Work Text:
Ekko tapped his Vans against the leg of the desk, a nervous, staccato rhythm.
“And here, my dear children, is our next question…”
Mr. Heimerdinger was currently at the whiteboard, seemingly concentrated, writing out an equation that determined the rate of volume loss from a tank full of water. Or, wait, was that the previous question?
Ekko wasn’t really paying attention, to say the least. Math had always been his thing, and he was sure their teacher knew. He'd top at the end of the year anyway. So there was no point in paying attention. Okay, he’s just finding excuses. His attention was on something else entirely. Or rather, someone.
Jinx.
He kept glancing over to the windows, eyes piercing through the gaps in the blinds, over to where the art students were sitting on the lawn during their free period. And yeah, she was there. Based on what he could make out about her form all the way from his seat, she wore a plain black zipped hoodie, along with denim jeans that had hand painted, colourful stars all over them. He remembers this one. She wore it on their school trip last year as well. However, he couldn’t tell what shoes she wore. Her hair was still blue, in her two signature braids of course, though brown roots had begun showing at the top of her head.
Ekko looked back down at his notebook.
Integration
Real Life scenario-based questions
And two warm up questions he solved before his attention diverted. He continued staring at the paper. Gods, he really shouldn’t be doing this. He has a scholarship to maintain, an example to set for future students. Well, fuck that. In a swift motion, he had his pencil in his grasp, and he brought it to the lined page, starting with slow, light strokes.
While the rest of the class drew the curve of some exponential growth, he drew the curve of her slouch. He sketched the outlines of her face, making sure to colour in her eyes with his drying out blue highlighter.
Ekko’s not too sure exactly when or why he started drawing Jinx in his Math notebook. Okay never mind, that was a lie. He’s had a small admiration for her since the time the robotics club and the art club had that collaboration for the science fair last year.
Jinx and he had become acquaintances, keyword, acquaintances. Not exactly friends, but he’d say hi whenever he walked past her in the hallways, and she’d give him a salute back most times, but other times she’d shoot him a charming toothy grin. He didn’t mind either.
But that was really it. Their schedules were just too different for them to get closer. And Jinx’s attendance was God awful too. He saw her like three times each week, maybe? Give or take.
So, the drawing thing was only supposed to be one time. But one time turned into two, and two times turned into three, and three times turned into countless. Each math class he’d solve a couple of questions, then start drawing her, sometimes from memory too. And yes, he was scarily good at depicting her accurately. He might not admit it openly, but he loved art just as much as she did.
Besides, capturing her on paper was the only way Ekko could stare at Jinx without earning strange glares and a punch or two from her best friend: Yeah, Lux. She’s a handful.
“Ekko, my boy!”
Ekko’s head jerked back up from his notebook to face the whiteboard again, greeted by a very concerned looking Heimerdinger who nodded his head at him. “What would the second value of x be?” he asked, motioning his hand out towards him.
Ekko stared at the whiteboard for a total of five seconds, before mumbling a “zero.” Heimerdinger’s face lit up, “Precisely!” he exclaimed, and turned back to the whiteboard, marker in hand as he continued explaining.
Ekko exhaled into his notebook. Phew. That was a close one.
RIIIING! The school bell blared outside the room, signalling that class was over. Students immediately started to stand up, some haphazardly packing away their notebooks and pens, others walking over to Heimerdinger for last minute queries.
"Don't forget the problem set on page 104!" Heimerdinger chirped as majority of the class began walking out the door. "And remember, the Homecoming Pep Rally is next period! Attendance is mandatory!"
“Fuck,” Ekko swore under his breath. He had a meeting with the robotics club right before the assembly. He shoved his textbook into his backpack, slung it over his shoulder, and bolted out of the room.
✦ ⋆ ࣪.
Ekko had just finished explaining what they were going to do for their most recent project, robowars, when Zeri, a member of the club and the girl who sat in the seat next to his in Math walked over to him.
“Hey, Ekko. I was wondering if you could explain today’s lecture to me? I got kinda lost halfway.”
Ekko looked up and smiled. “Yeah! Sure, gimme a sec.” He got up from his chair and shuffled to where his backpack was leaning against a desk. He opened it, and looked for his notebook.
But he couldn’t find it.
Huh, he thought, that’s weird. I’m sure I put it in here somewhere—
And that’s when the realisation hit him.
The notebook. The black composition notebook with the True Damage stickers, was still sitting on his desk in room 207.
“No, no, no,” Ekko groaned, running a hand over his face. This was bad bad. He couldn’t go back to get it now, because the hallways were actively flooding with students making their way to the gymnasium. But that wasn’t even a problem, he could just work on Zeri’s notebook. No, the problem was that room 207 had the easiest lock to jimmy in the entire school.
And he knew exactly who used that room as a personal hideout whenever there was a “mandatory” school event she refused to attend.
Ekko sunk his face into his backpack, letting out a muffled scream which caused Zeri to lean down a little in concern, but he quickly recovered.
“Zeri, I left my notebook in class. Do you have yours?”
And he just hoped that even if Jinx did decide to hide in that room again this time, which no doubt she would, she leaves his precious notebook alone. He can’t afford her seeing the plethora of drawings of her scattered across the pages.
As Zeri began explaining what she was exactly confused about, Ekko’s internal monologue screamed, “I’m dead.”
✦ ⋆ ࣪.
Click!
“Aha! There we go!” Jinx whispered excitedly. Old man really needed to upgrade his security—a bobby pin was all it took. She looked left and right cautiously, then slipped inside without a sound, locking the door behind her.
It would be wrong to say Jinx didn’t love a spectacle, because she did. But there was nothing she hated more in the world than stupid school events. She skipped her own homecoming last year too, and might do so this year as well. She was also fully planning on skipping her senior prom, though that was still years away. So man was it relaxing to be in this quiet room while the students outside hollered, “Go firelights!” or something along the lines of that.
Jinx plopped into the teacher’s chair, spinning around to get a look at the whiteboard. “Calculus,” she muttered, picking up a stapler and pretending it was a gun. “Pew. Pew. Boring.”
She spun back, propping her feet up onto the desk, looking around the darkened room only slightly illuminated by the light rays peering in through the blinds. Her eyes landed on the periodic table, the same one she’d rearranged to spell out cuss words two weeks ago. She thought it was genius, and that no one would find out, but unfortunately, Jayce, the annoying jock, had spotted her sneaking in, and snitched. Fucker.
It landed her detention for two days straight, and she wasn’t gonna go through that again.
She looked around again, and that was when she spotted it. Third row, window seat. A black notebook. She recognised it immediately; It belonged to Ekko. He always had that thing clutched in his hand whenever she passed him in the hallways. Nerd.
Ekko, with his perfect grades and his cool skateboard tricks. Yeah, that boy she’d always found kinda cute. White dreadlocks and all.
“Bingo.” Jinx smirked, getting out of the chair, her boots clumping loudly upon contact with the floor.
She walked over to Ekko’s desk, and picked up the book. True damage stickers all over. Yeah, this was definitely his.
Her smirk widened. She was absolutely going to draw a penis on his homework. It was the law.
She flipped it open to a random page, her pink highlighter in her hand. But froze.
Jinx didn’t find any numbers or any of that crap, no. She found a drawing. It was a sketch of a girl sitting on the bleachers, headphones on, looking lonely.
“What the…” Jinx ran her fingers over the sketch. That was her! From just last week. She frowned, flipping the page. Another drawing of her, this time with her sister Vi. But Jinx noticed that Vi’s wasn’t that detailed. Hers, however, was perfectly coloured in, intricate shading and all.
She turned the page again. Her sitting in the cafeteria having their stale burgers. Yuck.
Flip. Her side profile as seen through the window in the art room.
Flip flip. Her at Jericho’s pool party. Wait, is that—
“WHAT THE FUCK?!” she spoke a little too loudly, feeling a weird tightness in her throat. She took a deep breath and sat down in Ekko’s chair.
She turned the pages until she was at the most recent “classwork.” Two solved questions, and a drawing of her from this morning! What is this guy doing?
Jinx slammed the notebook shut, her cheeks tinting pink.
He watched her?
She had always thought he didn’t care for becoming closer to her. Sure, they’d developed a kind-of-but-not-really friendship last year, but given their differing schedules and personalities, she knew they’d never become best friends, or even more than that. Heck, they didn’t even have each other added on Instagram! That’s how unfortunate this was.
But finding this notebook had raised her hopes a little. The drawings were beautiful. Okay fine, maybe kind and sweet and pretty and really, really thoughtful. “Idiot,” she whispered, feeling her face heat up even more.
She cleared her throat, and reached into her pocket, pulling out her favourite marker. An acrylic-based, neon pink. This one was a job for the special marker, not just some mere highlighter.
As she started scribbling, she smiled to herself. If he was going to watch her, he was going to have to deal with the commentary track. “You’re on, loser.”
✦ ⋆ ࣪.
The following day, the hallway clattered with the footsteps of chatty students. Ekko, on the other hand, was vibrating with anxiety.
He’d gone back for his notebook right before Chemistry in that room started, since that was the only time it opened any other time of day (if you exclude Jinx picking the lock whenever she likes). But, to his dismay, he never found it. Which meant someone else had definitely took ahold of it.
He stood by his locker, debating whether he should just transfer schools. Maybe move to a different state.
“Hey, Einstein.”
Ekko stiffened at the sound of Jinx’s voice. Shit. He turned around slowly.
She stood there, looking fairly… normal? Well, normal for her, at least. The only thing that was odd was that her lips were covered in purple lipstick instead of her usual brown. His gaze moved down to her hands. And, sure enough, she was holding his missing notebook.
Ekko wanted to die right there and then. “Jinx,” he croaked, “I- that’s uh— that’s mine—”
“I know.” She said, cutting him off. “I graded it for you.” She held out the notebook towards him. Ekko looked confused.
“You… graded it?”
“Yeah, and you’re failing.”
She finally shoved the notebook into his chest, which caused Ekko to fumble to catch it, dropping his skateboard onto the floor with a clack!
Jinx eyed him, her grin manically wide, though not scary. “Open it.” She commanded, crossing her arms.
Yes ma’am.
Ekko gulped, as he slowly opened the notebook.
The sketch from yesterday—the one of her on the lawn—was still there. But now, it was glowing.
She had outlined her own figure in neon pink. She had drawn little hearts exploding out of her eyes. And she had written notes in the empty space where the calculus should have been.
> THIS HOODIE IS VINTAGE, GET THE TEXTURE RIGHT. > MY BOOTS ARE DIRTIER THAN THIS. > STOP DRAWING ME LOOKING SAD, IT MAKES ME LOOK WEAK.
And at the very bottom: > 7/10. NEEDS MORE COLOR.
Ekko looked up, bewildered. “You're not... mad?” Did she seriously not find his behavior creepy? Because he had just come to terms with how creepy it actually was.
“Why would I be mad?” Jinx shrugged, leaning against the locker next to his. She scuffed her boot against the floor. “It's not every day the smartest guy in school admits he's obsessed with me.”
“I'm not obse—”
“You have twenty pages of my face, little man. That's obsession. Or stalking. I haven't decided yet. Could be both, too.” She then took a step closer, and Ekko caught a whiff of her strawberry shampoo. She also smelled really chemical, like spray paint. He realised that this is the first time she’s ever been this close to him.
He’d be lying if he said he did not enjoy every second of this proximity.
“I can stop,” Ekko said quickly. “If it creeps you out, I'll stop.”
Jinx rolled her eyes. "I didn't say stop. I said it needs more colour."
She reached out and grabbed the collar of his varsity jacket, pulling him down to her level. Ekko’s breath hitched. Her eyes were impossibly enamouring up close. He made a mental note to use a different shade of blue highlighter for her eyes next time. They’re closer to a powder blue.
“Next time,” she whispered, her breath brushing against his cheek, “draw us together. Okay?”
“Okay,” Ekko squeaked. He was weak as hell.
Jinx smiled again, though it was a softer one this time, no teeth. Then she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his cheek.
It was soft and left a faint smudge of her purple lipstick on his skin.
Ekko pretty much short circuited. What is happening what is happening what is happening. He was also pretty sure she licked his cheek for a fraction of a second too! Not that he was complaining, though???
She pulled back, still smiling, though now her own face held a slight peach tint to it. “See ya later, little man.”
She released him, patted his cheek twice, and sauntered off down the hallway, leaving Ekko standing there with a purple, suspiciously lip-shaped stain on his face, a neon-pink vandalised notebook in his hands, and a heart beating faster than a hummingbird's wings flapping.
He looked down at the notebook again. Under the 7/10 grade, she had added a post-it note.
> PS: My number is on the last page. Use it.
✦ ⋆ ࣪.