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Shaw taps her pencil against the wood of the library table, earning a glare from the librarian. She ignores it and continues to stare at her literature book.
She hates AP Lit. It's boring and all about analyzing fictional people's lives, and Shaw doesn't even care about real people that much. Like, who gives a shit about Gatsby and his man pain? Not her.
Still, there is a paper due by the end of the week and she has to come up with something that doesn't sound like, "Rich dude that dies at the end." She sighs and looks at the blank lines on her paper until she hears the sound of footsteps nearing her table.
"Sameen, how nice to see you here," she hears a voice call out, and her lips automatically pinch together.
She sets her pencil down, then looks up at Root standing next to Finch. "Yeah, nice. Kinda like an aneurysm," Shaw replies, even though the distraction is almost welcomed.
Finch stays stiff as Root leans into the table, palms faced down. "I just love your similes," Root says as her lips twist up into a half smile. Shaw finds it as irritating as she does attractive and is constantly on the thresh hold of wanting to punch it off of her face and kiss it.
Right now she does neither and opts for a clipped, "What do you want?"
Root pushes herself off the table to stand next to Finch again. "Oh, nothing. I just needed Harry's help with something involving code. We're going to the computer lab."
Shaw looks up at Finch; notes the way he looks into the air, and how his hands stay place in his pockets. He looks like he wants to be here about as much as her. "Well, then I guess you should get going," Shaw says before looking back down at her paper. Finch and Root might be a welcomed distraction, but she sure as hell isn't going to let that be known.
"Well, I guess we'll be getting out of your hair. One question, though," and Root is leaning in again, teeth gripping down on her lower lip. Shaw averts her gaze, looking past Root – who is too close now – and focusing in on a dusty stack of books. "Am I still coming over later? I am really having trouble with the latest chapter of biology."
Shaw swallows in, then glances over at a beat red Finch. "Yeah. Just don't be late. I have things to do."
"Of course. I always come on time," Root says with a wink just before turning on her heel to walk with Harold. And Shaw definitely doesn't look at her ass as Root prances away. Nope, not at all.
Shaw spends about ten minutes with Root before slamming the book closed, and then they're both on the couch – Root straddling Shaw. Usually it takes about a half hour of studying (which consists of vague looks across Shaw's table and mild glances at blurred words) for them to end up tangled together. But between being bored out of her mind and her earlier encounter that day with Root – Shaw couldn't "study" anymore.
And now they're here, and Shaw's hands are strong against Root's waist as she's settled back into the cushions of the couch. Root's tongue teases against her own, flickering before swiping at Shaw's bottom lip and Shaw growls before pulling Root closer.
Root laughs against her mouth, muffled and high pitch and it's annoying as hell, so Shaw bites down on her lip to get her to shut up for a moment. Root – of course – doesn't, but the laughing turns into a soft moan and that's better than giggles.
"Sameen," Root says against her lips, then begins to kiss her way down along the underside of Shaw's jaw.
"What?" Shaw just about groans because why can't Root ever just like…not talk when they do this?
Root's mouth is hot against her already heated skin when she moves up to Shaw's ear. "Are you gonna go to prom?" Root whispers, making the sentence seem downright filthy. Shaw almost doesn't comprehend it.
When she does she let out of stiff, "Hell no." Prom? Yeah, Shaw's pretty sure she'd rather be tortured with a hot iron then ever go to that shit show.
Root's tongue curls around the lobe of Shaw's ear making Shaw melt for just a moment. "I could make it fun…"
Shaw can feel Root's smile against her skin, that coy one that's so fucking annoying and so fucking hot. Ugh. It's still not enough to distract her from talking about the hell that is prom. She pushes Root off of her; just enough to get a good look into gleaming, brown eyes. "No."
Root sighs, lets her shoulders sag a bit. "Okay," she says with a small pout. She's back on Shaw's neck a second later, and they don't talk about it anymore.
There are few things Sameen Shaw is truly grateful for and she's holding one of those things in her hands right now. Deli meat prods out of the sides of her sandwich, but she grips it so nothing will fall out. She moans as cheese, turkey, ham, lettuce, tomato and bacon fill her mouth because god – when Shaw's mom makes her lunch - she makes it.
She doesn't even pay attention to the amused smirk on John's face as he watches her from across the lunch table, just like she doesn't spare a glance at the disgust on Finch's face. They're probably just jealous anyways.
"So…anyone know where Root is," John asks, but Shaw's mouth is too full to answer, so she just shrugs. "Didn't you see her earlier?"
Shaw looks at him and rolls her eyes, "I'm not her fucking tracker," she says while swallowing. "She's probably in the computer lab doing some nerd crap with coding."
"I don't think so," Finch says while picking at a cafeteria salad. "We just finished a rather large project yesterday, so unless she's starting something new…"
Shaw shrugs again and takes another large bite out of her sandwich, taking solace in the new silence at their table. That is until she notes that John is looking at her again, and he's got this stupid ass half smile like he's about to say something that he knows will irk her.
"So…proms coming up," He tilts his head towards a neon green banner with way too much glitter and the words, Senior Prom: A Night in Vegas.
"So?" Shaw digs the lettuce out of her teeth with her tongue before taking another bite. She also wonders what the hell is every ones deal with prom? It's one night of cheesy music in a badly ventilated gym. Everything smells like sweat by the end, and the bathrooms are never safe because everyone is too busy losing their virginity.
"So…you gonna ask Root?"
Shaw chokes on her sandwich and starts to sputter and cough because what? "Why the hell would I ask Root?"
John shrugs, still wearing that smug grin and if there wasn't a teacher just two tables over she'd punch it off of his face. It wouldn't be the first time, either. "I don't know…people usually ask their girlfriends to go to prom. It's pretty normal."
Her hands mutilate her sandwich as she tightens her hold on it, fingers pressing into the bread and squishing it together. "Root is not my girlfriend," she grits out and her lip curls to form a deep snarl.
John's smile widens, teeth showing now. Shaw wonders how many she could knock out with just one good hit. "Oh come on, Shaw. You guys walk to class together, and she's over at your house at least twice a week."
"Okay, first of all, we do not walk to anything together. Root just happens to know my schedule and follows me," and so what if sometimes, occasionally she waits for Root to show up after calculus instead of just leaving without her. "Second of all, she comes over to study."
Finch ducks his head down and John laughs. "Study for what? Root is second in our class, just behind Harold, and you're seventh."
Shaw doesn't respond; just takes another bite out of her sandwich and rolls her eyes.
"Plus, there was the date."
That makes Shaw drop her sandwich as her eyes go wide. "What date?" She's never been on a date in her life, let alone one with Root.
"Remember, the movies?"
"That doesn't count, everyone was there. I didn't even invite her, it was all your idea, remember?"
John snickers, "You had your hand on her thigh throughout the entire film."
"Did not." She did, but it was only because the armrest was sticky and she didn't want her hand to dangle and Root's thigh was just…there.
"Did so."
Shaw, for what seems like the hundredth time that day, rolls her eyes. She then decides to go back to her sandwich. John being stupid will not ruin this lunch for her.
"Okay Shaw, at least admit that you like her."
Shaw stops before taking a bite to say, "Yeah…I like her like I like intestinal parasites."
"Have you even had an intestinal parasite before?"
"That's not the point…the point is," she growls out of frustration because she doesn't actually have a point. Then with a sigh she says, "Fine, I've done stuff with Root. But it's not like she's the only person in this school I've hooked up with. It doesn't mean anything."
"Oh really? So…who else has there been recently?"
Shaw stalls by chewing. When she thinks about it, the last person she hooked up with who wasn't Root was Tomas…and that was like 8 months ago. John already knows about him, though. "Eric," she says when she's done chewing, and then finishes with, "Eric Shepard." It's a fake name, but John doesn't know many people outside of their core group.
Still, he quirks his brow and leans in. "Really? I've never heard of any Eric Shepard at our school."
Shaw finishes off of her sandwich and shrugs. "He goes to the private school down the street. We met at a party," she says, licking her fingers and not thinking twice about her lie. Anything to get John the shut the hell up about Root.
So it's especially annoying when he leans back in his chair, eyebrows raised and lips curled into a shit-eating grin. "Sure, Shaw."
And she's going to kill him. She's actually going to find him after class and kick the shit out of him. But right now she can't hit him so she opts for changing the conversation, "Anyways…who are you taking to prom?" She doesn't actually care, like at all, but if they keep talking about Root she's going to lose it. Most likely on John, and she can't risk getting sent in to the principal's office again this year. "Carter…maybe that new girl Zoe? Oh! You and Finch could just clear all of this homoerotic tension and go together," she says, smiling.
John keeps up his aggravating smirk, but Finch turns beat red. "I'm going to ask Grace," Finch says, a hint of irritation in his voice.
Just as Shaw is about to respond her eyes narrow in on Root across the cafeteria…Root talking to Lambert. Ugh…Lambert. He's new here, just transferred from the private school up the street and Shaw can't stand him, or his "charming" accent. Root on the other hand is laughing at something he says, and Shaw finds it irritating for whatever reason.
Probably because both of them annoy her, so seeing them together would cause like, double annoyance. Yeah, that's got to be it.
"Shaw?"
She hears John's voice but doesn't stop looking at Root when she asks, "Hey…you guys know anything substantial about that Lambert kid?"
"Nothing other than the fact that he's loaded," John says. "Why do you care?"
Shaw snaps her eyes away from Root to look at John. "I don't," she says, but her words are a bit too crisp and John's got that dumb smile again. He turns around and Shaw grinds her teeth together.
"Oh. I wonder what he's talking to Root about."
Shaw suddenly wishes she had more food so she could distract herself from the way Lambert is grinning at Root, and how she's nodding back at him. "Who cares," she says, and John's got this look on his face like he's about to press her more about Root, so Shaw stands up.
"Lunch is about to end, so I think I'm going to get an early start to class." Just before she walks away, though, she takes one last glance at Root and Lambert. Her skin heats up when she takes note of the hand – his hand – lying across Root's. He shouldn't be touching her, and why is Root letting him touch her and why does she care? She doesn't. Shaw walks away, shaking her head at the momentary weirdness that's bouncing around in her brain.
It takes her about two minutes to get to a class that doesn't start for another 15 minutes, so she sags against the wall outside. As she's waiting, she hears a familiar voice ask, "Someone's excited about Calculus."
It's Root, all bright-eyed and chipper after talking to stupid face. Shaw shrugs, and then before she can even think about it, she says, "You weren't at lunch today."
Root walks closer, her body swaying a little bit as she gives an impish smile. "Didn't have fun without your gal pal?" Root says, and Shaw doesn't dignify that with an answer so Root continues to talk. "Mr. Greer needed me to catch Lambert up on the most recent assignments."
Once again, Shaw doesn't say anything because it's not like she asked…She was only mildly curious, that's all. The brief silence between them isn't awkward in the empty hallway, and Shaw doesn't move away when Root comes to stand next to her by the wall.
"He also asked me to prom," Root says. Against Shaw's will, her head breaks up quickly as she looks at Root with eyes that are too wide.
Why the hell would he ask her to prom? He literally just got here…who the fuck even does that? And, "What did you say," slips out of Shaw's mouth.
Root's shoulder brushes against Shaw's, and she feels the urge to move away but presses it down. "I said there was only one person I was interested in, at the moment." She doesn't look at Root's face, but she can sense the glint in Root's eyes - the small, cheeky grin that says so much without saying anything – all by the cadence of Root's voice.
A small smile that's more of a smirk crinkles at the edge of Shaw's lips, and she leans further into the wall. "So…this prom thing…"
"Yeah?"
Shaw sighs, and can't exactly believe what she's about to say, or hint at. "It has free food?"
"Yeah, Sameen. It has free food."
"I guess it can't be too bad."