#btw they jake ends up figuring out it was rich in the middle of sophomore year

[rad-rat-with-a-tophat]

I'M CRAVING SOME FRESHMAN RICH PINING OVER JAKE, DO YOU THINK YOU COULD FEED MY BRAIN?

OH FUCK YEAH BROSKI

i can do that.

It began with a pack of bright red little sticky notes and a bad idea.

Rich had gotten the sticky notes by swiping them off his 70 year old English teacher, Mrs Barrison. It's not like she would've minded. Every single one of Rich's English teachers loved him, Mrs Barrison included.

He got the bad idea from a song he'd been listening to recently.

"Leaving little sticky notes in your locker

hoping you'll come and find them

knowing I'll never tell ya'

how you throw me off my rocker,"

It wasn't Rich's usual style of angst and edginess but when you're a 14 year old boy with an unattainable crush you're not going to be listening to My Chemical Romance you're going to be listening to a soft indie band while daydreaming about talking to your crush.

Rich's said unattainable crush was none other than Jake Dillinger, a fellow Freshman and the most popular lowerclassman in Middleborough High.

Not only was he at the top of the food chain while Rich was at the bottom, Jake was straight. Which meant that Rich had a zero percent chance. Not even zero, it was closer to a negative fifty percent chance. Not only was Jake straight (and also the most perfect guy in the universe due to him being funny, kind, charismatic, etc) but Rich was the least datable kid in the school. Minus those two boys who everyone was sure were dating each other but that's not the point. The point was, Rich was a small, english-nerd, dnd player, and overall loser who had a crush on the embodiment of Apollo.

And if Jake was Apollo, than Rich was Icarus and he was about to drown.

The moment when the wax began to melt on Rich's wings that were made by hope and naivety was when he slipped the first red sticky note into Jake's locker.

I love your new pin

If anyone noticed the blushing boy slipping a piece of paper into a locker than no one asked.

And if anyone noticed that when a certain Jake Dillinger folded up a tiny red sticky note and put it into his pocket then no one asked.

That was just the first of many many sticky notes that Rich would send Jake.

Your hair is really cute today.

Did you know that there's a species of lizard where there's no males because they all died because of cancer and the way this all-female species of lizards reproduces is by cloning themselves? Because now you do. PS you should wear green more often

Ya like jazz?

Rich would slip a sticky note into Jake's locker at the end of every school day for two months before he got a reply on a tiny red sticky note, the exact same shade as the one's he used.

I don't really listen to music so I don't know any jazz. any recommendations? I feel like you have great music taste.

Oh my god! Rich thought to himself, tiny butterflies in his stomach washing out the usual shame he felt about his crush on Jake. He replied! And oh my god he's so nice! And he said he thinks I have good music taste!

Rich was feeling the sun in his hair and stopped feeling the sense of dread at the ocean below him.

Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simone. They're so cool.

Thus began a chain of notes dropped into lockers and tiny red stick notes stuck onto lockers.

It was the last week before school was let out. Rich took a breath and his shaky hand dropped the final red sticky note.

hi, good job with surviving through your first year of high school. this is my final note. i have two things to say as my last words to you. the first thing is to listen to the song sticky notes in your locker you'll see why. the second thing is that you shouldn't look for me. you'll just be dissapointed. bye <3

And if anyone noticed the tears from the boy dropping a tiny red sticky note into a locker as he finally hit the ocean below then no one asked.

And if anyone noticed the most popular freshman in the school cover his mouth in a gasp that was the precursor to many tears as his hands gripped a tiny red sticky note then no one asked.

"Handing you sticky notes at your locker

knowing you'll go and read them

loving you out and open

not just in the corners of your locker,"

Jake listened to the song over and over, muffling silent tears over the sun he never got to reach for. The sun he only ever saw from deep beneath the waves.

#uh so yeah #btw they jake ends up figuring out it was rich in the middle of sophomore year #he doesn't tell rich he knows until rich tells him after they start dating #also the song doesn't exist #i wrote all the lyrics #richjake #bmc musical #bmc #be more chill #my writing #rich goranski #jake dillinger #fanfic