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He sighs and ignores the chattering of the other students a few dozen yards away, his eyes following a bumblebee as it dawdles through the leaves above his head. Its buzzing stops for a few seconds as it finds one of the fuchsia-coloured flowers and rests inside its petals to gather the sticky pollen. Then, it launches itself into the air again, its plump little body covered in white powder.
"Hey."
Jaskier closes his eyes and curses at himself and the girl that just made a guest appearance in his little world half underneath the bush. He thought he'd been so well hidden.
"You're the new kid, right?" the voice asks and he resigns himself to awkward small-talk. Where did you come from, why did you move here, couldn't you have stayed there? The same questions he's been asked for the past few days - and frankly, he's fucking tired of it.
"Yup, that's me."
"Why are you in my hiding spot?"
He frowns, flexing his neck to look at the girl and he immediately meets eyes the color of the flowers above his head. "What?"
She sighs, waving her book around annoyedly. "I always come here to read. Shove off. Go be popular somewhere else."
He scoffs and lets his head fall back. He's disgruntled to discover he's lost track of his little, dawdling bumblebee. "I'm not popular."
"Yes, you are. All the other girls adore your stupid little blue eyes and your ridiculous floppy hair. Now piss off, I want to read."
He shrugs. "I'm not stopping you from reading," he says as he lets her words mull around in his head. The girls like him? That would explain why the guys are almost downright bullying him - he's disturbed their social hierarchy of smelly teen boys and that means they want him gone.
He's pulled from his thoughts as a figure appears in the periphery of his vision. It's the strange girl, sitting down in a huff, folding her jean-clad legs in front of her and opening the book in the nook of them.
"I like your sweater," he says before he can stop himself.
"Thanks," she murmurs, pulling at one of the yellow stars embroidered on the black wool for a second. "It's my favorite."
He hears buzzing in the leafs above his head and he spends a few seconds trying to find his bee again, but quickly gives up when the sound grows fainter and fainter - probably towards bigger, better pollen-filled flowers.
"You said 'the other girls' like my hair." He's never been good at keeping his mouth shut, and despite the awkwardness, he grins. "You don't?"
She rolls her eyes, pushing some raven curls behind her ear and pulling up an unfairly perfect eyebrow at him. "No, I don't. Why would I?"
"Because my eyes are very blue and my hair is very bouncy?"
"Ugh." It does hurt when she hits him in the chest with her book, but the slight smile tugging at the corners of her mouth makes it worth it. "You're insufferable."
"And you're grumpy."
"Someone has to be."
She folds the book open again, trying to find her page as Jaskier tries to find his bumblebee. They both succeed and fall into an easy silence for a while.
Then the school bell rings.
"Well," the girl says, snapping her book shut. "Back to hell."
"Back to hell," Jaskier agrees.
He pushes himself upright and she ignores his outstretched hand, brushing the dirt off her jeans.
"Alright. Well, bye then, sorry I took your spot." He turns away from her, making the trek back to class.
"Yennefer," comes her voice from behind him.
"What?"
She pulls his eyebrows up at him. "My name, idiot. Yennefer."
He blinks. "Right. I- I'm Jaskier."
She nods decisively. "Horrible name."
"Thanks, you're the worst."
She snorts and starts walking, hitting his shoulder with hers deliberately as she pushes past him. "See you tomorrow, Jask."
He can't help the grin that spreads across his face, a weight he hadn't known was there lifting from his chest. "See you tomorrow, Yenny."
"Fuck off," she calls over her shoulder.
Oh yeah, he muses to himself, they're gonna be great friends.