you. | sean lew

chapter twenty-eight

april three

the afternoon comes to a close with the team losing the volleyball tournament by an embarrassing amount of points. nonetheless, it was pretty much expected by everyone on the team and their hopes only decreased when sean quit just a few hours ago.

julian sinks himself into the uncomfortable bus seat at the very last row. he's the only one sitting alone, and he was somewhat grateful for it because it gave him time to think about his plan to fix everything. he knew it wouldn't be an overnight thing, but as nine days had already passed with no results, he was starting to lose hope. but after hearing christy's information, he decided to keep trying.

he closes his eyes and drifts off to sleep for the rest of the two hour car ride.

later, he's awaken by kenneth's nudging. he slowly opens his eyes, grabs his things, and exits the bus. he checks his phone to see it's almost three, and makes his way to the library.

he sits at the table by the very corner of the room and waits for christy to arrive. while doing so, he takes out his notebook and attempts to puzzle out everything that happened. he had so many questions but zero answers.

why did james go through all that trouble? was it even worth it? what did sam have to do with any of it? why did nat and lexee dare vivian? why did she go through with it? how long has it been? was any of it even real?

in the middle of his frantic writing, he hears someone clear their throat and looks up to see christy.

"oh hi," he motions for her to sit in front of him.

"i can't stay long," she says.

"oh," he replies. "so, can you just tell me everything you know?"

"i don't know much, but when i was walking to second period i heard nat and lexee talking by their lockers. nat said something along the lines of feeling really guilty for making vivian doing that,"

"do what?"

"she didn't explain, but lexee was trying to comfort her by saying that it wasn't nearly as bad as what you did,"

"it doesn't make any sense," he mutters to himself.

"you're right," she lets out a long sigh. "they always called sean and viv 'their favorite ship', so i doubt vivian didn't feel anything."

"i hope so," he stands and starts to collect his things. "i have to do something, thanks for meeting me."

"wait jules!" christy calls, making him turn around. "don't get into any trouble, please?"

he looks at her for a second and gives her a small nod then walks away.

once he's outside, he grabs the paper he used to jot down all his thoughts from his back pocket and writes down a list of names.

nat
lexee
kenneth
josh
james
vivian
sean

after that, he pulls out his phone and dials nat's number. it rings a few times, and as it is just about to go to voicemail, she answers.

"julian?"

"can we talk, you, me, and lexee?" he crosses his fingers with his other hand.

"uh," she clears her throat. "i don't think that's such a good idea."

"why not, nat? do you have something to hide?" he sneers.

"no it's just, i, uh," nat stammers.

"cut the bullshit," he rolls his eyes even though she can't see him.