed. "You better not tell Finney you've gotta boyfriend. He'll be real upset."

"Still not my boyfriend." Sarah laughed as she stood up again, kissing Gwen on the forehead. "I'll see you in the morning, okay?"

"Night, Sarah." Gwen rolled over as Sarah hit her light, pulling her door half way shut. She got a glimpse of Vance sitting in the living room when she walked into Finneys room.

"Sarah, I don't like this." Finney said from his bed when she shut the door. "He's dangerous and you shouldn't be alone with him."

Sarah walked over. "He's not gonna do anything. He just wanted to pass his history test. I'll make him leave if you really want me to."

"Well, i'm not going to sleep until you're done studying." Finney gave her a knowing look. "Robins gonna hurt him if he hurts you."

"Oh yeah?" Sarah laughed as she sat down, looking to Robin on the bed on the floor before back at Finney. "And why not you?"

"You know I can't fight." he gave an embarrassing look. "Why's he call you Sheeps?"

"Barns." she shrugged. "He gets my last name mixed up."

"Is he your boyfriend?" Robin leaned on Finneys bed to give a curious look. "Ask him how he gets his knuckles to heal so fast."

"I will." she promised. "And, no. He's not my boyfriend."

"Good. Because, I don't approve." Finney shook his head as he got his text books off the night stand. "We're studying while you study. So, if you need us, just yell."

"Will do." she stood up, leaning down to kiss his forehead. "Don't tell your Dad I let you stay up late."

"I won't." he promised her.

"Hey." Robin frowned his eyebrows when Sarah went to the door. "I don't get one?"

She sighed with a smile, walking over to kiss his forehead. "Make math your friend, will you?."

"I'm working on it." he held his hands up in surrender as Finney started to explain more, Sarah shut the door behind her. She took a deep breath before walking back to the living room where Vance was.

"So, where's your Mom?" she walked toward the couch.

"She's working, I left my key in my locker." he shrugged, moving over so she could sit down next to him. "Grab N Go closed, so I came here."

"Never thought you'd willingly find more time to study." she gave a smile, taking her bag from the side of the couch to get her things out. "It's lesson 7.9, right?"

"Mm." Vance hummed, glancing at the hallway. "They seem to like you a lot."

"Yeah." Sarah cracked a little smile. "I think they just miss their Mom."

"She's gone?" he nodded.

"Yeah." Sarah inhaled, finding her old notes from the lesson. "What about your Mom?"

"What about her?" he shrugged, purposely moving farther away from Sarah on the couch.

"Is she a good Mom?" she leaned back on the couch and tried to figure out exactly how she'd go across with the history assignment.

"Yeah." Vance hummed. "She's a really good Mom."

Sarah wasn't sure why she assumed Vance didn't have a good home life. Maybe it was because most people she met that were really angry tend to be angry at something that was going on at home. She shifted her eyes over. "What abour your Dad?"

He exhaled in annoyance. "What's up with the hundreds of questions?"

There is was.

She rose her head slightly. "Sorry, just trying to make conversation."

"Well, I don't wanna talk about waste of fucking space." he rolled his eyes in completely annoyance, partly for her. "Can you just do your thing?"

"Sure can." she confirmed, pulling her other notebook that had his name across the front. She had one for all the people she tutored, it helped her keep track of their progress. She flipped to an empty page and handed it to him, along with a pencil. "History will be a little bit easier. When we were doing math, that's something that you'll use in all your lessons. The words and lessons you learn in this unit won't come up again."

"So, I only need it for this week?" he rose an eyebrow, getting a nod. "That's fucking stupid."

"Tell that to Ab Lincoln, not me." she shrugged.

Vance looked at the history book. "That's fucking stupid."

Sarah gapped slightly as she followed his gaze. "That's Washington."

"Well, I never met them. How am I suppose to know what they look like?" he gave her a crazy look, she started to laugh. "Don't you laugh at me."

"My bad, I won't." she inhaled, trying to keep it together. "Okay, i'm gonna tell you a word and you write it down. Then i'll tell you the definition. Repeat, repeat. You know the drill."

"Mm." he rolled his eyes.

"S-" she began.

"What about your Mom?" he cut her off.

Sarah looked up from the bag. "What?"

"You asked about my Mom, so i'm asking about yours. Is she as annoying as you?" Vance pressed on with a eyebrow raise.

"Yeah." Sarah nodded her head. "She's a good Mom, she's just not home a lot."

"So, you just hang out in the massive ass house alone?" he laughed in disbelief. "Must be nice."

Sarah gave a tight lipped smile. "Sometimes."

He noticed that. He noticed that her expression changed before casting her eyes down. He needed away from this situation before he pushed her to talk, leading to them yelling at each other again and her possibly locking him in Grab N Go again. "I need to take a piss."

Sarah gave him a wild look, blinking a few times. "Okay, it's literally right down the hall."

Vance hummed, standing up and purposely bumping into her knee. He headed down the hallway, hearing Finney and Robin talking from inside the other room. As he passed Gwen's room, her door open as she stood in the doorway. "Hey."

Vance looked down at her with an odd look. "What?"

"I can't tell her." Gwen held up a piece of paper. "Sarah needs to go here."

"Give it to her yourself." he stared at her oddly.

"I can't. She'll ask how I know, and I can't be the one to tell her." Gwen shoved the note into his hand. "Just make sure she goes there."

Vance looked down at the note, seeing one of the rivers written down on it. He'd been once when he was a little younger, knowing it was on the opposite side of town. Before he could say anything else, Gwen shut the door.

•

kylie speaks

mr steal your girl in his
space pajamas about to sick
robin on him 🙄✋🏻