They sat down at their desks while other students arrived. Sarah took out her notebook and made sure Tim was sitting comfortably. They didn’t have baby corner in this class because Miss Cassidy wanted to see how everyone was taking care of their dolls. Although Sarah wasn’t sure how much attention the teacher actually paid to any of the dolls. She always seemed to get carried away by whatever she was talking about.

“Today we will focus more on the theory of childcare,” Miss Cassidy told the class. “I’ll tell you about the most common children’s diseases and health issues most parents will have to deal with. Luckily for you these dolls don’t get sick but real babies do, and it’s good to know what to do when that happens.”

Castiel sighed and prepared to take a nap. There were few things less interesting to him than some kids’ diseases. Based on sighing he heard from around the classroom, others weren’t interested either. At least a lecture was better than talking about their experiences with the doll. Miss Cassidy would probably get less side-tracked when she had a presentation to follow. Castiel slouched to a more comfortable position and spaced out when Miss Cassidy started talking about diaper rash.

Castiel’s focus shifted back to reality when Jaime, who was sitting behind him, bumped his desk against Castiel’s chair. He muttered an apology but Castiel didn’t pay much attention to it. He grunted as a reply and looked around. Miss Cassidy was talking about colic, and Sarah was writing notes as quickly as she could. Castiel snorted. Why did she take notes? They didn’t have a test on this course.

Miss Cassidy interrupted her speech to tell a joke. A thought about a baby screaming for several hours a day made the class serious and she wanted to lighten up the mood. It was a terrible joke, but Sarah smiled while writing. A smile climbed on Castiel’s face as well. His brow furrowed slightly when he realised it, and he turned his eyes away from Sarah. Castiel tried to focus on spinning a pencil between his fingers, but his eyes wandered back to Sarah. She wrote notes quickly, but her handwriting was neat. When Miss Cassidy went over something too quickly or mentioned a word Sarah didn’t catch, a small wrinkle formed between her eyebrows. She wrote the entire sentence before adding dots on the words that needed them, but sometimes she forgot, and the i’s were left undotted. It distracted Castiel a lot.

“You didn’t do those,” he said quietly so Miss Cassidy wouldn’t hear.

“What?” Sarah flinched from the unexpected voice close to her ear.

“You didn’t dot those i’s,” Castiel repeated and pointed at the letters. “It’s bothering me.”

“Why are you even reading it?” Sarah asked but started to add dots on the letters.

“I just happened to look.”

“Are you happy now?” Sarah asked when the last i received its dot.

“Yes. Thank you. Now I can sleep at night.”

“Please, do let me know if there’s something else that might make you lose your sleep.”

“Well, now that you mention it… Sometimes when the word has double t, you use a single line to cross them both but sometimes both have their own line. So inconsistent.”

“Oh no, how will you ever survive that? You must be distraught.”

“I really am. I think I need a coffee to survive from this.”

“Good thing there’s a coffee machine downstairs.”

“That’s it for today’s lesson. Next time we meet you will be returning your babies. Time sure has flown past. Remember to write to your journals. Have a wonderful day.”

Miss Cassidy’s speech interrupted their discussion. Sarah looked up to the clock and realised it really was end of the class.

“I missed the rest of my notes,” she muttered. Her last sentence was left unfinished.

“It’s not like you really need them,” Castiel said and shoved his pencil in the bag. He hadn’t even taken a notebook out. “We don’t have an exam.”

“It’d still be useful information. You never know when you might need it.”

“Where would you need this? Are you planning on having a kid?”

“Definitely not. Not in the next ten years at least. Probably. But you know, just in case someone needs to know about it.”

“Wouldn’t they go to a doctor in that case instead of a random teen?”

“You really try to find reasons for me to not take notes, aren’t you?”

While they talked, both headed downstairs like from an unspoken agreement. They stopped at the end of the short line that had already formed at the coffee machine.

“I just don’t see why you’d like to do extra work,” Castiel said.

“Maybe I like to learn. Might be an unknown concept for you but that’s what people do in schools.”

“Really? I though we come here for the shitty food.”

“The chicken and rice thing is good…”

“I guess. Not the worst. Do you want anything?”

It was their turn on the machine. Sarah shook her head.

“No. The tea is awful from that. I don’t even know why I came here to be honest,” she laughed. Her legs had walked on their own probably because Castiel had talked about coffee.

“Another reason to drink coffee then. And you came here to spend some quality time with me of course,” Castiel grinned and blew in his coffee to cool it down.

“Yeah, sure.”

They moved to lean on a windowsill. The sky was light grey, and snowflakes slowly danced down from the clouds.

“Are we going for a walk today?”

“If you want to. I don’t have anything to do so I don’t mind. And it’s the last day when we need to, so…it’d be nice.”

Sarah sighed. Two weeks had gone past incredibly quickly. It was hard to think she would have to watch Tim only for one more day. Then she wouldn’t need to carry it around and wake up to feed it in the middle of the night. She wouldn’t have to go for walks with Castiel and Ares. The thought made Sarah sad. She had enjoyed their walks even if they didn’t even say anything to each other during them. It had been relaxing to sit on a bench and watch Ares enjoy himself in the park. And after Friday, she didn’t have a reason to join him and Castiel anymore.

“I’ll wait for you then.”

“Okay. I have art so I might be able to get out a bit earlier.”

Sometimes when Mr Roe was in a particularly good mood and they had art as the last class of the day, he let them out a bit earlier which was appreciated. The class was so relaxed that following the schedule didn’t even feel right.

“Cool. And don’t look so depressed. I might recruit you as our dog walking buddy,” Castiel said.

“I wouldn’t mind that. Purely because of Ares of course,” Sarah replied. She turned her head away because her cheeks started to get warm.

“I’m sure he’d be happy about it too.” Castiel smiled and sipped from his coffee. It tasted terrible.

“I have to head to class now. I’ll see you later today,” Sarah said after checking the time. The break had passed so quickly talking with Castiel. She handed Tim over to Castiel.

“See ya.” Castiel stayed behind sipping his coffee. He had a free period which meant he’d head to the music class. He wanted to practice for the approaching band contest. Once this stupid doll project was over, he’d be able to fully focus on it with Leon. He gulped the rest of the coffee and threw the crushed paper mug in the bin. Time to get to work.

Sarah was packing away her art supplies when Mr Roe walked to Arthur and her table. He had just returned to class after getting a phone call. He beamed with excitement but twisted his hands nervously.

“Sarah. Could I ask for a favour from you and Arthur? My... my husband called to tell that Rococo is giving birth to her babies right now and I really need to get there. I was supposed to get some art supplies today, but I can’t go now. Would it be possible for you two to go? You don’t need to do anything else but to go pick them up and bring here. I’ll leave the classroom door open and you can just lock it when you leave. Could you do it? Please.”

Sarah looked at Arthur who shrugged. He didn’t have anything against it and his cats were important to Mr Roe, so he wanted to help.

“Of course we’ll help. Just hurry home to your cats,” Sarah smiled. Mr Roe sighed in relief.

“Thank you. Thank you so much.” After saying that he grabbed his bag and jogged out of the room.

“He’s so sweet,” Sarah said and stood up. They’d better go pick up the materials right away. She’d have to let Castiel know that they couldn’t go just yet. It was a shame, but he’d understand. Sarah was sure of it.

Castiel was leaning against the wall when Sarah walked down the stairs with Arthur. Sarah noticed him and smiled. Castiel’s lips turned to small smile as well. He pushed himself away from the wall and took few steps towards Sarah.

“Are you ready to go?” he asked and ignored Arthur.

“About that… I can’t come just yet. Sorry.”

“Why?” Castiel’s eyes immediately shot to Arthur. He’d better not have anything to do with it.

“Well, Mr Roe’s cat is giving birth and he asked me and Arthur to go pick some art supplies because he had to hurry home to see her.”

“We were supposed to go for a walk. How am I supposed to do it with this thing?” Castiel waved Tim in front of Sarah.

“It’ll only take an hour so you could wait... And don’t wave Tim around like that.”

“Shouldn’t a guy of your age survive through a walk without someone keeping you company?” Arthur asked and Castiel shot an icy look at him.

“And shouldn’t a guy your size be able to survive carrying some art stuff by yourself? Or are you so weak you need girl’s help with it?”

“Mr Roe asked us both. We can go for a walk later, right? It doesn’t have to be right after school.”

“Yeah, you can go later.”

“Shut up. You’re just jumpin on this opportunity so you can try to hit on her.”

“Castiel!” Sarah hissed. “What’s wrong with you? This isn’t that big of a deal honestly. We just go for a walk a bit later, okay? I’m not trying to cancel our plans. Just moving them a bit.”

“Yeah, don’t be so rude, Castiel.”

“You know what? Do whatever the fuck you want. I don’t care.”

“Castiel…”

“Don’t need to come for the walk either. I’m fine by myself,” he said and marched away. The nearby people started whispering to each other. She sighed.

“Did you really have to annoy him on purpose?” she asked Arthur who shrugged.

“He was being rude to you. And acting like an ass in general. I think he deserved it.”

“I don’t like when my friends fight,” Sarah muttered. This whole scene had left uncomfortable lump in her stomach. Castiel had been so angry. Unnecessarily so in Sarah’s opinion but she was sure there was a reason for it. He must have a bad day.

“Let’s just go get the supplies,” she said. She wanted to talk with Castiel soon.

“Okay. Let’s go then. I want to get home soon too.”