Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Really, it was all Mr. Tarkin’s fault.

The reason she was currently sitting,  staring desperately at her number-two pencil and college ruled piece of paper as a heavy thwack kept resonating every few seconds in the detention room. Rey could see her knuckles turning white as her grip tightened around the pencil. It wasn’t even a particularly good pencil either, she remarked absently as a way to distract herself. It had probably been sitting in Mr. Tarkin’s drawer since the nineties with how dried out the rubber was. Thwack.

Okay, Johnson, you can do this , she urged herself as she turned her attention back to the sheet where she’d already written ‘I must not be a disruptive influence to those around me and will respect the learning environment ’ ten times in a tidy scrawl. 

I must not—

Thwack.

Be a disruptive—

Thwack.

INFLUENCE TO THOSE AROUND—

THWACK!

“Do you mind!?” Rey practically screeched, looking up at the hulking form of Ben Solo, resident school burnout, already in the process of pulling back a ruler to create another heavy slap against the laminated particleboard. 

He paused for a moment to evaluate her, possibly stunned that anyone from the student population would have been brave enough to shout at him, and his eyes roved over the school emblem on the front of her cheerleading uniform. He must have decided something after taking in her appearance because his mouth turned up into an infuriating smirk and he looked her dead in the eye to say, “Yeah. Actually, I do.” And thwack.  

“ Some of us are trying to finish our work,” she replied, her expression wholly unimpressed and undeterred by his attempt to shut her up. “Y’know, so we can leave .”

He snorted before saying, “You’ll never get it done in time, so don’t even bother. They can’t hold us past four— legally— and then you’re free to go back to whatever pep rally you have planned. Look on the bright side, princess,  you're already halfway there.”

Rey’s mouth dropped open a bit at the sarcastically dropped pet name and she could feel the hackles rising on the back of her neck. Never mind that she did have a very important cheer practice that she was missing. “For your information , I am an incredibly fast writer….when someone isn’t being totally obnoxious. ” 

That made him pause, Rey thought with momentary satisfaction before she looked at the smirk widen on his face. Oh no, now he’d found a new plaything. He stood up slowly, unfurling his height —and she hadn’t realized he was so tall— until he practically towered in the small overheated classroom. She turned her face back to the paper so he wouldn’t see the look of dread on her face.

Still, she could hear the clomp of his boots as he walked toward her, and then the even louder whining scrape of metal on unwilling laminate flooring as he dragged one of the tablet desks out of place to sit right next to her. She did her best to ignore him, instead managing to eke out one more hurried line. 

“I, for one, don’t think you’re that obnoxious,” he said, his voice deep and practically in her ear.

Rey looked up, the anger swelling in her chest, and was startled to see his face less than a foot from hers, his chin resting on the arms he had draped over the back of his desk chair. She could feel the heat creep into her face —from totally justified anger, she told herself— as she bit back, “Oh my god, are you always such a jerk?”

“Usually,” he said with amusement in his voice, “But sometimes I can be a real asshole , too.” 

“No arguments there,” she muttered and she could hear him snort again. It wasn’t even a real laugh, just a loud exhalation that betrayed his rising amusement. She was giving him exactly what he wanted, she realized belatedly, and resolved to just ignore him. She turned back to her writing, dashing a period off of one more sentence.

Ben watched in blessed silence for a couple of minutes and she tried to just be grateful for the reprieve. Instead she found her pace stuttering as she felt his eyes still…watching her. 

“So what are you in here for, princess?” he asked, breaking the silence again. She kept her eyes on the paper, but the tip of her pencil faltered for just a moment. Rey returned with fervor to scribbling out the line that Mr. Tarkin had assigned her before leaving the two of them alone to ‘contemplate their actions’ . She managed to write another two lines before he let out a loud sigh. “I’m telling you, you’re wasting your time.” 

It was as she miswrote a word due to his distracting influence and had to erase, irreparably marring the paper with the sad, withered, rubber end of the pencil that she finally slammed the writing utensil down on the desk and gave Ben Solo a look, willing him to spontaneously combust with her gaze. 

“What is your problem?” she hissed and he didn’t even have the decency to look abashed. 

Instead, he lifted a shoulder in a shrug and replied blandly, “I’m bored.” 

“And this,” she gestured to where he sat next to her, too close for comfort, “is entertaining for you? Why won’t you just leave me alone ?”

He ignored her question entirely as he asked once more, “So, what did they put you in lockdown for? Didn’t smile enough at the last football game?”

“None of your business,” she huffed, trying once again to return to her paper.

“Maybe if I just keep guessing, I’ll get it right,” he mused aloud. “Hmm… maybe you got caught sneaking vodka in your water bottle; you seem like the party girl type.” She could tell he was looking at her expectantly, but she kept her face stony, not even bothering to try writing anything. He offered a few more outrageous guesses, before finally saying, “Oh, I know, you must have broken into the teacher’s lounge to change your test grade, right? Wouldn't want that bad grade to risk your precious cheer practice after all."

“Oh my god, if I tell you, will you shut up?” Rey demanded, her eyes narrowed at him. Ben just looked at her, not bothering to give an answer. He let the silence grow uncomfortable until Rey couldn't help but blurt, “I got caught passing a note in Tarkin’s class.”

He pursed his lips for a moment and almost looked disappointed before saying, “Oh. Well that’s lame.”

It was lame, she thought privately. Especially because the note that Mr. Tarkin had promptly confiscated wasn’t even hers . 

Kaydel and Rose had been passing notes back and forth during the entirety of Mr. Tarkin’s lecture on the early Reagan administration, furiously debating the upcoming cheer captain election that afternoon. One slip had fumbled the note to the aisle separating Rose and Rey’s seats. Mr. Tarkin had zeroed in on the folded paper and Rey could see the fear in her best friend’s eyes as he immediately stopped class to storm over. 

“Oh no, my mom is going to kill me, ” Rose had squeaked out under her breath.

So when Mr. Tarkin had come over, plucked the note from the worn laminate flooring and fixed Rose with a stare that had been known to cause grown men to break down, something had taken over and Rey had piped up, “Sorry, Mr. Tarkin, that’s….that’s mine.” 

Tarkin’s eyes had narrowed, turning his attention to her and he had barked out a sharp, “Detention. After school.” 

“But, Mr. Tarkin—” she had started, realizing too late that if she was in detention she was going to miss the most important practice of the year. But Tarkin had simply glared at her and turned on his heel to continue lecturing about the impacts of trickle down economics.

And that’s how she had found herself here. In the spare classroom that had been dedicated as the detention hall, trying to focus on anything except the utterly infuriating boy who had made it his mission to annoy her as much as humanly possible until four. So, it really was all Mr. Tarkin’s fault.

Ben Solo was a bit of an enigma, but she’d heard enough rumors to make her wary. He’d transferred here just a few months ago with a taciturn attitude that resisted anyone but a few other burnouts making friends with him. Even then, he spent most of his lunch hours alone. He skipped most of his classes, had gotten suspended once for smoking on school property and regularly spent most afternoons in the detention hall it would seem.

“So, princess, since you have the absolute lamest excuse for being in detention, is there anything interesting about you?” Ben asked in a bored tone, bringing Rey back to the present. 

“Would you stop calling me that?” Rey groused, bristling at the nickname he’d liberally bestowed on her. “I’m not a princess.”

“Uh, huh,” he replied with skepticism, “Answer the question, princess.”

Rey pointedly ignored him, trying once more to turn back to her paper.

“Seriously?” he sighed, real frustration coloring his voice. “I’m telling you. It’s a waste of your time.”

“Oh, and you’d know?” Rey quipped, fixing him with a snide look. “It doesn’t exactly look like you’re making an effort.”

“Like I said, no point,” he huffed with subdued laughter, the corner of his mouth turning up in a smirk. It made Rey want to pull his stupid beanie down over his stupid face for some reason. She almost was going to do it too, when he continued, “Let me just break this down for you. Tarkin gives every person the same spiel, write your little line a hundred times and you’re free to go. What he doesn’t tell you is that the average person can only write —what —eleven words, maybe thirteen tops a minute? And he gave you—” Ben glanced down at her paper, his smirk only widening as he read her neat row of lines, “—sixteen. So that’s, what, sixteen hundred words, in sixty minutes? You’ll never get it done and Tarkin —who frankly looks like he’s been around long enough to give cavemen detention — knows it. He doesn’t expect anyone to do anything except waste their time trying to get out early, and not making any trouble for him so he can do his New York Times crossword in the teacher’s lounge.” 

Rey looked at him for a moment before measuring her words, “It sure sounds like you’ve put a lot of thought into this…”

“I’ve had a lot of time to think about it,” Ben replied and his smile was almost….charming. If Rey didn’t know he was a total shithead underneath that is. “So, what I’m saying is, you can either waste your time trying to play by Tarkin’s rules, or you can, I don’t know, live a little.”

It was so incredibly frustrating that he was actually making sense. Rey let out a groan before shoving the stupid lined paper away from her, “This is such bullshit !”

Ben let out a snort before saying, “Ooh, so she does have a wild side.”

“Oh, shut up,” Rey retorted, shoving at Ben’s shoulder and finding corded steel under the black t-shirt. She pulled her hand back quickly and tried to play it off, “Just because I don’t…don’t, commit arson every weekend or whatever—” Ben raised an arched brow at that and she could feel her face growing warm at his amusement, “—doesn’t mean I’m boring.”

“Oh really,” he pushed, leaning ever closer, “Do tell, princess. What exactly does a delinquent like yourself do?”

And Rey was caught. Because she didn’t really do anything against the rules. She was a good kid ; she had to be. But he was pushing her and she just had this odd urge to just shove something in his face. 

“I-I,” she stammered, trying to rack her brain, before remembering the previous summer with Rose at the lake, “I got really drunk one time.”

“Oh, no,” he replied, sarcasm dripping off every word, “Better call the police. Local teen tries alcohol.”

“You’re such a—” she started and fumbled over her words, trying to tell Ben Solo exactly what she thought of him. “Such a—”

“Such a what exactly?” he snarked, “Don’t strain yourself too hard, Princess.”

“You know what? Nevermind,” Rey groused, “I have nothing to prove to you.”

“Mm,” Ben nodded, that smirk back on his face. He pushed himself to his feet and wandered over to the window, leaning back onto the concrete ledge covered in years of slathered beige paint. After casually pushing the window open, he pulled a box from his back pocket, flipping the cap up and extending it out to her. “Smoke?”

Rey’s eyes widened at the pack of cigarettes and Ben snorted in response, pulling one out and putting it between his plush lips. 

“Hey, you-you can’t do that here!” she practically shouted, her eyes darting nervously to the door, as he pulled a lighter out and lit it up.

“Or what?” he sneered, his words slightly distorted before he took a drag, “Going to go tattle on me?”

Rey stood abruptly, her patience reaching a breaking point. The smirk faded off of Ben’s face quickly as she stormed over, yanking the cigarette from his mouth. She stubbed it out on the concrete ledge and then threw it out the open window for good measure. Ben looked like he wanted to say something but she stopped him, prodding him in the chest — hard— before hissing, “You know, you really are an asshole. Of course I’m not going to go tell Mr. Tarkin on you, because we both know he’d just blame me too. And unlike you, I can't afford to get kicked out of school. Not to mention, I’d actually like to spend my time outside of detention, doing something worthwhile .”

“Because waving around some pom poms is such an intellectual pursuit,” Ben rolled his eyes, the surprise wearing off as his face darkened at Rey. “I'm sure you're really missing out.  Well, let me give you a little peek at your future, princess. You’re going to spend the rest of your life chasing after the thrill you get from that dollar store tiara they give you for being prom queen. And ten years from now, when you’re married to some loser who knocks you up right after high school, and you're competing with all the other little soccer moms for who brought the best organic gluten-free snack tray, you’ll look back at your life and realize that you peaked in high school. So maybe you should take the stick out of your ass and stop acting like a stuck up prude, because trust me,  this is as good as it's gonna get for you, princess. ”

“You don’t even know the first thing about me,” Rey growled, “But I already know everything I need to know about you .” 

“Oh really,” Ben smirked, “Then enlighten me, princess.”

Rey took a deep breath,  before the words flowed out,  filled with vitriol, “You walk around pretending that you don’t care about anyone around here and what they think about you, but really deep down," — she took a pause to give a derisive laugh—"you’re just sad and scared that if you ever actually tried giving a shit that no one would even like you. So you spend all your time making your problems everyone else's like a pathetic child. And yeah, maybe I might peak in high school , but at least it’s better than being a complete disappointment.”

She felt a smug pride as she finished, her chest heaving as she looked up at Ben’s face. The pride was short lived as she noticed Ben’s face fall for just a moment, hurt in his eyes before he completely closed off his expression in a deep scowl. And then there was only guilt as she looked at his intense gaze. Ben stubbornly maintained eye contact and Rey could feel her face heating up, suddenly aware of how close she had gotten to him during their confrontation.

“I-” she started, wanting to break the tense silence, but was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Rey had never jumped back so quickly as she did then.

“What precisely is going on here?” Mr. Tarkin barked, disturbing the stillness of the room, and making Rey avert her eyes nervously, still too close to Ben for comfort. Was it really already four? She stared pointedly at the blackboard, as Ben pushed away from the desk in her peripheral. 

“I was just…. assisting Johnson with her lines, sir,” Ben replied. He looked too casual as he leaned back onto a chair that looked far too small for him.

Tarkin didn’t give Ben the benefit of a reply, changing the subject with a curt, “Bring up your assignments. Now.”

They both returned to their seats, picking up the lined paper that Tarkin had passed out an hour ago.

“Another failed assignment, Solo?” Tarkin sneered, taking Ben’s paper first, “One line is hardly a worthy effort.”

“What can I say, Mr. Tarkin,” Ben responded, the anger from his confrontation with Rey completely concealed, and his voice loaded with amusement at his own joke, “I gave it my best shot.”

“Well, I’m sure you won’t mind giving it another try tomorrow then,” Tarkin replied, his voice laced with a cruel sort of acid bourne from thirty years of lording over teenagers in the halls of Coruscant High School. Rey purposely avoided looking at the pair as she waited for her turn. She tried to shrink down out of notice as the aged teacher continued, “Your… familial connections might have kept you from getting expelled thus far, but I certainly hope you don't think that I will be giving you any special treatment. Make no mistake that no matter whose coattails you think you can sail through life on, you will spend every spare moment you have in this room until I’m satisfied that you have learned respect for this institution. Is that clear?”

Ben glowered silently at Mr. Tarkin, the amusement long gone.

“I said, is that clear , Mr. Solo?”

“Yes.”

“Yes, what , Mr. Solo?”

“Yes, sir, ” Ben gritted out, not making eye contact with the older man. 

“Was there something you’d like to say?” Tarkin replied, his lip curling up into a derisive smile, as Ben continued to drill a hole into the blackboard with his gaze. Ben gave a minute shake of his head that seemed to satisfy Tarkin. And then just as quickly his acidic smile was gone and the old man was abruptly turning to Rey, “Johnson, your assignment?”

She held it aloft and Tarkin snatched it from her outstretched hand. His hawkish gaze skimmed over the truly dismal amount of lines completed. He looked down his crooked nose at her, tartly lecturing, “This is very disappointing, Ms. Johnson. I really expected more effort from one of our school’s athletes. But perhaps you could have done more if you hadn’t thought of this punishment as your own personal social hour? So, let me give you a nickel’s worth of free advice: you are who you surround yourself with Ms. Johnson, and you should choose that circle wisely , especially before throwing your life in the gutter associating with…those of questionable value,” he looked pointedly at Ben as he finished, before curtly finishing. “You’re both dismissed. Collect your things and consider your actions in the future.” 

Rey gave a shaky nod and wordlessly returned to pick up her things. Tarkin didn’t linger and she could hear Ben stomping back to sling his backpack on his shoulder.

Tarkin's words still clung to the air,  cruel and sharp, and Rey felt as if she should say something. 

"Ben," she uttered softly. 

He turned to her, his eyes narrowed, and snapped, "What?" Whatever Rey had been about to say caught in her throat and she looked at Ben like a deer caught in headlights. Ben waited for a moment, not bothering to help her as she floundered on her words,  before finally rolling his eyes. He adjusted the bag on his back, turning to leave and threw over his shoulder, "Don't worry about me,  princess, I'm a complete disappointment,  remember?"

The venom in his voice as he threw her own words back at him kept her rooted to the spot, watching his hulking form exit the stuffy detention hall.  She didn't have long to dwell, however, before Rose was popping her head into the classroom. 

Relief washed over her face to have found Rey, and she rushed to her side as Rey started gathering her things. "Oh my god,  did you really have detention with Ben Solo? "

"Oh, uh, yeah," Rey replied, focusing all her attention on her bookbag. 

Rose didn't seem to notice her pause before continuing, "Wow, what was that like? Did he try to sell you drugs? I heard he got kicked out of his last school for beating up someone who didn't pay him after a deal."

Rey's eyes widened as she splattered, "What? No! Jeez, where'd you even hear something like that, Rose?"

"Around," Rose shrugged. "People talk."

"Yeah, well, maybe people should talk less and mind their business more," Rey replied crisply, some guilt at having joined in on similar rumors before gnawing at her insides. "It was fine. He was a jerk, but he didn't try to get me to join a gang or whatever. Anyways,  how did practice go?"

"Oh," Rose started,  her eyes nervously and all thoughts of Ben Solo gone at the change in subject. "You're not gonna like it."

Rey waited expectantly, suspense sitting like lead in her stomach, "Oh no, what happened?"

"Well," Rose began, rushing her words, "Finn, Kay, and I did our best and we tried to nominate you for cheer captain, but Holdo said that only present team members could be nominated, and so then I tried to nominate Kay , but she didn't get enough votes and so now…well…Baz sort of got elected." 

"What?" Rey asked,  feeling lightheaded at the news. If this was true, the Varsity squad was going to be an absolute nightmare next year. 

"And I feel so bad,  Rey, because it's all my fault that Tarkin gave you detention today" and Rose was practically in hysterics as she said. "And you're the absolute best friend in the world because you remember when Paige got a B in Spanish and my parents wouldn't let her see anyone for a month , and I'm just so so so sorry, Rey."

"It's…it's okay," Rey said, patting Rose's shoulder to calm her. "We'll survive. I mean,  after all we're still going to be Seniors next year. We can make the best of it…even if she'll be totally insufferable."

Rose calmed down at Rey's reassurance and then smirked devilishly, "Yeah,  plus maybe we can sneak Nair into her shampoo in the locker room."

Rey laughed out loud,  turning to her friend with a grin, "Remind me not to get on your bad side, Rose Tico."

Rose giggled as they left and Rey spared one last glance at the empty classroom,  trying to push Ben Solo from her thoughts.

Chapter Text

One time, after a particularly long cheer practice, Finn, Rose and Rey had all piled into Rose’s Toyota Camry and Finn had made an off-handed remark about how it was one of the most popular cars in the country except you never noticed them until someone pointed it out. And sure enough, as Rey had scanned the parking lot of the school, she counted no fewer than four other Toyota Camrys. And one on the drive over to Maz’s diner. And if Maz was ever busy enough in the evenings to have a full parking lot instead of indulging three of her favorite teenagers, Rey is certain she would have seen one there as well. As it is, Rey still does a mental tally of the parking lot every time they go to an away game.

Ben Solo was a lot like a Toyota Camry in that regard.

He certainly seemed to be as ubiquitous as one around the school the week following their shared detention. It was so bad that Rey thought that he must have figured out how to clone himself, because that’s the only reason she could contrive for seeing him so often around the school.

She saw him in the cafeteria at lunch time, giving a scowl every time anyone came too close. 

She saw him in the library when she went to return the books she used for her research paper. Frankly she was surprised he even knew where the library was in the school.

She almost ran directly into him on her way to Precalc and turned directly around as soon as she saw the smirk on his face. Her cheeks burned as she took the long way to class and barely slid into her seat at the sound of the late bell. Rose had given her a funny look as she sat down, breathless from having to jog to get here.

That’s why at the start of Friday’s practice she was counting it as a small blessing that at least she hadn’t seen him all day. One less thing, she concluded, changing out of her jeans and blouse and into her the shorts she wore for practice. There had been enough things to sour her day. 

First, she’d woken up late and been in such a rush to get out the door before her foster father could notice her frenzied escape, that she’d forgotten the pre-calc assignment she’d stayed up so late to finish. Mr. Andor had clucked his tongue reprovingly and reminded her that his late policy meant she could only get half credit on Monday. Then she’d overheard Bazine gossiping to Tish in their English class and making pointed glances at her. She’d been so absorbed trying to parse out what their hurried whispers meant that she hadn’t been paying attention when Ms. Erso called on her.

“Rey, what does the green light represent?”

In her distraction, she had said of all things , “Uh, go?”

And predictably the entire class had erupted in a fit of giggles at her answer.

Ms. Erso had grimaced and replied, “Maybe in traffic safety, but I meant in our text for the Great Gastby. Anyone else?” Rey felt like melting into the floor as she caught Bazine’s snide expression.

The rest of the day had been filled with little annoyances like this —a corrupted research paper file, the cafeteria ran out of chocolate milk right before her, gum on her nice pair of sneakers— that she was fairly certain the universe was conspiring against her. Rey was completely ready by the end of the day for the stress relief that came with cheer practice. It was going to be nice and easy today, just some basic drills so they’d all be rested for next week’s tryouts.

Nice and easy went out the door when she met Rose right out of the locker room, “Ugh, looks like we have company today.”

Rey had been the first to arrive—the gym completely empty at the time —so she stopped short, the rest of the team trickling into the changing room around her, when she spotted Ben Solo on the opposite end of the room. He was dribbling a worn out basketball with his tall red-headed friend. The shock of seeing him wore off quickly and was replaced by annoyance. Why did he have to be here ? Especially right now? This practice had been her sanctuary after this truly hellacious day, and here Ben Solo was again . Her inability to escape him seemed to be the cruelest trick of all.

She didn’t realize that she’d been staring at him until he paused, the ball still held between his hands, and made eye contact with her. He arched a brow and she could see the stupid smirk on his face. 

Something about the way the taunting corner of his mouth lifted up just so rankled her and she turned to Rose with a brisk, “Don’t worry,  I’ll handle it.” 

Rey strode over with purpose, leaving Rose to go into the changing room alone. The stress of the day had all culminated in this one moment as her feet carried her within a scant yard of the two boys.

“You can’t be here,” she said, her mouth falling into a grim line. She put a hand on her hip for good measure.

“Oh, really?” Ben responded. He stopped dribbling the ball, letting it rest under one of his overly large feet as he turned to take her in. “And why is that, exactly?”

“Because,” Rey said, drawing out the word, “This is a closed gym. It’s cheer practice; we always have a closed gym so creeps don’t stare at us during drills. So, you know, you should go.”

“Yeah? Who says?” Ben replied, an unbothered and almost bored expression on his long features. He made a show of looking around, “I don’t exactly see your name on it.”

“I say so,” Rey stated tersely, “And I’m the Cheer Captain. So.” She made a shooing motion with her hand.

“Solo,” the red headed boy interjected, his face pinched and uncomfortable with how the conversation was going, “Maybe we should just—” But he was cut off as Ben held up a hand.

“Oh, the Cheer Captain?” Ben said his voice filled with sarcasm, “Wow, that changes everything . Hux, did you know we were speaking to the Cheer Captain? ” The redheaded boy—Hux— stayed silent at the exchange, but Ben wasn’t cowed by the lack of encouragement and continued, “Maybe you should get back to your pom-poms, princess.”

“Oh my god,” Rey opined, “What is your problem? Why won’t you just leave ?”

“I don’t have a problem,” Ben retorted, but he was stepping into her space, towering over her so she had to crane her neck to see his face, “We were here first , so if you want me to leave so badly, then why don’t you just…. make me ?”

Rey stood rooted to the spot at his challenge at a loss for words, her mouth falling open.

“Nothing else to say?” he taunted, leaning down close to her ear so she could feel his breath tickle across her neck. It made a shiver go up her spine. His voice low, “If that’s it, then why don’t you just turn around and fuck off? ”

Rey’s face flushed with first humiliation and then anger before she was scowling, “ What did you just say to me?”

“You heard me, princess,” Ben replied, backing up to retrieve the ball off the ground once more, “Now don’t you have some little chants to go do?” He turned away, blatantly dismissing her and passing the ball with a little more force than necessary to Hux.

She let out a growl of frustration before turning on her heel and storming back to the gathering group. Rose and Finn both spotted her and walked over; Rose with slight trepidation and Finn with an easygoing smile that disappeared as he took in her mood.

“Who spit in your cornflakes?” Finn asked, not privy to the situation. Rey shot him a dirty look, quelling any further remarks.

She gestured to where Ben Solo was doing a jump shot on the opposite side of the gym. 

“He…is an asshole !” she gritted out by way of explanation.

“What did he say to you?” Rose looked like she was ready to fight as she shot daggers to the two boys. The red-head caught her stare and hurriedly turned away to run after the basketball as it bounced off the backboard. 

“Nevermind, let’s just….get to practice,” Rey muttered before turning to the JV cheer squad who had finished assembling. Expectant and alert expressions met hers. “Alright ladies…and Finn,”—Finn gave her a quick nod in acknowledgment—”Let’s start with some laps to get warmed up.”

Rey had never gone quite so hard in a warm up as she did that day. First, they jogged around the entirety of the gym, and she noted with some satisfaction that even Ben Solo was willing to move out the way with a herd of cheerleaders stampeding towards him. Her feet pounded the ground of the gym and she picked up her pace, leading the lap. The burn in her muscles felt good as she pushed herself. 

Running. Burpees. Mountain climbers. Star jumps. She put the team through their paces in a grueling and fast paced workout that was the opposite of what she’d originally planned. Anything to get the fire out of her veins. Every time she caught Ben’s eyes, she only pushed herself —and the team— that much harder.

“Okay, team, let’s do our big routine from Regionals,” Rey finally said after an hour at this brutal pace. She sprung from the ground, only a little breathless from the hard work.

“Coach!” Bazine piped up, stepping through the crowd and for once not looking perfectly put together. She shot a traitorous look at Rey before seething,“Are you seriously going to keep working us like this? We’re winding down for the off season!”

“Yeah, Rey,” Rose joined, a sheen of sweat making her dark bangs stick to her forehead, “We’re all exhausted.”

“Look,” Rey implored, turning around to the team, “We have tryouts next week , and just because we made it on the squad this year doesn’t mean we’ll all make the cut for varsity. We don’t want to get sloppy on the home stretch, right, Coach?” 

Rey looked at Holdo, ignoring the glare from Baz. The vice principal and head cheer coach looked at the sea of tired faces and then at Rey’s pleading gaze before letting out an irritated groan. “Fine, one runthrough, Rey, but”—she held her finger up in stern warning—”don’t push it too hard and this stops if it looks like anyone is going to get hurt.”

“Of course, Coach” Rey nodded, feeling triumph bloom in her chest at Holdo’s acquiescence.

The team groaned but ultimately moved into formation as Holdo queued up the fast paced music on the school’s ancient sound system. As Rey took her position at the front she could feel eyes on her. The same eyes she’d been keenly aware of since the start of practice. She glanced over to see Ben Solo looking at her, an inscrutable expression on his face. She met his gaze and lifted her chin in silent challenge. 

Little chants. He wasn’t going to know what hit him after this.

The beat dropped on the music and the entire team was off in a blur of movement. The routine started with a series of fast-paced back handsprings and cart wheels. Complicated jumps led into Bazine and Rey doing inversion load-ins, twisting in midair before being caught and set back on their feet. It was the closest Rey had ever gotten to flying.

Rey felt like she usually gave it her all, but today she was fueled by the need to knock that smug look off of Ben Solo’s dumb face once and for all. She jumped higher, stood straighter, punched the air with more fervor than she had even at finals.

This was one of the hardest routines that Rey had choreographed and certainly one of the hardest that the junior varsity team had attempted. They barely missed a spot at State because Rey had flubbed the final move— the one she was mentally preparing to complete right now.

If she didn’t trust Finn implicitly, Rey didn’t know if she would have had the courage to do a double back handspring into his waiting arms at the back of formation. But she felt him catch her and lift her. He threw her into the air and she did one, two flips before Finn’s hands gripped her right ankle. Rey pushed herself up, grabbing her ankle and bringing it up and above her head in a standing split.

She’d nailed it.

Rey looked over, heart beating fast from the exertion, victory roaring in her chest to see…. an abandoned ball sitting on the floor of the gym and Ben nowhere in sight. Like a balloon had been suddenly deflated, her features inexplicably fell. 

She carefully schooled her features back to neutral, disappointment molding into a spark of annoyance with herself that she should even care , as Finn helped her come back to the ground.

The other girls on the team were already leaving formation after a quick clap and a “Great practice, girls,” from Coach Holdo. But most of them shot mutinous glances in Rey’s direction before vacating the gym. After the adrenaline started to wear off, she was left with an empty feeling in her chest. 

Even Rose and Finn sighed and shook their heads as they grabbed their gear. 

“Peanut,” Finn said to her, his face drawn into a disappointed frown, “Maybe you should take some time to cool off before next practice.” His hand hovered over her shoulder for a moment before giving a tentative pat.

“Rose, Finn,” she pleaded softly, but Rose only shook her head.

“Rey, let’s talk about it later.”

Bazine gave a saccharine smile to Rey before leaving, almost as if gloating that Rey had managed to well and truly blow the entire practice. 

And if that wasn’t enough, as soon as Rey had slung her bag onto her shoulder, hoping to make a hasty exit to lick her wounds, she heard Coach Holdo call out, “Rey, can I talk with you real quick?”

“Uh, sure,” Rey replied, her throat suddenly gone dry. Amilyn Holdo had a serious look on her face, rather than the lighthearted smile when she was soliciting opinions about song choices or engaging in a friendly chat with the squad. In Rey’s experience this usually never amounted to anything good.  

Amilyn Holdo didn’t exactly look angry with Rey per se; she looked like she was trying to think of the right words to say. Rey stewed in the silence until Holdo said softly, “That was some practice.”

Rey nodded but didn’t contribute anything else to the conversation, averting her eyes to the bleachers which had never been so interesting to her before this moment and fidgeting with the hem of her tank top. 

“Rey, you know that I value you as part of our cheer squad, right?”

“Of course, Coach,” Rey responded, her words coming out quicker than she’d intended.

“And you know I can’t make any special allowances for anyone on the team, right?” Holdo hedged, trying to meet Rey’s eyes. Rey finally looked at her, feeling small under her coach’s gaze. “I just would hate to think that you’re taking the election results overly personally.”

“Um,” Rey stammered, but was cut off.

“I know it can be hard losing the spotlight. Being a good leader isn’t always about being in charge though, but knowing when it’s time to step back and give the other girls room to shine.”

“Of course, Coach.” Rey nervously shifted from foot to foot, wondering if the lecture was over. “You know, go team.”

Holdo let out a soft little sigh, an exasperated fondness on her face, “Well enough of that for now. The real reason I wanted to talk with you was about the summer events. I still need your permission slips for cheer camp and for the car wash fundraiser.”

“Oh,” Rey breathed out, mentally cursing. Her carefully forged slips were sitting in her room next to her math assignment. The wheels in her head were turning as she tried to come up with a plausible excuse, “Um, my dad has been…out of town, on a business trip.”

Apparently the excuse wasn’t what Holdo had been expecting and she raised her eyebrows in slight alarm. Rey began to panic, fumbling to fix the situation. “But, he’s back tonight. It was a short trip, and I just,”—she took a deep breath, willing herself to calm down—,”Well, to be honest I sort of….forgot to tell him before he left.”

Forgetful teenagers were familiar enough territory for Holdo who immediately seemed to relax. 

“But, I’ll talk to him, and I won’t forget on Monday,” Rey finished, anxious to leave. “I promise.”

This seemed good enough for Holdo who simply nodded, giving Rey a warm smile. “Okay, just make sure you remember this time. Maybe you should talk to him about our parent volunteer program. It would be good for him to see how hard you work.”

“Uh, sure,” Rey squirmed, knowing exactly how that conversation would go if she ever broached the subject with Unkar Plutt . “I can bring it up. But he’s just so busy all the time, so I don’t know if he’d really be interested.”

“All right,” Holdo sighed, smiling as if she was humoring Rey, “But you’re such an incredibly valuable resource to the team, and it never hurts to get a little recognition every now and then.” Rey nodded and sensing that the conversation was at an end, Holdo gave her a light squeeze on the shoulder. “Have a great weekend, Rey.”

“You too, Coach.”

Rey hated lying to Holdo. But she was no stranger to it when the occasion called. Afterall, she stood to lose much more than she could ever gain if she were to be honest with her cheer coach about her “dad”. 

Guilt swirled in her stomach nonetheless as she made a hasty exit out the back of the gym, and she didn’t even realize she wasn’t alone until she heard a cough. She swung her head around to look for the source of the noise. A pillar of smoke obscured the person momentarily, but Rey tensed after it cleared and she spied Ben’s towering form against the brick wall of the gym. 

“What are you doing here?” 

Resentment was simpler than guilt, and she just couldn’t help herself around Ben Solo it would seem.. Something about him just made her abdomen fill with an agitated sensation. It made it hard to think straight—to breathe even— around this feeling she could only assume was abject dislike. And the bitter words just flowed so easily.

“None of your business, princess.”

God, she hated that nickname. It made the next words fly off her tongue with ease “What, are you stalking me or something?”

Ben regarded her for a moment at the accusation, his eyes trailing upwards before he snorted, “You wish.”

Something about his casual evaluation of her person and the feeling that in his eyes she was….wanting, stoked her wounded pride and made her fire back, “Then why were you at my cheer practice?”

She could have sworn that she saw something cross his face, but it was quickly shadowed out as Ben scowled and flippantly remarked, “Like I give a shit about crashing your lame practice. Contrary to popular belief, the world doesn’t actually revolve around you.”

“I never said it did,” Rey huffed, feeling the tension grow but consciously trying to keep her temper under better control than earlier. It helped that he wasn’t so close to her. 

She breathed out a sigh to center herself, and the guilt from earlier, the stress of the day all seemed to crash in on her at once. She was just tired , and spoiling for a fight wasn’t helping. In fact, it only made the entire day feel that much more depressing. So she opted to try a different route, “Listen…Ben.” 

He seemed almost bored as he looked at her fidget, trying to get out the words that felt like lead on her tongue, “I just wanted to say. Well. I’m— I’m sorry.” 

She might have taken his long pause for surprise—she hadn’t thought that ‘ apologize to Ben Solo’ would wind up on her to-do list for the day— until he rolled the words around in his mouth, testing them, “You’re….sorry.” 

“Yeah, I mean, I was having a pretty crappy day and I guess—I don’t know— seeing you just kind of set me off, but still that's no excuse. And I shouldn’t have said those things to you the other day, either. Even if you were being…whatever…it wasn’t really nice of me to say—”

He cut off her rambling, “I don’t need you to be nice to me.”

“What?” she asked, her brows crinkling in puzzlement as she tried to process his words.

“I said,” he repeated slowly, each word sharpened into a point, “I don’t need you to be nice to me. In fact, I really don’t give a fuck if you are. It’s all bullshit.” 

“It’s not,” she tried to defend herself, “I really did feel bad.”

“And this is—what—you trying to make yourself feel better? Save it for someone else.” Ben rolled his eyes, before he flicked his cigarette to the ground and stubbed it out with his heel with force. 

“Why are you like this?” Rey asked, stung by his adamant reproof. “I was just trying to say sorry .”

“So— what exactly—you can go back to your friends, tell them how you took pity on that poor freak,” he retorted. “Make yourself feel nice and cozy so that tomorrow when your squad accuses me of selling blow or whatever that you don’t have to feel so bad , because you said you were sorry ?”

“No, that’s not— ” Rey tried to interject, his words hitting her hard and making her eyes sting. But he didn’t let her finish.

“Well here’s a piece of news for you; I don’t give a fuck about making you feel good, princess. So you can save your bullshit apology for someone who’s stupid enough to fall for it.”

Rey’s throat felt dry as any response she might have had died on her lips. She could feel her face trying to contort with the tears that were welling in her eyes. Her jaw locked in place with the force of trying to hold back and preserve her dignity. She could feel herself breaking, but rather than letting him see her cry she did the only thing she could think of; she turned swiftly on her heel and fled. 

It really was the shitty cherry on an extraordinarily shitty day. She didn’t even have the comfort of her friends who had left directly after practice. Her long walk back home was punctuated by the tears rolling down her face, making her face feel hot and puffy. She angrily wiped at them with the heel of her palm. 

She returned to the little trailer adjacent to her foster father’s junkyard altogether too soon. Fueled by the high emotions, her feet had carried her faster than she’d intended. With a darting glance at his rusted pickup, she snuck in between the towers of scrap, not wanting to go inside too early.

Rey found refuge inside of an ancient hollowed out van that sat forgotten towards the back of the property, slinging her backpack and cheerbag into the rotted leather front seat. She curled into a ball, feeling small after the events of the day, biding her time until she was sure that her guardian would be asleep inside the crowded little trailer they shared.

Chapter Text

Rey didn’t get a response back from her text messages to Rose and Finn after practice. Or the rest of the night. 

But upon waking she saw the text message waiting for her from Rose. 

“Maz’s at noon” She texted back a confirmation and rolled out onto the small sliver of open space on her bedroom floor. 

Weekends were the time she had the hardest time getting out of the small trailer without notice. She carefully arranged herself to leave, looking at the time. Not too done up, but just enough that if she ran into anyone on the way to Maz’s they wouldn’t question her appearance. She threw her hair up into a messy bun and grabbed her purse, tucking it firmly under her arm to seem inconspicuous.

She and her foster father had an… understanding. Or more Rey understood that the less he saw of her, the happier they both would be. She peeked her head out and saw that his favorite armchair was empty and sighed with relief. She strode more confidently out into the shared space thinking she must have gotten up before him when she was stopped short by the loud hacking cough that came from the kitchen.

Plutt looked at her and she looked at him, trying to make herself seem as small as possible so he would just let her go.  

No such luck.

“Where you headed this early?”

Rey bit back a sharp remark about it not actually being very early, knowing that wouldn’t help matters. Best to just humor him until he got bored. She shrugged, “School stuff.”

He narrowed his beady eyes, the same color gray as a slushy puddle in the middle of winter, “What school stuff? Weekend, isn’t it?”

“Um, just school stuff for this club I’m in,” she hedged. “My teacher asked me to come in.” 

Usually invoking some other authority figure was enough to get him to leave it well enough alone. But not today apparently, as he stalked over the brown laminate flooring in the small kitchen. He appraised her and like a shark smelling blood in the water he spotted her purse. “What’s this?”

He didn’t ask for her purse so much as he just grabbed it, and Rey didn’t bother trying to defend it. He disemboweled the little handbag, and found her school ID, a lip gloss and—with a smirk of satisfaction—a five dollar bill. 

He threw it back to her, spilling the remaining contents, and she hastened to pick up everything from the floor. He watched her as she stuffed the meager belongings back inside, then grabbed her arm with a beefy hand that dwarfed her limb as she stood back up. “What did I tell you about trying to sneak around?”

Rey wanted to rip her arm out of his grip as he got close to her face. She could smell last night’s Steel Reserve on his breath and tried to look stony instead of wrinkling her nose. She wanted to bite back that she wasn’t doing anything wrong, but she held her tongue. Eventually he let her arm go, giving it a none too gentle shove and she waited until he waved his hand in dismissal. 

She didn’t need telling twice as she bolted out the door. Her heart was pounding in her chest from the confrontation, and she tried to quell the bitterness inside of her at the way he thought he could just steal her money. But, she supposed, that was why she kept a decoy. When she was far enough away from the trailer, Rey looked around surreptitiously before pulling two twenties from her bra and tucking them back into the lining of her purse.

Now she could focus on the most nerve wracking part of the day—getting her friends to forgive her. She spent the three mile walk to Maz’s diner playing over each scenario in her head, practicing her groveling technique and hoping that it would be enough.

Anxiety pooled in her chest as she pushed through the front of the diner and saw them at their favorite booth, waiting for her. She wiped her sweaty palms off on her leggings, observing them both from a distance until they spotted her. Their faces were blank, carefully arranged masks as she walked over, her shoulders hung low like a dog with its tail tucked between its legs. She plopped down across from them and tried to look adequately contrite. 

The trio were silent until Rey blew out a breath, patting her hands at her sides under the table to ease the awkwardness. 

“Um. So. I wanted to say that I’m…I’m sorry.”

“About?” Rose asked, looking expectantly. 

“I sort of lost my cool. Yesterday. At practice.” Rey winced inwardly, with each successive sentence. As if there was any confusion about when exactly she’d lost her cool. 

Maz chose this moment to come over, notepad in hand, and surveyed the three of them, a look of understanding falling over her weathered features, “Oh, big serious faces, huh?”

Rey wanted to slink down in her seat as Rose and Finn looked pointedly at her.

Maz leaned in close to Rey and wrapped a deceptively strong arm, the color of burnished mahogany, around her shoulders. With a conspiratorial whisper that carried across the table, she asked, “Did you already try apologizing?”

The tension seemed to break as the three teenagers all broke into smiles at Maz’s playful antics. Rey nodded shakily and Maz released her after giving her a light squeeze that was as close as the old lady got to hugs during the Saturday breakfast rush. “Then I’m sure you’ll work it out. I’ll just bring you three  the usual then, eh?”

Rose and Finn looked at each other for a moment before seeming to come to a silent consensus. They turned back to Rey and she could feel the tension break before they’d even said anything. Maz had a way of bringing that out in people. 

“I won’t lie, we were both pretty upset,” Rose started, “You let that guy get under your skin, and you took it out on all of us, Rey.”

“We were all exhausted and that routine is hard , even when we were at our peak,” Finn said, his face serious as he said his piece. If easy-going Finn was mad at her…Rey shifted nervously in the vinyl booth. “Someone could have gotten hurt.”

“I know,” Rey replied. She tried to adopt a look of remorse. 

“But, we’re your friends and you apologized, so consider it over,” Rose finished. Rey felt the weight lift off her chest as her friends reached over and squeezed her arm in forgiveness. She would never get over how quick they were to forgive her transgressions. She was forever waiting for the other shoe to drop, for them to realize that she was too much . But it never came and every time she breathed the same sigh of relief.

“The squad on the other hand,” Finn mused. “They’ll be a bit harder to win over.”

—

And he was right. The practice the following Monday was, to sum it up, not productive. Baz’s internal fan club was usually a pain, but even some of Rey’s closer squad mates like Jannah, Tallie and Kay were giving Rey the cold shoulder. Calls were ignored, drills were only done with half effort, and she caught more than a few dirty looks. She squirmed with discomfort, just wanting the worst of it to be over with.

Her eyes drifted occasionally to the other side of the gym which was notably empty that afternoon. 

“Okay, girls,” Holdo called, fifteen minutes earlier than usual. “Good work, let’s get some rest.” 

“Well, that could have gone better,” Rose said, pushing her bangs out of her hair as she and Finn grouped around Rey.

Rey sloshed some water into her mouth from her water bottle, wiping away the stray droplets with the back of her hand before looking at them both, “But it could have gone worse. They’ll get over it. Plus it’s not like I’m captain next year anyways.” The words felt bittersweet on her tongue as she pretended at nonchalance.

“And aren’t we all glad of that,” Bazine chimed in, voice filled with a sweetness that didn’t meet her eyes. “After all, we want to actually win State next year, don’t we?” 

“Hey Bazine,” Finn replied, “Don’t you have a house you should be under?”

Bazine rolled her eyes, “ Ha ha , very funny Finnegan. But maybe you should watch your tone, afterall you are speaking to the cheer captain .”

“Not yet,” Rose piped up. “You’re not cheer captain yet .” 

“I suppose you’re right,” Bazine’s voice was high and lofty as she shook her ponytail out, brown curls falling just so around her thin shoulders.. She scrunched her nose up in a fake smile, “I’m the varsity cheer captain. And I’m sure that anyone who wants to be on the varsity squad will….fall in line. Have a good evening.”

And with that she flounced off back to her two friends, Lanzora and Tish. 

“Ugh,” Rey groaned in disgust.

“You said it,” Rose joined her. “Do you think she ever just wakes up and thinks to herself ‘ How can I be the worst version of myself today ?’”

“You know that Holdo lectured me about ‘knowing when to step out of the spotlight’,” Rey told the two, crooking her fingers as she quoted her conversation with the Cheer Coach after last practice. “As if I’m the problem. I bet I’ll get roped into doing all the grunt work for the cheer events if Bazine has her way.”

“Good luck,” Finn said, patting her shoulder as he gave her a sympathetic look. “You’re gonna need it.”

“Very helpful, Finn.” Rose pushed his shoulder before turning to Rey, “Enough about her; I vote we go to my house. My Bà is visiting and mom is on overdrive making food.” 

—

By the next practice, it looked like most of the girls had forgiven or forgotten about the “Incident” as Rose and Finn had taken to calling it to Rey’s chagrin. It probably helped that Rose’s Bà had helped them make “apology brownies”. 

After the horde of cheerleaders had demolished the tray of fudgy goodness, practice actually went… well . Considering that she also hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Ben Solo in the five days since their previous confrontation, Rey felt that she was having a fairly good week. 

“Do you want a ride home?” Rose asked both she and Finn. Finn eagerly nodded, happy that he didn’t have to walk back to the small house he shared with his grandma, but Rey shook her head.

“Sorry, not today, Rosie,” Rey told them, wiping the sweat dripping off her forehead. “I told Mr. Skywalker that I could talk after practice today about the Summer Outreach program.”

“Really?” Rose complained, “But I thought we were going to be living our best hot girl summer since Finn has decided to abandon us.” 

Finn looked at Rose sharply, “I’m not abandoning you. I’m going with my grandma to visit my auntie in Cleveland.”

“Same difference. And so not the point,” Rose continued, before turning back to Rey, “How are we supposed to get hot boyfriends if you’re stuck in the library doing tutoring all summer?”

“It’s not all summer,” Rey reasoned, “I’ll still have plenty of time to hang out. It’s just that if I do this then I get college credit and I can—”

“Get into a really good school,” Finn finished before flashing her a bright smile, “Yes, peanut, we know. We just wish you didn’t push yourself so hard all the time. Maybe live a little? Hot girl it up with Rose?”

Rey’s cheeks pinked slightly at Finn’s words, recalling something similar said to her in her detention experience. She cleared her throat, “Come on, Finn. You say that as if we’re going to suddenly get old after we graduate. I’m just…trying to think about my future.” 

“Yeah, okay,” Rose said, bumping her shoulder good naturedly. “Just don’t spend so much time planning that you don’t take some time to enjoy . We’re almost there, Reyby. Senior Year .”

Rey just gave a smile in response before picking up her gym back and slinging it onto her shoulder. She waved goodbye as Rose and Finn went out the gym door to the student parking lot. Rey turned the opposite direction, making her way towards the science wing to meet up with her teacher. 

The hallways were oddly peaceful after school, and Rey took her time, knowing that Mr. Skywalker wasn’t expecting her for at least another ten minutes. She came to an abrupt halt as she spied Ben Solo laying on a bench just off the atrium. He had a long leg dangling off the side as he played with a lighter, flicking it on and off.

Typical. Rey rolled her eyes to herself and avoided looking at him, instead speeding her pace before he could notice her and come up with something foul to say to her. She breathed out a sigh of relief that she hadn’t been accosted by him once again and held her head high as she arrived at Mr. Skywalker’s classroom. 

He had the door propped open and she peeked her head in, spotting him sitting at his desk.

“Knock knock,” Rey intoned and Mr. Skywalker’s blue eyes crinkled as he looked up from a pile of papers.

“Rey,” he breathed, standing to stretch. “Good to see you. Punctual as always, early even.” Mr Skywalker looked at his watch and Rey flashed him a smile. 

“Well, you know me,” Rey breathed out, joking a bit.

“Why don’t you go ahead and take a seat,” Mr. Skywalker gestured to a seat off to the side of his desk. Rey grabbed it deftly and dragged it over so she was seated next to his weathered mahogany desk. Mr. Skywalker straightened the piles of papers— some assignments that needed grading, other lesson plans—before shifting to look at her fully. “So you already know I’m the lucky coordinator of our summer school program, and I already know you’re one of our brave volunteers.”

“I’ve really been looking forward to an opportunity to give back,” Rey started, the line rehearsed and polished. 

“And I’m sure the college credit doesn’t hurt,” Mr. Skywalker joked and they exchanged knowing smiles. “But that’s neither here nor there. After all, why shouldn’t our best and brightest get rewarded in exchange for devoting their own summers to their fellow students? What I wanted to talk to you about was your mentee for the summer outreach program.”

“Of course; the packet Principal Ackbar gave me said that we were to coordinate a schedule together before the end of the year, right?”

“Yes,” Mr. Skywalker hedged, running a hand through his tawny hair, “And that’s why I wanted to make sure we had a chance to connect before the official assignments go out. You see, you’re our best and brightest, and your mentee is…a bit of a challenge.”

“A challenge, sir?” 

Mr. Skywalker looked more nervous than she’d ever known him to be. Normally he was unflappable, defusing even the most tense student confrontations with humor. It was disarming to see him slightly off kilter like this. “You see —and I hope you don’t think this is a conflict of interest— he’s my nephew.” 

Rey tilted her head, innocent confusion playing across her features. “I didn’t know your nephew was a student, Mr. Skywalker.”

“Well,” the older man breathed out, “he’s been going through a bit of a tough time. I have a personal stake in the matter you might say, and I thought that you could be the exact type of influence he needs to get back on track. I may have…fudged the assignments a bit in my favor. You’d be doing me a huge favor if you were agreeable.”

Mr. Skywalker was honestly one of Rey’s favorite teachers. He was kind and jovial, with a quick wit and a way of bonding with his students that put everyone in his classroom at ease. 

“Mr. Skywalker, I’d be delighted to help your nephew,” Rey replied, her chest swelling with genuine compassion. “Is he one of the underclassmen?”

Mr. Skywalker didn’t get a chance to respond as Ben Solo barged into the room.

“I’m here,” he announced as if that was supposed to mean something, his tone irritated. “Now let’s get this—” 

Ben caught sight of her, abruptly stopping his sentence. Confusion was evident on his face, as if she was the last person he’d expected to see in Mr. Skywalker’s classroom.

“What are you doing here?” Rey asked him for the second time in the span of a week.

“Oh, have you two met?” Mr. Skywalker asked, looking between them. “Rey, this is my nephew, Ben. He’s the one you’ll be mentoring this summer.”

It was like all the air had left the classroom as Rey looked at Ben’s face, also pinched in an expression of disbelief.

“What?” Two voices rang out at the same time.