Going home felt good. I told myself that, anyway.

I got visited by everyone. The one person who didn't tiptoe around me was Kate. Laurie was being overbearingly kind. Felix was ignoring the elephant in the room and talking about anything and everything but what happened. Tiffany was quiet. Uncomfortable.

When I got back, I wanted to hide in my room. However, Rey asked me to stay where he could see me. I get the concern, but it felt somewhat humiliating to have to be babysat.

I slept that night. I don't know how. But I nodded off at 11 and didn't wake until 10 the next morning. I'm quite sure I needed it.

So, here I am now. My hair is straightened out, away from it's natural wavy state. I'm planning on dying it later today. It's dark brown currently but I find myself craving something different. Silver? Blonde? Pink?

Katelyn and I gaze at the array of colours in the boxed dyes. Their hair is glossy and black. I envy it.

"Ok, are you bleaching it?"

"If I want the dye to even touch it I'll have to." I smile slightly.

"Ok. What colour are you going?"

"Um..." I look at them all and eventually decide on a silvery blonde sort of shade. I hope it doesn't look shit.

We head back to Katelyn's house after. They say something in Japanese to their mother, who smiles at me briefly.

We go upstairs. Their bathroom is a nice, open space, and they instruct me to sit down while they brush out my hair.

Bleaching it was the first step. According to the packet you need to wait between bleaching and dying it, however we do not care about the rules.

We're in that bathroom for hours and hours. Bleaching it alone changes me drastically and I realise lighter hair does actually look quite nice.

Once the actual ashy blonde dye is on, they sigh in relief. "Not much left to do now."

"Mm." I smile slightly.

Kate smiles at me. "You look cute like that."

"I do?"

"Mmhmm." They place a hand on my shoulder. "Bee... can I say something?" 

"Sure."

"I... look, I feel like... we have a lot of chemistry. And I totally understand if you don't feel the same way but... well... I like you. I like you alot."

I smile. I love it when they're flustered.

"I do feel the same way."

"Oh. Good." They smile, like it wasn't the answer they were expecting. "Very good."

We look at each other for a moment, and burst out laughing.

"So, you wanna put a label on it?" I ask. "Partner?"

"Whatever you want. Girlfriend. Partner."

"Ok. Girlfriend-partner." I smile.

"Now get that dye from your hair. It'll be snapping off."