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i.
They were on the bleachers the first time it happened. Eretria didn’t usually sit so close the the main aisle when she, Tye, and Zora smoked after school, but it was too wet in their usual spot. It made her frown because the noise of the track team practicing below and the cheerleaders waiting to warm-up above was annoying. It messed with her balance of mind, being so close to ‘belongers’, those people who counted high school as the best days of their lives.
“Damn stupid,” she muttered, causing Zora to raise an eyebrow.
“What is?” Tye asked coolly as he tipped his head back, arms splayed out on the bench behind him.
“Everything.”
Zora snorted. “That’s observant.”
Eretria just flipped her off and took another drag of her cigarette. She had no sooner finished then a clatter of sneaker soles on metal sounded next to her, followed by a crash and a cry and a heavy weight falling across her.
Suddenly Eretria had a lap full of cheerleader, which involved willowy limbs, shiny brown curls, and a skimpy white, silver, and crimson uniform.
“Oh god, I’m so sorry,” the girl breathed, scrambling up.
When she was standing, the sunlight halo-like behind her, she smiled sheepishly down at her. Eretria scowled, realizing it was Amberle, their high school’s resident ‘princess’. She was the girl who got everything, won everything,took everything without even trying, and it was more than frustrating when Eretria had to fight tooth and nail to get the grades and the time of day from teachers so she could get into a college far away from their small, small town.
So she really didn’t have anything else to say to her except fuck off, waving her away dismissively afterwards. Tye chuckled, and Zora grinned smugly. Amberle let out a hurt, disbelieving laugh before flouncing down the stairs, the bouncing pleats of her cheer skirt catching Eretria’s eye more easily than she wanted them to.
“Long live her highness,” Zora said snidely as the three of them watched the cheerleaders line up for practice.
Eretrai huffed in agreement, turning away from the field and towards her friends so she wouldn’t be distracted by the princess and her almost-too-short skirt.
ii.
The second time, they were in the lunch room. Eretria had somehow ended up behind Amberle in the food line, and she deliberately kept a few paces between them as they shuffled down the rows of barely appetizing dishes. She frowned at the girl’s back, wondering why the princess was buying lunch at school. She would’ve expected someone like Amberle to have a four-star meal packed for her every day, or to order takeout with the rest of the school’s elite. Instead, she was standing here, in front of her, wearing designer jeans and a silk blouse that made Eretria both love and hate her own ripped leggings and jean jacket even more.
So focused on the way Amberle’s hair cascaded down her back over the pale blue shimmering fabric of her shirt, Eretria missed the boys in front of them rough-housing at the cash register. What she didn’t miss, however, was Amberle suddenly flailing backwards, her lower back knocking against her tray and plastering it, and the plate of spaghetti and meatballs on it, tightly against her chest. As the cashier started loudly scolding the fleeing boys, Amberle turned around her face flitting from annoyed to horrified as she took in Eretria’s state.
“Oh no. Oh no, I’m so sorry–”
The pitiful look in her eyes was too much for Eretria to handle. Her pulse rushed in her ears, and her cheeks bloomed red with embarrassment. Without thinking, she let the tray clatter to the floor, grabbed a handful of noodles and sauce off the front of her ruined tank top, and flung it at Amberle. It splattered all over her face and blouse, causing the princess to flinch and then gape in shock.
“Did you just–” she sputtered.
Frustrated beyond belief at her, at the situation, at her own childish actions, Eretria interrupted with a hiss, “Just stay far away from me!”
Then she spun on her heel and stormed from the lunchroom to various cheers and boos, nor sure exactly which of those she really deserved.
iii.
They were on Eretria’s turf–an illegal party on Rover Beach–for the third incident. She was just standing a few yards from the bonfire, sipping on the cup of jungle juice Zora had poured her, when someone crashed into her, clearly having lost their foot in the sand. The girl giggled as she collapsed against Eretria, who threw aside her now mostly spilled drink.
“Oh.” Amberle was now looking up at her, brown eyes wide. A girl like her wasn’t supposed to be here amongst the partying troublemakers of their town, but nonetheless, the princess was here. She suddenly broke into another round of drunken laughter. “This always happens to me! With you!”
A sudden snort interrupted her amusement, which only seemed to make her laugh harder. Eretria rolled her eyes in disgust, trying to push the girl back onto her own two feet. Amberle couldn’t seem to get her balance though, warm and limp and leaning harder on her with every passing second.
“Sorry,” she mumbled into her shoulder as she swayed tipsily. “I’m sooo sorry I keep doing this to you.”
Sighing, Eretria relented and threw the girl’s arm over her shoulder as she wrapped her own arm around her middle. Even though she muttered complaints the whole way of walking Amberle to a secluded log for her to regain her senses, Eretria noticed the girl didn’t seem offended. She just kept sighing apologies back at her, which turned into gratitudes as she sat her down on the damp driftwood.
“You keep catching me,” she said much too seriously, tugging on Eretria’s hand that she wouldn’t let go of. “No one has ever caught me before.”
The comment startled a laugh out of Eretria, but it wasn’t a cruel one. It was light, much lighter than her usual, and low and behold, it made Amberle smile.
“You have a pretty laugh,” she said in a warm voice. “You know, when you’re not being all–” she gestured, wildly, vaguely, with her hand in the direction of Eretria’s face, “frowny.”
“Frowny?”
“You’re so frowny. Why?”
“Why are you so smiley?”
At Eretria’s snappy response, Amberle did the unthinkable and actually stopped smiling. Her brow creased, and then she groaned, her head dropping between her knees.
Concerned, Eretria dropped down and placed a hand on the girl’s back. She rubbed gently, awkwardly, back and forth, wondering if she was going to have to dodge vomit soon.
“Because I have to be,” Amberle finally whispered forlornly. “I’m smiley because I have to be. They expect me to be.”
“Who does?”
The response came so quickly. “Everyone.”
Eretria’s throat tightened as Amberle looked up at her with tired, sad, lonely eyes. Without a second thought, she shifted up onto the log beside her, letting Amberle rest her head on her shoulder. The girl yawned, humming briefly as she nuzzled into Eretria’s neck. No one bothered them, too drunk or distracted to care, something she was very glad for. The waves crashed, the fire crackled, and in their quiet corner of the beach, she just held the sleepy girl tighter.
“I got you, princess,” Eretria murmured evenly. “Don’t worry. I’ve got you.”
+i.
Eretria was just walking along the hall of lockers and then she stumbled, nearly falling on her face. When she recovered, she whipped around, glaring at the snickering boys. One of them was wiggling his foot at her tauntingly. She growled and lunged for him but his friends stepped in the way. Eretria shoved at them, clawing for her attacker, but she was just pushed off and away repeatedly.
“Fucking asshole!” she yelled. Even though she had been picked on like this since middle school, it still lit a fury in her every time, one that often burned out of control whenever the match was lit.
“Bitch,” one of them hissed at her, and she swung at him.
He ducked her punch, but when he popped up again, another fist slammed into his cheek. As he crashed into the lockers, his friends backed away, and then they all scattered while her rescuer shouted obscenities at their backs as they ran away down the hall.
“Assholes,” Amberle insisted, stepping up close to Eretria, fierceness in her eyes.
“You just–you just punched him,” Eretria stuttered as Amberle’s fingers ghosted over her elbows.
“I did.” She quirked a smile at her, apparently pleased with herself.
Intense warmth bloomed in Eretria’s chest–Amberle had defended her, with herfist–and suddenly she launched herself at the girl, arms wrapping tightly around her neck. Amberle hugged her back immediately in an embrace that felt all too comfortable for a first time.
“Thank you,” Eretria whispered, unable to keep from smiling into her hair. “Really, thank you.”
When she pulled back, she couldn’t help her gaze from drifting down to her lips. This time, though, Amberle was the one to make the first move, pressing their mouths together firmly as she coaxed a heady kiss from her.
“I think I’m falling for you. Better than into you, yeah?” Amberle whispered after they broke apart to catch their breath. Then she laughed quietly at her own joke.
Eretria groaned, knocking her forehead into her collarbone. “That was–”
“Shh,” Amberle said, giggling as she pulled Eretria in for another kiss, one that made her forget the bad joke and practically everything else except the warm body and kind soul wrapped up in her arms.