Oops... finger slipped on the publish button ;D

You guys weren't keen enough on the last chapter end so I figured I'd up the ante while the week passes...

Shout out to jueka1 , amiva0402 , and brightyeolie for your amazing engagement last chapter. Some interesting theories of what's going on here happening in the comments ;) 

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"Nope," I said again, turning away from him.

"You can't just keep 'noping' me," Flynn replied.

"I can and I will." I was glad at that moment that we were safe in the confines of the dark cubby, otherwise I was sure Flynn would be making fun of the crimson state of my cheeks.

"Callie," he complained, poking a finger into my arm as I continued avoid eye contact.

"Nope," I said for the umpteenth time.

"Why won't you tell me? I just told you all of these burdens I carry—"

"I didn't ask you to," I said a little too quickly, a little too harshly. And I regretted it instantly as I watched the Flynn grin ever so slowly drop from his face.

His jaw clenched and the final sparkle disappeared from his eye. "Okay. I'm sorry for bothering you, Callie." He moved my prosthetic back to where I originally had it when he entered the cubby and began to crawl out.

My heart began to race as I realised he was leaving. My eyes had a slight prickle to them as I came to terms with the fact that my snappy attitude was distancing the one person who has ever tried to get close to me since I lost my leg. So I breathed, "Don't go."

Flynn paused before he made it out of the cubby, glancing back over his shoulder. We stared at each other for an immeasurable amount of time—me not sure what else I should say and him trying to read my expression. Eventually he sighed and moved back into the cubby, taking his rightful place next to me once more.

We sat there quietly, the silence becoming increasingly loud, but this time he seemed determined to not talk until I did.

I ran through the best way to phrase it over and over again in my mind, realising it was going to sound stupid and ridiculous and childish no matter how I put it. And while I knew at this point, even if he did laugh at me, Flynn would never spread rumours, I was still scared of his reaction that would inevitably follow. So I said, "It's just... really embarrassing."

"Are you scared I'll make fun of you?" he asked.

I shrugged.

"I won't... I can't promise I won't laugh if I find it funny. But I promise I won't tease you, Callie. And, it should go without saying, but what we discuss in this cubby stays between us."

"I..." I started, but immediately lost the words that followed. After opening and closing my mouth a couple more times, running through the sentences I could possibly say through my head, I finally took a deep breath and blurted, "Lexi and I wrote a list when we were kids of all the boys we would kiss when we got to high school and she found it when she got back and decided to dare me to do it with her."

I could feel it. Feel the heat encompassing my face like flames licking my skin. I could hear the hammering of my heart in my chest—a noise so loud I wondered if Flynn could hear it too. Nevertheless, I couldn't bring myself to look at him and see the evident grin that would be plastered there. Because nope.

"And..." he said when he seemed to realise I wasn't going to go on. "What's the bet?"

It wasn't possible. It shouldn't have been. But somehow my face got even hotter. Even more crimson. I took another deep breath and blurted out once more, "If I complete the list first or... get rejected by the first boy... Then she will leave me alone forever."

The silence that echoed around our cubby told me he had many questions bubbling under the surface. But he had one more pressing one he knew he had to ask before all others. "And if she completes it first?"

"I have to... confess my feelings to this guy." And then I sighed, knowing the worst of it was all out. Pulling my legs even tighter to my chest, I buried my face in between my knees. "Ugh... it sounds so stupid said outloud."

Then he snorted. 

Followed by another barked laugh. 

And finally Flynn's cackles filled the space around me, rumbling through the air and making my heart drop and face flush even more. 

When he stopped laughing, the humour seemed to continue in aftershocks as he breathed in, trying to calm his giggles. Then, as he wiped the tears of joy from his eyes, finally he said, "Look, I've heard stupider things believe it or not."

Ever so slowly, I turned my head, peering at him over my knee to gauge his expression. He was staring at me, corners of his lips still turned up stupidly high as he tried to stifle his smile knowing I was looking at him. But again there was that familiar warmth in his eyes.

"I have thousands of questions," he said, still watching me as I looked at him behind the comfort of my knee.

"Such as?" I mumbled.

"Firstly... why not just actually confess to the guy if you like him? You never know what could happen."

But my face seemed to say it all: I couldn't ever do that.

"Is he taken or something?" Flynn guessed.

I shook my head and hid it again between my knees.

"Is it that... Gosh. Who is it?"

"I'm not telling you that," I gasped in horror, whipping my head to look at him in shock that he could even ask me such a thing,

But Flynn just grimaced at me. "What is said in the cubby stays in the cubby. And if you don't tell me, then I'm just going to start assuming every time I see you so much as look at another guy that it's him. I will watch you until I realise—"

"It's Noah," I blurted.

His brows furrowed as he cocked his head to the side. "Noah..." But then I watched the lightbulb begin to flicker in his face. "As in Hashim—"

I slapped a hand over his mouth as I breathed, "Shhh!"

Flynn breathed a laugh, fingers coming up to pull my palm from his face. "So... Callie is in love with her best friend's brother?"

"I wouldn't say in love..."

But he ignored that comment. "So the reason you haven't told him is—"

"Because he'd reject me."

"Oh... I thought it was because he's Sara's brother and you have some off-limits rule."

"I mean, there is that... But there's no point even telling Sara or asking if it's okay if I know how it's going to end."

Flynn frowned. "Why do you think he'd reject you?"

I turned back to my knees, hugging them close again. "Because... look at me."

From the corner of my eye, I watched his gaze trail over me until it came back at my face. "I don't get it."

"So many girls have been into him over the years. And they're all... well, they all have two legs."

When Flynn didn't respond for a while, I finally braved a glance his way, only to find him staring at me in disbelief.

"What?" I asked.

"You think—" He shook his head and seemed to collect his thoughts. "You are aware that there aren't exactly that many amputee teenagers around, right? Not in this small part of town. So the chances of him dating another—"

I silenced him with another shrug before resting my head on my knees again.

Flynn heaved a sigh and shuffled closer to me. "I don't like giving out compliments, Callie, but evidently you need to hear this. You are pretty, you know that right?"

I could feel the sting rouse in my eyes, and I shook my head, hoping I could shake away the urge to cry with it.

"What?" Flynn gasped. "You're serious?"

"I've confessed to someone once before and I don't intend to do it again."

"Why?"

"Because he called me a monster," I choked, feeling my bottom lip quiver.

Next I knew, Flynn's arm, warm and comforting, came around my shoulder as he pulled me against him. "Who on earth said that?" he demanded as his other hand came around me, patting my arm in the awkward side hug he had trapped me in.

"That's not important," I breathed, suddenly becoming too aware that he was wearing some deodorant that smelled like heaven to my nose. Like orange and sandalwood.

"Of course it is. I'm going to talk to them."

"It was years ago," I quickly said, scared my confession would cause trouble.

Suddenly Flynn stopped comforting me, moving away again. "Years?"

I shrugged, looking down at my knees once more.

"People change, Callie..."

"You sound like Lexi," I whispered. "It's actually all your fault I'm in this mess too."

"My fault?"

"Well... Noah was nice to me as Noah always is. But if it was just him she probably would have dropped it. But because you approached me at school and smiled at me she seemed to delude herself into thinking that I could get any guy I wanted if I tried." I shook my head, still in disbelief of the stupid rhetoric she had spouted to me.

"Any guy, not necessarily. Relationships are more than physical attraction. But whether or not most, if not all, guys could be attracted to you... well, yeah."

"Then why haven't any asked me out?" I asked, hating that he too was against me. No one was willing to believe my opinion of this but they all were on the outside. They didn't have to live with the scrutiny I did.

"Probably for the same reason I never spoke to you until this year," he said, as though it were obvious.

I cocked my head to the side, asking him to go on.

"You're kind of... how do I say this nicely... Scary?"

My nostrils flared and my eyes stung, consuming me with a concoction of anger and sorrow as I reached for my prosthetic, prepared to get out of here before he could hurt me any further. Before he could relish in seeing me cry.

But Flynn's hand shot out, gripping my false leg, inhibiting me from being able to put it on. "Not because of this," he quickly added.

"Not because I'm an amputee?"

Flynn shook his head. "It's because... Well, having heard your story I understand it's just your defence mechanism to be snappy but... You're scary because you easily get mad at everyone. Like they shouldn't be talking to you. Or like you're too good for them."

"Too good?"

He shrugged. "You get the top grades in every subject. We know how smart you are. And then there was that one period I recall, in Year Nine. We shared the same English class and you'd correct everyone's grammar when they had to work with you. People were scared to talk to you because they hated seeming stupid. But despite that, some of the guys in my HPE class—" But then he stopped himself, pressing his lips together.

"What?"

"Well... This is going to sound terrible. But you know how some people play... um... marry, fuck, kill?"

I slowly closed my eyes, not wanting to hear the rest of this story, but nodding my head regardless.

"Well... whenever people would throw you into the mix. You were always the... um... fuck option. Because they were scared that if they married you that you'd nag them all the time." Flynn cleared his throat and looked away—almost as if he were embarrassed for thinking it himself.

"How many of them killed me?" I then mumbled.

"None," he said almost immediately, as if he were sure.

"What?"

"You are a... The guys always called you a sexy pirate... I see how this could mess with your self-esteem if you don't know the full story." Flynn pressed his lips together, eyes averting as he looked anywhere but me.

"The pirate nickname... I always thought—"

"It was a run-on from really bad boy banter..."

I rubbed my face with my hands, almost forgetting I had makeup on, realising thankfully as some of it smeared on my cheeks. Tapping it back into place I then turned to look at him, lips pouting as I said, "How do I know you're not saying this to make me feel better?"

His eyes narrowed. "Who's on the list? I can tell you which of—"

My eyes widened and I looked away. "I don't want to tell you."

"Why... am I on—"

"You're not," I quietly said, feeling my heart sink with the confession.

"Oh..."

An awkward silence fell between us before I finally breathed, "We wrote the list when we were ten. I didn't even pay much attention to you then."

"You don't have to explain, Callie."

But we both knew the unvoiced truth to it all: I didn't include him because I mostly had specific types on there. Nearly all the boys were white. A couple on the original were asian—though most had moved away, with Noah being the only one remaining. Yet, of course, he was crossed out. And one Indian boy made it to the final list—Ray Singh.

"It's not that I don't find you attractive now though, Flynn," I then mumbled, feeling my stomach churn as the words came out of my mouth, hoping he wouldn't misconstrue it. But then I remembered he knew I liked Noah, so he shouldn't think anything of what I say. So I went on. "Like, not that I'd write such a list again because it was really stupid. But I would certainly put you on there if I wrote one today. Trust me. I wish I could switch out some of the names on the current one. And—"

"Callie," he cut me off.

Slowly turning to look at him, our gazes met and his face softened.

"It's okay."

Pressing my lips together, I nodded. "I'm sorry..."

He shook his head. "As you said. You were ten. Besides... I know I'm hot now."

I snorted at that.

"Um, you can't laugh. You literally just gushed about how much you wish you could kiss me just before."

"I didn't—"

"Did you not just say you wish I was on your list?"

"I mean, I did, but—"

"Point proven, Callie. Point proven."

My nostrils flared again as I heaved a sigh. But it was impossible to stay mad at him, especially when he grinned back at me like that, flashing his pearly whites, with stars sparkling in his midnight eyes.

"So, let me get this right... If your sister completes the list first, you must confess your feelings to Noah. But if you complete it first then she will leave you alone forever?"

"Or if I get rejected."

He deadpanned at me. "You won't be."

"You don't know who is on it."

"At least one person will kiss you. I'm certain of it. And I do recall Fraser Fowler gushing about your sister kissing him tonight so I'm assuming—"

"Ugh. Don't remind me. I wish I could kick him off the list."

"Who even put him on—"

"They are all my pick so I only have myself to blame."

"Your sister didn't—"

"Nope. She didn't like any guys back then."

"Hmm."

"What?"

"Nothing. Anyway, why would you want to be left alone by your sister?"

"Because... she wants to bond again but I just don't know if I can forgive her for abandoning me like she did."

"Oh... You know... I don't fully understand what happened between you two. But life is too short to hold grudges forever."

It wasn't the first time I had heard this phrase, nonetheless, I did all I could: I shrugged. I had made my decision and I had to stick to it.

"But I'll still help you. Even if I don't agree with what you will win."

"How will you help me?"

"Well... who is on the list?"

Heaving a sigh, I pulled my phone out and opened the picture I had taken of it, showing it to Flynn. Because he knew the worst of it so... why hold back anymore?

His eyes skimmed my screen, lips pressing together. "I know all of them," he then said.

"You do?"

"Yeah. I can easily get you in their proximity. Just... some might be a little complicated."

"Why?"

"Well... Ray, for example, is terrified of girls."

I grimaced. "Is he gay?" I thought I had narrowed it down enough, but perhaps he wasn't out—

Flynn shook his head. "Not that I know of. More that... he spends too much time on his computer playing video games and living in his fantasy world that he kind of chokes when an actual girl talks to him."

"That's why he ran from me that one time in IT..." I whispered, the realisation kicking in.

"What?" Flynn asked, brows coming together.

"I asked to borrow a pen. Then he squealed—yes, squealed—and ran to the other side of the classroom. I thought it was because he was scared of my leg."

Flynn shook his head in disbelief. "You've had a terrible run of luck, Callie. One jerk turning you down and a bunch of miscommunications..."

"Yeah... I'll believe they all were miscommunications if they all kiss me."

"Well..." Flynn pulled my phone from my hand again, eyes skimming through the list once more. "Fraser and Ashton are here. But Ashton will kind of have to warm up to you first. Fraser, as I'm sure you heard, will easily make out with a pole if someone dared him to and he was drunk enough. I'm sure he'd even kiss our mate Herbert."

"I miss Herbie," I whispered, remembering the green foe-turned-friend frog.

Flynn grinned again and then reached for my prosthetic, bringing it closer to me. "Well, put this on and I'll go introduce you to Fraser so you can get the first one off the list."

But as Flynn started to scoot out of the cubby, I reached over, grabbing his wrist to stop him. "I can't," I choked out.

"Why?" His brows pulled together.

"I... I'm not ready."

He pursed his lips and cocked his head to the side. "Your sister could have ticked off a third of that list tonight and you want to waste—"

"She can only do one a month... Considering I, um..." I glanced down at the prosthetic in my hand. "I figured if I have a handicap for this then she needs one. So I have plenty of time to work through it."

"Okay... but Fraser would be super easy to check off right now."

"I... ah..."

"What's wrong?" Flynn scooted back into the cubby, crossing his legs as he waited patiently for me to get the rest out.

And so, just like all the other embarrassing stuff I had told Flynn tonight, I blurted out my millionth confession. "I haven't kissed anyone before."

"You haven't—" The smile dropped from his face as his eyebrows furrowed. But the expression only lasted a moment before the laughter returned. "Well let's get it out of the way."

He went to move again, but I gripped at his arm. "I just..." I said. "What if it's bad?"

"I assure you... Fraser's kiss will likely be bad considering he is drunk. Did you want your first to be—"

"It's not me I'm worried about. I mean, yeah a part of me has hoped my first kiss would be magical but considering I've lived this long thinking my disability was my problem... well... I don't have high hopes anymore for that. It's more that... what if I'm that bad because I haven't done it before that he tells everyone and no one else wants to kiss me?"

When I allowed my eyes to flicker to Flynn's face at the end of my spiel, he was deadpanning at me.

"What?" I breathed.

"I hope Fraser at least remembers tonight. Based on how drunk he was when I left that party almost an hour ago now, I'm more concerned that he has passed out somewhere and we will have to change who we go for."

I bit my lip in response, not sure what to say.

In my silence, his obsidian gaze glanced around my face, studying me as he mulled over my concern. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before eventually he said, "Do you... do you want me to show you what to do?"

O: What will she say???? I don't know... that's for sure.

And finally some character art of Sara:

And another frog meme in memory of Herbert and his short yet beautiful story arc: