Kayce
He wasn't going to get any sleep tonight. His walls were painted in darkness, had been for several hours now, and usually he'd be peacefully sleeping by this time but his mind wouldn't quiet. No matter what he did, he couldn't stop thinking about what happened earlier today during lunch. Sarah had been fine, but Kayce hadn't been able to stop thinking about the strawberry blonde haired boy who'd saved the day. He'd just been so... Cool. Everything about him.
His demeanor, the almost rough way he spoke, the way his eyes were almost perpetually narrowed, yet he hadn't hesitated to act in defense of Sarah and Kayce himself. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw those fiery blue eyes reflecting the scattered sunlight from the school windows. Then he'd jolt awake, his face feeling oddly hot despite the autumn chill in the windy night air.
Just like that, the tell-tale cock-a-doodle-doo of his alarm chimed. He groaned, flipping over and burying his face in his pillow as the electronic rooster continued its song in increasingly annoying volume. "Fine, fine, I'm awake," Kayce grumbled, turning the alarm off and slipping out of bed. He got dressed and ready for yet another school day with exaggerated languidity, making his way downstairs with slow, almost pained steps. Downstairs, his father was buttering some toast — as per usual — and cast a sideways glance over his shoulder as Kayce slumped over the kitchen table.
"Well, rise and shine, not-so-sleeping-beauty. Rough night there, pal?"
Kayce groaned dramatically, rolling his head to the side to glance up at his dad with a scowl before turning away. "I think his eyes might be bluer than the sky." He mumbled, catching a confused glance from his father.
"Okay, kiddo. Get some buttery goodness in you and hop in the car." He hummed, patting his son on the shoulder before walking towards the key rack.
Kayce spend most of that car ride scrutinizing the sky for not being blue enough, and then he was bidding his dad farewell for the next eight hours. What time did his blue-eyed wonder usually get to school? What classes did he have for homeroom and first period? Club rush week was coming up, was he planning on joining any clubs? His thoughts carried him all the way to the drama room, where Elle was the first to greet him, though he noted most of the club were in there already.
She turned around as the door opened, and he noticed her bangs fall a little with a note of surprise. Had she misplaced her bobby pins? Elle was scarcely seen without the two little pins keeping her mass of light brown waves in place. Her blue eyes wrinkled as she looked at him a little longer, giggling at something Kayce wasn't sure of; all he could focus on was the fact her eyes weren't quite as blue as his mystery boy's.
"You look like shit," She teased, her tone light and playful as he approached. A girl much taller than Elle raised one perfectly plucked eyebrow, waving a little clear tube around from where she sat perched one leg crossed over the other on the stage. Her green eyes were filled with mirth as she snickered and added to Elle's teasing. "You want some concealer for those eyebags, Keys?"
Kayce groaned at Darling's teasing, giving her a thoroughly unamused look. "No, thank you. And I don't look that bad." He huffed, cracking a small smile. A little black form popped up next to him, giggling mischievously. "Kayce's starstruck over our mysterious savior," Sarah chirped, skipping away just as quickly as she appeared to hide behind Elle, the two of them giggling like elementary schoolers conspiring a secret plot. Kayce could only stare at her, flabbergasted, as he blinked rapidly. Had he truly been that obvious? How did Sarah figure it out so quickly? It was witchcraft, surely.
He'd been too slow to deny it, and Darling's green eyes light up as she tossed the tube of the concealer to the side, leaning closer, her hands gripping the edge of stage. "Oh? Does our little Kayce have a crush?" She cooed, and two heads that had been previously rather uninterested in the conversation snapped to attention.
"You have a crush?" Chelsea gasped, her hands flying over her mouth, light brown eyes staring wide while Ace grinned conspiratorially, a smirk rising on his face. "Well, don't just leave us in the dark, share! Who's the mystery person who caught our devoted pianist's eyes? I wasn't sure you were capable of falling in love with something other than sheet music."
"I'm..! I don't have a crush! I just thought he was cool, that's all!" He denied, his cheeks feeling a little hot from embarrassment. He shot a little glare at Darling, who looked all too happy with the current situation, but didn't have to say much else to distract them from the current topic as the doors burst open suddenly. A ginger blur streaked across the room with purposeful strides, slowing only once she reached the piano, and ending once she was fully flopped over it and groaning.
"What's wrong, Penny?" Abigail asked, coming up beside her and resting against the piano. Kayce turned his head back towards the stage as Toby laughed, sitting up from where the black haired boy had been laying, fully stretched out, over the center of the stage. "I can tell you what went wrong, Abs. Boy Wonder must've shot her down for the six hundred and fifth time."
Penny glanced over to glare at him through her rounded glasses, but didn't deny his claims. Abigail titled her head, green eyes filled with confusion that probably mirrored his expression pretty well. "Who's Boy Wonder?" She asked, glancing between Toby and Penny, though the answer didn't come from either of them. It came from Darling, who'd at some point moved from her previous spot and now sat near Ace and Chelsea. She turned her head to look back at them, one hand outstretched as Ace painted her nails a coral pink color with accurate precision.
"Boy Wonder was in drama with Pens back in middle school. He stopped in freshman year, and she's been unsuccessfully trying to get him to join since. She's like, his super fan or whatever. They're a perfect match, if you ask me, both equally as stubborn as the other," Darling added that last part as a tease, her eyes gleaming playfully while Penny simply gave her an eye roll in return.
Kayce knew Penny was insistent about certain things, especially when it came to theatre, but this seemed like an odd obsession of hers. "What's so special about Wonder Boy anyway?"
"Boy Wonder," Ace correctly, not even glancing up from Darling's hand.
That question seemed to light Penny's fire, though, and she slammed a hand on the piano and jumped up. Abby flinched and nearly fell backwards, not expecting the sudden movement, and he heard Toby fail at stifling a laugh in the background.
"He's incredible! Honestly! It's such a fucking waste that he won't join theatre, he's made for it! And holy fuck, he literally shines on stage. It's like the stage was build for him, he's just- he's like a star, he's brighter than anyone else once he's acting." Penny rambled on, her hands gesturing all around as she tried to express the depths of her admiration to Boy Wonder.
Kayce's thoughts trailed back to his incredibly blue eyed hero from yesterday, and he couldn't help but think that he shined too, when confronting those bullies. Lost in thoughts of those enchantingly blue eyes, he almost missed Penny saying she had to go meet Mrs. Darwin to review this year's finances.
"Make sure you take Elle with you, we all know how bad your handwriting is, Penny." Toby teased, and Penny playfully shook her fist at him. Kayce couldn't help but chuckle at that — as much as he adored their president, everyone in the club knew her chicken scratch handwriting was barely legible sometimes. Elle giggled as well, and dutifully followed after her as the duo waved bye.
There was only a momentary lapse of silence before Chelsea gasped, realizing something Kayce wasn't sure of as she frantically turned to look at Sarah. "Hold on, wait! We totally glossed over something major! What did you mean by savior?" Her eyes were wide with worry, and she leaned forward from where she'd been sitting cross legged on the stage. Her words had everyone's attention, and that attention was then directed to Sarah, who suddenly looked a lot smaller as she shrunk under their stares. Her shyness didn't usually affect her too badly around them, but being thrust into the spotlight with a particularly unfavorable topic had her freezing up.
"You're okay, Sare, deep breaths," Stephanie coaxed gently, and Kayce nearly did a double take. Seriously, where had she come from? He hadn't noticed her in here earlier, though Toby's younger sister did tend to keep to herself. Sarah flashed Stephanie a grateful smile and steadied herself, still clearly nervous, but not as much as before.
"Uhm, well, Tyler and his goons were, uhm.. Well, they were picking on me, and uhm, Kayce tried to help, but they just got angrier and I, uhm, then this really, really cool kid swooped in, and he totally beat them up!" Sarah's amber eyes lit up towards the end, recalling how heroic their mystery savior had been. Toby scowled at the mention of Tyler, his hands clenching into tight fists. If the strawberry blonde hadn't already beat them up, Kayce was pretty certain Toby definitely would've.
"No, really, he was super cool! He was all like 'hey!' and they were like 'uh oh', and then Tyler threw a punch, and he ducked, and then he was all like," Sarah stopped her excited ramble to do a poorly mimicked interpretation of the fight, but Kayce thought it got the point across well enough. Darren seemed to think so too, based on the jaw dropped expression he was wearing. Darling cackled with laughter, nearly doubling over. "Oh, goodness, I know exactly who that is!" She exclaimed through her laughs. "He's like a queer vigilante, seriously, I've never seen someone less reluctant to put a bully in their place."
Ace nodded along, dark blue eyes glancing up. "It's true; I've been on the receiving end of his protection before."
Abigail blinked once as she processed that, before her face screwed up in confusion. "But you're straight. You have a girlfriend!"
The platinum blonde shrugged. "Some dickheads couldn't fathom why I'd paint my nails if I wasn't gay or goth, and obviously all stereotypes have to be true. His name's Corey, by the way. Corey Hunter. Openly gay, his reputation first started back in his freshman year when he beat up some jocks."
Kayce had never been so thankful for his gossipy friends before. So the blue eyed wonder boy's name was Corey.. He couldn't quite fight back the little smile that settled on his face, a newfound determination to meet him again settling in his stomach. Corey was so cool, he just had to meet him again and befriend him, there just wasn't any other option. And it definitely wasn't because of the funny feeling in his chest when he thought of those way too blue eyes. Definitely not.