He's The Man

Promises, Promises. Stupid Promises.

"It just isn't fair, Malvolio." Malcolm said to his spider, laying on his bed. "I wait three years for Olivia, and then some transfer student comes in and suddenly she's acting like some..." He looked over at his pillow, a picture of Olivia covering it. "...obsessed, love-struck teenager. I'm not going to take that lying down, Malvolio!" He shouted, standing up and walking over to his spider. "Yeah, I know. I know. You're absolutely right. I'll do some digging, I'll find out what it is, and I'll nip his chances with Olivia right in the bud." He said excitedly. "What's that? Oh, yeah, sure. A walk. Sorry. Come on." He opened the top of the glass and let Malvolio crawl onto his hand. "You are so smart."

Next Day At School....

"Hi, Olivia. I don't want you to be worried, but Malvolio's missing." Malcolm told the blonde, handing her a little flyer with a picture of the tarantula. Sebastian walked into the room and hung by the door for a bit, waiting to see how this would play out for Olivia. 'She's so going to kill me for this.' He thought to himself, laughing. Olivia looked up and shot him a dirty look, a small smile showing on her face.

"Oh, no!" She said like she cared, but she gave Sebastian a look and rolled her eyes. He laughed again, mouthing 'I'm sorry.' She just shook her head at him.

"Yeah. If you see him, don't feed him. He has an irritable bowel." Malcolm said as Sebastian rolled his eyes, walking over to the table that he and Olivia always occupied.

"Yeah..'Cause that would be my very first instinct. To feed the tarantula." She smirked at him as she crumpled up the piece of paper, putting it into her bag as Sebastian bumped Malcolm away from Olivia.

"Hey!" Malcolm yelled as Sebastian shrugged, taking his seat next to Olivia. She smiled at him as Malcolm tried to take a seat next to Sebastian. Sebastian smirked and kicked the stool before Malcolm sat down. Malcolm fell onto his ass while Duke laughed and flashed Sebastian a thumbs up.

"Way to go Hastings!" Toby said, laughing while Andrew nodded his approval. Olivia rolled her eyes at the  boy's antics, but still smiled at Sebastian.

"See you next fall, Malcolm." Sebastian said, nodding his head to the back of the room, hoping Malcolm would take the hint to beat it. He did, running to the back of the room like a dog that just got a major scolding.

"My hero." Olivia said jokingly as Sebastian laughed, shaking his head.

"My pleasure, princess." She smiled at his wording, a small blush showing on her cheeks. It was their thing. Flirty banter. She liked it a lot. She liked him a lot. Though she wouldn't admit it to anyone.

Sebastian looked over at his best friend Duke, as he was making his gestures for Sebastian to talk Duke up to Olivia. Sebastian's smile fell. He knew he promised he would. And a Hastings never breaks a promise. He nodded, turning toward Olivia. She could see something was up with him. She wanted to ask, but knew she shouldn't. He'd tell her if he wanted to. He opened his mouth, letting out a sigh and speaking up. "Here's a wild idea." He flashed her a fake smile. She nodded, telling him to go on with her eyes. "Have you ever thought about going out with Duke Orsino?" Sebastian asked, motioning between the two as Duke looked over, smiling at Olivia. "I see that."

"Duke?" Olivia looked at him, disbelieving what he was saying to her.

"Yeah." Sebastian kept his fake smile, looking into the girls eyes.

"No." He smiled internally, happy that she didn't see Duke like that. But, he knew it would crush Duke when the other boy heard. He decided to press on.

"Yeah."

"No."

"Yeah. Yeah?"

"No!" Olivia exclaimed, laughing at Sebastian's antics. She could see his smile was real for the first time in the conversation. "I mean, he's good-looking and everything, but he's just not the guy for me." She said, hoping maybe Sebastian would take the hint. But Sebastian's smile fell, and she didn't know why.