(y/n)'s POV

I had decided to take a nice walk, since it was a nice evening and I had nothing to do tomorrow. Rehearsals were starting this week, and I was excited, but I wanted to relax while I still could. Even early in shows, things always got hectic really fast, and would quickly absorb my free time.

The air was nice and cool, and I was on my way to the park to look at the trees while they still had green leaves. I wasn't going with anyone, since I was introverted and needed to be alone sometimes. And plus, my friends were busy. It was the perfect opportunity to just hang out and sing to the birds.

I stuffed my hands into my hoodie pockets. It was a plain black zip-up hoodie, and I loved it to death. It was super warm and soft, and it was oversized and covered my hands with the sleeves. I loved oversized clothing.

As I made it to the park, I was greeted by the chirping of birds in the trees. I grinned up at the trees, giddy at the feeling around me.

Katherine's POV

I looked down at my phone, opening my old conversation with Davey, glancing over at the girl who was walking by. She looked almost exactly like the girl he'd described to me a few days ago when I pestered him about details on his crush.

I sneakily took a picture and sent it to him, with a text that said "This is (y/n), right?" I then walked up to her, smiling. I was gonna introduce myself and try to befriend this girl. I had to know if he was good enough for Davey.

I tapped her shoulder and she whirled around, eyes wide.

"Hi, I just saw you and you looked familiar. Have we met?" I asked, and she turned around fully to face me. A confused look crossed her face, and she furrowed her brows in concentration. I had to admit, she definitely was as pretty as Davey had described.

"I don't think so. Do you go to my school or something?" She asked, tilting her head.

"I go to Manhattan West High." I answered. I knew that we didn't go to the same school, but I had to pretend I thought that maybe she did.

"Oh, I don't go there but I have a friend who does. Do you know a David Jacobs?" She asked, her face lighting up.

"Yeah! He's a close friend of mine," I gave her a smile.

"He and I are doing a production of Heathers together. He's a really good singer," she gave a light smile.

"Yeah. That's the movie about the popular girl with a boyfriend who murders some other kids, right?" I asked.

"Yeah! I get to play Veronica, the girl who gets in with the popular girls and he's a murderer boyfriend. It's really fantastic, and she's been a huge dream role since I was 14," she gushed, a whole new light in her eyes.

"That's a long time. Have you always liked theatre?" I asked. She was actually pretty interesting to talk to when she got so passionate.

"Nah, I first started to like it when I was 13 when I was in Into The Woods Jr." she explained. "But enough about me! What's your name?"

"Oh, I'm Katherine but my friends mainly call me Kath. You?" I answered, the smile on my face genuine.

"I'm (y/n), but some of my friends call me Grape Soda. It's really nice to meet you Katherine," she stuck out a hand to shake. I took it and grinned at her.

"What's the story behind that nickname?" I laughed.

"I dyed my hair purple all the way back in seventh grade because I was edgy, and then they took to calling me Grape Soda. And alas, even as the hair dye is gone and my hair is (h/c), the nickname still stands," she said dramatically. I laughed. Davey was definitely gonna hear about this.

"Your friends are almost as insane as mine!" I giggled. It was true, most of our group had those weird nicknames too.

"Yeah, both of my best friends and I have super weird nicknames. It's basically a tradition," she grinned, her face lighting up.

"You can't say that and not tell me the nicknames," I said dryly.

"My friend Maya is Mayonnaise or Mayo, and my other friend Laraya was a wide array of nicknames, but our favorite is Lacrosse." She said. It was weird that her friends were just like mine. Maybe I could get to be close friends with her and hang out and invite her to meet our friends, and then she'd get to be with Davey. It's not like I wasn't already quite fond of her.

(y/n)'s POV

I smiled at her, laughing as we talked about anything under the sun. And she was relatively easy to talk to, and she was leading the conversation which was always nice.

This Katherine was a sweet girl, so I decided to ignore my crippling anxious thoughts and outright ask, "Can I have your number? Sorry if it's super forward you just seem cool and I don't know if otherwise I could see you again and it's perfectly fine if you-"

"Sure, give me your phone," She said as she dug out her phone from a hidden pocket in her knee length black skirt and holding it out to me.

I smiled gratefully and grabbed mine from my hoodie pocket, handing it to her.

"The passcode's 3674," I told her as she pressed the home button.

"Mine's 1095," She informed me, looking down as her thumbs danced on my screen.

I typed it in and opened her contacts, seeing a picture of her and some other boy grinning as her home screen and ignoring the fact that she had 13 unread texts.

I added the new contact as "(y/n)" with no last time, instead opting for a couple of black hearts.

"I didn't add my last name, just a couple of emojis," I informed her as I handed her back the phone.

"Oh cool, I didn't put anything in the last name slot. I ought to go, but it was really nice meeting you!" Katherine smiled, handing me back my phone and going in for a hug.

I awkwardly hugged back, wrapping my arms around her waist sing hers were wrapped around my neck.

"It was nice meeting you too! I ought to go, Katherine, but I'll talk to you soon," I told her as we pulled away. She nodded and walked past me, and I walked forward to the direction where I came from.

That park visit wasn't exactly what I expected, but it surely wasn't unwelcome.

Katherine's POV

I glanced down at my phone, confused once I saw that I had 13 unread texts. Those hadn't been there when I had texted Davey...

Oh right! I had texted Davey, they were probably from him.

I opened my texts and yes indeed, all of them were from him.

"Yeah I think so."

"Where even are you, Kath?"

"Hello?"

"Dear God Katherine are you talking to her?"

"Why are you like this!?"

"If you embarrass me to her I will kill you."

"Don't you dare doubt me."

"I will smash your head in with a book, you hear me?"

"Well obviously you can't hear me but you get it!"

"Kath seriously respond."

"Wtf Kath why're you ignoring me?"

"Will you at least tell me what she tells you?"

"Jesus, is your phone on silent?"

"Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaath"

"Oh Kathy?"

I rolled my eyes and decided to respond.

"I was just talking to her, you dingus. You seriously need to learn a thing or two about patience"

He texted back immediately.

"What did she say? What did you say? Please tell me you weren't embarrassing."

"I think it's safe to say I wasn't embarrassing, Dave. I just talked to her about life and basic stuff. She even told me about the show, and she mentioned you ;)"

"What did she say?"

"She asked what school I went to, and when I said the name she said that she had a friend here and asked if I knew you."

":)"

"Satisfied?"

"Yeah."

I rolled my eyes at that goof and closed my phone, since my father was probably in the parking lot waiting in the car.

(1369 words)