Ever since 31DOC finished, I feel so lost not uploading something every day. Especially because Positive 2 used to be updated on Thursdays AEST. So I'm giving you a third chapter this week, which doesn't help me with the whole 'stockpiling' chapters strategy but... I also did promise to upload when I've written them.

Anyhoo, big shout out to jueka1 , brightyeolie , and amiva0402 for engaging in the comments last chapter. You guys brighten my day and motivate me to write :)

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As Lexi batted her eyelashes and twisted her foot on the ground while talking to Ashton Brooks before history, I did my best to fight my breakfast threatening to come up my oesophagus. But Ashton was more than intrigued by the attention she was affording him this week—a polar opposite from our first lesson together last Monday.

"How can she just... flirt like that?" I mumbled to Sara.

But her eyes were also narrowed and fixated on Lexi. "I don't really know, to be honest..." she said, as though she knew something. 

After finding Sara first thing in the morning, the two of us—Lex and I—filled her in on our kiss list bet (of course omitting the fact that Lexi was trying to boost my confidence on my crush on Sara's brother, instead just saying she wants me to get a boyfriend). 

To my dismay, Sara was all for the idea—though I wondered how much that would change if she knew Noah was involved as the end-goal.

"Of course I'd support this," Sara had said after we told her and I complained about her not taking my side. "Anything to see Cal finally get her first kiss on that beautiful face of hers."

But after the teacher turned up to open the door to the room for our history lesson and we started meandering inside, Lexi pulled up the seat next to me with a very satisfied gleam to her eyes.

"This Saturday," she said, "Ashton said one of his mates is having a party. We are all invited."

Sara's brows knotted together before saying, "I'm happy for you to stay at my place and use me as a cover. But I'm not going to a party."

"But then you'll miss Callie's first kiss!" Lexi gasped, and I swatted her arm in response.

"Can you please keep it down and not parade the fact that I'm a relationship noob?" I hissed at her.

"Um," Lexi replied, eyes narrowing, "You, too, like to emphasise you're a relationship noob."

I shook my head. "Yeah, maybe I tell that to you guys. But they," I waved my hand around the class, "Don't need to know. Especially when two of the boys on the list are in this very class! They don't need to know how much of a novice I am..."

"Lexi and Callie," Miss Brooks called out, eyebrows furrowing in disapprovement. "Are you both done talking so that I can start my class?"

"Sorry Miss," we both mumbled in unison, turning our eyes to our desks.

But after Miss Brooks started her lecture on the horrors of World War II, Lexi and I went back to whispering when her back was turned. "So my plan," Lex whispered to me, "Is we get ready at Sara's. Hang out at the party for a couple of hours—long enough for one of the boys on the list who are going to be there to get drunk. And then make the move."

"This still doesn't seem right..." I mumbled back.

"All guys are up for a makeout session, Cal."

"But they aren't in their right minds."

"They're teenage boys with copious amounts of testosterone coursing through their bodies in addition to their frontal lobes not being fully developed. They don't have a right mind yet."

"I still don't—"

"You will see. When we are there... you can gauge the situation and ask for consent before."

My nostrils flared as I grimaced.

"If you back out now..." Lexi trailed off, glancing to my other side where Sara sat. "Then you know the consequences."

"But we don't even know if anyone will kiss me back."

"You have to at least show me you getting rejected for me to believe you aren't kissable."

I was about to retort, but my words caught in my mouth when Miss Brooks said, "I swear, Callie and Lexi. One more word and you can come talk to me at lunch about what's so important you feel the need to jeopardise your learning and everyone else's in this classroom."

This time, we shut up.

Sara and Lex took off straight away after history while I slowly shuffled my way to maths. Today was a little better than last week as I had the whole week to figure out how to more effectively use my prosthetic at school—making sure I released my pressure switch while sitting during class. Nevertheless, I was still slower.

The best option would have been to remove my leg during history—but I still didn't have that confidence. Even if I used to sit in class without any prosthetic, now that I had one... taking it off felt like a step back.

So as I trudged across to the other side of the school towards maths, there was a noticeable limp to my step.

Though the boredom of getting from one lesson to the next was cut short as a voice calling out brought me to a stop.

"Callie!" he said.

Looking up from the ground, I saw Flynn, smile spreading ear-to-ear as he jogged towards me from the direction of our class.

Once he had reached me, I frowned. "Are you aware maths is back the way you came?" I asked, pointing in its direction.

"I am," he replied, stepping at my pace as I continued to move again, that grin still plastered to his face.

"And it starts in like one minute?"

"Yup."

"Then why—"

"Figured if you won't get in trouble for being late, I shouldn't either so long as I enter with you. Anything to miss another five minutes of..." His brows furrowed as he trailed off. "I forget what we're studying this term."

Shaking my head, I tried to keep a straight face, though the corners of my lips were starting to turn up. "Earth geometry," I said, filling his blank.

"Yes. That." He shook his head. "I don't think I'm getting a word of what she has explained about it so far. Why do I even need to know this stuff?"

"Better yet," I said with narrowing eyes, "If you're struggling with it so much, why aren't you getting to class on time so that you don't miss more of what she has to say?"

"Because it's boring," he said.

I mean... he wasn't wrong. But I frowned nonetheless.

"Besides... As much as I'd love any excuse to spend more time outside instead of in class, I figured it must be weird coming in late on your own."

I faltered in my step, and Flynn stopped when he realised I was no longer walking with him. "What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"I mean... it was pretty awkward when everyone stopped to stare at you, right? At least if I come in late with you, I can distract them while you grab a seat." Flynn threw me another grin and kept moving, me following a step behind him now.

"Y-you don't have to do that," I mumbled. "Miss Fischer knows now that it takes me a while on Mondays because of where my history class is..."

"Even so... Everyone will notice and look at you. I could see that you hated it last week."

I didn't know what to say back to him, but I was overly conscious of the fact that my heart was drumming a little faster in my chest. Which was odd. Was I getting tired from the all walking? But once it had slowed back down, I finally thought of a comeback. "Are you not concerned that Miss Fischer will get mad at you regardless?"

He shrugged. "She's always mad at me. But at least I'm showing up to class unlike last year. Besides... I told her to be tough on me. I need someone to expect me to do well and get mad at me when I'm not putting in the effort since I don't get that from home."

He said it was such ease and joy, but his words were far from being positive. My heart ached for Flynn as he continued to stride by my side, his lopsided grin still on his face as he kept his eyes forward, one strap slung over his shoulder as though bags weren't built with two straps for a reason.

But by the time I had managed to regain my composure from that heart-wrenching bombshell he had just dropped on me so casually, we had reached our class. Putting our bags on the portracks, we grabbed out our books and Flynn headed in a step ahead of me, receiving the wrath of Miss Fischer who scolded him for not being on time while I snuck in, taking a seat by the front without anyone seeming to notice.

After being informed he'd have to stay ten minutes into his lunch—for being five minutes late to class—he spun around to take his seat a few rows behind me. But not before catching my eye and giving me a wink on his way.

"So your dad is really home?" Sara asked as I joined her and Lexi at lunch time—both had of course made it to their seats before me.

"Yup," I replied, popping on the 'p' as I pulled my pie out of its wrapper. Sinking my teeth into the meaty, cheesy goodness, Lexi went back and forth a bit about the circumstances of our dad living with us.

He was staying in the spare room for some weeks while he looked for his own place.

Lexi would still be living with us even when dad has his own house.

Dad had managed to get a transfer back to town from the same company he worked for down in Melbourne.

And finally—

"Do you think your mum and dad might... get back together?" Sara asked, eyes flickering between the two of us.

In unison, Lex and I said, "Not if I can help it."

We both froze, then, ever so slowly, turned to look at each other. The corners of Lex's mouth faltered slightly as she tried to stifle a smile, but I merely narrowed my eyes.

"Why are you against it?" I asked her.

"Why are you?" she countered, cocking an eyebrow, slight smirk on her face now.

"I asked you first."

"I asked you second."

I rolled my eyes. "Because I can't deal with seeing them be all gushy again and then bitter once they decide to break up until they finally become friends again."

Lex heaved a sigh. "Me too. But also... dad and Jess," she didn't falter on her name this time, which eased my heart slightly, even if mum and dad tried to emphasise Lexi's right to have called Jessica her mother, "Were in quite a long-term relationship. Considering she did pass away... If anything happened between mum and dad now, I worry it would only be because dad is lonely and mum missed not having him for so long. It wouldn't actually be because they want to get back together."

"Like they'd be using each other to fill a hole, which would inevitably end in them fighting over the same usual things about not actually being committed to each other," I finished for her.

"Exactly," Lex replied.

But Sara's brows furrowed further. "How do you know that's what they'd be doing?"

Lex and I shared a glance, then shook our heads as though Sara should somehow know... even though she had only just moved to town before the final time mum and dad separated.

"Every time mum and dad have gotten together, it's been in the wake of something," Lex explained.

I held up a hand, counting my first finger. "The very first time they got together it's because dad knocked mum up."

Lex held up two fingers now. "The second was when they lost that baby."

I held up three fingers. "The third was when Jessica and dad had a massive fight, leading to dad moving back into his family home and so mum went to comfort him... and they hooked up while mum was still seeing someone."

"The fourth was when mum split up with her boyfriend of two years because he moved to another town for work."

"The fifth was when our parents' best friends Casey and Tristan split up, leading to Casey moving out of town and mum and her friend having a massive fight at the time."

"Then the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth," Lexi said, ending the spiel, "Was after each surgery Callie had when she lost her leg. They split up just after the first amputation, but then kept getting back together every time Callie was in hospital again. Until Jessica said enough was enough. She had a job offer down south and said if dad really wants to commit to her, then he had to put distance between him and mum and move with her."

I pressed my lips together, not sure how much I agreed with Lexi's recount of the events. Nevertheless, I summarised for Sara, "Mum and dad never got together out of pure love. It's always out of heartache, grief, anger, and sadness. As though they are filling a hole in themselves."

"And considering Jessica passed away," Lexi continued for me, "Mum would just be filling that hole in dad right now. If our parents were to ever get together again—"

"It should be out of actual love," I finished for her.

Lexi and I glanced at each other again, this time sharing a small smile knowing we agreed on something. For once.

It's not a meme, but here's some theme/character art. I've got some more stockpiled that I'll slowly release (and add to the aesthetics page so it's easier to find later on) :P :

Also, do we like the new cover? Let me know!