The mall was surprisingly busy for a Monday afternoon. Evie looked at her friends, who sat at a cafeteria table and watched her. Evie tapped her foot in nervous anticipation.

"Can't you tell us why we're sitting here like awkward tweens?" Stella asked and May rolled her eyes.

"Patience." Evie teased, scanning the shopping centre. She said she'd be here. A familiar face appeared, as if summoned. 

"There's someone I want you to meet. Guys, this is Roxy." She said as Roxy walked over and stood by her side. They exchanged smiles. Roxy held up a hand of greeting to Evie's friends, of whom Stella and Isabell still looked confused.

"Hey, nice to meet you, Evie's other friend that we have never heard about?" Isabell said in way of greeting, but she directed her statement to Evie.

"Actually," Evie corrected, linking hands with Roxy. Three mouths gawked. "My girlfriend, Roxy Adams."

"No way." Isabell breathed, looking backwards and forwards between them like a tennis match. "Cool."

"Your mother is gonna kill you," Stella laughed and held up her hands, shaking her head like she could already see the funeral. May just nodded, to which Roxy nodded back.

Roxy pulled up a seat at the table and flipped it, sitting down with the back of the chair in front of her.

"I've heard a lot about you guys." Roxy said, earning smiles all around.

"All good things I hope?" Stella asked, glancing between Evie and Roxy with narrowed eyes.

"Absolutely." Roxy drawled, sending her a wink, earning laughter from everyone. Even May, as if she couldn't help but like the badass woman before her.

"So where do you go to school Roxy?" Isabell asked pleasantly, followed by Mae asking about how they met.

"Kleppers Senior. But I'm dropping out next month to start a mechanical apprenticeship. And Evie and I met at the football game on Valentines Day." Roxy leaned back. Evie admired the ease with which she answered their interrogations.

Three sets of eyes locked on to Evie and three pairs of mouths exploded at once:

"Valentine's Day?! That's what happened when you went to the bathroom?"

"How did you not tell us about her? This has been going on for this long?"

"You were still with Dylan! We asked you if you'd gotten any action and you blew us off!"

Evie threw up both hands in defence. "Woah, woah. Slow down." They fell silent. Evie breathed in deep. "I tried to find the bathroom, but got lost and bumped into Roxy instead. You asked me if I'd gotten lucky, which I hadn't, so I didn't lie. And after the game, Roxy dropped me home when Dylan was galavanting around town with that red headed cheerleader."

Nods of understanding, a couple murmurs of acceptance. Evie caught Roxy watching her out of the corner of her eye and they shared a secret smile.

"Wait a minute." Stella said suddenly, learning forward and placing both hands on the table, making it wobble. "So last Christmas, when we were talking about celebrities we'd totally shag, and you said 'Kristen Stewart' before correcting yourself and saying 'Christian Bale,' you actually meant Kristen Stewart."

A guilty look flashed across Evie's face, and Isabell looked at Stella, her mouth in a huge, exaggerated 'OH' shape.

"And then," Stella continued on, counting on her fingers, "when you said Tiffany Wells looked hot in that bathing suit, you meant tap-that hot, not stating-it-enviously-wishing-that-was-my-ass hot, right."

"Okayyy. Let's focus on something else." Evie quickly interrupted, heat flooding to her face, as they managed to conjure up every possibly homosexual comment she'd ever made.

"May?" Evie asked hopefully, desperately needing a life line. May had been unusually quiet through most of this exchange. I guess she's still upset about her and me... Evie thought sadly. I tried to salvage our friendship, and lost it anyway?

"How's the sex?" May asked dryly, causing both Stella and Isabell to point at her as if saying 'good point' and Roxy to grin wickedly. Evie froze.

Roxy leant forward and lowered her voice, causing all three girls to lean in. She looked at each in turn. "Out of this world." She said and Evie stood up abruptly.

"Mmhmm girl. Your fine piece of ass makes me question my sexuality." Isabell purred, toying with a deep-brown curl, eyes travelling up and down Roxy, who just smiled coyly. Jealousy flared through Evie, and she clenched her teeth together.

Stella turned to Isabell and raised a hand. "Says the girl who hunts down men like rabbits. When that happens, I'm officially getting cornrows and flicking my parents the bird."

"Okay. I think that's enough bonding time. We're gonna go." Evie's voice was squeaky and her face burned.

"Prude." They all said in unison, generating high-fives and laughter. Evie scowled. Really? That's what you're gonna bond over?

Roxy got up lazily and slung an arm over Evie's shoulder. The action was natural, calming, like a balm. Roxy saluted to the group of girls as she and Evie walked off, aware of the explosion of gossip that their departure generated.

But something they said bothered Evie. She chewed her lip in quiet contemplation.

"Babe?" Roxy asked, looking at her sidelong.

"What if my mom finds out? From someone else, via the gossip grapevine. When I'm ready for her to know, I want to be the one who tells her." Evie asked, worried and Roxy squeezed her tighter.

"She won't know. No one is gonna tell her but you, and I'm sure most of the party crowd either missed it or were too drunk to remember anyway." Roxy assured her, her aura so serene and supportive that Evie's shoulders relaxed.

"Yeah, you're right." Evie mused, shaking the thoughts out of her head. "Wanna come over? We could listen to music, or study for my maths test, or watch TV or study for my maths test..."

They both laughed, heading to Evie's BMW. Evie drove today; they left Roxy's car in her garage. She never goes into the garage anyway, Evie had said when Roxy asked about Gloria.

"Okay, favourite girlxgirl ship in a TV series," Evie asked Roxy as she drove. Roxy tilted her head, forehead scrunched in concentration.

"Piper and Alex." She said eventually and Evie gawked at the road.

"No way. Stella Carlin was way more perfect for Piper. She and Alex were a train smash."

"But they ended up together. It was meant to be." Roxy shot back, defending her pick. Evie just shook her head.

"I never took you for a romantic." Evie teased and Roxy rolled her eyes, pushing out her chest.

"Yeah, yeah, lap it up. Whose your favourite couple?"

Evie pretended to contemplate the question, when in fact she already knew her answer. Even before she suspected she was gay, lesbian TV relationships had fascinated her. Something about soft female bodies, and lack of gender-stereotypes had seemed so appealing. Maybe I always secretly knew, even if I didn't admit it to myself.

"Clarke and Lexa." Evie stated proudly, and Roxy raised her brows and pursed her lips, as if considering it. "Next topic, pet peeves. Go."

"Easy." Roxy said, cracking her knuckles. "When someone says 'I love you' during sex; it's just sex. Don't make it about love. And gender stereotyping, the idea that women have limitations, and when people post photos of themselves holding the peace out symbol."

Wow. Okay... I'll need to think about those, and remind myself never to do that.

"What about you E?" Roxy asked when Evie didn't respond. Evie sucked her lips together.

"Hm... doing other people's laundry and when people who aren't ethnic roll their 'R's," Evie responded genuinely as she turned into her street. Roxy burst out laughing.

"What?" Evie asked, alarmed. She parked her car and they got out.

"When have you ever done laundry?" Roxy asked, but it was actually a statement. Evie frowned, jiggling her keys.

"Um, I don't need to have experience to know it's gross-" she started to mumble defensively as she stepped into the house, before she heard a thud. Evie looked over her shoulder at Roxy, and they made puzzled eye contact. Roxy quietly shut the door and motioned with her head.

Evie walked forward, creeping towards the front living room, where the sounds were coming from. Evie looked back at Roxy, eyes wide, frantic. What if someone is robbing the house? As if to prove her theory, heavy breathing ensued, followed by the sound of items being thrown to the floor.

They paused by the closed door. Roxy pointed to herself, then to the door, head cocked to the side, question clear in her eyes.

Want me to go first? Evie thought about it, and as tempting as it was, she shook her head. I'm no damsel in distress. Time to be Romeo.

Evie held one finger to her mouth, the other hand counting to three. Breathe. And on three, Evie slammed the door open, leaping through the doorway, hands raised in front of her as she'd seen Roxy do at the gym.

"Oh my god!" Evie screamed at the sight before her. A second later, Roxy was at her side, face frozen in horror.

Two naked bodies were wrapped around each other on the rug. Gloria sat up instantly, face betraying her shock, and scrambled up. Gloria grabbed a throw on the couch and pulled it over herself, smoothing down her tangled hair.

"Evelyn, what are you doing home?" She asked, alarm straining her voice. Evie looked past her mother, at the man on the floor. No, the boy. She distantly recognised him as the kid from the mall, who worked at the surf shop. Horror caused bile to rise in her throat.

"Oh. My. God." She breathed again, one hand over her mouth. The boy leapt up, hands over his junk, and ran out of the house. The door banged shut behind him. What will the neighbours think? Of the naked boy running through our yard... she thought distantly, rooted to the spot.

"Evelyn, Evie sweetie, it's not what it looks like." Gloria was saying, and tried to grab Evie's arm, but Evie pulled away.

"Don't touch me." Evie hissed, tone guttural and low, stepping away until she felt Roxy's soft form behind her back. "How can you do this to dad?"

He'll be heartbroken.

At the mention of her husband, Gloria stiffened. There was a change in her expression, one moment pleading and guilty, the next hard and unrelenting. She stared at Evie, her gaze ice cold.

"Cut the crap Evelyn. You know as well I do that his 'business trip' involves a skimpy young model on a beach in Puerto Rico." It was her tone, venomous and filled with hatred, as well as the words that caught Evie off guard. No, I didn't know that.

"But you're not gonna tell him, are you sweetheart," Gloria purred, voice sickly sweet, eyes wide and unblinking. Evie stiffened, and was about to snap back, when a plan came to mind.

"No, I won't. You're right, Mother. Your secret is safe with me," Evie said, voice steady and hard as steel. She lifted up her chin, forcing herself to meet Gloria head on.

Gloria smiled and turned around to walk away, no doubt looking for a stiff drink.

"Because," Evie continued before she could leave the room, "I'm a lesbian. This is Roxy Adams, my girlfriend." She said before she could back down.

Gloria whipped around, faster than lightening, and lunged at Evie. Evie flinched at Gloria's outstretched hand but before impact could be made, Roxy had leapt forward and grabbed Gloria's arm. Her mother gaped in disbelief, looking from Roxy to Evie, then back to Roxy, as if she'd only just realised there was someone else present.

"You little bitch." Gloria spat, the words like daggers to Evie's heart. Her lip trembled but she refused to show weakness. "How dare you try to blackmail me. And try to date a girl! Ruining our reputation, what will people think?"

"What will people think of you?" Evie shot back, sticking her finger in Gloria's face, "I can see the headlines now. American darling goes to prison for statutory rape of a minor."

They stood toe-to-toe, staring each other down. Evie refused to break first. She channeled Roxy's silent strength, using that and years of belittling to fuel her gaze.

Gloria broke first, looking away. Her mother silently turned around and strutted to the doorway, still wrapped in the throw. She looked over her shoulder, eyes once again bright.

"We have ourselves a deal," she said quietly before whisking away. Evie sagged against Roxy, who held her comfortingly. Suddenly exhausted, Evie stared up at her girl.

"That was amazing E. Really inspirational and badass," Roxy whispered in awe, resting her head against Evie's forehead. Evie closed her eyes, soaking in the peaceful moment. It felt like she'd won the war and earned her freedom.

"Wanna go to your place?" Evie asked weakly, skin crawling with what she'd just witnessed, suddenly desperate to get out of Gloria's house. No, Father's house. Not Gloria's.

"Sure babe, totally," Roxy said, sending Evie an empathetic smile. They walked out of the house, arms wrapped around each other. Evie looked over her shoulder at the looming mansion, all marble, no feeling. A mausoleum that ate our family alive, from the inside out.

Evie knew she'd be back there later, or tomorrow at the very least. But the ElClaire Mansion was no longer her home. As if an invisible chain had been snapped, no longer tethering her soul. And that's when Evie realised.

I found myself. By falling in love with Roxy, I fell in love with myself...

She breathed in deep, hit by her sudden realisation. Woah, love? Maybe not all the way. But definitely falling in love.

"E, are you okay?" Roxy asked, voice laced with concern. Evie looked over at Roxy in the drivers seat of her car, staring at Evie. Evie smiled and leaned her head against the headrest.

"Yeah, I am." She said, the words more truthful than anything she'd ever said in her life. She smiled to herself, at her little secret. "Let's go home."