<2 WEEKS LATER>

"Who's that boy I keep seeing walk you to school?" I hear someone ask as I stand in front of Kelsey's house. Kelsey opens the door, a young woman following her outside of the house. Kelsey sighs and grabs my arm dragging me up her steps.
"Alex, this is Frank my friend. Frank, this is Alex my sister. Can we go to school now?" Alex ignores Kelsey and stares at me.
"How old are you?"
"Just turned 17."
"Have a girlfriend or boyfriend?"
"Alex!" Kelsey is ignored again. I shake my head uncomfortably. "Why would you ask that?"
"Reasons." Alex smirks at Kelsey, sending her a wink. Kelsey hisses at her sister.
"California I swear if you just hissed at your sister again..." Suddenly an older woman comes out, looking a lot like the two sisters. She looks annoyed, where as Kelsey's face is now blank. Alex looks a little worried, and a little mad too.
"No one minds her hissing." My jaw drops open. Kelsey's name is California? How did I not catch the teachers saying it? How am I so damn un observant.
"Everyone minds, they are just too nice to tell her. It's so annoying just like her!" Kelsey hasn't moved a muscle.
"It's part of her and you are wrong in both ways! Just like her name is Kelsey not California!" The lady turns to Kelsey.
"Why aren't you talking? Normally you are all dramatic and are talking the most." Kelsey grits her teeth.
"My friend is standing here and he doesn't need to know about our... Problems."
"You don't know what problems are. And I bet you just don't want to show another one of your bad sides to your only friend?"
"All of my sides are bad sides!"
"No they aren't." Everyone pauses to look at me. Alex looks at me, surprised. So does the lady. I can't read Kelsey's expression. "Let's go to school, Kelsey." I put emphasis on her name. I grab her backpack, and then her hand and we walk away. "We are gonna be late now."
"Sorry bout that." I look at Kelsey in concern.
"No I'm sorry you are treated that way. You don't deserve to be." Kelsey offers me a weak smile, it doesn't reach her eyes. I just sigh and squeeze her hand tightly. When we get to school Brendon seems to notice something is off. Everyone else acts normally.
"Sass queen!" I turn to see my friends laughing at Gerard. Kelsey called him a sass queen.
"Of course I am. What the fuck else would I be." Gerard mutters, trying and failing to hide a smile.
"Party poison!" Everyone looks at me weirdly. "What he asked." Kelsey laughs while everyone ignores my weirdness.
"Weirdo." Kelsey says smiling to herself.
"He is! He tried to climb into a coffin once." Ray remarks.
"What the hell?" Kelsey looks at Ray like he's the crazy one, then looks at me the same way. "How did you manage that?" Instead of surprised Kelsey looks excited. And I'm the weirdo. Ray continues his story.
"Well Gerard, Mikey, Frank, and I were helping out at a funeral home for some extra money. We had to carry some caskets, just the four of us. Thing is Frank is so short he just stood under the casket, being no help at all. Then he took a nap while we did some more work." Kelsey laughs.
"Just get to the point Ray." I mutter grumpily.
"Fine. Well when we were getting paid and stuff Frank decided he was going to try to climb into a casket. I tried to stop him. But for some reason, he was trying really hard. Eventually, he got into the casket while Gerard stood there giggling and Mikey just stared at us like we were stupid." Kelsey is now laughing so hard her face is red. I like her laugh. Shut up Frank. Today is art. So pretty much another day of me just staring at Kelsey's notebook. And that sounds really creepy. Just shut up Frank.
"What are you thinking about in that brain of yours?" Kelsey asks tapping my forehead.
"Umm nothing." I respond too quickly.
"Mhm sure." I roll my eyes and walk head, forgetting that I was still holding her hand. My eyes widened as she stumbled because of the sudden pull of my walking. She crashed into me, sending us both to the ground. My butt takes the fall. And it hurts. When I open my eyes she's lying on top of me, our noses almost touching. She scrambles off of me after a few seconds of staring into my eyes. Her eyes are so beautiful.
"What did you forget you were holding my hand?" She asks, standing up, and not meeting my gaze.
"Your hand felt so comfortable in mine I couldn't tell." I say winking. She finally meets my gaze, blushing a little. I like her blush.
"Flattery will get you know where." Kelsey says offering me her hand. I take it and ignore my friends taunts as we walk to our class, still holding hands.
~*~
As I start to walk Kelsey home, she starts to look angry. She's squeezing my hand so hard it hurts more than my butt did earlier.
"Do you wanna come over to my house today?" I ask, a little nervous. Kelsey looks as me, considering her options. Then she smiles really sweetly at me.
"Sure sure. Thanks Frankie." Kelsey hesitates a moment, then leans over and kisses my cheek. She continues walking, and holding my hand. I blush and follow closely behind. Then I want to face palm. I should've thought about inviting her over before I did. My moms probably drunk. Then it will be awkward because it would be just us.
"Is it okay if we are home alone?" Kelsey glances at me curiously, and nods. I'm grateful she doesn't ask any questions. But I guess I did the same for her. My house is closer to the school, so we get there faster than Im used to. I fumble with my key, not used to only using one hand, but I don't want to let go of Kelsey's hand. After a minute or so of Kelsey trying to suppress her laughter, we enter the living room. "Do you want to go to the kitchen, the living room, or my room?" I ask kind of nervously.
"Depends what's in each room." Kelsey says taking her shoes off, also struggling with one hand. I smirk but don't say anything.
"Well there's a TV in the living room, a guitar in my room, and food in the kitchen."
"Kitchen then your room." Kelsey says immediately. I laugh. We head to the kitchen, and I grab two Dr.Peppers, a bag of chips, and chip dip. Then we head to my room. Kelsey sits on the floor as soon as we walk in, so I sit next to her, learning against my bed. My room is pretty plain, but it has some of my photographs and band posters hanging up on the white walls. My bed has white sheets and a black comforter. There's a white dresser and desk with my guitar stand with its guitar. I hand Kelsey a drink, and we reluctantly let go of each other's hands so we can open our drinks. I open mine pretty quickly and watch her struggle as I open up the food.
"Need some help?" Kelsey glares at me but hands me the bottle anyways. I laugh and open right away.
"Don't comment." Kelsey grits her teeth as she snatches her drink back. I merely chuckle and put my hands in the air, in surrender. We eat and drink in silence, Kelsey barely eating anything. I frown but don't say anything. "You should play the guitar for me."
"Maybe if you ask nicely."
"Will you please play the guitar for me?"
"Hmm I think I need another kiss to make up my mind." I expect nothing, a kiss on the cheek at most like I asked for. But that's not what I get. Kelsey leans over and kisses me. Like really kisses me, full on the lips. The kiss felt amazing. It lasted a few minutes, not developing into anything more. Kelsey breaks the kiss, breathing heavily. She doesn't lean away, but instead puts her forehead against mine.
"Now will you play?" She asks quietly. She looks about as stunned as me.
"Give me a sec."
"Kk." We both speak quietly. After another couple minutes I reluctantly move and grab my guitar, sitting back down beside Kelsey. I sing her a song I wrote. It's about a trapeze artist I met once. At the end she stares at me. "Your voice is the most amazing thing I've even heard." She says in awe. I blush and look down. Kelsey puts her hand on my jaw and tilts my head so I meet her eyes. "It is. I'm not lying."
"Flattery will get you no where." I mutter. She laughs and puts her head on my shoulder. I continue playing songs I wrote while she just leans on me. Too soon Kelsey gets a call from her sister telling her to come home. "Want me to walk you home?"
"Nah I'm good. See you tomorrow morning?" Kelsey smiles brightly.
"Yup see you tomorrow morning." And that's how my first kiss went.