There was no mistaking his handiwork.

The knot in his stomach tightened.

"…And finally, a poem. Courtesy of "Anonymous"."

She caught his eye and gave a little nod. Sebastian silently begrudged her lack of subtlety.

"Je m'appelle je t'aime. My name, is I love you…"

Sebastian slowly lowered his chin onto his desk. He let his mind wander to thoughts of Marie-Genevieve, and their time spent together at last summer's French Camp. He missed the way they used to recite beginners French to one another, and then sit in awkward silence until her friends showed up and she wandered off with them. It had been a life-altering period in his young life: the beginning and end of his first love… All in a matter of weeks. Their doomed romance was sure to inspire many more literary endeavors. In fact, he'd not experienced such a surge of inspiration since his parents' divorce last year.

"…girls mature faster, they say that it's true. So why can't you say, that you love me too?"

Sebastian scoffed.

"…Pssh…lame." he muttered, a little too loudly.

He immediately regretted drawing attention to himself, and cast his eyes to the floor, avoiding the gaze of his friends Colin and Todd who were seated nearby. They stared knowingly at him, clearly not buying his ruse. Todd proceeded to make exaggerated kissy faces at him. Colin rolled his eyes, shaking his head in pity and bemusement. Sebastian slouched down in his chair and covered his face with his hair. He was pretty sure he would be hearing about this at their next band practice. He even considered skipping out on "Jokers Wild" until the inevitable poetry-related storm blew over, but Todd claimed that they were, 'this close' to getting their first gig. Maybe it would be better to just stick it out…

"…I'm swimming in circles, you stand on the shore. So far from each other, yet still wanting more…"

…then again, maybe not. Besides, Jokers Wild wasn't the only thing he had going for himself. His solo project, Darkhorse, was coming along nicely. He'd even mustered the courage to play one of his songs for his little brother Andy recently. Practically a gig! He recalled Andy's words to him as he strummed those last few chords;

"So, are you a vampire now?"

It was not the impression he'd been going for, but it did seem like vampires were pretty hip at the moment - But no. That would be ridiculous. If there was one thing that Sebastian DIDN'T need, it was to go through another ridiculous 'phase;' especially one that could be documented and relived for the rest of his life. He already had to endure the humiliation of his mother's photo collage, depicting his and his brother's childhood years, hanging prominently on the living room wall. His friends had dubbed it the "Wall of Shame". And while Andy had led a charmed and adorable youth, Sebastian had the misfortune of experiencing a succession of "awkward stages", made all the more evident by his shockingly un-photogenic nature. Best not to tempt fate.

"…au revoir mon amie, ma beautiful femme. I'll never forget you. Je m'appelle je t'aime."

An uncomfortable silence hung in the air like a fog. Mrs. Briggs attempted to coax a round of applause from the class, clapping loudly by herself and staring at her students expectantly. She was unsuccessful, and remained the lone clapper. A bead of sweat rolled into Sebastian's eye. He held his breath.

"Thank you for sharing, anonymous…"

Then, mercifully, the bell rang. Sebastian exhaled loudly. He gathered his books, throwing them into his backpack as quickly as possible. Todd brushed past him on the way out the door.

"Meh. Comme ci comme ça," he said mockingly over his shoulder. Sebastian gave him a shove, and muttered softly to himself as he trudged to his locker:

"So immature…"