Shout out to commenters last chapter for making the comments section so livey! Thank you jueka1 , amiva0402 , and brightyeolie .

______

The rest of our first week back passed at a snail pace, with Lexi hogging Sara for most of it. So once the weekend finally rolled around, I was relieved to think I would surely have a break from Lexi's annoying presence considering we barely interacted at home except when we were watching our show with mum.

But as I walked back to my room Saturday morning after my shower, I came to a pause as I passed the spare room.

Door open, the aircon running at full blast mixing with the living room a/c, mum was inside pulling new bed sheets onto the pillows.

"Why are you setting up this room?" I asked her.

Mum threw the pillow down on the bed and shot me a raised eyebrow before turning back and picking up the other. "You know why."

"I thought you were joking," I responded.

"In what world would I joke about this?" she replied, finally yanking the other case on. Heaving a sigh, she fell onto the bed, patting the spot beside her on the mattress.

Gripping at my crutches, I propelled myself across the room, taking the seat beside her.

"Why are you so against him staying here?" mum asked.

"Because I don't want to see him," I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Well... he's moving here. And he's definitely going to want to see your sister, so at some point you would run into each other anyway."

"But he doesn't have to be here."

"It's only temporary. Until he finds his own place."

Scoffing, I said, "You've said that before..."

"Callie," mum reprimanded, brows furrowing. "It's been a long time since those days. Much has changed."

But I still wasn't ready to cave. "Why can't he just stay with his family?"

"We are his family too."

"Says who? As far as I see it, you are my only family."

Mum rolled her eyes in response. "So your sister isn't your family?"

"I have a sister?"

"What about Aunt Jojo?"

She got me there. "Okay. You and Aunt Jojo are my family."

"And Grandma Kate?"

I heaved another sigh. "Fine. You, Aunt Jojo, and Big G." Yes I call my dad's mum Big G. Don't judge me.

"And how about your other grandparents?"

Pressing my lips together, I thought about mum's mum and dad. "Grandpa is cool but Grandma... She still talks really loudly to me. Like, somehow, missing part of my leg affects my hearing."

"My mum is... She struggles to understand things outside of her comfort zone. But she tries with you."

I rolled my eyes in response. "I rest my case. But this guy," I said, waving at the bed she was setting up for him, "Is an absolute stranger to me."

"Callie," mum warned again.

But I didn't want to hear it. Grabbing my crutches, I pulled myself back up and hobbled out to the hall. Though on my way back to my room, Lexi's door opened.

I tried to ignore her face popping out and kept heading on my merry way, but then she said, "Hey, Cal?"

Letting out a groan, I thought, Just let me go back to my room and read my book... But instead, I turned around, giving her an unimpressed expression.

"You got a minute?" Lexi asked.

"Sure," I said. I have all the time in the world for chats I don't want today, I thought.

My sister took a step back into her room, waving her hand inside to indicate I should go in. Heaving a sigh, I propelled myself in before resting my crutches against the wall and using her bed to lower myself to the ground.

Lexi took the floor space beside me, pulling a piece of paper off her desk in the process, though hiding its contents from me.

I watched my sister keep her blue eyes downcasted. "I hate that we keep fighting," she said. "I want to be close again."

Taking a deep breath, I rested my back against her bed as I stared at the glow-in-the-dark stars still stuck to her ceiling. "Perhaps we just can't be like that anymore, Lex."

"But we can be. Look... I've been watching you the past week at school—"

I scoffed. "Have you been? Because I've been left in the dark while you and Sara are always talking."

Lexi grimaced at me for cutting her off, so I rolled my eyes and waved my hand as if to say 'continue then'. "As I was saying," Lexi said, "I've been watching you and how people interact with you and I really think you don't see how much has changed in what your peers think of you. They don't look at you like you're a 'monster' or a 'pirate' or whatever terms they used to describe you as."

I was shaking my head the whole time she spoke, arms crossed over my chest, bottom lip pouting out. I wanted to get up and go back to my room. But firstly that would take a lot of effort. And secondly, it seemed she wouldn't drop this until I let her say her piece. So I waited her out until she finished her spiel.

"But I get that those terms are all that stick in your head when you see them. So I had an idea of how you can... prove to yourself that things have changed. That they have changed and that no one cares anymore that you are an amputee and also that... you really can win the heart of a guy like Noah if you just have a little confidence in yourself."

That did it. The moment Noah's name slipped from her mouth I started to see red. Rolling over onto my knees, I grabbed at the bed, ready to push myself up onto my leg. But then Lexi's hand came down on my arm, holding me back. "Let me go," I hissed.

"You didn't even let me finish telling you my plan."

"I don't want to hear it."

"Humour me, Cal."

A grunt later, I rolled back onto my butt, crossing my arms back over my chest and staring at the wall.

"I was thinking... you should do the kiss list," Lexi said, placing the piece of paper she had been clutching this whole time on the ground in front of me.

My eyes flickered to the piece of paper with the list of boy's names we had written down when we were ten. 

My first thought was, She kept that? 

A smile almost threatened to turn up on my cheeks thinking back to the stupid things we used to do together. 

But then the anger returned at the idea she could ever think I could kiss a single guy, let alone the ones on this list. So I shot my sister a glare, who blinked back at me innocently, no trace of laughter or deceit shrouding her gaze.

Regardless, I said, "Do you think you're being funny?"

"Not at all," she replied, face remaining serious.

Shaking my head, an unamused smile worked its way onto my face. "Do you seriously think that any guy would kiss me?" I asked.

"I bet many would. Boys are... honestly not very picky when it comes to a hookup. They mostly think with their—"

"This isn't funny, Lexi. Look at me," I said, indicating to my leg.

"I am looking at you. Look, I get you feel very insecure about your appearance. But do you think there's any girl in this world who doesn't? Put you in a man's role and sure, he'd probably get on just fine as an amputee, somehow have some confidence left in him. But beauty standards still say us women must look certain ways. Do you think your other female peers don't look in the mirror every morning and tell themselves that 'maybe if they lost a little weight in that spot', 'maybe if they didn't have that freckle there', or 'maybe if my boobs were a little bigger or perkier' I'd get that guy? Every girl doubts themselves because that is just the sick injustices the beauty industry imposes on us as women. They play to our weaknesses, to our insecurities, to sell their products. 

"But ignoring the missing part of your limb, Callie, you are beautiful," she went on. "And while I think you are beautiful with a stump or two feet, your face is gorgeous and people can see that. And it's not like you need to date the guys to kiss them. The dating part is to save for Noah... or any other boy after that if you really think he is off-limits because he's Sara's brother. But what I'm saying is... if you at least try the list, you can prove to yourself that at least you're kissable. And maybe if you see just how many guys would be up for it... You can ask if maybe it's worth confessing to the current guy or next guy who wins your heart."

The reality was, after listening to her spiel, the anger welling in me now wasn't because I thought she was wrong... but because I knew she was right. I saw women out there, the other amputees with worse injuries than me, doing speeches, running marathons, getting married... But getting through high school with a little bit of self-esteem is hard enough for any girl, let alone me who doesn't have all the normal body parts. Sure, my prosthetic filled a part of that gap now (no pun intended), and brought me closer to being 'normal'. But I couldn't help but wonder... what if I did confess to someone again and they laughed in my face like last time? Even if we had all grown up... I was still scared. So after an immeasurable amount of time passed, I said to my sister, "I can't, Lex."

She pressed her lips together for a moment, thinking over her words, before simply asking, "Why?"

"Even if you're right... I can't face that rejection again. I'm sure you can tell my self-esteem is hanging by a thread. One more knock back... I'm just hoping that once school is over and my playing field isn't teenage boys, that maybe then..."

"You can be just like any other teenage girl, Cal."

"I really can't," I croaked out of my tightening throat, feeling my eyes start to sting.

"What if..." Lexi breathed. "What if I do the list with you?"

"And why would you do that?"

"Because it could be fun. And we could make a competition out of it."

My eyebrow twitched slightly in interest, and Lexi hooked onto it.

"If I complete the list before you... then you have to confess your feelings to Noah."

"Hell no. No way. Under no circumstance—"

Lexi held her hand up, cutting me off. "And if you complete it first... you don't have to confess. And I'll leave you alone for the rest of your life if it is really what you want."

Pressing my lips together, nostrils still flared in annoyance, I said, "You have an unfair advantage of being a whole human and inheriting dad's looks."

"I'll keep that comment from mum for you..." she mumbled. "How about... What if I can only like... go after one boy every couple of weeks? Or one a month? Depending on how many boys on that list actually are still at our school... and single. We don't want to piss of their girlfriends."

I narrowed my eyes at her as I mulled over her words. If I complete the list... she will leave me alone about Noah. She will leave me alone forever if I want... But knowing Lexi, if I say no deal now, she's going to try every day for the rest of this year to ask me to do it. Because Lexi never backs down when she sets her mind to something. "How the heck will I even get the first guy to kiss me? If he says no—"

"That's why we go to a party, wait until they're drunk, and then strike."

I grimaced. "I have many problems with that."

"Lay them out for me."

I held up a finger. "One, mum will never let us."

Lexi rolled her eyes. "And that's when we say we are going for a sleepover at Sara's."

Okay... she got me there. I held up another finger. "Two, waiting for someone to be drunk is essentially taking advantage of them."

"Yes. It is."

I shot my brows up and said, "That's not okay..."

"Probably not. But these boys would do the same to any girl in the same situation."

"Any girl but me."

Lexi rolled her eyes. "That's what you think... And also... it's just a kiss."

"How many boys have tried to use that excuse on a girl before when they force themself on them? 'It was just a kiss'."

"They will consent... they're boys who just want to make out with any girl, drunk or not."

"It's not morally—"

"Just for the first one. Then, after, if you're uncomfortable with the strategy, the next will be before they are drunk. And then we steer away from parties with alcohol... slowly making the challenge harder where they have to kiss us in normal settings."

Narrowing my eyes, I said, "And you also will abide by these rules about the boy being intoxicated?"

Lexi drew a cross over her heart and held a hand up. "I swear it. Whatever rules you play by, I will too. With the caveat that I can only kiss a boy a month or whatever we decide."

Heaving a sigh, I glanced at the list once more then back at her. If I do this... she will leave me alone... "Say the first boy who is drunk still won't touch me?"

"Then you win outright. If my theory about any boy being up for kissing you so long as they are single is incorrect, then of course you win, Callie."

I pursed my lips once more as I thought it over. Then I said, "Before I actually agree, that list needs to be narrowed down."

She nodded vigorously, corners of her lips already turning up. "Oh definitely." Then she reached up for a notebook and pen, plopping it on the floor. "So... you know everyone best. Who is still at the school?"

Shaking my head, not believing I was actually going along with this, I pulled the original list closer. After grabbing one of her pens from her pencil case, I placed a dot on all the boys still at our school, narrowing it down to half. "But these three," I said, pointing to another set of names, "Are dating someone."

"Okay," Lexi said, starting to copy the names down.

Then I put a mark next to another guy. "And this one is gay."

"Right," Lexi said, scrunching up the new list she wrote and chucking it in the bin. Then she wrote out the new set of names. When she had finished, we both leaned back, looking at it.

"Six boys..." I muttered.

"I say we set it to one a month for me. That gives you a little under six months to work through them to beat me. And then..." Smirk slipping onto her face, she leaned over the paper again, hiding it from me.

But when she moved back, I shot her a glare. Yanking the paper from her hand, I crossed out his name. "Noah is not going on our list."

"Oh, come on, Cal! He's the last goal."

"No."

"Tell you what. If you kiss Noah at any point in this list whether first, third, whatever, you automatically win. But don't worry, I'll stay away from him. He's only on your list."

"No!" I insisted, digging the pencil even harder across his name at the bottom.

"Party pooper," she muttered. "But how about it? Deal?"

I pressed my lips together—a thing I was doing a lot today in her presence—as I glanced through the list and thought it through one more time. "Do I have to do it in this order?" I asked.

"Of course not!" Then she held her hand out to me.

Heaving a sigh (another thing I was apparently doing a lot this morning), I slipped my hand in hers and we shook on it. "Deal."

"Now," Lexi said, pulling out her phone. "Let me get a picture of this and you can take the original copy."

"Why do I have to take it?"

"Because I said so."

Great argument, Lex. "When this list is over, I'm never doing anything you say."

"Only if you beat me," she challenged, cocking an eyebrow at me before she snapped her photo. "Brilliant."

With a shake of my head, I muttered, "I can't believe I just agreed to this."

"If you back out, then you're saying you forfeit, by the way. Which means you have to confess to Noah."

"Yeah, I get the ramifications, Lex." With a grunt, I rolled onto my knees and pushed up on her bed onto my leg before grabbing my crutches. As I started to hobble out of her room, Lexi held the piece of paper up.

"I'd hide that from mum in your room somewhere, by the way," Lexi then added. "She's already suspicious of me."

"Why?"

"She caught me studying the original one."

Shaking my head, I said, "Mum can never find out about this."

"Duh."

And with that, I folded up the list and walked back to my room.

Once inside and safely behind the closed door, I headed to my desk and pulled out the bottom drawer before shoving the list inside.

"Callie! Lexi!" mum called out from the living room. "Someone wants to see you!"

Sighing, I took one final look at the list in my drawer.

"What the heck did I just agree to?" I mumbled as I placed a book on top, shutting the drawer afterwards. Tossing my crutches aside, I sat down in my chair and wheeled myself out to the living room to see who the supposed person was.

But as I forwarded down the hall, already mad at myself for stupidly agreeing to Lexi's kiss list, my heart stopped as my eyes landed on him.

Standing in the living room, bags on the ground by his feet, his almost-black hair was thinner than last time I last saw him. Then he turned around. His iridescent blue eyes met mine, a smile taking his face hostage as he looked at me like I was one of his favourite people.

"Hi my darling girl," he said softly as he crossed the floor until he was just in front of my chair, holding his arms open for a hug.

But before I could tell him to get lost, Lexi's door behind me opened, and she squealed an elated, "Dad!"

Aren't Koalas just adorable?

Did we like the chapter? :D

Wait... am I supposed to comment on the elephant at the end of the chapter? Nah... Ima just leave it there for you to ponder until next chapter ;)