Ariel

Taylor is currently the main topic of everyone's conversation and not in a good way. Some of it links Taylor to several basketball players; the rest revolves around Faithful and Ryder.

The three of them were absent from school yesterday which means the idiots of this school have put one and one together and made the most ridiculously fucked up rumours of what the three of them were up too. 

Stories range from drug-taking threesomes, to Ryder and Faithful pimping her out, to them being in police custody due to a massive fight breaking out due to them finding out she was cheating on them. In reality, Taylor was at home while Ryder and Faithful were watching the drug dealer again. People are really clueless sometimes.

Drawing in my sketchbook, I take a big bite of my sandwich. "Do you think anyone has ever made art out of sandwich fillings?"

Kayla shrugs and Taylor doesn't respond. Ugh, I'm sitting at the table of boring silence.  Since I joined them to eat lunch, Kayla hasn't said a word and Taylor has been staring at her phone which is buzzing continuously. Sydney is nowhere to be seen.

"Is Sydney still ill?" I ask.

Kayla nods, I guess she's lost the ability to talk as has Taylor who is still staring at her buzzing phone. She is one popular girl today, not that she seems to be pleased about it. To be honest, she looks fucking miserable.

I feel for her. When Teresa ran her hate campaign against me it was brutal, and I know a lot of the rumours about Taylor are fuelled by Teresa. Faithful told me she saw him with his arm around Taylor which means Teresa, in her true psycho bitch mode, will be on a mission to destroy Taylor.  Teresa has got a seriously unhealthy obsession with that boy.

I hate boys. Which reminds me, Kayla is going on a date tonight, with a boy. I'm fucking confused. She kissed me then acted like it didn't happen. Then, on our group chat this morning she told us she's going out with a boy. A fucking ugly looking one too. I know looks aren't everything but seriously, was I so horrendous that she'd rather go out with a gremlin? A fugly gremlin that is, not the cute kind. Saying that, even cute gremlins you wouldn't date and kiss.

Maybe, I got distracted while kissing her and did something that offended her without realising. Did I say another girls name? I don't think so.

I do occasionally speak without meaning to. Like the other day, when I told the twins dad to back off because my mum was going through a difficult time. He started asking lots of questions which I responded to with complete lies. I can't let him take the twins. Since they returned, my mum has started acting normally again. I haven't seen her this happy in a while. I'd love to say it's because she's sorted herself out but I'm not stupid. I'm aware there might be another reason.

I hate drugs.

"Ariel," Kayla says.

"Yeah?" I jolt up at the sound of Kayla's voice. It's a fucking miracle, she spoke to me.

"What are we going to do about Taylor?"

I look at where Taylor is sitting or, should I say, was sitting. She's gone. When did she leave? "Where is she?"

"She left a few minutes ago. In a minute, I'll check she's not in the toilets. I'm not letting her hide there like her sister does every break."

"Her sister hides in the toilets?"

"Yeah, I think she's depressed or something." Kayla shrugs, not looking me in the eye. "There must be something we can do to stop this, someone wrote slut all over her locker today and filled it with leaflets about STIs." Kayla shakes her head. "Who would do that?"

"Teresa," I say angrily. And if I go by my experience of her hate campaign against me, that was only the beginning.

Kayla glances over at Teresa who is hanging onto Miles; he doesn't look too pleased about it. I wonder if they kissed and he thought it was bad while she thought it was good.

"Kayla, are we good?" I ask.

Kayla nods her head. "Of course we're good." She stands and starts backing up. "I'm going to look for Taylor."

She turns without waiting for me to respond. We are definitely not good. She's being awkward and acting weird. This was the exact reason I did not make a move. I'm an idiot. Actually, I'm not, I didn't make a move, she did. Fuck this, we need to sort this out now because even though I do like her more than a friend, I'm happy for us to stay friends and nothing more if that's what she wants. But for us to be friends, we at least need to be friendly.

When I asked Ryder to sleep with me he didn't get all weird, he said no and I pestered him for a bit then we moved on. Admittedly, I felt a little rejected. However, I only wanted to have sex with him so I could say I did it once with a guy and Ryder is the best guy I know. Looking back, I'm glad he said no because later that night I read some hetero mature books on Wattpad which not only did nothing for me but they also grossed me out slightly. And I realised, having sex with a guy is something I really don't want to do, not ever. The saying you should try everything once is bullshit. I don't ever need to try fucking a guy.

"Poor retard, even your loser friends have ditched you." Teresa laughs as she walks past with her group of mindless friends who cackle like a gang of hyenas.

I press my lips because I've been forbidden to talk to her. If I wasn't this close to finishing school, I'd rip her tongue out and stomp on it.

Jumping up, I give Teresa a big 'fuck you' smile and leave while repeating the same mantra I repeat in my head every time I see her: not long and I'll never have to see Teresa again, and if I do have the unfortunate experience of meeting her again, I'll stab her with a stake made of ice so the evidence incriminating me melts away and I'll never be caught.

It's a long mantra but it works, for now.

Teresa better go to hell and get tortured for eternity; if she doesn't, I will personally kick Satan in his demon balls.

Striding into the girl's bathroom, Kayla stiffens when she sees me. Seriously? Why the fuck am I getting treated like the one in the wrong?

"Did you find her?" I ask with a frown.

"No, but she just messaged to say she's skipping school again," Kayla says, looking over my shoulder at the wall so she doesn't have to make eye contact. "I'm going to go to class now."

"We've got fifteen minutes till lunch ends and class starts."

"I like to arrive early." She shrugs and stares at the floor.

"Liar," I blurt out.

Kayla looks at me for the first time.

"I've spent every break with you for the last week and a bit, and you always leave it as late as possible before going to class." I cross my arms in front of my chest. "You've been acting weird ever since we kissed."

Kayla's eyes widen and she glances around to check for people. Fuck, she's embarrassed. I push open all the stall doors and miraculously we're alone. I've never known these toilets to be empty.

"What bathroom does Taylor's sister hide in?" I ask.

"She changes the toilets every day."

Clever. I wonder if it's random or she has a rota. That would be weird but also logical. She must hear so much shit sitting in the toilets every day; both the sound of actual shit and people talking shit.

I put my arm out to stop Kayla who is trying to creep out the door. "We're sorting this out now."

"There's nothing to sort out," Kayla says quietly.

"You hardly talk to me and you won't look me in the eye. If you regret the kiss or didn't enjoy it fine, but don't get all weird about it. I want us to be friends."

Kayla steps back slightly and her lower lip trembles. Is she going to cry? She looks just like the twins when they're going to cry.

"Friends. Yes." She nods vigorously. Too vigorously. What is going on in that head of hers?

"Kayla-"

"I'm sorry for kissing you, it was a mistake."

I frown. "Adding salt instead of sugar to someone's coffee is a mistake or sending a message that says anal instead of small is a mistake. You don't kiss someone by mistake. You meant to kiss me and if you regret it now fine, but don't ignore me." I shrug. "It makes me feel like I did something wrong; I didn't. I didn't do some lesbian voodoo shit on you or force your lips on mine. You initiated it and I kissed you back because you're cute, sexy cute and funny and-"

Kayla's lips smash onto mine, our teeth bash but that doesn't stop her hands from grabbing my face and continuing to kiss me. This kiss is nothing like the one we had on Sunday. This is desperate and urgent. This is pent up frustration. I don't know what the fuck is going on with Kayla but I'm loving this kiss just as much as our first.

"You need to cancel your date with gremlin boy because there is no way I'm letting you waste your amazing kisses on him," I mumble against her lips.

I feel Kayla grin against my mouth. "Amazing?"

"Really fucking amazing."

"It was cancelled from the moment this kiss started." Kayla continues the kiss as she pushes me back into a stall, kicks the door behind her and grabs my top to pull me against her.

I'm loving in-charge Kayla.

I cup her face and suck her bottom lip causing her to moan. My insides are alive while my senses are on overload as her entire body is pressed against mine; she parts her lips allowing my tongue into her mouth where it collides with hers. She tastes amazing.

I retract my previous statement this kiss is so much better than our first.

The door to the bathroom opens and Kayla freezes. Her whole body stiffens as she leans back and her eyes look at me pleadingly. Fuck, I know that look. She wants me to keep quiet, she wants us to be a secret. She's embarrassed and she's scared.

I curse myself. I'm falling for a girl I promised myself I would stay away from. I'm falling for a girl who's fucking ashamed of her sexuality. Kayla is ashamed of us and me.

Author's Notes

Please vote if you're enjoying the story.

I'm still on holiday, currently writing everything on my phone so please let me know of any mistakes... auto-correct is a bitch!