Chapter Text
The girl’s new. She has to be. Kim would...Kim would remember her. Long brown hair, tan skin, muscles. Yeah, Kim would remember. She can’t stop staring at her. Bless whoever decided cheer squad should practice at the same time as the girl’s soccer team.
“Kimmy!” Two hands clap down on her shoulders, startling her from her staring. “If you’re done gawking, we’ve got shit to do.”
“Amanda, I wasn’t staring.”
“You sure? You’ve got a bit of drool on your face.”
Kim panics, wiping at her chin. Amanda cackles. Kim can’t believe she fell for that.
“C’mon you useless lesbian. Practice time.”
Kim trails a few paces behind Amanda, her protest of “Still bi, ‘manda” seeming to fall on deaf ears. She glances back at the soccer players. The new girl’s looking back. Their eyes meet for a second before Kim’s eyes dart away. She can feel herself blush. Hopefully the girl can’t see it from across the field.
“Kim! Get your gay ass over here!” The cheerleaders giggle. Harper wolf whistles. Kim doesn’t look back at the soccer field. She doesn’t want to see if the girl heard Amanda or not.
She’s fine with the teasing, honestly. She’s glad her team accepts her. Just maybe not so loudly. And not in front of the cute new girl.
She gets through practice. Barely. Halfway through, Harper motions over to the soccer field. Kim, stupidly, looks over and promptly loses the ability to speak. New Girl is wiping sweat from her face using the bottom of her shirt, exposing her torso. She’s wearing a bright yellow sports bra, a stark contrast to her skin. A lightly muscled v leads into low slung basketball shorts.
She almost doesn’t hear Amanda say, “Dammit, Harper, you just had to point that out.”
She survives. That’s the important thing. She also resolves to figure out who the new girl is.
It doesn’t take her as long as she thought it would. She gets to AP bio early the next day. Harper hasn’t arrived yet, so Kim leans back in her seat, people watches as her classmates arrive. Cole Stevens, who Kim didn’t even realize was in the class, got a haircut. He looks like a knockoff Bieber, which, the shaggy bowl cut is so not in style anymore.
Horrid fashion choices aside, Kim watches people trickle into the class with barely feigned interest mapped across her face. Her heart skips a beat and she sits up when New Girl walks through the door. And maybe Kim’s got a chance. New Girl’s wearing worn converse, baggy ripped jeans, a flannel that hugs her strong shoulders perfectly , and a deep gray beanie. Kim’s gotta have some sort of chance.
Kim’s staring again. The girl has surprisingly round cheeks but a strong jawline that Kim would just love to - nevermind . Her lips are pouty and really soft looking. Absently, Kimberly wonders what chapstick the girl uses. Long eyelashes frame caramel brown eyes. Which. Which Kim can see because she’s looking at her. New Girl caught her staring. Shit.
The girl’s eyebrow (which is perfect, of course ) arches. Kim simply opens and closes her mouth while she tries to come up with some sort of explanation for her staring. She fails and the girl heads to her seat. Kim thinks she imagined the small smirk as the girl went by.
Harper finally comes in. Kim barely gives her time to sit down before she’s grabbing her friend’s arm.
“What?!” The question comes out as a panicked squawk.
She’s here,” Kim hisses.
“Who?” Harper swivels around, looking for who Kim could be talking about.
“Stop that!” Kim swats at her. “The soccer player from yesterday. She’s in the back. Don’t-”
Kim’s not sure why she even bothers. You’d think her friends would understand subtlety. But no. That’d be too easy. Harper turns around again. Kim can tell the second she sees New Girl. Her eyes widen, mouth stretching into a teasing smile.
“You’re right. She is cute,” Harper says, facing Kimberly again.
“I know. ” Kimberly slumps against her desk.
“At least you have an in now. Just partner with her for our next lab.”
“What about you?” They always partner together for labs, not wanting to mix with people they don’t really know.
“I’ll be fine.” Harper waves the question away. “I’ll partner with Cole. His new haircut is kinda cute.”
Kim stalls. For a second, she swears her brain short circuits. Straight people are ridiculous. “Really? You like it?”
Their conversation leads into gossip, even as Mr. Wallace calls for attention. They don’t learn much.
Lunch is next, and by the way Harper skips ahead of her, Kim can tell it’s not going to be fun. Harper slides down the lunch bench until she bumps Amanda’s hips. The mischievous look on her face has Kim massaging her temples.
“We found the girl Kimmy’s been thirsting over,” Harper says.
The rest of the girls lean forward in interest. Megan pulls Kim onto the bench next to her, wrapping an arm around her.
“Never seen you so red,” she whispers, which really doesn’t help Kim’s situation.
“She’s in our bio class,” Harper continues. “And she’s really pretty in an angsty lesbian kind of way. Totes Kim’s type.”
“So what’s the plan to get - wait. What’s her name?” Amanda asks.
“Um, Didi I think,” Harper answers.
“It’s Trini,” Kim says. Look, just because she didn’t pay attention to Wallace’s lesson doesn’t mean she didn’t listen to roll so she could learn the girl’s name.
“Ooh, look at Kim getting all defensive about her little girlfriend,” Megan teases, squeezing Kim’s shoulder.
“I-” Kim says before Amanda interrupts.
“Anyways, how’re we gonna get Trini interested in our wonderful co-captain?”
“I say outfit planning.” Dammit, Harper.
“Secret notes?”
“‘Accidental’ meeting?”
“Kidnapping?”
All the girls chime in with suggestions, each getting progressively worse.
“Guys!” Kim cuts in. “Don’t do any of those things. I’ve got this.”
Amanda snorts. “Sure you do. What’s your plan, Casanova?”
“I’m gonna partner with her in bio. And, um, talk to her?” Okay so maybe it’s more of a general outline right now.
“Kim, you’re horrible at bio. We want her to like you. Not think you’re stupid,” Megan deadpans.
“Rude.”
“But she’s not wrong, babe,” Amanda says.
“Fine. I’ll go to her soccer games and try to talk to her afterwards?”
“That’s not a horrible idea,” Harper says and she shouldn’t get a say because she’s the one who suggested the bio partnership in the first place.
Amanda grunts. Kim chooses to ignore the look she gives Harper, forcing the conversation on.
“Harper likes Cole Stevens’s new haircut,” she says.
Harper gasps. “Don’t bring that up!”
“You threw me under the bus first.” Kim takes a bite of her chicken nuggets, shrugging at Harper.
“Bitch.” Harper, in an overwhelming show of maturity, sticks her tongue out at Kim.
“ Bitch, ” Kim mocks back. She never claimed to be mature either.
The rest of lunch passes smoothly, the girls laughing at Harper’s taste in men and largely ignoring Kim’s struggle.
Kim doesn’t see Trini for the rest of the day. Not that she like looks for her or anything. (She does.) The girl must be a ghost, because Kim sees Cole and his stupid haircut three more times. She snapchats Harper every time she does, so something good comes out of it at least.
After school, Kim begs off going to Amanda’s so she can wander the trails behind her house. She doesn’t feel like swimming, but she still ends up at her pond. She sits on the cliff, her legs dangling over the edge. A few minutes later, she hears someone crashing through the brush. Jason sits next to her.
“Heard through the grapevine that you fell in love yesterday,” he says, nudging her shoulder with his own.
“First of all, who even says ‘heard through the grapevine’ anymore. And I guess Megan told you?”
He nods. “What’s she like?”
“She seems to be just my type. Broody and beautiful. Plus she plays soccer. And I haven’t even had a conversation with her. I just. I want to know her.”
“And bang her.”
“ Jason!” Kim shoves him. He laughs, deep and comforting.
“Don’t act like I’m not right,” he says.
She hates him.
Kim flushes. She’s been doing that a lot today. She doesn’t like it.
“Jason, what am I gonna do?”
“You could woo her. Like secret admirer shit. Leave her notes. It’s almost Valentine’s day, you could get her some roses from the booster club.”
“You are a sap, Jason Scott, but that’s probably the best idea I’ve heard all day.”
“That’s why they call me the love guru.”
“No one calls you that.”
“Yes they do!”
She shoves him into the water.
Over the next two weeks, Kim does her best to “woo” Trini from afar. It’s kind of easy once she figures out where her locker is. She slips small notes through the slits in her locker door every morning before school. On days they have practice, Kim leaves notes on Trini’s gym bag. Or, well, she has Stephanie, one of the other soccer players, do it for her.
Stephanie thinks it’s adorable. And much cuter than what Amanda did to ask her out. Kim notes that protein bars arranged in the shape of the words ‘wanna date’ are not the way to win a girl’s heart. She’s not sure why Amanda even thought that was a good idea, but Stephanie and Amanda have been dating for almost a year, so something went right.
She’s not sure her letters are working, though. A few times Kim has hung back to see how Trini reacts. Trini doesn’t really react to the notes. Her eyebrow quirks (which honestly shouldn’t be as attractive as it is) and she puts the note back in her locker, but there’s no other reaction. She’s not throwing them away, so Kim counts it as a win overall.
Thursday, exactly two weeks after Kim saw Trini for the first time, Wallace assigns a lab on DNA. The second he says, “choose your partner,” Kim’s out of her seat, making her way towards Trini.
Samantha, some girl in marching band, has the same idea. Kim glares at her until she quails and turns towards the other side of the room.
Kim slides into the seat next to Trini, a charming smile on her face. “Can we partner together?” she asks.
“Sure, though I guess it’s too late for me to choose someone else.” Her voice is soft and pleasant but it still takes Kim a minute to realize she’s teasing. Holy shit, Trini’s joking with her. She giggles, high and girlish and not at all like herself. It makes her wince.
“You’re Trini, right?” As if she doesn’t already know.
“Yup. And you’re Kimberly Hart.”
Oh gosh she knows her name. It sounds really nice when Trini says it. Kim smiles dopily at her before catching herself and jerking into motion. She pulls out a sheet of paper, clearing her throat. Trini looks vaguely amused. Which is good. Right?
Kim writes their names at the top of the paper. “So what’s the plan?”
Trini stares at the paper for a moment. The cutest furrow appears between her brows as she thinks. Her face clears and she snags Kim’s pen from her hand. Kim’s hand tingles from where her fingers brushed.
“We both have practice after school today, so how about tonight we both find things we want to study and meet up tomorrow to start actually working on the project?” As she talks, she scribbles down ideas of things to use in the project. Her handwriting is surprisingly girly. Not that Kim expected her to write super messy or anything. It’s just she’s pretty sure Trini just dotted her i with a heart. Or a weird looking circle. Either way, her handwriting doesn’t match what Kim knows about her so far. She likes it.
“That sounds good. We could meet by the flagpoles after school? I drive every morning so we could go to my house. Or your house. Whichever. I just know my house is going to be empty so we won’t be disturbed there. Not that it’s bad if we get disturbed! It’s just-we can get more work done if we don’t have distractions and-”
“Kimberly!” Trini cuts in. “We can go to your house. Don’t stress about it.”
“Yeah. Cool. No stress.”
Kim’s kinda stressed. Not like super stressed. An average amount of stress. A perfectly acceptable stress level.
(She’s freaking out.)
Kim grabs Harper and Amanda from the halls before they can head to the locker rooms for after school practice. She tugs them into one of the chemistry labs, making sure it’s empty before closing the door.
“Guys, I need your help!”
“Ok, spaz, what is it?” Amanda asks. “You know I like to see Stephanie before practice.”
“Yeah, I know.” Kim thinks about it. “Actually, I’m not sure why you’re here. Steph told me how you asked her out and honestly I’m surprised she ever agreed to go out with you. You’re not gonna be of any help.”
Amanda looks offended. “Hey! I can help! I’m guessing this is about Trini?”
“Yeah, we got assigned a lab today. Kimmy looked like she was going to faint after class.”
“Harper!” Kim protests.
“What? Don’t act like it’s not true. I could see your boner from across the room.”
“Don’t be crass,” Amanda chides. “What do you need help with?”
“She’s coming over to my house tomorrow.”
“That’s good, right?” You can talk to her and get to know her and stuff.”
“Yeah, but do I like take her up to my room? Do we just hang out in the kitchen? How many personal questions is too many personal questions? What if she hates me?”
“She’s got you fucked, dude, wow.”
“Amanda, that’s not helping!” Kim’s head thunks onto a desk and she groans.
“Sorry! Sorry,” Amanda says, throwing her hands up. “But, Kim, you’re overthinking this. Just be yourself. I happen to know that you’re pretty awesome, and if Trini’s worth any of your time she’ll realize that too.”
“That was surprisingly genuine, Amanda.”
“Well, the tease-you-within-an-inch-of-your-life approach wasn’t working so I had to get creative.”
“What if I fuck up?” Kim hates how small her voice has gotten, hates how much she wants Trini to like her.
“You won’t. You can do anything.” Harper’s hands are comforting on her shoulders and Kim can feel some of the tension there releasing.
Their encouragement does make her feel better, surprisingly enough. “Thanks, guys.”
“No problem. Can we go to practice now? I think I might still have time to see Steph if we hurry.”
Kim has cleaned her room twice. And washed all the dirty dishes. And bought a bunch of snacks. Honestly, she’s done everything she can to get ready to see Trini after school. (She hasn’t really slept. Thank God for 24 hour supermarkets.)
She makes up for the missed sleep in English, which Mr. Carlson really didn’t appreciate. She almost got detention, but she knows how to spin stories just tragic enough to get herself out of trouble. She sleeps some more in photography. Ms. Prince actually gives her a pillow. Kim guesses there are perks to actually getting work done early.
Before she knows it she’s waiting by the flagpoles, looking out for Trini. Her fingers play at the fraying edges of her t-shirt. It’s her comfort shirt, worn soft while still fitting perfectly. She’s glancing down at her phone, sending Amanda a “fuck off” in response to a string of suggestive emojis when a throat clears in front of her. She looks up, her eyes tracking slowly towards Trini’s face. Trini’s in tight black leggings and a gray muscle tee. Her hair is partially braided on one side of her head and Kim is not going to be able to get through this study session alive.
“Hey, Trini!” At least her voice sounds normal today.
“Hi, Kimberly. Sorry if I kept you waiting.”
“It’s no problem!” Kim leads her towards her car. “I got out of stats early.”
Kim opens the passenger door for Trini. She’s not sure why it felt...right. Instead of the quirked eyebrow she expected, Trini ducks her head, a gorgeous smile overtaking her face as she blushes. The whispered thanks makes Kim’s heart flutter.
The interaction makes her feel better, more stable. The ride to her house isn’t awkward. Kim plays music quietly in the background as she asks Trini about her day. (She learns that Trini loves PE and hates her film class with a passion even though she loved it at her last school.) When Kim asks why she moved to Angel Grove, Trini goes quiet.
“We just had some, um, issues at my last school,” is what Trini finally says.
Kim notices how her knuckles have gone white on the straps of her backpack and how her shoulders are tense.
“Okay,” she says, deciding not to push. “How many places have you lived?”
“We started out in Baltimore, then moved to Honolulu, Houston, and finally here.”
“That’s so cool! What’s been your favorite place? Tell me about it.”
Kim thought that getting Trini to talk about herself would be hard, but she spends the rest of the drive listening to Trini ramble about Hawaii. Trini is back to being relaxed, and a small smile plays on her face as she talks about biking to school and playing soccer in the sand. And shit Kim really likes her.
Kim doesn’t open the door for Trini when they get to her house. Mostly because Trini is out of the car before she can. It’s whatever, she still made Trini blush once, and she has the whole study session to make it happen again.
Kim leads Trini through her house, bypassing the kitchen and living room. She didn’t clean her room for nothing. When they get up to her room, Trini spends a few seconds looking around. Her eyes linger on the pink walls while Kim tries to tear her eyes away from her bed, blocking images of her and Trini on it. On each other.
The familiar smirk is back as she turns to Kim. “Nice room, Princess.”
“Hey, I happen to like pink. See?” Kim’s not sure what comes over her. She reaches up to the collar of her t-shirt, pulling it low to reveal the straps of the hot pink bralette she’s wearing. “I think it looks good on me.”
Trini doesn’t respond. Kim thinks she might have broken her. She stares dumbly at her, even after Kim releases her shirt. She blushes again, this time the red spreading all the way down her neck and into her shirt. Kim definitely has a chance. She debates teasing Trini some more, but decides to give the girl a break.
Kim drops her backpack on the floor, slumping into the dark gray bean bag chair. She pulls out her bio papers, spreading them in front of her. Once she’s ready, she looks back at Trini, who’s still frozen in place.
With a smirk of her own, she asks, “You ready to get started, Trini?”
Her voice snaps Trini out of whatever haze she had been in. She sits across from Kim and gets out her own stuff. They work diligently for almost two hours before Kim needs a break. She rolls onto her back, staring at the ceiling as she asks, “Want some food? I’ve got snacks downstairs.”
“Sure, what you got?”
“Chips, popcorn, fruit, some candy. Normal stuff.” She didn’t spend half an hour at the store debating whether Trini was a gummy candy or hard candy type of person. That would be ridiculous. (She chose gummy candy.)
“What kind of candy?”
“I bought sour gummy worms and gummy bears.”
“Nice,” Trini says and smiles at Kim.
She stands, moving over to where Kim lies. Holding out her hand, she waits until Kim realizes what’s happening. Kim flushes as she grabs Trini’s warm hand and lets herself be pulled up. Trini lifts her without any trouble, the muscles in her arm barely flexing. The display of strength has Kim staring.
“We going downstairs, Princess?” Trini asks.
“Yeah! Yep, let’s go.” Kim whirls around and marches out of the room. She doesn’t check if Trini’s following her.
She pulls the small mountain of snacks she bought out of the pantry and grabs two water bottles from the fridge. Trini grabs a bag of plain potato chips and the sour gummy worms. Kim sticks with her water and a bag of salt and vinegar chips.
“Want to watch something while we eat? We’ve got some good work done and I’m pretty sure my brain is mush at this point.”
“I’m down. Have anything in particular in mind?”
“Have you ever seen The Good Place?” Kim asks, leading the way to the family room. “I’ve heard it’s really good but I haven’t watched it yet.”
“Oh shit I love that show!” Trini exclaims, collapsing onto the couch. “You gotta see it.”
“Are you sure? We can watch something you haven’t seen.”
“C’mon, Princess,” Trini says, pulling Kim down onto the couch.
Kim ends up pressed close to Trini’s side. Their hips are brushing and Kim can feel Trini’s arm flex as she opens her water bottle. She scoots away under the guise of grabbing the remote, but the second she leans back into the cushions, Trini ends up pressed against her again. Kim’s fucked. They watched three episodes of The Good Place before going back upstairs to finish their project. Kim honestly doesn’t remember more than five minutes of all the episodes. She’ll watch them again once Trini leaves so they can talk about them.
Megan grabs her when she gets to school the next day, pulling her down the hall and away from prying eyes. She’s kind of surprised it’s Megan; she expected Harper or Amanda to interrogate her about the study session. Megan pulls her into a classroom where the rest of the squad waits.
She should’ve known it would be a team effort.
“So, did anything happen?”
“Did she seem interested?”
“What did you guys do?”
“Did you bang her?”
“Details, bitch.”
Questions bombard her from all sides, and no wonder people think cheerleaders are some sort of hive mind - they can’t seem to talk by themselves.
“I’m not telling you guys anything.”
There’s a moment of silence as the cheerleaders absorb Kim’s decree, then all hell breaks loose (again). Kim can’t even make out individual questions. Finally, she gives in.
“Fine! Fine, I’ll tell you guys what we did.”
She recounts the night, going through every boring detail until Amanda finally snaps, “Get to the good part!” Kim assumes she means the part that made her blush. She tells them about Trini sitting really close to her, which gets a chorus of ‘aww’s and further cements Kim’s theory that cheerleaders share a brain.
“Have you texted her or anything?” Harper asks.
Oh no. “Um, no? I-I forgot to get her number.”
All the girls groan, but Megan is the loudest. “Seriously? Girl, how I ever thought you had game I’ll never know. Have you left her one of your sappy love notes?”
“I haven’t had a chance! I was abducted before I could!”
“Well, it’s too late now, classes start in five,” Amanda says.
“You guys are the worst,” Kim says as she marches out of the classroom.
After the study session, Kim starts talking to Trini more. She goes up to her at her locker between classes, asking about her day or just saying hi. She still leaves notes, but she hasn’t managed to get Trini’s number. Yet. She’ll get there.
The thursday after they hung out, Kim gets to school early and decides to wait by Trini’s locker after she slips the note inside. She’s gonna get her number today. She will.
“Hey, Trin!” Kim says as Trini walks up to her locker.
“Hey, Kimberly. Sup?”
Kim shifts to the next locker over as Trini unlocks her locker. “Nothing much, just wanted to see you before class.”
Was that too forward? Too revealing?
Pale red blooms on Trini’s cheeks, the color mirroring that on Kim’s face. “I’m glad you stopped by,” she whispers.
As she pulls open her locker, the folded slip of paper Kim slipped in there earlier flutters to the ground. Kim scoops it up before Trini can. She unfolds it.
“I could spend years charting the galaxies in your eyes,” she reads. It’s not her best line, but in her defense she has been doing this for almost three weeks. And she was watching Star Trek last night.
“ Trini,” she gasps. “Do you have a secret admirer?”
Trini side-eyes her, frowning slightly. Her face clears a moment later, though. “Yeah. Someone’s been leaving little notes in my locker for a few weeks now.”
“Huh. Any idea who it could be?”
Trini turns to face her, looking her straight in the eyes. Kim loses herself a bit in the deep brown. It might’ve been cheesy, but her note wasn’t a lie. She could spend forever looking at Trini. She almost misses Trini’s answer.
“I have a few ideas.”
“Your-your boyfriend must not like it.” Kim wonders if that’s too direct, too invasive.
Trini laughs, almost doubling over. While Kim’s not exactly sure why she’s laughing, she feels her lips stretching into a smile at the sound of Trini’s mirth.
“I don’t have a boyfriend, Princess. Or, since I’m gay as hell, a girlfriend.”
“Oh.” Kim’s voice comes out breathier than she would have liked.
“Is that a problem?”
Kim smirks in the face of Trini’s defensiveness. “Seeing as how I’m bi, it’d be a bit weird for me to be bothered by you liking girls, Trin.”
Trini relaxes at that. She opens her mouth, but before she can say anything, the warning bell rings. Trini sighs. “Got to go, Princess. I’ll see you in bio.” Trini walks past her, her arm brushing against Kim’s.
“S-see you,” Kim stutters.
It’s not until she’s sitting in history that she realizes she forgot to get Trini’s number.
Kim absconds Jason from where he’s leaning up against the lockers talking to Megan. She’s halfway down the hall, ignoring Jason’s protests, when she turns around and grabs Megan too. She crowds them into a classroom. She’s been having way more clandestine classroom meetings since this whole thing with Trini started than she ever has before.
She leans on the teacher’s desk, Jason sitting directly on it while Megan sits on one of the front row desks.
“Guys, Valentine’s day is Tuesday!”
“Very observant, Kim,” Megan deadpans. “Is that riveting observation the only reason you stole my boyfriend away?”
“Hey, I stole you away too. And no, that’s not all. Do I get Trini roses?”
“Of course you get her roses,” Jason says.
“Do I tell her they’re from me? Do I keep doing the secret admirer shit?”
“I’d say tell her. You’re like friends now and you’re both into each other, so why draw it out any longer?”
Megan has a point, but at the same time- “What if she doesn’t feel the same way?”
Jason scoffs. “Are you serious? I’ve seen you interact twice and I know Trini likes you. Don’t worry about it, Kim. You can do it.”
Jason scoots over and wraps an arm around Kim’s shoulders. “Just go for it, Kim. Worst thing that happens is she doesn’t feel the same way. Trini’s cool, though, you’ll be able to still hang out.”
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to face her if she doesn’t feel the same way.”
“Luckily you won’t have to deal with that,” says Megan. “You’re Kimberly Hart. She’d be lucky to go out with you, but you won’t find out if she likes you unless you put yourself out there.”
Kim nods. “You’re right. I’ve got to be brave and let Trini know how I feel.”
She marches out of the classroom looking much more confident than she feels.
Kim buys Trini a bouquet of roses.
She signs the card ‘from your secret admirer’.
When Jason asks, she tells him she wrote down her name and runs from the conversation as quickly as possible.
“Kimberly Hart!”
Kim jumps and turns around, her eyes landing on an absolutely livid Trini marching towards her. She has the bouquet of roses clutched in her hands. Kim deflates. Trini knows. Even though she didn’t sign the card, Trini found out and now she hates her because she doesn’t like Kim back. Trini doesn’t say anything else as she marches up to Kim, grabbing her hand and pulling her down the hall. She ignores all of Kim’s stuttered questions. She shoves Kim into a closet, entering after her and closing the door.
She’s never been shoved into a closet before.
“What the fuck are these?” she questions, shoving the flowers at Kim.
“Um, roses?”
“Very good, Captain Obvious! Now, care to tell me why they’re signed ‘Your secret admirer’?”
“How should I know?” Even now Kim can’t bring herself to admit her feelings to Trini.
“ Dammit, Kim. I know the ‘secret’ admirer is you! I’ve known for a while now! I’ve just been waiting for you to buck up and admit it!”
“You-you what?”
“Oh my god you’re so stupid,” Trini mutters.
“H-how long have you known?”
“Since we partnered together in bio.”
“Wait what?”
“Your handwriting is the same. It wasn’t that hard.”
“W-what?” Kim’s not sure she’s understood anything in this conversation.
“ Dios mio,” Trini hisses.
She rocks forward, pushing up on her toes so she can press her lips to Kim’s. Kim freezes, her already jumbled thoughts going haywire. She responds after a moment, grabbing Trini’s hips to pull her closer as her tongue sweeps over Trini’s lip. She’s not sure how long they spend kissing. She’s sure they’ve missed biology, though. By the time Trini pulls back, Kim’s lips are tender. She can see the shine of her lip gloss on Trini’s mouth in the low light. It makes her want to pull Trini back into her.
“I’m guessing you like me too, then?”
“Yes, Kimberly, I like you.”
“Oh. Good.” You cannot blame Kim for not being eloquent. She just spent a while making out with Trini and she doesn’t know the next time she’ll be able to form a coherent thought.
“God you’re a fucking mess,” Trini says, smiling at Kim. Kim’s heart trips into overdrive.
“Do you want to go out on Saturday?” she asks.
“How about I take you out tonight since it’s Valentine’s Day and you can take me out on Saturday. Okay, Princess?”
“That sounds,” Kim clears her throat. “That sounds amazing.”
“Awesome. I’ll pick you up at seven. Wear something warm.”
“You already have a plan?”
“I’ve had a date planned out since I caught you staring during practice. I’ve just been waiting for you to catch up.”
“Under that tough girl exterior, you’re really romantic,” Kim teases.
“Don’t tell anyone. I have a reputation to keep.” She leans in, her breath ghosting over Kim’s lips as she speaks. “We’ve already missed the start of bio. Wanna skip the rest?”
Kim doesn’t answer. She presses Trini into the closet door, kissing her.
Amanda and Harper find them after class.
“ Finally, ” Harper exclaims.
“Gross. Get your lesbian tendencies out of my face,” Amanda says.
“Oh, like I haven’t walked in on you and Stephanie doing much worse,” Kim counters.
“Yeah, but at least we’re hot.” Amanda flips her hair over her shoulder and skips away as Kim chases after her.
Kim barely hears Trini’s exasperated question of “Are they always like this?” as she catches up to Amanda.
“You get used to it,” Harper says. “Actually, you kind of learn to love how crazy those two bitches are. Their relationship is unique.”
“I can’t wait to find out.”