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Leana thinks Milford’s a rather dull city. Most of the buildings are a sad, monochrome grey and the people here never talk or smile at each other.
Not to mention the cold. She’d never seen snow before they moved here, but now it’s the only thing she ever sees and she’s beginning to think summer doesn’t exist in this city. And she hates the cold, it was never like this in Houston and she wants to go back.
The only reason she doesn’t tell mama is because she was really happy about the new job she got here. She got a new deal for her restaurant and their house is way bigger. So, Leana keeps her mouth shut and wears extra clothes when she can.
The swings creak under her weight. They feel like they’d break if she actually tried to move so she sits where she is watching her new friends run around the park.
“Is someone sitting with you?” A voice asks from beside her.
Leana turns to find the new girl pointing at the other swing. She came to class for the first time this morning, even though first grade started a few months ago. Her nose and cheeks are pink under her fluffy hat, blonde hair flying into her face.
“No,” Leana says, watching as the girl smiles and plops herself in the swing.
She begins swinging right away, despite the odd squeaks the hinges let out each time.
“I’m Jacelyn!” She introduces herself.
“I’m Leana. You’re new right? Did you just move here?”
“Yup! We used to live three hours away from here, but my dad didn’t want to live with us anymore so we came here.”
Leana blinks at her, wondering if she’s alright. Mama told her about divorce and families splitting apart, and it’s usually really sad. Leana never had a dad so she has no idea how it’d feel. But the girl keeps swinging, still smiling so Leana thinks she can’t be too sad.
“I’m new here too. I used to live in Texas.”
“With cowboys?”
“No cowboys, but it never snowed. It’s always snowing here.”
The other girl nods her head. “It must be different there. You get to wear shorts all the time.”
Leana agrees, complaining about wearing warm woollens all the time and how her mama won’t let her eat ice cream anymore.
They continue talking until recess is over, Leana laughing and joking with Jacelyn. They sit together the entire day and walk with each other until they see their parents. And just like that, Leana has a new best friend.
꘎♡━━━━━♡꘎
The night is quiet, too quiet for what they’re trying to do.
Leana and Jacelyn tip-toe through the latter's house, muffling their giggles behind their palms. They’re making a quick trip to the kitchen for a midnight snack.
“Thalia always keeps her stash of chips at the very back of the cupboard,” Jacelyn whispers. “And there’s some chocolate mom forgot she bought.”
“And we can have the coke in my bag too,” Leana whispers back. Too loud for Jacelyn’s taste because she raises her finger to her lips.
Leana rolls her eyes.
She’s at the Grace’s house for one of their many sleepovers. It’s a Saturday the next day, so they decided to see if they could stay up all night. Leana’s stomach had let out a loud grumble in the middle of their movie, so Jacelyn had the bright idea to steal some food from the kitchen.
Jacelyn opens a cupboard, handing her the packets of chips as quietly as she can while Leana tries to suppress her giggling.
“Oh my God you’re so bad at this Leana. Do you never get midnight snacks at your place?”
“No! I’m never awake at twelve!”
“Lame.”
Leana gasps in mock offence. “How dare you. Wait until I find your secret stash of power ranger dolls and post it on the internet.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Watch me.”
They’ve stopped what they’re doing to stare at each other. It’s silent for a few tense seconds until Jacelyn’s eye twitches and they both fall into quiet laughter.
“I can’t believe you brought that up,” Jacelyn gasps.
“I would never–”
The lights flick on and they both freeze. There stands Thalia, squinting at them through the bright light.
“Scram!” Jacelyn yells and they both run past Thalia, not stopping until the door to Jacelyn’s room is locked.
“A successful heist if I must say,” the blonde girl says, tossing Leana an open bag of chips. “Great job Lea.”
Jacelyn smiles at her and she feels her heart flutter. It’s a pretty smile. Leana wants to stare at it all night.
It’s a silly thought. They have movies they need to finish, there’s no time to stare at her best friend's smile, as appealing as it sounds. So she pushes the thought away, munching on her chips.
꘎♡━━━━━♡꘎
Jacelyn gets glasses in fourth grade.
She says she looks ugly and Leana wonders why the lenses have done nothing for her vision.
So Leana plucks them off her face and wears the things herself.
“How do I look?” she asks, rubbing her chin with her fingers.
Jacelyn stifles her laughter and says nothing.
“What?!”
“Your eyes are supposed to be open.” She giggles.
“But then everything looks warped and weird. These aren’t made for my eyes.”
“Well, keep them open for two seconds.”
Leana does so, fighting to cover her face under the brief scrutiny.
“You look like Leana with bigger eyes,” Jacelyn says with a nod.
“See! You look the same too, just with bigger eyes. You look as pretty as ever.”
Jacelyn giggles, her cheeks going pink and wears the glasses again. She doesn’t take them off after that.
Leana meets Thalia on her way out. She gets a thank you and a head pat.
꘎♡━━━━━♡꘎
Piper is a hurricane from the day they meet and becomes an inseparable part of their new little group. She’s the reason Leana even survived through most of middle school, when the classes she shared with Jacelyn were few and far in between.
She can also be very annoying.
“Come on Leana, you have to have a crush on someone. You have that glow in your eye.”
They’re on their way to third period. It’s English, something she’d rather swap for Maths but now the classroom calls to her like a lighthouse in a storm.
“What’s that even mean Pipes? My eyes don’t glow, save that for the story we’re gonna write.”
Piper goes on, as if she hasn;t heard a thing. “You talk to plenty of people but I’ve never seen that glow except when you’re with Ja—”
Leana stops at the door to class, raising an eyebrow. “With?”
“Nobody.” Piper slumps her shoulders and it’s obviously fake. Whatever. Let her think what she wants. Leana’s eyes glow for nobody.
꘎♡━━━━━♡꘎
They all watch as another poor boy gets turned down by Jacelyn on the far side of the basketball court.
The captain of the boy’s basketball team.
“She’s sure been getting asked out a lot,” Piper comments.
“Well, duh,” Leana says. She’s only imagining the bitterness in her tone.
“What do you mean, ‘duh’,” Annabeth asks from where she’s tying her shoe laces.
“She’s the prettiest girl in our grade, why wouldn’t people ask her out?” It’s rather obvious. She doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
“Gay,” Piper says.
Annabeth swats her arm. “Be nice,” she chides. “And anyways, Piper’s the prettiest girl in our grade. Jacelyn’s like, half a step below him.”
Before Leana can begin to defend Jacelyn’s beauty, Piper lets out a squeak, face going bright pink.
Oh.
Oh.
Ohoho Leana’s going to be rich.
“Oh hey, I think Jacelyn’s done rejecting that guy, I’ll catch you guys later.”
Piper gives her a panicked look, but Leana just winks at her and gives her a discreet thumbs up.
“Jacelyn!” she calls, waving to catch the girl’s attention. “What was that?” she asks once she’s close enough.
“Just Jack,” she says, nonchalant, walking into step beside her. “He wanted to go on a date. I said I didn’t want to.”
“Harsh.”
“Well I don’t. What’s the point in leading him on?”
“None. Why do you keep turning down everyone though?”
“I don’t like them.”
“Well there’s gotta be someone,” Leana insists.
“Well they’ve never asked me out.”
“Oh.”
Leana feels something twist in her gut.
“Also did you know Piper had a crush on Annabeth?” she says to get rid of the weird feeling.
“You just noticed?”
“What do you mean just?”
“You really didn’t know?”
Jacelyn has stopped, her eyes wide behind her glasses. Leana doesn’t really get what the big deal is. Eventually, Jacelyn’s expression softens a fond smile taking over her face. Leana’s heart does a weird loop as it often does around her best friend. She ignores it as always.
“I really didn’t. And what’s with the weird smile.”
“Nothing,” she says. “You’re just an idiot,” she calls, running away.
Leana squawks, giving chase.
꘎♡━━━━━♡꘎
There’s something to be said about the sight of the star athlete of the school kneeling in front of Leana and cleaning her scrapes and cuts.
“Oh, my knight in shining armour,” Leana swoons, laying a dramatic hand on her forehead, not sure how else to deal with Jacelyn’s fingers skirting over her skin.
“Who told you to climb up a tree with those stick limbs of yours?”
Leana gasps. She was doing research for her working plane model! She had to gauge the wind speeds and find the perfect spot to run test flights.
“You know why.”
“Well, ask me next time. I won’t fall out of the tree.”
She mutters her next words. Something about not wanting Leana to be hurt. Leana’s heart stutters.
Stupid heart. Maybe she should get it checked out.
Jacelyn’s hair falls in front of her face, framing it just right. But Leana knows how she prefers it pout of the way, so she takes the liberty of tucking it behind her ear.
Jacelyn looks up in surprise, hands stopping what they were doing.
“What–”
“It was in your way,” Leana says, snatching her fingers back.
“Okay.”
Jacelyn continues to work in silence, Leana’s heartbeat the only sound in her ears. They don’t make eye contact after that.
Her fingers tingle all day.
꘎♡━━━━━♡꘎
“I think I have a crush on Jacelyn.”
Annabeth and Piper blink up at her from their homework. Jacelyn’s out for extra practice, so now’s the best time to breach the topic.
“You think?” Piper shrieks. Multiple people shush her and she curls inward in apology.
“Why do you think so,” Annabeth asks at a much more acceptable volume.
“Well.” Leana feels heat rush to her cheeks. “My heart always goes crazy around her. I like the way she looks and… I don’t mind when we touch. At all.”
Piper groans and Leana blushes deeper.
Annabeth– her saviour –speaks. “So what’re you gonna do about it?”
“Nothing, obviously. It’s not like she feels the same.”
Annabeth stares at her like her head popped open and a mini Leana jumped out of it. (She had a dream like that once.)
“You think. That Jacelyn doesn’t have a crush on you?”
Leana winces. “So she does?”
“Yes!” Piper butts in. “You’re both head over heels for each other and it’s sickening. Get together already or I’m gonna puke!”
“What, like you and Annabeth?”
It’s their turn to blush. Leana smiles at them sweetly.
“Jacey’s probably done with practice, I’ll catch you guys later. Bye!”
“Wait!” Piper yells, only for another round of angry shushes descending on her.
Leana laughs.
꘎♡━━━━━♡꘎
Leana stands at the school gates, hands tight around the straps of her bag. She scans the crowd of basketball players for a familiar head of blonde hair.
“Lea!” And there she is, making her way to the gate.
“Hi,” she greets once Jacelyn’s in front of her.
“Hi! What’s got you so pink?”
“Nothing. Let’s go home.”
It’s quiet on the walk home. Her best friend casts her curious glances but doesn’t say anything.
“So– uh– well.”
“Yeah?”
Leana turns to her with a deep breath and stops in the middle of the sidewalk.
“Jacelyn Grace I like you very very much, would you go out on a date with me?”
Her best friend blinks and then a beautiful smile breaks out on her face.
“I would love to.”
Leana couldn’t be happier.
꘎♡━━━━━♡꘎
“When do you think they’ll tell each other?” Jacelyn asks.
Annabeth’s teaching Piper calculus, the poor girl on the verge of tears. Leana and Jacelyn watch in morbid fascination, sitting shoulder to shoulder.
“Who knows,” Leana shrugs. “Maybe they just need a little nudge.”
“Lea. Don’t”
“What? I didn’t say I’m the one nudging them.”
“And who else would it be?”
“You.”
“You’re a menace,” Jacelyn sighs.
Leana pecks her lips. “You love it.”
“Hey! No PDA at the study table,” Piper says, relieved to have found a distraction.
“You wouldn’t be saying that if it were you and Anna—”
“LEANA.”
Leana cackles as she runs away from Piper.