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They had known each other for years, but it wasn't until that school term that they started running into each other more often.
Caitlyn had always been the one with the highest grades, the one who gently corrected the teacher when they made a mistake, the one who spoke little and walked straight.
Vi was the opposite.
The first to arrive late, the last to sit down. Loud, charming, with her uniform half on and her hair at war with every unspoken school rule.
They seemed like polar opposites, but something clicked between them when, by a twist of fate, they were assigned to the same science group.
At first, Caitlyn assumed Vi wouldn’t do anything—that she’d hide behind her smile to get out of the work. She was wrong. Vi had brilliant ideas… she just jumped from one to the next without order.
Caitlyn watched her closely. She didn’t say it, but she was intrigued by the way Vi’s mind switched tracks without warning. Like she lived on a different frequency.
And Vi, without meaning to, started waiting for her. Looking for her eyes when she entered the classroom. Falling silent the moment Caitlyn raised her hand.
On the outside, theirs looked like conflict.
Glances exchanged like knives, sharp remarks, promises of “don’t talk to me again” that dissolved the next day when the teacher said “pair up.”
But behind closed doors… something else was happening.
The habit started without a plan.
One day they left the classroom at the same time, and Vi followed her without saying anything. Caitlyn glanced sideways, expecting a joke, but Vi just walked with her hands in her pockets and her headphones hanging around her neck.
They didn’t talk. They didn’t need to.
After a few days, it became automatic. The bell rang, they packed their things, and left together. Sometimes Vi held the door for her. Sometimes Caitlyn took a second longer than necessary so Vi could catch up.
They never talked about it.
“Why don’t you walk out with your friends anymore?” Mel asked one afternoon, noticing Caitlyn no longer joined the group.
“I don’t need to explain myself,” Caitlyn replied—too fast.
And left.
Those shared walks had something strange.
They walked side by side, exchanging two or three meaningless sentences, but the air between them felt charged, attentive.
As if it already knew what they hadn’t dared to admit.
One afternoon, while crossing the courtyard, Vi tripped over a root sticking out from the concrete.
Caitlyn reached out instinctively, grabbing her forearm.
It was a reflex, almost automatic. But they both stood still a second longer than normal.
“You okay?” Caitlyn asked.
Vi nodded.
“Yeah… I just got distracted. Like you in geometry.”
Caitlyn rolled her eyes, but didn’t let go of her arm right away.
Vi didn’t move either.
Then they kept walking, as if nothing had happened.
That night, Caitlyn couldn’t stop thinking about how warm Vi’s skin had felt.
Vi, on the other hand, opened her notebook and wrote: “Today she almost gave me a heart attack. And didn’t even yell at me.”
Something was changing.
You could feel it in the silences that no longer hurt. In the arguments that started to feel like excuses to stay close. In the way Vi leaned over Caitlyn’s desk to point at a word, and for a second, they breathed the same air.
“Move,” Caitlyn would say, without moving.
“I’m working, princess,” Vi would reply, not stepping away.
Sometimes they stayed in the empty classroom after school, with no real reason. Caitlyn would organize papers that didn’t need organizing. Vi would draw in the margins of a notebook that had no space left. They didn’t talk much.
But time, with them, seemed to stretch.
Neither of them had answers.
They only knew something was happening. It was right there—in the brush of a forearm, a door held open, a clumsy comment, and a brief laugh that loosened something in the chest.
And that if they kept finding each other in that same place after the final bell, sooner or later, one of them was going to say something that would change everything.
The days began to change in subtle ways. Vi and Caitlyn, without ever talking about it, started walking out together after school.
At first, it was just coincidence: they took the same route, stopped at the same kiosk, lingered under the same tree pretending to review homework that was already done.
But after a week, the coincidence no longer felt random.
Neither of them said it out loud, but something in the air confirmed it.
Caitlyn couldn’t stop thinking about it. That feeling of wanting to be near someone and at the same time not knowing what to do with it.
It was new. Unbearable. Addictive.
It was Saturday morning, and breakfast was laid out with the kind of neatness only her mother could achieve. Everything was in place: freshly squeezed juice, perfectly golden toast, and the silence… that comfortable, precise silence that filled the house when her father wasn’t around.
Caitlyn stirred her coffee with unnecessary slowness. Her mother flipped through the newspaper, but with a kind of distracted attention that didn’t fool anyone.
“Is something bothering you, sweetheart?” she asked without looking up, as if she knew that meeting Caitlyn’s eyes too soon would make her shut down.
Caitlyn hesitated. She swallowed.
“It’s just… I don’t know how to explain this.”
Her mother folded the newspaper and set it aside, turning to face her completely. Her blue eyes were identical to Caitlyn’s, but her gaze carried years of practice in understanding what wasn’t said.
“You don’t have to explain it all at once.”
Caitlyn stayed quiet, and for a second, she thought she wouldn’t say anything at all. But something in that rare sense of calm pushed her.
“It’s about Vi. She’s a girl from school.”
“The one with the pink hair and the untied shoelaces?”
Caitlyn was surprised.
“You’ve seen her?”
“I’m your mother. Of course I’ve seen her. And I’ve also seen the way you look at her when you think no one’s watching.”
Caitlyn shrank into her seat. She wanted the ground to swallow her up. But her mother wasn’t smiling or teasing. She just waited.
“She makes me feel weird things. When she’s near, everything… changes. I feel confused, my heart races. I want to fight with her and also stay by her side forever.”
“That sounds a lot like being in love.”
Caitlyn blinked.
“No… I don’t know if that’s what I feel. I didn’t plan to feel this way about her. I never thought that…”
Her mother leaned a little closer, taking her hand.
“Caitlyn, love doesn’t follow plans. Sometimes it trips you up. It crashes into you when you least expect it. And yes, sometimes it’s scary—especially when it doesn’t look like what we were taught it should be.”
“What if I’m wrong?” she asked, voice trembling. “What if I ruin everything?”
“Then you learn. No one loves perfectly at first. But if what you feel for her makes you want to be better, if it makes you think more, feel more… then it’s already changing something good in you.”
Caitlyn looked down. Part of her felt lighter. Another part, even more confused.
“How do I know if it’s real?”
Her mother smiled softly, the way she did when talking about art or poetry.
“When someone shakes your whole world just by being near… maybe it doesn’t matter if it’s love yet or not. What matters is what you do with it.”
Caitlyn didn’t reply.
But those words—“maybe it doesn’t matter if it’s love yet”—stayed with her all week. So much so that when she went back to school, she no longer knew how to act around Vi.
The next few days were strange.
Caitlyn stopped waiting for her after school. She didn’t reply to messages as quickly. Sometimes she didn’t even open them. In class, if she looked at Vi, it was in secret, as if punishing herself for doing it.
And when Vi talked to her, Caitlyn always seemed to find an excuse to leave. She said she had something to do. That she was tired. That it wasn’t a good time.
At first, Vi thought she was just busy. Then, that maybe she’d done something wrong. And then… then it started to hurt.
Because even though Caitlyn tried to hide it, it was obvious. It was clear something was going on. That she wasn’t okay. That she wanted to talk but couldn’t. That she was stuck in a fight with herself she didn’t fully understand.
One afternoon, while they waited for the teacher to arrive, Vi gathered her courage. She sat beside her without asking, dropping her backpack with a sharp thud between them.
“Is something wrong?”
Caitlyn looked up like she’d just realized Vi was there. She swallowed hard. Her eyes shifted restlessly for a second before dropping again.
“No,” she murmured. “I’m just… exhausted.”
Vi watched her. That kind of exhaustion wasn’t physical. It wasn’t the kind you get from lack of sleep or too much studying. It was the kind you get from pretending to be okay every single day, even in the smallest minutes.
“Is it because of me?” Vi asked, more quietly now.
Caitlyn shook her head, still not looking at her.
“It’s not you. It’s just… everything. It’s too much.”
Vi didn’t know what else to say. Her instinct screamed at her to reach out, to take her hand, to tell her she could trust her.
But the way Caitlyn curled into herself, like a frightened cat, made her stop.
The bell rang. Caitlyn stood up as if it were her cue to escape.
“See you later,” she said quickly, without meeting her eyes. And she walked away.
Vi was left alone in her seat, the echo of those words hanging in the air like thick smoke.
Later.
When was later?
And what if that later never came?
Caitlyn wasn’t acting like before, and Vi couldn’t let things go on like this. She had been avoiding talking, avoiding even looking at her. She wasn’t good with words, but she knew she couldn’t keep pretending nothing was wrong.
“Cait, why are you acting like this?” she finally asked. Her voice came out harsher than she meant, almost like a complaint, but behind it was the pain of someone who doesn’t understand why something so new was already falling apart.
Caitlyn tensed. Her shoulders dropped. Something flickered in her gaze, like a crack opening from the inside. Doubt? Guilt?
“I feel weird when I’m with you!” she blurted out. Her voice rose, trembling, as if she couldn’t control the force she’d been holding in for too long. “I don’t know what it is, I don’t understand it! And it scares me!”
They were alone. Like almost always, they had stayed in the classroom after everyone else had left. Sometimes they didn’t talk. Sometimes they sat far apart. But for some reason, neither of them ever left first.
“What is it, Violet?!” Caitlyn continued, her voice finally breaking. “It makes me tremble. It makes me sigh when you show up. My mom says it’s love, but that was never part of my plans with you…”
Vi stayed still. She wasn’t ready for all of that. But she wasn’t scared either. She felt something loosen inside her. Maybe because Caitlyn had finally said it. Maybe because she’d felt it too, for a while now.
“Cait…” she called, in a softer, warmer voice. The name floated between them like a promise.
And in that silence, where confusion used to live, something shifted. It was as if the air had become lighter.
“I feel it too,” Vi said. She didn’t need to dress it up. “Everyone feels it, and it’s normal. There’s nothing to be afraid of, we’re just learning…”
She moved closer carefully, like someone approaching a flame. Without saying more, she took a risk: she reached out and held Caitlyn’s hand for the first time.
Hands speak differently. Hers were big, steady, rough-skinned from fights she never chose. Caitlyn’s were pale and fine, like they’d been made for something more elegant, but no less strong.
The contact shook them. Something stirred inside them both.
Oh, what could it be?
“I love you,” Caitlyn whispered. And this time, without fear.
Vi didn’t know what to say at first. She looked at her—not like you look at someone you like, but like you look at someone who just saved you from something invisible. Caitlyn had said what she hadn’t dared to name. Not because she didn’t feel it, but because, until that moment, it had seemed impossible that it could be mutual.
"Really?" Vi murmured, with a smile she wasn’t sure whether to hide or let grow.
Caitlyn nodded, lowering her gaze as if she had just confessed to a crime. Her heart was pounding, but not out of fear. It was something else. A trembling relief.
"Me too… for a long time," Vi said, so softly it felt more like a secret than a reply.
For a second, they did nothing but stay there, looking at each other with the awkwardness of people just beginning to understand that affection can hurt in a beautiful way. The silence was gentle, like a blanket placed over two people who had been out in the cold for too long.
It was Caitlyn who broke the distance, not with a kiss, but with a small, trembling laugh. "God… I had no idea how to tell you this. I thought I was going to ruin everything."
Vi laughed too, more at ease. "You almost did," she teased gently, "but I forgive you for being so weird."
Caitlyn shot her a look of fake indignation, but in the end she just shook her head. "This doesn’t change the fact that I still can’t stand you in class."
"Perfect, 'cause you distract me in biology," Vi said, giving her a light shoulder bump.
Then they walked together, leaving the classroom where they had stayed behind so many times without speaking. This time, they did talk. Not about everything. They didn’t need to. But they left together, for the first time, knowing it wasn’t just a habit anymore.
It was a beginning.
xxx
The invitation came unexpectedly.
"Do you want to come to my house today?" Vi asked as they walked out of school. The sun was dipping between the trees, casting a golden glow on the sidewalks. Caitlyn looked at her, surprised.
"To your house?"
"Yeah. We’ll watch some movies, my sister makes popcorn… I promise it’ll be chill," she said, shrugging, with that mix of confidence and insecurity that always came out when someone truly mattered to her.
Caitlyn hesitated for a second but nodded. Her heart was beating fast.
Vi’s house wasn’t big, but it was full of life. Vander, huge and warm-smiled, greeted her with an awkward handshake and a curious but kind look. Jinx appeared by jumping over the back of the couch, her braids messy and energy overflowing, making Caitlyn take half a step back.
"Is this the famous one?" Jinx shouted, looking at Vi with a teasing grin.
"Shut up," Vi growled, elbowing her.
"Hey, relax. I like her," Jinx said with a crooked smile before skipping off into another room, probably to take something apart.
"Don’t mind her, she’s… a lot," Vi said, shaking her head as they walked toward the couch.
They put on some random movie. It didn’t matter which. What mattered was the closeness.
Vi sat first, then Caitlyn, carefully, leaving just a small space between them. That space slowly vanished as the minutes passed. Vi yawned. Caitlyn crossed her arms. Their fingers brushed. Vi gently intertwined them.
"Are you okay?" Vi whispered without looking at her.
"Yeah…" Caitlyn murmured. And for the first time, she meant it.
The silence became comfortable. The TV lights flickered, illuminating their faces. Caitlyn looked at her. Vi did too. It was a moment as brief as it was eternal.
And then, without much thought—like most things Vi did—she leaned in a little more.
The kiss was clumsy, soft, sweet. Full of nerves, bottled-up affection, and promises yet to be spoken. Vi tasted like something warm, something safe.
When they pulled away, Caitlyn’s eyes were wide and shining.
"I want to be your girlfriend," she said without breathing, her voice trembling but firm. Her chest rose and fell quickly, like she had just jumped off a cliff.
Vi looked at her for a second. Then smiled, that smile that made Caitlyn feel all sorts of unexplainable things.
"Yeah. I want that too."
After the kiss, everything felt a little unreal. Vi was still smiling, but softer now, as if afraid of the sound. Caitlyn didn’t quite know what to do with her hands, so she kept them intertwined with Vi’s, in silence.
"So… are we dating now?" Vi asked quietly, like she didn’t want to break the moment.
Caitlyn nodded. She squeezed her fingers.
"Yeah. I think we’ve been for a while, but now it’s official."
Vi chuckled and leaned back against the couch. Caitlyn let herself fall beside her, until her head rested on Vi’s shoulder.
The rest of the movie passed peacefully. Vi played with Caitlyn’s fingers absentmindedly, like she couldn’t believe they were really there, that this was actually happening. Every now and then, she kissed Caitlyn’s temple, just a light touch. Caitlyn didn’t say anything, but closed her eyes every time she felt it.
At some point, Jinx walked behind the couch, looked at them, scrunched her nose and said:
"Ew. Soft lesbians."
"Get lost, Jinx," Vi said without opening her eyes.
"I’m just saying," Jinx replied, already walking to her room, "if you’re gonna kiss again, at least invite popcorn."
Vi burst out laughing. Caitlyn laughed too, a little softer. She wasn’t used to laughing like that, with her whole body. But with Vi… everything was different.
"My family’s a mess," Vi said quietly, turning a bit to look at her. "But I like that you’re here. I don’t know, I feel like... like this is good."
Caitlyn looked up, her cheek still resting on Vi’s shoulder.
"I feel good here too. With you."
Vi looked at her for a few more seconds and kissed her again. This time, with more certainty. It was a slow, quiet kiss. Like the world had finally stopped for the two of them.
After that, they snuggled closer. Vi offered her a blanket, and Caitlyn let herself be covered without protest. She liked the warmth of Vi’s body nearby. She liked the scent of cheap shampoo and lavender. She liked that, for the first time, she didn’t feel out of place.
"Can I say something kind of cheesy?" Vi whispered.
"Say it," Caitlyn replied, half asleep.
"I think I like you more than I’d like to admit."
Caitlyn smiled against her neck.
"Then we’re the same."
They fell asleep on the couch, surrounded by messy cushions and the murmur of the movie credits. Vander, walking by, covered them with another blanket without saying a word. Jinx, from her room, peeked her head out one more time… and then smiled silently before closing the door gently.