Sealed with a Kiss | ✓

january 16th

Mia had stayed in Cass's room until Phoebe returned from her rehearsals with the guy playing Romeo, and the pair had explained everything they were planning to do, and agreed on starting to officially date from the following Monday. Until then, they were free to do what they want. Cass had joked that it was her "last week of freedom" before they started their fake relationship. They had exchanged phone numbers before Mia left to go back to her dorm, as it was almost 11pm.

The following morning, Mia woke up without the weight that had been sitting on her chest since Max's texts, and she felt like she could finally breathe for the first time in ages. Sure she was still dreading having to eventually talk to Max, but now she felt as if that wouldn't be so bad, now that she had a plan.

The morning passed with nothing of note, the classes blurring together as Mia focused on making sure that she understood everything. Final exams were looming closer and closer by the day, and they suddenly seemed a lot sooner than they had before Christmas. When her French lesson finally finished at lunch, Mia hurried to collect everything and headed to the dining hall as fast as she could, grabbed some lunch for herself and climbed the winding stairs to the top of the school, stopping off only to drop off her French textbook and pick up her organisation planner. Mia arrived at the art rooms at five minutes to one, and from behind the closed doors she could already hear the hubbub of chatter coming from within. Mia entered the room and addressed the group of students scattered around the tables.

"You guys are all here to help with the Valentine's Day Ball and fundraiser decorations and preparation right?" The chorus of agreement in response made Mia smile, and she went into business mode. "Right, then let's all sit around this table and get started."

As the students started to drag their chairs to sit around the centre table, Mia took the time to look at who had turned up. There was mostly student's in year 13, with a couple of year 12 students that Mia recognised as students who wanted to be part of the head prefect team the following year, and were probably helping out just to improve their image. There were a few other art students in the room who were sat working alone in different areas of the room, some working on canvases, others working at computers editing images and researching, and seemed to be happy enough to drown the large group out with their headphones.

Mia started work right away, encouraging the group to brainstorm ideas and themes and colour schemes for the fundraiser and ball, noting down any suggestions anyone made in her planner. After a bit, the group reached a theme that everyone agreed on, and Mia split the students into groups to start planning their own projects and jobs. Mia began to eat her lunch and started to make a note of who was doing what in her planner when she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder. Mia looked up, only to jump in surprise.

"Fancy seeing you here. Seems you can't stay away from me; it must be my allure, it's too powerful." Cass grinned and gestured to herself, pulling out an earbud and turning off her music, before sitting in the chair next to Mia and shuffling in closer. Mia started to pull away slightly, uncomfortable with the close proximity of Cass, before stopping herself and remembering their plan. She had to seem interested in Cass, which was probably why she had come over to Mia in the first place.

"What are you doing here Cass? I didn't know you did art." Cassie grinned at that and tapped the side of her nose.

"Well, it seems that you don't know very much about me Mia. As Romeo and Juliet is taking up way more of my time than I thought it would, I'm behind on some work, so I've been working on my portfolio during my lunch breaks when I don't have rehearsals. What have you been doing with your little team of minions?"