It was a shot in the dark, if she was allowed and wanted to go, that would be an absolute blast. Otherwise, he'd spend Valentine's Day halfway across the globe, feeling guilty for missing it. He'd already tried to get out of going and his mother refused to let him stay home alone while she was overseas. The boy was content moving from the subject in order to revisit it later, though it was likely that Rachel needed some form of answer soon, lest they run out of plane tickets. However, he enjoyed pointing out their classmates and just spending time with her; he realized sometime during their lunch how natural holding hands had become. Their fingers locked and he barely even felt her hand in his. In fact, when they separated, his hand felt unnaturally empty. He smiled, a change of pace was rather welcome - he'd never felt like they were in a rut, but it was always such a treat to go "adventuring" with Sasha. She was so hungry for exploration and his mind was more than inquisitive enough for his curiosity to follow her wherever she wanted to go.

"I'd love to," He said somewhat brightly, trying to keep from sounding too excited about spending time with her. Enthusiasm was interpreted too much like desperation by the other kids anyway. As she went on to explain the place more he listened intently, rising before pocketing his hands and rocking on the heels of his feet. "Oh, I'd feel so bad," He lamented with an exaggerated tone, "What [I]ever[/I] would I do with so much guilt for all my life..?" One more goodbye and then she was gone off with her friends. Did she talk about him as soon as they were separated? Or did she do what he did and keep all of it locked up inside her head, reveling in the moments past in reservation? He shrugged and brushed away the question, perhaps it was none of his business anyway.

The day couldn't go any more slowly and James was working over time to keep cool during class. He didn't hear a word any of the teachers said after lunch, but he rarely did anyway. He'd already finished the chapter for most of his classes. His biggest problem with grades was ignoring his homework; the assignments never felt helpful, they were just boring and wasted his time. Unless it was Maths or Foreign Language, he actually enjoyed doing the homework for those classes. Ironically, very few of his friends understood his interest in them. He worked ahead, but "studying" was a word he worked hard to keep out of his vocabulary, as he'd always been able to keep up without paying much attention and doing more self-teaching. Whe nthe final bell sounded, he packed his things away in his locker and put his free reading book in his backpack with very little else, as he was notorious for never taking home a textbook. Currently he was reading [I]Black Swan Green[/I] by David Mitchell; he had seen his father reading the author's work and simply picked up one of the first titles he could find. He slung the single-strap bag over his chest and stuffed his hands in his coat's pockets. However, he didn't have to close the front today, as the air hadn't gotten any colder since lunch. He found Sasha waiting for him and walked more slowly to meet her, savoring the moment of her waiting. When he finally reached her, he couldn't resist the small smile that perked up the corners of his lips.

"Hey, Sashie," He said teasingly, "How'd the rest of your day go?" He asked curiously, trying to resist the powerful urge to ask about her joining them for vacation.