Thursday in their science class Ms. Montes Reyes had paired Sarah and Katherine up to PSA on a modern issue. The girls had chosen to do a political analysis on the Reagan administration's reaction, or lack thereof, to the epidemic of AIDS. At first they were tentative to pick apart such a decisive issue together, especially since at the beginning they had each thought the other was straight, but once they got into the meat of the issue they found that they agreed. With newfound vigor they tore apart Reagan's apathy to the deaths of millions of Americans over the course of the decade.
On Saturday morning Sarah was eating breakfast with her family. She bit into her fried eggs over toast when the phone rang. Davey raced to the phone eagerly and lifted it to his ear. He listened for a moment before making an announcement disappointedly, "Sarah, it's for you."
Sarah rose to get the phone after wiping her greasy hands on a napkin. She pressed the beige phone up to her ear and was immediately stunned by the excited chirping from the other end. "Sarah let's go to the library together!" Sarah was able to recognize her partner's voice from the other end.
"It's kinda a long walk and the family car is in the shop right now," Sarah explained dejectedly.
"I'll come pick you up." Katherine said it like it was the simplest thing in the world.
"Sounds good let me just ask my parents." Sarah pressed the phone to her chest, "Mama, Papa can I go out with Katherine for a few hours to work on our project at the library?" she asked sweetly.
"Sure princess, have fun," Mr. Jacobs replied with a mouthful of partly chewed french toast.
Sarah raised the phone back to her face, "My papa says I can go." Sarah whispered her address for Katherine quickly.
"Great!" Katherine slammed the receiver and raced into her hot pink 1987 Buick GNX. The gripped the white steering wheel, admiring her glossy and freshly-painted yellow fingernails. She sped through traffic lights like usual but managed to avoid any tickets or legal penalty. Within fifteen minutes she pulled up to the address Sarah had given her. It laid safely within a cul de sac, deep in the suburbia that Katherine knew too well, although Sarah's neighborhood seemed less exorbitant than Katherine's. She honked her horn twice loudly and a moment later Sarah came striding out.
Sarah's lovely and large hair was kept down today, her bangs were in her face. Sarah was wearing an adorable flared denim skirt over a white t-shirt and held up by black suspenders. Katherine blushed, "you look great."
Sarah opened the car door and replied, "so do you." Sarah meant it, Katherine had a simple ponytail but the rest of the outfit was casually chic with Katherine's flirtatious style. Katherine wore a yellow top with black lettering spelling out "1987", her fingernails matched the shirt and her round black sunglasses accentuated her current blush and delicate freckles. The shirt was was tucked into a teal floral skirt. As Sarah grew closer Sarah noticed her egg-colored shoes and silver geometric handbag. "Wow, you look great. Your car's damn cool too."
"Thanks, she's great isn't she."
"It's a she."
"Of course, her name is Bianca."
"Bianca," Sarah giggled. "Why Bianca?"
"Bianca's sexy don't you think?"
"But- but Bianca's a girl's name."
"I know," Katherine said, smiling. Out loud she portrayed confidence but in her head she was terrified.
"Do you think girls are sexy?" Sarah whispered breathily.
"Some of them. What about you, do you think girls are sexy?"
"I think you are pretty easy on the eyes." Sarah giggled. "I've definitely never seen anyone that looks better than you. Your lips are like … great to look at, I can't imagine what kissing them would be like."
Katherine dragged her car up to a red light and leaned towards Sarah. "You don't have to imagine," she said softly before initiating a kiss. The kiss was gentle, on Katherine's end it tasted like egg and bread, on Sarah's it tasted like peppermint. It could be said that Sarah enjoyed the kiss more so than Katherine did. After they pulled apart, with Katherine still cradling Sarah's face, Katherine spoke. "You should brush your teeth."
"Excuse me, I wasn't exactly expecting to be kissing girls right after breakfast today, or I might have brushed my teeth before squeezing into your eccentric car."
"Did you just call Bianca eccentric?"
"I did."
Katherine laughed. The moment was interrupted by cars honking at the girls. Katherine started speeding to the library. They hopped out the doors and gathered their notebooks. The sat at a table and began searching for newspaper articles detailing death tolls and government response. The death tolls were crushing, the government response was underwhelming to say the least. They sat together in the library, unsure of what their new relationship held. There they were, pursuing wisdom. The girls held hands beneath the table as they filled their brains with such grim knowledge.