Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The first time Kate Marsh sees Victoria Chase, she is immediately enthralled.

One moment, she’s sitting at her desk in the front row of Miss Andrews fourth grade class, counting out invitations for her upcoming birthday party, her tenth, to make sure she has enough to hand out to all of her classmates. The next, her attention is captured by the sight of a girl, one whom Kate has never seen before, striding confidently through the door.

Kate’s hand unconsciously makes its way up to fiddle with the simple braid that hangs over her left shoulder while her mind races to process what she sees.

Long blonde hair, pulled up high into a side ponytail that cascades down her right shoulder in loose, voluminous curls.

Head held high. Confident. Regal.

Eyes of emerald green.

Pink lips, pursed in an expression that could communicate boredom, disdain, or both.

A black, long-sleeved, knee length dress with a collar and cuffs of frilly white lace.

A sleek messenger bag slung over her right shoulder, a leather purse dangling from the opposite hand.

Cream-colored, open-toed sandals with low heels, that clack with every purposeful step.

She looks like something out of a movie. One of those movies about a European princess or duchess who is forced to come live with the common-folk.

Or like a model, someone who should be on the cover of a magazine for teen fashion.

She is, quite possibly, the most beautiful girl Kate has seen in her entire life.

Kate stares at her the entire time as she makes her way to her desk, a middle one on the opposite end of the room beneath the windows. And when the teacher goes round the room to make introductions, Kate finds herself hanging on every word the girl speaks in her high, haughty voice.

Victoria Chase. Kate isn’t sure if she’s ever heard a name fit a person so perfectly.

All in all, Kate is utterly fascinated in a way she can’t quite understand.

Perhaps this is why, when she finally speaks to Victoria Chase for the first time, it ends in complete and total disaster.

*****

Kate waits until the break between first and second period to hand out the invitations, walking down the rows to hand them out to the classmates still seated, or to leave them on the desks of those that had gotten up to use the bathroom or stretch their legs. Trying desperately to keep her nerves at bay as she goes. This is the first time she has ever invited so many people… usually her birthday celebrations are attended by her best friends, Alyssa and Stella, and few if any outside of that. But she’s about to turn ten, practically an adult now, and this year she has decided that she’s not going to let being shy hold her back from making friends any longer.

She’s managed pretty well so far, remembering to smile and say “hi, I hope you can make it to my party next Sunday” without too much trouble. That is, at least, until she starts on the final row. Victoria’s row. Victoria, who is not amongst the students who made it easy by vacating their desks, who is instead sitting right there with her perfect hair and her perfect clothes, tapping away on the fanciest cellphone Kate has ever seen with her perfect nails painted with a swirling, creamy white polish to match her perfect shoes.

Victoria, who in the little over an hour that Kate has known her has already become the most compelling and intimidating girl Kate knows by leaps and bounds.

I wonder what she looks like when she smiles. I bet that’s perfect too.

Kate wants to turn around, to sit back down at her desk with the remaining envelopes still in hand to pass out later when she’s had more time to mentally prepare.

Or maybe during recess, when no one else is around at all.

But… she’s already come this far. To turn back now without a word would be stupid, not to mention the weirdest first impression she could make. Hi, I’m too shy to talk to you, so I ran away instead. Please come to my birthday party?

Also, she is nearly ten years old, practically all grown-up at this point. And she’d like to start it off by being just a little braver, by taking the chance to open herself up just a little more.

Plus… for some reason, part of Kate really, really wants to talk to her. Even if it’s just to say “hi.”

Taking a deep breath, Kate takes one hesitant step forward.

Hi, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Kate Marsh. Would you like to come to my birthday party on Sunday?

Then another. Trying not to think too much about the way the loose curls of that perfect ponytail catch the sun just so, shining bright and golden in the morning light that filters through the windows.

Hi, I’m Kate. It’s nice to meet you! I’m having a birthday party next Sunday, if you’d like to come.

Trying not to stare too hard at Victoria’s lips as they curl up in the corners, moving slightly as she taps away on the phone in front of her.

Hi, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Kate Marsh, and... and oh my GOSH you are SO pretty.

With no more steps left to take, Kate stops just in front of Victoria’s desk.

“Um…” she manages, before her breath catches in her throat when those green eyes meet her own, and all the words Kate practiced fly from her mind like a flock of startled doves.

Victoria’s eyes narrow, and she gives a little shrug of her shoulders that jostles her ponytail. “… Yes?” she asks, her tone suspicious. Annoyed.

“H-hi… I… um…” Kate struggles to use her words, to remember what it was she came to say, the pink envelopes all but forgotten in her hands.

“Well?” This was less a question, and more a demand. “Are you going to tell me why you’ve been staring at me all day?”

Kate can feel her face heat up with embarrassment. She had been staring, her eyes drifting over to Victoria’s desk nearly every time they weren’t occupied by something else. She just didn’t realize Victoria had noticed.

“Oh, oh gosh, I’m so sorry, it’s just… you’re so pretty, and…”

Victoria’s eyes go wide as saucers, her mouth falling open as a couple spots of pink bloom on her cheeks.

Kate is babbling now, but try as she might she simply can’t make her mouth stop moving. “I-I mean… your hair, and your clothes… are so perfect… and…”

The color on Victoria’s face deepens from pink to red as it spreads to her ears and across the bridge of her nose, her eyes darting wildly around the room. They’ve gained an audience now, with several students having stopped what they’re doing to watch this train-wreck of a conversation take place. Even Alyssa, just a couple seats over, has put down her book to regard Kate with an expression of shock and vicarious embarrassment.

“…you look just like a… a…” words elusively dance on the tip of Kate’s rebellious tongue “… like a doll!”

Kate has no idea why she said the word “doll” just then, aside from a hazy image that is gone from her mind almost as soon as it arrived. Perhaps any of the other comparisons she’d thought of before, like model, or movie star, or royalty, would have been better. She tries to correct herself, to salvage this situation in whatever way she can, but finds that she can only move her lips silently as panic or self-preservation or both seems to refuse to allow any further words to come.

Before she has a chance, Victoria plants her hands on her desk, her chair scraping back loudly when she shoots up to her feet.

“How… How DARE you!” Victoria seethes, her eyes wild with fury and humiliation. ”I… am NOT… a DOLL!”

Kate can only watch, frozen in place as Victoria leans forward, her fingers jabbing the wood of her desk with every word she spits.

“You… you are so…”

“Freaking...”

“INCONTINET…!”

Frustrated tears begin to well up in Kate’s eyes. She has no idea what to do, what to say, to fix this. She doesn’t even know what that last word means.

But Alyssa, her eyes squinting thoughtfully, helpfully interjects. “I think you mean… impertinent?”

A smattering of giggles ring out from their classmates, as Victoria’s flush further deepens to a deep shade of scarlet. Rounding on Alyssa, Victoria shouts “NO ONE ASKED YOU!” before turning to storm across the room and right out the open door.

Kate wants to apologize. She wants to cry. She wants to go home right now and pray to God to allow her to start this whole day over.

Instead, she places the invitation on Victoria’s desk and hurries back to her own, trying to avoid the stares and whispers until she can bury her burning face in her arms. Bravery and openness, it seems, may still be overrated... at least for her.

Oh well, maybe next year…

*****

It would be several days before Kate would have the nerve to speak to Victoria again, though to be honest she probably could have gone years if the choice hadn’t been taken out of her hands.

Not that she didn’t want to talk to her, of course. Kate felt so mortified after their initial encounter. For herself, certainly, but even more so for humiliating Victoria in front of their classmates. She wanted so badly to approach her, to apologize for being such a weirdo.  But every time she’d look in Victoria’s direction, every time she even thought about trying to talk to her again Kate’s head and chest would get all fuzzy with anxiety, making it hard to breathe, hard to think. Making her want to do nothing more than put her head down and sleep the day away.

That didn’t stop her from wishing, however. She still found herself oddly fascinated by everything the girl did and said. It didn’t help that sometimes when she looked that way, Victoria would be looking back at her. Her cheeks flushed with what Kate could only assume was anger or embarrassment before she quickly looked away.

During that time Kate noticed that Victoria didn’t seem too interested in making friends. Whenever someone approached her between classes, she tended to coolly brush them off, preferring instead to type away on the phone that nearly always seemed to be in her hands. Or hotly brush them off, as was the case with Max and her brash fifth-grade friend Chloe, the latter of whom went up to introduce herself during lunch with her nervous pal in tow. Kate hadn’t been close enough to hear everything that was said, but it sounded like Chloe excitably asked something about a “blackberry” before reaching out, leading Victoria to smack her hand away and screech at her to never touch her things so loud that the entire lunchroom could hear it.

Hardly anyone tried to talk to her after that.

All this to explain exactly why Kate would find herself so shocked to be spending her recess with none other than Victoria Chase the following Wednesday.

It happens quite by accident, really. Kate is trudging through the schoolyard, making a beeline for the set of bleachers adjacent to the softball diamond on the other side of the gym building, figuring it would be the perfect place to get some nice, quiet drawing time in while still getting more sun like her mom had been harassing her about the past few weeks. It is a great day for it, warm with a nice breeze to keep things from getting too hot, and barely a cloud in the sky. Kate’s only worry at the moment being the way the heavy backpack on her shoulders tugs at her braid with each step.

At least until her braid and backpack and pretty much everything else is completely forgotten when she steps around the corner to find that the bleachers are not unoccupied today. For there sits a girl, quite possibly the most beautiful Kate has ever seen, her high ponytail shining golden and swaying in the wind. Her emerald eyes locked on the phone she holds in her lap.

Victoria Chase. Her recess partner for the day.

… If Kate is brave enough to approach her, that is.

Should she ask if she can sit? That’s what she’d do if it were anyone else, honestly. But at the same time, she feels like it would be safer and far less stressful to turn and find somewhere else to sit. Kate’s classes had been very high energy today, and she doesn’t have it in her to get yelled at during her cool-down time. Her eyelids are already heavy as it is, and she’ll end up sleeping the rest of the afternoon away if she’s not careful.

But before her anxious mind will allow her to make a decision one way or the other, that imperious voice cuts through the warm summer air like a hot knife through butter.

“Well? Are you going to sit down or what? That backpack looks like it’s about as heavy as you are.”

The weight of the bag keeps her sufficiently tethered to the ground well enough to prevent an embarrassing jump. Instead, Kate stutters out “Oh… um… only if you r-really don’t mind…”

Victoria shrugs. “Whatever. I don’t own the school… yet.” Though she still doesn’t look up from her phone, she allows a small smirk to cross her otherwise impassive face at that last word.

Kate continues to weigh her options for several moments. She’s not sure she has the energy to deal with being in an awkward situation right now, and it would surely be difficult to relax and just focus on her sketchpad with Victoria sitting mere feet away.

Still, her bookbag is rather heavy. And wandering off to sit somewhere else would waste a lot of perfectly good drawing time. Plus, Victoria is actually being almost nice and Kate has made it a whole minute know without completely embarrassing herself, and she kind of wants to keep riding that wave.

So, she slides the bag off of her shoulders with a grunt, hoisting it in front of her as she walks a few steps forward to set it down on the first-row bench. Taking a spot opposite Victoria’s on the second row, she furtively glances over to see if the girl is going to protest in some way. But Victoria just continues tapping away at the keypad with her pink and white-tipped thumbnails, shifting her weight to cross one leg over the other.

Kate wonders if she’ll be that cool and mature when she turns ten. Her guess would be a resounding “no”, though she supposes she’ll find out in a few days.

She begins the process of digging out her art supplies, slowly beginning to relax a bit after a couple of minutes pass with no sudden outbursts from her silent companion. Setting her sketchpad in her lap, Kate flips through the pages to find a blank one for whatever she might end up drawing today.

Perhaps something for her sister Grace, who likes the stories she tells about the adventures of the little brown rabbit and her two baby sisters. They were originally inspired by a cartoon she vaguely remembers watching a few years ago, the one from which her oversized stuffed rabbit, Mr. Pipkin, got his name, but are mostly improvised based on Grace’s reactions to the previous scene. Though Kate didn’t think of herself as much of a storyteller, the way the six-year old enthusiastically proclaimed that she liked her big sister’s stories even better than her picture books just filled her with so much pride… which gave her an idea. Why not draw some pictures of her own to go along with the next one?

Hmm… maybe the bunny sisters stealing carrots from the mean old farmer? I bet Gracie would like that. With this in mind Kate selects some colored pencils: gray and white and browns for the rabbit, blue for the sky, yellow and orange and green for the field they’re frolicking in.

She is just about to set pencil to paper when Victoria speaks again.

“… you’re Kate, right?”

Kate looks up, startled, only to see that Victoria’s attention is still locked on her phone. For just a moment, she wonders if she was just hearing things. Until a questioning glance flicks her way for the briefest of moments.

“Uh… y-yes. Kate Marsh.”

“What’s that short for? Katelyn?”

“N-no… it’s… um… Katherine…” Kate stutters, devoid of any clue as to what prompted this line of questioning or where it might be headed.

Victoria’s nose wrinkles up like she smells something funny. “I don’t like it. Middle name?”

Kate opens her mouth, holding it a moment before closing it again to purse her lips in confusion. She… doesn’t like it? What on Earth does that mean?

She wants to say something along the lines of ‘but… it’s my name…?’, but is certain doing so will sound utterly foolish. So instead, she answers “… Beverly?”, wincing at how it came out sounding like a question regardless.

That earns her an incredulous scoff. “Ugh, that’s even worse. That’s like… a 50-year old waitress at a truck stop name.” Before Kate can even begin to form a response, however, Victoria waves her off and turns back to her phone. “Don’t worry about it, we’ll figure something out.”

Is… she teasing me? Am I being teased right now? Kate wonders, but Victoria doesn’t seem inclined to say anything more. With a small sigh, Kate turns back to her sketchpad and sets about starting her drawing, beginning with sketching out the main characters, the three rabbits in the foreground with the angry farmer in back.

“Why aren’t you playing with your friends?” Victoria asks, yanking Kate back from her thoughts. She turns to find those green eyes intently studying her face. For several long moments, Kate doesn’t know what to say, doesn’t even remember that Victoria had asked her a question, her face beginning to burn under that intent stare. Then Victoria nods her head in the direction of the playground, the motion sending her ponytail swinging back and forth.  

Kate watches the other kids at play for a time while she contemplates the question. Stella and Daniel and a few others engaged in a game of tag. Juliet and Jasmin chatting on the swings. Chloe and Max laughing while they play on the jungle gym with a bunch of the younger kids.

“I do… sometimes. But some days I get really tired in class, so I like to draw instead.”

A strange expression passes across Victoria’s face, her mouth taking a downward turn to match her eyebrows. “You’re… not sick or anything, are you?”

Was that a touch of worry Kate heard in her voice?

“Oh, no! Nothing like that,” Kate laughs, unsure why Victoria being worried about her health makes her feel nervous all of a sudden. “I guess I just get tired in my head, if that makes any sense? Especially if there’s a lot of noise and people around. If I get sleepy enough, I’ll take a nap instead… naps might be my favorite thing in the whole world.”

“Oh…” Victoria says, her lips pursing around the word. She doesn’t say anything else on the subject, though her eyebrows do raise back up to a more neutral position.

“Why… why don’t you go play?” Kate asks in return.

Victoria scoffs, her voice taking on a high and mighty tone. “A lady doesn’t run.”

“But we’re not ladies, we’re kids…” Kate giggles, before thoughts of Victoria sitting alone in the cafeteria every day give her a touch of melancholy. “Don’t… don’t you want to make friends?”

A flash of anger wells up in Victoria’s eyes. “I don’t need friends,” she snaps. “I have friends. I’d be hanging out with them right now if my parents didn’t make me come to this stupid school.”

“Oh! I… I didn’t…”

“Whatever.” Victoria mutters, cutting her off. Turning her eyes back to her phone, her thumbs resuming their rapid typing.

Kate chews at her lower lip, fretting that she’s somehow managed to mess things up all over again. She’s not sure she could say that the conversation was exactly going well, but for some reason she was really enjoying talking to Victoria… even if it was mostly her making disparaging comments about Kate’s name and asking random questions. She knows the smart thing to do right now would be to leave things be and continue drawing but…

“I’m sorry.” She says, simply. Honestly. “That was… impertinent, wasn’t it?”

Victoria freezes for a few seconds, the muscles working on her face as though she’s struggling with something. Then she snorts, the corners of her lips twitching up into what could almost be called a smile.

“I dunno… maybe,” she says, without any malice this time.

Kate feels a rush of excitement at the thought that she made Victoria almost-smile. It makes her brave enough to make her push her luck, asking with perhaps a touch of deviousness in her voice: “Should… should I ask Alyssa, then?”

That makes Victoria tilt her head back and laugh, a melodic little noise that sounds like music to Kate’s ears. It was the first time she’d ever heard the girl laugh like that, or laugh at all, really. The thought that she was laughing because of something Kate said makes her chest swell with pride.

Her green eyes twinkle at Kate, making her chest swell even more. “I guess so… she’s the expert after all.”

She decides to take a chance with the words that have been weighing on her mind for the past few days. “I’m… really sorry I upset you the other day. Sometimes I get really nervous and… and I just blurt things out and…”

Victoria rolls her eyes, taking a deep breath only to heave it back out through her nose in a sigh. “… it’s fine. You were just trying to be nice and… I maybe overreacted a little. I’m… sorry I called you shitty or whatever.”

Kate raises both hands to clasp over her mouth, thoroughly scandalized by Victoria’s use of such an adult word. Giggling nervously into her palms, Kate casts her eyes this way and that to ensure that there aren’t any teachers nearby. She can feel heat spreading across her face, quite positive that she won’t be that mature when she turns ten, at least.

But when she meets Victoria’s gaze again, when she sees the self-satisfied smirk on her lips and realizes that Victoria had said that to make her laugh, any worries about getting in trouble are pushed from her mind by the warm, fuzzy feeling that begins to bloom there.

Is… is this really happening? Kate can hardly believe her eyes. After how bad trying to talk to Victoria went before, she’d have never in a million years believed that she’d be sitting on the bleachers laughing with her just a few short days later. Seeing those mirthful green eyes and smirking lips reminds her of one of the cats she sees at her Aunt’s house, the one that will roll over on his back to invite you to pet his belly… but as soon as you do, he attacks with a flurry of claws and bites. And you tell yourself you’ll never pet him again, until the next time he rolls over on his back and he’s just so cute that you…

Suddenly, all the thoughts of cats and green eyes and gold hair and stylish clothes begin to coalesce in Kate’s mind to form a single, coherent thought. Like a lightbulb going off in her head, Kate remembers exactly why Victoria reminded her of a doll the other day.

“Miss Puss-puss!” Kate exclaims, before she can even think to stop herself.

The mirth drains from Victoria’s face in an instant, her lips curling up into a horrified sneer. “Ex-cuse me?!” she demands, her voice dripping with haughty offense. “What the Hell did you just call me?”

Waving her hands frantically, Kate tries to explain “No! It’s, um… I-I just remembered who you reminded me of the other day! An old doll of mine, Miss Puss-puss! Here…” Kate digs through her bag and fishes out an old sketchbook, its pages long-since filled with drawings of all sorts from her younger years. Flipping through the earlier pages, she finally lands on the one she’s searching for and hands it over to Victoria.

Despite giving her a suspicious glare, Victoria accepts the book with ginger hands. Laying it atop the phone in her lap, her green eyes scan the picture before her. It is of a cat and a rabbit walking together through a flowery meadow, on their hind legs like people do. The rabbit is covered in brown fur with an oval of white around the belly, just like the stuffed animal Kate used to sleep with each night. His eyes are cast sideward in the direction of his feline companion, and three little hearts circle his head.

The smile that flutters about Victoria’s lips reminds Kate of a pretty pink butterfly. The girl hesitantly raises her hand to trace the outline of the cat with an outstretched finger, starting with the pink triangles of her ears that peek through a crown of golden hair that covers her head, down to the white fur of her face, stopping for a moment at the green eyes with their small, diamond-shaped pupils. The tip of Victoria’s painted fingernail moves on to the cat’s sly smile, down to linger over the string of pearls that surrounds the collar of her black peacoat. Then over her shoulder and along her right arm, to stop where the hands of the cat and rabbit are joined between them.

“So… you’re telling me, that I remind you of a doll. Who is a cat. Named Miss Puss-puss.” Victoria’s lips purse tightly together, her cheeks puffing out like a chipmunk’s.

“Um… yes?” Kate giggles nervously, not exactly sure why Victoria finds this so funny and not exactly sure she wants to know.

Finally, she lets out the air in her cheeks in another melodic chuckle. “You are so weird, you know that?”

“Y-yeah… I guess so…” a slow grin begins to take hold on Kate’s face, her ears burning hotter by the moment. She’s been worried that Victoria thinks she’s weird ever since that first day but… somehow hearing her say it with that laugh in her voice makes it not sound so bad after all.

Victoria sucks her lips between her teeth while she continues to contemplate the drawing. “She… is very pretty,” she murmurs, her cheeks turning a shade pinker. “I always wanted a little kitty, but my parents won’t let me have one.”

“Aww… maybe when you’re older? My mom and dad say I can get a rabbit when I’m old enough to be responsible.”

“Maybe,” Victoria sighs. Then with a nod to Kate’s current sketchbook, she asks “you really like bunnies, huh?”

“Oh, totally! They’re like my favorite thing in the whole world. Even more than naps!”

Victoria leans in to inspect the partially outlined rabbits that comprise her current piece. Kate’s not quite sure what makes her feel more embarrassed in that very moment, that she’s so closely studying such raw, unpolished work, or the fact that this close she can’t help but notice that Victoria smells really nice. Like a bouquet of flowers, but also this mysterious scent that Kate can only describe as “girly” but not in a kiddie way… more like what Kate imagines a teenager or a beautiful woman might smell like. Or maybe a cat who wears pearls and flowing black dresses.

Is it her shampoo? Kate wonders. Or some kind of perfume? Surely her parents wouldn’t let her wear perfume already, would they?

Whatever it is, it makes Kate feel so light and airy inside that she could practically float away on the breeze.

Then Victoria is leaning away. And then she’s looking at her again, those green eyes searching and questioning. “Um… can I, like, ask you something?”

“O… of course! Anything!” Kate finds herself fascinated by the flush in Victoria’s cheeks, by the way her pursed lips shift into a half-smile into a nervous frown and back again. By the way her eyes are wide and soft and uncharacteristically vulnerable.

“Do… um…” Victoria starts, before biting her lip.

Once more, Kate finds herself entranced by all the tiny little movement on Victoria’s face. Once more, she finds herself hanging from every syllable.

“Do you really think that I’m…?”

But the ringing of the bell that signals recess’ end gives them both a start, with Kate actually physically lifting off her seat to send her sketchbook tumbling out of her lap. Off in the distance, the other kids have slowly started filing back toward the school building.

Victoria shakes her head, smirking ruefully as she reaches down to grab Kate’s sketchbook, stacking it atop the older one she’d been holding before handing the both of them back over.

Kate murmurs her thanks, hurriedly attempting to gather her supplies to shove in her bookbag while the girl stands up and brushes at the back of her skirt, all the while trying to think of what to say.

I had a great time today.

I hope we can talk again soon.

… What were you going to ask me…?

But the words die before they reach her lips, whatever spell that allowed her to speak so freely having been broken by that stupid bell.

Victoria gracefully steps over the bench in front of her and down to the ground below. Kate looks up just in time to catch Victoria casting a glance her way, a half smile curling her lips as she passes by.

“See you around… Katie.”

She freezes with her handful of colored pencils halfway to their case.

‘Katie.’

Victoria had called her ‘Katie.’

No one had called her that in forever, not since she was about to start her first day of Kindergarten, when she’d adamantly declared to her parents that she wasn’t a baby anymore so she didn’t want to be called by her baby name. The few times she’d heard it since, from older relatives or members of her church, it had rankled her even if she was too shy or polite to say anything.

But… the way Victoria said it, the sound so rich and warm and seeming to just roll off her tongue? Surprisingly, Kate doesn’t seem to mind it.

‘See you around, Katie.’

‘Katie.’

‘Katie.’

‘Katie.’

Nope… Kate doesn’t seem to mind that at all.

*****

The next day when recess rolled around, Kate wasn’t tired at all. In fact, she was practically buzzing with energy. Which would be perfect for getting some actual exercise outside of P.E. for a change, but Kate only has one plan in mind as she heads for the bleachers.

“Hello, Victoria.” she tries, well under her breath despite there being no one nearby.

She winces, shaking her head at how formal she sounds. Kate has learned that practicing what she wants to say beforehand often helps with the nerves leading up to speaking with someone, ensuring the words come out correctly when the time is right.

“Hi… T-Tori…”

Nope, that one is right out. Even if Victoria called her “Katie”, does that mean she’d be okay with being called a nickname in return? Would she think it was too familiar, too impertinent? Best not to risk it. Besides if she’s stuttering even while practicing, there’s no way she’ll be able to keep it together in front of the person in question.

Having settled on a safe but bright ‘Hi, Victoria!’, Kate rounds the corner with eyes bright and lips already parted in preparation, only to find the girl sitting at the far corner of the topmost bleacher this time with her fancy phone pressed to one ear. Her legs crossed with the toe of a cute little ankle-length boot pointed in Kate’s direction.

Victoria inspects the nails of her left hand, smirking at whatever she hears on the other end of the line. “Of course, you do, I’m obviously very miss-able.”

The lung full of air Kate had been saving up for her greeting deflates in a long sigh. She’d be fibbing if she said she wasn’t hoping to have another conversation with Victoria again today… learn some more about her, maybe show off some more of her drawing. Which was very surprising and more than a bit mystifying to her, considering she was scared to even sit near the girl just one short day ago. Kate had spent the better portion of last night contemplating the strange, excited, tingly feeling in her chest whenever she replayed their last conversation in her head. Had she made a new friend, she wondered?

At the very least Victoria didn’t seem to hate her, which was a very real fear after the disaster of their first meeting.

She steps forward to reclaim her previous spot on the second row, waiting until Victoria’s green eyes glance her way to give her a smile and a little wave. Victoria’s eyebrows raise in greeting, her pinky finger waggling from behind her phone before she turns her attention back to the conversation at hand.

“Uh huh. What are the others up to, aside from mourning my absence?”

Kate sets up shop, flipping back to her half-finished picture from yesterday.

“Well you can tell Nate he’s allowed to stop wearing black after the first month.”

The words seem to flow so easily off of Victoria’s tongue, her speech exuding confidence and charisma in a way that Kate can’t help but be envious of.

“No freaking way!” Victoria scoffs. “I do not believe for a second that she of all people has a boyfriend, you’ve got to be pulling my leg.”

Tapping her lip, Kate looks over her work. The three little rabbits in the foreground are done, as is the angry, pitch-fork wielding farmer off in the distance. She was planning to fill in the field with carrots and turnips and cabbages to finish up the piece, but now she can’t shake the feeling that something is missing.

“Pfft, me? Jealous of Dana Ward? Like that would ever happen. Holding Hayden’s hand does not mean they’re together. Hell, I could have done the same with half the boys in this school already if I wasn’t so worried I’d catch fleas in the process.”

A strange tension settles over Kate’s shoulders at the sound of that, though she’s not precisely sure why. Embarrassment over feeling like she’s eavesdropping is certainly part of it… but it’s more than that. The concept of having a boyfriend seems way too advanced for her, even though she is going to be ten in a few days and she’s already started to hear talk from the other girls in her class about dating, who’s cute and who’s not, etc. Stella even admitted to having a crush on Andrew, Mikey North’s older brother, even though he was in middle school already. Kate’s not positive she understands what having a “crush” on a boy means, exactly, but she knows she’s not ready for something like that. Maybe she won’t ever be.

Maybe that’s why the mental image of Victoria holding a boy’s hand makes her stomach hurt a little.

“Whatever. Everything’s just so old-fashioned and… and middle class here. I can’t tell if I’m in a school or a Rockwell painting.”

The mention of art jogs Kate’s focus back to the fact that she’s still stuck on where to take the drawing next. So, she works on the sky instead, starting with coloring in the sun hanging over the horizon, all yellows and reds and oranges.

“I don’t know… maybe there’s a couple of cool people here.”

Kate’s pencil stops mid-motion, however, when she gets a weird feeling in the back of her mind… almost like she’s being watched. Cautiously, she glances over her shoulder to find green eyes studying her profile.

“Well, like… you know Jessica’s little blonde cousin, Taylor? She goes here. So, I guess I could hang out with her… if I got desperate.”

Their eyes meet for the briefest of moments, before Victoria hurriedly looks away.

“Yes, Courtney, I know what I said. And yes, I know what ‘a couple’ means.”

Kate nestles her mouth into her shoulder. Were those spots of pink on Victoria’s cheeks there before? It is hotter today, with less of a breeze. Is that what has her flushed, or is it something else?

“It means none of your damn business.”

Even though Kate was pretty sure the bite to Victoria’s voice and the roll of her eyes weren’t directed at her, it does make her think that she should probably stop being so nosy. She tries to focus on the drawing once more.

“Yeah… I know. I miss you guys too... Yes, really.”

The sadness and vulnerability that suffused Victoria’s words just then makes Kate’s heart ache for her. It sounds like she really did have a lot of close friends at her other school, and Kate can only imagine how hard it must be not to be able to see them every day. How stressful being thrust into a new and unfamiliar environment where she doesn’t know anyone has to be. How hard that might make it to reach out to those around you, even if only to make the loneliness sting just a little bit less.

…

Suddenly, Kate knows exactly what this drawing needs.

With a plan in mind, she sets to work. Sketching out the new addition. Outlining. Selecting her color palette, yellow and pink and white and green. So engrossed is she that the sound of Victoria’s voice fades into the background of Kate’s mind. She doesn’t realize it’s almost time to go until the clank of boots on metal herald the girl clambering her way downward.

If Kate wasn’t so focused on finishing that last little touch, she might have noticed that Victoria didn’t continue her path all the way down to the grass like last time. As it was, she didn’t catch on to the fact that the girl was crossing over behind her until those metallic clanks rang out almost right in her ears. Until the brush of gentle fingertips across Kate’s shoulder blades as Victoria passed by sent a pleasant little shiver up her spine.

Her head swivels to the left, catching Victoria just as she leans her weight onto the bench at her side before hopping down the two or so feet to the grass below. She doesn’t even miss a beat in her conversation when she lands, just as sleek and graceful as any cat Kate has ever seen.

While watching Victoria languidly stroll off in the direction of the school building, it strikes Kate that despite spending their recess together again today, they didn’t speak a single word to each other. But she somehow feels as though more was said between the shared glances and the raised eyebrows and that brief, soft touch, than in their entire conversation the day before.

And even if it was in a language that Kate doesn’t quite understand, that’s okay… because it’s one that she finds herself strangely eager to learn.

*****

Kate chews on her lip, nerves and excitement at war in her small body as she pushes open the door to her classroom. The nerves lose out, however, her face lighting up when she spies Victoria sitting in her desk on the far side of the room by the windows. Just as stylish and, yes, pretty as always, with the morning sunlight framing her at such a perfect angle that it’s almost as though she’s posing for one of her photographs.

She just barely manages to restrain herself from bounding over to the girl’s desk, managing to move at more of a brisk walk instead with her sketchpad in hand. The grin on her face, however, isn’t restrained at all when she calls out “Good morning, Victoria!”.

Glancing up from her phone, where a game that seems to be comprised of nine 3x3 grids filled with numbers currently displays on the screen, Victoria smirks at her. “My my, aren’t we early today, Miss Marsh?”

The tiny string of disappointment that she didn’t call her “Katie” this time barely dampens her enthusiasm at all. “M… My dad had to drop me off early this morning.”

She can feel her cheeks heating up from the small fib. In truth, she’d begged her dad to bring her in early today. She’d heard from Stella, whose bus was one of the earliest to arrive at school every morning, that Victoria was always there before her. And while Kate certainly could have waited to show off the results of her evening’s work putting the finishing touches on the drawing, the thought of waiting four whole extra hours had managed to thoroughly drive all sense of patience and propriety from her mind.

Victoria hums agreeably. “And? What’s got you feeling so energetic this morning?”

“I finished my picture! Would… you like to see it?”

One of her thin blonde eyebrows raises a quarter of an inch. “Are you sure you’re ready for my critique? I will own a gallery when I’m ancient like my parents. Perhaps several!”

The thought that Victoria might have a negative reaction to the finished piece hadn’t crossed Kate’s mind until just now, and its emergence does raise a ghost of dread in her mind. Ultimately, however, that buzz of enthusiasm wins out, and she hands the book over.

Victoria gingerly cracks it open to the page Kate had helpfully bookmarked in preparation for this moment. Kate watches her face intently as Victoria takes in the colorful scene before her. Her own grin widening at the sight of Victoria’s eyes lighting up when they land on the latest addition to this work’s cast of characters: a white cat with a tuft of gold-colored fur on her head, her long tail brushing up against the oldest of the rabbit sisters as they frolic through the field, together. Mischievous green eyes meeting welcoming hazel, sharing a look that is familiar. Knowing. Happy.

“You added a kitty!” Victoria exclaims, and Kate can’t help but giggle at the almost childlike glee in her voice. This was definitely not the most scathing review she could have received, that’s for sure.

“I kept feeling like something was missing, until I finally realized that the rabbit sisters needed a friend to share their adventure with.”

“So, you included Miss Puss-puss?” Victoria interjects, her tone teasing, her expression just as mischievous as that of the cat in front of her.

Kate’s face couldn’t be hotter if the classroom was burning down around her. She still regrets asking Stella why she thought Victoria found her doll’s name to be so funny. And she regrets even more sticking around long enough for her friend’s howls of laughter to subside so that she could explain it to her. Though she wasn’t quite sure exactly how much of what her friend told her was accurate and how much guesswork on Stella’s part, it was enough to ensure that Kate will never use that particular name again.

“I w-wanted it to be more realistic, obviously but I d-definitely used… her… as inspiration.”

“Well, I love her and wish I could take her home with me.”

Kate licks her suddenly dry lips. “You… y-you can. If… if you want…”

Victoria’s eyebrows knit together in a questioning fashion.

“The picture I mean… I’d like for you to have it.”

That causes those very same eyebrows to climb up Victoria’s forehead, her lips parting in surprise. “Oh! No, I couldn’t accept that… don’t you need it for your sisters’ bedtime stories or whatever?”

Kate just waves that off with a laugh. “Not anymore, the rabbit sisters have already escaped the farmer and will be taking their new friend back to their warren home next time.”

When Victoria seems unconvinced, Kate adds “please… you were the one who inspired me to finish the drawing in the first place. It would make me so happy if you kept it.”

Victoria holds Kate’s pleading stare for a long moment, before finally nodding in acquiescence. “Okay… then in that case, I will happily accept. Thank you.”

Kate makes a gleeful little noise when she retrieves her book. She carefully separates the paper from its binding while Victoria digs through her messenger-style bag (because, of course someone like her wouldn’t be caught dead wearing a backpack like the other children) to retrieve a black portfolio booklet, filled with pages of plastic sheets designed to hold photographs. Accepting the drawing with a gracious murmur, Victoria gently slides the paper into a partition that lines the back cover.

While Victoria secures the portfolio in her bag once more, Kate takes a deep breath to steady her nerves, going over in her mind what she wants to say one final time. Showing off her drawing wasn’t the only reason she wanted to catch Victoria so early, after all. It wasn’t even the main one.

“Victoria…” she begins, before her breath catches in her throat. Again.

“Hmm?” Victoria’s eyes glance back in her direction as she straightens up in her seat once more.

“I…” Kate groans internally. Whyyyyy can’t she talk like a normal person, just this once?

Victoria’s eyes twinkle with amusement, her head tilting inquisitively at an angle that once again strikes Kate as just so perfect it makes it hard to concentrate on anything else. “You…?”

Kate nervously toys with her braid. It’s a habit that her mom has scolded her for time and again, but right now she can’t spare a thought to pay it any mind. “I was…”

Her pink lips form a smirk as she leisurely rests her chin in the palm of one hand. “Take your time, hon. I’m here all day.”

The way Victoria’s voice softens just a bit at the word ‘hon’ makes Kate feel inexplicably warm inside. That warmth rises up to jog loose the dam holding back her words, allowing them to come spilling out all in a rush.

“IwaswonderingifyouwereplanningtocometomybirthdaypartyonSunday?”

That smirk fades from Victoria’s face, her eyes widening as she blinks once. Then twice. Pausing for a beat that seems interminably long to Kate’s racing mind before giving her a third and final blink.

“You… want me to come?”

“Of… of course!” Kate laughs as though that was the silliest question she’s ever heard. “You got the invitation I left on your desk, right?”

Victoria looks down at the surface of her desk, her lips pursing into a pensive half-pout. “Well… yeah… but I thought you were just giving those out to everyone. You know… out of obligation or whatever.”

“No! I mean… yes, I did give one to everyone in class, but not because I had to.”

Victoria reaches out to idly scratch at an imperfection in the wood. “I don’t know… my parents are making me go to some stupid gallery thing in Seattle tomorrow. I probably wouldn’t have time to get you anything.”

Kate holds up both hands, waving them lightly back and forth to forestall her. “Oh, no, I don’t need presents or anything! Just the company and fellowship is all I want. We’ll have games and ice cream, and two kinds of cake and…”

Feeling uncommonly bold, Kate reaches out to rest her palm on the top of Victoria’s hand, giving it a light squeeze. She wonders if she’s gone too far when Victoria’s hand tenses in hers, when a small gasp passes her lips at the sudden touch. But she presses on regardless.

“Victoria, I know that… that you have all the friends you need back in your old school. But… I don’t have very many even though I’ve been here for years.”

Gosh, but Victoria’s hand feels so warm right now… Oh shoot, focus, Kate, focus!

“It’s… hard for me to talk to people my own age sometimes, but that’s something I’d really like to change. And… I’ve had so much fun talking to you this past couple of days… that’s why I’d really, really love it if you could come.”

Victoria is looking away again, her wide eyes locked on Kate’s hand as though it’s a snake she’s surprised hasn’t bitten her yet. With her peace said and her case made, Kate gives one final, hopeful squeeze.

“... If it’s really that important to you…” Victoria murmurs, her usually brash and confident voice as soft and tremulous as Kate has ever heard it.

Kate’s heart soars. “R-really? Oh, that would be just wonderful…!”

“I can’t promise or anything!” Victoria hastily interjects, her eyes at last flicking back up to meet Kate’s once more. “I don’t know what my schedule is like that day, but… I’ll try.”

At this point, Kate has been grinning so long that her cheeks are actually starting to hurt. She wants to say a million different things at once, about the party activities, about how much fun it’s going to be, about how excited she is… but for some reason all she can think about right now is how warm Victoria’s hand is in hers. How her cheeks seem to be getting pinker by the moment. And just how lush and vibrant her eyes look at this very moment and Gosh, were they always this green? Did she just not notice before how--

The thought of just how long she’d been holding her hand doesn’t even cross Kate’s mind until Victoria hurriedly pulls it away at the sound of chattering voices and squeaking sneakers filtering in from the hall. The door opening draws Kate’s attention to Zachary and Emery and Stella’s arrival, and she gives the latter a little wave before looking back at Victoria. The girl’s hands and eyes are on her phone again, with the crimson hue her face and ears have taken on being the only indication that she’d ever been doing otherwise.

Suddenly feeling more than a bit awkward, Kate chews her lip while she deliberates over what she should say next. Was Victoria’s sudden shift in expression and body language a sign that Kate should quietly return to her desk? Was she embarrassing her by continuing to stand there, or would it be even more weird to walk off without saying a word?

But before she can come to a decision, Victoria matter-of-factly asks “so… see you on Sunday, maybe?”

“Sure!” Kate chirps brightly, the smile returning to her face in less than an instant. “I can’t wait… t-talk to you later, Victoria.”

“Au revoir.” Victoria spares Kate a glance just long enough to toss her a coy little wink.

Kate practically floats back to her desk, feeling equal parts exhausted and giddy. With several more minutes to go before the teacher arrives and class starts, Kate folds her arms together and lays her head atop them. It won’t be until much later before she’ll wonder about why talking to Victoria and holding her hand made her feel that way, or why it’s so different from the times she’s done those things with Stella and Alyssa. For now, her eyes closed and mind wandering, her only coherent thought is how this might just turn out to be the best birthday ever.

*****

Victoria pops open her compact, checking her reflection in the mirror before heaving a heavy sigh. She has spent the better part of a minute now standing on the front porch of the Marsh residence, trying to decide whether she has the nerve to knock on the door. Which is freaking crazy, she tells herself, because seriously what in the hell is she even worried about anyway? It’s not like she’s about to debut in her first cotillion at the Astoria-Waldorf or anything, it’s a 10^th birthday party for a classmate in the middle of the freaking suburbs! All she has to do is go inside, say happy birthday, eat a bite or two of cake and bounce. Easy-peasy, right?

So why is she so freaking nervous right now? Why does the thought of knocking on this quaint little door covered in chipped blue paint make her chest feel tight? Why does the thought of seeing Kate when she answers, or more specifically seeing Kate seeing her make her palms start to sweat?

Victoria sighs again, giving her outfit another once over. She’d dressed down for the occasion, wearing a simple pink camisole, denim shorts, and wedged sandals. Maybe I should have gone for more of a formal… Nope, she didn’t want to look like she was out-doing the birthday girl. What she has on is fine. Simple but cute. At least, Victoria thinks it’s cute.

Will Katie think it’s cute?

She could be anywhere else right this moment. Shopping with Courtney, or maybe hitting the beach to enjoy one of the last few summer weekends they had left. Or at Nate’s, hanging out and bitching about their parents like usual. Or even just holed up in her room watching Full Metal Panic or Fruits Basket for the hundredth time. But instead she was standing on the doorstep of a girl she just met, and not just any girl but the shy religious girl who’d embarrassed her in front of the entire class on her first day at a new school.

Was it out of social obligation? A chance to do some “networking” as her parents might say, since she’ll be stuck here for who knows how long?

Or was it because of how surprised Victoria was to see that earnest pleading in Kate’s big eyes when she asked? How the thought Kate might really want her to be here, caught her off guard, especially after Victoria was mean to her after being embarrassed.

Or was it how her heart raced when Kate touched her ha

OH MY FREAKING GOD would you stop being so freaking ridiculous and just KNOCK?

Before she can think of yet another reason to try to talk herself out of this, Victoria gives the door a polite knock.

The thin face of a woman with Kate’s nose and eyebrows appears in a window to Victoria’s left, and soon after she can hear “Kaaate! Another one of your little friends is here!”

“COMING!” shouts a high, excited voice from deeper within the house, followed by a hurried clomping that can best be described as what Victoria might expect of an adolescent Moose being called to supper.  The footsteps rapidly get louder and louder until they come to a sudden stop and the door is flung open in front of her.

And there stands Kate, looking as pretty as a picture in a short-sleeved, midi-length white sundress. Her surprisingly long honey-colored hair left loose and flowing down her back and shoulders in waves. Her hazel eyes wide with pleasant surprise. The gold cross that hangs from her neck reflecting the sunlight just-so.

You look like an angel.

“Victoria!” she exclaims, her voice as delighted as her eyes. “You came!”

Kate beams at Victoria with a smile so wide and bright it almost looks to be in danger of splitting her face in two. She shifts from one foot to the other, her shoulders wiggling a bit and Oh My God is she really THAT excited to see me? And what’s going on with her hair, did she get it styled? Does it always look like that when it’s not in her braid? And exactly how long is it? Is it longer than mine? I bet she doesn’t have split ends for days like I…

Realizing that she’s just standing in Kate’s doorway staring at her like a mental case, Victoria manages to say “Umm… yeah! I said I would, didn’t I?”

“Well, you said maybe. If you had time.” Kate continues grinning at her, eyes narrowing slightly in an almost conspiratorial fashion.

Should… should I hug her? Would that be weird? Birthday hugs aren’t weird, right?

I want to hug her, like a whole lot.

“Happy Birthday, Katie.” Victoria whispers as she leans in to wrap her arms around the birthday girl. Kate barely hesitates at all in returning with a tight squeeze, while Victoria tries not to think too much about how Kate smells like honey and soap and sunlight.

The sounds of laughter and excited voices ring out from within the house as they separate. “I’m, like, not too late or whatever…?”

“Oh, no! You’re right on time, we’re just about to eat! Come on in!” With that, Kate grabs hold of Victoria’s wrist and practically drags her inside, chittering the whole way like a happy little squirrel.

What is even happening right now?

Katie barely comes out of her shell at all in school, why is she so bubbly and full of energy?

Is it because I’m here?

Kate pauses long enough to allow Victoria to deposit her purse on a side table in foyer. Victoria considers taking her phone. Her shield. The protective bubble that lets her keep everyone at a distance.

Half the time there’s no one on the other end of the line at all, but pretending like there is just makes things so much easier.

She looks at Kate. At her excited eyes, her sweet, welcoming smile.

Victoria leaves her phone behind.

There’s not that many kids seated around the dining table. Not even half the class, honestly. Alyssa and Stella. Daniel and Emery. Max and that loud mouth fifth-grader she’s always attached to. Jasmin and Taylor.

Eight kids, all wearing gaudy blue and yellow party hats. Eight sets of eyes all turned to stare right at her.

I should have brought my phone.

“Here!” Kate chirps, plucking a party hat out of one of two empty chairs near the middle and placing it on the table. “I saved you a seat!”

“Th-thanks…” Victoria murmurs as she slides down into the offered chair. The one right next to where Kate herself is sitting.

Why did she seat me here? Surely, she’d want to sit between Alyssa and Stella, right?

Taylor is on her other side. They share a wave and a polite “Hello, how have you been?”

Is that why she went to all this trouble? To make sure I was comfortable?

Or does she want to be close to me?

A tap on her left shoulder draws her attention back to the birthday girl. “Don’t forget the uniform,” Kate giggles, nodding to the brightly colored, cone-shaped party hat in front of Victoria as she deftly puts on her own.

Victoria scoffs. “Pfft, you must be joking. There is no way I’m wearing… that.”

“C’mooooon,” Kate pleads, flashing that bright smile once more. “Everyone else is wearing one!”

“Please, I set trends. I don’t follow them.”

“Yeah, c’mon Vicky,” cajoles the loud-mouthed fifth-grader with a cheeky grin from across the table. “Don’t be icky about it!” As if to demonstrate her point, the strawberry-blonde girl reaches up to raise her and Maxine’s hats an inch over their heads before letting them snap back down, earning an “ow!” and a playful swat at her arm from her brunette friend.

What the Hell? ‘Icky Vicky’? Is that supposed to be freaking funny?!

“Okay look here whatever-your-name-is--”

“Chloe Price!” comes a polite-but-firm voice to Victoria’s left, accompanied by a gentle squeeze on her shoulder that stops her oncoming tirade dead in its tracks.

Victoria is astounded by the way that Kate’s face, with her jaw set and her brows furrowed over those big doe eyes, is somehow more stern than she could have ever thought possible… especially considering how it’s currently being framed by gentle waves of dirty-blonde hair and the thin rubber strip that runs under her chin to keep that gaudy freaking party-hat in place. “As host, I will thank you very much not to be rude to my other guests.”

There’s no bite to Kate’s words whatsoever, but they somehow manage to get Victoria’s blood cooling and Chloe looking thoroughly chagrinned, regardless. “Oh shi— I mean, shoot,” the girl hastily corrects in response to a swift narrowing of those hazel eyes. “Sorry dude… I didn’t mean anything by it, honest. It’s just that song, you know, from the Fairly Oddparents?”

“Y-yeah!” Mousy little Max interjects, obviously trying to help diffuse the situation. “You know…” she hums a little tune that maybe kinda sorta sounds familiar. “Hmm hmm hmm in a pair of black jeans…” is all she manages before her voice nervously trails off.

There’s at least three pairs of eyes on her right now: Kate’s, wide and encouraging; Max’s, somewhere between anxious and embarrassed; and Chloe’s, round and almost puppy-dog-esque in their apologetic sincerity.

“Whatever…” Victoria huffs. “It’s hard to be angry at someone wearing a hat that ridiculous, anyway.”

That seems to put relieved smiles on Maxine and Chloe’s faces, at least, and Kate gives her shoulder an encouraging pat before removing her hand.

“Still…” she says slyly, steepling her fingers together in an almost prayer-like fashion. “It would be just a little icky to refuse the birthday girl’s only request, wouldn’t it…?”

“Oh my God, fine!” Victoria rolls her eyes while yanking the hat over her head, the snap of the rubber band stinging her chin more than she thought it would. “Happy now? And not a word out of you, Price!” Chloe holds up her hands in surrender, but shares an amused grin with her friend nonetheless.

Kate’s shoulder brushes her own. “Don’t worry, I think you make it look very stylish,” she whispers.

Oh my God how is she so cute?

“Suuure. So, is there like an actual party happening or was this all a ploy to convince me to wear a stupid hat?”

“There is!” Kate protests, before thoughtfully biting her lip. “But… I should probably warn you, I haven’t ever had a party this big, so…”

Victoria suppresses the urge to guffaw at the idea that ten kids is a ‘big’ party. Hell, that wouldn’t even cover the wait staff at one of her own. Instead, she prompts Kate to continue. “So?”

“Who wants cake and iiiice creeeeeam?” call a pair of adult voices in unison from the kitchen, before the woman Victoria saw through the window earlier and a tall, bespectacled man come bustling through the entryway, both carrying trays full of plates and bowls. The answers from the kids seated around the table range in enthusiasm from Jasmin’s bemused raised hand to a hesitant “… me?” from Taylor to an enthusiastic bellow of “I DO! I DO!” accompanied by frantic hand-waving from Chloe.

“… so my parents might be a little embarrassing.” Kate finishes with a giggle, her cheeks glowing a rosy shade of pink. While her parents go round the table to get everyone’s preferences, Kate asks “Wh… what kind would you like? We’ve got strawberry shortcake and carrot cake, and the ice cream’s Neapolitan so…”

“Umm… I dunno…” Victoria shrugs, trying not to listen to her mother’s voice ranting on about calories and carbohydrates in her head. “I guess I’ll have what you’re having?”

As Kate flags her mom down to negotiate their desert orders, a humiliated “Chloe, seriously…?” draws her attention to a very flustered Maxine as she watches her boisterous friend demolishing the piece of cake in front of her, with another plate and two bowls of ice cream waiting in the wings.

“Whaaaat?” Chloe complains, a bit of yellow cake flying from her mouth to land on the table in front of her friend. “I’m a growing girl!”

“I think you’ve grown enough for the both of us…” the brunette grumbles. Victoria can’t quite hide her snort of amusement at that… the fifth grader is crazy tall, even for an eleven-year-old.

“Here you go…” Mrs. Marsh leans in between Kate and Victoria to hand them plates, each holding a crumbly, three-layered brown cake with white icing adorned with an orange, carrot-shaped fondant. “One for you, and one for your pretty friend.”

Charm the adults voice, activate. “Thank you, Mrs. Marsh, no ice cream for me, please.”

“Are you sure, dear? We’ve got plenty enough for everyone to have seconds…” The woman casts an amused smile Chloe’s direction before adding “… or thirds. And please, call me Miriam. I don’t believe we’ve met?”

“… Victoria. And I’m sure. Thank you for inviting me to your lovely home.”

“My, how polite! Perhaps Kate should invite you over more often, she could certainly stand to pick up some of your manners.”

“Moooooom!” Kate whines, covering her face with one hand.

Kate’s mother waves her off as she moves on to offer cake and ice-cream to Taylor and Emery, leaving her daughter to gape at Victoria in astonishment.

“What? I’m a good influence!” Victoria explains, giving the girl a conspiratorial wink in the process.

Kate seems to have no response to that, save for her smile growing a hair wider and her blush growing a shade deeper. There’s something… mysterious in that smile. Something so fascinating in the hue the pale skin of her face had taken on.

Is it because of the wink?

Does she smile at her friends like that, too?

Or is it just for me?

Victoria turns to her plate, if for no other reason than to have something, anything else to focus on right this moment. “I… I should’ve known the bunny girl would want carrot cake…”

Then, with all deserts delivered and Kate’s parents heading back for the kitchen, the girl looks around the table and asks “Before we get started… or, finished, as the case may be…” Kate giggles again at the sound of Chloe’s spoon clinking back into the half-empty ice cream bowl before her. “Would anyone mind if I said grace?”

Kate’s hand finds Victoria’s, then. And she tries not to gasp at how soft her skin feels, at how small and warm and perfect Kate’s hand feels in her own.

“Dear Lord, I am so grateful to have been given this chance to celebrate another year.”

Katie’s voice is so soft when she prays.

“For the opportunity to gather here today with such wonderful friends, both old and new.”

Kate squeezes her hand tightly, and the added pressure sends a pleasant tingling sensation through her palm and up her arm in waves. Waves that make her heart beat that much faster when they make their way through her shoulder to crash down into her chest.

“I humbly ask that you bless them and keep them throughout the year to come, as you bless and keep all of your children.”

Victoria’s throat feels tight, her breath sharp and ragged. It feels something akin to the anxiety attacks she’s had off and on throughout the years, but… different. Good, somehow. Like being on a rollercoaster as it slowly clicks its way up to the initial summit, the thought of cresting that hill terrifying and thrilling all at once.

“In Jesus’ name, Amen.” The blessing completed, Kate releases Victoria’s hand at last. “Okay everyone, let’s eat!”

Excited chatter and the clink of silverware on plates and bowls surrounds her, but rather than digging in like everyone else, Victoria finds herself idly playing with her fork instead. In this very moment, Victoria can’t even begin to comprehend what these new and strange feelings she’s experienced over the last few days might mean. All she knows for sure, with the ghost of Kate’s hand still warm on Victoria’s skin, is that she wishes that prayer could have gone on a lot longer.

“I hope you like it…” Kate’s voice draws Victoria’s attention back to that shy, hesitant smile once more. Back to the little flecks of gold that swim in those hazel eyes, eyes that flick from Victoria’s face to the cake in front of her and back again. “I made it myself… or… well, I helped at least.”

Victoria’s jaw drops from the force of her scoff. “I know you did not make your own birthday cake!”

Kate grins sheepishly “I was just so excited that… that everyone was coming, and… I wanted to do something nice for my friends.”

That light, airy sensation returns to her chest once more. And with that comes another certainty, one that would have seemed so foreign and impossible to her less than a week ago. That against all odds, and in defiance of any explanation she can come up with, Victoria really likes the sound of being Kate Marsh’s friend.

“You are so weird, Katie Marsh.” With a shake of her head, Victoria scoops a small bite of carrot cake onto her fork and raises it to her lips. Despite it being a far cry from the kind of thing her parents’ professional chef would make for her back home, the cake is rich, moist, and delicious, the sugary icing dissolving on Victoria’s tongue as she chews. Swallowing, she returns to that hopeful, expectant gaze of Kate’s with a cheeky grin.

“I love it.”

*****

“A bounce house? Are you serious?” Victoria can hardly believe her eyes. If she thought the party hats were gaudy, they had nothing on this rubbery, inflatable yellow monstrosity in the shape of a castle with blue parapets that is currently taking up a fair portion of the Marsh family’s backyard.

“I told you my parents were going a bit overboard…” Kate admits with an embarrassed sigh.

“Yeah, but… do they think you’re ten, or six?”

Before Kate can respond, a loud voice from the opened doorway behind them bellows “a bounce house?! SWEET! C’mon, Maxie!” Chloe kicks off her sneakers as she rushes past with Max in tow, her brown ponytail bobbing and jangling the whole way.

“Well?” Kate asks, nodding her head in that direction. A look of absolute horror must have crossed Victoria’s face just then, if Kate’s laugh was any suggestion. “Why not? Do ladies not bounce either?”

“They absolutely do not.” Victoria folds her arms across her chest, resolute. She compromised on the party hat but this is most certainly a bridge too far.

“But it can’t hurt to just be a kid for a while though, right?” Kate fires back. Sassily. Audaciously. Impertinently.

She’s a Chase. And as a Chase, Victoria does what she wants, when she wants. She has every right to tell this weirdly persistent girl to eff right off.

But then Kate grabs one of Victoria’s hands in both of hers, giving her a gentle pull as she steps out of her sandals. Smiling that sweet, excited smile. Looking at her with those big, pleading puppy-dog eyes.

“Oh my Goooooood,” Victoria whines, before reaching down to slide off her wedges and stepping onto the cool green grass. “If I get athlete’s foot or whatever I’m sending you the dermatologist’s bill.”

*****

Victoria sighs in relief as she steps inside the air-conditioned house, wiping the sweat from her brow with her forearm. She’d spent the better part of the last hour out in the heat, running barefoot in the green grass. Observing or participating in various party games. Talking and joking with some of the other girls. Bouncing in a freaking bounce house, for God’s sake. Allowing herself to be a kid, for a change.

And she had fun. She had more fun than she could have ever imagined having, coming to a 10^th birthday party for a girl she barely knew.

It wasn’t the same as hanging out with Nathan and Courtney and all the others from her old school. In fact, it was different in just about every way possible. But over this past week, Victoria had started to realize that maybe different wasn’t always a bad thing.

Now, however, she’s hot and sweaty and sugar-crashing and verging on cranky and well in need of some quiet time in her room with some anime Blu Rays to decompress. And so, with that in mind she’s come inside to grab her things, call her “chaperone” (a glorified term for a nanny, not that Victoria would ever admit to having such) to come pick her up. To find Kate so that she can say her good-byes.

Though she spent most of the last hour with Kate, she’d lost track of the girl somewhere between talking with Taylor (which had started as a way to gauge whether or not Victoria could convince her not to blab to Jessica about anything she witnessed today, but had ended in a bit of a mutual bonding over much of a pain in the ass her cousin could be) and getting into an animated debate with Chloe and Max about Eastern vs. Western animation. The latter of which had somehow ended up with a three-way fist-bump of all things.

Victoria figured Kate had dipped inside to play board games with some of the other kids. Which was fine, whatever. It wasn’t like hanging out with Kate was the only reason she’d come to this stupid party or anything. But after finding Alyssa, Jasmin, and Daniel playing Jenga in the living room with no sign of the birthday girl, her dad, Richard, suggested Victoria try her room in case she’d gone to look for something.

Even if she hadn’t been given directions, Victoria was fairly certain she’d found the right room by the carved wooden bunny rabbit nailed to the door. Giving it a light knock, she calls “Kate…? It’s Victoria.”

“Come in…!” returns a soft voice from the other side. Victoria opens the door to find Kate lying on her bed with a tv remote in her hand, legs half-covered by a blanket. Her long hair wildly spilled out around her, strands of which flutter lightly in the breeze from a nearby box fan. She lifts her head from the pillow to smile sleepily at Victoria, her eyelids drooping just a tad.

Victoria glances around the room. Bible on the nightstand. Party hat hanging on a bedpost. A wall covered in drawings, bunnies and fruit and… is that Hawt Dawg Man?

“So, this is what you ditched me for,” Victoria snarks, nodding her head at the TV on which Kate appears to just be lazily flipping through channels. But her voice softens when she asks “… are you feeling ok?”

“Oh, I’m fine. I’m sorry for wandering off, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed and figured I’d come in to cool off for a bit. I’d have told you but I didn’t want to interrupt you and Taylor, since you seemed to be getting along so well.”

Victoria shrugs. “It’s cool. I just wanted to let you know I’ve got to go in a few minutes.”

“Awww…” Kate pouts, before scooting her legs back in the bed to make some room on the edge. Patting the mattress, she asks “… would you like to sit with me for a few minutes, then?”

“Umm… sure.” Victoria slides down onto the offered spot, leaning back on her palms and closing her eyes while she luxuriates under the full blast of the fan.

“Pretty lame, huh?” Kate asks, prompting Victoria to crack an eye open. “Hiding in my room during my own birthday party, I mean.”

“It’s your birthday, I say you can do whatever the hell you want.”

“Oh my Gosh, you are so bad!” Kate playfully swats at her arm. “What happened to being a good influence on me?”

Victoria cracks a smirk. “That’s only for when the grown-ups are around. Otherwise I’m as bad as they come… just ask my parents; they’ll vouch for me on that.”

Kate giggles, before handing over the remote. “Do you want to try? I’m not really paying attention.”

She almost declines, but thinks the better of it when she realizes what time it is. Victoria types in the channel number.

‘…Winning love by daylight’

‘Never running from a real fight’

‘She is the one named Sailor Moon’

“I didn’t know you watched this kind of thing,” Kate says with a sleepy yawn. “Cartoons, I mean.”

“It’s not a cartoon, it’s… I mean, whatever, it’s not like there’s anything else on, right?” Victoria almost succeeds in fighting the urge to hum along.

“Thank you for coming today.” Kate murmurs. “I really feel like it was the best birthday ever.”

Victoria looks down at her feet as she idly kicks them out. “Thank you for inviting me… I actually had a lot of fun.”

“I’m glad…” Kate yawns again before the pair of them lapse into silence for several minutes, watching as the Sailor Scouts band together to foil the latest plot hatched by Queen Beryl. Victoria, for her part, is only half paying attention, mainly using this time to work up the nerve to hand over the small gift box wrapped in a red ribbon that currently resides in her left front pocket. It was a small thing, really, and Victoria didn’t know if Kate would even want it… but it was definitely not something she wanted to give her in front of everyone else. Finally, Victoria takes a deep, steadying breath.

“Katie… I know you said I didn’t need to bring you a gift, but…” she trails off when she glances over in Kate’s direction, only to find the girl resting peacefully. Her eyes closed and lips slightly parted. The rise and fall of her chest slow and rhythmic. A slight sound that could be the tiniest of snores escaping her mouth with each breath. Her hand lying palm up on the mattress just inches from Victoria’s hip, fingers curled slightly upward.

Victoria’s eyes remain locked on that hand for some time, the very same one that squeezed hers during Kate’s pre-cake prayer. She doesn’t know exactly what it is that drives her to tentatively reach for that hand, to gently brush her palm against Kate’s. Perhaps it’s curiosity, wondering whether it would feel the same way if she squeezed it again. Or why it didn’t feel the same when she held Taylor’s, or any of her other friends over the years.

She does not think about Dana Ward holding hands with Hayden Jones in school hallways. Or Courtney arguing that it meant she was his girlfriend now. Nope, she definitely doesn’t think about anything like what it would feel like to hold Kate’s hand while they walk to class, or sit together on the bleachers during recess.

The rest of the room seems to fade away, leaving only the warmth of Kate’s palm. The way Victoria’s skin tingles when she interweaves their fingers. How the sensation of her thumb brushing against Kate’s pinky makes her chest feel so tight she can barely breathe. How squeezing that hand with her own seems to squeeze every other thought out of her brain just as easily as juicing an orange.

How small Kate’s hand is, but how perfectly it seems to fit in her own.

Her show came back on a few minutes ago, but Victoria hasn’t noticed. She can’t see anything but those two hands, joined together just like in Kate’s picture. She can’t hear anything over the pounding of her heart beating a mile a minute in her ears.

And then Kate’s hand is squeezing Victoria’s right back, and she’s stirring slightly, her lips moving as she murmurs something Victoria can’t quite hear. And Victoria’s face is on fire, her head feels so light, and Kate’s eyes are moving behind their lids and oh God is she waking up right now?

If she wakes up, will she smile at me again?

Or will she be upset… because… why?

Because we’re both girls.

Those are the words that make things finally click into place in Victoria’s mind. The last piece of the puzzle.

I have a crush… on a girl.

I have a crush on Katie Marsh.

Victoria pulls her hand free and is on her feet in an instant, ignoring the heat on her face and the lightness of her head and pausing only long enough to leave the small blue box with the red ribbon on the side table before fleeing Kate’s room just as fast as her legs will carry her.

*****

Kate remembers the joy and relief she felt when Victoria said she had fun. She remembers how nice the heat from Victoria’s back felt against her legs, even through the thin blanket that covered them. She remembers watching the cute little characters on the TV through eyelids that grew heavier and heavier, their exuberant voices fading into a drone. And then not much else after her eyes finally closed, aside from that dreamy feeling of weightlessness as her mind became unmoored from her body and began to wander.

It conjured up images of jumping, and laughter, and party hats, and green eyes, and pink smiles, and golden hair twirling and swaying in the wind. And a voice she can’t quite hear and a warm hand on her own and a cat and a bunny frolicking through a field of cabbages and carrots and a wish that this day would never have to end.

“There you are.” A voice, deep and soothing and familiar, calls her mind back to her body. A large, firm hand on her shoulder, gently bids her to open her eyes once more. Her dad’s face smiling down at her. “Time to wake up, pumpkin.”

Kate blinks blearily at him, her sleep-addled brain trying to catch up in fits and starts. “Pop…? Is it time for school?”

“No, silly goose.” He laughs, in his warm, rich way that always makes Kate feel at home. “It’s time to say goodbye to your friends.”

Oh my Gosh…!

Kate jolts up to a sitting position, embarrassment and no small amount of panic jogging her mind fully awake at last. How long had she been asleep? Where is Victoria?

Kate leaps to her feet and into her sandals, giving herself only enough time to smooth out her dress and swipe at her unruly hair before following her dad into the living room where her guests are gathered to say their good-byes. She exchanges smiles and well-wishes with Taylor and Daniel and Jasmin and Emery. Hugs with Alyssa and Stella and even Max and Chloe, the former’s hesitant and awkward and the latter’s tight and cheerful.

And through it all, she looks around the room for one blonde-haired, green eyed face in particular, but she’s nowhere to be seen.

“Oh, that polite young lady from before?” her dad says when Kate asks after her. “She had to leave a little early, I think. Poor thing must have gotten a bit too much sun, her face was as red as a tomato when she walked out. She was looking for you earlier, did she not find you?”

“She did…” Kate tries her best to keep the disappointment from her voice, and almost succeeds. “I guess I just hoped I’d have the chance to say good-bye again, is all.”

“Hmm, well maybe you can give her a call later.”

Oh, shoot! Shoot, shoot shoot! As much as Kate has seen Victoria with that fancy phone of hers, why hasn’t she thought to ask for her number before now? “Y-yeah… that’s a good idea.”

After seeing off her remaining guests and failing to convince her parents to let her help them clean up, Kate wanders back into her room. Still rubbing the sandpaper of interrupted-sleep from her eyes, Kate sits on her bed in the very spot Victoria had taken up earlier, pulling her pillow into a big old hug while she replays the events of the day in her mind. Despite the fact that she was way outside of her comfort zone having so many people over at once, and despite the fact that she may be sulking just a bit over missing Victoria as she left, Kate truly does feel like this must have been the best birthday ever. She honestly can’t imagine how it could have been any better.

That’s when she notices the small blue box wrapped with a bright red ribbon on her nightstand.

A present? She’d asked her guests not to bring anything on her invitations, though a few had brought them nonetheless. But she’d already opened those, just as she’d opened the gifts from her family in the morning, before her sisters went off to spend the rest of the day with their Aunt. So, if not her guests, or her parents, then who?

Of course, there was only one person that she knows of who has been in her room today.

Kate’s hands tremble as she reaches for the gift and unties the ribbon. When she slides off the top of the box, her heart skips a beat.

Inside is a small chain comprised of numerous interlinked silver hoops, with a clasp to connect one end to another. Just long enough for a bracelet… a charm bracelet. The way the light reflects off of the hoops, the feel and weight of it as she daintily removes it from the box to rest in her palm, confirm that this is no mere costume jewelry… but that’s not what makes happy tears prick at her eyes. No, it’s the little charms that have already found a home three of those hoops that claim that honor.

A gray-furred rabbit wearing an ankle-length pink dress.

A black cat with a crescent moon on her forehead, just like the one on Victoria’s show.

And in between, attached to the silver loop that joins with those of the rabbit and the cat, is a small, red object in the shape of a heart.

Kate takes a deep breath while she winds the chain around her wrist, slowly exhaling when she holds her hand up in front of her. She feels the weight of it against her skin, watching in fascination as the charms jangle and sway with every move of her arm. The rabbit appearing to stare across the heart at her steadfast feline companion, the cat seemingly returning that stare with a wide-eyed smile.

It is only then that Kate notices the folded piece of paper still resting inside of the box, one end sticking up slightly now that it’s free of the weight of the bracelet. When Kate unfolds it, when she reads the four little words written in perfect, flowing cursive, her smile grows so wide that she wouldn’t be shocked if her cheeks fell right off her face.

Happy Birthday, Katie Marsh

*****

Kate doesn’t say a word when she takes her customary seat on the second row of the bleachers the next day at recess. Nor does Victoria look up from the fashion magazine (Vogue or Elle or something of the sort) long enough to acknowledge her presence, one manicured hand resting on the bench between them while the other idly flips the pages.

Going through her normal routine of digging out her art supplies to set them on the bench in front of her, Kate tries to suppress the hint of a smile that plays at her lips every time the charms attached to the silver bracelet clink clink clink with each flick of her wrist. And if, perhaps, she draws with just a bit more of a flourish than normal, to make those clinks clink just that much louder, she’d never admit that it was on purpose.

Impressively enough, Victoria lasts a whole five minutes before acknowledging the small, silver elephant sitting between them. “Nice bracelet you’ve got there, Katie. It’s surprisingly fashionable.”

“Funny you should mention it…” Kate doesn’t bother trying to suppress her giggle as she holds her arm out and wrist up as though putting the bracelet on display. “It was a birthday gift! Somebody left it on my bedside table while I was taking a nap.”

Victoria cuts her green eyes in Kate’s direction, her customary smirk settling on her face. “Oh really? Well somebody has great taste in gifts, then.”

“I agree… I only wish that I knew who it was, so that I could tell them how much I love it. And that I hope it wasn’t too expensive.”

Victoria quickly turns her attention back to the magazine in her lap, the cheek Kate can see blossoming red. “What if… it didn’t cost anything? What if it was just something that… somebody had lying around their room?” Her question asked, a nervous little pout forms on her lips.

Kate’s bracelet clinks once again as she reaches for Victoria’s hand.

“Then… I would tell them that knowing it was something they wore, before giving to me? That makes it even more special.”

Victoria inhales sharply when Kate’s hand slides under hers.

“Maybe the most special gift I’ve ever been given…”

Wide, vulnerable green eyes travel from their joined hands to meet Kate’s soft, reassuring gaze.

“And… I would tell them that I’m never, ever taking it off.”

Victoria smiles, then, and this time it’s not the guarded half-smile from before. This smile is wide, and bright, and unrestrained, revealing the white of Victoria’s teeth. Leaving Kate to marvel at the way it softens those brilliant green eyes, at how it reveals the tiniest little dimple on her right cheek.

And with her heart in her throat, Kate can’t help but return that very same smile… because it’s the one she’s been waiting to see ever since she met her.

Because Victoria’s hand is soft and warm and fits so perfectly in her own.

And because she is, without a shadow of a doubt, the most beautiful girl Kate has ever seen.

Kate still might not quite understand everything that is being said amongst the silence of those looks, those shared smiles, or the tight squeeze of their joined hands.

But it’s a language that she is so very excited to learn.