just dive in [reed bishop spin-off] ✔️

seventeen

— s e v e n t e e n —

"SHHH," CLAIR SAID, WHEN Oliver walked into the common room for his free period. "You'll wake up sleeping beauty."

He followed her gaze to where Reed was fast asleep at the other end of the sofa she was sitting on. He was leaning against the window the sofa was pressed up against, his head pillowed by the arms he had folded across the windowsill. Oliver couldn't help noticing how much more peaceful he looked in his sleep, the faint furrow between his eyebrows smoothed away. He also couldn't helping noticing the shadows around his eyes. It wasn't uncommon for students to take naps during their free periods — Oliver knew he was guilty of as much, often choosing sleep over work when given an hour off — but Reed seemed to be sleeping through more of them than usual lately. He didn't even stir when Oliver sank down beside him which was hardly surprising, since he had managed to sleep through the noisy clamour of voices in the common room.

"How long has he been asleep for?" Oliver asked with a frown.

"No idea. A long time, I guess. He was asleep when I left for Spanish and still here when I came back," she said, with a disinterested shrug. "Probably exhausted from being so rude to me all the time."

Oliver shot her an exasperated look before something dawned on him. "Reed isn't in this free with us," he said, with a glance at the clock. He shared free periods with both Adam and Clair, but his timetable never overlapped with Reed's to give them one together. Meaning he was definitely supposed to be in a lesson now.

"He isn't?" Clair tapped something out on her phone without even glancing up. "Oh, I guess not. Looks like he's late to whatever class he has now."

"You didn't think to wake him up?"

"How was I supposed to remember he didn't have a free period now? I'm not his mother, Oliver," she said, in a chiding tone that grated on nerves that were already worn thin when it came too Clair. This must have shown on his face because Clair touched his knee with an imploring look. "Oh, come on. I'm sorry, but Reed already hates me. I'm not risking having my head bitten off trying to wake him up."

Oliver ignored her in favour of lightly shaking Reed. It took numerous attempts to rouse him from sleep and even when he lifted his head, he looked half-asleep. "What?" he murmured, the annoyance in his voice at being woken up softened by the sleepiness still clinging to his words. His mussed up blonde hair fell across his forehead and Oliver had to fight the strong urge to push it out his eyes. Being near Reed under normal circumstances was trying on his heart. Being around a sleep-rumpled Reed, his voice still thick with sleep, was damn near devastating and Oliver had to remind himself to focus on the matter at hand.

"You're supposed to be in a lesson right now," Oliver told him.

That seemed to wake him up a little. "Shit," he said, with a startled look at the clock. He was half an hour late and it would take another ten minutes for him to get there, considering the sixth form common room was on a different site to the rest of the school. By the time he got there, he would have missed most of the lesson. Reed seemed to come to the same realisation as he sank low into the sofa with a groan, running both hands through his hair and messing it up even further. "Shit. Mr Davenport is going to kill me."

"Try not to sleep into your classes next time, then," Clair said primly.

Reed shot her a murderous look and Oliver quickly stepped in before he could say snap something rude back. "Maybe you could go find him and explain what happened. Tell him you didn't mean to skip," Oliver suggested.