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~~~

"Come here," I say, and she leans closer. I bring my lips close to her ear, whispering the events that happened the day I broke my leg.
I tell her how I had planned to ask my crush to homecoming by standing on top of a picnic table and having Leah hand me the poster, but we didn't rehearse it. Hazel giggles as I explain how I twisted my ankle on the way up and then fell down right in front of them, my legs tangling in the table legs, and how I lay there in excruciating pain.

Hazel pulls away a bit, covering her mouth with her hand. "That's crazy. And they saw you?"

"Yep," I say. "Every minute of it. And Leah had the audacity to hand me the poster after we made it to the hospital."

Hazel laughs again. "Oh, gosh."

"I know. And you know what the worst part is?" I say, leaning closer to her.

"What?" Hazel breathes, leaning in as well.

"They had a boyfriend the whole time."

"Oh, God." She laughs. For some reason, I feel a sense of victory from getting such a reaction from her. Her hair unravels a bit from its unfinished braid, and she rushes to fix it, smiling widely. Using the hair tie around her wrist, she secures the braid. The braid creates a similar effect as the ponytail from the first tutoring session, bringing more attention to her face's beauty. "Boyfriend?" She questions, still smiling, but slightly confused.

Shit. I forget being gay isn't a norm for most people.

I scratch the back of my neck, suddenly nervous. "Uh . . ."

"What, did he end up being gay?" She asks.

Fuck.

When you come out of the closet, nobody tells you that you're going to have to keep coming out multiple times throughout your life. Nobody tells you that even though it's not as terrifying as the first time, it's still scary.

I don't know how she's going to take this. Maybe I should just lie and agree that 'he' was gay.

No, I can't do that. God knows I'm a horrible liar. And what about that pretty silver cross necklace that she always wears? I've never heard her talk about any kind of organized religion she was a part of, but she could very well be religious and hate me for it. But I don't know why I care so much. If she did hate me, I could just get another tutor. I have enough money.

But I don't want another tutor. I want her.

Fuck.

God, why am I so scared? This is worse than when I came out to Leah because I knew she would love me unconditionally. I feel like I might be overreacting, but I also recognize that this fear is very real.

"Casey?" she says, her eyebrows knitting together in concern. I must look insane on the outside. She leans forward and touches my arm, which doesn't help. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, um, sorry," I say.

She looks at me like she doesn't know what to say.

"Um, what were you saying?"

"I asked if your crush was gay."

I take a deep breath. "No, he's not." I answer, and Hazel looks even more confused. I look away. "He's a she."

I'm avoiding her eyes, but when she doesn't say anything after a couple of seconds, I look up. She's smiling.

She doesn't lean back in disgust or anything, and my brows furrow in confusion.

She laughs a little. Shaking her head and making circles on the couch cushion with her finger, she says, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed." Her cheeks are a little rosy as she meets my eyes. "I have a habit of assuming everyone is straight when I first meet them. I guess it's kind of a buffer for . . . well, you know."

It scares me how quickly my heartbeat picks up. My lips spread into a wide smile that I'm sure meets my eyes, and after five seconds of just looking at her, I look away. How is she so perfect?

"Yeah." I say, even though I have no idea what she's talking about. Jesus, calm the fuck down.

Hazel looks away as well, before speaking again. "Did she ever find out you were trying to ask her out?"

I shake my head. "Nope. She probably thinks I had an aneurysm or something." Hazel grins. "Nobody knows the truth except for Leah."

Hazel looks at the couch again. "You told me, though." She says. "Now I know the truth, too."

My gaze falls to her lips, but I blink and return them to her eyes.

"Yeah, but I trust you." I say, arching an eyebrow to show I'm half-joking. "And you told me your secrets too."

Likely out of embarrassment, her cheeks become a little pink.

I shake my head, saying, "I know it's silly, and I shouldn't care, but, you're not going to go around telling everyone how I actually got injured, right?"

She smiles. "No, of course not."

"Okay, good, because I have a reputation to keep."

"I see." She says.

~~~

People start to leave the house, and before I know it, only Hazel, Landon, Leah and I remain.

"I'll drive you home." I say after Hazel reunites with her brother outside.

She frowns at me. "Casey. I can just call an uber. That's how we got here."

"But that costs money. And besides, it isn't safe to be in a car with a stranger this late at night."
I open the door to the backseat and Landon immediately climbs inside and buckles his seatbelt.

With Landon already settled, Hazel can no longer protest, and she shakes her head slowly. "You're going to be the death of me, Casey."

I just grin, knowing I won, and hold the car door open for her.

When we reach her house, Hazel turns to the backseat and sighs. Curious what the issue is, I turn as well and see that Landon is fast asleep. So Hazel gets out of the car and opens his door, and I approach her as she unbuckles his seatbelt. She tries to wake him up, but he doesn't budge. Frowning, she says, "He sleeps like a stone. I don't know how to get him out of the car."

"Here." I say, and I lift him easily by the armpits. Hazel looks like she's about to protest, but then she shuts the car door.

"You know what, I'm not even going to argue." She says.

So I carry Landon to the front door.

"Looks like my mother's gone again." Hazel says when we step inside her house, throwing her hands up.

"I can carry him to bed," I offer.

Hazel shakes her head. "He weighs like a ton. There's no way you're going up the stairs with him."

I shrug. "He's not that heavy."

Hazel frowns again. "Casey . . ."

"Watch me." I say.

I climb the stairs with little difficulty, and Hazel follows closely behind me so she can 'catch him if I fall'.

I obviously don't fall, and Hazel flicks on the light to his room. It's a very nice room too, with his bed in the corner and a few half-constructed legos on the floor. I set him on his bed and look around the room while Hazel tucks him in. There are also a few Spiderman posters on the wall, which I nod in appreciation at.

"He likes Spiderman?" I say.

"Yeah. His father got it for him when he left."

"Hm. Excellent choice; I'm jealous."

As we exit the room, Hazel turns off the light, then turns to me. "Hey, thank you so much. For everything. You're a great person."

I shrug. "I try."

"I'm serious, Casey. You're literally such an angel." She says, as we step outside. She walks me to my car.

"You're the angel." I say without thinking.
I'm surprised I can see her cheeks get slightly darker, because the only light is from the streetlamp above us.

"So," she starts. I swear my heart stops beating when her gaze falls to my mouth. "Tutoring tomorrow, right?"

"If it's still on." I say.

~~~

Hazel tutors me on Sunday over the phone, and before I know it, it's Monday; the day of the test, and the first game of the girls' soccer season. It's funny how the two fall on the same day, where my nerves are doubled to an unhealthy level.

To say Mr. Cromey's tests are hard would be an understatement. But maybe it's just me, because I never understood what was going on in that class.

After saying bye to Leah in the student parking lot, I walk to my math class. I memorized everything Hazel told me to, but there have been times in other classes where I studied like crazy only for my mind to go completely blank during their exams.

The tables are spread back out into rows when I enter the class, making the atmosphere even more ominous. Everybody settles into their seats, and Mr. Cromey hands out the tests. Taking a deep breath, I flip through the packet. It doesn't have that many questions, at maximum, thirty. I flip the test over and start from the last question, something I learned to do that helps me not get distracted. I smile to myself as I read the first question, which is about 'e', because it's just like the one Hazel and I went over. I answer it quickly and do the same with the other questions.

I finish with a few minutes to spare, and go over my answers. Mr. Cromey then calls for the remaining tests and I stand up and turn it in.

After the bell rings, I enter the hallway. I don't feel that worried about the test; I'm honestly just glad it's over.

Carson finds me and updates me about Science Girl, then dissappears.

The rest of my classes go by quickly, and before I know it, it's time for the game. I walk with Leah to the locker rooms when the bell rings.

"Are you nervous?" Leah asks me as I fill up my water bottle at the fountain.

"I'm not sure." I answer. "Who are we against again?"

"Kramerton Academy High," she says. I close my water bottle and we continue to the locker rooms. "It's some preppy private school."

"Are they good?" I ask, taking off my backpack and opening the soccer bag in my locker. Emilia and Maddie are already changing when we enter.

Leah shrugs. "This is the first year we've played them."

Maddie walks over to us, with one cleat and one sock on. "I heard they're really good. Their coaches are like ex-professional players or something."

Now I'm a bit worried. Leah sees my face, and quickly says, "It's okay. I bet we have better team spirit than they do. We'll be fine."

Putting on my cleats, we exit the locker rooms and walk out to the field. The game starts in thirty minutes, and there are already a couple people sitting in the bleachers as we start our

The other team arrives, and the game starts. Like Coach said, I get a lot of playing time, and by halftime, I'm thirsty and exhausted, and I drink so much water that I think I'm going to pass out. The other team is good and they play hard, but their sportsmanship sucks. Maddie blocks a player, making it easy for me to score, and the player calls her a nasty slur.

That's when the anger kicks in. It was a completely legal play; there was no reason for her to say such a thing. Everyone on the team warned me not to get angry and aggressive, but am I just supposed to let that slide? Once the player has the ball again I charge at her, 'accidentally' shoving her out of the way with my hip and score. I see Leah frown at me across the field, but look away and continue playing.

I somehow get the ball again, and the girl tails me close behind. When I'm emotional, I become uncoordinated and messy, and sure enough, the girl steals the ball. Glaring, and determined specifically not to let her win, I cut her off and she trips and falls to the ground. Taking the ball back, I score, but the ref blows his whistle. Throwing my hands up, I yell, "Come on, that was legal!"

The ref holds her hand up to silence me, which makes me angrier. Then I feel a hand on my shoulder, and I turn harshly.

"Case. Calm down. Are you trying to get kicked out again?" Leah says, glaring at me.

She's referring to the time I got kicked off the team freshman year, for picking a fight with a player from the opposing team.

I shake my head. "Sorry. I'm sorry."

I try to play more fairly, and at this point I'm not even sure what the score is.

By the time the game ends, it's dark outside, and I'm exhausted and done for the day. But we won.
We say 'Good Game' to the opposing team, and then I look at the bleachers. They're much more packed than they were last year and the year before.

Coach blows her whistle to tell us to huddle up, and she congratulates us and gives us pointers on what we could have done better. Then we break and people start to leave. I'm more tired than pissed now, and I pack my things kind of slowly.

Leah and I were supposed to leave together, but she must be somewhere else right now. Packing up my soccer bag in the locker room, I don't bother changing into sweats because we were just going to go straight home after the game. I exit the locker room and there are still a couple people hanging around the field and on the bleachers. As I'm about to pass the bleachers, someone taps me on the shoulder.

"Hi Casey."

A/N:

This was a long chapter, but I promise it's worth it if you stick around.

Don't forget to vote!!!

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