Published: February 28th 2025, 3:09:37 am
Taylor sat through Second Period without a single text from Sarah. Third Period was the same. He should have been relieved for the extended breather from the girl, as well as the ability to go through the rest of the morning without having to do anything revolving around his panties or his status as her ‘boyfriend.’ However, the absence of her messages also made him nervous, since she had already proved in a matter of minutes how much she could embarrass him in front of his friends. For all he knew, Sarah was leaving him alone so her next message or interaction with him would hit that much harder. Or he was just overthinking things, which really wasn’t something he normally did when it came to his relationships at school.
Finally, he got a text twenty or thirty seconds after the lunch bell. Maybe Sarah really was just being a good student and only messaging outside of class. ‘Hey, babe! Give me a big hug when you see me, and whisper what you are into my ear?’
Looking back at the task he was given for the picture and love note, Taylor realized that she was being careful about how she was communicating with him. So far, all of it could be read as playful requests from a girlfriend, rather than demands from a girl who had leverage on him. He would be hard pressed to make anyone believe the tone of her texts was anything else; he was a popular jock, and Sarah was just some nerdy girl.
The only way he had been able to check his phone in the first place was by breaking off from his teammates to ‘go to the bathroom’ before lunch. His size would make it easy for Luke or Fletcher to catch a glimpse of the ponies on his lock screen from their vantage point, and that was the last thing Taylor needed on top of everything else. As for what Sarah wanted him to whisper, Taylor didn’t need her to clarify; that was similar to what she had pushed for after having him walk her to class.
He thought about heading into the bathroom anyway, to kill a few minutes before lunch, though that came with his own risks. If Sarah beat him to the cafeteria and sat with the guys, there was no telling what she would say without him there. He really didn’t need to be playing catch-up on top of everything else; if he was there, hopefully he could find a way to keep her from being too difficult.
Their school hierarchy wasn’t so extreme that the popular guys always sat at the same table, though Taylor and his friends were generally able to claim a table in the back corner. By the time he got to the cafeteria and made it through the line, Luke and Fletcher were already seated, along with two other seniors on the team. Girlfriends didn’t typically sit with the baseball players at lunch, mostly since the guys didn’t always stay put after finishing their food; there were a lot of days where Taylor and the others would head outside to throw the ball around, roam the halls, or cause trouble at some other table. It really didn’t make sense for Sarah to join them, save for the fact that the guys were still curious about the whole situation that Taylor still hadn’t really been able to explain.
Sarah must have been waiting for him, probably at a table with her own friends. The second Taylor put his tray down, she appeared behind him with an enthusiastic, “Tay-Tay!! Did you miss me?!”
Naturally, all of his friends burst into various forms of laughter, not all of them succeeding in hiding their amusement from him or who they believed to be his girlfriend. Lightly flushing, Taylor turned around and reluctantly wrapped his arms around the taller brunette. “I’m a little girl,” he whispered, as quietly as humanly possible. He didn’t dare risk anything louder than that, even with the white noise of the cafeteria offering him some cover as he said the words in Sarah’s ear.
As they separated, Sarah turned him by his shoulders to face the guys, standing behind him and asking the group, “Isn’t he literally the cutest?”
“Literally,” Steven grinned, clearly happy to agree with Sarah’s assessment of Taylor. Like the two guys that had been with Taylor all morning, Steven was jumping at the rare opportunity to tease him about something. After an entire high school career of being untouchable, all it took was a minute or two with a nerdy girlfriend for Taylor to lose the intimidating streak that came with his social status and importance to the team.
“Hey, are we allowed to call him ‘Tay-Tay?’” Luke asked. He was looking to Sarah for permission, since he obviously knew what Taylor’s answer would be.
“Of course!” Sarah replied, “I think it’s so much more fun than ‘Taylor.’” Giving the boys at the table a warm smile, she said, “Can we sit? Or is it no girls allowed?” The double meaning behind her words was way too subtle for anyone but Taylor to notice.
“I think we can make an exception today,” Steven said, welcoming the new girl with fake exclusivity, when it was really just social status that kept others away, “Sarah, right?”
“Mm hmm,” Sarah said. She took one of the empty chairs, then patted the one next to her. “Sit next to me, Tay-Tay?”
Fletcher hid his smirk behind a sip of his drink. “Yeah, Tay-Tay. We want to hear all about your new girlfriend. Or maybe Sarah could share some embarrassing stories?”
Sarah just smiled and pretended not to notice the boy’s expression or tone behind the new nickname. “That would be fun,” she said, “Your friends don’t know me at all. Anything you want to share?”
Not particularly. Taylor didn’t actually know Sarah that well beyond her existence as a less popular girl at school, a daycare assistant, and the person who was controlling more of his life with every passing day.
He also wasn’t sure what he could say. Anything too dismissive about their false relationship wouldn’t be appreciated by Sarah, yet acting too much like a boyfriend in front of his friends would be pretty awkward when they all knew the brunette as one of their many targets from over the years. No matter how much time he had since the previous afternoon, he hadn’t been able to figure out how to sell this to his teammates.
“Like she said earlier,” Taylor started, if only to say something as he settled into his seat and pretended like this was just another meal with the guys, “We got paired up for some History tutoring.” As in, he didn’t seek Sarah out. If he went along with her story, he could at least frame it as something that a teacher set up. Not that such a clarification would do anything for him in regards to how they ended up dating.
“They know that, babe,” Sarah giggled, giving his arm a playful hit, “They asked about me, remember? See, this is why you need a tutor. Although I guess we could skip to the embarrassing stories. What do you all think?”
“Definitely!” Steven said, “I bet we all want to hear more about what Tay-Tay gets up to when he’s not at school or practice. Right, guys?”
They were all quick to agree, and Taylor didn’t have a second to get things back on course. If Sarah hadn’t steered things in that direction, he could have come up with some bullshit about her, maybe. Now it was too late.
“Hmm, I mean, ‘embarrassing’ isn’t actually the right word. More that he’s so cute and sweet when it’s just the two of us. I don’t know why he keeps up the whole tough guy act at school.”
“So, what are the cute and sweet stories?” Fletcher asked. Similar to earlier, he wasn’t outright making fun of Taylor. Though Sarah was calling it an act, all the guys were familiar with Taylor’s routine. While it was refreshing to have something to poke fun at, an amusing new nickname and an unexpected girlfriend weren’t enough for them to outright turn on him; it opened the door, however, and all four guys were quite curious as to what other ammo Sarah might have to offer them to use after years of taking his shit in their own ways.
Sarah hummed in thought, feigning as if she actually needed any time to think of something. Without blowing his cover and changing the rules of the game, she only had so many things she could actually share with everyone. Similar to the conversation with just two of the guys earlier, she seemed perfectly comfortable around the classmates who normally gave her and others such a hard time. “Oh, I know!” she said, grabbing Taylor’s hand and lacing her fingers through his. Giving a squeeze that could’ve just as easily been for fun or a warning to behave, she made something up that she and her ‘boyfriend’ hadn’t talked about at all. “Tay-Tay said he would babysit my little sister whenever I’m busy and my parents are out of town or out for the night.” As if he even knew that she had a sister to begin with. “So, he agreed to start watching My Little Pony so the two of them have something to talk about. Isn’t that the sweetest?”
He definitely didn’t expect that. It was a decent cover story, sure, but she shouldn’t have told them about his immature assignment to begin with! The eyes of basically every guy at the table lit up at that bit of information, and Taylor knew full well they were receiving it in an entirely different way than how Sarah framed it as her boyfriend going the extra mile.
“Not actually watching it,” Taylor said, needing to somewhat defend himself before Sarah decided to add anything else, “I just have it on in the background when I’m hanging out at home.” The downside to clarifying that he wasn’t actively watching the little girls’ show was that he just admitted to watching it in general.
“So, who’s his favorite character?” Luke asked. Again, addressing Sarah rather than him, to taunt Taylor more indirectly, not to mention how he’d be more likely to get a direct answer from the girl who started the topic of sharing to begin with.
“Hmm, good question,” Sarah said, giving his hand another squeeze. This time, it did feel more like a warning. “What do you think, Tay-Tay? Rainbow Dash, because she’s cool like you? Pinkie Pie, because she’s cute like you? They’re all pretty fun!”
Trying to ignore the looks and the stifled sounds from his friends, Taylor tried to think of any safe answer. There really wasn’t one. Sarah had said there was going to be a quiz, so he had watched the show more intently than he just told his friends he did. Every single pony had a girly name, which Sarah just proved with the ‘Rainbow Dash’ suggestion. The objectively coolest character on the show still had a name that was embarrassing to say out loud as a jock who dressed in alternative clothes.
At the same time, it was also objectively the best and least feminine option of the ponies he had gotten to know throughout the first three episodes. “I guess Rainbow Dash is fun,” he shrugged. Hopefully his friends would understand that choosing a favorite from a show made for a much younger audience didn’t really mean much; this was just for Sarah’s younger sister, or whatever.
“See? I know you so well,” Sarah said, “Hmm, what else? Oh, Tay-Tay was talking about doing some of his sister’s chores from now on. Anna is a busy sophomore, plus isn’t the smaller sibling supposed to be the one who does more around the house? ” Again, she made him sound sweet on the surface, while subtly insulting him to the group of boys who would take all of this in a completely different way.
Significant others were allowed to tease each other, and there was only so much Taylor could say when Sarah could do a lot worse than just make him sound the opposite of what he was like at school. After another minute or two of attention in all the wrong ways, everyone moved on. They couldn’t spend the whole lunch having fun at Taylor’s expense. Sarah also didn’t want to push her luck, when Taylor could potentially snap if she took it too far. Better to ease him into things until he adjusted to the shifted dynamic between him and his friends, and then she could start up again when his discomfort line had moved along with it.
Taylor continued to feel his teammates’ eyes on him throughout the meal; just because the conversation had shifted to something else entirely didn’t mean that their thoughts weren’t lingering on ‘Tay-Tay’ and comparing Sarah’s version with the athletic star they knew. Meanwhile, Sarah’s energy was as solid as ever. The baseball players weren’t going to bully her when she was dating one of them, plus all the Taylor talk made it so he was the one they were all thinking about in that regard, rather than her.
When the next bell rang, Sarah made the same request that wasn’t really a request. “Walk me to class, Tay-Tay? Oh, you can take my tray, too!” She kissed his cheek and stood up, treating him a little bit like a well trained servant, albeit in an affectionate way. Heading off to chat with one of her friends who was probably just as curious as Taylor’s had been earlier, she left him to consolidate the finished meals between their two trays and take it to the other end of the cafeteria.
Normally, Taylor would ignore the bell. On the days where he and the guys did stay at their table through the end of lunch, they never jumped up with the rest of the students. It was better to take their time, hang out for a couple minutes, and be more relaxed about heading to their next class. At the moment, he didn’t want to deal with whatever the others were going to start saying once Sarah was out of earshot. “Call me anything but Taylor, and die,” he snapped. Similar to the pony thing, he didn’t want to actually say ‘Tay-Tay’ out loud; it wouldn’t sound intimidating in the slightest.
To their credit, they all listened, though one of them scoffed and muttered, “Cute.” Under his breath, so he could claim he said something else if Taylor got on his case about it.
Deciding not to bother with it, hoping that a break from lunch would get those who were there to calm down about all the Sarah/Tay-Tay stuff, he pushed through the annoyingly packed funnel of students who were all placing their trays on the conveyer belt like he needed to. Taylor knew full well that the coming afternoon could easily go the other way, in terms of other teammates hearing bits and pieces of what Sarah had said.
He couldn’t yell at her about it, either. The confrontation a few hours ago proved that Sarah was more than willing to get in his face and remind him who was boss. Whether she played dumb and kept the girlfriend act up, or did a repeat performance of what happened between them in the hallway earlier, there wasn’t a good way to tell her to calm down with the stories and the cutesy stuff.
“Took you long enough, babe,” Sarah said, “You know the drill. How do you greet me?”
Was that something he was expected to do every time? It was painful enough at lunch, though this time it wouldn't be in front of his friends. Resisting the urge to sigh, since he was apparently supposed to be in boyfriend mode whether they had an audience or not, Taylor gave her a reluctant hug and cheek peck, then mumbled in her ear, “I’m a little girl.”
“Yes, you are,” she smirked, “I’m so excited to see you in that pink dress later!”
His eyes widened, as she hadn’t been nearly as quiet with her response. “Sarah-”
“Relax, Tay-Tay,” Sarah chuckled, “Come on, I’ll take you to my locker. You should really know where it is, for future trips!” Taking his hand in the same way she did back at the lunch table, she walked him down the hall and around the corner so she could grab her books. Unlike Taylor, she wasn’t shy at all about waving to the occasional friend or classmate.
It was the same as before, just with fewer books. Taylor was only carrying Sarah’s; he’d swing by his own locker afterwards, and probably be a little late to another class. At least that was a common enough occurrence that he wouldn’t have to explain the reason that was different than the usual one.
They stopped outside Sarah’s classroom and went through a similar routine. Simultaneously flexing her control over him, along with some casual conditioning, she had him give her cheek a kiss and whisper those same four words. Soon enough, it would become a habit that he did in front of his friends without hesitating. Just not after school, of course.
Lowering her voice as she pulled back, she patted his head and smirked. “See you at daycare, Tay-Tay. I bet you’re excited to get out of those boring boy clothes. We both know you prefer wearing panties and dresses.”