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For one fleeting moment, she contemplated skipping school.
Tara had never faked illness before; she was sure her parents would let her have the day at home. Even so, the thought of lying to them gnawed at her conscience so much that she got out of bed with the second alarm.
It should have felt different. Shouldn’t it?
That was all she could think about as she showered, dressed, and brushed her teeth.
Her first kiss with Nick Nelson should have felt different. Or, at least, it should have made her feel something. Something more than just ‘that was alright’. Kissing someone you really liked should be more than ‘alright’.
Shouldn’t it?
Preoccupation followed her through breakfast, where she was sure her mother noticed her withdrawal. Then it hung overhead on her way to school, like a thundercloud waiting for its moment to shower her.
She did really like Nick… didn’t she?
Nick seemed to like her plenty. And he was funny, considerate, sensitive unlike some of his dumbass friends…
By the time Tara arrived at school and trudged towards form, she had resigned herself to worrying. Since she enjoyed the time she spent with Nick before the kiss and had felt a whole lot of nothing after it, didn’t that mean something had gone wrong?
“Alright, Jonesy?”
Tara emerged from her clouded thoughts at the sound of Darcy’s greeting; she smiled to greet the other girl, then wrinkled her nose and frowned as she realised what Darcy had called her.
“Jonesy?”
Darcy pulled Tara’s chair out for her. “Yeah, thought I’d try it. What d’ya think?”
Tara sat down. Jonesy should have sounded like a nickname that rugby lads gave to one another — there might actually be a Jonesy that hung out with Nick, now that she thought about it, or was that Yatesy? — but coming from Darcy it just didn’t. It didn't even annoy Tara, which was the biggest surprise. Maybe it was the way Darcy’s voice had lilted with the sound of her grin, no doubt wondering how Tara would respond. Or maybe it was just because it was Darcy and how genuinely pleased she always seemed to be to see Tara, with a smile that made Tara want to beam back and forget whatever annoying thing Darcy had just done. Darcy's lips would curved into the most delightful smile; prompting Tara to wonder what that smile would feel like if she were to press her lips—
Tara stopped midway through putting her bag down.
She hadn't just…
It couldn’t…
Could it?
“It’s alright if you don’t like it,” Darcy promised, breaking Tara’s frozen realisation.
“No!” Tara dropped her bag with a clatter, then turned to Darcy. “It's okay. You can call me Jonesy, if you like.”
The way Tara felt when Darcy grinned silenced the last of her doubts. At least she knew why she hadn’t liked kissing Nick Nelson…
Now she just had to work out what she did about wanting to kiss Darcy Olsson.