Kai's POV
She shifts.
Then groans.
Then—
"Oh no."
I glance down just in time to watch her jolt upright like she's been electrocuted, fingers flying to her head.
"My hair—Kai, my braid's GONE!"
She turns to me, horrified. Loose strands fall everywhere — thick waves of black cascading in every direction like some tragic waterfall. Honestly? It looks fine. Better than fine. But I already know what's coming.
"Kai," she whispers urgently, as if we're in a spy movie. "You HAVE to help me."
"…Help you what?"
"Fix it. Do it. You saw how I tied it this morning. Right? Right? You've seen me braid it like a thousand times!"
"Sky," I murmur, low and sharp, trying not to draw attention — as if that's possible when she's flailing beside me. "We're literally in class."
"I can't focus when my hair's like this. It's like—like my soul's falling apart strand by strand!"
A few people are watching now. Recording. Whispering.
I sigh.
"You want me to braid your hair? In class?"
She nods. Big eyes. Desperate. Dramatic.
"I'll owe you forever. Please, Kai. I trust you. With my life. And my hair."
She flips around in her seat before I can protest, gathering the heavy mess into a rough bunch and shoving it back at me like it's a mission brief.
God help me.
I take a breath and try to remember how she does it. Three sections. Left over middle. Right over middle. Tighten. Again. Again.
"You're doing it," she whispers like I'm performing brain surgery. "Oh my God. You're—Kai. You're amazing."
Someone behind us whispers, "Is he braiding her hair?"
She beams. Glows. Radiates sunshine.
"I'm never letting anyone else touch my hair again," she says dramatically, once I secure the end with the band from her wrist. "Only you. You're my personal braid guy now."
"…Braid guy?"
"Braid guy. Hug guy. Iced coffee guy. Future husband guy, maybe?"
I blink.
U
She's grinning at me over her shoulder, hair swaying, oblivious to the fact that the entire room is now fully tuned into us.
I rest my forehead in my hand.
This girl is going to be the death of me.
And I can't bring myself to stop her.
---
Sky's POV
"He touched it."
I slam my tray down on the cafeteria table like I've just declared war.
Ava blinks, startled. "Touched what?"
I lean in, whispering like I'm confessing a national secret.
"My hair."
Alex looks up from his burger and raises an eyebrow. "...Is this about the braid thing again?"
"THE braid thing?" I gasp. "You mean the moment my entire life changed?"
Ava snorts. "Okay, drama queen, slow down. Breathe. What happened?"
I flop down into the seat beside her, eyes wide, still riding the high of emotional delirium. "I FELL ASLEEP IN CLASS."
"Sky—"
"And when I woke up, it was gone, Ava. The braid. Gone. Destroyed. My entire personality was unraveling on the floor."
"I thought your personality was 'talking too much and hugging people who hate hugs,'" Alex mutters.
"Not now, Alex," I hiss, before turning back to Ava with desperate urgency. "So I asked him to fix it. And he did. Ava. He braided my hair. With his hands. In class. While people watched."
Ava's mouth drops. "No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"That is... shockingly intimate."
"THANK YOU."
Alex sips his drink like he wishes he were invisible. "It's a braid. Calm down."
"A braid is a vow, Alexander." I slap the table. "Do you know how long it takes to braid my hair? That wasn't a hairstyle, that was a commitment."
Ava is wheezing now.
I press on, wild-eyed. "Do you know what this means?"
"No—"
"I have to marry him."
Alex coughs. Ava nearly drops her drink.
"I mean," I say, pacing now. "He's already my favorite person to annoy. He glares at me like I'm a crime scene, but then—he braids my hair, Ava. He looked at it like it wasn't chaos. Like he knew what to do with it. Do you know what that means?"
"No," Alex says flatly. "And I don't want to."
"It means he sees me," I whisper.
Ava leans back, smiling at me like I'm a feral cat she found and adopted. "Okay. So... you love him?"
I freeze. "Define love."
"You want to hold his hand and name your children after legal doctrines."
"…Maybe just one child."
Alex sighs. "We're in hell."
Ava grabs my arm. "Sky, you know he likes you. He just doesn't know it yet."
I look down at my tray of uneaten fries and half-melted milkshake. "I know. But what if I ruin it? What if I'm too much?"
Ava grins, pulling me into a side-hug. "Sky, you are the perfect amount of too much. And if he doesn't see that soon... I'll braid your hair myself and name our kid Habeas Corpus."
I laugh through a sniffle. "That actually sounds kinda cute."
Behind us, Alex mutters, "Please don't reproduce."