Hey guys... lol, I'm ashamed. I'm so fucking sorry. I didn't plan to take so much time off but things kept happening one after the other and now I'm taking University online so... fun. But besides that, I'm so thankful to all you amazing people for checking up on me. That shit really made my heart twitch a little lol but yeah, I truly appreciate all the love and support I continue to get from you guys. We made it to 200k reads, like that's insane.

I also want to let you guys know that I took a good amount of time to reflect on your comments and I hope I can do better with my writing in the future.

Okay, I'll stop ranting now. Enjoy this 9,027-word long chapter. Peace, babes!

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"What's wrong now?"

Kinsey sighs heavily as her lengthy limbs languidly spread eagle across the bed. The blonde, with her back sinking into the depths of the comforter, cranes her neck up to questioningly eye the brunette from her laid out position. The brunette that is currently sitting at the farthest distance away from her across the room, rolling absentmindedly back and forth in the mesh rolling chair.

With each anxiety-ridden back and forth roll Jade does with the chair, an annoying squeaking sound emits. The repetitive sound adds fuel to the looming awkwardness that has persisted since they've gotten back to Kinsey's house after school, almost an hour ago.

Don't get her wrong, Kinsey understands how tense Jade gets around other people at school, but she's never this fucking awkward when they're alone.

Jade doesn't bother to look away from the screen of the laptop, conducting the most impressive balancing act as it sits atop the brunt of her thigh with her legs crossed.

Kinsey narrows her eyes at the brunette from her laid out position, forming a strong enough pout to have small wrinkles develop on her forehead and a knot start to form in the side of her neck, trying to get Jade's attention without having to do any actual work. The blonde sees that Jade's focus is elsewhere, so she resorts to expelling a deep ass exaggerated sigh that sounds almost similar to the sound of a dying whale before she drops her head back into the comforter. Her hearing slightly muffles as the thick comforter encases both her ears.

While that happens, Jade's focus remains on the blinding glow of the screen that is at the highest level of brightness possible. Her face exudes a relaxed expression, seemingly unbothered as her small, rounded ears poke out through the frizziness of her hair that's tucked behind both of her ears. She barely moves an inch as she starts to feel Kinsey's aura intrude her train of thought. 

"What?" She acknowledges, completely clueless, and not daring to scatter her eyes away from the screen.

Kinsey sighs again as she lifts the upper half of her body to be in a more comfortable sitting position. Since she saw Jade sulking on the benches again today, she's taken notice of how distant the brunette seems since they've made it back to her place. Her light hazel eyes averting every gaze Kinsey tried to hold and her legs rejecting every touch Kinsey tried to place upon them.

If there's one thing the blonde's learned from her detective father, it's being able to take notice of someone's body language. With Jade's stiff shoulders pressing up against the back support of the chair and her restless leg syndrome going off,  causing the chair to roll back and forth, Kinsey can obviously see that something is up. The brunette does a great job of exposing herself as an open book incapable of concealing her anxieties.

"You never sit there," Kinsey bluntly points out, now sitting on the edge of the bed, facing Jade's direction, with her legs wide open and hands hanging in between as her forearms rest on her thighs.

Jade glances up at the blonde, finding her heart skipping a beat at the way the blonde is looking at her while sitting like that. Her conscience immediately goes into fight-or-flight mode, forcing her to find a way to immediately mask her emotions.

"What do you mean? I sit here... sometimes," Jade spews weakly with her voice dying out as she tentatively glances up at Kinsey for a fraction of a second before looking back at her screen.

Ironically, Jade is sitting in the same rolling chair that was used as an attempt at bringing some sort of distance between the two girls after the first time they kissed. Of course, such an attempt was proven a complete failure with how much more kissing has gone on since then. Where they are now is something neither one of them could have expected.

Kinsey cocks her head to the side as if saying, really bitch?

"I can sit wherever I want," Jade snaps, ultimately looking up from the laptop, before letting out a hefty breath as she looks back down. "I'm just trying to finish this last bit up, okay? I know if my ass sits next to you this won't get done at all," Jade reasons with her fingers wavering over the keyboard hesitantly. "Go, review the PowerPoint presentation one last time," she instructs, shooing Kinsey away with one hand.

Kinsey sends her deadpan expression in reply.

"Go do it, or you'll never touch these lips again."

"Pfft," Kinsey starts, giving Jade the biggest stank face, "you know you can't resist me. I bet I could have you whining for my tongue to be down your throat in two minutes tops," Kinsey challenges, crossing her arms in confidence.

"You really want me to take up that bet, don't you?"

"Yes, I'd appreciate it very much. I just know you'll lose."

"I have more self-control than you think," Jade defends, pitifully.

"You know what's funny?"

Jade's eyes slowly rise above the top of the laptop, glancing over to see Kinsey smirking like an idiot.

"You're sitting in the same chair you thought was going to keep us from kissing for the second time," Kinsey points out, taking a moment to look off to the side fondly, "Wow, we've come a long way, babe," she smugly grins with the ends of her lips rising too fucking high for Jade's liking.

The brunette sends Kinsey an unimpressed stare.

"Fine," Kinsey groans before rolling across the entirety of the bed like a literal child, spinning her body around like a log to retrieve her own laptop sitting on the dresser.

Jade can't fight the entertainment she finds in watching Kinsey's childish behavior, especially since she's the senior in high school. Jade's lips upturn into an affectionate smile before she draws her eyes back down to the screen of her laptop to see that nothing is written for her introductory script besides "Introduction" at the top of the page. Her fond smile instantly droops to a frown once she realizes her dilemma. She usually can crank one of these out in fifteen minutes tops, but right now she feels stuck. Her brain is overthinking again and that is never a good thing. But how could she not, when all of her thoughts as of late have been flooded with the obnoxious back-to-back texts she's received from Zoé within the last few days.

Zoé, that's her name.

The texts that flooded her phone almost every other day since Zoé first texted her a couple of days ago.  The scarlet demon continuously tries to spark conversation as if nothing bad had happened between the pair in the first place. As if she were an old friend that Jade "absolutely missed". Unfortunately, there are some parts of her that Jade did miss and that's what pissed Jade off the most about herself, or to be exact, the person she used to be. The old Jade that saw the good in people and wanted so desperately to be anyone's friend. Yeah, that dumbass Jade.

But, with fond memories also came horrible ones as well.

This sudden contact with Zoé has had Jade questioning some things and reliving past experiences... well, trauma to be more exact. Her past with Zoé wasn't all that pretty and to be frank, it was those traumas that have molded Jade into the person she is today. Those experiences really fucked her physically and mentally. With every fond memory with Zoé, there came equally or worse memories that followed.

But, Jade can never tell anyone about them. She can never expose that part of her life because it will reveal much more than she is ready to reveal about herself. At least for now.

"Spider!"

The word registers into the depths of Jade's mind, pushing out her endless circle of thoughts and rushing her into a fit of panic. Her body immediately reacts at once with her legs recoiling upwards, encasing the half-open laptop against her chest. Her hand is instinctively placed where her heart should be, to assure that it didn't just pop out of her chest at the mention of one of her biggest fears. No yelp or scream sounds from her lips as the horror simply leaves her speechless.

"Glad I finally could get your attention," Kinsey starts, "Not to toot my own horn, but I think I'm getting better at this 'getting your attention' thing."

Jade's wide eyes slowly settle onto Kinsey in a glare as the realization settles in. Her body uncoils itself, rather reluctantly, as her eyelids fall to their natural positioning, "Good at scaring the shit out of me?" she basically grits with her teeth slightly grinding against one another.

"It works every time though," Kinsey guiltlessly remarks, genuinely believing that her logic makes sense.

"I could've had a fucking heart attack."

"Please, with how you eat, you won't have to worry about that until... hm, yeah... maybe you would have to worry about that now," Kinsey replies with her finger lightly tapping her chin as she recalls the memory of Jade downing a large bowl of loaded nachos mounted in all types of artificial cheese, beef, and vegetables just a couple moments after they got out of school. Despite her internal dilemma, Jade couldn't deny Kinsey's offer to buy food. It's what makes her happy and she has no shame about that.

"Fuck. You."

Kinsey rolls her eyes at the words she's become accustomed to hearing fall out of Jade's mouth, almost like a signature catchphrase. "You sure you're getting shit done with just staring at that screen?"

Jade looks down at the laptop to see the white blank space and the annoying blinking of her cursor, almost mocking her. "I'm... thinking."

"Fat B.S. What's up with you, again? You didn't even bother to talk shit about James after he got out of the car today. I thought you would feel better after I bought you food, but now you're not talking again and staring out into space as if you've lost it."

Yeah, cause nachos can heal years of trauma.

"What makes you think I haven't lost it?" Jade replies, keeping her cool as she glances over the top of the laptop to stare into Kinsey's eyes.

"Because you haven't tried to sock me for the amount of shit I talk. The day you try to beat my ass is the day when I'll really think you've lost it," Kinsey half-smiles as she sits cross-crossed on the other side of the bed with her laptop still closed shut sitting atop the dresser.

Jade chuckles at the image currently playing in her mind. It looked awkward as hell seeing her weak, uncoordinated self trying to sock Kinsey in the face. The whole image looked deranged, comical even.

"You ready to finally present this shit tomorrow and be over with it?" Jade inquires as she finally gives in and shuts the laptop in half. I'll figure something out later while I struggle with my insomnia tonight.

"Yeah, of course. I'm fucking over this project shit," Kinsey declares wholeheartedly. "I just need my grade to go up before I send in my application for 'Bama."

Jade chuckles emptily with a fond sort of glimmer in her eyes as she dwells on the thought of finally being over with this project. Does she even want to be friends after this? She'll get rid of me, right? What would Kinsey Scott want to do with someone like me anyway?

The blonde views the way Jade's face wavers on the edge of solemnity.

"But," Kinsey emphasizes, "spending time with you wasn't too painful... I guess." Kinsey drones off, lacking the courage to say something so gushy and look Jade in the face. She directs her gaze over to the side, holding her head high as she looks over at the trophy shelf casually.

"Don't get sappy with me," Jade smiles back at Kinsey, thinking of all the memories they have shared within the month of working on this project together.

It's nearly impractical how much this simple project has brought these completely different characters together. Of course, neither of them would like to believe such a thing could happen, but it did. These strangers seemed to share so much in common, whether or not they want to believe it.

To think, nearly a month ago, they both met in the parlor room of some rich kid's mansion where Jade feared the shit out of the persona of Kinsey Scott, and the same Kinsey Scott simply thrived off of the idea of having such control over the shy brunette. A similar sense of control that the same shy brunette is seeming to now have over her. Oh, how the turned have tables.

The strangers became more than acquaintances, but would that be the extent of their connection with one another?

Kinsey log rolls across the bed once more to get closer to Jade's side. Jade laughs at the goofiness of the action as the blonde continues her voyage across the bed. The quirky side of Kinsey that she's been able to experience felt sacred. It was nothing she had ever expected from someone that exuded the epitome of cool and confident and that's what made it seem all the more coveted. Jade gets to see Kinsey like this.

"That's adorable," Jade teases as she watches the blonde complete her last rotation.

"You're fucking ridiculous," Kinsey adds, looking away once again as she sits up on the other side of the bed, barely a few inches from Jade still sat in the rolling chair that seems to have gotten way closer to the bed than before.

As Kinsey sits up, a red consumes her face, probably from the blood rising in her head due to her rolling, but with the sheepish look that complements the red in her cheeks that may not just be the case. Kinsey looks off to the side, feeling the gaze of those light brown hazel eyes being too much right now. She tightens her lips as she fights a shy smile. The smile that would expose how much she's likes the girl sitting barely two feet away from her.

"Why don't you act this way normally? I'm sure you would look less scary," Jade smiles, her straight-line of teeth presenting themselves at full force, lighting her face up all the more, alongside the natural lift of her high cheekbones.

"Good question. My answer is simple... I don't give a shit. I rather have respect from other people than have them actually like me. They'd wanna actually be friends with me and shit and I could care less to get that close with people. I rather not falsely advertise myself to the world, it's just not my image," Kinsey shrugs while pouting her lips.

Jade accepts the words for what they are, maybe because she can almost understand what they mean. It's as if she can almost relate to the words, but just almost. For her, people just didn't bother to want to be her friends because she was naturally quiet and meek. People kept their distance since there was nothing she could offer them in terms of social interaction. To her default, her "people repelling" abilities weren't always a conscious effort.

"Wow, that shit was deep," Jade sarcastically remarks, cracking a smirk at Kinsey.

Kinsey's lips crack into soft laughter at Jade's tone as the girls make eye contact and realize the sappiness of the moment.

"That's what she said," Kinsey jokes, piggybacking off of Jade's words.

"You and your dirty ass mind are above me."

"What would I be without it?" Kinsey smiles childishly and shrugs her shoulders before patting down the space to her right on the bed. The hard pat creating a wrinkled dent in the thick comforter.

Jade takes notice of the signal and gives in to Kinsey's direction. With no words said, she lifts herself from the swivel chair with her laptop in hand.  She places the slim piece of technology down into the now vacant chair before traversing over to the space beside Kinsey, naturally leaving barely an inch between them as she settles down.

"Remember when your shy ass wouldn't even sit this close to me?" Kinsey reminisces.

"As I've said multiple times, you were intimidating as shit."

"Touché," Kinsey sighs, holding a level of self-awareness that makes her incapable of arguing with such a statement. I would be scared of myself too.

Silence falls between the two but its one that's more comfortable than it is uncomfortable.

"You still haven't answered my question. What's got you all of out of it? You were fine the last time we talked about... I don't know, two days ago?"

Jade realizes how in such a short time after feeling so good, she could immediately feel so shitty the next. Her mind goes to Zoé and she wants to bang her head against a wall until she can get the image of that girl out of her fucking skull.

"Don't worry about me. Remember, being a capricious bitch is my personality trait," Jade comforts, lifting her head up to the blonde on her left.

Kinsey doesn't even bother to ask what that word means. Did she mean CapriSun? "Nah, I won't have you stealing my image like that. I'm supposed to be the bitchy one. You're just the... innocent one," Kinsey elaborates.

Jade raises a testing brow at her. Kinsey already knows what that means. Does she really believe that she's intimidating?

"Yeah, no one believes you're scary. Maybe you could be an ass sometimes, but I guess that's your charm or whatever," Kinsey clarifies sarcastically.

"I guess you're right, you are the bitch," Jade concludes, sulking a little as she naturally pouts her lips and scrunches her brows.

She's gonna make my heart fucking burst. What the actual fuck? Kinsey cracks a smirk, "You're such a bottom."

"What did you just call me?" Jade questions, nearly breaking her neck after snapping her head over to the girl on her left.

"A bottom," Kinsey reiterates with no quaver in her voice as her eyes confidently hold contact with Jade's.

"W-Wha-"

"I can already sense your bottom-like tendencies," Kinsey justifies, eyeing the brunette in all seriousness.

"You have to be kidding me," Jade scoffs, playfully chuckling nervously in disbelief.

Kinsey shrugs in innocence with her bottom lip jutting out a little as if to garner more sympathy.

"What... tendencies?" Jade skeptically inquires as her pupils increase in size looking in Kinsey's direction.

"Do you really want me to get into that? I guess I could have the essay done by tomorrow," Kinsey jokes, placing her hand on Jade's thigh, patting twice as a means of comforting such a confused soul.

Jade isn't stupefied by the touch since Kinsey has done it so often at this point. She's too unbothered to go on another one of her panicked tirades since it won't stop the blonde from doing it again.

But despite the desensitization, she can't deny how much she inherently relishes in it. The touch, even if it's through her worn-out faded black jeans, sends a wave of comfort through the confines of her barred soul. The touch, even though small, makes her feel appreciated and safe. She may be delusion for feeling this way about simple tactile communication, but it affects her enough to have her heart rate pick up in speed and her mind void of any other thoughts.

"Well..." Jade starts helplessly in defense, "I see myself as a top." The brunette confidently finishes off the statement holding her chin up high and straightening her shoulders.

Kinsey scoffs, "Cute," before tightening her grip on Jade's thigh and leaning into the brunette's ear, "but you wouldn't know how to tame me even if you tried," Kinsey whispers dangerously low behind Jade's earlobe, A.K.A. her sensitive spot. Tingles race down Jade's back as if competing, sending her body into an uncontrollable fit of feverish shivers.

Jade bites the corner of her slightly chapping lips in determination as the blonde blows a subtle breathe out against Jade's earlobe before slowly backing away.

Upon seeing that arrogant ass smirk on Kinsey's face in the corner of her eye, Jade feels slight annoyance and determination brew from within.

Without notice, she pounces on top of Kinsey, ultimately pushing the blonde back against her own bed. Laughter expels from Kinsey as she watches the brunette straddle her lap from above with her delicate hands desperately grappling at her wrists, trying their absolute best to pin them down against the comforter.

Jade takes in the tempting image of the blonde under her. She looks so fucking hot like this. Her admiration for the blonde sudden spiking as she takes in the array of freckles feathering under her eyes and how beautiful she looks in her natural state, her skin looking almost untouched as those topaz-colored eyes challenge her. With her dirty blonde hair still pulled atop her head in that irritatingly messy ass bun, Kinsey raises her dark brows at Jade, daring the brunette to continue on with the point she is so desperately trying to make.

Jade's face reddens upon thinking about what her next move will be. This moment seems to be like an equation she doesn't even know how to start. What do I do next?

Oh yeah, she has no fucking clue.

The brunette has no clue as to how to approach this girl without making a fool of herself. Her eyes travel down to Kinsey's b-cup boobs settled quite nicely in the trimmed white sheer tank top she has on. The shirt had the perfect amount of see-through to get Jade's imagination running. The curvature of her boobs being perfectly evident in the makeshift crop-top, cut right above her belly button.

Kinsey fondly peers at Jade's confusion in less of a pitiful manner and more of an empathetic one as a natural innocence seems to exude off of the girl she originally thought was so hardcore.

Kinsey soon acclimates herself to her newfound position by removing her wrists from Jade's grip and placing her calloused hands on Jade's thighs that are tasked with holding her hips into place. No matter what position they were in, Kinsey seemed to know how to make it the most comfortable for herself. That's one thing that she can take credit for teaching herself, through experience of course.

"Get down here and kiss me," she instructs, as those doe eyes snap up at hers. She pinches the inside of her lips with her teeth as she narrows her eyes at the untouched lips before her. The ones that are just begging to be fucked up.

"No, you don't tell me what to d-"

Jade is unable to follow through with her resistance as Kinsey's hand grips around the back of her neck, leading her head down. Jade doesn't even have time to evaluate the rushed action as her lips have already collided with Kinsey's. No matter how many times they've done this before, Jade can't deny the spark that ignites over and over, nonstop like a broken record whenever their lips touch. The record hasn't broken yet and Jade doesn't want it to at this rate. Whatever this is with Kinsey has been the only consistent thing in her life besides reading, and that says a lot. With change being a constant in her life, from her consistently moving from state to state when she was younger to the gradual degradation of her family as a whole, Jade needs this. She really needs this.

And to be terrifyingly honest, it seems to be the only shit that's been keeping her sane which is a bit ironic, considering she's the same girl that has repeated to herself, almost on a daily basis, that she wasn't gay. At this point, she considers herself a walking irony.

Fuck.

Kinsey props her body up with her elbow while her other hand maintains its grip on the back of Jade's neck, refusing to let Jade back out of this now. She shuts her eyes, allowing herself to be lost in this moment.

Oddly, this kiss feels much different to Kinsey. For some reason, the blonde can feel a ping hovering in the pit of her stomach as she gets the feeling that this may be the last. The ping becomes more prominent by the second and as its prominence increases, Kinsey shuts her eyes tight and can't help but use her arm that wasn't around Jade's neck to pull Jade down by the hip to have their bodies pressing up against one another. I need to fucking feel her.

Kinsey's fingers harshly knead into Jade's hip, causing the brunette to groan mid-kiss. Kinsey smirks through the kiss as she thrives when she hears that. Feeling the brunette lying atop her with her c-cup breasts applying weight to her chest is a feeling Kinsey can't even comprehend. Is it euphoria, or just pure sexual arousal? The blonde doesn't know but doesn't bother to dwell on it either as she swiftly rolls them over so that she's now on top.

Their lips remain latched onto one another through this transition. Jade attempts to take a second to breathe after their little dramatic ass spin. She lets out a breathy chuckle as she looks up at Kinsey who is now above her. The innocence on her face sends Kinsey into a frenzy, causing the blonde to mindlessly hold Jade's cheek and tilt her head to the side to plant another kiss on those already puffed up lips. Before she can do so, Jade completely turns her head over to the side causing Kinsey to miss.

Kinsey freezes in her motion, partially shook.

"Hey, can we at least breathe for a sec?" Jade lightly laughs as her chest heaves up and down beneath a frenzied Kinsey.

But the blonde doesn't even reply as her eyes settle on the overall beauty beneath her. What the actual fuck did I do in my past life to get a girl like her?

"I... I think I lik-"

An irritatingly melodic sound interrupts the dense silence of the room. Kinsey's words are cut short, while her thoughts start to race a mile per second. Did I-Was I just about to say that?

A groan from Jade emerges from the depths of her gut, allowing Kinsey to feel it too as their bodies remain relatively glued together. "Ugh, what does she want?" Jade questions, rolling her eyes as she starts to shuffle her way out from under Kinsey to search for her phone. The specific melody being one she had reserved for Melanie, her beloved sibling.

Kinsey stagnates in her movements, slowly peeling herself from Jade to take a step back off of the bed as Jade wiggles herself off to the side to ultimately stand up. Kinsey's normally fast body seems to be moving at a speed much slower than her grandmother, of course when she was alive.

The blonde exhausts out a small dejectedly sigh before pulling her bottom lip in between her teeth mindlessly. Her eyes waver back and forth and she tries to analyze how that shit would have worked out. Why in the fuck would I say that?

_________

The icy blue irises shakily waver back and forth, snapping from left to right like prey waiting for the lethal blow of its predator.

Their owner, Kinsey Scott, indifferently sits in the plastic seat attached to the wooden desk with legs wide open and hands lazily placed in between them, trying to maintain her cool as she internally freaks out.

The exterior of the blonde seems so detached, while the interior quivers with rippling trepidation. The "relaxed" hands settled in between her legs have palms that are becoming moist. Her fellow peers at the front of the class continue on with their seemingly endless presentation. One of the students, Kinsey only recognizes as the girl that has been rocking the same bobbed haircut from last year, starts talking and her confident voice booms loud enough to absorb the entire class into her speech about something Kinsey lost track of a while ago. The blonde was simply too occupied with trying to control the peculiar sense of nervousness traveling throughout her body.

Is this the same Kinsey Scott?

Oh yes, it is. Kinsey has always had a fear of public speaking. It's one of the "very few" number of characteristics she despises about herself.

The same girl that could have anyone wither beneath her gaze is quivering from the anxiety of speaking in front of her high school philosophy class. The irony is insurmountable but there is nothing that Kinsey can do about it.

There's always been something unsettling about standing still in front of a crowd of your own peers, being unable to control their possibly and most likely, negative thoughts. Kinsey often resorts to solving her issues with violence but being virtually "trapped" at the front of the class, unfortunately, doesn't give her that option.

The thought alone has Kinsey bouncing her leg up and down, causing her chair to make this consistent squeaking noise as the plastic seat starts clicking against the metal legs. The noise is starting to catch people's attention, but of course, no one is bold enough to tell Kinsey Scott that she is being annoying, especially with her signature resting bitch face plastered on.

Jade glances over tentatively at the all-white sneakers bouncing up and down hastily against the checkered vinyl floor. She squints her eyes as she follows the legs connected to the sneakers, up until she can make sure that they belong to Kinsey. Her brows furrow at the blonde sitting to her right. Is she... nervous?

Luckily, Jade is the only person that can decipher Kinsey's expression as one of serious inner turmoil instead of one of vexation.

Jade's question is ultimately answered once her eyes fall onto Kinsey's fingers incessantly tapping on her thigh under the desk. One by one the fingers tap and tap and tap against the semi-fluffy material of the off-brand Burberry pajama pants that she decided to wear to school today.

At this point, Jade is sure that Kinsey is suffering from some sort of anxiety since the fidgeting is something she herself has done multiple times. Jade's soft eyes wander around the classroom to make sure that no one sees what she is about to do. The brunette slips her hand from atop her desk to rest on Kinsey's. Jade is successful in stopping the twitching in the blonde's hand, but that's not all. The subtle touch is enough to stop time.

The brunette can feel how freakishly cold Kinsey's hand is. The realization leads her to intertwine her fingers with Kinsey's, allowing her warmth to melt into the chilled hand. Her eyes never leave the front of the classroom as she sits calmly with her hand beneath Kinsey's desk. The sight probably looking all types of wrong to anybody looking from the outside.

The sound of the presentation going on in the background gets muffled, almost completely drowned out by the substantial beating of both of their hearts. Their stomachs suddenly flourish with butterflies and their legs suddenly turn into Jell-O. Needless to say, neither of them would admit such intense feelings to each other.

Kinsey feels a wave of chills run down her back as initial shock takes over. That is until it's all consumed by the warmth coming from Jade's encompassing hand. Kinsey's eyes widen a bit as her heart starts slowing down to a relatively normal pace, still beating rapidly at Jade's touch but not enough to send her into cardiac arrest. She looks over in the corner of her eye to see the girl that continues to have her falling on her head like a lovestruck idiot. You're killing me, but I fucking like it.

Kinsey doesn't want Jade to move her hand at all, but it has come time for them to present. Mrs. Rodriguez calls out both of the girls' names in a monotone voice with her head down and glasses sitting loosely on her nose, checking off their names on the class roster she has clipped on her clipboard.

Once their names are announced, both girls feel a density that quickly replaces the butterflies in their stomachs. A feeling of immobility takes over making them feel as though they're stuck in slow motion. Their once jellified legs now feel as though they're blocks of cement.

Jade is able to stomach down the sudden feeling prompted by being called on. With a solid breathe out, she rises determined from her desk with a squeak sounding from the rubber sole of her boots as it comes into contact with the aged vinyl flooring.

While Jade steps up to the plate and accepts her fate, there is a dirty blonde with her frizzy hair tied into a low ponytail trailing begrudgingly behind. Her attire consisting of an oversized ivory Beatles t-shirt with its black text almost completely faded, being that she "borrowed" it from her dad's closet since she didn't feel like wearing the same pajamas to school again. The shirt is accompanied by a simple pair of beige pajama pants that carry a similar pattern to those of the Burberry fashion brand. The outfit literally screams no fucks. Once again, the blonde gets to prove how much she lives by her motto: Clothes are just clothes. I wear 'em so I'm not naked.

Of course, being naked could be an option for her. She didn't mind that much.

Besides her appearance being one lacking any sort of care, Kinsey truly cared on the inside as her heart palpitations started increasing again. Jade takes a glance back to see the blonde following behind with her hand casually in both pockets of the pajama pants. Kinsey delivers a quick assuring nod and finds it kind of cute that the brunette wants to make sure that she is okay.

Or at least, that's what Kinsey thinks.

Jade is worried about how anxious the blonde seems, but she had to make sure that Kinsey wasn't gonna pull a last-minute stunt by just staying in her seat or some other trolling ass shit.

Kinsey follows slowly and regretfully behind the brunette as she weaves through the desks to reach center stage, A.K.A., the front of the classroom that seems more enclosed than Kinsey remembers it to be whenever walking into class late. Jade cuts across the room to take her place at the other end of the wide projector screen that was pulled down over the whiteboard. Kinsey goes in the opposite direction as she heads towards Mrs. Rodriguez's desktop computer to set up the presentation through the flash drive she stuffed deep in one of her pockets this morning.

One of her pockets...

She stuffs her hand into the left pocket of the pants to feel emptiness and old lint. Her fingers nervously fidget around the deep pocket. I could have sworn it was this one.

She decides to try the other one and there seems to be an empty space... until... bingo. She feels the small piece of plastic and yanks it out, expelling a small sigh. She looks over at Jade staring at her with great intensity. Her eyes communicating, 'you better have that fucking flash drive'. Kinsey smirks a little as she rolls her eyes and finishes the setup in the awkward silence of the classroom as everyone prepares to judge their presentation. Being up here with her isn't too bad.

There is faint shuffling that can be heard amidst the overall silence in the room. There are the people grabbing things from their backpack, the people stuffing their faces with food in secret, and the people just fidgeting around with their pens and pencils out of clear boredom.

Kinsey gets the PowerPoint up and as it appears on the projector, she notices the way Jade's face quickly straightens. Kinsey watches with narrow eyes as the brunette suddenly lowers her brows and tucks her hair behind both her ears. Her chin rises as she almost stares down the class with the effortless intensity of her stare.

"Okay," the brunette loudly huffs, taking a step forward as if rising to a destined fate. "Kinsey and I conducted our project based on the premise of the validation that can be derived from the act of celebrating or being celebrated..."

Once the words start to fall out of Jade's mouth, Kinsey finds herself in a daze. She finds herself standing behind the desk with her arms crossed as if she is one of the many spectators enjoying the presentation. Kinsey takes notice of the gleam in Jade's eyes, consuming the overall enchanting presence of the brunette with her soothing but modulated voice grasping everyone's attention. If you were to ask Kinsey why it seems like her eyes are glowing in that very second, she would say it was due to the trash-ass school lighting reflecting off of her usually irritated eyes.

Nevertheless, she can't pull her eyes away. It seems to hit Kinsey, almost randomly, how attached she's becoming to this girl. The girl that simply walked... no, popped into her life

"With that being said, I'd like to hand off the second portion of this presentation off to my partner, Kinsey Scott."

The blonde stiffens at the mention. Fuck, I forgot I was up here.

The blonde seems to have forgotten about everything that is going on since she was too busy focusing all her energy on Jade. I have to do this shit for my grade.

The obligation attached brings Kinsey into a more serious mode. Her bright eyes avoid the stares that suddenly transition over to her. Her eyes gaze up at the cheap rectangular ceiling panels, then dart to the door that is slightly open with a door stopper. I can keep my dignity and just say 'fuck it' and leave now.

That's a valid option until her eyes accidentally meet with the same doe eyes that makes her heart do that fucking butterfly shit or whatever the fuck. I can't let her down.

Kinsey heftily sighs in front of the class and turns her head towards the sea of classmates that refuse to hold any sort of eye contact. With every second of eye contact she makes, the eyes on the receiving end jerk away.

I'll beat up whoever talks shit after class.

With the thought in mind, Kinsey takes a small breath in and out. She tightens her lips and then opens them to speak.

"So, with what she said. Everyone wants to feel like they're somebody. They want to feel like they fucking matter in this world and sometimes people can feel that little bit of euphoria and excitement by being celebrated. Th-That concept leads us into the overarching idea of people's involvement in each other's lives. As a community... of people that rely on admiration from one another, it's natural for us to want to be nosy about what other people are up to with their lives and shit... but why do we as people allow that to stop us from living our truths and being who we are?"

Mrs. Rodriguez slightly tilts her head to the side in cringe at the vulgar choice of words before she continues to write down notes with her head down. She moves past it, reminding herself that this is Kinsey presenting.

Kinsey continues, "Of course, there are judgmental ass pricks but judgmental people will always fucking exist. Without getting too deep into this, I'll leave you with the question: To what extent should we allow society and community to involve itself in our lives?"

You can hear a pin drop as Kinsey enunciates the final word in her closing question. Everyone reflects on the topic that they would've never expected to come from the loner new girl and the arrogant jock. Mrs. Rodriguez simply nods in approval from the back of the classroom as she scribbles down a couple more notes onto her scoring rubric.

Kinsey takes a look over at Jade standing opposite from her on the other side of the classroom. Jade smirks at her with a brow lift spewing enough arrogance to have Kinsey feeling a little flustered. The blonde can't deny the heat building in her cheeks, enough to have her speedily turn her head away from the brunette's confident stare.

__________

"Ugh, I'm glad it's over. Now I can get rid of your ass," Kinsey confesses, before childishly peeking an eye over at the brunette busying herself with organizing the few books Kinsey seemed to own. The books all pile up on the floor in the far corner of the bedroom.

The brunette immediately spins her body around with one of Kinsey's many cheap sunglasses sitting lazily on the bridge of her nose, almost falling off at the sudden movement. Her characteristically untamed hair split right down the middle adds to the silliness of her look, giving her a seventies goth hippie look if that was even a thing.

"Who's gonna be in charge of cleaning up your messy ass room when I'm gone?" Jade inquires, looking like a whole ass meme in the process, staring the blonde down with a poker-faced expression.

Kinsey fights the laughter starting to erupt in her throat, "I have a mother for that. Besides, you don't even clean my room, you just play around with all the shit in here and try to steal my books," Kinsey points out, arguably true.

Jade's eyes avert in guilt with the brown tint of the glasses still doing a great job of making her look ridiculous. Kinsey can't hold it in anymore, ultimately chuckling at the sight of Jade's signature pout replacing her more serious expression.

"Your stuff is way more interesting to play with," Jade discerns, pout still on her face.

Kinsey stares with a warmth in her ice-chilled eyes. The edges of her lips unconsciously lift as she takes in the girl in front of her. She has to know what she's doing to me at this point.

The girls are now hanging at Kinsey's house after coming home from school. Their feeling of accomplishment being through the roof as they finally have that stress off their shoulders, especially Kinsey. The blonde knows they couldn't have gotten anything less than a solid A.

"Let me go to your room and do this shit and see how you like it," Kinsey remarks before hurriedly dashing across the bed to grab the trophy that is about to slip through Jade's fingers. The blonde basically dives across the bed to catch the small, but precious award in the palm of her hand.

Jade's widened, surprised eyes suddenly narrow over at Kinsey in shame as the blonde is basically sprawled out across the entirety of her bed with the trophy lingering between her fingers.

"My bad," Jade quickly mutters, tightening her lips as a child would when feeling shamefaced.

Kinsey simply rolls her eyes and maneuvers herself skillfully off the bed to place the trophy back to its rightful position on the shelf. The blonde huffs before turning around, "Have I ever told you how clumsy you are?"

"Yeah, you told me that yesterday when I dropped that one nacho in your car."

Kinsey visibly centers her energy with her hand and takes a deep breath in and out, in and out, in and out...

"You good?"

"Do you know that if you were anybody else, I would have punched you in your trachea for that?" Kinsey slowly drawls out.

"I appreciate you not doing that?" Jade confusedly responds.

Kinsey takes in another unsteady breathe upon reliving the memory. Just let it go. Dr. Khalif said violence isn't always the way to deal with things.

"Your room just has a lot of interesting things in it," Jade continues.

Kinsey casually plops back onto her bed with a dense thud resounding. She lies on her side so she can get a better view of Jade as she speaks.

"Like what? There's not much in here," Kinsey shrugs with her elbow holding her up as her hand presses up against her cheek.

"Ay, I don't have much to compare to when it comes to rooms. There's not much in mine,"

"Speaking of your room, when am I gonna get to see it?" Kinsey nonchalantly asks, very curious as to what Jade Hill's bedroom looks like.

"What do you mean? As in you entering my house?" Jade questions with both of her brows lifted as she looks over the thin gold rim of the sunglasses still on her face.

"Yeah, I think that's how it works, kitten," Kinsey chuckles lightly before shrugging, "I just wanna see your room."

"Why do you wanna see my room?"

"Don't deflect. I just think people's rooms can tell a lot about them," Kinsey answers simply.

"Why are you curious about me?"

"Do I look like Google? Why do you keep asking me so many questions?"

"You just said you can't wait to get rid of me," Jade quickly replies, continuing on her tirade of deflection, skeptical of anyone wanting to get closer to her. She doesn't want to get to know me, because there's nothing to know. If she gets to know me, she'll leave like everyone else. They think they want to get to know you until they actually do.

Kinsey simply rolls her eyes.

"I'll let this conversation go if you kiss me," Kinsey whines slightly, puckering her lips out.

"No."

"Okay, so is the reason why you won't have me because of your parents?"

Jade sighs before giving in, half unwillingly and half willingly, but more leaning on the willing side of things. I rather kiss her than talk about my mother right now. She connects their lips for a quick peck before backing away with a weak smile on her face as she stares at Kinsey's lips with her retraction. Yep, this was the better choice.

Kinsey catches the longing expression still on Jade's face as the brunette seductively bites the corner of her lip as a means of holding herself back.

The girls back away in unison, but there seems to be a lingering hesitance in their movements. There hangs an energy in the air between them that communicates their longing for one another as their minds remain too afraid to confront those feelings.

Jade runs her hand through the front of her hair, pulling a bundle of strands away from her face as she looks off to the side. Moments like these with Kinsey always made her feel like the same pathetic Jade that was found in the parlor room/library at that house (mansion) party. These moments are what made every moment with Kinsey feel brand new.

Kinsey peers at the brunette as if for the first time all over again, in her car under the blinding glare of those street lights. As if they haven't done this shit multiple times before.

Each and every time they have kissed, Kinsey realizes how sure she's become of her feelings for Jade. I know I fucking like this girl but why can't I build the balls to say it. Oh right, cause I can't actually grow any.

"What do you identify as?" Kinsey finally blurts, finding it best to just be her normal, blunt self.

"As the person that's gonna beat your ass if you don't give me those books you don't plan on reading," Jade replies at once, immediately snapping out of her shy trance.

"No, idiot. I mean... your sexuality..."

Jade pauses in all her subtle movements, even the next breathe she was planning on taking. "I-I rather not go into that."

"Why not? We can't just keep living this fantasy and beating around the bush. I want to know."

Jade turns around stoically, "I just don't want to talk about it... W-What do you identify as?" Jade tries to divert, feeling heat boiling in her cheek.

Kinsey takes a second. She didn't expect her own question to backfire on her. "Mhmm..." she allows the sound of her thinking to hang in the air, "I've never really thought about it much. I'm confused as shit. Like when I'm with you... I feel very much gay as shit, so I don't know... I guess I'm gay for you at the moment. I'll change the status of that statement when I find someone else hot enough," Kinsey remarks in typical Kinsey fashion.

"That's it?"

"What do you mean "that's it"?" Kinsey questions, mocking Jade's tone.

"You're not even second-guessing it, at all? You could not be gay," Jade suggests.

"What do I need to think twice about? Every time I see you I want to kiss you and possibly fuck you, of course, only if you're down for that. I think that's pretty self-explanatory if you ask me," Kinsey shrugs off.

Jade blinks rapidly as the words are unable to make sense in her own mind.

"Okay, this is a lot," Jade paces to the other side of the room.

"What do you mean? You can't be seriously confused at this point. At first, I could understand how uncomfortable you were about it but every time we end up within five feet of each other, we end up making out. How much more gay can that be?"

"There's much more to it, okay?" Jade cautions as she continues pacing.

"How much more? I mean I understand you could be bi, queer, or-"

"No," Jade interrupts immediately, "That's not what I mean," she sighs, stoping in her pacing to face Kinsey, now sitting up on the bed.

"Well, what is it?

Jade's mind runs back to Zoé. She shuts her eyes hard as she tries to suppress those feelings and thoughts. Feelings and thoughts that somehow always make her fucking cry when she dwells on them. "You don't care what people would think?"

"Hello, is this the first time we're meeting? Do I look like I care?" Kinsey emphasizes as she points out to the pajama outfit she still has on after school.

"I'm talking about your family, your parents?" Jade clarifies, crossing her arms and squaring her eyes in genuine concern at the blonde.

Kinsey huffs disappointingly before pushing her body up from the bed. Jade's scrunches her brows with her eyes following Kinsey's sudden movement. The blonde stalks over to her bedroom door and swings it back open to thrust her head out into the hallway. She unhesitatingly shouts, "Mom, I'm gay!" into the silence of the home.

There is even more silence.

"Okay hon, I appreciate the honesty! What would you two like for dinner tonight?" The woman immediately shouts back from downstairs.

Kinsey shrugs and nonchalantly tucks her head back into the room to face a wide-eyed brunette frozen in place.

"What do you want to eat?" Kinsey dares to ask as Jade stands rigid in the corner of her bedroom.

Jade's lips stammer endlessly like a broken record that won't stop repeating the same melody of a song. Her lips smack against one another as her throat tries to emit some sort of sound. The surprised expression on her face threatens to turn into one of laughter as disbelief settles into her bones. Did she just fucking do that shit?

Kinsey's tongue swipes over her bottom lip, trying to detain the laugh brewing in her cheeks. She shakes her head at Jade's astonishment, before sticking it back out the door once more. "Sweet potatoes and chicken is fine!"

Before Kinsey can shut the door again.

"Mommy, you owe me twenty!" Tracy yells as she swiftly walks down from the end of the hallway, reaching Kinsey's bedroom. Her smaller stature halts right in front of Kinsey's door before turning her head to look up at her blonde older sibling to arrogantly waggle both her brows. "I knew the entire time," she confesses in an extremely loud whisper before continuing her trek down the hall and eventually down the staircase. Her small footsteps create an endless patter as Kinsey rolls her eyes and tucks herself back into her bedroom, shutting the door.

"D-Did that just happen?" Jade finally spits out, still frozen in her stance.

"It's not that big of a deal. My family could care less what I am," Kinsey states casually as she goes to jump onto her bed again.

Jade's face slowly deflates, realizing how stupid she must look. Wish that was the case for me?

"I'm guessing that's not the same with yours, huh?" Kinsey detects, laying flat on her back as the back of her head rests on the palms of her hands.

"Bingo," Jade sighs defeatedly. With having been so habituated with the toxicity of her family, Jade never considered that other families could be so open-minded. Of course, she knew families like that could exist, but to experience that shit in real-life just hit differently. Everything about what she's experienced being around the Scotts was so eye-opening.

"Well, fuck what they think. If you really fe-," Kinsey's point is interrupted by a ding from the phone lying at her side. She furrows her brows as she looks over to see that it's Jade's phone.

The blonde naturally picks it up to hands it over to Jade but the message seems to catch her eye as it reads: "Baby, please hear me out" from someone named Zoé?

"Who is Zoé?" Kinsey calmly questions, genuinely curious. The blonde's curious eyes look up at Jade walking over.

"No one important," Jade shrugs off as she takes the phone from Kinsey's grasp, tightening her lips before swiping her tongue over her lip.

"Oh," Kinsey dejectedly sounds, feeling a weird ping in her chest as she realizes that Jade just lied.

_________<~>_________

Okay, what are your thoughts on seeing more of a vulnerable side of Kinsey in this chapter? Also, how do you feel about Kinsey coming out?

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Any other thoughts or conversations you want to bring up? I know this was a pretty long chapter, I just couldn't help myself.

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I'm currently back in school now but I'll still be working hard to get y'all consistent updates. I missed writing and reading your comments. I can't believe you guys are still rocking with this story. I truly appreciate all the love and support. Don't forget to comment, vote and give me a follow if you'd like. Alright, see you in the next update, babes! ❤️