At home, Kara finished the small amount of homework she had and collapsed on her bed, her phone in her hands. Foster had called again. Foster was her closest friend besides Lily.She had known him for a lot longer too. He was her age, but a month younger. She texted him back with a few quick taps of her fingers. -Hi. What's up?- The little icon that indicated the person that she was texting was in the process of answering her appeared on the lower half of the screen on her I-Phone, a little speech bubble with pulsing dots inside. His text popped up. -Nothing really. Just life. You busy?- Kara smiled. -No.- She was well aware that Foster liked her a lot, but she didn't share his affections. She wanted to, someday. He was a nice guy. But for now, however, at least until summer, her main priority would be school. -Oh, okay. Good. Can you come over?- -Yep :p-

Kara pulled on a jacket accented with roses across the collar. Her grandmother had given it to her for her thirteenth birthday before she had passed on and it luckily still fit. It was comfy with cotten inside. Her dad came in with a suitcase from work, planting a kiss on her forehead. His stubble scraped her cheek slightly. Kara beamed. "Hi, Dad." Her father smiled faintly. "Hi, sweetie." His hazel eyes twinkled, but looked weary all the same. "Busy day at work?" she mused. "Yep. It's nice to see you. How was school?" "Bring as usual, but I've always got Lily and Foster to make it more interesting. Speaking of Foster, can I hang out with him today?"

"Of course, as long as you've finished all of your homework and you have no tests tomorrow." "I don't. Thanks, Dad." Kara leaned up to to kiss her father's cheek, then ran out the door, blinking in the early autumn sunlight. Her father held his head, sorrow clouding his hazel gaze. "Oh, Emily...if only you could see her now..."

Kara strode up to Foster's porch, her finger going to the doorbell. She rang it, but there had been no need to. Foster was already at the door, his sweet blue eyes standing out on his face as the sunlight caught them. "Are you hungry?" he asked as she walked in and closed the door. "No," Kara told him. "Not really. What do you wanna do?"

"Um..." Foster thought about it. "I heard that there's going to be a meteor shower tonight. We could watch that." "But that's tonight. What do you wanna do right now?" Kara's beautiful hazel eyes studied his face. Foster suddenly felt as if this choice was super important and life altering, even though it wasn't. He swallowed hard. "Um, we could go sit outside in the backyard. Maybe watch the clouds." "Okay." Kara moved her hair out of her eyes. She needed a haircut, but Foster would never tell her that. He thought it was cute how she moved her long hair away from her face with small, nimble movements of her fingers. He was sure that only he noticed these cute little things that she did. Perhaps love made you notice beauty more. He hesitated, then held out his hand. At first Kara didn't go for it, but then changed her mind and intertwined her fingers with his, her newly manicured nails lightly scraping against his palm. Foster's eyes went wide. He blinked in shock, then calmed himself down. If you act like a weirdo in front of her, you'll ruin everything, he told himself. He cleared his throat awkwardly, then went to the door to his backyard. He soon sat on a bench outside, Kara beside him. He blushed. She was perfect, and here she was, with him. He had always imagined this moment, and now it was happening. Kara smiled. "It's nice out here." "Oh, you like it? Good." The two glanced away from each other for a moment. Foster fixed his hair a bit and ran his tongue along his front teeth, praying that he looked okay. Kara looked in his direction. "It is nice. But you know what would make it even better?" "What?" "If we went on the roof." "What?" Foster's eyes widened. "We can't do that! My parents would kill me!" "They won't find out, I promise." Kara held out her hand this time. "I swear it's fun. I did it with Lily once. You'll like it." Foster breathed out. "I-if you're sure, I guess I'll come." He took her hand, and they both went to climb up to the roof.

Kara sat down with ease, while Foster slipped and slid. Kara helped him, and soon enough he was able to sit next to her. Foster smiled. "This is nice. A different nice, but still nice." "I knew you'd like it." Kara smirked. "Look at that sunset. I'm not sure if my dad would want me to stay at your place so late." "Oh, it's fine. Stay here with me." Foster tried not to sound too desperate. After a moment or two, Kara nodded. "Oh, okay. You sure have a way with words." She had said that jokingly, and Foster laughed when she did. "Yeah, I guess so." Kara looked at him straight on while she spoke. Foster felt like he was drowning in the beautiful evergreen color of her eyes. He smiled dreamily, blushing again. Kara blushed too. He glanced at the sunset. "What's your favorite color in a sunset?" "I never really thought about it. I guess..orange." "I like purple." "Purple? Why?" "Because purple fades, but lasts the longest out of any of the other colors. I wish that purple could be like this moment." Kara smiled. "Me too. I never thought that you would enjoy something like this." "But I am," Foster replied. His heart was beating so fast that he thought it would burst out of his chest. "I guess you come off different than you actually are." Kara's face seemed to glow with joy. Suddenly she lost her footing and started to slip from the roof. She screamed as the ground moved closer and the roof receded away from her. Acting fast, Foster seized her wrist and pulled her back up to him with both hands. Kara gasped in shock as she was placed back next to him. "You just saved me," she realized aloud. "Anyone else would have done the same," Foster told her. He was blushing again. Suddenly Kara moved her face towards his. "Thank you," she murmured. "You're w-welcome," he answered, blushing frantically now. Kara moved in closer, now kissing him. Her lips were warm against his. Foster almost hyperventilated, his eyes growing wide. She's kissing me! he thought. Because I saved her, she's kissing me! Foster closed his eyes in bliss, cradling her face in his hands. The two pulled away with a sigh. Kara and Foster both said, "Whoa" at the same time. They laughed at what they'd done and looked at each other lovingly. To make sure he wasn't dreaming, Foster pinched himself. "Ouch," he murmured. He was awake. This was actually happening.

Kara couldn't believe what she had done. This felt wrong in lots of ways. He was her best friend. He'd always only been her best friend, never her boyfriend-but now she had just crossed the line between friendship and love. She had kissed him in the spur of the moment, and she had never even kissed a boy before. She found herself feeling happy that he had been her first. When she had kissed him, she had felt free, like she was a bird with wide open wings, soaring in a deep blue sky. She wanted that feeling again, that freeness. She knew that Foster wanted it too. She leaned in to kiss him, and as the sky darkened, the meteor shower began, as if to emphasize what had begun and how beautiful it truly was.

The two noticed the meteors, and gasped in delight and shock. Foster hugged Kara. Kara stiffened up in surprise, but then let it happen, smiling. "Thank you," he said. "For this." "You're welcome. Thanks for saving my life." Foster smiled, blushing. "It was my pleasure." Kara smirked, grabbing his shirt and pulling him close, her lips meeting his. The meteors zipped by, making the sky glow. The world seemed to stand still and rejoice in their happiness. Kara let him go as the meteors ceased soaring far overhead in their dazzling bursts. "I should get going," she murmured. "Today was fun." "My thoughts ex-exactly. See you around?" Trying to strike a casual pose, Foster almost lost his balance on the roof, his arms flailing. Kara caught his wrist, laughing the minute he was steady on his feet again. She straightened his glasses for him, and he smiled. Kara answered his question from before. "Definitely. But maybe we should get off of your roof first."

Chapter 3

The next day in school, Kara told Lily all about what had happened. Or attempted to, at least. Lily was a bit too concerned about her makeup that morning, claiming that she looked really ugly even though she looked as perfect as always. Kara was becoming frustrated. "Hurry up, Lily! I need you to listen!" "It takes as long as it takes, Kara. Unless it's something extremely life-altering. Then I can listen." "It is! Well, for me it is. I did something yesterday that I've never done before." "Ooh, what? I'm all ears." Lily put her tube of eye liner in her back pocket of her short yoga pants and turned to face Kara, her flashy golden earrings jangling together. They were tiny starfish with little shells hanging on them. The shells kept hitting each other with a little wind chime, bell like sound. Kara rolled her eyes, but laughed too. She was literally all ears. "Oh, now you want to listen. Is it finally life-altering enough?" Lily laughed. "Uh-huh. Out with it, then. What was so important?" Kara beamed. "I kissed a guy for the first time yesterday." Lily's eyes widened. "Really?" Kara nodded, happy to share this with someone. She'd been so tired when she'd gotten home, and her dad had been angry that she'd come home so late, so she hadn't gotten the chance to even tell him before he had ushered her off to bed. "Finally! Who?" Kara lowered her voice as some other girls passed by their lockers. "Foster." "Foster? You could do so much better...I'm just kidding! Congrats, bestie!" Kara wasn't sure how much Lily meant that, but smiled all the same. "Thanks." Lily looked thoughtful. "Looks like Danny lost his secret admirer, huh?" Kara elbowed Lily's arm. "Oh, stop." Lily giggled and rubbed her arm. "Hey, I'm just saying. There he is. The new guy of your dreams." Kara spun around to see Foster walking through the hallway, a beige book bag slung over his shoulder. He pushed his glasses up further on his nose and waved. Kara waved back, her heart pounding from love. Lily shrugged. "At least you guys will make a cute couple." Foster came up to Kara's side, his eyes so blue that Kara could hardly stop herself from looking into them. Lily smiled slyly. "I'll give you two some privacy." Kara started to protest to this. "Lily, wait-" It was too late for that. Lily had already disappeared into their homeroom with a flip of her gorgeous raven hair. Kara sighed. Foster laughed at her exasperated expression. "I can ask her to come back, if you want," he offered. "No, I'm okay with it being just you and me. I mean, as long as you're okay with it too..." "I am."

Foster suddenly looked nervous. "Uh, Kara, I was wondering...why did you kiss me yesterday? Was it because I saved you, or some other reason entirely?" Kara shrugged. "It was for multiple reasons.You're a really nice guy, Foster, and and I've noticed over the years how you've looked at me differently than any other boy has. I realized that I felt the same way about you, and I kissed you." "And you were...in love? With me?" "Yes, I still am."

"Does that make me your boyfriend...and you my girlfriend?" Kara smirked. "You could say that." "How about we make it official?" Foster knelt down a little shakily on one knee as if he were proposing. Kara laughed at this. His glasses were crooked, his hair was messy, but she had never seen anyone more handsome and cute. He winked, then spoke. "Kara Tilling, will you...go out with me?" Kara smiled. "Yes." Foster's eyes glittered with joy, as bright as the midmorning sky. "Then now you can ask me." "Foster Remy, will you go out with me?" Foster nodded. "I will." "Then we're together." Kara kissed his cheek. "I'll see you later." She walked away, leaving a blushing, slightly bewildered Foster behind.