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Just how many modern romances started out by someone sliding into someone’s direct messages? Rell wouldn’t be able to answer that question. What she is able to say is that it definitely won’t start like that this time.
She sighs as she scrolls through the feed of local wonder Seraphine. She got a glance of the beauty again today, as she was out on the soccer field. Seraphine walked past the gate with four other local celebrities, who refer to themselves as K/DA.
Many of her teammates had sprinted over to the fence, cat-calling the five women and whistling sharply. Rell had sighed, balancing the soccer ball on her toes. Of course, she had glanced. She always paid extra attention to the pink-haired girl among the five, Seraphine.
And now she sits, in her pajamas, scrolling through the pictures of the young singer-songwriter. They’re practically from different worlds, Rell being in the sports department and Seraphine being in the performing arts department.
Yet Rell hadn’t been able to stop herself from developing a crush on the talented girl. From the very first time she’d seen Seraphine perform at a local fundraiser, she had been absolutely smitten.
‘Rell, what’re ya looking at?’ Samira’s sudden question comes, startling Rell. Her hands crush her phone to a pulp. She groans, it’s the nth phone she’s destroyed from getting spooked.
‘Samira, I told you not to sneak up on me like that!’
The dare-devil shrugs. ‘Sorry,’ she says, not meaning it all. ‘Is fun to scare ya.’
Samira grins then,’ Ya look awfully flushed kid, looking at something... intense?’
Rell’s eyebrows furrow. Her piercings reshaping the brows. ‘No.’
Her guardian smirks. ‘Right, right. Keep yer secrets.’
It's awful having to live with a teacher. It’s worse to live with a teacher like Samira. While everyone at Riot Academy thinks the woman is an absolute blast, a godsend, Rell refers to her as a massive headache.
Samira lets herself fall down on Rell’s bed, much to the dismay of the young girl. ‘Samira, get out!’
The woman hums. ‘Mhhh. I don’t know. I think I might take a nap here.’ Then, she smiles. ‘If yer interested, I can tell you what buildings you need to hang around to spot Seraphine.’
Rell’s face darkens. ‘You saw?’
‘I may have one eye,’ Samira says, tapping her eye-patch, ‘But I sure as hell see things that help me tease you.’
Angrily, Rell takes a pillow and throws it over at the woman. Samira catches it, hugging it close to her chest. She leans over to Rell, grinning.
‘Spill the tea kid,’ Samira inquires. ‘I’ve seen you staring at her. Come on, don’t let yer auntie hanging.’
Rell huffs, getting off of her bed. ‘I am going to sleep in the living room. Good night.’
She’s late. So very late.
Rell hurriedly walks through the hallways of the unfamiliar building. Curse Miss Diana for changing classrooms yet again, only to spite Miss Leona. Basically everyone at the academy knows Diana has it bad for Leona but the only two who won’t admit it, are the two teachers in question.
In her attempt to make up for the time she’s missing, Rell continues to walk, not paying close attention to her surroundings. It bites her in the ass, of course. She realizes too late someone is right in her way.
‘Shit!’ Rell exclaims as she trips over someone else’s feet, losing her balance. She goes tumbling down onto the tiles, bruising her knees.
The other party involved in the crash, groans. Rell looks up, trying to figure out who it is she ran into.
‘Oh’ Seraphine gasps, clasping her hands together. ‘You’re Rell, right? I saw your last soccer game, it was super impressive!’
Rell’s face grows hot. Seraphine is even prettier in person. And she knows who she is. What did she do in her past life to deserve this kind of grace from a literal goddess?
‘Oh, yeah. Thanks,’ Rell manages to bring out. She notices what she assumed to be Seraphine’s bag on the floor, its contents splayed out.
‘Let me help with that,’ she says, grabbing onto one of the books. The two work in silence.
As Rell reaches over to grab the last textbook, Seraphine tries to do the same. Their hands come into contact like it’s some damn movie cliché.
‘Oops, sorry,’ Seraphine apologizes, pulling her hand back. Rell gulps, realizing just how close Sera’s face is to hers.
‘You’re pretty,’ Rell says before she can stop herself. ‘Like, properly pretty. I thought you were photoshopping your pictures or something but wow.’
She manages to hold herself back from making a bigger fool out of herself. ‘Sorry, I’m rambling,’ she rambles on. ‘I should probably just go, head to class. If I can find where it is.’
Instead of laughing at her, Seraphine giggles. The gorgeous sound fills Rell’s ears. ‘Thanks, you’re pretty too,’ Sera says. ‘Do you have Miss Diana? She’s on the second floor right now, classroom C. She sure likes to relocate, huh.’
‘Yes,’ Rell replies, relaxing. ‘Thanks, for the help. Sorry for bumping into you like this.’
Seraphine shoots her a reassuring smile. Then, she frowns, chewing on her lower lip. The image is burned into Rell’s brain. ‘This… might be a bit weird and sudden, but would you like to hang out with me, later?’
‘Is it a date?’ Rell blurts out. Stupid, stupid!
The pink-haired girl blinks, blushing. ‘Uhm, if you’d like it to be, sure.’
She takes out her phone, unlocking it. She hands it over to Rell, a new contact form open. ‘Could you give me your number?’
Rell sheepishly grins, taking out her own phone. She shows the crushed metal. ‘Had a little uh, accident. Is it ok if I give you Samira’s number? I’ll get her phone.’
Seraphine smiles. ‘Sure! Whatever works for you.’
Eagerly Rell takes the device, punching in the digits belonging to her annoying guardian. She hands the phone back, grinning.
‘Uh, thanks. Text you later?’ Rell says, playing with a strand of hair.
‘Definitely!’ Seraphine exclaims, before hurrying off to her own classes.
When she comes back home in the afternoon, she immediately snatches Samira’s phone away from her hands. The woman howlers.
‘Hey, kid, can’t just take my phone like that!’
Rell sticks out her tongue, easily unlocking the device. Sometimes her abilities to manipulate solid objects aren’t all bad.
‘Did you read any of your texts?’
Samira huffs. ‘Well, yeah. There was one with “This is for Rell” at the beginning of it,’ she says, shrugging. ‘But hey, I got some manners. Left that one for you.’
Satisfied with that answer, Rell nods. ‘You aren’t all bad.’
‘Not all bad? I am entirely bad!’ Samira exclaims, laughing at her own joke. Rell ignores her, opening the message application. And yeah, there it is alright.
This is for Rell!
Hope you’re reading this
just wanted to ask if you’d like to come with me to the upcoming fair? i dont know if you like roller coasters but there is plenty of stuff to pick from, let me know!
Rell’s heart clenches. Never had she dared to imagine she’d get asked out to the fair by Seraphine.
Hastily Rell punches out a reply, almost breaking Samira’s phone in the process. It can be hard to control her powers when she gets overwhelmed, be it from negativity or positivity.
Yes. I’d like to go to the fair with you. Is there a dress code?
Rell slaps her forehead as she reads the sentence again after hitting Send. She can still edit it, right? No, too late. Seraphine’s icon has popped up, showing the young woman is online.
Haha, no, you can come however you like! curious what your style is like, outside of our school uniform…
No meaningful words come from Rell as she throws the phone across the room. Then, she catches it mid-air, letting it hover in place. If she breaks this one too, Samira is going to be pissed for real.
What does that even mean? Has Seraphine been watching her?
Rell marches towards her closet, pulling the doors open. She examines the contents. Her different kinds of uniforms are neatly folded. Her soccer outfit is airing out on her chair. She takes out one of her shirts, black with a white skull.
She never really wears casual clothes. She’s been used to wearing a uniform since she was young. Even at home, she continues to wear something related to the academy.
The girl groans as she continues to pull out items. It’s either too small, too old. Too much. Too.. too Rell.
A knock on the door’s threshold brings Rell back to reality. She snaps her head towards Samira, who leans against the wooden frame.
‘What’s wrong, I’ve been calling ya for dinner for five minutes now, something the matter?’
Rell sighs, slumping down in her chair, flinging her soccer-shirt across the room. ‘I don’t have anything to wear.’
Samira takes the unsaid invitation, walking into the room, and examining the splayed out contents of the wardrobe.
‘What about the uniforms? Always wearing them, hm?’ Samira asks, pinging up a pink shirt Rell likes to use for warm nights.
‘That’s the problem, all my casual clothes suck!’
Samira scoffs. ‘Well, what’d ya need casual clothes for anyway? I was thinking you was going get buried in yer uniform.’
Rell sinks deeper into the chair. ‘I… am going out to the fair.’
Now that gets Samira’s attention. She swirls around, eyebrow raised. ‘Really? With who? Surely yer not getting all dolled up just to walk around alone.’
God, she shouldn’t have involved Samira.
‘Seraphine,’ she mutters.
A loud cackling comes from Samira as she slaps her thighs. ‘No! Yer shitting me! How’d that happen!’
Hesitantly, Rell relays the memories of the morning. Samira’s laughing has toned down into giggling.
‘Little Rell got a date!’ The woman exclaims, clapping her hands together excitedly. Rell’s face is flushed with embarrassment.
‘Shut up! I’m never going to tell you anything again!’ Rell cries out, hiding her face in her hands.
Samira slaps her on the shoulder playfully. ‘Oh no kid, I’m not going to let this go anytime soon. Now,’ Samira seems to rummage around the closet, ‘Let’s find you a proper outfit, yeah?’
She feels giddy. Rell glances down, examining her outfit. Samira has given her one of her old leather jackets and fished out a Pentakill tee out of Rell’s closet. Paired with grey ripped jeans and Doc Martens, Rell doesn’t feel too bad.
As she takes out her new phone to check the time, someone taps on her shoulder. Rell grits her teeth, holding herself back from acting out of instinct to crush her phone and take the person out with a quick jab to the gut.
‘Seraphine, hi,’ she breathlessly greets.
Seraphine looks effortlessly gorgeous as always. Her pink hair up in a pony-tail, decorated with some flowers. She smiles. Her denim jacket looks snug around her shoulders, underneath it a simple white blouse. Her skirt is decorated with the same kind of flowers the young pop-sensation has in her hair, daisies?
‘Hey, hope you haven’t been waiting long,’ Seraphine says, smiling. She plays with her long hair. ‘I kind of lost track of time while getting ready. You look really great, by the way.’
At the compliment, Rell flushes pink. ‘Oh uh, thanks. You look cute. I mean, pretty. Uh, nice.’
Seraphine giggles, a slight blush on her cheeks. ‘Thank you. Shall we go check out what there is to do?’
The two young women walk onto the fair’s ground. Rell peeks at Seraphine’s hand, wondering if she should take it into her own much larger hand. She decides against it, shaking her head.
‘Oh, how about that?’ Seraphine asks, pointing her finger to a stall. Rell recognizes it to be a shooting game. Tons of prizes to pick from.
They pay their fee and both take a toy gun. Years of training take over Rell’s body as she easily takes off the safety pin, cocks the halter, and takes aim. She aces every shot, earning her a thousand points.
Next to her, Seraphine stares at her with amazement. ‘Wow, how are you so good at this?’
Rell scratches the back of her neck. ‘I uh, went to a private, very special school before this.’
Seemingly satisfied with that answer, Seraphine nods. Then, ‘So, what are you going to get with that?’ she asks, gesturing at the long piece of paper Rell holds, her points.
‘Oh uh,’ Rell mutters. She scans the contents of the booth. Her eyes come to a halt. ‘That.’
She hands the booth-owner the points, taking a four-foot-tall teddy bear into her arms. Seraphine excitedly clasps her hands together, her eyes sparkling.
‘That looks so fluffy!’
Rell smiles softly. She pushes the bear towards Seraphine. ‘I’d like you to have it.’
Seraphine’s eyes widen again. ‘What? Really? But it’s your price!’
‘Yeah, really. I’m not big on hugging something in bed anyway.’
‘Hm,’ Seraphine hums, holding onto the bear. ‘That is a shame. I really like to hug and cuddle. My kitty Bao also really likes skinship!’
Rell feels like she misses out on something. It seems like something she should think about differently. Instead, she says ‘Oh.’
After dropping off the teddy bear in a locker, the two continue to wander around. Seraphine excitedly points out a roller coaster but Rell has to disappoint her.
‘The last time uh, I went onto something like that, I made the entire ride malfunction. I don’t think it's a great idea.’
‘That’s cool. You’re like, some sort of a metal bender, right?’ Seraphine chirps.
Rell chuckles. ‘Yeah, that is a fun but accurate way of putting it. You got any special powers I should be looking out for?’
Seraphine grins. ‘I am a special kind of empath. I don’t just… feel people, I hear them. I hear their songs.’
Rell’s brows shoot up. ‘Oh, really? That sounds interesting.’
She’s known about ‘special’ students at Riot Academy for a while now but hasn’t been too sure who belongs to the category. It’s nice to figure out the girl she has been, yes , crushing on, is similar to her.
‘Your song is,’ Seraphine hesitates. ‘It’s heavy. Not just heavy metal-ish, I can feel the pressure radiating from you. You’re quite intimidating, Rell.’
Rell sighs. ‘Makes sense. I have had a… difficult childhood. Riot Academy is giving me such a big opportunity, I don’t want to fail.’
They continue to walk in silence for a few minutes. Around them people are passing them, weaving around them. Rell recognizes a few faces, frowns as she sees Miss Diana and Miss Leona duck into a bathroom stall, together. How intriguing.
After the awkward silence has settled into a comfortable silence, Rell stops her stride. She cranes her head back to take in the entire view of the Ferris wheel. Her jaw falls open, it’s absolutely massive.
‘Oh!’ Seraphine exclaims. She tugs on Rell’s jacket. Rell looks down at the short girl, her stomach feeling like it’s filled with butterflies as she sees the puppy-eyes. ‘We have to go on that, please?’
What kind of demon could say no to those eyes?
Rell whips out her wallet, paying the ticket seller before Seraphine can object. They quickly board it, getting the tube to themselves.
The two sit across each other as the wheel starts moving again, the awkward silence of before returning.
It’s estimated the ride takes up two twenty minutes. Rell sighs, running her hands through her thick hair. She actually went and put some effort into it, styling it with some hairspray.
Rell decides that this is the best moment to come clean. ‘So uh, Seraphine, why exactly did you ask me out on,’ her voice wavers, ‘this date?’
Seraphine looks taken aback. Then, that bright smile is back. ‘Oh, I have several reasons.’
‘Surprise me.’
‘Okay so first off, I sit through every soccer game the Academy hosts, purely so I can see you play,’ Seraphine begins, putting up one finger. ‘Second, you’re hot, Rell. I, kind of have a thing for taller women?’
Rell gulps. The leather jacket feels too tight, too hot all of the sudden. OhmygodSeraphinethinksI’mhotHolyShit.
‘Plus I may have been stalking your social media,’ Seraphine says, giggling nervously. ‘You should post more selfies. I mean, if you want to. You don’t have to.’
It’s all too damn much. Rell groans, leaning her elbows on her knees as she rests her head in her hands, covering up her flushed face. ‘Seraphine, you’re killing me.’
The short girl sighs shakily. ‘Yeah. Sorry. I just couldn’t stop myself from being honest.’
Rell shifts her head, her chin now resting in the palms of her hands. Seraphine has mirrored her position, her face inches away from her own.
Then, Seraphine seems to lean in and Rell’s eyes flutter closed.
Seraphine’s lips are so soft, so perfect. Rell sighs into the kiss. Her lips awkwardly move against Seraphine’s but she damn well puts her effort into it.
All of the sudden the moment is over as Seraphine snaps her head back. Her eyes are wide open, her mouth covered by her hands.
‘I, I’m sorry, I just assumed that you wanted me to kiss you and… do you want me to kiss you?’ Seraphine rambles, panic audible in her voice and visible on her face.
‘Yes, no,’ Rell stammers, lightheaded. ‘What answer is going to get me more kisses?’
Seraphine giggles then. ‘Evelynn is going to get her ten bucks from Ahri.’
Rell blinks, confused. What do those two have to do with the fact that she just had her first kiss with Seraphine?
The girl notices her confusion. ‘Oh uhm. Evelynn sort of made a bet with Ahri. She said that she’s absolutely certain you’re at least a little bit into girls and me. Ahri said no.’
‘Well,’ Rell hesitates. ‘I guess she does get the money.’
Seraphine plays with a flower, glancing at Rell. ‘Wanna… make out before we are back on the ground?’
‘Yes please.’
Immediately Seraphine’s mouth is on hers again. Rell eagerly runs her hands through Sera’s hair, messing the flowers up. Sera doesn’t seem to mind though, holding onto Rell’s shoulders for dear life.
Rell gasps into Seraphine’s mouth as Sera digs her manicured nails into the leather jacket, bruising Rell’s skin underneath. Seraphine runs her tongue along Rell’s lower lip, earning another gasp.
Then all too sudden, the tube comes to a halt. They are about to finish the ride. Rell giggles giddily as she breaks from the kiss.
They exit the Ferris wheel, Rell pulling Seraphine along by the hand. Sera’s hand fits perfectly into her own. She gives a soft squeeze. Her heart races when Sera squeezes back eagerly.
Behind the haunted mansion, Rell turns to face Seraphine. Her heart is still racing from the adrenaline. Seraphine looks flushed, panting from the quick pace they have just walked at and the other activities they both took part in.
‘Sera,’ Rell says, begging her heart to calm down, ‘Would you maybe, like to be my girlfriend?’
Seraphine doesn’t reply. Instead, she throws her arms around Rell’s neck, standing on her tiptoes to reach Rell’s face. She pampers the tall girl’s cheeks with kisses. She brings her lips close to Rell’s ears.
‘Yes, oh my god yes.’
Rell smiles happily as Seraphine steps back. ‘Okay. Wow. Can’t believe that the girl I’ve been crushing on for god knows how long, likes me back.’
‘Yeah, same feeling here.’ Seraphine laughs. ‘Uhm, can I walk you back home? I don’t want to let you go yet.’
‘That’d be really nice.’
Together they exit the fair walking hand in hand, having picked up the teddy bear. Rell rubs the back of Seraphine’s hand with her thumb, relishing the feeling. She’s going to have to wash her hand eventually, might as well get a good idea of what it feels like.
It’s not a long walk to Rell’s shared apartment, but it gives them enough time to make some small talk. Rell learns Seraphine is an only child but sees the K/DA girls as her long lost sisters, has owned Bao for four years, and wants to collaborate with DJ Sona someday.
They reach the building Rell lives in all too soon. Seraphine sighs, pulling Rell in for a hug, burying her face in the tall girl’s chest. Rell blushes, hoping Seraphine can’t hear her heart pounding.
‘Tonight was really, really fun.’ Seraphine smiles.
‘I liked it too.’ Rell replies, grinning. Then, she remembers something. She pulls her phone out, unlocking it and handing it to Sera. ‘I got a new phone, give me your number for real this time?’
Eagerly Seraphine takes the device, putting in her number. She hands it back with a big grin. ‘Okay. Good night then, I suppose.’
‘Good night.’ Rell says.
‘Night,’ Seraphine says in a sing-song voice. She hops up, giving Rell a quick peck on the lips before turning around, walking backward. She makes the teddy bear's arms wave her goodbye.
After standing in the same place for several minutes, star-struck, Rell looks down at her phone screen. Seraphine has saved herself under the name Girlfriend Sera <3 Rell whines, bringing the phone to her face and pressing it against her forehead.
Seraphine is actually her girlfriend. Holy-fucking-shit.