Sarah Manning was never a big fan of high school, but lately she definitely enjoyed being there more than she did before. Now that most of her time was occupied by hanging out with this bunch of dorks she called her best friends, it was easier and time didn't seem to stand still.
She glanced at the people gathered around the cafeteria table and sighed. Currently one of the dorks, namely Cosima, attempted to feed the other dork, also known as Rachel, something that looked like a sandwich with french fries inside it, and Rachel was fighting like her life depended on it.

It was a strange relationship, those two. They had exactly one thing in common, their love of science. Besides that, they couldn't be more different. Some bonding happened while they were partners on some project, now Rachel became a part of their group and everyone simply accepted that as if she was always there.
Rachel could seem sort of scary, well not to Sarah of course, because she was afraid of no one, but to any other random person. She definitely has that intimidating sort of personality, her face always screams, 'I'm better than you'. But their little club knows better, she is in fact an enormous nerd and they love and accept her and her Bump n' Grind ringtone.

Then there was Helena, Sarah's twin sister. She sat at the table, her full attention devoted to a big cup of jello. She was very childlike most of the time, being raised the way she was Sarah was not very surprised or judgemental for that matter. Mrs S found Helena when they were twelve, before that they didn't even know about each other's existence. She took Helena away from her abusive foster family and adopted her, just like she did with Sarah and her foster brother Felix.
And finally, Alison Hendrix. A strange person, but definitely not the strangest one in their group. Obsessed with theatre, and-

"Hey, Sarah?"

Alison's voice interrupted the monologue inside her head, reminding her she's not currently in a prologue of a book. Of course. That would be ridiculous, but hey, it's fun to pretend sometimes.
Okay, maybe she fit in with those dorks just fine. She's just never admitting that.

"Yeah?"

Alison cleared her throat before looking around to check if anyone was paying attention. Rachel and Cosima were talking about biology homework and Helena had eyes only for her food. Once she decided it was safe, she finally spoke.

"Will you come to the football game with me today?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Sarah blinked, confused. Alison Hendrix. Football game. What?

"Okay, that's fine," scoffed Alison, waving her hand dismissively. "It's not a big deal. I'll just- Yeah. It's okay."

"Wait, Alison, slow down," Sarah grabbed her hand to stop her from accidentally sticking it in her cup of hot tea. "I didn't say no. Just… why are you interested in football all of a sudden?"

"I'm just, you know, trying to get more involved in the school life? Why would there be any other reason? Don't be ridiculous. There's not."

Okay. That was not suspicious at all.

"Alright," Sarah nodded, deciding not to say anything right now. She would find out what was this about sooner or later. Sooner, probably. Alison was not the best liar.

Then, as if powers that be were surprisingly kind to her today, she noticed Alison's expression go through a lot of changes in under two seconds. Her eyes widened and she nervously bit her lip before the worry on her face transformed into a huge grin.
Sarah followed her gaze and there it was. The reason for Alison's weirdness. The star of the football team - Elizabeth Childs.

"Hi, Alison."

Sarah has never ever even once seen the other girl look so unsure but happy at the same time. She raised an eyebrow, looking up at Beth who stopped near their table and was currently smiling at her friend.
Alison on the other hand seemed to be completely frozen, staring at Beth as if she was some kind of an exceptional exhibit at a museum. She tried to, as discreetly as she could, get Alison's brain working again, so she kicked her under the table.

Alison jumped up a little in her chair, shooting daggers towards Sarah before turning to Beth, who observed the whole exchange with an amused look.

"Hello, Beth."

Beth, Sarah noticed, was just as nervous as Alison. She was way too fidgety for a person that was a hundred percent calm. Right now she was absentmindedly playing with the bottom of her sweatshirt. Sarah smirked. They were both screwed.

"So," Beth started, not breaking eye contact with Alison for even a moment. "See you at the game tonight. You'll be there, right?"

"Yeah," Alison immediately answered, nodding definitely too much for a casual answer. "Sure. I'll be there. Wouldn't miss it."

"Great," Beth smiled again, and it was the most horrible, love-sick smile Sarah has ever seen in her life. "Uh, anyway, I have to go. Bye!"

No, a correction.

Alison smiled back at her and IT was the most horrible, love-sick smile Sarah has ever seen in her life. Or both. They were both awful and sickening and she had to do something about it before she got cavities in all of her teeth from all the sugar pouring out of them.
She sighed, reaching for her cup of coffee.

"What?" Alison narrowed her eyes at her.

"Nothing," she shrugged. Oh it was definitely something. And it was only going to get worse from there.

—-

Yes, Sarah did have a reputation of being a somewhat rebellious individual, she was a punk, she wore leather jackets and listened to The Clash. But she also cared about her friends and their happiness. This is why she was here, on a Friday afternoon, sitting on the bleachers staring at people throwing a ball to each other.

It was not the most fascinating thing for her to be doing, but Alison was beyond happy. She intently observed Beth's every move and cheered loudly when she scored points (at least that's what Sarah assumed was happening since her football knowledge was somewhat limited).

"So, Alison," She leaned back in her seat and attempted to get her friend's attention. "Beth Childs, huh?"

"What?" hearing Beth's name, Alison immediately turned to Sarah, blushing slightly.

"She's a good player. Isn't she?"

"Yeah," Alison nodded, that stupid smile appearing on her face again. "She's the best."

She quickly turned back again, not wanting to miss a second of the game. Sarah sighed, watching her excitedly jump up and down as Beth did something probably very amazing and spectacular. The things I do for you, Alison.

Beth's team ended up winning the game. Sarah had to admit that after she got over the initial aversion to sports she actually started paying attention. They were good. It also meant that Sarah had the opportunity to steer the events in the right direction. Not wasting much time she grabbed Alison's hand and headed down towards the winning team.

"What are you doing?"

"Come on, Alison. They won," Sarah grinned, pulling her through the crowd. "Don't you want to congratulate them?"

"I don't think that's a good i-" Alison was cut off by the sudden stop.

"Hey, Childs!" Sarah yelled, waving her hand. "Good game!"

Beth turned around to find the person calling her. Noticing Sarah and Alison she brightened up, walking up to them. She was visibly tired which was understandable, she just ran around a field for two hours. She looked as happy as Alison though and didn't seem to mind the company.

"Thanks! I'm glad you could make it."

"I-, um, we wouldn't miss it." Alison spoke quietly, earning an eyebrow raise from Sarah. Alison Hendrix being shy, now that view was worth sitting through that damn ball throwing competition.

"Yeah, it was great," She patted Alison's back so hard the girl almost fell over. "She was freaking out the entire time, you've got a hardcore fan here."

"I like football." Her friend's face now resembled a tomato and Beth looked like Christmas just came early this year.

"I'm really happy you do."

Sarah expected the conversation to move along after some help from her but they stared at each other with stupid looks on their faces, just like in some kind of a cheesy movie. Those idiots are helpless, I swear. Why do I bother?
But she did bother, and maybe she didn't run around shitting rainbows all the time but deep down she actually cared. Fortunately, another idea popped into her head.

"Oh crap, sorry Alison," she did her best to made it look like she just remembered something important and look genuinely apologetic.

"What is it?" The couple broke their staring contest to find out what happened.

"I forgot I was supposed to go pick up some stuff for Mrs S." Sarah hoped she seemed credible. "Are you coming with me or do you want to stay longer?"

"Well," Alison hesitated for a second before replying. "You're my ride, I don't have much choice."

And then Beth did exactly what Sarah predicted she would.

"I can drive you home."

"Great!" exclaimed Sarah, patting Alison's shoulder. Everything was going exactly the way she planned it. "See you tomorrow then."

Walking away she felt a strange sense of accomplishment.

She didn't see or hear from Alison for the rest of the weekend. She didn't think much about it, blissfully unaware of what was going to happen once she got to school on Monday.

Alison spent a good hour dramatically staring out the window, resembling a kicked puppy more than an actual human being. Sighing, Sarah followed her out of the classroom. She wasn't sure she wanted to know what happened, knowing Alison it really could be anything but she had a bad feeling it might have something to do with her sneaky Friday plan.

Watching Alison's distress she felt uncomfortable but didn't approach her. Not yet. She wouldn't talk to her in school anyway. For a moment she thought maybe Cosima would be a better choice here, but ultimately came to the conclusion that there's a chance she didn't want anyone to know.
Besides, maybe it was nothing. Maybe she lost her favorite pen. She was definitely the kind of person who would have a favorite pen.

The illusion she attempted to temporarily create for herself was shattered when she noticed Beth walking towards her friend. When Alison spotted her, she quickly grabbed a book from her locker and practically ran away in the other direction.
Yeah.
It was definitely last Friday. She will be having a talk with Alison after school.

There was no talking after school though because Alison left as fast as she could, giving Sarah no chance to catch up with her.

"What's wrong with her?" asked Cosima, confused at their friend's strange behavior.

Sarah just shrugged. She will get it out of her, but for now no one needs to know anything, it would only upset her more.
She got into her car and didn't even bother driving home, she headed straight to Alison's house. Her meddling created an issue and she had to deal with it, she couldn't leave Alison alone now.

"My life was so easy before I met those little shits," she muttered under her breath, parking outside Alison's home.

Maybe it was not easy but it was indeed much simpler. It didn't mean it was better though and Sarah knew that. She could complain about them all the time but deep down she was incredibly grateful to have them, even it it caused some trouble every now and then.

"Besides, Sarah," she continued her thought out loud. "You got her into this, now you have to make it better."

—-

"I habacuonEth," Alison wailed, a mix of tears and make-up streaming down her face.

"Okay, hold up, I don't speak hysterical. What was that again?"

"I have a crush on Beth!" she yelled and cried even harder, hiding her face under the covers.

"I know."

Alison stopped lamenting and slowly peeked from behind her awfully pink blanket. She looked like a very confused Marilyn Manson look-alike.

"You do?"

"Yeah," Sarah nodded. "I mean, that's why you wanted to go to the football game, right?"

Alison stared at her for a moment before frowning. Uh-oh. And now I've made it worse. Sarah thought and braced herself for what was going to happen in the next ten seconds.

"I am not a gay, Sarah!" And it happened. The gay panic. Great, see what you get for meddling, you shithead? "Did you think I was gay? Do I look like a homosexual to you?"

"It's not like that, Alison, come on!" she grabbed the girl by the shoulders and attempted to make her stop shaking. "First, you do not 'look like a homosexual'. I assumed you liked Beth because you made googly eyes at her all the time."

"I did? Oh no, I did." she was interrupted by Alison's panic rising back up. "Do you think she noticed?"

"No, I don't think she did, she was too busy staring right back at you. And second, there's no looking like a homosexual. What did you think the first time you saw Cosima or Rachel?"

"Well, Cosima does has that alternative sort of look-" Suddenly her eyes widened in surprise. "Rachel's gay?"

"See, you didn't even know about that. Why? Because it's not important, Alison. We hate Rachel because she's annoying, not because she's gay."

Alison gave her a strange look. "You don't hate Rachel. I saw you two smoking together behind the school last week. You seemed pretty friendly."

Sarah's face turned slightly pink at the memory of that day. She just hoped Alison will be too concerned with her Beth problem to question her on it. "Okay, I don't hate her… much."

"Also, smoking, what is that, Sarah, I don't approve of that. Do you know how many people die from lung cancer every year? Beth said-" She stopped, remembering the reason of her meltdown. "Oh no. What do I do now?"

"Let's start with calming down, okay? Breathe."

"Okay. Fine. I can do that."

Sarah knew the feeling of relief was only temporary, crisis was averted but just for now. Now that she started this whole mess, as much as it pained her to admit it, it was her responsibility to unmess it.

"Great, now tell me exactly what happened."

—-

An hour later Sarah managed to get the story out of Alison. Once she began, her job was mostly nodding and handing her tissues.

"-and then I walked into the house and everything is shit!"

"That's it?" Sarah stared at her with a blank look on her face. Nothing seemed to make sense anymore and Alison seemed more freaked out with every second.

"What do you mean, 'that's it'? This is huge!"

Sarah dodged a hand flying dangerously close to her face. "Please stop gesticulating so violently."

"I can't do that, Sarah, I can't. I am having a crisis here!"

"So you guys talked and she drove you home, that's pretty normal behavior if you ask me."

"That is so not what this is about," Alison huffed impatiently, crossing her arms. "I mean, what would you do if one day you realized you have a crush on Cosima or Rachel?"

Well, that's a funny story. Sarah decided to choose an answer wisely, it was not the time for that. Why does everything keep going back to that damn nerd?

"Alison, I understand that you're confused. Scared. But-" she held up a hand to stop her from interrupting. "But you need to ask yourself this question. Do you like Beth enough to get over the fact that she's a girl? Do you see yourself holding hands with her on the street, giving her good luck kisses before football games, being with her like you would with a boyfriend? Is all that okay with you?"

After a moment of silence Alison finally spoke.

"Wow, Sarah."

"What?"

"That was… actually helpful," she smiled. "I honestly didn't expect that from you."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"No, really. You are helping me a lot. I don't know how I would deal with this alone." Alison smiled for the first time since that stupid game and Sarah realized she's smiling too. It was disgusting.

"Oh come on, don't get all sappy on me," she patted her on the shoulder. "Besides, you'd figure it out. I just sped up the process."

Suddenly the sound of a text message arriving broke their little bonding moment. Thank god. Sarah reached for her phone to see what was so important.

Where are you? R.

Oh. Not thank god. She got so wrapped up in Alison's situation that she completely forgot about her own. She put the device back in her pocket not even bothering to write back and got up.

"I'm sorry, I need to go take care of something."

Alison just stared at her suspiciously.

"I swear it's real this time." She grabbed her jacket. "But I promise, if you need me, you call me. I may not be the wisest person and I don't seem like the friend you turn to in times of crisis, but I got you into this whole thing and I will help you through it."

"Okay," Alison nodded. "And thanks. I really do appreciate it."

—-

Sarah was a hundred percent sure she drove not only faster than it was allowed but also faster than she should want to. She should not be in a hurry, it's not like she even cared that much. She was always late. Why should this be any different?
The answer was, it wasn't. She was just feeling very considerate today.
After a few minutes of repeating this in her head even she stopped believing her own lies. She cared. A little.

Getting out of the car she looked up at the giant tree next to the second floor window. Okay. She was about to actually do this. She cared a lot.
Making sure that no one is around, she walked up to the tree, trying to find the lowest branch and climb on it. Then the next one and the next one. Just no looking down. The last thing she needed was a broken limb and a commotion. It was bad enough she was even here, she did not want anyone knowing about it.
She was getting pretty good at this climbing thing and she wasn't even that far away from the window when it happened. She accidentally may have glanced at the grass below her.

Well shite fuck Rachel you bitch I hate you I hate you so much, she clung to the tree, cursing this whole damn Romeo and Juliet type balcony climbing operation. It was great in theory but in reality there was no balcony and she was going to fall and die.

"Rachel," she hissed, trying to simultaneously be as quiet as possible and grab her attention. "Rachel!"

No response. There was no way she could move towards the window without thinking about the high probability of getting herself seriously injured. To hell with subtlety.

"Rachel!" she yelled.

After a few seconds the window opened.

"Sarah?!" Rachel's eyes widened once she noticed the situation the other girl was currently in. "You are such an idiot."

"Yeah? I'm a idiot? You told me I can't wake up your parents and I had to sneak in!"

The blonde rolled her eyes. "How on earth did you come to the conclusion that it meant climb the tree outside my house and get stuck there because you're afraid of heights?"

"That's not important, now shut up and help me!"

"Fine, fine," Rachel leaned further out of the window and reached to grab Sarah's hand. "Please cooperate."

Sarah shifted on the branch, trying to get as close as possible. Don't look down. Don'tlookdowndon'tlookdown.
After a few moments of struggling to keep her balance she finally managed to catch Rachel's hand and pull herself up on the window ledge.
She fell into the room with a loud sigh displaying her discomfort.
When she looked up, she saw the blonde staring at her with something that could be described as an amused look. It was Rachel though, so really you can never know for sure.

Wasting no time, Sarah quickly stood up and took a step forward, causing her to move backwards. She pushed all of the papers from Rachel's workspace on the floor and not giving her a chance to protest she quickly crashed their lips together. Rachel seemed to immediately forget about the mess, eagerly kissing her back, letting herself be hoisted up on the desk. She wrapped her legs around Sarah's waist, trying to bring her even closer.
Sarah's mind was completely blank, every time she was near this girl any kind of rational thinking went flying out the window. There was something about her that made her so angry. She was composed, almost emotionless sometimes. She just wanted to make her lose that cool, icy exterior and show that she feels human emotions too.
When they pulled apart, there was fire in Rachel's eyes.
Sarah smirked. That's what she liked to see.

She leaned down to place a kiss on her neck but suddenly she was stopped by the sound of her voice.

"Sarah, wait."

When she looked up she saw Rachel's serious expression. "What's wrong?"

"That's not the only reason why I asked you to come here," Rachel gently pushed her away and jumped off the desk. She walked across the room to sit on the bed, motioning for Sarah to join her.

"What's wrong?" She repeated.

Rachel exhaled loudly, she seemed almost… sad? Sarah has never seen Rachel actually sad. She has seen anger, passion, resentment. Never this. Suddenly she felt very uncomfortable. Hesitatingly walking over to where Rachel was sitting, she crossed her arms, speaking again.

"Are you breaking up with me?"

Rachel didn't respond right away. Sarah shifted nervously, still refusing to sit down. The silence was starting to bother her, the only thing that could be heard was the sound of them breathing and the wind outside the window they forgot to close. Then there was the clock ticking on the wall. It was annoying. Sarah scoffed impatiently.

"If you are then just tell me. Don't waste my time."

This appeared to be the right thing to say to get a reaction from the other girl. She looked up at Sarah, again not malicious in any way. It was somewhat unsettling.

"I'm not breaking up with you, Sarah, because there is nothing to break up."

"I don't understand," Sarah shook her head. "What are you saying?"

"This has been… nice, hasn't it?" She didn' wait for Sarah's reply. "And I hate to be the one to burst that bubble we've been in for the past two months, but I need to know this."

The hesitation made Sarah even more nervous. It couldn't be anything good, could it?

"What are we doing? I mean… Where is this going?"

Whatever Sarah was expecting, it was definitely not that question. Not from Rachel. She was the last person would want to know something like that, it was part of the reason why their thing, whatever it was, started in the first place. Rachel was not expecting big romantic gestures. Rachel was not getting emotionally attached. Rachel was safe.
Well, apparently not anymore.

"I don't know." Honesty is the best policy, right? "I didn't really think about it."

Rachel sighed and grabbing Sarah's hand she pulled her down to sit on the bed next to her.

"I really don't want to put pressure on you, you know I'm not a relationship person either. But as much as it pains me to admit it," she rolled her eyes, trying to fight a smile slowly appearing on her face. "I don't hate you very much anymore. And I want to know how do you feel about all this before I get unnecessarily attached."

This was… good. Probably. Not smothering, gentle poking in the right direction. It should not be scary in theory but in reality it was a lot scary and Sarah's flight instinct was starting to kick in.

"I just want you to think about it, okay?"

Sarah just nodded, finding herself not able to think of any good words to say. She did what she knew best. Distraction.
Pushing Rachel back on the bed she climbed on top of her, quickly taking her own shirt off, pleased to see the change in her eyes. She was determined to make Rachel forget about her concerns about the future, and it was a good way to stop thinking about the things that made her uncomfortable too.