C-. She sighed heavily. How would she explain a C- to her parents? How was she supposed to do that, anyway? And- How did that even happened? She'd always gotten, as her classmates said, killer grades. Nothing below A- in her report card, thank you. And now that. Her mom- She would not understand what had happened there. C-. In Biology. Her favourite class.

Well, Delphine knew there was a reason for that. And a very, very good one, actually.

Cosima. Her lab partner.

Who was, right then, playing some pop punk song in her ukulele, as her sister, Sarah, laughed by her side, both of them singing the lyrics between giggles in a corner of the courtyard.

Cosima, who was a hand-talker, who liked to touch people's limbs as she talked to them, her hands motioning on air or gripping forearms as her eyes brightened in excitement. Cosima, who skateboarded and kept falling everywhere, smiling brightly nonetheless. Cosima, getting baked behind the gym walls. Cosima, Felix's sister, a brunette, olive skinned girl who wore thick black glasses and, according to him, was dreadlocked only since the beginning of the year (and, before that, had really bushy, curly dark hair).

"She looked just like that frigging Hermione girl, if you know what I mean", he'd said, and Delphine'd smiled as she pictured what the smaller girl would've looked like with bushy hair.

(Felix happened to be her only friend at this new school- Her only friend in the country, in all honesty. And he was full of foster siblings who looked all very much alike; Sarah and Helena were twins, but it was like all of Felix's siblings were sixtuplets- The twins, Alison, Rachel, Tony and Cosima were all very similar. And yet, Cosima was the most different, unique person she'd seen in her whole life. Felix once had told her Sarah felt the same way about her sister. "Cosima is unlike anyone I've ever met", she'd said to him the year before Delphine left France.)

Cosima, who was unlike anyone Delphine'd ever met. Delphine'd planned on being her friend. She was Felix's sister, after all, and she was taking advanced biology classes as well- But something went wrong along the way, and she hated that blood rushed to her cheeks every time Cosima said "hi", smiling toothly as she tilted her head to the side. Delphine couldn't explain what was that she was feeling, until someday - BAM! - Cosima'd touched her elbow. Her legs had turned into jello then, and she'd understood it all.

"You have a crush on my sister? On my geek-y, stoner sister?", Felix'd mocked her back when she first told him, right after the fifth biology class she'd shared with Cosima. He'd chuckled harder as her face'd turned red.

"I guess so, oui", she'd whispered back. "But I need you to keep this as a secret."

"Why? She'd do you in a heartbeat, Delphine, don't be stupid. Go for it. Grow some balls."

But she couldn't. She couldn't grow some balls, she couldn't be brave enough to tell her everything. And she couldn't really concentrate during biology classes anymore, because Cosima's knee kept touching hers by accident, Cosima's fingers kept brushing hers as they reached for the microscope at the same time, Cosima's face kept turning to face her, all teeth and bright eyes every single time. In the end of the day she'd gotten a C- because she simply couldn't bring herself to proper study; Cosima was all she could think about when she thought about biology. (Being really honest, Cosima was all she could think about, period.)

Cosima was lovely.

She was all smiles and grace and intelligence. All smoothness and wonder- And she loved things in a way very much hers. She loved everything- Her sisters (especially Sarah, who seemed to love her back just as much), her brothers, her best friend, Scott Smith, her ukulele, the universe, nature, science. She loved both order and mess.

She was both wonder and mess. And she was amazed by the world.

Delphine was amazed by her. She loved watching Cosima exist, she loved checking every move of hers, seeing her lungs expand as she put oxygen into them. Delphine loved it all. And she knew it was sort of creepy, watching her like that, as if she was monitoring Cosima's steps. But she couldn't care less about being creepy. Because-

Because Delphine loved her. She couldn't help it.

Her heart sank as she watched the other girl rest her head on Sarah's lap, her fingers still picking the ukulele strings as Helena approached them and asked if she could sing some weird song which lyrics were apparently about wanting a candy girl or something like that. The girl in dreads smiled at the way Sarah'd snorted.

Delphine's heart was racing already. Jumping against her ribcage. She wasn't used to any of these feelings back in France. It was all very new and overwhelming. Yes. Overwhelming. There was no other word. It amazed her, in a way, but - mainly - it was terrifying.

She forced herself to look away and started walking in the opposite direction, her eyes finding Felix not so far from there.

"Hey."

"So?"

"So what?"

"Biology- Weren't you supposed to know your grades today?"

"Oh. That. I, um, wasn't very well."

"Bollocks."

"Non, Felix- I mean it. I've been very... Distracted."

"Oh? Oh. Yeah. I get it. We're gonna work on that, Frenchie. My sister, even being short-sighted, can't really be that blind."