you. | sean lew

chapter eleven

february twenty-two ; day eight

the last bell finally rings, ending fifth period and the school day. just in sean's luck, james is in his fifth period. from when sean entered class earlier, he tried his hardest to avoid james.

sean feels successful until he hears james' voice calling him from behind.

"sean lew!" james yells.

sean keeps walking, pretending not to hear anything.

james eventually catches up and places his hand on sean's shoulder.

"hey man," james begins. "i'm sorry about the other day, i was going through some stuff. i'm on your side, okay?"

sean nods and releases himself from james' grip.

"i have to go, i have work," sean says as he starts to walk away.

"we still have a deal right?" james calls out.

"of course!" sean yells back, even though he has absolutely no intentions of continuing the plan.

he then makes his way to vivian's locker where he promised to meet her after school. they planned on walking together to the mall for work then having their study session afterwards.

"viv!" sean says from afar once he sees her.

"you're late," she jokingly crosses her arms.

"i got caught up with something," sean says as he scratches the back of his neck.

"it's alright, let's get going. wouldn't want to be late on your first day of work," she says as she slams her locker shut.

she grabs a visor with the giant pretzel attached to the top of it out of her bag and places it on sean's head.

"do i really have to wear this?" he adjusts the awful looking hat.

vivian nods proudly and announces, "you'll be a pretzel connoisseur in no time!"

sean drives while vivian starts verbally quizzing him for his upcoming history test. to both of their delight, sean only gets two questions wrong.

"good job, lew," viv says as she stares out of the car window. "i'm proud of you."

he smiles to himself.

they finally pull up to the parking of the mall and head for the second floor where the food court is located.

sean adjusts the polo shirt that's obnoxiously bright green and yellow for the pretzel shop's colors.

he turns to vivian who's already made five pretzels while he's barely began. she shows him the basics of pretzel making and how to approach customers. after that, she assigns him to the register.

after two hours, sean sees a familiar figure in the distance. the one person he can spot from a mile away – julian.

sean groans loudly, knowing julian wouldn't be able to resist himself. josh and christy quickly enter the picture, and sean darts for the backroom.

"what are you doing here? who's at the register?" vivian says while handling the dough.

"i, uh, need to use the restroom," sean quickly says.

"oh, alright,"

sean takes off his apron and quickly exits the pretzel shop. he pulls his hoodie over his head and walks to a random table in the food court, keeping his eyes on his friends. julian, josh, and christy near the pretzel place without seeing sean hiding a few feet away.

"wait he's not here?" julian says, puzzled. "it's supposed to be his first day."

sean hides out until the group leaves and heads back to work.

"you took a while," viv says as sean reenters.

"i was uh...constipated..yeah,"

viv raises an eyebrow and doesn't even bother replying to that. they continue work for the next hour until their shift ends.

"how do you handle all these activities?" sean says as the two walk to the parking lot. "i'm basically dying and the only thing i'm doing is volleyball - and now this."

"to be honest with you, i'm actually really stressed, but it'll be all worth it in the end..you know? if i get into my dream school," viv sighs.

"if?" sean questions. "you are the smartest person i know, viv, don't doubt yourself ever."

before starting the car, sean turns to face her. and says, "any college..any job..any person would be lucky to have you."

as sean started driving, viv smiled to herself.

"you have that big history test tomorrow," viv reminds. "and midterms next month."

"oh, right," sean mumbles. "i hope i do well, i mean i kind of have to."

"you got me," viv says. "and i promise you i will make sure you don't get held back."

"i just can't believe i let myself get to that point," he sighs, running his hands through his hair.

"don't worry, okay?" viv says softly.

they pull up to the library and sean grabs their textbooks from the backseat. they return to their usual spot in the corner and start reviewing.

/

after their failed attempt at surprising sean at his first day of work, julian and josh decide to head over to julian's house.

"hey, i've been meaning to ask you...did you ever go through with that plan with james?" josh asks as he steps into the car.

julian doesn't respond and turns on the radio.

"seriously, jules," josh sighs. "sean's our best friend. i don't want you doing anything you'll regret."

julian remains silent with only the music to be heard between them.

josh attempted telling sean about the plan during lexee's party, but that didn't work out when a drunk julian interrupted.

"if he finds out–" josh starts.

"he won't, okay?" julian cuts him off.

"so you are going through with it?" josh's voice raises. "it's funny because when he's around, you act like nothing's going on."

before julian can respond, his phone buzzes. he glances over to see:
from: james
we have to talk.

and with that julian looks over to josh and says, "i've got something to do, i'll just bring you home."

***
author's note
this was jus a filler chapter i promise the next one is a whole lot better (some shit goes downnn)
also i'd love if you checked out my other sean fic "unsent" :)