Friday, 29th of September

I was sitting in my last period on Friday and was trying my best not to tremble in fear. My fantastic girlfriend who looked out for me and helped me stay calm had been with me this whole first week of school.

But now, I had one class which she didn't take, art class. It was my first time being alone at this school, and although only forty-five minutes passed since Brea let go of my hand and hugged me in front of the classroom, I felt alone. I knew she was just outside this door, sitting in her wheelchair, and waiting for me to come back out again, not going anywhere.

But that didn't help me at all. I was close to shaking in fear and was happy that I managed to get a seat in the back so the other students wouldn't see the nervous twitches of my ears. I genuinely didn't know how the other students saw me; if they didn't care about me at all, if they were disgusted or if they maybe even liked me; I couldn't tell.

People are cruel. You usually won't be able to tell how someone feels towards you. Although most people seemed nice and treated me in a friendly way for now, I sometimes got a feeling that some of them looked at me with eyes which I knew well. When they thought that I wasn't looking, they were watching me, watching me with the eyes of fear, dislike, maybe even disgust.

But were they really?

It might have been just the looks of curiosity, interest, and wonder because of something new and uncommon. Curiosity about the new girl, interest in her cat ears and blue hair, and wonder about her sudden appearance in the senior year.

Telling the difference between those things wasn't a strong point of the little me. Whether I was watching them, listening when they talked with each other or analyzing how they interacted with me; I couldn't figure out how they felt.

I thought that I might need to talk with those people, open up to them, to trust them without knowing how they felt. Never would I have considered that before meeting Brea. But would that work like it did with her? Would the students turn out to be nice, friendly, accepting? Or would it end like it did with Maggie, me feeling betrayed, hurt, sad?

"How did she manage to be respected and liked by everyone?" I said quietly under my breath while looking at the drawing of Brea which I made just now. We were told to draw a thing that made us very happy. It could be anything; a person, an animal, a car... and without even thinking about it, I started drawing her. She was my happiness, my Love, my everything. There was nothing else to draw.

"Woah, you drew this in just this short amount of time!?" I suddenly heard a loud voice beside me, which made me jump in my seat. I turned around and saw a girl standing next to my table, looking at my drawing. When she noticed that her loud appearance scared me for a second, she apologized, "Oh, I'm sorry for making you jump like that. But this is awesome..."

Some other students noticed the girl's excitement and moved away from their seats to see my drawing. They started asking me questions of all sorts while I was getting nervous, not able to respond to any of them.

I heard the bell ring and thought I'd be free, but before I could get up from my seat, even more students stepped closer to my desk, closing me in.

"When did you start drawing?"

"Do you draw a lot?"

"How did you learn drawing so well?"

"That's that one girl from the cheer squad, isn't it?"

"Right, that's Brea! Why did you draw her?"

"I saw you two hug before, are you two related?"

"Do you know why she is in a wheelchair?"

The questions just kept on coming while I was sitting in the middle of this big group of students, starting to panic, "No, I-I... p-please..."

"Hey, people! Handicapped little princess passing through!" I heard Ida's voice loudly before the students parted and Brea rolled to me in her wheelchair.

"Hey, my Kitten, how was your first art lesson?" spoke Brea while smiling softly, her white teeth showing between her pink lips, "Seems like you got popular quite quickly... not sure if I like that."

I was confused, and I knew that Brea's loving eyes would see right through that. Without me saying anything, she explained, "I don't want people to start hitting on you, because you are mine and mine alone. So just to make sure..."

After saying that, she suddenly pulled me closer and kissed me right there in front of all those students. The classroom got quiet, and I saw all the students looking at us while our lips were still pressed together. My face felt hot, but I could see Brea's face become deep red too.

A few seconds later, our lips parted, and Brea spoke, "Come, it's time to attend the cheer squad meeting. The others are surely already waiting."

"Yes!" I cheerfully responded, and we made our way out of the class, our faces still reddish from embarrassment.

Loud chatter broke out in the class, and all the other students who saw us kiss were debating about what happened just now.

We made our way out of the school and over to the secluded building which was the cheer squad's gym and clubroom.

When we entered, Zarah, Kelly, and Amanda were already sitting at the big table, patiently waiting for us.

"Girls, let's welcome our newest member to the team. Alma, I hope you will enjoy your time with us from now on," greeted Zarah, followed by cheers from the other girls, "Here is the key to your locker. Your uniform and other small things are already in there."

"T-Thank you very much," I replied, my stuttering coming through again. I pushed Brea to the table before sitting down beside her so we could start the actual meeting.

We discussed when our first training would be and what kind of workout I should do, but slowly drifted off to just fun topics and funny stories that had happened over the last years in the cheer squad. I already knew that I would like it here and when Brea saw me smile with the other girls, she looked genuinely happy.

Once it was getting late, Brea and I said our goodbyes to the girls and went out to wait for Olivia to pick us up.

I sat down on a bench in front of the school, Brea sitting in her wheelchair right beside me. She put her hand on my thigh and started stroking it while asking, "How did you like your first week at school?"

"I don't really know... it wasn't as bad as I imagined it to be," I answered, then continued honestly, "but I'm sure it will be fine as long as you are there with me."

"That's good then. I also like school a lot more, now that you are there with me all the time," replied a smiling Brea, her beautiful eyes looking directly into mine. We both leaned closer and passionately kissed, while I fidgeted with the item in my pocket. I had been thinking about giving it to her for a while now but never knew when the right moment was.

"I have something for you, my Love," I said after our lips parted, "when I went to visit Mommy a few days ago, I went shopping with her and bought this. And since you lost yours in the accident..."

I pulled my hand out from my pocket, revealing the two bracelets I was carrying with me.

On my palm there was one light blue and one whitish bracelet, both having half a heart in the middle, which fitted together and stuck to each other with magnets, forming a whole heart. On her half of the heart, there was an A, while on my half was a B.

"Now we both have a bracelet that kind of has the other's hair color, so we will always be connected i-in a way," I spoke, my efforts not to stutter failing towards the end, "Give me your hand."

Brea stuck her wrist out, and I put on the light blue bracelet on her hand, closing it using the magnets on the bottom.

She looked at it for a moment and then spoke, "Thank you so much, my Kitten. This was unexpected, but it's so sweet... I love you."

Then she took the other bracelet from my palm and put it on for me. We held our wrists together, connecting the magnetic halves of the heart.

On my mind, I repeated the cheesy line I had memorized for this situation and then said, trying my hardest not to stutter, "Just like this bracelet, I'm only complete when you are by my side, so I promise you, now and forever, I will always be there for you and love you with all my heart, my Love."

Brea looked at me, seemingly stunned by my sudden speech, but then smiled and replied, "Not only your bracelet is missing a half when mine is not around; it's the other way around too. Only when you are there, cuddling me like you always do, I feel complete. So, I also promise you, I will forever love and support you, and make sure you experience nothing but happiness from now on. I love you, my little Kitten."

We then once again passionately kissed and hugged afterward, looking at the sun that was slowly setting behind the trees.

And I knew, all that had happened in my life, every unfortunate event that was burned into my mind, was worth it to be able to sit here and hold this girl in my arms.