Dirt Lifter | Craig of the Creek High School AU

Jason and Vanessa eat lunch together

The first time it happened, Jason was in the library, eating lunch.

Vanessa came right into his usual corner between two intersecting bookshelves, with her bag and lunch bag in hand.

"Do you have the answers to the Romeo and Juliet questions?" She asked, without even saying hello.

He knew what she was talking about. They were in the same English class, and the questions for Act I were due the last block of the day. But the question caught him off guard. "No, I didn't do it," he said after staring for a moment.

"Fuck," she spat out, then sat on the table Jason was eating at. "Me neither."

"...Guess we're both screwed then," he said. He took another bite of his sandwich.

"Well." She sounded annoyed. "We could work on it together, if neither of us did it. We have the lunch period."

He still didn't want to do it (because there was a 50% chance Miss Erin wouldn't collect it), but he looked up and saw that Vanessa really seemed like she wanted the help. She had those pleading, puppy dog eyes that Jason had only seen in actual dogs. It was kind of impressive, if uncanny.

"Alright, fine," he sighed. "Let me just get my shit out."

"Great." She sat down in an actual seat and started pulling papers out of her backpack along with him.

This led to them sharing homework answers every other lunch, because even though their English teacher didn't collect the work half the time, it was still assigned. Apparently it was to prepare for this essay they needed to write at the end of the unit, but Jason had his doubts.

Usually, one of them didn't do the work, leaving the other to basically give them all the answers. Usually, it was Jason who didn't do it.

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" He asked the fourth time she found him during lunch.

"It's my lunch break." She sat down in the seat across from him. It's where she sat every time she came.

"Shouldn't you be with your friends? Like, if you're here every da-"

She interrupted him. "We're helping each other, asshole. Do you want the fucking homework answers or not?"

He was off-put by her aggression. "Fine, whatever, yes, give me the answers." He rambled out.

He felt like an asshole when he realized he didn't know where she usually sat at lunch. Or if she sat with anyone at all. He couldn't possibly be the only person that didn't sit with anyone during lunch. 

A week later, Vanessa found him in the library again.

"Hey, can I get-"

"Nope, busy this time." She should have realized. He was scribbling words down on a sheet of lined paper, pencil in his right hand and phone in the left.

She looked over Jason's shoulder, at his phone. "Why are you reading Sparknotes on Romeo and Juliet?"

"I need to write the stupid fucking..." He paused, trying to finish reading this stupid fucking paragraph because it's in stupid fucking old English, and he only knew stupid fucking new English, "essay for it."

Vanessa's voice was doused in confusion. "That was due yesterday. "

"I don't care. And neither does Miss Erin." He'd already asked her for an extension last class, and she gave him one. They had a mutual liking of each other, and a mutual hatred of English essays; him writing them, and her grading them. Jason had no idea why she was an English teacher to begin with.

"How come every time I come by you, there's always something that you haven't done?"

"I had to work overtime at my job that I have." It was only half of a lie. He signed up for it to get out of the house over the weekend, because his parents both had off work. The essay was just another chore he needed to do. He did not need Vanessa over his shoulder, nitpicking his choices. "Ever heard of having a job?"

"Ever heard of this school's late work policy? And that Herk High is so prestigious and we need to honor that all the fucking time, or else Mr. Pappucci is getting put on some school board shitlist." She was doing a decent imitation of the principal during the last assembly they had. It was funny, but not enough to make Jason laugh.

"Prestigiousness is overrated. I'm gonna live in the sewers. Like Eileen."

"Eileen hasn't been in the sewers in years." She started to laugh at her own thoughts. "Remember when she tried to take that pool skimmer to school? And she had to leave it outside?"

Oh my God, he did. That must have been in middle school, when they were all so young and stupid that someone could bring a pool skimmer to school without anyone batting an eye. But he had to focus on this essay, so he just said "Yeah."

Vanessa laughed again, but it trailed off. "Seriously though, if Miss Erin catches you cheating, you're gonna get suspended."

This literally was not cheating. He was allowed to use notes for the essay, he just didn't write these. But he didn't want to argue. "I wish they'd suspend me."

"Okay, edgelord."

"Shut up." But he laughed as he said it.

The next day, Vanessa came into the library again.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Not much."

She sat down and pulled out her lunch.

"What's it this time?" Jason asked.

"What's what?"

"Homework."

"I don't have any."

"Oh."

His brain screamed at him Oh my God, you are such an asshole, why did you even say that-

She got up. "I mean, if you don't need help, I can leave. The new unit just started, there's not much-"

"No, no, it's fine, you can stay!" He waved her back. He was acting very unnecessarily desperate, and she could very obviously see that.

Vanessa sat back down, slowly. "Okay."

They ate their lunch in silence. He had a sandwich again. She had some kind of salad. Veganism, he remembered, and then he remembered the context of that conversation. He had insulted her then. Shit. He needed to redeem himself now. He needed to say something. Oh my God just say something-

"How's that internship going?" He finally asked. "In the city. If you're still doing that."

She nodded. "Good. We got a new kitten. His name's Ajax."

"Like the cleaning supplies?"

"Yes. Also like the Greek hero."

"Oh." He's spent too much time cleaning at the Gray Deer , if his brain defaulted to that . God, that was stupid. He knew about the Greek guy, could he not keep his mouth shut for-

"Yeah. He's a cute little guy," Vanessa continued. "We gotta isolate him though, 'cause owners didn't keep track of his shots. He might have rabies, for all we know."

He nodded. "Smart. Safety is important."

"Yeah. It's like, why even own a cat if you don't care enough to keep track of its medical shit? Some people, I swear..."

"They don't know shit about animals?"

"Yeah." She smirked at him. "Took the words right out of my mouth, Jason."