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This is how the planned meeting came about.

The intrusive strawberry blonde blew up Jade's phone with multiple texts asking about the brunette's whereabouts and dramatically complaining about how bored she was in class without her.

But of course, the brunette initially ignores the texts, hiding deeper beneath her bedsheets expecting the text messages to stop at some point.

But they never do.

Jade decided to reply after the twentieth message since the constant buzzing disrupted her attempts at slumber. After she simply replied "at home", Lucia called, demanding to come over after school. She wouldn't give up until Jade succumbed to her dedication. Jade begrudgingly said yes as her eyelids fluttered in fatigue. After hanging up on the phone with Lucia, Jade wondered if Lucia decided to work that hard at her schoolwork, would the strawberry blonde have success academically?

Jade gave in, desperate for sleep but also desperate for a friend. It's been a while since she's had one of those. It would be nice to have someone else around to make her laugh. Yeah, she'll admit that Lucia's extravagant personality can make her laugh at times. Jade finds Lucia's kookiness entertaining, but no one would be able to tell with how she reacts to the girl's odd tendencies. She usually laughs on the inside.

After having brunch with her sister, Jade is more open to the idea. I need to at least try to make one friend in this fucked town.

She is kind of nervous about the whole 'having people over her house' crap. It just makes her feel vulnerable, which is a feeling that makes her bones rattle in disgust and discomfort.

Even back in her old town, she never invited people over because she was afraid of how people would judge her highly dysfunctional family. Specifically, she didn't want people to meet her mother.

She remembers the last time someone her age came over. It ended with a crying girl, upset at why her own mother never told her that she had an evident lisp. Mrs. Hill was content with pointing the unique attribute out to the nine-year-old playmate. The lisp was something everyone ignored and accepted but, of course, it was Mrs. Hill's duty to inform the little girl, allowing the words to fall out of her mouth without thought. A common occurrence with Jacqueline Hill, that has convinced her family to believe it to be some sort of personality trait.

Before Jade knows it, her room is spotless with only having to pick up a few things off the ground. Her room was always clean, carrying a minimalistic aura to it. With a mother that constantly nags about cleanliness, how could she not be a clean-freak herself?

Suddenly, the piercing and unfamiliar sound of the doorbell dings throughout the residence. Jade stops in her motions before immediately jogging out of her bedroom.

She doesn't want Melanie to get a hold of Lucia before her.

But as she reaches the front door, it's too late.

"Hello, your Jade's friend right?" Melanie welcomes in a bright tone as she holds the large front door open. A friendly smile, plastered across her face as she steps aside to allow the girl in. The bright strawberry blonde hair initially catching her by surprise. She didn't expect someone like Lucia to be Jade's friend. She just seems so... bubbly, but the sister doesn't judge. Melanie is glad that Jade has made a new friend since it seemed the younger brunette didn't have many at their old school for some reason.

Jade squints at her sister from afar as she slowly walks up. Why is she acting like she's... normal?

"We're actually soulmates," Lucia starts before cupping her hand around her mouth and whispering, "but she doesn't like to admit it."

Melanie slowly nods pretending to understand, refusing to crack a smile at Lucia's craziness. She likes this girl's energy already.

"Ja-" Melanie starts to yell but halts when she notices an unimpressed Jade beside her.

Jade ignores her sister and makes eye contact with the smiling strawberry blonde girl. She carefully eyes her, taking in the silky turquoise peasant top paired with a tight mid-length white skirt barely reaching her knees. Jade nods mentally, approving of the outfit but preferring it in all black. The girl's obsession with wearing all-black becoming evident. She mutters, "Follow me," once she catches those bright emerald green eyes.

The brunette turns on her heels and starts walking away, expecting Lucia to follow suit. Of course, she does by the way her beige Jesus sandals tap against the hardwood floor. Jade isn't particularly a fan of the style of sandals but who is she to judge anyone for their sense of style.

Melanie desperately yelps out, "Just let me know if you two want anything to snack on."

Lucia looks back with an innocent smile while she stumbles to keep up with Jade's pacing.

"Thanks, mom," Jade announces with a straight face as she continues walking.

Lucia rushes up to Jade while simultaneously craning her neck, her eyes dancing around the beautiful home surrounding her. She wasn't aware that Jade was rich, rich. The home looked big on the outside, but once you're inside it's even more gorgeous and luxurious.

The expensive-looking chandeliers and the brand-new look of everything have Lucia's mouth involuntarily hanging out.

Jade glances back the girl to see her amazement, leading her to turn back around and sigh.

It's cute that Lucia finds interest in all of this because Jade doesn't. Jade has never paid much attention to the amount of wealth that her family carried. She's just seen it as living in nice houses and never really having to worry much about financial issues, but she's never thought of herself as rich. She could give a fuck less about being rich, especially when her parents are never around to enjoy it with her. She always wished she had the stereotypical family that always hung around each other and shared a mutual love and respect for one another, but that wish was squashed once she became painfully aware of a little thing known as, reality.

Jade doesn't look back before opening her bedroom door. A part of her is anxiously quaking on the inside but she would never show it.

She finds that Lucia has finally caught up when she feels a dense breath on her neck. The heat makes her neck hairs stand in distress as her lips turn up and her eyes quint.

"Is she really your mom? She looks great for her age," Lucia complements, voice laborious as she tries to catch her breath from speed walking after Jade throughout the large home.

"You're really gullible, aren't you?" Jade asks as they both step into her room, Lucia following closely behind the brunette.

Lucia's bright emerald Bambi eyes focus on Jade. "What? It's a genuine assumption."

"She's my sister," Jade sighs, giving up. She decides to awkwardly stand off to the side as Lucia takes a look around her bedroom like a detective checking out a crime scene. It feels odd having someone in her most sacred place. Especially the place where she's just spent three days sulking in.

Lucia eventually gets tired of staring at nothing but a polished-black dresser drawer with one framed picture of Melanie and Jade and a tall matching black bookcase full of various books. She plops herself comfortably onto the middle of Jade's bed.

Jade doesn't have much in her room, especially since she just moved here a couple of weeks ago.

Jade was never the one to decorate her room since there was never anything to decorate it with. There were no fond memories that she was proud enough of to capture in polaroids and hang throughout her room. There were no trophies and no medallions to hang. There was nothing to make her feel special, besides her books. They are all she has.

"What's up with this wellness visit?" Jade questions, cocking a brow at the girl that lies way too comfortable on her King-sized bed.

"Friends should check up on one another," Lucia suggests as she indulges in the depth of the mattress. Her eyes shutting in bliss momentarily.

"We're not friends. We're acquaintances," Jade states, her face blank.

Lucia rolls her eyes before sitting up on the bed, "Would you let an acquaintance just show up to your house and take over your bed?"

Jade cuts her eyes away from the girl. She doesn't even know why she let this girl get away with all of this. She's never let anyone in so quickly.

"Exactly. But the answer to your question is that I missed you at school today. I didn't have anyone with dry dark humor to make me laugh," Lucia says, sending an innocent pout in Jade's direction.

"That's nice to know," Jade grumbles sarcastically.

"Plus, that blonde football player kind of asked me about you for some reason. It was weird~," Lucia exaggerates with her manicured fingers.

"Really?" Jade's eyes widen but immediately revert to their original size upon seeing the way Lucia's face contorts. She coughs in the depths of her throat to straighten out her voice, "What'd she want?" Jade cuts dryly as she recovers from the voice crack.

Lucia gives Jade a tentative look before continuing, "Uh, yeah. She saw me in the hall this morning after first period and straight-up asked me if I talked to you this weekend. The girl isn't one to shove around the bush it seems," Lucia offhandedly adds, getting sidetracked, "Anyways, I told her... well, I didn't exactly tell her anything since I was too afraid to open my mouth in her presence, but after a second, I just spit out the word 'no' and then she turned her shoulder on me and went on her merry way. The girl is just so intimidating that it's actually kinda hot. I'm serious, if I was about that life, I would-"

"Okay, I get it," Jade chimes in, interrupting Lucia's momentary crushing on Kinsey. Her annoyance with Lucia already becoming prevalent, while the girl has only been here for a couple of minutes.

"Suit yourself." Lucia shrugs.

Lucia lazily drops back onto the bed, the memory foam engulfing every bit of her smaller being.

"So, what did my Jade do all day alone?" Lucia playfully coos.

"She did nothing," Jade replies plainly. That is an understatement.

"Damn, I was hoping you were actually interesting outside of school," Lucia says before sending a mischievous smile in Jade's direction.

"Good one," Jade nods approvingly, "I see I've worn off on you."

Lucia snickers at the brunette. "So you really did nothing, huh. You don't have some secret boyfriend from your old school or anything." Lucia lights up at the thought, hoping to have the brunette spill some tea about her old school.

"Nope, not even close," Jade quickly concludes. The statement saying much more than Lucia could ever make of it.

Lucia nods, accepting the challenge of getting this girl to open up to her.

"Have you ever experimented?" She spouts, casually making angels in Jade's bedding the same way one would make snow angels.

The brunette cuts her eyes at the relaxed strawberry blonde. How the fuck did we get here?

"What does this have to do with anything?" Jade questions slowly, not trying to get ahead of herself.

Lucia chuckles, "Y'know what I mean Jade." The girl swiftly pushes herself up from the bed to eye Jade up and down. "With girls."

Jade's face heats at the thought because the only thing that comes to mind is an image of Kinsey.

"Aha! You have!" Lucia mocks and points at the unconscionably blushing girl before her. "I knew I could find something interesting that you've done. Now I need details."

Jade can't stop the hue of pink displaying across her face. She ignores the snide diss from Lucia as she curses her inability to control her feelings. The brunette looks away, her eyes glancing over at the large bookcase that makes up half of the wall in her bedroom.

"I-, " Jade stammers but shuts her mouth, having no words for what is going on at the moment. A usual feeling she has when she's around Lucia. "Why does it matter?" She finally lets out, pulling her stoic face back on.

"It matters because I want to know. I'll tell you about mine," Lucia confidently discloses as a huge smile runs across her face. "It was pretty magical. I mean don't get me wrong, I'm straight as a board but experiencing a kiss with another girl was something that really had me questioning if I was as straight as a wooden pencil or as straight as one of those rubber bendy pencils."

Jade raises her brows in surprise as the girl babbles on but remains quiet, too shocked to say a thing but also afraid that saying something would ruin the moment and put the spotlight on her.

Lucia continues on like an elderly woman telling a story about back in the day, not even asking if Jade wants to hear the story.

"It was our freshman year of high school and she was my best friend. We were so close like two peas in a frickin' pod close, maybe closer. We were always either at my house or her house and one day we were both at mine. I remember clearly, we were joking around like the crackheads that we were and we got to talking about sexuality and stuff because that's what best friends do," she says glimpsing over at Jade.

Jade cringes internally at the label, best-friend. The word bringing back painful memories that she's been trying hard to ignore. She distracts herself by diverting her attention back to Lucia. Her stance is stable as her back leans against the wall with her right leg crossing over the other.

Lucia continues, Jade's sudden awkwardness going unnoticed, "Long story short, we decided to experiment and we kissed. But the kiss wasn't something that I've ever felt. It was insane. It felt like there should have been fireworks going off in the background, all dramatic like a frickin' movie. I felt on cloud nine and I never wanted to come down. It was weird because I felt safe, probably because she was my best friend, but I also felt greedy because I didn't want it to end," Lucia pauses as she looks out into the empty wall space besides Jade's head as if imagining the whole event all over again. Her emerald eyes shining bright with reminiscence and her lips in a tight smile. "I tried with a few other girls, ultimately figuring out that I'm straight as shit but hey, at least I didn't knock it before I tried it." Lucia shrugs off.

Jade stares softly at the strawberry blonde. Instead of looking at her in confusion, Jade holds a glint of admiration for the way the girl spoke so freely about her experience. An experience Jade would have never expected her to have.

Jade can't seem to shake how much she clung onto every word. It's crazy how she finds the words to explain exactly how she felt both of the times that she's kissed Kinsey.

Yes, the times that she's kissed Kinsey back.

At this point, Jade knows that something in her wanted to kiss Kinsey from the jump but she doesn't know what. Reflecting on it for the past couple of days has had her peeling back layers of herself, leading her to accept that she enjoyed kissing the blonde, but now what troubles her the most is figuring out how much her feelings extend to. Does she really like girls? She couldn't, it's unorthodox. But why did it feel so right every time she ended up kissing Kinsey?

"What happened to her?" Jade inquires, suddenly curious.

Lucia chuckles lightheartedly, "She moved away."

"Do you miss her?"

"Of course I do, but when you're a navy brat like she was, you gotta go," Lucia admits as her bright tone slowly falters but picks right back up. "Hey, I didn't take a forty dollar Uber all the way across town to talk about me. What's up with you? How was your night with Ms. Star Football Player, Kinsey Scott?" Lucia exaggerates by mimicking the way an announcer would introduce a player onto the field.

"Nothing memorable."

"You're kidding, right?" Lucia quirks her brow at Jade.

"What?"

"At this point, you're insulting the little intelligence that I do have by acting the same way you did at the library. You're hiding something and I will find out if it's the last thing I d-"

"We kissed."

The room freezes.

Fuck.

Jade's instant regret isn't enough to turn back time and make those words go away. Her head slumps as she stands by the door with her arms crossed. She's done it, she's completely fucked up.

Why'd she say it? No one was forcing her. Maybe she felt that Lucia wouldn't judge her, but admitting it to someone is nothing Jade could ever fathom herself doing.

But why doesn't she feel like complete shit? Why does it feel as though a weight has been lifted off of her chest?

"Was she a good kisser?"

"What?" Jade snaps her head up to look up at Lucia.

"Was she any good?" Lucia says again. "I mean, not many can say they kissed Kinsey Scott," Lucia replies calmly, patiently waiting for an answer as she remains laid out on the bed.

"You're not the least bit shocked?" Jade asks with her brow raised. This girl continues to fucking surprise me.

"I mean... Of course, I'm shocked! My little straight heart is exploding right now!" Lucia yelps, rapidly pushing herself up to rest back on her elbows.

I spoke too soon.

Jade shakes her head, realizing that she gave her way too much credit.

"Can't you at least keep it down," Jade pleads in a whisper, finally raising her head at the girl sprawled across her bed. She isn't ready to have to explain to her sister how she ended up kissing Kinsey for a second time.

"Okay, but can you blame me. Damn, I should've known she swang that way. But you, you-"

"Please shut the fuck up for a second," Jade instructs as she quickly brings her palm forward to signal Lucia to give her a moment.

Lucia immediately respects Jade's wishes, observing how awkward the brunette is about this. Her fingers anxiously pull the messy brown strands of hair surrounding the sides of her face behind her ear, while her right foot nervously makes shapes in the carpet.

"Can I get details, though?" Lucia inquires, giving it a shot.

"No."

"Did you like it?"

Jade pauses, looking up at the girl before hesitantly looking off to the side, "Fuck off."

"Aw, you did. Defensiveness is the first sign of a lie. Come on, you should know better, Jade," Lucia informs.

The huge grin on Lucia's face makes Jade squirm internally.

"Wow," Lucia exasperates, "It makes sense now," she whispers under breath as she nods her head.

Jade quirks a brow at the girl, interested by what makes sense.

"The looks. You guys aren't discrete at all. I thought it was just because you were awkward as hell, but the way you guys were acting around each other the other day at football practice. You got defensive when I basically said that I would jump her bones if I got the chance."

"Okay, this conversation is over," Jade decides as she gets shivers from the thought of Lucia and Kinsey together.

"Do you like her?"

"What?" Jade interjects, jokingly smiling. "You're fucking hilarious. It was just one kiss. It doesn't mean anything."

"So, why'd you tell me?"

"I just needed to get it off of my chest, that's all. I'm not gay."

Jade states this as if the two hadn't kissed more than once. She decides that revealing one instance is enough for the loose-lipped strawberry blonde to know about.

"Is that why you didn't come to school?"

"I officially call an end to this conversation. Thanks for coming by," Jade starts, with a sarcastic tight-lipped smile as she walks towards the girl to get her off the bed.

"Nope," Lucia states, instantly relaxing all the muscles in her body so that her body weight keeps her in place as the brunette wraps her hands around her upper arm, attempting to pull her up. The bigger girl grunts with each pull, making no progress.

"Girl, this conversation has only just begun," Lucia announces, knowing that no persistent bone in her body will stop her from asking questions nonstop. She grabs for the penguin Pillow Pet at the far corner of the bed and gets comfortable, switching her position to lie on her stomach with her hands placed under her chin, patiently staring up at Jade.

Jade sighs as the girl's bright colored eyes burn through her own as if looking through to her soul. Fuck it.

So, for the next couple of minutes, Lucia listens in silence and shock as the brunette tells her most of everything that happened on Friday with Kinsey.

Some parts being left out, for more obvious reasons.

But no matter how much Jade wants to hate it, she feels a sense of relief at being able to talk to someone about the girl that's single-handedly turned her world upside down. She knows that at this point, she's fucked.

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Whew... this is one of my longest chapters yet? I hope it wasn't too boring. I've been going through writer's block for the past couple of days so that's why I haven't been able to publish but I'm slowly forcing myself out of it.

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There's a lot that went on so I'm just gonna ask, how do you feel at the end of this? What are your thoughts on anything that happened?

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I hope I didn't let you guys down. Comment and vote to show support! I love you all and I can't wait to bless y'all with another chapter.❤️