“I don’t think she’ll like me back like that,” you say in a rather saddening tone. You knew Kate, but not as well as you hoped. You did talk to her quite frequently, and you knew she was tied deep into her religious faith. You weren’t sure how she would feel if....well, you know. You just knew that if your own family knew about you, you would probably be dead.

Dana gave her a sympathetic look. Dana was one of your friends, and one of the nicer people at Blackwell.

“Well, you’ll never know unless you try,” Dana said. You snort into your drink. You knew she was right, but even if you had the courage, you had no idea where to begin.

“Yeah, right.”

* * *

You did follow Dana’s advice, though. Kind of. Not really.

You started out small. You got to know Kate a little bit better. You hung out with her more. The two of you would walk to class together and hangout outside of school. You were still right about Kate: she was the sweetest, kindest girl you ever met. There was no way she would like you like you wanted her too. It pained you to think about, but you really did not want to open that can of worms.

Some of the students of Blackwell, however, thought different.

As far as you knew, only Dana knew. There was a good chance that Juliet may know as well, but you doubted it. Some of your fellow peers may know, but you had no idea. You knew that Victoria Chase had an idea, however. You wanted to scream just thinking about it. Victoria was a piece of work, much like her friend Nathan.

Victoria and her cronies were never nice to what could be dubbed as “the outer rim” of students. As in: she was cool with her Vortex friends, but everyone else deemed as “loser” should watch their back. That included Kate Marsh.

You tried to protect Kate as much as you could. If you couldn’t, you would instead try to soothe her. You found your bond becoming stronger this way. Your connection felt stronger, and your feelings were practically trying to burst out of your chest at this point. God, Kate was so cute. You wish you could hold her hand, take her out, and kiss her, but you just couldn’t. It was too conflicting for too many reasons, and you hated it. God, did you hate it.

Victoria seemed to know about your little crush on Kate, however. She and her two shadows would call you names and taunt you more than the usual if your paths crossed, and they would purposefully bully Kate even more. That made your blood boil, and you swore that you would go fist city if someone tried to physically harm Kate.

* * *

Turns out, you did have to go fist city. Not on Victoria, though, but some jocks out of all people.

You were at another Vortex party, steadily drinking your sorrows away. Everyone was having a blast, except for you. Dana noticed and tried to help, but to no avail. You told her not to worry about you, and instead have fun.

You had seen Kate earlier, looking like a brightly lit angel even in the dark and neon lighting. She wasn’t in what was dubbed as the “VIP” section, and you should have known that it would have gone to hell.

You didn’t see what happened, but you heard a loud shriek and SPLASH! that followed. Everyone had stopped to look what had happened, yourself included. You saw two of the jocks (you couldn’t see their faces from where you were) standing by the edge of the pool, laughing their asses off. You did see Kate resurface from the water, splashing and sputtering around.

Seeing red, you marched right over to the two sportsmen of Blackwell Academy. They were laughing, but that was going to change. As soon as you were in range, you empty the contents of your cup, soaking the closest one in alcohol.

“What the hell?” the jock yelled. You didn’t answer as you kicked him in the knee. He went down, grunting.

“You fucking dyke!” the second one shouted, reaching out for you. You stepped to the side, with him missing you completely. He lost his balance (you were shorter than he was), slipping and falling to the floor. It sounded like he busted his chin. You inwardly cringed, but felt no sympathy.

“Fuck you!” you shouted. It was as if time had stopped. You were sure everyone was staring at you. You didn’t care, though. You noticed that Kate was still in the water, visibly upset, but confused at the scene in front of her. You could feel your insides freeze in fear, but fuck it. (You were...tipsy to say the least.)

Ignoring everyone around you, you knelt down to the ledge, extending a hand out to Kate. Even if she was soaked, she was still very beautiful.

“Come on, Kate. Take my hand.”

Knowing she could trust you, Kate took your hand (you knew your face was flaming red. You could feel that tingling sensation when she touched you), and together the two of you were able to get her out of the pool. Water was dripping from her form, and she was shivering. She also lost one of her shoes. You couldn’t do anything about that at the moment, but you did offer her your jacket.

“Take it,” you said, handing to her. She accepted it.

“Thanks, [Y/N],” Kate said, and again you could feel that burning sensation. You loved hearing her say your name. The two of you stared at each other, before you decided to drag her out of that place. She would have to change, right?

“[Y/N], where are we going?” Kate questioned, as she noticed everyone was watching you two leave. You offered no answer as you finally made it outside, the door shutting behind you. “[Y/N]-”

Without thinking, you stopped, turning and pulling her in for a kiss. It felt so good as you did, her lips felt soft, just like you thought they would. Suddenly, a bell was going off your head, as you realized she wasn’t reciprocating. Shit! You pulled away fast, turning and started walking away. Fuck, you were stupid. You were so, so stupid.

Kate was calling out your name, but you were too buzzed for it to register. You found yourself in your dorm minutes later, closing and locking your door behind you. You were panting hard, as you slid down onto the floor, the tears forming in your eyes. Fuck, how could you be so stupid?

As you wallowed in your own pity, there was a rapid knock on your door. It scared the living hell out of you.

“[Y/N]?” You heard. You cursed as it was Kate. “[Y/N], can you open the door, please? I need to talk to you.”

You really didn’t want to open the door. You wanted to be selfish and never answer, never talk to Kate ever again. However, you couldn’t do that, especially to Kate. It wouldn’t be fair. She at least deserved some sort of explanation. Then you thought about what you could say. Do you lie? Do you lie, telling her you kissed her because you were drunk? Or do you tell the truth? Tell her the truth, saying that you kissed her because she was just so pretty and pure and--

“[Y/N]?” You heard Kate say softly. You realized you were stalling, even if it was unintentionally. Quickly you jumped to your feet, anxiously pulling at your doorknob before opening the door. Kate stood there, with a look you couldn’t exactly read. It wasn’t (pure?) disgust, worry....mystified? No, you were getting confused with yoursel--

Then you felt a soft pair of lips on yours. You must have staring at her for too long, or something, but you kissed back. Then you realized who exactly was kissing you, and pulled away. She almost followed you, but stopped.

“What the fuck?” You suddenly blurted. “I mean, I--I was asking myself that, not you! I, uh...I...” you were trailing off, but then you asked, “Why did you kiss me?”

Kate all of sudden looked shy. “Why did you kiss me?”

You couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle. You really weren’t expecting that. Well, maybe a little.

“Seriously, [Y/N], why did you kiss me?”

All of a sudden you felt as if tears were going to come out of your eyes. Why? Were you ashamed? Well, yes and no. Embarrassment? Maybe a little. Yeah, somewhat. Eventually, you took a deep breath.

“Because you’re really pretty,” you admit. “And I--Kate, I don’t know how to tell you this, because I--I...” you were having a little trouble speaking now, but Kate only gave you a soft look of understanding.

“You what? [Y/N], it’s okay. You can tell me,” Kate assured.

The funny thing is, you knew you could tell her, but it was just so hard to. How the fuck do you tell your (probably) straight crush that you like her? You nodded,  acknowledging her, and took another deep breath. Okay, you can do this. Here it goes...

“I love you,” you blurted out. You covered your mouth as soon as you said that. You felt your eyes go wide and your face heat up. You let your hand fall freely as you began again. “I mean, I, well....fuck. Kate, I like you. I like you a lot,”

You didn’t notice it, but Kate’s face was flushing pink as she looked down to the floor in a bashful manner.

“I know,” she admitted, smiling widely. Realizing she wasn’t mad or disgusted, you began to smile widely too, especially when she admitted, “I like you a lot too. But why did you run away?”

“I thought,” you began, pausing as you tried to word it properly. “I just, I kind of did that on a whim and I...didn’t think you would like me back.” Your voice became more soft, more quiet near the end as you looked down to your shoes.

“Oh,” Kate said. “Well, I’ll admit it did surprise me at first. I never thought--well, I never thought about....us together,” she admitted, and you felt your heart sinking. “But I like it. Can we...do that again?”

You looked back up to face her, knowing there was full hope but caution filling you up.

“You...you want to do it again?”

It was Kate’s turn to look nervous, as if she wanted to cry too, but she nodded.

“Yes.”

You stared at her for a moment, an uneasy feeling filling the both of you up due to the heavy silence in the air.

“Do you really want to?” you ask, wanting to be sure. Kate nodded in a timid manner. Oh, what the hell, you thought. What did you have to lose? You pull in Kate once more, your hands cradling her face as you kiss her. You kiss her with care, and not wanting to push it, since you didn’t want to overstep any boundaries. You smile as she reciprocates, and you two really start to kiss.

All of a sudden, you pull away. Not only do you study her face, but you look over her body as well.

“What?” Kate asks, nervous.

“You’re still wet!” you exclaimed. “You need to change.”

“But--” Kate began, but you silence her by pressing your index finger to her lips.