Two chapters in one day/night??? Never heard of.

"I knew it was only a matter of time before I saw you two in my office again." The school counselor sighed and placed his folded hands on the dingy desk before him. The two rivaling teenagers sat on the opposite side of the desk, arms folded over their chests with pronounced frowns on their faces. The chairs they sit on move dramatically away from each other.

"Mr. Danner-"'

"Doctor." The two correct him in unison, scowling at the other directly afterward.

"Well, he doesn't have a doctorate so I'll continue to refer to him as such." the man resumes in that delightfully patronizing tone most adults often use with teenagers. The two rolled their eyes while he continued. "-Mr. Danner has informed me that you two have been partnered in the final project together, so I have decided to not suspend you two."

The couple simultaneously let out a sigh of relief.

"But that does not mean you are off the hook!" his voice raised, still maintaining that condescending tone. "At the end of the day you both are to report to the music room after band rehearsal to clean up." Carla's eyes went wide with anger. "What, why? I literally did nothing wrong! Monty's the dumbass who started the fire." Her face getting redder and redder as she continued to speak up in her defense.

"Wow Carla, we all just lost a little respect for you."

"Suck my dick, Freckles!"

"Shush! Both of you.'' The teens glared at each other before setting their eyes back on the balding man in front of them. "You are both lucky I have chosen not to expel you two, after the fiasco in the library a couple months ago." His voice cooled in an attempt to intimidate the teens, but in reality just made them want to laugh in his face. And if they weren't still pissed at each other they probably would have.

"What? No smart remarks? Good, get to class."

"This is all your fault."

"So you keep saying." Monty drops his forearms into the slot of his crutches and starts walking in the same direction down the hall as Carla.

"Why are you being such an asshole?" She slowed her step, allowing Monty to catch up with her. Instead of answering, he sped past her without even so much as a glance.

"Oh thank God you two are here, this place is a mess." Mrs. Smalls rushed to meet the teens, placing her hand on both the teens shoulders, unintentionally moving them closer together. "The broom is in the closet and you can throw out any stray sheet music you find." she smiles before realizing the time and jolting up and scurrying behind them to the double doors to exit the room. Grabbing her purse and holding it up with two hands in front of her chest. "Thank you both so much for this, I have an appointment after right now and don't have time to clean up like I usually do." she looks at both of them apologetically .

"It's no trouble at all Miss, really." Carla reassures her with a smile. The middle aged woman mouths another 'Thank you' before hurting out the door. As soon as the door shut the polite smile on her face faded away into a scowl as she turned to her clueless companion.

Monty pulled his phone out of his pocket and began to play his music through his phone speaker. Carla immediately went to put a stop to it. "Absoultly, the fuck, not! I am not going to be stuck cleaning this funky-ass room and listen to your serial killer music!" she steps in front of him, arms folded, their chests nearly touching. His eyes peek up at her from the tops of his glasses, where they comfortably rest on the bridge of his nose. He pulls his head up from his phone to make aggressive eye contact with the girl in front of him.

"Well if you think I'm cleaning this entire room without music you must be on some type of crack." he resumes the music and turns up the volume so he couldn't hear her complaints. Carla rolls her eyes and turns to start to clean up the opposite side of the room

'I have you strung
Strung in my web
A candle burning slowly by the bed'

The loud, classical-style, music blared through the phone speakers. Carla tried not to listen and tune out the thunderous sounds of the cello and piano that worked in tandem together, but the volume made it almost impossible to ignore.

'Shadows tangle like a vine
Crawling up the post within our shrine
Right now, you're mine
All mine'

A press of the keys of the nearby piano in the room awoke Carla from her trance. She turned to see Monty circling the piano before sitting at the bench in front of the aged keys. His phone sat on top of the wooden surface, the symphonies vibrating the body of the piano. Carla moved closer out of curiosity, her knee pressing against the bench.

If the ginger sees her in the corner of his eye he doesn't let it show. His breath hitches when she sits down next to him, the both of them sharing the small space.

He begins to play, his fingers dancing along the keys attempting to keep up with the harmonies of the song. Carla looks on in shock and amusement at the way he focused to keep up with the fast-paced song, his eyes trained on the keys while his light brows knitted together in concentration. He lost his pace at the cello interlude and groaned in frustration, finally turning to look at the girl less than a foot away from him.

"I didn't know you knew how to play piano." she comments, peeling her eyes away from his green ones prying into her pupils. She deverts her attention back to the white keys, pressing the one closest to her. "I've always wanted to learn." she asks.

There was a beat of silence for a moment while the two of them attempted to gather their thoughts. Though, their close proximity makes it quite difficult.

"...I could teach you?" the boy says quietly, looking away to hide the flush on his face.

"Really?"

"Yeah!" she chuckles at his childish enthusiasm. Monty lightly grabs her wrists, stopping just before touching her skin to look up at her, as if asking for permission. She nods and he places her hands on the keys in front of her.

On his side he plays a simple rhythmic pattern that he expects her to replicate. Well, simple to him because Carla looks at him like he just asked her to grab the moon out of the stars. She, badly, plays a higher pitched version of the melody akin to nails on a chalkboard.

Monty laughs at her attempt. But it wasn't a laugh of malice or reticule, it was more good-hearted? Like they now had an inside joke only the two of them understood. Carla started laughing as well, "What?" she asked while chuckling.

"That was terrible!" he giggled, there was no venom in his voice, unlike in his previous actions earlier that day.

They had fallen back into their old banter and routine.

"I don't know how you expect me to do that when before today I've never touched a piano!" she argued, playfuling crossing her arms and looking away from the boy. He chuckled in response and lightly grabbed her arms to place her fingers back onto the keyboard. But instead of leaving her to figure it out on her own, Monty placed his fingers on top of hers in an attempt to guide her through the motions of the simple pattern.

The two of them worked together in tandem to create a beautiful rhythm, going on longer than necessary as they both added more complex notes into the symphony. They stopped as a low note echoed through the large room, slowly turning to look at one another.

Suddenly they were transported back to that night in the dusty garage where they almost had their first kiss with each other. (Technically their second kiss if you count a peck on the lips they shared in fifth grade.)

Their faces were dangerously close to one another, they could feel the other's breath on their face. At any other time and with any other person this would be a violation of personal space...

But the teens found themselves inching closer and closer together, tilting their heads to the side to not bump their noses together.

And just like in that dusty garage that night, their time together got interrupted.

Carla's phone rang loud from its slot in Carla's backpack cup holder. They turned away from each other with wide eyes staring into the floorboards. Carla stood and strode over to the loud phone. Looking at the screen showed a picture of her and her mother posing for a selfie, signaling to Carla that her mom was calling her.

"H-hello?" her voice was shaking and her face was still red at the memory from just a few seconds ago.

Monty couldn't understand the conversation from where he was sitting, and because he wanted to give Carla her privacy (and he couldn't speak Spanish at the speed she was talking).

"Yeah, ok bye Mami." The girl hung up the phone and slowly turned back to where Monty sat trying, and failing, to look casual.

(And like he wasn't trying to eavesdrop)

The two stood in silence, refusing to meet each other's eyes.

"So um," Monty started, standing slowly to keep his balance. "We should probably start actually cleaning so we can get out of here?"

"Yeah! Yeah, that was my mom asking when I was coming home, so."

Rain lightly tapped on the glass window of the classroom, the two were so busy cleaning the messing classroom that they didn't even notice it had started raining minutes before they finished. Walking out of the school exit together, keeping a barely respectable distance between them as they strolled out of the large front exit of the school.

"Shit!" Carla called out upon seeing the rain blocking her walking path home. "And I just got my hair done," she muttered to herself as she dropped her bag off of her shoulders and crouched down on the ground in a desperate and fruitless search for an umbrella.

"Here, just take my jacket." Monty shrugged off his light coat and held out his arm to give her the article of clothing.

Carla looked up at him through her lashes. Standing and rezipping her bag, the girl politely declined the offer. "Monty, no. I've already gotten, like, three of your jackets by now, I can't take another! Plus you have to walk home too."

"You live further," he said defiantly, opening his jacket for her. Before she could argue further, Monty wrapped his cream-colored windbreaker around her shoulders. He wasn't that much taller than her so it was practically a perfect fit. Speaking no other words, the freckled boy pulled his hood over her head, leaving no room for an argument.

Carla sighed and pushed her arms through the sleeves of the coat while Monty zipped up the front so she was almost fully safe from the harsh elements. His hands still in front of her face, gripping on to the side of the hood. They stared at each other once more, green eyes meeting brown and refusing to notice the world around them.

"I'm sorry," Carla was the first to open her mouth. His eyes immediately darted to her lips without even bothering to hide the action from his counterpart. "I'm sorry I was being so difficult in class and starting drama for the sake of it. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Tar-"

"Shut up." Carla couldn't even remember who she was talking about because in an instant Monty's lips were on hers. This was different then their peck when they were ten and different from the near misses they had in the music room and garage. His glasses pushed against her forehead causing an uncomfortable sensation but the girl couldn't find it in her to truly care or even notice.

They kissed until the obnoxious need for air broke them apart again. Monty rested his forehead against hers, his ginger locks brushing against her skin. Staying still for a moment, they both pulled away ever so slightly to lock eyes again. Monty looked at the girl he had been in love with since elementary school with a timid smile painted on his red-tinted face while Carla looked at the boy she liked so much it almost hurt with a pained expression.

"I'm seeing Tara."

HAHA, you thought it was fluff but it was really angst in disguise!

(Also, yes this is a black girl power fantasy, if anyone gave me their hood or umbrella to help protect my hair we're getting married right then and there??? I will have my pasta and lobster like I deserve)

God I'm tired