The photo

After returning home a few hours later, all Reef wanted was to do was to eat something warm and go back to bed. She was definitely fed up with loud music and crowds of people she had to manoeuvre between to get the best shots possible. At one point, she almost dropped the camera when someone unexpectedly pushed her. It's as if people completely forget about the others as soon as the music is played loud.

Zaire seemed to avoid her for the rest of the event. Admittedly, she had nothing more to say to her, but it still bothered her a bit. She only talked to Milan for a while and thanked her for inviting her. Luckily, the blonde didn't mention Owen, and Reef didn't intend to bring it up on purpose. Of all the people in the auditorium, it felt as if at least half, if not more, had already found out about what had happened that night. Somehow she did not believe Zaire's words that rumours about them would not spread in school. More likely it had already happened.

"Is it really such a big that I've kissed another girl?" she thought at one point. After a while, however, she came to the conclusion that it indeed was. She had never heard of any same-sex couple in a fairly small circle of her friends, or even in the entire school, that had never caught her eye. It's rather obvious that most people will be curious about them. She could only hope that the rumours wouldn't reach anyone in her family's ears, which was unlikely given Rio had attended the same school as her. So sooner or later he would find out about everything.

Or was she just exaggerating? Maybe it will not be that bad, and by the time the new school year begins, rumours about her will just have slowly wasted away? They will become a boring topic and another, more interesting one will emerge?

"I hope you didn't lie to me this time," her mother said greeting her as she entered the kitchen. She didn't even turn to face her. It is unknown how the woman was able to recognize each member of her family by his gait.

"No this time," she replied apologetically. She sighed. "I am sorry for yesterday. I just didn't know what you were going to say about the idea, and I really wanted to go there."

The woman stopped washing the dishes and turned to her. "You don't have to hide anything from me, I hope you are aware of that."

"Yes, of course."

"We can talk about anything."

"Of course. I know that."

"And yet you tried to hide this party from me."

"I wanted to tell you, but I didn't know how," the girl protested. "Anyway, I have a right to privacy."

"What if an accident happened and something serious happened to you?"

"That's exactly what took place there," the girl thought but preferred not to say it. In this way, it would only raise even more questions.

"Of course you can keep your secrets. No parent knows everything about their child, but there are things you should keep me informed about. Just for safety."

Reef nodded, not wanting to prolong this conversation. An advantage and a disadvantage of the mother, who works as a psychologist was the fact that she always tried to be the "understanding" parent. Especially since she had to take care of raising three children herself. The girl could certainly confide in her, but at that moment she didn't know what to make of it all. As long as it was calm, she preferred not to cause a storm and to enjoy probably the last sunny moments.

"Did you at least have a good time?" The woman asked again.

"Yeah ..." she replied after a moment's hesitation. "For my first party in my life, it was really fun."

"So it was worth lying?"

"I did not say that."

"But thought."

"No!" Reef rolled her eyes, but was glad her mother wasn't that angry with her. "I promise I will never do it again!"

"Don't try to make promises you can't keep and you probably won't even try to," her mother said with a smile, ignoring her protests. "Are you hungry? We've just had dinner, so you'll have to make your own something."

"You really left me nothing?" The blonde moaned sadly.

"You didn't let us know when you would be back."

"But I would come back, sooner or later."

"I wasn't sure. Especially now."

"Is there anything I could eat as soon as possible?" She asked desperately.

"Sandwiches?"

"What else?"

The woman sighed. "Give me a moment. I'll prepare something."

Reef used the time to shower and brush the tangled hair she had kept tied up in a high ponytail all day. She hoped the hot water, sweat and makeup remnants would wash away the memories of that night as well, but those were vivid in her mind.

She really didn't drink much. Enough to start having fun but stay sane.

"Sane?" She thought bitterly.

Okay, maybe she had drunk a little too much, making the world a little chaotic, out of focus, full of deafening music and heavy bass, but she remembered everything that had happened then.

"How did I come home then?" Flashed through her mind, causing another wave of embarrassment.

She definitely drank too much after all.

The movie cut off her more or less at the end of the party. It was three or four in the morning, and she and Owen had spent long hours on the dance floor. She didn't even notice when they started talking to each other, as if they had known each other for a long time, though she couldn't remember what they were talking about. She only heard her voice and felt their clasped hands. However, Zaire herself said that such things did happen. Most of the people gathered there were already quite heavily influenced by the percentages, so even if they all saw them, she said, few people remembered that fact.

Finally, the girl managed to untangle all the tangles in her hair. She turned off the water and was just getting out of the shower when she received a notification on her phone. Zaire sent her a message.

I almost forgot, sorry!

Below the text there were over ten photos in which she captured the two of them. Reef stared blankly at the phone screen, speechless.

These were not random photos from the event, but a real photo session.

- Oh my God.

She had a hard time recognizing herself in the photo, but the girl in it was dressed in exactly the same clothes she had chosen for the party, so she couldn't even guess it was a mistake. Zaire had to sneak up on them and do them without any warning. She managed to do it both up close and far. Oddly enough, they were not in the living room, but in the kitchen. Reef was sitting on the tabletop and Owen was standing between her legs with her hands tucked in her hair. It is true that their faces were not visible, but anyone who sees them in person will easily recognize them from these photos. The following frames were not better. They were on the dance floor, on the stairs, and even outside, though Reef completely didn't remember leaving the house. They were literally stuck to each other in each shot. On one of them, she could see their faces. There was no doubt that it was them.

Hope you like them. ;)

Zaire wrote after a while, and Reef wasn't sure if the girl was writing honestly or just with sarcasm.

- Are you coming? Her mother called from the kitchen. - I made you an omelette!

The girl had no option other than to get dressed, get out of the bathroom and act as if she hadn't spent half of the night kissing a complete stranger girl.

____________________________

Will it really be that bad as Reef thinks it will when the school starts?

You'll find out in the next chapters :)

Thanks for reading,

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