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It was a rainy Thursday afternoon, and the school gym buzzed with activity. On one side of the court, the female volleyball team practiced intensely under their coach's orders. On the other, the female basketball team perfected their shots and technique. Usually, the teams never interacted. The basketball team used to train before the volleyball team, leaving plenty of space for both teams to train and not worry about any disturbance or missing balls. However, the rain made it difficult for the basketball team to leave the gym and go to their respective homes since showers were literally falling onto the streets.
The basketball team was led by Rio Vidal. Everybody admired her. She was kind to everyone and although she wasn’t a straight-A student, she made herself feel noticed by the students. Although she was the first one in her class to come out, no one ever judged her, moreover, they fully supported her when she started collecting signatures to fund a LGBTQI+ club where every queer student could feel safe and at ease with themselves. Rio and her girlfriend, Agatha, were also among the most popular relationships at the high school, everyone considered them high school sweethearts. They were selected as the power couple every homecoming. Despite all of that, Rio was such a people pleaser, she always tried so hard to impress people, leading her to be part of some situations that she really despised. That’s how she ended up in the Headmaster’s office alongside Wanda, the captain of the volleyball team.
Everything happened between shots and laughter. The basketball team was already feeling tired. They’d been training for more than two hours, and even if the last thirty minutes felt more like a game between friends, the boredom was starting to add up.
“Can’t we take a break? I really feel my muscles burning,” Hela, one of Rio’s teammates, said desperately.
“We can’t, we have regionals next week. We must maintain our reputation!” Rio replied. She knew it wasn’t such a big deal, but she really wanted to win, once again, against the Eastview basketball team.
“Who cares?” Hela said, “We’ve been beating their asses for the last three years, a little break won’t hurt us.” The rest of the team agreed with her.
“I know,” Rio said vaguely, “We don’t need to keep training hard if we don’t want to, but could we at least continue perfecting our movements?” she said, lightly begging at this point.
“Fine…” Hela sighed, “But if we’re going to keep doing this, I want to have some fun” she said with a suspicious smirk.
“What exactly do you mean by that?” Rio asked, scared of what was coming.
“I dare you to make a shot from here into the volleyball court,” Hela said with a grin on her face.
“I’m not doing that Hela” Rio said shaking her head “They’re training like we are for regionals, I don’t want to bother them. Besides, they’ve been training for less time, it’s not fair.”
“What is that? Am I hearing that Rio Vidal, the magnifique basketball player of Westview High can’t make a fifteen-foot shot?” Hela said, teasing her.
“You know I can… and that’s not what I was saying…” Rio said, trying to shake the stupid idea from Hela’s head.
Nevertheless, it didn’t end there, the whole team joined Hela in her teasing and started chanting Rio’s name encouraging her to make that shot. She really didn’t want to take that shot; she didn’t know Wanda personally but from what she heard she was a perfectionist and knew this would piss her off very badly. However, she didn’t want to seem weak in front of her teammates, and although, objectively, that didn’t make any sense, something in her clicked off. Amidst laughter and teasing comments, Rio grabbed a ball. She calculated the distance and threw with precision. The ball flew in a perfect arc but landed right in the center of the volleyball court, interrupting their practice and, worse, the rebound of the ball hitting Wanda’s back.
“Hey, what do you think you are doing?!” Wanda yelled as she picked up the ball, clearly annoyed.
“Relax, it was just a dare” Rio replied trying to give a carefree smile walking over to retrieve the ball, while the shame was eating her alive.
“Well, I don’t fucking care about your stupid games, we’re here training, and we take it seriously. It’s not my fault your team is a joke” Wanda snapped, clearly annoyed at the early accident.
“What did you say?” Rio asked very hurt by those words. Yes, she knew Wanda had the right to be annoyed but that didn’t give her the authority to mess with her team, and moreover when it wasn’t the truth.
“Are you deaf? Because I think I made myself very clear,” Wanda replied, getting closer to Rio, facing her.
Rio tried to snap back at Wanda, but as their eyes met something in her froze. There was an intensity in those green eyes, a color that she had just noticed for the first time, that both unsettled and intrigued her at once. She felt an unexpected jolt in her chest. She didn’t even notice when both coaches came to break the scene they were causing in the middle of the gym and send them both to the Headmaster’s office if it weren’t for Hela’s voice next to her apologizing for the stupid idea that had led to this.
So, there she was, sitting next to Wanda on the bench outside the Headmaster’s office waiting to be called, not speaking a word to each other, just an uncomfortable silence and the murmurs coming from the other side of the door. Not to forget Rio’s mind which was driving insane trying to figure out what just happened out there once she locked eyes with Wanda.
She and Wanda weren’t friends, they were not even acquaintances. They shared some classes, but that’s it. Never lab partners and no words were exchanged. Nonetheless, that didn’t mean Rio didn’t know about her. She did. But what she knew was what she heard from meetings with Agatha’s friends, they were the real gossipers on this. Wanda had a twin, Pietro – the high school womanizer– and they both were known for coming from a very conservative and respected family. She was the teachers’ favorite, an exemplary student, straight A’s, had multiple academic awards, leader of the debate team and, as if that was not enough, she was the captain of the volleyball team. How did she manage to do all of that? Rio had no clue. However, despite all of that, Rio had always seen Wanda as the stereotypical straight girl from high school, and her dating Vision – senior quarterback – really helped her with that view of her.
“Earth calling Vidal. Hello, anyone there?” a voice woke up Rio from her thoughts “The headmaster just called us,” Wanda said standing in front of her.
“Oh, yes sorry, I was distracted,” Rio said, standing up and following Wanda inside the office.
“No shit, I didn’t notice,” Wanda said sarcastically.
Once they entered, the headmaster gave them a sign so they could sit on the chairs in front of his desk. Rio had never been there, so her eyes kept travelling all around the place while her presence irradiated a nervous aura. Therefore, Wanda was relaxed like it wasn’t her first time there, probably because of her number of academic achievements through the years.
“Wanda Maximoff and Rio Vidal, well what a surprise, isn’t it? Never expected either of you to be here, to be honest” the headmaster started talking, “so, I see that there was a fight” he said while reading the form both coaches had filled out with the events that occurred before.
“If I may speak” Wanda interrupted, “there wouldn’t have been any fight if Miss Vidal hadn’t shot that ball into the volleyball court. So, as far as I’m concerned, the only guilty person of the events that occurred is her.”
“Yes, sure, because you’re such a saint and you do nothing wrong right Maximoff?” Rio vented after hearing the accusations.
“Excuse me?!” Wanda said with a clear annoyance in her voice.
“Both of you, stop!” the headmaster ordered “I can see you both aren’t exactly friends,” he said, making Wanda and Rio roll their eyes at that evident and childish statement “Well, that’s a shame because both of you are such great figures at this school. That’s why, I think I’ve found the solution to this problem. You both are going to organize the sports event together.”
“Wait what?” They both answered in shock.
“Sir, I beg your pardon. But I don’t really see how organizing the event alongside Vidal is going to fix the problem.” Wanda said altered.
“You both will work out how to cooperate and work together as a team, Maximoff. And there’s no further debate on that. And now if you’d excuse me, I’d ask you to leave the office so I can finally go to my place after this long journey. Thank you and please close the door, once you both leave.” The headmaster said unbotherly, making Rio and Wanda sigh at the result of that meeting.
They both stood up and left the room walking side to side, each of them absorbed in their thoughts. Rio started thinking about everything she had to do that evening and reminded herself to call Agatha and tell her the news when she noticed Wanda had stopped in the middle of the hallway.
“So… did something happen?” Rio asked, Wanda confused by her reaction.
“Why didn’t you say anything inside? Do you really want to do this?” Wanda asked her, with a little bit of displeasure in her tone.
“Of course not!” Rio defended herself “I didn’t say anything, because there was nothing to be said. He really had made his choice.”
“Fine…” Wanda sighed with tiredness, “how are we going to do this then?”
“I think the best would be if we exchanged numbers and kept in touch to text us the details of everything, here” Rio said, taking her phone from her pocket “Type your number and I’ll text you tonight.”
Wanda looked at Rio doubtfully but ended up accepting and writing down her phone number on Rio’s phone.
“Text me!” Wanda said with an authoritative tone.
“Yes, ma’am!” Rio said, doing a military salute, causing Wanda to roll her eyes and leave the school.
When Rio arrived home that evening it was already past her usual dinner time, so she grabbed a little snack and went ahead to her room. She took a shower and called Agatha, updating her on all her daily events, “I don’t like that Wanda girl” Agatha had said to her, but Rio was too tired to fight or to bother.
Before going to sleep, she went through her contacts and pressed on Wanda’s new one.
Rio: Hi, good night! I’m Rio. See you tomorrow at 5:30pm.
Wanda: Sure, see you there.
And with that, the end of a long exhausting day arrived.
****
The next morning Rio woke up feeling like she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. She groaned as she rolled over in bed, her head pounding and her throat raw. The soft glow of her phone screen illuminated the room as she squinted at the time. 7:45 AM. She tried to stand up by her bed, every single muscle of her body aching – at this time she really regretted training so hard yesterday – she hoped a good cup of coffee would give her the energy she needed to go through the day, if not there would be no way she was going to make it. She was wrong. The sound of the coffee machine made her headache get worse.
“Ugh, stop with that sound!” Rio grunted.
“Good morning to you too, sweetheart,” her mother said while entering the kitchen to make herself breakfast.
“Don’t start Lilia, I feel like shit” Rio said with clearly irritation in her voice.
“Let me see,” Lilia said, approaching her and putting a hand on her forehead. “Damn girl, you’re boiling! I’ve almost burnt my hand.”
“So funny Lilia, so funny” Rio said, feeling more irritated than she should be.
“Come back to bed, you’re not going anywhere today,” Lilia told her with an authoritative tone.
“I can’t… I have this sports event thing. I promised Wanda we would meet up later today” Rio said, taking a seat feeling her body giving up on her.
“You can’t even stand by yourself, sweetie. Besides, I think that Wanda would appreciate not being side to side with the walking dead” Lilia said, making fun of her daughter.
“You’re hilarious, does anyone ever tell you that?” Rio responded ironically “Fine, I’m going to bed. Could you give Agatha a ride, by the way? Her car broke down and I promised her I’d take her this week.”
“Sure honey, just text her before, you know how Agatha reacts to surprises…” Lilia said, causing Rio to roll her eyes.
Rio went upstairs entering her bedroom while closing the door after her. She was going to spend the morning in bed because she didn’t want anyone bothering her, and although she loved Lilia she could admit sometimes she was a bit of a burden.
She collapsed onto her bed, a wave of exhaustion washing over her. She curled under the blankets, hoping that sleep would magically take away the pounding in her head and the soreness in her muscles. Before she closed her eyes, she texted Agatha about the change of plans and, at the same time, she went through Wanda’s chat.
With a heavy sigh, she opened her messages and typed:
Rio: I feel like death. Can’t make it today.
After pressing send, she left the phone on the table next to her bed, rolled up and closed her eyes.
The rest of the day was a blur of sleep, coughing, and sipping on disgusting herbal tea Lilia insisted would “cure anything.” When Rio next woke up, it was to the sound of her doorbell ringing—multiple times, like someone was trying to break in.
Dragging herself out of bed, she shuffled toward the door, wrapped in a thick blanket. She pulled it open and immediately regretted it.
Wanda stood on her porch, arms crossed, an unimpressed look on her face.
“What the—?” Rio rasped.
“You’re still alive,” Wanda said, stepping inside without an invitation. “Good. We need to work.”
Rio groaned. “Did you not get my text?”
“Oh, I got it,” Wanda said, dropping her backpack on Rio’s coffee table and pulling out a notebook. “I just don’t care. The sports event is in two weeks, and we’re behind schedule.”
“How could we be behind schedule if this is our first day?” Rio asked incredulously.
“Well, we’ve been asked to organize it two weeks prior, so I think that’s a pretty good damn reason to be behind schedule” Wanda replied with hints of sarcasm in her voice tone.
Rio stared at her, then gave a weak cough. “You do realize I could be contagious, right?”
Wanda shrugged. “I’ll take my chances.”
Rio sighed, flopping onto the couch. “You’re the worst.”
“I know,” Wanda said, flipping through her notes. “Now, let's start with the team placements. We need to finalize them today.”
And just like that, Rio found herself stuck with Wanda—sick, miserable, and forced to work with the one person she knew with one look would drive her crazy.
During the afternoon Rio and Wanda realized something – something they’d already been aware of – they were awful as a working pair. Every time Rio added something or tried to correct Wanda, everything would become chaos. Wanda would never agree, so Rio would tell her she was a pain in the ass, at what Wanda would say they wouldn’t be in this situation if she wouldn’t have played that stupid game, and eventually, they would be on a loop of reproaches and insults.
“OH MY GOD! We can’t continue to work like this!” Rio yelled in one of their never-ending loops “My head is starting to boil again” she said, taking her hands to her temples.
“Well, at least we agree on something,” Wanda said sarcastically, making Rio give her a lethal stare.
“How did you even know my address?” Rio asked with tiredness in her voice.
“What does this have to do with what we are doing?” Wanda said confused and irritated.
“Well, I think I deserve to know how – basically– a stranger knows where I live, don’t you?” Rio stared at her.
“Stranger? Ouch, that hurt” Wanda said, taking her hand to her heart, faking a heart ache “I asked your girlfriend. Stranger.”
“Agatha? And she gave it to you just because?” Rio said, angriness starting to fill her chest.
“Well, yes. To be honest I was just as surprised as you. I was already ready to play hard games” Wanda said.
“Well… that means one thing. She’s upset with me,” Rio sighed.
“Why would it mean that? Maybe she was just being nice” Wanda said honestly.
“Yeah, sure…” Rio smirked “I know her Wanda, she doesn’t like surprises nor plans to be changed so I’m sure she wasn’t happy when she saw my mother at her driveway instead of me.”
“Oh… I understand” Wanda started saying “but what does it have to do with me? I mean, why does her being upset at you make her give me your address just like that?”
“Because she knows we aren’t in fact best friends” Rio looked at Wanda “So she practically sent you here wishing you would piss me off, at what she was kind of right, no offense.”
“No offense taken,” Wanda said, “it sounds kind of convoluted, though.”
“I know… but believe me, I know her,” Rio sighed.
Wanda stared at Rio. Something inside of her feels guilty for asking Agatha and mostly for coming to her house without previous notice, not considering that Rio would have her things and life to deal with. She couldn’t help it. She knew it was one of her biggest flaws. Always putting her work first even if that meant hurting her or others. That’s where her reputation of being a ‘selfish brat’ came from, and she knew that. However, every time she tried to fix that behavior, she ended up doing worse things. Though her success was what mattered and not what other people could think of her, or that’s what she thought.
“Well, we should continue with the team placements, it’s already getting late,” Rio said taking the paper notes.
“Yeah, sure…” Wanda said waking up from her trance “I’m sorry” she said staring at Rio, hoping she would understand the connotations of her apology.
“It’s okay,” Rio replied reassuring her. There wasn’t the need to say anything more, they understood each other.
Later that night, Rio received a text from Agatha:
Agatha: Did you have fun with your bestie?
Rio sighed at it. She didn’t know what bothered her more, the fact that she was right or the fact Agatha truly did this as a type of punishment. She decided to ignore it, instead, she took a screenshot of the message and sent it to Wanda without any context. She would get it.
Ten minutes later, her phone lit up indicating someone had texted her.
Wanda: Wow, she’s actually that messed up...
Rio laughed at it. Deep inside knowing it was wrong. However, after that shitty day, she didn’t need more drama. What she needed was a good laugh and a deep rest.
****
A week had passed.
During that week, Rio and Wanda had been meeting up every afternoon to go over the preparations for the upcoming sports event. What had started as an obligation riddled with tension had somehow softened into something else, something neither of them had expected. At first, they could barely stand each other, arguing over schedules and responsibilities, and falling once again in those endless loops. But as the days went on, familiarity grew between them. They began greeting each other in the corridors, exchanging small smiles instead of glares, something that Agatha found weird. “What’s going on with Pietro’s sister” she had asked one day, to which Rio simply replied with a vague negative. In the same way, text messages once filled with passive-aggressive undertones transformed into casual, almost playful conversations. Like that time in biology class, when they both found themselves bored with the explanatory video being projected.
Rio: boring…
Wanda: what happened miss vidal? aren’t you enjoying the human reproduction?
Rio: oh yes, i love watching hettie sex
Wanda: why are you talking as if we’re watching porn?
Rio: kinda the same thing
Wanda: you wish
Rio: no not really, but i’m sure you’d enjoy it
Wanda: why would i?
Rio: idk you’re the expert on the topic
Wanda: oh… not actually
Rio: wait don’t you have a boyfriend?
Wanda: well yeah and?
Rio: idk, sorry i just assumed…
Wanda: well, you assumed wrong
Rio: i’m sorry :(
Wanda: it’s okay, don’t worry
Rio: anygays i’m sure you’re not losing anything
Wanda: because you know from experience, right?
Rio: well… no but c’mon… i’m sure i’ve made more girls come than any boy in this class
Wanda: as you say sex symbol
Rio: i can show you if you want ;)
Wanda: in your dreams vidal
Rio: actually, in my dreams, you’re the one making me come
Wanda: disgusting
Right now, they were seated in the old gym storage room, surrounded by half-inflated basketballs and tangled jump ropes, their checklist sprawled between them. Wanda had just finished double-checking the equipment list when she noticed Rio staring at nothing in particular, her fingers absentmindedly tracing patterns on the paper in front of her.
“Are you feeling okay, Vidal?” Wanda asked, nudging Rio’s leg with her own.
“Sure, why wouldn’t I be?” Rio answered, trying to sound unbothered.
“I don’t know. You seem more distracted than usual” Wanda said, returning her look to her checklist.
“Fine… if you insist” Rio started saying.
“I didn’t…” Wanda tried to talk back but she was interrupted by Rio.
“Agatha and I broke up a couple of days ago” Rio continued, which made Wanda look up from the checklist “Things hadn’t been going well, and I was starting to get tired of the mood changes and her ‘punishments’. So, the other day when she came to me about spending a lot of time organizing the sports event I just couldn’t bear with it anymore, and I told her I needed space, to which she replied that she wasn’t that kind of person, it was all or nothing, so I said nothing.”
Wanda stared at Rio not knowing what to say. She had spent so much time seeing Rio and Agatha be that perfect inseparable couple. People never had a bad word to say about them. They were those perfect standards of romantic love everyone craved, even Wanda herself sometimes wished she was loved that way. She would find herself when she was hanging with Vision thinking if this is what love was supposed to feel, empty and sometimes tiring. Wanda knew the answer, but she was too scared to admit the truth, so instead, she would watch other couples being in love from afar, wishing one day she’d be brave enough to herself.
“I’m sorry,” Wanda said softly, meaning it.
Rio exhaled a small laugh. “Don’t be. It needed to happen.”
There was a pause. A long, charged silence that neither of them moved to fill. Wanda looked at Rio. Her dark hair was up in a messy ponytail, strips of hair falling through her face; big brown chocolate eyes lightning everything her eyes would look at; her snub nose curling in a way that sometimes would make her laugh for her cuteness; her skin tone slightly tanned because of her Latina roots that contrasted so well with her pale skin inherited from her eastern European ancestors. Wanda felt her pulse in her ears, her throat suddenly dry. Something that had been repressed in her trying to go out the surface. It hurt. Too many years trying to hide those feelings inside of her, for now being exposed just with a look of those chocolate eyes. She finally gave up.
And suddenly her lips were on Rio’s.
Rio’s lips were soft, and she felt like they fit perfectly with hers. The kiss was gentle and slow, almost hesitant at first. But then she felt Rio kissing her back. A warm sensation started up in her chest and her lower belly. Wanda took her hand to Rio’s neck bringing her close to her deepening the kiss. It felt like they were dancing a waltz with her lips. A wet, warm, soft waltz mixing their tongues and saliva. It was when Rio's fingers curled around the fabric of Wanda’s hoodie, pulling her closer that something inside Wanda cracked open. Heat spread through her chest like wildfire.
And then, as if waking from a dream, she panicked.
She jerked away; eyes wide with horror at what she had just done.
“I—” she stammered, shaking her head. She didn’t even know what she was trying to say. Her body moved before her mind could catch up, and before she could stop herself, she was on her feet, grabbing her bag.
Rio reached out; confusion written all over her face, “Wanda, wait” she said.
But Wanda was already moving.
“I have to go,” Wanda blurted out, nearly tripping over the pile of mats as she sprinted toward the exit. She didn’t dare look back.
She didn’t need to.
She could still feel the ghost of Rio’s lips on hers.
****
After that shared kiss Wanda tried to avoid Rio as much as she could. They continued to meet up every afternoon during the following week, but the texts stopped and with them the corridor greetings. Everything turned out to be exactly like it was, strangers sharing a common place.
Rio tried to reach her multiple times. That night she texted her as soon as she arrived home. She spent longer than usual to write her the message she really wanted, she kept deleting and changing words, she needed that message to be perfect and not to mess up things more than they already were.
Rio: It’s okay to let yourself be carried by the emotions of the moment. Don’t be too harsh on yourself Wanda. In my case, everything is alright between the both of us. We don’t have to talk about it or make things weird between us.
She never got an answer.
Meanwhile, inside Wanda, a huge war was happening. Why did it bother her so much the fact that Rio didn’t want to talk about it? Didn’t the kiss matter to Rio? And why did it matter so much to herself? In the end, it was a silly mistake due to getting carried away by the situation, didn’t it? These questions made her, not only avoid Rio but also avoid Vision. She couldn’t stand anyone around her, and least of all him. How would he react if she told him about the kiss? Would it bother him? There were a lot of things happening in her mind and she was falling into a void with them.
During the nights she found herself thinking about Natasha, her middle school best friend. She remembered how they used to go everywhere together, how they spent their recess lying next to each other or sometimes braiding their hair. Everyone was always talking behind their backs since, for them, it was unusual to spend so much time together with anyone else. One day, during the last year of middle school, they both were sitting on Wanda’s bed, finishing reading the last book of the dystopian saga they were obsessed with. Wanda could feel how Natasha sometimes would take her eyes off the book and stare at her, just to look away every time Wanda would catch her. Wanda didn’t know the reason why, but every time she felt those blue eyes on her a warm feeling would settle on her chest.
“Wanda…” Natasha said with a timid voice making Wanda stop reading her paragraph.
“What’s up?” Wanda answered with a curious look on her face.
“I have something to tell you…” Natasha started talking “You know how we always spent the days talking about when we go to high school next year?”
“Oh my God, yes! I’m super excited about it, we’re going to have the best time of our life I just feel it” Wanda said with excitement in her eyes.
“Yeah… I know. However, I think I won’t be able to spend that time with you…” Natasha said, hiding her eyes from the green eyes that were looking at her with fear.
“What do you mean Nat?” Wanda asked with a trembling voice.
“I’m moving away, Wanda” Natasha finally said.
“Moving away? Where?” Wanda asked “Because if you’re moving two streets behind, we can still hang out, it doesn’t have to change anything. Or even if you’re moving to Eastview, we can still see each other anyway, although it would suck not to go to the same high school as you it’s okay, I could take the train every day” Wanda started rushing out trying to find a solution for a situation that couldn’t be fixed.
“Wanda, stop!” Natasha cut her out, more harshly than she intended “I’m moving to Scotland.”
“Scotland? Why so far?! I don’t understand Nat” Wanda begged for an answer, tears starting to form in her eyes.
“My father’s company is setting up a new headquarters there, and they asked him to move there, giving him a promotion. It’s a big opportunity for him” Natasha said, trying to convince herself instead of giving her best friend an answer.
Wanda looked at Natasha, tears once forming in her eyes now running down her face non-stop. Wanda couldn’t believe how everything she had dreamt for years was ruined in a span of a second. Thousands of questions invaded her head, who was she going to spend her afternoons? Who would sit next to her during lunch break to talk about nothing and everything at the same time? Who would help her with her math homework? She didn’t notice it, but she was starting to cry her eyes out. She spent what felt like hours crying in front of her best friend, still unable to do anything else until she felt a hand on her face. Wiping her tears and rubbing her cheek. Wanda and Natasha stared at each other, each of them expressing their fears with her eyes, no need for any words spoken. And suddenly Wanda felt her best friend’s lips crushing on hers. Wanda froze.
“I’m so sorry Wanda, I don’t know what happened” Natasha mumbled, scared of her best friend’s reaction.
“It’s okay. Don’t worry. Let’s continue reading the book” Wanda said avoiding her best friend’s haze and returning hers to the book that had been between her hands all the time, trying to not think about how good her best friend’s lips felt on her.
June arrived, and with it the end of the classes. Since the kiss they shared that day, Wanda and Natasha hadn’t spoken to each other. Wanda would avoid Natasha at all costs, which made her start hanging out more with this boy who sat behind her in chemistry class, Vision; and Natasha, seeing how her – once called – best friend would avoid her, started hanging out with her younger sister Yelena, and her friends.
And now the last day had arrived, and everyone was taking turns to sign each other’s yearbooks. Wanda was talking with her brother Pietro and Vision when she caught a glimpse of Natasha exiting her literature class. Determined, she left her brother and friend alone and went toward her.
“Hi,” Wanda said, making Natasha turn around.
“Oh, hi” Natasha answered, an uncomfortable feeling sitting between them.
“Would you sign my yearbook? I could sign yours as well if you want to” Wanda said, offering Natasha her yearbook.
“Yeah, sure” Natasha replied, both of them exchanging yearbooks.
“I guess that’s it” Wanda sighed, looking at her best friend knowing it was the last time she would be able to look at those blue eyes.
“Yeah, I guess it is”
They stood still, neither of them knowing what else to say or do until Wanda decided to take the first step and hugged Natasha “I’m going to miss you so much” she whispered in her ear, Natasha hugged her back and answered, “I’m going to miss you too.”
Summer passed, and on the last day before high school, with an impulsive thought Wanda dyed her brown hair red. Making her feel that it didn’t matter where she was, her best friend would always be with her.
****
The day of the sports event arrived. Every student at Westview High School was dressed in their distinctive colors depending on their grade. The sports event was divided into different sports playing their matches at different times, the groups classifying to make the tourney.
Rio and her basketball team were playing after Wanda’s team on the same court. That’s why Rio was there watching the game, not because she was interested in watching Wanda in her most competitive side, but because they needed to retire the net once they were done to be able to play the basketball game.
“Good luck” wished Rio to Wanda before she entered the court, at which she answered with a vague smile.
Rio wasn’t going to lie. She had been thinking about that kiss for days. How Wanda’s lips felt on her, and how if Wanda didn’t stop the kiss everything would have escalated to something else. She started thinking about how she could have never guessed that Wanda was into girls, or was she? She definitely was. That was the conclusion she reached one day when she got distracted looking at her during biology. It wasn’t her fault she got distracted; it was Wanda’s. How she always knew the answer to every question, how she bit her lips when she was focused on what she was doing, how her red hair fell in perfectly shaped waves on her shoulder – although she had noticed how brown roots were starting to show up, which was weird because she really thought that was her natural hair color since she always had it perfectly done.
To be honest, something inside of her told her how much sense it made that Wanda was into girls however, there was also a side of her telling her she wasn’t and that she just got carried away from the heavy feelings of the moment, but she didn’t listen to it that much.
So here she was, watching Wanda carry the game on her shoulders, she really could beat the other team alone, Rio thought. She had never noticed how good Wanda was at volleyball, or how interesting volleyball was in general. But she found herself intrigued by the game, letting herself get carried away and cheering louder than she wanted every time Wanda’s team scored.
The game ended, and Wanda’s team won, as it was settled since the first minute they scored. Wanda’s green eyes were filled with joy and her face had a big smile, Rio thought she had never looked so beautiful, even with sweat running down her and her ponytail already messed up due to the intensity she played with.
“Congratulations Wanda!” Rio approached her.
“Thanks, Rio!” Wanda smiled at her.
“Could you help me bring the net into the storage room?” Rio asked trying to have some time alone with Wanda.
Wanda hesitated at first but ended up agreeing, “Sure, why not?”
They both started collecting the net and trying to fold it in a way that it didn’t get tangled up but also didn’t disturb them to walk. They carried it onto their shoulders and went toward the storage room.
“Do you have the key?” Wanda asked.
“Sure! Who do you think I am?” Rio said, making Wanda roll her eyes.
“By the way” Rio started saying, entering the room “Be careful with the door, lately it’s getting stuck, so try not to–” she was interrupted by a strong sound “Close it” she mumbled looking at the door already being closed.
“WANDA!” she shouted.
“I’m sorry I didn’t know!” Wanda said, defending herself.
“I was literally telling you!” Rio said in disbelief.
“I’m sorry! Maybe it didn’t get stuck this time” Wanda said trying to open the door failing “Yeah, nope. It’s stuck.”
“I can’t believe this! I have to be on the court in five minutes Wanda!” Rio said desperately.
“I’ve already told you that I’m sorry! What else do you want me to do?” Wanda replied feeling helpless.
“Do you have your phone?” Rio immediately asked.
“No, I don’t. I left it in my bag in the locker room” Wanda said, “don’t you have yours?”
“Same as you…” Rio sighed.
“Well, we’re screwed…” Wanda said, sitting on the floor.
“I guess we will have to wait until someone comes and finds us,” Rio said with hope sitting next to Wanda.
The room became quiet. Neither of them speak a single word consumed by their thoughts. Time passed and no one came looking for them. Rio really hoped that her team was doing well, because if she couldn’t play that game, she wanted to be able to play the next one.
“Rio, I wanted to talk to you about the other day?” Wanda broke the silence, making Rio wake up from her thoughts.
“Yeah sure, tell me” Rio said, she thought Wanda wasn’t going to bring up that topic anytime soon.
“I wanted to apologize…” Wanda started saying “I know you’ve told me everything was good between us, but I wanted to apologize. Firstly, for passing boundaries and secondly, for the way I reacted.”
“Wanda, you didn’t pass any boundaries, seriously” Rio started saying, but she was interrupted.
“Wait, Rio. Let me finish, if not it’s going to be really hard” Wanda said.
“Oh, sorry. Continue please” Rio let Wanda talk.
“I know I didn’t react in the best way possible, and that we could have talked about it and not let things get weird between us but, I freaked out” Rio could tell Wanda was letting herself break the walls she once built since she couldn’t stop playing with her hands because of the nervousness “and I know it’s not big of a deal, at the end you don’t like me and we’re in the 21st century, most of the people don’t care about who do you kiss or who you don’t, but my family isn’t like that. All my life, I’ve been trying to be the perfect daughter, and in middle school, I started having those feelings, something in me told me it was wrong and that I should bury them deep inside me. So, that day, when I kissed you, all those feelings that were once buried came to the surface threatening everything that I’ve been building up all those years” Wanda opened up, tears already forming in her eyes “and the scariest part is that I don’t think I’m able to bury those feelings once again” Wanda ended talking hiding her face between her arms.
“Wanda… I didn’t know you felt that way, or even that you were into girls that way” Rio said, completely shocked by Wanda’s confession.
“Well… now you know. Now you can tell everyone, that the little miss perfect Wanda Maximoff fancies girls” Wanda said with a sigh.
“I would never do that Wanda," Rio said.
“You wouldn’t?” Wanda asked with insecurity showing in her voice tone.
“Of course not, Wanda!” Rio immediately said “You are the one who chooses who to tell and who not to. You are the one who must settle your times and be comfortable with yourself and the people around you. Believe me when I say that I know it can be really scary, but I promise you that living your true self is really worth it. And it’s amazing” Rio said trying to calm Wanda and reassure her.
“Thanks for that Rio” Wanda said honestly.
“So… are you bisexual then?” Rio asked since she was intentionally intrigued by the narrative.
“No… not really,” Wanda said quietly.
“Oh, queer then?” Rio insisted.
“I’m a lesbian” Wanda finally let it out.
“Oh…” Rio said completely in shock “I assumed…”
“Well, once again you assumed wrong,” Wanda said with a grin, making Rio subtly laugh.
“I like lesbians, you know?” Rio said.
“Well, no shit!” Wanda started laughing.
Rio looked at her, she looked so beautiful now that she was starting to admit who she really was.
“You look beautiful Wanda,” Rio said, thinking out loud.
Wanda stared at her, she could feel something had changed from the other day. Rio looked at her with tenderness, no one had looked at her that way in a while. Rio understood her, she knew about her, and she also knew she had nothing to be afraid of by her side. So, with all that braveness she had left in herself from earlier, she came closer to Rio.
Rio, reading Wanda's intentions, held her face with her hands and kissed her. She wasn’t going to let Wanda make the first move again. Wanda melted into Rio’s arms, it felt amazing to finally let yourself feel and live who you really are. And she knew it wasn’t going to be an easy journey, but she knew next to Rio it was going to be easier.