you. | sean lew

chapter two

february 14

"she wants to tutor you? that's freaking perfect!" julian exclaims as they walk to the locker rooms.

"and how so?" sean mutters.

"i'll explain to you during lunch. josh and i came up with a perfect plan while my favorite ship was visiting the nurse." julian winks while simultaneously changing back into his black tee and joggers.

"a plan? i don't have time for anything stupid, julian." sean shakes his head.

"well technically, it's a challenge. just hear us out. see you at lunch!" julian yells as he rushes out of the locker room to first period.

sean groans for what seems to be the billionth time today, and quickly changes out of his volleyball uniform. before he knows it, the minute bell for class to start rings. he sprints to room 107 for his united states history class.

"today we'll be talking about the monroe doctrine and how-" the teacher is interrupted by sean stumbling through the door.

"sorry," sean says softly as he rushes to his seat.

suppose she did tutor me, that wouldn't be the worst thing in the world right? i mean i would get to spend more time with her...but that also means there's more chances for me to look dumb in front of her.

"are you talking to yourself?" the girl in front of sean turns around, looking confused as ever. sean responds with not words but an extremely horrified look on his face.

"well from what i heard, you should get tutored by whoever she is. you sure as hell need it," the random girl smirks before turning her head back to the teacher.

sean can't help but hate this day even more. first off, it's valentine's day. that means julian and josh's teasing increases at an all time high to remind him how every girl he even looks at curves him. secondly, he's still failing two of his classes and barely passing the other three. not to mention, progress reports are coming up, and that definitely means his phone is getting taken away yet again. it seems like the only good thing that came out of today was talking to viv for the first time ever...minus the fact that he did hit her in the face with a volleyball.

the day continues to pass by very slowly, and it is filled with sean passing through dozens of couples giggling and smiling.

the lunch bell finally rings, and sean heads for his friend group's lunch table. when he gets there, he finds a random couple making out.

"excuse m-," sean stops himself. "you know what? nevermind, i'll just sit somewhere else."

as he walks away to find another table, he hears the couple stop and ask each other if they heard someone say something to them.

"seany boy! are you ready to hear our proposal?" julian says while stuffing pizza down his throat.

"lay it on me,"

"first you have to agree to whatever it is!" julian exclaims excitedly.

"that's not really how a proposal works, you know," sean scrunches his face.

"come on, sean!" josh pleads while grabbing on sean's arms.

"do it for me?" julian pouts, still munching on his pizza.

"just tell me what it is," sean sighs.

"okay, okay. we have a challenge for you," julian replies. "get vivian to fall in love with you!"

"WHAT?" sean snapped. "i've never even kissed a girl, how the hell do you expect me to get a girl - not just any girl, but vivian arman, to fall in love with me?"

"wait, we're not done yet!" josh laughs. "you have to do it within 30 days!"

"a month? whatever drug you guys are on, i don't want any of it." sean says while sinking himself down the chair.

"too bad bro, you already agreed to it!" josh continued to laugh, patting sean's shoulder.

"when and where did you even hear me say 'yes' to any of that?" sean spats. "i'm leaving." and with that, sean gets up and starts walking with no destination in mind.

"i told you he wouldn't agree to it," josh says to julian.

"what are you guys laughing about?" james says as he joins their table with his very healthy salad bowl in his arms. for a moment, julian looks back and forth from his endless pizza slices to james' salad, contemplating his choices. after just a few seconds, he shrugs and continues eating what seems to be his third slice.

"should we let him in on it?" josh turns to julian who responds with a nod.

"you know sean's never had a girlfriend right?" josh starts. "well, julian and i had this crazy idea where sean tries to get vivian to fall in love with him within a month's time."

"vivian arman, huh?" james face beams.

"yeah, sean's had a crush on her for literally years." julian slurs. "freshman year to be exact."

"so was he up for it or what?" james asks.

"nope," josh responds. "which we expected. we were't actually serious about it, it was just to tease sean anyways."

"hey...let's have some fun with this. i know what'll make him agree to the plan." james smirks.

"what do you mean?" julian raises his eyebrow while taking the last bite of his fourth pizza slice.

"my dad's the principal, remember?" james reminds the two.

"yeah, so? you're not gonna tell your dad to expel him or something, are you?" josh questions.

"no, but we could scare him," james smirks. "he's failing a few of his classes right? we could pretend that he's in danger of getting held back, and who would want to be held back and miss senior year with all of us? he'll be desperate! then, he'll come to me for help which i'll only give to him if he agrees to the plan."

"that...is so fucked up." josh pointed out.

"look," james says. "won't it be fun to see sean try to get a girl? don't you guys feel bad that he hasn't been successful in any of his girl related endeavors?"

"i guess it'll push him to get out there..." julian slowly says, still contemplating whether or not it's worth scaring his best friend like that.

"you're not actually considering it," josh says in disbelief. "whatever you guys do, i'm staying out of it." josh then exits the table and heads towards his kenneth's table at the other side of the lunch table.

"so what do you say, julian? you in or what?" james questions.

"uh...no man, i'm sorry. i can't do that to sean, he's struggling enough with his grades as is." julian responds.

"if anything, this'll push sean to try even harder at school! come on, jules. this will only do sean some good." james protests. "he gets the girl, and he gets to bring his grades up. it's a win-win."

"okay, okay. but if anyone asks, it was all you." julian finally agrees. "what do you want me to do?"

"i've got it from here," james says as he begins to get up from the seat. "when i need you, i'll let you know."