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[color=darkgray][indent][indent]After the fiasco that had happened during the first day of school, Santiago Fernandez had become his baby mama’s bodyguard, pretty much sticking to her like glue. On one hand, he’d felt extremely guilty for leaving her alone and open to confrontations like that. April had always been a strong woman who was more than capable of holding her own, but she was in a delicate state, and he should’ve done more to protect her. On the other hand,  he’d been furious to hear about the unnecessary stress the mother of his child had been put in. All she had done was try to take advantage of the new year to turn a new leaf, but her attempt had been ruined by Salvador’s psycho (ex?)girlfriend, and blown out of proportion by some new dude and the rest of Lils’ friends. The young man had been dead set on confronting the couple, but it had been at April’s rather merciful request that he hadn’t. It would solve nothing, she said, and only prove that he was just as unable to commit to changing as Kavi was. And being like Kavi Salvador in any way was out of the question.

Once Mrs. Sanders had dismissed them from yet another assembly, the young couple had made a beeline straight to the cafeteria. Mila was making it very clear to her mother that she was starving, so normally her parents were doing their best to beat the lunch rush. Thankfully, the seniors were let out early, and most of their classmates had been busy finding partners for the dance, so there had been no wait time to get their food. April had secured their seats, and Santiago was returning with their trays in no time.

[color=D11717]“Well, there goes my plan of taking you as my date...”[/color] the young man lamented, carefully placing April’s lunch tray in front of her before taking a seat in the chair facing her. He wasn’t nearly as outraged as the majority of his classmates seemed to be, but he was still bummed out about being robbed of the chance of taking his girlfriend to their last school Valentine’s Day dance.

After the entire fiasco that had occured in the weeks prior, April had really appreciated the relatively little that had happened since then. Apart from the fact that it took quite a bit of effort to convince Santiago not to confront Kavi and Ariel, April had had a pretty calm and quiet few weeks. The real icing on the figurative cake though, was that even though she had prevented Santiago from bringing the issue back up, the result was that he had become so much more protective of her. The pair were inseparable. He’d carried her books between every class that they shared, he’d always make sure that they got a decent seat in the cafeteria and he’d even gone as far as carrying her tray for her. It was amazing how much he had changed in the few short months it had been since homecoming. While she really didn’t want him doing absolutely everything for her--it kind of tarnished the image of the power of the Trinity--she was willing to let it slide for a bit because damn did she enjoy it.

[color=ec008c]“No kidding, I was really looking forward to finally attending a dance with you. They can’t really stop us from meeting up during the event though, so there’s that.”[/color] April said, undoing the lid and taking a bite of the chicken caesar salad in front of her. [color=ec008c]“Good choice by the way, I really needed this.”[/color] she quickly added, covering her mouth as she tried to both chew and talk.

Santiago chuckled lightly. [color=D11717]“You’re welcome, babe! And yeah, definitely. No matter who we go with you can be sure I’ll be checking in on you every once in a while. Gotta make sure they’re taking care of you and treating you right...”[/color] he said sweetly, giving her a wink before digging into his loaded nachos. [color=D11717]“Anyone you want to go with?”[/color] the boy asked with a mouthful of tortilla chips.

[color=ec008c]“Honestly, I can’t think of any. I could probably ask [i]Kavi[/i] now that he's single and all now…”[/color] she looked at him with a playful grin before shaking her head and laughing. [color=ec008c]“Joking of course, I wouldn’t do that to you or Kavi.”[/color] She laughed once again, seeing the look of an absolutely unimpressed Santiago looking back at her. [color=ec008c]“You have to admit that was funny though!”[/color]

[color=D11717]“Hilarious. I’m falling off my seat with laughter…”[/color] he grumbled, rolling his eyes and taking a few more jabs at his nachos. [color=D11717]“Steve Harvey is shaking. He’s scared he’ll lose his job to you.”[/color]

[color=ec008c]“And what about you? Any ideas floatin’ around in that head of yours?”[/color] April cocked her at him as she looked back to him, the grin still ever present on her face. [color=ec008c]“If you wanted a real laugh you could ask Julie?”[/color] She jokingly suggested, her eyes sparkling with mischief.

Santiago snorted at her suggestion. [color=D11717]“You’re just full of jokes today, aren’t you?”[/color] he snickered, playfully shaking his head. [color=D11717]“We both know Julie would rather throw herself off a cliff than go anywhere with me.”[/color]

[color=ec008c]“This is true. Seems to be a slight flaw in that plan. But seriously, anyone cross your mind?”[/color]

The gray-eyed male was quiet for a second, flipping through a mental rolodex of his female classmates. [color=D11717]“I mean, not really. I guess I could ask RiRi? Not exactly a friend, but not someone who would run in the opposite direction when she sees me coming.”[/color]

[color=ec008c]“I mean she is really fuckin’ gorgeous. I wouldn’t blame you. I’ve never really talked to her otherwise.”[/color] April nodded in approval, though it wasn’t based on much else other than what she saw from the outside. [color=ec008c]“Given that though, someone may have already asked her, not to be a buzz-kill or anything.”[/color]

[color=D11717]“Just my fucking luck, right?”[/color] he said jokingly, taking another mouthful of nachos when a familiar tall, willowy boy approached their table with a tight-lipped smile.

[color=35996B]“Hey April…”[/color] the newcomer greeted the pregnant girl before he turned stiffly towards Santiago. [color=35996B]“The Devil.”[/color] he nodded, giving Santiago a chance to acknowledge him with a sharp nod before turning back to April, leaving the baby daddy to watch the scene unfold in front of him with narrowed eyes.

[color=35996B]“So… Uh... This dance thing...”[/color] Archer Diedrikson started awkwardly, running his hand through his messy hair. [color=35996B]“I was just wondering if a fine, pregnant, unmarried teenage girl would need a gay date to this shitshow?”[/color] he asked with a laugh.

April briefly glanced to Santiago to see his reaction before turning her full attention to Archer, smiling warmly to him. [color=ec008c]“Good afternoon Archer, it’s been a while.”[/color] The moment Archer started his little piece about asking her to the dance, April couldn’t help but grin at his delivery. [color=ec008c]“This fine, pregnant and very much unmarried teenage girl would love a gay date to this shitshow of a Valentine’s dance.”[/color] She turned back to Santiago briefly once again, making sure that he was in fact alright with this. It wasn’t that she was looking for his permission, but more his approval.

As unexpected as it was, Archer’s proposal was actually a pretty fucking genius idea. It’s not like Archer and Santiago were the best of friends- or even friends at all. But he’d heard enough compliments from Max about how his cousin was a quiet, kind, chill and caring dude, and he’d witnessed firsthand how he was one of the very few people to manage the feat of defusing the ticking time bomb that was Marisol Castillo more than once. If he was able to pull that off, then he was more than qualified to escort the mother of his child to this dance. In fact, he was probably [i]the perfect man[/i] to do so… Besides himself, of course. 

The muscled boy’s frown slowly turned into a wide grin. [color=D11717]“This is fucking awesome, [i]cabron[/i],”[/color] he said gleefully, lightly punching Archer’s arm. [color=D11717]“Thanks, man. I’ll owe you one.”[/color] 

April smiled warmly and looked between the two. It was nice to see that Santiago was completely alright with the proposal and it only served to make her day just [i]that[/i] much better. As she looked back to Archer, she remembered something that the two of them had talked about earlier in the year and her eyes lit up once again.

[color=ec008c]“Tell me, does my potential gay date still need me to take a look at his car like we talked about ages ago?”[/color][/indent][/indent][/color]